1.- Could you introduce yourself to Jamreads’ readers?
Salutations! Thank you so much for the spotlight! My name is Calum Lott, I’m a SFF writer from Australia. I’ve just published my debut novel A Dirge for Cascius: Part I, and several short stories for free on my mailing list. Most of what I do really just comes down to being a fan of good literature, film, video games and music. They are my favourite things in this life which I consume everyday, in addition to hordes of ice cream (despite my stomach’s disdain for such consumption). 

2.- How did you start writing?
When I was a teenager I started scratching down a story on blank A4 pieces of paper about pirates and ninja’s - some blend of my obsession with One Piece and Naruto. Besides that, I was always creating stories in my mind. Long drives were spent wondering if the clouds were aliens or spaceships in disguise. 
In terms of writing seriously, I think it came about as most things do, in imitation. I was writing metal song lyrics about alien life forms coming to harvest humanity and a far future human society, all of which took heavy inspiration from a band called Rings of Saturn. Yet from there, I quickly discovered my passion for worldbuilding and focused on that for many years, occasionally attempting to write an actual story set in that galaxy, but failing. 

3.- What made you choose self-publishing for A Dirge for Cascius?
Why not? That was essentially my motto. I just wanted to get it out into the world as quickly as possible, whilst remaining the one solely in control of everything. At the time, I had little idea of the sheer amount of things I had to learn or do to scale the mountain of self-publishing, but don’t let that dissuade you. Once I found my own little community in this space, I realised just how lovely and helpful all the people were. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without all their help, especially my #breakins family. 

4.- How did the idea for the Valsollas galaxy first appear?
As I briefly mentioned before, the idea first began whilst writing song lyrics. However, what I consider the chief inspiration, was not actually science-fiction. It was The Lord of the Rings. There had never been anything of the magnitude and style of Middle-earth set in space, and honestly I still think that is true today. Star Wars just has a different style that doesn’t match that tone - you can tell everything is just kind of tossed together - not meticulously planned and detailed with a depth like LOTR. 40k is the closest thing, but that is another beast entirely at this point, an epic beast indeed (it’s quite difficult to come up with original stuff that 40k hasn’t done, ha) but I digress. 
Basically, I set out to create a galaxy akin to the depth of Middle-earth, and a place where I could write any kind of story I could imagine. Originally, I wanted to write a trilogy - my Lord of the Rings in space. Whilst I wrote the first book of an epic story like that, (I still plan to finish this one day, although it might be more than a trilogy) I made the tough decision to step back and focus on something smaller to improve my skill. Thus, A Dirge for Cascius was born. 

5.-Your worldbuilding is certainly a thing, one of the most original I have read. How do you manage to keep a register of everything?
The truth is I don’t really. I honestly don’t know how Tolkien and the likes did so back in the day with just paper notes - that said, even he was changing details in the later years of his life. I generally have a terrible memory, so I am always forgetting even the larger details of what I’ve written, although things are cementing themselves inside my mind the more I live in this world. 
But let me assure you that I have many documents. For example, I have a master timeline document which succinctly lists years and dates with significant events across the several thousand years of an Age - fyi I have three of said documents for the different Ages. I’ve written countless words detailing humanity and other sapient species’ history starting from their evolution, spreading to the stars, and eventually to where we are in the current time. This is my long way of saying Google Docs is my answer. I have documents for everything you could think of and more. Always backup your files though! There’s some scary stuff with them going on where Google can read your work and cut off your access to them if they find something that they find concerning. Feels like we’re getting closer to 1984 everyday.

6.- What inspired you to write a character like Cascius?
When I decided I wanted to write a detective story, I wanted to try and come up with something original for the detective trope. They generally have some affliction or are addicted to alcohol or drugs; for example, both Sherlock Holmes and Rust from True Detective were. So after I made Cascius a 200 year old human, I wondered what his affliction would be? A long life such as that would have many tragedies, not just one, which I think is true in life, and so the answer came: Cascius is addicted to reliving sorrows. I thought that was unique enough and started fleshing his life out further.
I was nearing completion of writing the first draft of Dirge when I read the manga Berserk. On subsequent revisions, the character of Guts became a massive inspiration for Cascius. Guts suffers so much, more than any other character I’ve possibly ever read, and is always struggling - which is just how life goes - but he always keeps going. Guts endures and never complains or seeks sympathy. Cascius has his differences, some not as noble, but he was a massive inspiration nonetheless.

7.- What was the most challenging passage to write of this book?
Umm, all of it? Kidding, but not really. The specific parts of the story I always found difficult were the ones where I’m trying to relay or connect important information. I get bogged down in all the little details in making them as plausible as possible, or if they aren’t, explaining that. Similar to conveying the massive amount of terms I’ve created for this world. I wanted to just throw the reader into the deep end and have them figure it out as they go, even if that means you’re lost for a while, but not so much that it was unreadable. So trying to find that balance was probably the most difficult thing. 

8.- You also release short stories each month. Why did you decide to do it?
The short stories started because of two things. I wanted to explore different places and things in the galaxy, and I wanted to improve my writing. Both of which I can say I have achieved. Besides, science fiction started in writing short stories and so I wanted to bring some of that back. Not enough people these days are doing them in my opinion. If anyone is interested in reading them just reach out or signup to my mailing list at my website www.valsollas.com  

9.- Could you point some pieces of art that inspired you?
Certainly! My biggest inspirations for everything I do are, Lord of the Rings, Bloodborne (best video game ever made as well as the soundtrack and will debate anyone on that), the manga Berserk, and my favourite song “Ginnung” by Jeremy Soule (he did the Skyrim soundtrack). Also, a cool piece of art is “Untitled” (the portal) by Zszislaw Beksinksi. Massive inspiration for the Norellan Naos structures in my galaxy. 

10.- What does Calum Lott like to do in his free time?
Nowadays I honestly just write. It’s my favourite thing to do and will prefer it to pretty much over anything given the choice. It’s even taken over my love for video gaming, that said, I will still throw down a few hours on a game when I can. Besides that, I will occasionally play my guitar and write some metal songs. 

11.- What can we expect from Calum Lott in the future?
I’m hard at work finishing part II (the finale) of the A Dirge for Cascius duology. I have a couple other little secret projections I will dedicate my time this year to as well, and so I will probably stop the short stories for a while to focus on getting these done and put the shorts out when I can. Besides that, the Valsollas Galaxy is immense and I have no shortage of stories I want to tell. We’re only just beginning!