Welcome to the AdultFic interview book. Inside you'll find interview sessions with inspiring authors posted each month, as well as helpful hints for readers and writers alike.
Sabine Thomas, also known as FickleFriction, is the writer of The Manipulation of Magic, our featured book of the month. In this interview conducted by MeiSummer, we talk about her stint as a comics graphic artist, her love for magical realism, and the themes surrounding her work.
Meixia (MX): To start, imagine yourself as an Oscar awardee. How will the hosts introduce you before you're called on stage?
Sabine Thomas (ST): From Northern California, here's The Manipulation of Magic author Sabine Thomas. (I rarely watch award shows)
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
MX: While browsing through your profile, I noticed that dominance and control are prevalent themes in your works. The same can be said in The Manipulation of Magic, which is the featured book on the Adult Fiction profile for September. Is there any reason you often dwell on these topics?
ST: Probably because I hate other people having control of me or my affairs. Sometimes even falling asleep frightens me not because of bad dreams but because of the loss of control. According to my grandmother, I always fought sleep as a baby.
Dominance is something people are always trying to exert over others. I hate dealing with it in the real world but in fiction, I think it stresses what a person wants or needs. I have family members who are domineering and manipulative, and I always hated that. It's like being a pawn or simply an object that exists solely for their use. I do my best to avoid them.
I suppose writing is an indirect way of managing my feelings towards people who try to control others.
MX: I'm a fan of Magical Realism. That's why I was drawn to your work The Manipulation of Magic. What about magical realism do you like best and why did you choose to write stories under this genre?
ST: What I like best about Magical Realism is the feeling that magic could be there, hiding beneath the veneer of everyday life. While I'm a firm believer in science, I've always since I can remember had this desire or maybe suspicion that there was something more. The first book I ever read on my own was Alice In Wonderland so maybe it springs from that. I don't actually choose the genre when I write. The stories just develop that way. It must be an unconscious leaning towards the unusual and the magical.
MX: Do you have authors you look up to? What book or piece of art has greatly inspired the way you write?
ST: My favorite authors change with the years but three have stuck with me and no doubt influenced me. One of them is Martha Grimes. She writes mysteries but it's her characters that make me buy her books. They play off each other really well. There always seems to be a bit of smartass to their personalities, which I love. And her detective, Richard Jury, certainly has a dark, reflective personality which never fails to draw me to him.
