The Strong Women Strange Worlds QuickReads event on June 18 brings together an incredible group of speculative fiction authors, and today I’m delighted to welcome one of them to the blog: fantasy author Alma Alexander.
Her work spans epic fantasy, young adult fiction, short stories, and anthologies. Known for acclaimed novels such as The Secrets of Jin-Shei and the Worldweavers series, she has captivated readers around the world with stories that blend imagination, humanity, and a deep sense of wonder. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about her writing journey, creative process, and the stories she loves to tell.
For those unfamiliar, Strong Women Strange Worlds is a long-running virtual reading series that celebrates women and nonbinary creators in speculative fiction. Each event brings together authors of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other imaginative genres for an evening of short readings, fascinating stories, and plenty of creative inspiration (with giveaways, too!). Please be sure to register for this free event and enjoy an incredible evening. Register: https://tinyurl.com/m5n37k5n
Do you tend to start with character, worldbuilding, plot, or a single image?
Yes.
As in, all of the above at some point. There are times when fully fleshed out characters stepped out from the walls and just said, hi, my name is {whatever}, sit down and take dictation please. There are times when I felt the wind from a different world brush my face and carry an unfamiliar scent… and I would follow it to the source. There are times when I wrote a scene from A Plot and then had to work hard to write the book in which that scene actually fit. There are times I would wake from a dream with nothing but a single image… and that blossoms into a story.
In other words, writing is chaos. I just try to keep afloat.
What drew you to speculative fiction in the first place?
The freedom to dream. I write historical FANTASY, not historical FICTION – because the former lets me stay grounded in history but gives me the freedom to say, well, this is MY world, and this thing that I am writing about never happened, never could happen, in the true world. and that’s ok because I have this whole other world that I have made in which I can play. It’s liberating.
Which book, movie, or author made you realize you wanted to tell stories?
Zelazny. Tolkien. Le Guin. Classic fairy tales. Star Wars. ALL of it. Every good story that landed near me. EVERYTHING is a building block.
What does your ideal reading atmosphere look like? (Tea? Thunderstorms? Blankets? Total silence?)
I read anything, everything, all the time. The ideal reading atmosphere boils down to, here’s a book, here’s me, let’s read. If I don’t have a book, I’ll read cereal box blurbs if that’s what is in front of me. I taught myself to read at 4. I have been a reader all of my life. Reading is my world; there are no ideals here. It just IS.
What are you currently working on or excited about next?
Currently working on a book which became two books which turned into a trilogy. There’s a lot of story here, and I am trying hard to wrestle it all down to a manageable size. But Book I is now done. Book II is in process. And my newest lush historical fantasy is on its way…
Bio: Alma Alexander’s life so far has prepared her very well for her chosen career. She was born in a country which no longer exists on the maps, has lived and worked in seven countries on four continents (and in cyberspace!), has climbed mountains, dived in coral reefs, flown small planes, swum with dolphins, touched two-thousand-year-old tiles in a gate out of Babylon. She is a novelist, anthologist and short story writer who currently shares her life between the Pacific Northwest of the USA (where she lives with two obligatory writer’s cats) and the wonderful fantasy worlds of her own imagination.
You can find out more about Alma and her books
on her website (www.AlmaAlexander.org),
at her “Evil Empiire” author page (https://amzn.to/2N6xE9u),
on Bluesky (@almaalexander.bsky.social),
at her Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlmaAlexander/),
or at her Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/AlmaAlexander)