I’d like to welcome the amazing Althea Lyons to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Laptop if I’m editing or notebook for new ideas, coloured pens and post-its for plotting, background music is preferred

Things that hamper your writing: My toddler waking up early, unexpected noise, the internet, other story ideas

Favorite foods: Chocolate, ice cream, cheese, pizza, most Italian food, my husband’s roast potatoes, hot sugared pecans, curry… basically, I’m a bit of a foody.

Things that make you want to gag: Tuna (intolerant or something), scampi (I used to work in a scampi factory), mint sauce (Savoury mint sauce. Weirdly I do like the sweet.)

Favorite beverage: Tea – comfort drink is Assam with a touch of milk, but I like most types of plain tea. Flavourings added to tea are very hit and miss.

Something that gives you a sour face: Coffee. I hate it. Can’t even stand the smell.

Something you’re really good at: Writing (I hope), listening, finding my way

Something you’re really bad at: Anything with balance e.g. bike riding, skating

Things you always put in your books: Found family, queer rep, mental health rep – these aren’t always intentional, I guess it’s just the kind of character who lives in my head

Things you never put in your books: Abusive relationships, heavy gore

Things to say to an author: “I love your book.” “I like character because…” “I enjoyed [element of book], that really touched me.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “[Famous Person] has to query [some ridiculously low number] of agents/publishers and now they make hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Italy (Rome & Venice), Arches National Park, The Yorkshire Dales, The John Rylands Library

Places you never want to go to again: Any food factory, inside an MRI machine

Favorite books (or genre): Fantasy although I also like sci-fi, thriller, crime fiction, and historical fiction

Books you wouldn’t buy: Straight up horror that’s really gory, contemporary romance without any speculative elements. No problems with them as genres, just not my personal cup of tea.

Things that make you happy: Family, stories, hilly scenery, music, sunshine

Things that drive you crazy: Inefficiency, ‘because we’ve always done that,’ books in the wrong order.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Either the first time I went to see my now-husband after breaking up with my then-boyfriend (see below about how I feel about talking to people!) or rock wall climbing after getting halfway up and getting literally frozen with terror, then doing it again because I was stubbornly determined to get to the top. I then had to do it a third time so my mother could watch.

Something you chickened out from doing: A lot of times when I kept thinking I should talk to someone and couldn’t work up the nerve. Starting conversations with strangers, especially if I have to talk about myself, e.g. if it’s a date or about my book, is so hard!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That one of the scenes in The Hiding was like a cross between Neil Gaiman and Guillermo Del Toro.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: When people say they don’t like the romance subplot in The Hiding, because, as far as I’m aware, there isn’t really one. Also two people who read the same chapter one in the same week and one said it made perfect sense and the other said they didn’t understand anything that was going on. Really drives home how subjective things are.

About Althea:

Alethea Lyons (she/ze) writes various forms of SFF, with a particular love for science-fantasy, dark fantasy, dystopias, and folklore. Her debut, The Hiding, is out March 5, 2024 as part of a three-book deal with Brigids Gate Press. Her short stories can be found in a variety of publications. Alethea lives in Manchester, U.K., with her husband, little Sprite, a cacophony of stringed instruments, and more tea than she can drink in a lifetime. Buy works or follow on social media at https://linktr.ee/alethearlyons

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