I did promise that Leicester was full of writers with diverse writing experiences. My August Leicester Writers feature now moves from John's music and crime, to Leah's fantasy world. I would explain more but Leah does it so much more eloquently so I shall hand straight over to her. Welcome to Leah Osbourne:
Writing
fantasy isn’t for everybody, despite how much I love it. But what if I told you
it’s possible to writer fantasy, without actually ‘writing fantasy’ and that
you can be published while doing so?
But what makes us different to any other magazine? All our stories take place on Caladria, an earth-style planet populated by all your traditional fantasy creatures (elves, dwarves, goblins, humans and dragons), where one tale may follow humans, while another paints dragons as the sympathetic good guys.
Our stories range from flash (500 words) up to four part serials (15,000 words) with a view to release novels and novellas in the near future. We are always on the lookout for new writing talent as we believe that collaborating with as many people as possible is a formula that lends itself to shared, wide-spread success.
If you're interested in what we do and would like to get involved, check out our site. There you can sign up and look around, interacting with staff and other fans. You could also visit our store and pick up one (or all) of our free publications, designed to showcase our site’s fantastic features, including the interactive map and time-sensitive wiki pages.
Writing fantasy isn't just about magic, sword fights, and beautiful damsels in distress. It's about real characters with problems to solve. Isn't that what all good fiction is about?
Web: www.caladria.com
Blog: www.blog.caladria.com
Mail: info@caladria.com
Twitter: @caladria1
Mail: info@caladria.com
Twitter: @caladria1
A bit about Leah: 'Leah has her hand in too many pies. That's why she has perpetually sticky fingers. Writing fantasy under the name Ileandra Young and erotica under the name Raven ShadowHawk (www.ileandraXraven.co.uk), Leah does her best to ensure folk are always confused about her actual name. When not writing, she revels in her geek-dom and plays RPGs, board games and card games, even leaving the house for an occasional LARP.'
There are a few slots left in my August Leicester Writers Blog Event. If you would like to be included then please drop me an email at rosalind.kathryn @ gmail.com or message me.
Emma Lee will be my next Leicester Writer Visitor.
sounds like a cool theme magazine - interesting concept. I admit that fantasy has just not been my genre, but I'll check it out. Thanks Ros for introducing us to Leah.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Joanne. It's always good to look at other genres.
DeleteHi Joanne :)
DeleteIt's funny how often people say pretty much exactly the same thing, but later discover how something they like. If you do stop by I'll be sure to look out for you! ^_^
I, too, don't 'get' fantasy - but what a great idea to have a magazine where every story is set in the same fantastic place!
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like a pretty unique concept to me, Jo, but hopefully Leah can tell us if it is unique or not.
DeleteWell, at the moment it doesn't appear that anybody else is doing what we're doing. Or if they are they're being very quiet about it - which isn't to surprising considering how saturated the market is. The world continues to fascinate me though, and every day something new is put in to give it additional colour and flavour. I haven't been this excited about a shared project for a long time (!) so I'm hoping we can push it further.
DeleteSince I outgrew childhood fairy tales, I didn't think I liked fantasies any more, but in the past few years, I've read a number of them, purely because I know their authors. Surprise! As it turned out, my reading palate is a lot more eclectic than I ever would have imagined. Fantasy still isn't my favorite genre, but it does manage to stimulate the imagination nicely. But this, the idea of a whole magazine of stories based in the same fantasy world is especially intriguing. Neat idea!
ReplyDeleteI agree, a neat idea.
DeleteThanks Susan. I really have to thank Cal and Martin for making me part of the project to be honest. I remain honoured that they asked me to be part of it and thrilled that I can continue to be so involved.
DeleteLeah's magazine sounds great, but not quite the fantasy genre in which I wrote one of my novels. Shame! I approve of her pen-name though! Liz Young :)
ReplyDeleteI have t admit, I got confused over what her real name was when I first met her. Is that your surname, Lizy?
DeleteLol, I'm afraid it's not quite Liz Young, but Ileandra Young. My dad is still twitchy about it too as he was really hoping to see 'Osbourne' on the spines of books I publish. I think he's still disappointed. But . . . with this magazine there are plenty of 'real name' credits. Maybe I should point him there instead of my own fiction works. ;-)
DeleteHi Ros - seems like a great niche to have at the ready. As Susan says .. we don't really know what we're going to expect and appreciate til we look and get our own creative ideas going ..
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you and Leah - fun meeting up with her .. cheers Hilary
Thanks Hilary. That certainly is the most exciting aspect so far. We give an author an idea and they stories they produce from the paragraph long brief are quite wonderful. Really impressive stuff!
DeleteThanks so much for having me here, Ros and thank you everyone for your comments. It's a thrill to be included here. ^_^
ReplyDeleteThis has been an interesting experience for me too, Leah. There's even more going on in Leicester than I realised.
DeleteA marvellous idea! I'm not a fantasy writer either, but the concept sounds terrific to me.
ReplyDelete