Whittaker’s Lady Golden Hand is a steampunk/gaslamp set in the 1830’s with a lady detective who has a prosthetic mechanical hand. She is investigating a murder of a conman and the main suspect is a dragon.
Tell us about yourself and how you got into writing:
I’m Nix Whittaker and I live in the shadow of an active volcano on an island. I got into writing because I ran out of books to read. Which might seem strange to some because I’m also dyslexic. But I was lucky enough to have a lot of supportive people who taught me some tricks to reading and I got addicted. Still can’t spell very well but meh who needs to with technology in this day and age.
Tell us about your stories:
I write science fiction romance mostly. My latest novel Lady Golden Hand came about because I was making premade covers and I just fell in love with one of the characters on the cover. So I had to write her story. It did mean having to do some research as it is set in the 1800’s but with the introduction of dragons I could change things a little. The dragons are from another planet and used string theory and entanglement to travel across planes. It is fun adding in fantasy elements with science.
Lady Golden Hand is not the first book I’ve set in this world. I have Blazing Blunderbuss which is set earlier and follows a tinker who accidentally steals an airship in order to rescue a dragon.
What kind of success have you had?
The day I finished my first novel. I would call that my biggest win. I write a lot, I mean I have like a thousand stories I’ve started and that have gone nowhere. So when I actually finished something it was amazing. Especially since now I regularly finish writing novels. Lady Golden Hand will be my tenth book and I already have seven more planned for this year. There are so many people out there who talk about writing a book so to do what others only dream is literally a dream come true for me.
Are your characters pure fiction or based on something/someone?
My female characters are often a blend of friends and family. A little bit of a cousin mixed in with a best friend. So a lot of them can see themselves in them. The guys are a little different. You know how most people have a type, well I have a couple of types and those are my guys. My dream boat honeys and I just recycle them around in my books. Lady Golden Hand is the clever geeky type who is the eternal optimist. Annoyingly persistent but with the patience of a saint.
Give us an insight into a time you wrote a scene with feeling.
I always enjoy writing the first kiss scene. And of course the thing that pulls them apart. Dragons are collectors and Lady Rayne is worried that the dragon is only interested in her because she is unique. In this case missing a hand which is replaced with a mechanical hand. It is a bit of a roller coaster when you go from a bit of steam to a cold shower when you realize he is only in it for the cupboard love.
One of the things I love exploring in my stories with the dragons is the dynamics between men and women. The old fashioned values of considering women as chattel and how that can be abusive versus mutually owning each other. Where the other is always first and by that you become more than the sum of the parts.
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Inside the Inkwell 