I first heard of fantasy author Joshua Palmatier through a friend — she loaned me his first book and I was hooked! Now let me introduce you to him.
Aimee: What kind of things do you write about? (Genre, subject matter, themes, what have you.)
Joshua: I write fantasy novels that deal with a young girl named Varis who was orphaned in the slums of the city of Amenkor. The books mainly deal with her struggle to survive, and the moral questions that result from the question: what would you be willing to do to survive? There are a lot of ambiguous questions about what’s right and wrong, and what happens when you cross over that very thin and tenuous line. But in the end, it’s the story of Varis and those that help her along the way.
Aimee: What’s a day of writing like? Do you have a set schedule? Do you have a day job, too?
Joshua: I do indeed have a day job. I teach mathematics at SUNY—College at Oneonta full-time. Teaching is nice because you have the summer off, guaranteed, and there are plenty of breaks during the regular semesters so you can attend cons and whatnot. However, lately, I’ve found that I need to write during the semester as well as during the breaks and summer. This means that a schedule is necessary. Basically, during the summer, I get up, write until lunchtime, take a break for lunch, then write until it’s time to go to the gym. So say a maximum of 6 hours of writing per day. This is when I get a good chunk of the book finished. However, during the semesters, I get in maybe 6 hours per week. I generally get an hour between the end of classes that day and the gym. I can get 3-4 pages written during that hour.
Aimee: Do animals appear in your work?
Joshua: Animals appear in my work—such as horses and some local color—but in general they aren’t pets. In the Throne of Amenkor books, you see dogs and cats and lots and lots of rats. It’s the slum! There have to be rats! It’s also a rural society, so you see lots of horses and donkeys and oxen and such. Then for local color you get seagulls and pelicans and other creatures in the port city. But as yet, I have not had a character with what would be called a pet.
Aimee: What kind of pets do you have? Past and present if you like.
Joshua: I have, for most of my life, had a number of pet guinea pigs. Yes, guinea pigs. I’ve always had them, since as far back as I can remember. Occasionally I’ll go through a spell without having one, but in the end I cave and end up getting another to replace the previous one. I’ve probably had over 20 altogether, and currently have 2: a male named Coffee and a female named Mocha. But they are generally called “Buddy” and “Missy”. The black-haired pig is Coffee, and the multi-colored one is the diva, Mocha.
Aimee: How do your pets help you work? (And I use the term “help” very loosely… mine mostly work as a distraction!)
Joshua: Well, guinea pigs aren’t like cats or dogs, roaming free and whatnot. So they aren’t really hindrances or helpful when it comes to the actual act of writing. However, they are helpful as a sounding board for ideas, mainly because they let you talk to them and mostly look interested about what you have to say, but don’t feel the need to tell you your stupid, or that your ideas stink. But I find that talking through my ideas with them is generally helpful.
Aimee: Tell us a little about your books.
Joshua: I have three novels currently out, all part of the Throne of Amenkor series: The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and the third in the series, The Vacant Throne. All should be available at your local bookstore. And if they aren’t on the shelf, they should be easy for the bookstore to order.
Aimee: Thank you so much for stopping by the Families.com Pets Blog! Any last words you’d like to add?
Joshua: Thanks for inviting me to the site! I hope you found something of interest in the interview. If you’d like to read more about the books, or check out an excerpt or some reviews, head on over to my website.