Alma Alexander

answers the Usual Questions

Alma Alexander

Alma Alexander (Alma Hromic Deckert) is a Yugoslavian-born young adult and adult fantasy writer who now lives in the United States.

Has your interaction with fans, for example, at conventions, affected your work?

Other than that I love hearing reactions to my work from readers who might use a convention to tell me about it, there is no direct effect on the work. I HAVE had the occasional comment along the lines of "I wish you'd have [put together a different pair of characters/taken the story in a different direction/told us a bit more about your setting and your world/insert your own quibble of choice here] but when that happens I usually just end up having a nice conversation about it. conventions, affected your work?

I don't defend my choices in the aftermath, to anyone, nor do I use the interaction to shape a future path. THe long and the short of it is that my stories are ALREADY told, and all I do is take dictation, in a sense - few things can be affected in this kind of set-up by interactions with fans...

Is there any particular incident (a letter, a meeting, a comment that stands out?

The woman who bought a copy of Secrets of Jin Shei for her adopted Chinese daughter, so that she would have something to read that did such wonderful things to the child's birth culture. She then said, after I had asked how to spell the child's Chinese name and carefully wrote it down in the autograph, "Thank you so much! I will look forward to giving her this when she is old enough to read it!" A little taken aback (I had assumed the girl would be getting the present NOW) I asked how old the daughter was. The mother said, "Four."

I am still blown away by the fact that somebody bought my book in trust for a child not yet grown, to keep as a treasure of her future.

Do you have a favourite author or book (or writer or film or series) that has influenced you or that you return to?

Tolkien. Roger Zelazny. Guy Gavriel Kay. Sharon Penman, Ursula le Guin. And (one you've probably never heard of) Howard Spring - who is the greatest master of creating characters who suck you into a story that I've ever been privileged to read.

As for other media... Babylon 5. I keep on re-watching the whole damned thing. It is just so PERFECT.

Who is the person you would most like to be trapped in a lift with? or a spaceship?

I don't want to be trapped in an elevator at all! Claustrophobic!! But if I had to be... can I have Jean Luc Picard...? (He'd figure out a way to get us out...)

Who is the person you would most DISlike to be trapped in a lift with? Or a spaceship?

That would be telling.

What would you pack for space? (Is there a food, beverage, book, teddy bear, etc that you couldn't do without?)

A very substantial supply of coffee (to which I think I am literally addicted). And yes, I'd probably take my teddy bear. He's been with me since I was a year old, on four different continents now, so why wouldn't I take him along to the stars...?

What is the most important thing you would like to get/achieve from your work?

Whenever someone comes up to me and tells me that something I wrote made any sort of difference to them - made them sad, made them happy, made them mad - my work is done. As far as a long-term goal... I'd love for my stories to be read and remembered long after I myself am no longer here.

What is the special satisfaction of your work?

I get to live in all the worlds that exist in my imagination. And better still, I get to be the guide who navigates the journeys of other people through those worlds. It's a great feeling.

submitted by Alma Hromic Deckert

15 September 2013

For other answers to The Usual Questions Click here

Just the facts:
Born: The day after America, six years before a man walked on the moon, in a city by a great river which is in a country that no longer exists on the maps.
Resides: Pacific Northwest, USA
Bibliography/Awards:

Web site:
www.AlmaAlexander.org
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