Jeremy L. C. Jones

A bonus interview this week at flamesrising.com.

Freelance writer Monica Valentinelli likes to play around with ideas, forms, rules, words…  and just about anything else that can be thrown into a creative stew pot.  She blends a love of history and philosophy with a love of dark fantasy and horror to create startling and exciting fiction and games.

“Monica possesses a genuine passion for creating and a sharply self-critical eye, both of which are essential for someone to grow as a writer,” said James Lowder, author and editor, whose most recent anthology, Worlds of Their Own was released last month.  “She has lots of good ideas and the discipline to develop them in interesting, genre-expanding ways.”

Valentinelli has worked on games for Abstract Nova, Eden Studios, Rogue Games, and Twilight Games in addition to several other companies for games that are not in print.  Most recently she contributed to Exquisite Replicas, Aletheia, and Noumenon, all from Abstract Nova.  The setting chapter of Exquisite Replicas, “Initiation,” shows Valentinelli at her darkest, weirdest, and most experimental…  which is to say, at her best.

“When I write, I feel like I’m right smack dab in the middle of the rivers of creation,” said Valentinelli. “Whether it’s a story, a business proposal or a game, I feel that each type of writing requires a different skill set to make the finished product sparkle.

“I thoroughly enjoy that the medium is constantly changing, and that I can continually learn and grow with every project. As any writer knows, if you’re not evolving with the times–you might as well trade in your laptop and build a time machine, instead.”

In the spirit of online test marketing, Valentinelli has been serializing her novel, Argentum, the first novel in the The Violet War series, and taking feedback from her many readers.

Valentinelli and I spoke around the time of GenCon 2008, while she was preparing for the debut of Exquisite Replicas.

Read the rest of the interview here.