Q.
If you weren’t writing, what would your perfect career choice be?
A. I don’t know, really, since I
don’t like working. It would have to be something else I enjoy, like art, or
perhaps a fighter pilot, since I’m a speed freak. Of course, I’d love to be a
space explorer, but that will have to wait for another lifetime.
Q.
Has your motivation for
writing changed throughout your career, and if so, how?
A. No, not at all. I still write because I love
the stories in my head and want to enjoy them again.
Q. What is the most rewarding
experience you have had and what made it so?
A. It was probably when Demon Lord was first published in SA in
2006, although that turned into something of a nightmare. The first time I held
an actual copy of the book, though, was truly special. Since then, receiving my
first paperback copy of The Queen’s Blade
has been even more rewarding. There’s something amazingly gratifying about seeing my book in print and showing it to my friends and
family.
Q.
Who are your top two favourite authors and why? Do you feel they have
influenced your own writing in any way?
A. Steven R. Donaldson and C. S. Lewis are my all-time favourites, the
former because his Thomas Covenant,
Unbeliever series gripped me totally and transported me into his world, and
the latter because he introduced me to fantasy when I was a child.
Q. When you were in school, did any
of your teachers say anything negative (or positive) about your writing that
stuck in your head, and how did that affect you?
A. A teacher accused me of plagiarism once because, apparently, she
couldn’t believe I had written the essay she marked. I was never able to
convince her otherwise, either; in those days, fifteen-year-olds didn’t argue
with their teachers. So I got an ‘F’ for it, but I knew it was original, so it
didn’t faze me too much. I also won a school prize for English that year, which made up for it somewhat.
Q. Do you sometimes get the
impression that reviewers have written reviews on your books without actually
reading the book first?
A. Yes, I’m convinced the one review I got
for Demon Lord was based purely on
the blurb on the back cover, since the reviewer only commented on what was in
that. More often, I feel that some reviewers don’t understand the book, or see
what they want in it.
Q. If you had to pick between all your characters, who would you rather
have as a friend, and why?
A. I think that would have to be Sabre, because he’s got such a great
personality with a fabulous sense of humour and fun-loving, helpful nature; a
perfect friend. With his abilities, he’d also be mighty useful if I ever needed
help! So would Bane, probably more so, but he’d be less inclined to be helpful.
Q. What’s your worst bad habit?
A. Probably smoking,
but I also have oddball sleeping habits, which tend to be nocturnal.
Q. What advice would you give to any
budding novelist?
A. Write books that you love to read over
and over again, without getting bored with any part of them. Cut out any
boring bits. Always write for your own enjoyment, and
never allow anyone to influence you in a way that detracts from
your stories, in your opinion. Polish your writing until it's as good as you can make it, and, of course, self-publish!
Q. What drives you/makes you
tick?
A. I honestly have no idea, although I’d guess the wish to enjoy my life
makes me do the things I do in order to have fun, like writing books.
Q. When do you expect your next
book, (the eighth book in the Demon Lord
series), to be completed, and what adventures do you take the reader on in this
book?
A. Demon Lord Book eight is
coming along slowly, and I can’t say for sure when it will be finished. Bane is
separated from the rest of his group when he goes to the Underworld
to rescue an archangel and falls into a black trap. They end up in a strange
realm where some of Bane’s powers don’t work, and all he has for backup is the
crippled Majelin. Bane also discovers that archangels are even more irritating
than angels.
Q.
Do you foresee Mirra and Bane ever leading a normal life together?
A. Yes, although perhaps not totally
normal, given his nature, but certainly a close approximation of normality, for
a time, at least. Being what he is, he can make that happen quite easily, by
opting out of his role as a god.
Q.
Where can readers purchase your books?
A. All the e-books are available at
Smashwords.com, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Scrollmotion,
Amazon.com and Amazon.uk. They will also soon be converted into apps for cell
phones. In addition, I’m in the process of converting the books to print-on-demand
paperbacks, which will be available at Createspace.com.
It has been brought to my attention – not that I actually
missed it – that this blog is dedicated to the Demon Lord series, hence its
name, and therefore I should post about general subjects and those pertaining
to my other series, on my author blog: http://tcsouthwell.blogspot.com.
Demon Lord was the first book I published as a paperback in South Africa in
2006, which is why I built a blog for it, but since then my other series, in
particular The Queen’s Blade, have become more popular. 
At the moment, I have wonderful news and I have to share it
with everyone, even though it’s not about Demon Lord. This will be my last
general post here. The Queen’s Blade and Slave Empire – Prophecy, have both been
selected for Apple’s iBookstore promotion, Breakout Books, a major new feature just
launched in the US highlighting several dozen books. 
