Another interview with CM Gray

Today I'll be interviewing 'a regular' to my corner of the internet: CM Gray. He has a new book called The Flight of the Griffin and is earmarked for release in early 2013.

Hi Stephen, great to be here, thanks so much for having me!

Since the last time I interviewed you, how has life being a writer changed for you?

Well, I think I’m getting the hang of book promoting a little better. I’ve tried a few things and given up on several others but along the way I’ve discovered some good ways to bring traffic to my books on Amazon in particular. I’ve been spending too much time trying to draw attention to my books this year and not enough time writing, which is crazy, so I’m on a slightly different path for 2013.

One of the main changes since I was last here are the number of great reviews I’ve been getting for my first book Shadowland as a result of my marketing efforts. On Amazon US I now have 41 reviews and still an average of over 4 stars. I’m now on to The Flight of the Griffin, which is also getting some good reviews and I have nearly finished the sequel, Chaos Storm.

Give me an elevator pitch of your new book: "The Flight of the Griffin"

Okay ... bunch of kids, living on a boat, stumble on a magic book and its rather cool female guardian. The book sets them a task of seeking out three crystal skulls, lost in different locations, which must be united to complete an ancient spell. Once the skulls are brought together the spell will stop the world being thrown into chaos. However, there just happens to be some evil people and a whole bunch of demons that are trying to stop them!

I love the premise; your book appears to hearken back to my childhood loves of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis and Piers Anthony. Who or what inspired your story?

Oh I’m sure a whole lot of those kinds of books influence me in some form. I’ve been reading from an early age and have always loved the myth, legend and wild fantasy. I wanted to tell a fantasy questing adventure a little along the lines of a writer like C.S.Lewis but then with a few modern twists that are more David Gemmel. What I did try to do, despite having read so many books from all those great authors, was to be original. I don’t want to write like someone else and I hope you will see that I only write like me!

Is the Griffin (the Ship) as much a character as the children of this story?

Oh, it most certainly is. I won’t give one of the major twists away but there is a whole lot of magic in this book. The boat is very much a character in its own right and one that most readers love!

What inspired you to use Crystal Skulls as the pieces leading to 'the great spell'?

I wanted something mysterious yet something that people may be able to relate to living in our ‘real’ world. There is an ancient Mayan Legend that magical crystal skulls were placed by the ‘old people’ from a time before our records began. If you Google crystal skulls you can see pictures and read stories of skulls that have been supposedly found in different parts of the world. Many believe they are magical. I liked the idea that my characters would have something like this to focus on.

Your book seems so refreshingly unpretentious: clear goals, no love triangles and no angsty teenage ruminations. What was your goal when writing this story?

Well, don’t laugh... but the reason I started writing this was after reading J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter books. I thought, ‘I can write like that!’ Well, I couldn't and realised that I wouldn't actually want to just write like her. She did the wizard school thing so well there was no point trying to go down that path, so I went for a pure fantasy quest. What I took from Rowling was the idea of writing a story that could be enjoyed by older kids, teens and adults alike, just like she did. So no, there is no sex, no swearing and no gratuitous violence... although there are a few gruesome moments and some rather unsavoury characters to keep everyone entertained!  

I'll do a little word association. Choose one and give me a reason:

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or Firefly (TV)
Has to be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because I have no idea what Firefly is [hang your head in shame :)] ... am I showing my age or some huge gap in my reading list? Anyhow, loved C.S.Lewis when I was younger. I watch the films with my kids now and will be encouraging them to read them as well.


Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls or Uncharted (PS3)
Indiana Jones, not because of the Crystal Skulls... just love an Indiana Jones story... another questing adventure, love em!


The Far Away Tree (Enid Blyton) or Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)
Lord of the Rings. I’ve read it three times. Tolkien is the father of fantasy. He took all the great legends and wrapped them into one of the best stories ever written. To be a fantasy writer these days we all have to realise we owe a debt to Tolkien... or perhaps we should be upset that he took all the best bits and left us all scrambling around to find the rest!

Do you have any parting words for your fans?

If you have read my books and enjoyed them, I thank you for sharing my dreams. If you haven’t yet read my books, then come dream with me! The sequel to The Flight of the Griffin will be out early 2013, my beta readers are saying wonderful things about it so get ready for another ride!

Thanks Stephen I appreciate the time we have spent together today, good luck with your own writing and have a great Christmas!

Always a pleasure ... and hope you have a great Christmas too :)

The beginning of 'something'

I've never been one to keep a diary. I've never been one to read a blog. And yet, here I am.

I think the motivation for starting this was to be able to read something that interested me. And no, my words are not 'gilded with the tears of doves' and I don't have a 'grandiose belief' that I was sent down from heaven to lead the blind to salvation. Rather, I think I've grown tired of 'movie-style' books. Books written with the intent to be made into a movie. When the character's name is 'Prad Bitt', you know where the author's intentions lie. Have we become so devoid of imagination that we turn to action movies as a source of inspiration?

When it comes to authors, my tastes are quite limited. I enjoy a good Frank Herbet and Isaac Asimov can be quite entertaining, but when it comes to a fun book, I'd rather turn to an Enid Blyton or a Piers Anthony. Now Enid is probably my favourite children's author. Her books flow so effortlessly and are always chock-full of imagination spewing from the pages (pardon the metaphor). It's just when it comes to adult books, you can only have so much fun with Dick and Fanny (yes, those were the actual names).

Off topic: I'm not sure whether that was meant to be harmless and not an underlying sexual tension brimming to the surface at the point their names were chosen. It could be that combining Dick with Fanny was perfectly innocent in the 1940's, but it doesn't translate well now. Mind you, she's also the author that had Noddy sleeping in the same house as Big Ears. Scandalous!

Off off topic: In the 'revised' (AKA neutered) editions, Noddy no longer sleeps with Big Ears and Fanny is now Frannie, while Dick is Rick. Hopefully that clears things up.

Now as for my 'other' author, Mr Anthony. He's probably more of a dirty pleasure, as he seems to follow a similar path to Enid Blyton from the 'Magic Faraway Tree' days, except slightly more adult. He uses bigger words and the books are over 200 pages. But still, he has fun creating pillow trees that explode with popcorn when agitated. They live in a world of fantasy and magic and he refers to earth as Mundania. Now what's not to love about that?

A book, to my mind, is meant to be an escape from reality. Why should it reflect the next Bruce Willis or Will Smith flick? If I want action, I'll 'watch' a movie. I won't read about it. Case in point:

"..and some dude comes at me with a knife, swiping the air where my head was just seconds ago. I parry his next swipe as I knee him in the groin, keeling him over and leaving him open to be finished. I stand over him and state, 'You didn't make the cut,' as I make linguine out of his throat."

Not exactly leaping off the page, is it? Anyway, rant over. I'm hoping to 'fix' this problem in the next few months.

You have been warned.

As an addendum, it seems that Piers Anthony has some 'pedigree': 10 debut science fiction novels that took the world by storm. A few I've already read, but there are plenty on the list that looks pretty 'tasty'.