The League of Scribes: Interview With A.J. Bakke

Each week, The L. Palmer Chronicles uses the Super Ring of Powerful Awesomeness to bring you a member of The League of Scribes.

The League of Scribes is a legendary group of authors who write grand adventures in the realms of science fiction and fantasy. They are able to write rich, compelling stories while keeping content in the PG –PG-13 range.

If you have been on a quest to find clean sci-fi and fantasy novels, you have reached the right place.

This week, we present:

A.J. Bakke

Otherwise known by her Code Name: PurrificStoryTeller

I write amusing adventures that involve cats on the sidelines. Cats would like you to think they are only peripheral to the order of the universe. There is a strong tie between cats, magic, and the balance of the cosmos. The more cats, the more magic!

About the Author:

J. Bakke has always been a creative spirit, dabbling in drawing, sculpting and finally finding her true gift in writing. Not to say that she left those other artistic skills completely in the dust. They get pulled off the shelf and put to use now and then, especially when trying to duct tape a book cover together.

Her biggest passion, aside from writing, is horseback riding. She started a little late in life when she doesn’t bounce quite as well as she used to when she falls off. She is currently trying to set a very long record of ‘not falling off.’

She is the oldest of five sisters and one brother to boss around. She is close with all of her family. They are wonderful!

She enjoys writing fantastical stories with a lot of comedy thrown in. Her favorite time to write is first thing in the morning with a 20oz coffee close at hand and cats piled on her lap. Cats are attracted to magical people, after all.

A.J. Bakke’s Work

My Worlds Akilter series starts out with To Save Two Worlds (is twice as much fun). Some very small people called lidra, end up with some overwhelmingly huge problems. One such problem is stopping their world, Deart, from falling through dimensions and crushing the ever living daylights out of Earth.

Their adventures wrap a few humans in along with them to continue in Caffeine Fatale and Attacking the Darkness. More stories are on the way in that series!

The Hidden Level follows a boy who is severely abused by his father and wants to escape reality so badly that a latent power within him forges a link between Earth and Deart when he downloads a new online video game.

To Rule Earth follows a girl who’s life is miserable to the point that when a ghostly man appears in her house, she thinks he is a hallucination brought on by a psychotic break. As he slowly gains power, he proves himself to be quite real and no friend to Earth.

Crashing the Game brings The Hidden Level and To Rule Earth together in a grand finale involving a dimension where people can link their brains straight into a video game with a nefarious purpose.

Interview

Who would love your books?

My Worlds Akilter Series (PG) is fun for everyone! If you enjoy an engaging adventure with a lot of comedy thrown in, you will love this series.

The Hidden Level Trifecta (PG-13) has my usual flair for silliness, but there are some more intense, darker aspects to the stories. If you like playing video games, you will get a kick out of the gaming stuff involved in these books.

What was the inspiration for your latest book/series?

Crashing the Game is my latest book (third in The Hidden Level Trifecta). I’ve always wished I could somehow upload my consciousness into a video game. That would be so fun! But I have to settle for giving my characters that awesome privilege. The freedom of choosing aesthetics over practicality when it comes to in-game gear is very amusing for me even if it drives my characters bonkers.

If a movie of your book were made, what movie(s) would it be most similar too?

I often picture my stories as some version of animation: A driving story with the silliness of a cartoon mixed in. So, movies like The Emperor’s New Groove, Epic, Zootopia, Tangled, and such.

Do you use music while writing? If so, what music do you use? Is there a theme song for your book?

I don’t generally listen to music while writing. I find it distracting, but Warriors by Imagine Dragons would fit The Hidden Level Trifecta perfectly!

What authors or books inspire you most?

Terry Pratchett, Mercedes Lackey, Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. Terry Pratchett’s books have that fun, punny comedy in them that I love so much. Mercedes Lackey’s characters are so well done and engaging that I want to meet many of them in real life. Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman’s books are epic fantasy with a twist of comedy that I absolutely adore!

To explore the worlds A.J. Bakke has created, check out the books below: