Michel Vaillancourt is the writer of “The Sauder Diaries – By Any Other Name”
L. Vera: Michel Vaillancourt, it’s a pleasure to have you on AKAQ.
Michel Vaillancourt: Thanks very much for having me here, Luis.
L. Vera: Besides steampunk, what other genres do you like?
Michel Vaillancourt: I’ve been reading mysteries and adventures since I was 8. I’m an avid lover of science-fiction. There are a few fantasy titles I enjoy as well.
L. Vera: Do consider yourself a prolific writer?
Michel Vaillancourt: Not at all. While I’ve been telling stories for decades, my writing is something that I took nearly a 15 year hiatus from. “The Sauder Diaries” is the first one I’ve personally felt passed the bar I had for being worthy of publication.
Luis Vera: What’s the most important thing to keep in mind about writing steampunk?
Michel Vaillancourt: That’s a compound answer. The first part is that Steampunk is an aesthetic; that’s how it got started. If you go to a Steampunk Convention, the visual aspect — that overarching aesthetic — can’t be ignored or denied. So that has to be clearly shown to the reader in any literature that wants to be Steampunk.
The second part, to me, is that the word Steampunk is composed of two words: “Steam” and “Punk”.
“Steam” is the temporal reference marker; the Age of Steam is part of what firmly defines the Victorian Era. It’s a remarkable period of “modern mythology”. On land, at sea, and in the air, History was happening and the world was changing like never before. The is so much factual and pop-cultural imagery in that period that it is astonishing.
“Punk” is the conceptualization of social ideologies that are mostly concerned with individual freedom and anti-establishment views. It’s about freedom, it’s about walking counter-class or caste, it’s about doing things that would scandalize the “main stream culture” of the day.
So your characters have to be people that run at cross-odds to the cultural norm, and are driving the edge of the social and technological revolutions that are deforming the world they live in.
L. Vera: Any other writer’s that has influenced your writings? Anything steam punk related?
Michel Vaillancourt: Anne MccAffery and Robert Heinlein are my literary heroes. I also enjoy Danielle Steele‘s early stuff for the richness of the character plots, and I like Sherrilyn Kenyon‘s world building. Josh Whedon, while not a “writer”, is an amazing story teller. On the Steampunk side of things, I really enjoy Scott Westerfeld.
L. Vera: If you had a quote that would people quote, that you said, what would it be?
Michel Vaillancourt: Your friends and your fans have more confidence in you than you do. Trust them and go for it.
L. Vera: Why should people read Sauder Diaries – By Any Other Name?
Michel Vaillancourt: It’s four stories for the price of one. First, it’s a Steampunk story writen for the Steampunk community by one of their own, aiming at the themes and concepts that resonate within the community. Second, it’s it’s an action adventure full of pirates, sword fights, air battles, dragons attacking towns and unlikely heroes. Third, it’s a classic character romance between two young people that learn that a real relationship comes from mutal respect, trust and time. Lastly, it’s a well-praised piece of alternative history that gives the reader a look at a world that reviewers say puts them in mind of the works of Jules Verne and H.G.Wells.
L. Vera: Thanks for stopping by AKAQ. It was a pleasure to have you here along with your book the Sauder Diaries – By Any Other Name.
Michel Vaillancourt: Absolutely my pleasure. I hope your readers decide to give the book a read. If your readers want to learn a bit more about “The Sauder Diaries” or keep up with me via social media, here are a few links they can follow:
http://bit.ly/abouttsd – “about the sauder diaries”
http://bit.ly/tsdpraise – TSD blog reviews/ praise
http://youtu.be/8yslNQwRlTo?hd=1 – book trailer
http://amzn.to/tsdbyanyothername – Buy it on Amazon, Kindle format.
Twitter ID … @MichelV69
Sauder Diaries Community Page … https://www.facebook.com/the.sauder.diaries
-L. Vera
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A Knife And A Quill- old 
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