Paul Collins

My latest book is The Hiveborn. It’s the third and final book in “The Earthborn Wars”. Bohemian Ink in the US will be publishing it. Lothian has just published my fifth Quentaris book, The Forgotten Prince.

It’s about Sarah and her family are united with the Skyborn against the Hiveborn, parasitic creatures that use other species as hosts while they try to bring a “Oneness” to the universe. Trouble is, they totally dominate the minds of their hosts, more or less making them zombies and slaves to the Queen of the Hive. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, mainly in Melbourne and Waihi in New Zealand. The Forgotten Prince is about a Thieves’ Guild apprentice, Crocodile Sal, who has to sit her prac exam, Deceit and Daring 101. She battles swamp creatures, shape-shifters, assassins, and kidnapping gypsies, among other things.

The best thing about being a writer is being your own boss. Not having to travel to work every morning rates pretty high, too. Providing you don’t mind your own company and you’re focused (and don’t watch TV, lark around with your friends every day or sleep in till 11am), being self-employed means the sky’s the limit as to what you can achieve for yourself.

If I wasn’t a writer I’d be a retailer. My last shop was called Tragically Hip, and it had clothes and mostly women’s accessories. Before that I had book and record shops in St Kilda, Melbourne and in the Elizabeth Arcade, Brisbane.

My first published work was The Wizard’s Torment and an adult SF book, The Government in Exile, both came out about the same time in 1994/5.

Morning person or night-owl? I’m up at 7am every day to take my dogs out for their run. Sometimes I’m up till 11pm working. Having worked as a part time bouncer in various nightclubs and hotels, I’ve worked from 11pm till 7am, then got up at 10am to open my shop. I guess I’m both a morning person and a night-owl. I’d not sleep if I could get away with it.

My first job: I left school at fifteen. Back then, many parents herded their kids into “trades”. I became an apprentice “clicker”. These people make leather goods, like luggage. I lasted three months. I then had a succession of jobs, like a sheet metal worker (spot welding) making air conditioning units; a laborer on a farm; metal polishing; electroplater; apprentice projectionist, and finally a film repairer and dispatch manager for Twentieth Century Fox and Metro Goldwyn Meyer ─ all by the age of eighteen. I then left NZ and came to Australia.

On a quiz show, my special subject would be... Now I’m in trouble! I’m a jack of all trades, but alas, master of none. Perhaps Australian science fiction and fantasy, 70s through to early 90s.

My last holiday was... I’m not much of a holiday person. I think my partner, Meredith Costain, and I managed to get away to Aireys Inlet about two years ago for two or three days. Doesn’t really count, does it? My excuse is that we have two dogs, a cat, six chickens, and a heap of goldfish that need looking after. Fitting them all into the car would be problematic.

My perfect Saturday is sitting down reading The Age for a couple of hours, then having a late breakfast: bacon, eggs (from our own chooks) and baked beans on toast. After about noon, it’s work as usual. Do writers get “weekends” off? I know I don’t ─ I often get editors telling me that “Monday will do” for handing in a manuscript, implying of course that it’s expected that I’ll be working on the weekend.

The last CD I bought was... A real tricky question. Having owned a record store for many years, and worked in numerous nightclubs and hotels where music was played, I’ve sort of veged out on music. So much so that I don’t even listen to the radio. I wouldn’t have the faintest idea which bands are “in” right now. You mean Black Sabbath and Canned Heat aren’t in the Top 10 anymore?!

I’m currently reading John Heffernan’s A Horse Called Elvis. I’ve also started David Metzenthen’s Tiff and the Trout. Thank God I finally finished Lord of the Rings!

Big Brother or Australian Idol? Is this a trick question? I’d be embarrassed to be caught watching either! I do enjoy Law and Order, Criminal Intent. Basically, I watch as little TV as I listen to the radio.

Favourite film/tv show is... I have a few favourite films, but they date back to the years of my music taste. At the time, I liked The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Kelly’s Heroes and The Dirty Dozen. The Wild Bunch was great, too. Not many of the current films are that memorable. They rely too heavily on special effects, which tend to blur into one another after a while.

My favourite book is... I like all the Artemis Fowl and the Mortal Engines books.

The book character I would most like to meet is Artemis Fowl. Modesty Blaise is mind-boggling, too. What a gal.

The book character I would least like to meet is Freddy Kruger can stay right away ─ there must be books starring him by now. And Hannibal Lecter. Marvin, the paranoid android is up there, too. You’d put a gun to your head if you were stuck in an elevator with him. I can just hear him saying, “Imagine, here I am, capable of a million thoughts in a nano-second, and I’m stuck in an elevator with you.”

The worst thing I’ve ever written is probably a western novel called Hot Lead ─ Cold Sweat. Luckily for me, I must have the only surviving copies of this book. The National Library demanded I deposit a copy with them. I think I obliged by sending them a photocopy of the cover. Some things just aren’t meant to be held for posterity!

When I was growing up I wanted to be... I remember telling my father I wanted to be a writer when I was about twelve. He laughed and told me that only university graduates could become writers (and we both knew I wasn’t headed for university!). After about my fiftieth published book, I reminded him of his statement. He replied, “I don’t remember saying that. But if I did, I only said it because I knew you would set out to prove me wrong.”

My heroes are... Ah, the latter question is a pet hate of mine. I think this is possibly the most misused word in the English language. Heroes are people who put their lives at risk to save others. Footballers are not heroes. From personal experience I’d say quite a few of them would be considered hooligans if not for their ability to kick or pass a piece of leather better than most of us (witness their conduct on the field if you doubt me ─ and I’ve been the recipient of their drunken and arrogant behaviour when I worked in hotels). But If I had a “hero” in today’s vernacular, it would be someone who has quite altruistically devoted his of her life to humanitarian or philanthropic pursuits. The much maligned Bill Gates gives bucket-loads of money to charity, as does Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. It’s a sad indictment on today’s society that people like these aren’t “heroes”.