Author Interview

I recently had the opportunity to interview an author pair who happen to be some of the coolest people I know.

Debora ElizaBeth Hill and Sandra Brandenburg have published The Crystal Chalice, ISBN-10: 1929374445, and the first book in the Lost Myths Saga series, The Land of the Wand, among other titles.

Heather: Sandra, Debora, thank you for taking a few minutes to tell us about your writing world! How did you decide to write as a partnership?

Deb: We've known one another since high school. I had just returned from living in England; we were 28, I think...we decided to write a coming-of-age novel about two college co-eds in San Francisco in the 1960's. That novel, BEYOND THE GLASS RAINBOW, has not yet been published...but it will be, one day!

Heather: Do you find it challenging to work in the literary ideas of both of you?

Deb: Not usually...as I said, we only have one brain between us.
Sandra: Not really. We talk about it, know what the other is thinking, and accept what the other does. Then each of us adds our own spin, and our partner works with that.


Heather: I love the Lost Myths Saga. How did you come up with the notion of today’s myths and legends being based on “real” figures from another dimension? How far do you intend to take this idea? Meaning, will Santa Claus be included in your work? Jesus? Hercules?

Deb:I'm trying to remember that...I have always believed that Lucifer was the tragic hero of Paradise Lost. Mostly, we both have a very, shall we say, 'unusual' idea of how the universe works. And, we feed into one another's ideas...dangerous, in our case. I hadn't actually thought of Santa Claus...good one!
Sandra: It just seemed natural to me. After all, some legends are so strange they must come from aliens!


Heather: How many books do you plan on there being in the series? Do you have plots in mind for future volumes?

Deb: There are four volumes in the initial series, The Lost Myths Saga. We have an idea for a second series of four using cards from the Major Arcana.
Sandra: Four for the original series. But the next generation ..hmmm...

Heather: What other works do you have in progress? I’ve heard something about film rights! Tell me more!

Deb: Boy, you're really asking for it, here. After three years of misery working with an Irish film development company who were, we believe, actually evil aliens, at the beginning of this year The Lost Myths Ink film fund finally came to fruition. We have a 'Deep Pockets' company that will fund an unlimited number of films for us, with a percentage investments from producers. Three films are scheduled to begin production this year, thus far. The first is THE DANGER CLUB, an action/comedy set in Northern California, and there is a companion novel. We haven't quite figured out how to arrange for publication of the novel yet, we'll see when production starts -- basically we're going to need a publishing company who can produce a quality hardback/paperback combination in conjunction with the film release.

Other than that, we’re working on a children's stage play/film script together, and with a renowned fantasy artist on a children's book. Solo, I'm working on three novels, one of which will be the fourth volume of my 'Ghost' series, entitled The Last Descendent.
Sandra: Some mysteries, and a 'coming of age' story. We have a number of scripts, some from our books, Debora has the most, as always. I'm a slacker!

Heather: Please give us a bio.

Debora Elizabeth Hill
I was born in ’61, in San Francisco, and except for two years in London have lived most of my life in the best place on earth, Northern California. I attended college here and began my career at sixteen, as a rock music journalist. San Francisco in the 1970's was a crazy place, particularly in the music industry. Rolling Stone was still headquartered there, and I had an instant intro to the business through my cousin, who worked for Bill Graham Presents.

My first book about music was published in 1979, the year I graduated from high school, and was followed by two more in the 1980's, the last of which, Punk Retro: The Music of the No-Future Generation, was published in 1986. I moved on to fine arts and investigative journalism, and formed my company, Lost Myths Ink LLC, with my long-time business partner, Sandra Brandenburg, and her husband Tom, our office manager and general ‘dogsbody’. In 1997 I had an exciting personal event with my first-ever mention in a Marquis ‘Who’s Who volume: The Who’s Who of American Women. I am now listed in something like half a dozen volumes worldwide; it’s still exciting when someone sees my entry!

My first fantasy novel, A Ghost Among Us, was published in 2002, and the sequel, Jerome’s Quest, in 2003. In 2002 Sandra and I signed a contract for development and film production with ShadowHawk Films and United Film Productions International (we were board members of the latter), which we ended in July of 2006. My third fantasy novel, A Wizard by Any Other Name, was published in 2005, and my first collaborative fantasy with Sandra, The Land of the Wand. In March of 2006. The Land of the Wand is the first volume of a four-part series entitled The Lost Myths Saga, and has done so well the publisher has pushed up the release of volume 2, The Crystal Chalice, to January of 2007.

Larry Withowski of Jetta Consultants is the coordinator/monitor of The Lost Myths Ink film fund. Our first feature film, DREAM LOVERS, will be produced by Fountainhead Pictures and directed by Aaron Shuster. The second feature will be GO WEST, YOU IDIOT!, the story of a Czech defector: based on the journals of Frank Cmero. GO WEST, YOU IDIOT! will be produced by Tomas Krejci and Daniela Humlova of Milk and Honey Productions. The third feature will be SOUL MATES, a solo script by Debora Hill. SOUL MATES will be produced by David Fairman of Grosvenor Productions (London).
Visit our website: www.lostmythsink.com.

Sandra Brandenburg
I was born in 1961 too.

Ms Brandenburg has worked, in the past as everything from Corporate Flunky to Wallpaper and Paint Sales, Custom Decorating, Cashier, Dry Cleaner's Assistant, and the most menial of all possible jobs...researcher...and...technical writer in the construction field. Since being released from that particular prison, she has concentrated on poetry, fiction, script writing and editing.

Her career as a journalist has included articles and stories in a series
of publications:
The Pacific Sun
Mothering Magazine
eNVEE
Iris
Women's Voices
Fall Creek Press
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine
Figment
Starlog
Science Fiction Eye

1995 part of original concept team for BiblioBytes
Fall 1997, Spring, 1998: worked on concept development for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager (on Adam Seligman's team).

CURRENT WORK:
A monthly column This Pagan Life at www.todaysfantasyfiction.com
Currently under contract to White Tiger Films for The Danger Club, a screenplay and novel.
CURRENTLY IN-PROGRESS:
SHADOWSPRITES (A children’s theatrical play)
The Regency Rake (fantasy)
COME AGAIN (solo novel)
GODDESS COUNTRY VISIONS: Visionary Artists of Northern California (art book)
THE GREAT RUBBER DUCKIE ADVENTURE (theatrical play and film script)
THE PUMPKIN THIEFS (fantasy)

NOVELS:
SuperGirls; the Co-Ed Murders
SuperGirls: The Renaissance Faire Murders
Rumour Has A Memory

Heather: Is writing your “day job” or do you have other obligations to consider?

Deb: Day job, night job, all the time job...because we lost so much money with the evil aliens, Lost Myths Ink only has three employees at this time; the two of us and Sandra's husband, Tom. The film fund has a massive amount of coordination and planning work to do, and that will only become more complicated, so we're hoping to hire more employees later this year.
Sandra: It is, now. but, obviously I straggled along, doing anything for a buck, and for the longest time!

Heather: Do you enjoy the marketing side of being published authors?

Deb: Yes, but we're honestly not doing enough of it right now. We're hoping to hire some p.r. people this year as well...
Sandra: Not much, but I do whatever Debora tells me to in this area. Chiefly, I am a cooperative soul.

Heather: Any unique promotions plans in the works?

Deb: We may eventually write a film for The Land of the Wand which could be either adult animation or computer-gen and live action. THE DANGER CLUB will offer a unique opportunity for promotion, being a novel and a film. We've never done the usual 'author' things; never attended a convention, etc. due to our film work. We would like to, and planned to attend a couple last year and this, but it always slipped by us. With the filming schedule during the second half of this year we not get to any this year, either, but that's life...we do have some unique opportunities for exposure that other authors don't get, so I guess it works out in the end!

Fantasy Fiction Review

The Crystal Chalice
By Debora ElizaBeth Hill and Sandra Brandenburg
ISBN-10: 1929374445

What if our myths and legends were based on certain souls in another dimension? What if Lucifer was just a lonely, heart hungry king? What if Puck was just a randy, misunderstood spirit in search of compassion? In “The Crystal Chalice,” by Debora ElizaBeth Hill and Sandra Brandenburg, readers are led to believe that just about anything we believe could be a twisted truth.

In this second volume of the Lost Myths Saga, we find our favorite characters searching for answers as well as searching for themselves. Lily is torn between chasing her college diploma and keeping a hold on her rock star lover, Marshall. Marshall doesn’t seem very torn up about his infidelity even though he loves Lily with all of his heart. Evan is anxious for his love Valaura to commit to him, while Valaura is sensing just a bit of something missing, not knowing exactly what it could be. Evan decides it is time for a break with reality, at least this version of it, and finds a way for the foursome to be transported back to the lands of unreality…the World of Lost Myths.

There, King Lucifer still vies for Valaura’s hand, Marshall once again falls under the spell of lust, and Lily and Evan are unsure what to do. Twenty years have gone by in Lucifer’s world while only one has passed in Evan’s life. The kingdoms face some troubling times when one of their own is attacked by a clan of warrior women, anxious to steal a few good men to fertilize the troops, and another group is found to be taking over the lands of the Princess Ariel’s family. Fantastical creatures abound with flying horses, horse-sized cat-steeds, crystal beings, winged young princes, and hooved kings. Will our four heroes find the answer to the questions they seek? Will they find a way to help their beloved friends in the Lost Myths World? Will they discover the path that leads back home?

Debora Hill and Sandra Brandenburg have written a saga of success and readers can be assured that the magic will continue. Examining the possibility that our myths have rather mundane roots is genius. Creating a tale full of the legendary, the romantic, the adventurous and the heart tugging is a formula for a fun read. I look forward to enjoying more from these two.