More than that, I rely a lot on historical research to understand social and political change, and I’m drawn to the weird bits. I’ve no idea how much readers will care, but it has to be coherent in my head. Having set up certain arbitrary rules for myself, I have to follow through so if it’s a parallel version of medieval Europe, they won’t have potatoes, but what other staple foods of today originated in the Americas? Half an hour later, I look up to find I have eight Wikipedia tabs about crops open and have eBayed a book on 17 th century women in the printing trade. Writing fantasy in settings that loosely mirror our own world means I’m never satisfied until I know whether the technology I’m describing feels plausible. What was the strangest thing you had to do when researching to write a story? Friends have also been very kind in looking manuscripts over and advising us on self-publishing. Remco and I trade drafts having a live-in editor is the greatest gift a writer could have. What type of support could you not do without during the writing process? Of course, now I have another non-fiction project in the pipeline alongside a novella and a short story collection. I spent the next few years working on a novel and various short stories, got into freelance journalism to teach myself to write to deadlines, then got out again five years later, when the market got difficult and I realised I’m not that good at juggling fiction and non-fiction projects. I wrote a short story for a contest in a national paper – didn’t win, but it proved to me that I could finish something. Really, Remco’s encouragement was the thing that had the biggest impact, and he got me thinking about structure in a way I hadn’t before. I always had ideas and fragments as a child, but I didn’t really start writing with any ambition until the mid-2000s. In August my partner/co-writer Remco and I ran into Kerry at WorldCon, and then there was a lunch the following week as TitanCon was hosting EuroCon, so I met a lot more people then. I discovered it existed last February when I was at a Women Aloud NI event and a few members were present/speaking. What is your connection to Otherworlds NI? In this month’s blog we’re delighted to present an interview with Otherworlder Angeline Adams, in which she talks about her background, influences, and the projects she’s currently working on…

Abendau's Heir by Jo Zebedee