I’d like to welcome author, J. M. Landels, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: I live for horses, I love swords, and I’d perish without good books.

Things you need to throw out: I really need to shed a lot of books. Especially old textbooks, and books I’ve read and will never read again.

Things you need for your writing sessions: I don’t know if need is the precisely it, but I do my best writing when using The Hour Stories writing cards by Dale Adams Segal.

Things that hamper your writing: Research rabbit holes are my nemesis. If I stop writing to look something up, I’m doomed. That’s why I do my best writing longhand, with my computer turned off.

Things you love about writing: Godlike power over my world, bwahahahahahhhhh!

Things you hate about writing: Tying up loose ends. When I finish a first draft, I have to go back and kill all sorts of lovely scenes that didn’t lead anywhere, patch-up plot-holes, and tidy up after myself. (I hate tidying IRL too, as anyone who’s ever seen my desk knows).

Hardest thing about being a writer: Marketing. I hate marketing.

Easiest thing about being a writer: It’s the most portable job in the world.

Favorite foods: I am quite attached to dark chocolate, and I love duck, whether it’s a lovely confit in cassoulet or pan-fried breasts (rare please). And either way, a good red wine to go with it.

Things that make you want to gag: Shellfish. Quite literally.

Favorite music or song: Too many to choose from, but my favourite bands are L7 and Spirit of the West, and my favourite songs from those two bands would be ‘Shove’ and ‘Venice is Sinking.’

Music that drives you crazy: Country.

Favorite smell: There is no better smell in the world than a horse’s breath.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Axe body spray

Something you’re really good at: Horseback riding. It’s one of the few things in life that just comes naturally to me (probably because I started so young).

Something you’re really bad at: Housework.

Favorite places you’ve been: I keep ending up in France. When I lived in the UK we’d holiday by taking the ferry to Calais or Boulogne, then picking a direction and driving. While we flirted with Switzerland, Germany, and Spain, we very seldom made it out of France. Since moving back to Canada, I’ve taken more holidays in France than any other country. It must be the food!

Places you never want to go to again: An office job.

Favorite books (or genre): It’s pretty hard to narrow down since I love so many genres. I tend to rotate my reading between fantasy, SF, contemporary/literary, and historical fiction. My favourite writers are Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, and Susanna Clarke, so that’s a pretty broad spectrum.

Books you wouldn’t buy: It’s judging by the cover, I know, but I avoid fantasy with photograph-style covers. You know the ones, of some bare-chested dude or leather-clad babe, carrying an improbable set of weapons and/or abs.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): A fabulous dinner party would include Jane Goodall, Volodomir Zelensky, Claudia Black, Taika Waititi, Margaret Atwood, and Jagmeet Singh.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Putin. The risk of poisoning is too high.

About J. M.:

JM Landels, writer and illustrator of the Allaigna's Song trilogy and co-founder of Pulp Literature Press wears far too many hats. The strange mix of a degree in Mediaeval English Literature, a misspent youth fronting alternative punk bands Mad Seraphim and Stiff Bunnies, and a career as a childbirth educator and doula informs her work. These days, when she isn't writing, editing or drawing, she can be found heading up Academie Cavallo’s Mounted Combat Program at her farm in Langley, BC where she swings swords and rides horses for fun and profit.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://jmlandels.stiffbunnies.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmlandels

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jm.landels

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmlandels/