Meet Mel Skubich
Mel Skubich (* born 1973) cannot recall a
time without books or imaginary friends. Even though she made some very dear
real friends and is at least theoretically grown up, she still loves telling
tales and getting to know the many characters that live inside her head. Her
fascination with books lead her to studying librarianship in what later became
her home town of choice, Cologne.
Her writing can best be described as Dark
Queer Urban Fantasy. Some has touches of romance, others of steamy adult fun. A
fascination with LGBT culture has influenced her work at least as much as her
love of 80s pop music, everything Victorian, fairy tales, folklore and whatever
may hide in the dark shadows under your bed.
Currently she's working on her first novel
and several other projects and shares a flat in Berlin,Germany with fellow
author Stevie Conradi..
Her short stories have been published in
the following anthologies:
-
Your Early Stuff and Other
Voices by Diamant
-
Cirques d'obscure by Crushing
Hearts and Black Butterflies
-
Rock and Roll Saved My Soul II,
The Concert Experience, I am loved: tales of lgbt acceptance by Rock and Roll
Saved My Soul
-
Fighting Change II & III,
Authors against bullying II by Authors against bullying
What is your name and/or pen name?
Mel Skubich is the name I publish under.
It's my real name, a little bit shortened from Melanie. Not very inventive, I
know.
How
long have you been writing?
I've
been writing ever since I was a teenager. Instead of paying attention at class,
I would fill my notebooks which what I thought of as poems. Then I started to
write fan fiction. At first I wrote stories about my favourite bands and
singers, then I discovered Star Trek and Harry Potter fan fiction and wrote
some of as well. A chance meeting on the internet, via Facebook, then made me
give up fan fiction and start my own novel. About 7 years ago, I became friends
with the Diamant Twins and we worked on a cross-over story for fun. While this
beast, which ended up being several hundred pages long, was never finished, it
made me realize I wanted to create my own characters.
What
is your favourite book/piece you have written?
I'm quite fond of “The Curious Case of the
Digging Men” I co-wrote with Stevie Conradi and the follow-up story called “
Seance at St.Bart's”, which both were published in 'Other Voices', an anthology
the Diamant Twins put together a little while back. It's fun writing Victorian
characters.
What
are you working on currently?
Several things. There is my Raoul Sinclair:
Mirror Walker novel, which will most likely be called “Shattered”. The first
draft is done, but it needs some serious re-writing, editing, polishing, all of
that good stuff.
Then there's a novel I started writing
during last year's #nanowrimo, which is some kind of stone age fantasy story
about Rrak, the priest of the Raven Goddess.
I also have to finish a story starring the
same characters as “The Curious Case of the Digging Men”, Alistair Gordon and
Jerome Garibaldi. I 'share' the characters with Stevie Conradi. Sometime we
co-write their adventures, sometimes we work on stories on own own. The stories
are set in Victorian London, Alistair is a big fan of the works of Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and together with his student and friend Jerome, investigates
strange occurrences.
Who is your favourite writer/author?
Where do I start? Oscar Wilde, Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, Anne Rice, Val McDermid, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Cornelia
Funke, Christoph Marzi, Stephen King, Peter Ackroyd, W.H. Auden...
What is your Favourite Book/Book Series?
Harry Potter ( I love how detailed the
world is and how the characters develop and grow up). Lord of the Rings. The
Emily Laing Trilogy by German author Christoph Marzi.
What made you decide to be a writer? And who or what inspires you the most to be a
writer?
Two things, actually. One was the
collaboration with the Diamant Twins. They were working on their first
NightBoys novel back then and I thought: this is so cool, they write about
everything they love – pop music, lgbt issues, vampires -, I want to that as
well! The other was reading the books by Christoph Marzi. He also put lot's of
reference to his favourite music into his book and some of his main characters
are musicians. When I first read his stories, I felt like lighting had struck.
It really set the little wheels at the back of my head going.
And to answer the second question: Music.
My favourite bands and singers inspire me the most. Most of my main characters
in the Raoul Sinclair world are based on them.
What kind of music do you listen to when
you write, if any? Favourite singer/band?
It depends on. If I want to evoke a certain
mood or try to picture a certain kind of landscape, I usually listen to
soundtracks or Celtic music. If I need to get in the mood for Raoul, I listen
to music by Marc Almond or his first band, Soft Cell. I have playlists on
Spotify for all occasions, even some based on stories I wrote or characters.
My all-time favourite artist are: Pet Shop
Boys, Marc Almond/Soft Cell and Holly Johnson/ Frankie goes to Hollywood but I
listen to all sorts of stuff. From Dead Can Dance to Buddy Holly, from Jacques
Brel to Bowie or Gossip to My Fair Lady.
What is your favourite genre to write and
read?
To write: Urban Fantasy, Victorian Mystery
and Gay Romance.
To read: Fantasy, Crime and Historical
Novels.
If you could meet any writer, living or
dead, who would it be?
Oscar Wilde. He was a legend in his time,
before society sentenced him to prison for having an affair with Lord Alfred
Douglas. Imagine the conversation! And the drinks, the meal...
What do you most want to accomplish as a
writer?
Write stories people love to read. To
create believable characters, which touch people's hearts.
What
was it like working with Rock & Roll Saved My Soul? Would you recommend them to someone else?
It
was great! Everybody was really friendly and helpful. They are a great bunch of
people and the one author event I was part of was such great fun, so yes, I'd
recommend them to all my writer friends.
For
more information about Mel Skubich, please visit:
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