I am thrilled to host this month an interview with Kelly Matsuura, the Publisher of the Insignia Series, anthologies of Asian SF and Fantasy.
- Who is Kelly Matsuura and how did she become a writer?
I am Australian and grew up in a small town in Victoria. In high school, I had the opportunity to go to Japan for a short homestay. I’d always dreamed of travelling and living abroad, and that one experience really did set me on a path that I couldn’t see at the time. Later I went to university in Melbourne, studied Japanese and Asian Studies, then after graduation I went to China for a year to work as an English teacher. I lived in a very isolated ‘village’ about 2 hours from Haerbin (famous for the Ice Sculpting Festival in winter).
That’s when I started writing; when I was alone in my hotel room on weekends and the weather was too terrible to go anywhere. I was very into crime fiction at the time and started a murder mystery novel that was way too complex for me to actually finish. But I saw that I could improve, if I took the time to learn. I didn’t start writing consistently or join a writing group until 2011 though, when I was married and settled in Japan (I live here permanently). Having other writers to talk to and encourage you is so essential. I’m not famous or making a profit from writing, but it’s my passion and what I want to invest my time in. I don’t necessarily write about my life intimately, but the world around me is definitely a part of each story.
- Speculative fiction. What has attracted you to it in the first place?
I hadn’t thought about this much before. When I started entering short story contests, I was more interested in writing literary pieces. (And still thought I was going to write that crime novel too, I think!) But then I wrote a fantasy drabble for a contest and got amazing feedback—the editor was so gushy over my young, dreamy writing voice— I took off with it! Now, I write mostly fantasy and some science fiction. I really love literary-style speculative fiction too.
- Your favourite authors – who they are and what you’d like to tell about them?
A tough question. Some of my most favourite books aren’t by my favourite authors, so I’m thinking of authors whose books I have continued to read over many years. I think I’ll just list a dozen and see who I get: John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Virginia Andrews, Anita Shreve, Stephen King, Ann Rice, Nalini Singh, Amy Tan, Vikram Seth, Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Oscar Wilde. I love writers who create their own worlds and have distinct styles. They don’t have to be fantasy or sci-fi writers to inspire me.
- You’re an editor/publisher with The Insignia Series. Let’s talk about your future goals.
I’m not a professional editor, but I love helping indie writers and creating a space for more Asian speculative fiction to be shared. I hope to continue producing more anthologies and that could lead to bigger projects. Eg: I’d love to run contests one day, and maybe publish single author collections or novellas. My biggest goal for the series at the moment is just to build up its visibility: we need more non-writers discovering the series, and we need more reviews shared, etc. I want to make the blog more exciting too. It has tons of potential; I just need to put the work into it.
- You write amazing stories, too. What about Kelly the writer?
Thank you for saying so! My most recent publication is the newest Insignia Series anthology, ‘Insignia: Asian Flash Fiction & Poetry’. (It has your amazing poem in it too). I also have a flash story coming out with Stupefying Stories, but don’t have a date yet. Mostly what I’m writing at the moment is for my pen name: lots of light and dark fantasy romance. And as always, I’m plodding along with various short stories submissions month to month.
- 2018. The story that made you cry -if any.
Well, I didn’t cry, but did you read Cynthia So’s story ‘Mother’ in Arsenika? It was so divine! ( Link to read it online: http://arsenika.ink/fiction/mother/ ) And I’m mentioning it because I was so jealous that I couldn’t have it for The Insignia Series! It is exactly my taste for Asian literary fantasy.
- Thank you, Kelly, for sharing your experiences with us!
Thank you so much for the interview! It’s made me think about myself and my writing goals in a new way.
You can download for free all the seven volumes of The Insignia Series from Smashwords for this month only. Read how here.