Tee Morris

Tee Morris began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic fantasy, MOREVI The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took MOREVI into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first book podcast in its entirety. He won acclaim and accolades for his cross-genre fantasy-detective Billibub Baddings Mysteries, the podcast of The Case of the Singing Sword winning him the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Audio Drama.
2011 marks Tee's return to fiction with his madcap steampunk adventure, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel, written with Pip Ballantine and released by Harper Voyager.


And now, by your command...
  
15 Questions with Tee Morris:

1. What is your favorite word?

  "Enigma. (The word just evokes mystery.)"


2. What is your least favorite word?

  "Nigger. (The hatred behind the word just makes me cringe. I find the word utterly repulsive.)"


3. What decision in your writing career do you regret most?

  "Writing the Social Media how-to books. I did two for podcasting, two for Twitter. I honestly thought they would open doors for me, and I kept getting passed over for speaking events (and even professional jobs) for fly-by-night Social Media Snake Oil Salesmen and the like. The years and the efforts I put into those books could have been spent in fiction."


4. What decision in your writing career are you most thankful for?

  "When I said in 2004 to Evo Terra and Mike Mennenga "Guys, I got an idea. I want to podcast my first novel."


5. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Music. The natural splendor of the world around us (like a gorgeous sunset, the Natural Bridge of Virginia, etc.). Friends."


6. What turns you off creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Politics and the backbiting nature of it. The hypocrisy is sometimes too much to stomach."


7. What is you writing ritual?

  "I select a playlist on iTunes, fire up Scrivener, and then I start working. Usually the music fits the mood of the scene."


8. What sound do you love?

  "My child, laughing."


9. What sound do you hate?

"My child, crying."


10. What was the closest you ever came to giving up writing?

  "When I thought I was facing some close calls, I found something to keep me going. Writing is a part of me that, when I don't do it, I feel "off" in some way."


11. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while writing?

  "It's something I tend to do, if I ever need to take a moment's break. I'll crank up the music and start grooving a bit. If I'm feeling festive, I'll have a glass of wine in my hand when I do it."


12. What is your favorite curse word?

  "Seriously. The word "Cunt."



Why?



When you call someone THAT, it is a point of no return. You have only one direction left when the C-bomb is dropped. It is a commitment.



Two enter the octagon. Only one will leave."


13. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

  "I did that already. I was a professional actor. A part of me still enjoys performance when I podcast, but acting and writing are two professions that have a lot in common with one another."


14. What profession would you not like to do?

  "Pretty much, any job seen on Dirty Jobs."


15. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "Hi, Tee. You did good. Real good. I'm proud of you."


Wow! I can't believe you did ALL 15! An amazing author and a gentleman to boot, Tee gave me a HUGE portion of his time and I cant thank him enough. If you'd like to know more about illustrious Tee Morris surf over to http://ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com or drop him a tweet at TeeMonster on Twitter.

And we close yet another interview! I really hope you enjoyed it and be on the lookout for tomorrow's interview with model and actress Mara Marini!

Philippa Ballantine

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, fantasy author and podcaster Philippa Ballantine has always had her head in a book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings was suitable bedtime reading for an eight year old. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself.

She first earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Political Science and then a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. So soon enough she found herself working in the magical world of libraries where she stayed for over a decade.
 

In 2006 Philippa became New Zealand’s first podcast novelist, she has since gone on to voice and produce Weaver’s Web, Chasing the Bard, Weather Child and Digital Magic as podiobooks. Her podcasts have been short listed for the Parsec Awards, and won a Sir Julius Vogel award.

Philippa is the author of the Books of the Order series with Ace. Geist, the first in the Books of the Order series, was released in October 2010. Spectyr (released June 2011), Wrayth (2012) and Harbinger are to follow. She is also the co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series with Tee Morris. Phoenix Rising will debut in May 2011.

When not writing or podcasting, Philippa loves reading, gardening, and whenever possible traveling.

She is currently in the United States where her two Siberian cats, Sebastian and Viola make sure she stays out of trouble.

And now, hang on kid, we're in for a bumpy ride.

6 Questions with Philippa Ballantine:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "I love the word 'quentessential'- for some reason I adore words with Q and this just feels nice on the tongue.

I'm not found of the word 'receive' just because it is a word I always mix up and there just seem to be too many vowels in there!"


2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Creatively what turns me on is travel. Meeting new people and seeing news places just fires me up and makes me want to include them into my stories. Spiritually I need greenery, forests and gardens. It feels to me like the place where I can recharge and find my inner zen. Emotionally I need to be around creative people. Something about being in a community of like-minded souls fulfills me and just makes me happy"


3. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up writing?

  "When I did! From the ages of eighteen to twenty-five I gave up writing. Mostly it was just despair at never getting published A New Zealand writer hoping to break into the world of New York publishing was just a lot harder back then. Luckily, I saw the light and came back- I'm kinda glad I did."


4. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while writing?

  "I actually started Geist on the ferry from Scotland to the Orkney Islands. It was kinda choppy water and I was writing on a piece of paper all the ideas that were flying at me. It was a strange, yet also strangely appropriate way to start the books of the Order."

5. What decision in your writing career do you regret most?

  "I've taken logical steps in my career and I don't regret a thing, but I do with it had happened faster. This was probably because I did give up for seven years. So I regret doing that, because I know I would be even further ahead in my career path than I am now. Also all those extra stories I could have been telling."


6.  If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "The first draft was great- no need for editing!"



Thanks Pip! A great way to close an interview! If you'd like to know more about Philippa Ballantine and her work...

Email: pip at pjballantine.com
Website: www.pjballantine.com
Twitter: philippajane
Facebook: Group page

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time for an interview with the ever suave and smooth Tee Morris!