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Peanut Butter and Finnish Metal
Author bite: Suzanne van Rooyen
Hi all!
Today we meet Suzanne van Rooyen, a tattooed story-teller and peanut-butter addict from South Africa, currently living in Finland. A long-time member of writer’s co-op Skolion, Suzanne identifies as non-binary and genderqueer using she/they pronouns. They have stories published by the likes of Space&Time, Cast of Wonders, and coming shortly from Apparition Lit.
They are the author of the novels The Other Me, Obscura Burning, Scardust, and I Heart Robot.
1: Your work ranges from contemporary LGBTQ Young Adult, to SF and fantasy. What’s your favourite genre to play in and why?
Definitely spec fic genres. For a while, I strongly preferred writing scifi simply because I thought fantasy was too hard and I wasn't good enough to try my hand at it. The scope of the world-building was, and still is, daunting in fantasy. But since I've started delving into it, I've come to love the freedom fantasy allows. I can really just let me imagination go on a romp when I write in this genre. While I am still drawn to technology and will always have a soft-spot for cyberpunk, I honestly see myself writing more fantasy in the future. And no matter what genre I write, my characters will always be very very queer ;)
2: You’re a musician with a love of dark metal and atmospheric places - how does this feed your writing?
I don't really know how to answer this question because these things are inextricable for me. I can't imagine writing without writing to the type of music I love to listen to. I guess, it's just who I am. I have always been drawn to the beauty in the darkness and that tends to be a recurrent theme in various facets of my life, and most certainly in the stories I write. It's also why I probably ended up in Finland, a country I fell in love with as a teenager when I discovered Finnish metal and why the settings in my books tend to reflect an austere sort of beauty too .
3: When you're not writing, what are the passion projects and hobbies that keep you going?
When I'm not writing, I teach music at an international school to kids aged 4-12. Music is my first love. I've been playing piano for almost 30 years and flute for more than 20 (yikes, I suddenly feel old!). Recently, I started learning cello and that has become a side passion of mine. I'm also an avid PC gamer. Some of my favourites include Hollow Knight, Borderlands 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Dust:An Elysian Tail. Almost seven years ago, I started rock climbing and that has become a massive addiction that sees me at the bouldering gym 3-4 times a week (sadly, not now since the gyms are closed, but I have a pull-up bar at home!). And, I guess it would be remiss of me not to mention my primary role in life as loyal servant to His Royal Floofness and Most Excellent Shibenss, Lord Lego Scruffelump. Yes, that's my dog and he is the boss of me.