All authors do research for their stories. In honor of the book release for Untethered: A Magic
iPhone Anthology, five authors divulge what they looked up, discovered, or simply ran across in
the process of creating tales of magic and technology.
H.M. Jones: I learned that I can write funny stories. It’s not that I don’t think of myself as funny;
it’s just that most of my work is serious in nature, often very emotional. This one is completely
different. It showed a side of me as an author that I didn’t know was there. It made me realize
that I can jump out of my box and I enjoyed so doing.
Manny Frishberg (writing with Edd Vick): We learned small bits of information about Kash Ruth
(kosher) dietary law and about anaphylactic shock.
Jon Lasser: I wrote the first part of this story, with the core idea, a while ago. It took me a lot
longer to understand what needed to be fleshed out to make it an enjoyable experience for the
reader, and longer still to find the right ending. If I learned anything while writing “Real Selfies,”
it was to allow myself to come back several times over the course of more than a year, and to
learn to tell the story organically, without rushing it or demanding instant gratification.
Aaron Giddings: I learned to play Vampire: The Masquerade. Playing in a group that was doing a ’90s Seattle setting helped me experiment with a lot of character ideas and setting backdrops that influenced my final story.
Jonathon Burgess: I learned that the soundtrack to Pacific Rim can make ANYTHING sound
heroic.
Want to see what these authors did with the concept of a magic iPhone? Pick up your copy of
Untethered: a Magic iPhone Anthology in ebook or trade paperback today. Find it at
Amazon.com, Nook, or wherever you prefer to grab your books.
Extra Interest: Jeremiah Reinmiller shares “iPhones are pretty amazing, but I’m an Android guy.
Did that influence me? Nah, not much. Technology is technology, bugs are bugs. The
“shininess” of the corporation behind the iPhone though did lend itself to some specific jokes, I
thought.”
Previous interview segments:
Untethered Authors Speculate on the Next Big Thing in Portable Tech
Inspiration Untethered
Untethered Authors Disclose Their Story Inspirations for the Anthology (two involve Clippy!)
Untethered Authors Disclose Their Story Inspirations for the Anthology, Part II
Unthethered Authors Speculate on the Future of Contemporary Fantasy Fiction in Light of Rapid Changes in Technology
Untethered Authors Share What They Learned While Writing for this Anthology, Part I