Scythia Antiope
Interviewed by Dr. Taniko Kishimoto
Do
tell us a little bit about yourself.
Scythia: Perhaps the hardest question of all is to answer the question, tell us a little about yourself. For to tell a little is to tell a lot and thus a lot, a little of a lot is a dangerous thing, however I shall endeavor to do so as to enlighten myself to what I see my self and boundaries as. I am female, the first born daughter of a man with 11 brothers and a mother with no siblings at all. My grandmamma survived the first world war and found herself in the land of Oz married to a Light Horse Man adrift in a sea of a ocean land girt by sea finding its feet and culture. My father's people defined themselves by the Irish Catholic culture with many of my Uncles and Great Aunts joining the cloth. To insure their passage to heaven my father's people set about building Basilicas. Thus came I and my asbestos suit. I do not do things the easy way, I do them my way. As the Marquis De Sade said "It is better to be well read then well liked".
Why did you join PanHistoria?
Scythia: Well in truth an invitation appeared one day in my emails from whence it came I have no idea to this day. So being an inquisitive creature by nature I came to see what was on offer. And stayed to try and make sense Of it all and feed my addiction to the word.
Have I ever written outside of Pan?
Scythia: I have won awards while at High School for my writing though placed it aside for over 10 years. I have had an article published in the National Enquirer of all things and I am sure with a little research you may find this in the backlogs somewhere of that most noble magazine. When finding myself without bread for the table I wrote the pulp so lusted after by woman's magazines and feed myself from same whilst studying. I have written every day of my life, and have boxes and boxes of journals, diarys and poetry stuffed in the shed. Do I consider myself a writer? No. I consider myself a fool with an addiction that knows neither end nor satisfaction from same. I write because I know nothing else and all I know is I know nothing.
A couple of the judges specifically mentioned your work as a MoBster on Bitter Broth as the reason for your selection. Tell us what you are trying to bring to Bitter Broth, and what this Novel is about.
Scythia: The reason I started Bitter Broth was simple. A group of writers who expressed an interest in Sparta approached me. Having grown tired of the one dimensional aspects of many of the female characters written in history, I invented Scythia, whom is defined more by her faults than virtues. Without the brilliance of those I write with inside the novel it would have been no more then a shallow exercise in self approval. It is to these people I owe its success or failure. A writer can not always be equal to their works and they have done well to see the work and not the writer. The story itself is set around the framework of Mercenaries in the Ancient World.
You are also a MoBster for The Griffin's Feather. Could you tell us something about this Novel, too?
Scythia: Griffin's Feather, like the beast it was named after so far has not come to reality but still remains a mythical idea. New writers have joined this novel which is an effort to blend history and fantasy, so like myself we shall have to wait and see if it sinks or flys.
What are your greatest accomplishments, real life or otherwise?
Scythia: I have a certificate in costume design. I have traveled most of South East Asia and have had the pleasure of enlightentment to the Eastern Cultures. I have as yet to live long enough to reflect on what they may be. Most of one's greatest accomplishments are those one knows not they have accomplished.
What would you most like people to say about you in 100 years from now?
Scythia: What the hell was THAT all about?
