Author L.N. Hunter from Cambridgeshire, UK, was a software engineer until 2019 but has changed trade since to become a full-time(ish) author, having discovered the pleasure of writing in 2015. His first published short story, “Summer’s Time,” appeared in “Rosette Maleficarium #1” in 2016, and his first novel, the comic fantasy “The Feather and the Lamp,” popped up at the end of 2022, courtesy of Three Ravens Publishing. L.N. is active on Scribophile and says none of his writing “would be publishable without the valuable feedback I’ve received from Scribophile members.” Some of his short stories have also appeared in Short Édition’s “Short Circuit” and in podcasts such as “The Horrifying Tales of Wonder” and the “NoSleep Podcast”.
Which genres do you cover?
L.N. Hunter: I write mainly horror, fantasy and sci-fi, almost always with a dose of humor. I like mixing genres and throwing in anachronisms—there’s a nod towards quantum mechanics in my fantasy novel, for example.
Which is the latest book you had published, and what is about?
L.N. Hunter: “The Feather and the Lamp” is the tale of a would-be adventurer, Imperceptibility Happenstance, who gets tricked into owning a magic lamp. The first wish granted by its devious djinn has her press-ganged into the Navy, where she finds herself on the wrong side in a mutiny and cast adrift, heading for the underworld. After negotiations with the dread Kharon, she returns to the surface, only to be sacrificed to a dragon. And things get worse from there, involving quantum physics, time travel, exploding methane, and a very fine goose feather.
At which book events can readers find you?
L.N. Hunter: Alas, I haven’t been to any yet. Hopefully soon … Worldcon is in Glasgow next year, close enough that I have no excuse not to attend.
Which book event connecting you with readers is your favorite and why?
L.N. Hunter: Currently, this doesn’t apply.
Do(es) your book(s) have any specific messages to your readers and, if so, which are they?
None of my writing is particularly profound. If any messages exist, the main one is probably to have fun and laugh at things. Perhaps also that little things and seemingly insignificant people can make a difference. As for a message from me to my readers, buy my books and give them nice reviews. Persuade local bookshops to stock them. Putting on my serious hat for a moment: do this for any author you read, especially newcomers, since visibility really helps us. And positive feedback does wonderful things for the author’s ego.
Which writer(s) keep(s) inspiring you and why?
L.N. Hunter: Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams are my all-time favorite authors and heavily influenced “The Feather and the Lamp,” but they’re not producing any work at the moment, for rather obvious reasons [Pratchett passed away in 2015, Adams in 2001]. I find inspiration in the work of many cartoonists, who provide bursts of humor or off-kilter thinking that give my braincells a nudge towards the weird: examples include Sarah Andersen, Nick Seluk, Randall Munroe, and Matthew Inman, but there are many more. I also like dipping into “Judge Dredd” comics as the bizarre world in which he exists is full of so many wacky ideas.
Do you have specific writing habits?
L.N. Hunter: Sadly, the main one is procrastinating. I do try to write every day, even if it’s only a couple of sentences. It might not be on my novel and could be no more than a half-baked outline for yet another short story, but working on the latter does get their distracting ideas out of my head so that I can concentrate on novel writing. That’s the hope.
What are you currently working on?
L.N. Hunter: The sequel to “The Feather and the Lamp,” tentatively called “The Djinn and the Moonflower.” Imperceptibility is now a fully-fledged member of the Adventurers’ Guild, but she’s bored – it really hasn’t lived up to expectations. But then she discovers that the sun is vanishing, and a race starts to … Well, you’ll have to wait and see.
Which book are you currently reading simply for entertainment?
L.N. Hunter: Gill Sims’ “Why Mummy’s Sloshed.” The “Why’s Mummy” series contains the funniest books I’ve read for ages.
What advice would you give any aspiring author?
L.N. Hunter: Write for yourself, not an audience you think exists. None of us is as unique as we might think, which is a good thing in that there are sure to be many people who like what you like. If you write what makes you smile/cry/whatever, you’ll have a real audience somewhere. Second, don’t wait for perfection—bash down however many words of garbage and think about fixing it up later. On that note, let other people see it and get feedback from them, and then use that feedback to improve the work. (And always remember the criticism is about the writing, not the writer.) You don’t “need” an MFA (though it might help). Finally, before submitting anything for publication, check for typos and other goofs. It helps to experience the piece as a reader, and you can get closer to that by leaving it for a while, so the story’s no longer in your head, or by viewing it in a different way from the editing screen, such as on paper or in audio form (e.g., via a text to speech system).
You can find L.N. Hunter’s books at Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, Blackwell’s and other book stores as well as on Amazon and a complete list of other stories appears at https://linktr.ee/l.n.hunter.
