Friday 13 February 2015

Malcolm Wells and The Spires of Kurrong

Today we welcome Malcolm Wells to Promote Me Please to answer five questions on his new book The Spires of Kurrong. We love books at Promote Me Please, and we have a special love for innovative fantasy and sf with a heart.



Q. The people of the spires... this is an evocative description. Please tell us a bit about the spires and how they came about?
A. A chain of extinct volcanoes dominates the continent of Kurrong. The spires are two of these huge extinct volcanoes on which a mysterious sect originally built two domed cities in order to live in seclusion away from the surface dwellers.

Q. How long is it since people have been to the surface?
A. Many generations. The original inhabitants of the domes vacated the cities when war broke out between the two tribes who lived on the surface. The survivors of the warring nations were imprisoned in the spires. Their people remained incarcerated for a number of generations before this story begins.

Q. What was your inspiration for this existence?
A. I envisaged people building domed cities on top of extinct volcanoes and the story grew from there. I don’t recall just what evoked that vision.

Q. The class divide is a well-represented barrier to romance and marriage. How do Markus and Filona handle their different expectations?
A. The two main characters are both strong individuals with a will to decide their own fate. Filona is hesitant at first, but she has an inbuilt belief that she is just as good as the more affluent Outer Zone dwellers, and that helps her overcome her initial fears. With both of them, it is basically love and a will to succeed that overcomes their differences.

Q. The names Markus and Filona are good ones; sounding familiar but differing in spelling to the more usual Marcus and Fiona/Philomena. Did you start from those base names or did the spellings you use come intuitively?
A. There is a trend these days for people to alter the spelling of their names. For instance, a cousin of mine was christened Linda and now calls herself Lindh. I used a similar method to come up with names for the novel.

Thanks, Malcolm! Read on for details on publication and availability.

The Spires of Kurrong

TITLE: The Spires of Kurrong                                 
AUTHOR: Malcolm Wells                                                             
ISBN: 978-0-9942463-1-8
FORMATS: Paperback and eBook
EXTENT: 244 pages
AU RRP: eBook: $4.99
                 Paperback: $20.00
PUBLISHER: Morris Publishing Australia
http://morrispublishingaustralia.com
CATEGORY: Sci Fi/fantasy
AUDIENCE:  Young Adult
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL ORDERS:
Morris Publishing Australia -
Paperback and eBook available on Morris Publishing’s website, Amazon and

many online stores.  

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