 Q. What inspired the story?
A. I came up with the idea for the Olivia the Brave story when my own daughter, Olivia, was around five years old. She was afraid of a lot of things, so I made all these little stories to help her be brave. Eventually, those stories were written down, and started to take on a life of their own. The result is this book series, of which Olivia the Brave and Autumn the Fierce is the first installment.
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Q. How many books are in the series?
A. I currently have eighteen books planned for the series, and that doesn’t include many short stories of supplementary material. At this point, I’m just trying to find time to finish them all!
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Q. What age group is it written for?
A. I wrote the book with an age range of 10 to 15 in mind. There are some scenes that might be scary for an audience much younger than that.
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Q. What is the genre?
A. The genre is Bible-based science fiction / fantasy. Someone I know once described it as “Chronicles of Narnia meets Star Wars.”
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Q. Who inspired you as an author, and what are some of your favorite books?
A. I would say the biggest inspiration was L. Frank Baum, who authored the Wizard of Oz series. Those books played a huge role in my childhood. I also really like George MacDonald (The Princess and the Goblin), C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), Lewis Carol (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), and John Christopher (The Tripods).
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Q. Are any of the characters based on real people?
A. Yes! “Olivia the Brave” is based on my daughter, Olivia; and “Autumn the Fierce” is based on my sister-in-law, Hannah. They are as close in real life as they are in the story.
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Q. How did you think of the names in the story?
A. The names of most people, places, and things are adaptations of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin words. Others are just original words I made up without any linguistic connection.
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Q. Does the book have a religious influence?
A. The book is based on the story of Gideon from the Bible. (Judges 6-8) However, it’s written in a style that if even you aren’t familiar with the Biblical story, or aren’t particularly religious, you’ll still enjoy the story.
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Q. Where can I buy the book?
A. It will be available on Amazon first thing tomorrow morning, 3-1-2022! |
