Recently, we reviewed The Bone Season by author Samantha Shannon. Not long after we listed our review, we were lucky enough to ask her a few questions!
We asked five questions and found out a little more about the international best seller!
Were you inspired by any particular authors or books to become an author yourself? Which ones?
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is my favourite book, and my biggest inspiration for The Bone Season. It introduced me to dystopia as a genre.
What other genres would you like to write in and why?
Sci-fi and epic fantasy both appeal to me, largely because of the great opportunities they offer for worldbuilding.
I loved the maps at the beginning of The Bone Season. What was it that made you decide you wanted them?
My editor and I agreed that they’d be helpful for the reader, as there’s a lot of information to take in. I love maps and charts, as I think they add to the sense of realism and internal logic in a fantasy setting.
The Rephaim are a massive part of The Bone Season. What gave you the idea of the Rephaim and the strict rules they live by?
The Rephaim had been rattling around in my head for a while before I started The Bone Season, although they weren’t called Rephaim when I first came up with the notion of them. The final concept came together when I discovered the Hebrew word “Rephaim”, which has various meanings: shades, ancestors,residents of the Netherworld. I was intrigued by the idea of creatures who strongly resembled humans but possessed a deep dislike of the human race.
You said recently on Twitter that you are a real Ravenclaw – but if you came across the Mirror or Erised, what would you see?
Hm… I’m not sure what precisely I’d see, but my reflection would definitely be surrounded by books.
About Samantha Shannon:
Samantha Shannon was born and raised in West London. She recently finished her degree in English Language and Literature at St Anne’s College, Oxford, where she specialised in Emily Dickinson and Principles of Film Criticism.
In 2012 she signed a book deal with Bloomsbury Publishing to publish the first three books in a seven-book series, beginning with The Bone Season. Film rights to the novel were optioned by Andy Serkis’s London-based production company The Imaginarium Studios in 2012, and acquired by Twentieth Century Fox and Chernin Studios in October 2013. The Bone Season has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Its first sequel, The Mime Order, will hit shelves on 21 October 2014.
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