Ah what can i say about Caligatha? Turns out quite a lot! Caligatha is the latest book from American author Matt Spire, that throws us into a new post-apocalyptic universe that leaves you reeling from start to finish.
I was sent Caligatha by the lovely Matt Spire a few months back and was curious right from the off by the use of such an unusual title. I decided to research into the book and the author before I delved into reading it and found that it was exactly what I was hoping it to be. As a lover of sci-fi and fantasy I was super jazzed to crack this book open and delve into the crazy world of Caligatha.
The book weaves two story lines together on separate time lines and you are never sure if they are going to come together or not (and won't tell you if they do as i'm trying not to give to much away). The suspense that is subtly built throughout the book from this is immense and constantly has you trying to figure out how the two connect. It is beautifully confusing, twisting and turning to constantly keep you on your toes. This is really a testament to Matt's writing to create this kind of world and story that keeps you completely hooked.
This is also seen in the character development which a lot of major authors struggle with. How the characters move through the story and how their back stories are built up to then leak into the main story is done perfectly and really pulls you into the story. It may be a cliché but it is definitely a book you do not want to put down, I know I couldn't. We had a chance to talk to Matt about his works which was so exciting for us to really understand how the author come to create what we get to read.
1. Did you plan out your narrative before writing it or did it develop naturally?
I started writing Caligatha ten years ago, but was too overwhelmed. I never felt like I knew enough to write a novel, particularly science fiction. Once I really set down to write it, ten years of thinking about it flew out the window and it practically wrote itself. It was chaos. Now I have a dry-erase board and post-it notes everywhere for my next book.
2. Which authors/works did you draw inspiration from (if any)
I love Margaret Atwood, and her Maddaddam series (known for Oryx and Crake) certainly influenced Caligatha. I always admired William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut. If you mixed all these together you'd probably get something like what I've produced. But there's also a dark element I can't quite account for. Readers have assumed I must be a fan of Neil Gaiman, but I have to admit I only started reading him after the comparisons.
3. What advice would you give new authors that are looking to self publish?
Writing is half the battle. You have to always be thinking about your book. There are potential marketing opportunities everywhere. But at the same time, you need to keep it all in perspective and know when to relax. It's hard to discern that sometimes.
4. Do you plan to write a sequel to Caligatha
Absolutely! It's already plotted out. The whole universe has so much potential. I've released a few short stories online and plan to put together a collection of them. There's a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction out there, but usually the whole world is a barren wasteland or everyone has devolved into murderous tribes. I can't think of many examples of a post-apocalyptic world where a lot of high technology has survived and there's a wide spectrum of societies—I'd like to see more writers use apocalyptic fiction to examine the rich-poor divide, reevaluate our use of resources, and so on, rather than just make a point about how awful we are. We're at the precipice already. We don't need anymore warnings about doomsday. Let's examine our choices.
5. Did you find it difficult/challenging to intertwine the two stories?
Not challenging, but I was—am, really—concerned that it's too confusing, or there were too many characters. There's also an event or two where it feels like the rug is being pulled out from your feet. That can be good or bad. Everyone wants to be clever, but no one wants to be accused of pulling a Shyamalan twist because they wrote themselves into a corner. So writing Caligatha was kind of like playing Jenga, because there's two stories with twists and turns being told throughout a few timelines, with unreliable narration thrown in, and to make it all fit you have to criss-cross them in just the right ways. It's up to the audience whether I succeeded, although thankfully so far readers seem pleased with the complexity.
I think that Matt did wonderfully with this book and we are so excited for the next instalments form this universe and whole-heartedly believe that Matt Spire is an up and coming author to watch out for in future.
The full version of Caligatha is now available on Amazon, I urge you to spend a bit of your hard earned cash on this amazing piece of literature and share the page and reviews that this book is getting.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattspire
Webpage: http://www.mattspire.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Caligatha-Speculative-Fiction-Novel-Realm-ebook/dp/B012BXQQTW
I was sent Caligatha by the lovely Matt Spire a few months back and was curious right from the off by the use of such an unusual title. I decided to research into the book and the author before I delved into reading it and found that it was exactly what I was hoping it to be. As a lover of sci-fi and fantasy I was super jazzed to crack this book open and delve into the crazy world of Caligatha.
The book weaves two story lines together on separate time lines and you are never sure if they are going to come together or not (and won't tell you if they do as i'm trying not to give to much away). The suspense that is subtly built throughout the book from this is immense and constantly has you trying to figure out how the two connect. It is beautifully confusing, twisting and turning to constantly keep you on your toes. This is really a testament to Matt's writing to create this kind of world and story that keeps you completely hooked.
This is also seen in the character development which a lot of major authors struggle with. How the characters move through the story and how their back stories are built up to then leak into the main story is done perfectly and really pulls you into the story. It may be a cliché but it is definitely a book you do not want to put down, I know I couldn't. We had a chance to talk to Matt about his works which was so exciting for us to really understand how the author come to create what we get to read.
1. Did you plan out your narrative before writing it or did it develop naturally?
I started writing Caligatha ten years ago, but was too overwhelmed. I never felt like I knew enough to write a novel, particularly science fiction. Once I really set down to write it, ten years of thinking about it flew out the window and it practically wrote itself. It was chaos. Now I have a dry-erase board and post-it notes everywhere for my next book.
2. Which authors/works did you draw inspiration from (if any)
I love Margaret Atwood, and her Maddaddam series (known for Oryx and Crake) certainly influenced Caligatha. I always admired William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut. If you mixed all these together you'd probably get something like what I've produced. But there's also a dark element I can't quite account for. Readers have assumed I must be a fan of Neil Gaiman, but I have to admit I only started reading him after the comparisons.
3. What advice would you give new authors that are looking to self publish?
Writing is half the battle. You have to always be thinking about your book. There are potential marketing opportunities everywhere. But at the same time, you need to keep it all in perspective and know when to relax. It's hard to discern that sometimes.
4. Do you plan to write a sequel to Caligatha
Absolutely! It's already plotted out. The whole universe has so much potential. I've released a few short stories online and plan to put together a collection of them. There's a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction out there, but usually the whole world is a barren wasteland or everyone has devolved into murderous tribes. I can't think of many examples of a post-apocalyptic world where a lot of high technology has survived and there's a wide spectrum of societies—I'd like to see more writers use apocalyptic fiction to examine the rich-poor divide, reevaluate our use of resources, and so on, rather than just make a point about how awful we are. We're at the precipice already. We don't need anymore warnings about doomsday. Let's examine our choices.
5. Did you find it difficult/challenging to intertwine the two stories?
Not challenging, but I was—am, really—concerned that it's too confusing, or there were too many characters. There's also an event or two where it feels like the rug is being pulled out from your feet. That can be good or bad. Everyone wants to be clever, but no one wants to be accused of pulling a Shyamalan twist because they wrote themselves into a corner. So writing Caligatha was kind of like playing Jenga, because there's two stories with twists and turns being told throughout a few timelines, with unreliable narration thrown in, and to make it all fit you have to criss-cross them in just the right ways. It's up to the audience whether I succeeded, although thankfully so far readers seem pleased with the complexity.
I think that Matt did wonderfully with this book and we are so excited for the next instalments form this universe and whole-heartedly believe that Matt Spire is an up and coming author to watch out for in future.
The full version of Caligatha is now available on Amazon, I urge you to spend a bit of your hard earned cash on this amazing piece of literature and share the page and reviews that this book is getting.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattspire
Webpage: http://www.mattspire.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Caligatha-Speculative-Fiction-Novel-Realm-ebook/dp/B012BXQQTW