They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Aden Polydoros, whose free prequel novella, Hades Rising, is available on Amazon now, and the second installment of his Assassin’s Fall series, Project Prometheus, will be released on August 28th from Entangled Teen!
What does Aden love when he’s not working on his latest book? Spoiler alert: video games for the working writer, a genre that deserves to be subverted, exploring morality and humanity through anime, and a poetic book that isn’t only about a haunted house. Curious? Read on to learn more!
Favorite Video Game: A lot of the time, when I’m feeling drained from writing and I’m not in the mood to read, I like to sit down and play video games. Usually, I just set the video game on the easiest difficulty level and absently play through it as I’m rehashing plot points in my head. For that reason, I focus more on atmosphere and scenery than I do on the plot, which can be kind of hard to follow when I’m working out my own plotline in my head. Although I love open-world games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim, I have to say that survival horror is my favorite genre. Right now, my favorite survival horror video game is The Evil Within. While I don’t exactly love the gameplay in The Evil Within, its atmospheric setting and immersive graphics more than make up for its frustrating fighting system. I’m a huge fan of Gothic horror, so I appreciate uncovering the different Gothic tropes in The Evil Within. Which brings me to my next topic…
Photo Credit: Tama66 via Pixabay
Favorite Speculative Genre: As much as I love writing thrillers and fantasy, Gothic fiction has a special place in my heart. I feel like most of my stories, including Project Pandora and Project Prometheus, have elements of the Gothic, even if they’re not Gothic horror novels. I’ve taken two classes on Gothic fiction so far, and with each course, I just fall even deeper in love with the genre. However, I do acknowledge that Gothic literature — particularly the classics — has problematic tropes and themes, along with poor representation of women and minorities. For that reason, I am currently working on a Gothic fantasy novel that subverts the prejudices and stereotypes ingrained in the classics.
Favorite Anime: Avatar: The Last Airbender, which I began watching in third grade, will always have a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, it’s no longer my favorite anime. Since I have Netflix, I’ve been binging on every show I could find that catches my eye, and I recently blew through the entire first season of Attack on Titan in a single night. When I first heard about it, I didn’t expect it to be as serious or engaging as it turned out to be and was quickly proven wrong. I was intrigued by the way it explores morality and humanity. I also like Fullmetal Alchemist, which has some dark moments as well, but is a lot more hopeful and funnier than Attack on Titan.
Favorite Book: Like my favorite video games, movies, etc., my favorite book tends to change a lot. If you ask me what my favorite book is one week, I’m going to have a completely different answer the next week, or next day, or next hour. Right now, my favorite book is one I keep returning to whenever I open my phone’s Kindle app — White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. I first read White is for Witching as part of a school assignment for the Gothic literature class I took last semester. I was immediately struck by Oyeyemi’s beautiful, poetic language, and the power of her narrative. Her book is, at first glance, a story of a haunted house, but it also explores the effects of British imperialism. She is definitely one of my favorite authors.
Favorite Fantasy Creature: One thing I love about writing is that I can create my own fantasy creatures, or at least get creative with the attributes of those that already exist. For my most recent project, which involved a ton of research on Slavic mythology, I came across some interesting creatures. I think my favorite one — while not exactly a creature — is Koschei, a villain in Russian folklore and fairy tales. Koschei is a sorcerer who has hidden his soul inside basically the fairy tale equivalent of a turducken: a needle inside an egg, inside a duck, inside a rabbit, inside a chest. Without the egg, the heroes can’t kill him. If he were in a video game, he would probably make for the perfect boss battle.
Aden Polydoros is the author of the Assassin Fall series. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys reading, haunting antique stores, and getting lost down Google rabbit holes while researching his current works in progress. His favorite genres include sci-fi, fantasy, Gothic horror, and psychological thrillers. He can be found on Twitter at @AdenPolydoros and Facebook, and is represented by Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
Photo credit to Melanie Elise Photography, LLC
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Thanks for joining us, Aden! That WHITE IS FOR WITCHING has been on my radar for a long time!