Wait, what do you mean astrophysicist?
My day job has been astrophysics “research assistant” or “postdoctoral researcher” for a while now. I got my PhD from the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and I’m researching the process and initial conditions of star formation in our galaxy on its different stages and scales using radio and far-infrared measurements of young stars, their environment, and smaller and larger molecular clouds that are the birthplaces of new stars.
Where can I purchase your books?
You can find Skylark in the Fog on most large online bookshops and in a few more indie retailers as well, both in ebook and paperback formats. Here is a good selection of sites you can use. I’m planning similar availability for my upcoming novels as well.
Which authors/books had the largest impact on you?
Take a look at my Goodreads profile for an extended list, but among many others, the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Philip Pullman, and J. R. R. Tolkien have influenced my taste in stories from very early on. Recent favourites are The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin, the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie, the Wool series by Hugh Howey, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Martian by Andy Weir, and the imagination and style of Neil Gaiman and China Mièville.
What about television/movies?
As for television, Battlestar Galactica and Lost will probably be my favourite series forever. I also love Doctor Who and Stargate, and more recently The Expanse and The OA (rip), among many-many others. Star Wars has also probably played a much more significant role in my character development than I’d like to think. And no, I didn’t know Firefly when I started writing Skylark, but I’m happy about the comparison!
What software do you use for writing and/or editing?
Currently, I simply use Google Docs, since being able to access and sync my documents quickly between different computers and phones is the most important aspect of a word processor for me. I have tried other simple text editors like OpenOffice Writer and Microsoft Word, which are also fine. More elaborate writer tools like Scrivener have many useful functions to experiment with, so they are worth a look if one likes to twiddle with things like that. Some of these even include neat formatting options to convert your stories into ebooks and I really like that!
For editing, I recently found Autocrit. Sadly mostly an app behind a paywall, it helped me to recognize at least the different areas to pay attention to when line editing.
Are you taking beta reading/review requests?
Yes! I would love to help out with your book! The genres I can be the biggest help at are probably sci-fi and fantasy. See more info about my process on my ko-fi!
https://ko-fi.com/helynalclove
Do you have more questions? Send them to helynalclove@gmail.com!
Helyna L. Clove 