I was lucky to get an interview with Shelly Campbell, the author of Under the Lesser Moon, and a semifinalist in this year’s #SPFBO9.

Please, tell us a bit about yourself…
At a young age, I wanted to be an air show pilot or a pirate, possibly a dragon and definitely a writer and artist. I’ve piloted a Cessna 172 through spins and stalls, and sailed up the east coast on a tall ship barque—mostly without projectile vomiting. In the end, I found writing stories and drawing dragons to be so much easier on the stomach. I write science fiction, fantasy and horror novels, all with a bit of darkness. My stories are character driven and—I’m told—a bit harrowing to read, as I’m not kind to my main characters. I’m kind in real life though. Pinky swear.

Why should I buy your SPFBO9 entry?
Akrist is a first born son who’s just discovered that he’s being raised as a sacrifice to appease his tribe’s goddess and win back her dragons. If you mashed together the grimness of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones with the setting of Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear and the coming of age feel of Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice, you’d have Under the Lesser Moon.

What got you into writing? And how long have you been doing it?
I’ve written since I was a child, and always tales that were a bit uncomfortable, the kind that got my parent’s called into the principal’s office because teacher’s were concerned that many of my stories didn’t have particularly happy endings. I published Under the Lesser Moon just as Covid started. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride for this book.

Have you participated in the SPFBO before and where did you hear about the competition?
First time. I’m an SPFBO virgin! Several writers I admire had books in last year’s competition and the encouragement and comradery in the SPFBO community was so refreshing to see, I knew I wanted to be part of next year’s competition if I could.

Why did you choose to write fantasy?
What’s more fun than fantasy? It allows us to literally create worlds! I love exploring the balance between world-building and storytelling. I don’t want my readers feeling like they’re slogging through an encyclopedia about the place I’ve created, I want them to feel transported. My work tends to be slower-paced, character focused, and a bit emotionally devastating. My mission is to get you inside my character’s head and have you care about them. If you don’t care about them, you won’t give a damn about their struggles, and you certainly won’t keep reading.

If I’ve done my job well, you’ll be attached enough to my characters to hurt along with them when things get rough, and to feel joy and relief when they succeed.

Which other author has had the biggest influence on your writing?
So many, I can’t choose.  Anne McCaffery, Steven King, Essa Hansen, Pierce Brown, Sunyi Dean, Trudie Skies, Fonda Lee, Premee Mohamed, Al Hess, Martha Wells, Darby Harn, Stephen Graham Jones, Brittni Brinn, Nnedi Okorafor, David Green, Jennifer Lane…
I could go on forever!

Oh, and of course, Mark Lawrence.

Do I get extra points for that?

Kidding!

If you were to win the SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?
It would be a huge tool for visibility. People would hear about Under the Lesser Moon, who I would never reach through my own means. Also, I know other authors have repeated this, but it does bear repeating. There is something very special about the community building in SPFBO that doesn’t happen in a lot of other places. I’m already making connections and meeting authors who I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. Mark Lawrence has created something really special here.

What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?
Under the Lesser Moon was my debut, and boy, did it go through some growing pains. It took me ages to write. I didn’t have the confidence or skill to breathe life into it, and had to grow into it as time went by.

The book went through hundreds of rejections, had one offer of publication fall through, and was published by a lovely small publisher just as Covid hit and the world shut down. It was a pretty rough start out the gate. That publisher was unable to stay in business and closed their doors when Under the Lesser Moon had been out in the world for only a year. They were gracious enough to expediently return all my rights as well as rights to cover art, so I decided to self-publish the series so that I could get the book of my heart back out into the world.

It’s been quite the journey, but here we are! Still having fun 😊

Do you have any tips or an author app, tool, or resource that you can really recommend we try?
So many authors have offered wonderful advice and concrete writing tips, I only have this to add:

Breathe.

This is a marathon, not a sprint and none of us are starting at the same line. Some people are miles ahead of you, some will never even get to the starting blocks, but we’re all here because we love running… Okay, I actually hate running, so perhaps this wasn’t the best analogy.

Take two:

Your books will find their people. They will touch hearts. Readers will fall in love with them. They’ll hate them too. People will leave scathing reviews or none at all. As much as all that hits you in the feels, just breathe. Remember why you fell in love with writing and keep doing it if it still brings you joy 😊 This world needs more joy. It needs more books. Always more books.

And now it's time to yank out your Palantir! Let’s talk about the future. What new projects are you working on?
I am wrapping up edits on book two of my YA post-apocalypse Sol Survivor series where solar flares have wiped out electrical grids and our heroine, Iris, lives in a commune that harvests old hard drives, scribing the internet back onto paper and selling the information they mine.

I’m also in the midst of writing the sequel to Gulf, a coming of age, otherworldly, quiet horror where David finds a new door in his family’s old summer cottage and unknowingly opens a portal to a terrifying world.

Apps that are based on artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGTP and Midjourney, along with apps aimed specifically at authors, have caused quite a stir. Do you expect these new technologies will make your life as a self-published author easier or harder, and do you expect that they’ll mean you’ll earn more or less?
Oh boy. Pardon me and my soapbox for a moment, or just skip if you’ve no interest in my opinion which is all this is.

Firstly—full disclosure—I co-authored a book that used AI art on the cover before I fully understood the mechanics behind it. As soon as my co-author and I understood how damaging AI was, we took the cover down and designed our own. Know better. Do better, right? And now that I know better, I won’t knowingly use AI content again. Here’s why:

I think AI in education, art, media and writing has had terrifying effects in those fields already. The market is flooded with AI books. It’s getting more and more difficult to differentiate AI created content from art created by humans. And it’s developing at an insane pace.

We are at a crossroads where consumers can  ‘custom order’ a song, story, or piece of art made just for them and they might not particularly care who or what the creator was, so long as they’re relatively satisfied with the content.

AI steals off the backs of talented people who have put years of work into learning their craft. Some would argue that artists and authors use other art and media as references and inspiration too. But there is a huge difference here. I pay to use an artist’s work, I pay for the books that I buy to improve my craft. I pay to buy songs I like. I compensate other artists and ask for permission to reference their work.

AI steals off the backs of hard-working people. Simple as that.

It’s a tough time to be a creator, but I think there’s magic in it. There’s something fantastic in reaching across huge divides and touching another soul with art, in finding commonalities with complete strangers.

Art is something that all humans do. It’s a behavior. Even if we’re not skilled at it, it’s wired into us to appreciate it. It’s how we express ourselves. It fills us up.

AI steals to create content.

And content is not art.

People create art.

I want to support people who create the art I consume. I hope my readers feel the same way 😊

Do you have any dreams you’d like to share?
My dream is to keep finding joy in writing and art. It can be a grind. It can feel like an uphill battle sometimes, but I still find it fulfilling bringing imaginary people to life out of the ether, and somewhat comforting to know that when I’m gone, perhaps my art and writing will still be out there, in thrift stores and little free libraries, on dusty shelves, getting picked up and reaching someone I’ll never meet, but still get to share a bit of myself with. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is!

Anything else you would like to say before we close?
Oh, I think I’ve been long-winded enough already 😊 Thank you so much for inviting me to your interview, and thank you for supporting SPFBO authors! Much appreciated.

😊you’re welcome! I wish you the very best in the SPFBO. I hope a lot of readers discover your writing.
Thanks for doing the interview.