An Interview with Laura Suen, CEO of Fire and Steel

An Interview with Laura Suen, CEO of Fire and Steel

By Dan Watt

  • Laura Suen of FireandSteel.ca and FireandSteel.com

I met Laura Suen, CEO of Fire and Steel, at the 2018 Kitchener Comic Con.  She was extremely busy but gracious enough to let me take a few pictures.  I’ve wanted to interview her ever since…

Where did the creative idea to start Fire and Steel come from?

Well firstly, I always loved geeky things! My family didn’t have that much money growing up, so I remember taking so long to save up to go to Fan Expo – a comic convention — as soon as I could afford it.

My older sister is a huge geek and I really looked up to her as a kid. We would spend so much time gaming, reading fantasy novels, and watching sci fi TV shows. I of course was the generation that was raised on Saturday morning cartoons too, which included a lot of Japanese anime. Personally I also loved martial arts and do kung fu on the side, so Fire and Steel was just the perfect way to combine my love of martial arts with geeky things.

For legal reasons I can only use weapons designed or created by Fire and Steel on covers, such as the one for the weekly blogged story A Motley Sisterhood Of Pirates! However, Fire and Steel has a large assortment of weapons from a variety of styles and sources. Could you tell us about Fire and Steel’s own weapons?

So I use to work as a physicist and from that, I learned how to 3D model. It’s funny how programs that would be used to design laser ion traps can be used to design swords too. Not everything we carry is modelled by myself of course, but there are a few things that we’ve designed in house! I feel so honoured you’ve featured several of them on your book covers.

  • Dragon Claw katana, exclusive FireandSteel.ca
  • Medieval Rapier, exclusive FireandSteel.ca
  • Beginners Ninjato and throwing knives exclusive FireandSteel.ca weapon
  • “Night” katana exclusive FireandSteel.ca (Ship Builder’s weapon)
  • Two-Pronged Dragon Dagger, exclusive FireandSteel.ca weapon (Witch’s dagger)

Fire and Steel has all sorts of weapons including ones we see in cosplay, magna, comics, TV shows, movies, and traditional. Could you talk about the Japanese katana?

We sell Japanese katanas of all types and quality levels, so we hope you will be able to find something that suits your needs! We sell wooden training swords called bokken and bamboo practice swords called shinai. These are traditionally used to train with and you’ll see those items showing up in anime all the time. From there, we have carbon steel katanas, which can take some light impact but are more made for display purposes because it is a softer blade. Beyond that, we also carry high carbon steel katanas, which are typically sharp (battle ready) in several different grades. The higher the number, the harder the blade. These blades can typically take a lot of impact and are what you see in a lot of our “Will It Cut” YouTube videos.

YouTube channel

I was watching some of the video clips on Instagram and Facebook and saw something very intriguing.

You have the exact same weapons in different grades from metal to foam. This would be perfect for making a movie or TV show. Have any of your weapons been used in movies or TV shows?

Yes! Actually I’m so honoured to say you can see some of our stuff in the background of shows like American Vandals, In the Dark, The 100 and Power Rangers just to name a few.

Your foam weapons look like they’re made of metal. Great for cosplay, LARP, or if a young person wants one of the weapons. Could you tell us more about the foam weapons and their uses?

Foam weapons are great as safer alternatives for people who want to train with swords but don’t want to hurt themselves. In addition, they’re great for cosplay since many conventions and festivals, for safety reasons, do not allow steel swords to be carried around as a part of a costume, even if they’re blunted. For this reason, many people see foam as a great alternative and it saves people a lot of time since you don’t have to make your own sword anymore for your outfit!

Foam Replicas

Fire and Steel can also design specific weapons for customers. How would a customer go about ordering one of these weapons?

We do take custom requests normally, but COVID has thrown a bit of wrench in schedules and timelines. Please feel free to send us an email at support@fireandsteel.ca for a quote if you want something made – but who knows? We might already have it made and you don’t even realize it!

Fire and Steel is on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Are there are any other links you want to mention?

Our social media handle is @RealFireNSteel for TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We also are active on TikTok as @RealFireandSteel too! Find us there. Also of course, check out our website for updates:

www.fireandsteel.ca

Fire and Steel will be at the

Ottawa Comic Con

November 19-21  2021

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Interview with Personal Fitness Instructor – Dan Watt by Marianna

I was contacted by Bethany Wright, Communication Director of Subkit to do an interview for Go Solo on my online personal training business.

You can check out the interview below:

Interview

Movie review of DUNE (2021)

Movie review of DUNE (2021)

By Dan Watt

I read the original Frank Herbert, Dune series, before high school.  And like many others felt an immediate familiarity to Maud’Dib, enough so that I named a Dungeons and Dragons character after him.

In the original David Lynch movie two things stuck out as noteworthy to me: the worms and Baron Harkonen.

Before watching the Denis Villeneuve version I watched the trailers (Denis Villeneuve directed the amazing sci-fi/thriller movie Arrival (2016)).

Dune, as Frank Herbert admitted and tried to do, was next to impossible to write a script for.

As Stellan Skarsgard (who plays Vladimir Harkonnen) said in an interview (paraphrasing): To make a book work on screen you have to remove 90% of it.  I would say Villeneuve succeeded!

Is Dune important, yes!  The first book was published August 1965 by Chilton Books.  Eleven years after J.R.R. Tolkien’s first Lord of the Rings book:  The Fellowship of the Ring.  And it came out nearly twelve years before George Lucas’s: Star Wars.  The use of politics, greed, and the devastating effects on nature are comparable.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy, to me, spoke of the damage done by industry, and there was evil brought about by the eye of Sauron.  In Star Wars, entire planets are eliminated through the use of technology; and there is the light and dark of the Force.  In between is Frank Herbert’s Dune; where technology has turned a living world into a desert in the name of greed and addiction; and there is the spice that allows for space travel and foresight along with other special abilities.

Political comparisons could be made between the Dune books and George R.R. Martin’s series:  A Song of Ice and Fire (August 1, 1996).  In both, families war against each other in both physical and mental battles in order to rule all.

Before I saw the movie a friend told me the effects and soundtracks are amazing.  I mentioned this in an Instagram message to Tina Guo who plays on the Dune soundtrack (she has also played on other soundtracks by Hans Zimmer.  You can see more of her at:  tinaguo.com).

The movie introduces a number of families and groups worth looking up on the internet if you aren’t familiar with the story:  Fremen (original Arrakis dwellers); Bene Gesserit (witches who have many secrets); The Atreides (you’ll have to watch to see what happens to them); The Harkonnens; and House Corrino.  There is of course the gigantic sandworms who produce the spice that allows rapid space travel.  There are others you will likely meet in the upcoming films.

My recommendation is see Dune on the biggest screen you can. 

A Malignant Fetch: A Dark Fantasy Novel Review

A Fantastic continuation of the Dark Fiction story by the author of A Viral Imperium

Available Now

Book Review of Darren Joy’s upcoming dark fiction novel “A Malignant Fetch”, book two of the Plagueborn novels

By Dan Watt

Joy’s second book in the Plagueborn series: A Malignant Fetch, is just as exciting and engrossing as his first novel: A Viral Imperium.

A Malignant Fetch flows like a great movie.  The writing is engrossing; the cinematography vivid; with knowledgeable actors portraying fallible and real characters; all coming together under Joy’s superb direction. 

The story focuses on the unwitting growth of Threadfin Todder into a viral mage.  We also learn more about the history of the High Mage, Rasnal Nalrost; the former Aidari, Wither; and why Lorn Larthuz stole something that could change worlds.

As the story progresses we become familiar with the role of Shraeds and Torments and what they are.  However, it’s Threadfin Todder and his connection to the Fetch that have us riding on a raft down rapids we don’t want to escape. 

Joy hasn’t just written another epic fantasy story but one that swirls with dark fantasy and dark humour.  It’s a story that is both physical and simultaneously metaphysical.

Darren Joy can be reached at:  darrenjoy.com

You can also learn more about the first book in the Plagueborn series “A Viral Imperium” at his website.

Book Review of Darren Joy’s upcoming novel “A Malignant Fetch”, book two of the Plagueborn novels

By Dan Watt

Book Two of the dark fantasy Plagueborn series by Darren Joy

Available Nov. 8

Book Review of Darren Joy’s upcoming novel “A Malignant Fetch”, book two of the Plagueborn novels

By Dan Watt

Joy’s second book in the Plagueborn series: A Malignant Fetch, is just as exciting and engrossing as his first novel: A Viral Imperium.

A Malignant Fetch flows like a great movie.  The writing is engrossing; the cinematography vivid; with knowledgeable actors portraying fallible and real characters; all coming together under Joy’s superb direction. 

The story focuses on the unwitting growth of Threadfin Todder into a viral mage.  We also learn more about the history of the High Mage, Rasnal Nalrost; the former Aidari, Wither; and why Lorn Larthuz stole something that could change worlds.

As the story progresses we become familiar with the role of Shraeds and Torments and what they are.  However, it’s Threadfin Todder and his connection to the Fetch that have us riding on a raft down rapids we don’t want to escape. 

Joy hasn’t just written another epic fantasy story but one that swirls with dark fantasy and dark humour.  It’s a story that is both physical and simultaneously metaphysical.

A Malignant Fetch is available on November 8th. 

Darren Joy can be reached at:  darrenjoy.com

You can also learn more about the first book in the Plagueborn series “A Viral Imperium” at this website.

A Meditation on Place

If you want to look through a window, a doorway, or as you stand nearby at non-fiction scenes described in vivid verse, follow the poetry of Shayleene MacReynolds.

Shayleene MacReynolds's avatarThe Wild Heart of Life

Stop
Take a breath
What do you see?
A teardrop stain, like dripping condensation on a window
It smears against the pad of my right thumb.
Green fingers of an aloe reaching out and to the light
Rotting soil
A black gnat sitting on a spore.
My hair is everywhere
Coming out in clumps it hangs like Spanish moss from the branches of an armchair
Wrapped around my son’s big toe
Be still
I whisper and unwind.
Cold coffee congealing in a mug
A daydream hovers near
The dog pees on the carpet
A clock lies dripping on the floor—
Nonsense
Where has all my time gone?
Dollar store dinosaurs and perfect penmanship
A gauze mask bent along the bridge
Sky blue
I sit in search of words
But words are everywhere.
With the fine strands of my braided hair I tether myself back to earth
Stay, she says,

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Book Review of Nandita Khandelwal’s “Climate Change – Health Connection”

By Dan Watt

Available as an ebook on Amazon

Nandita Khandelwal’s “Climate Change – Health Connection” explains everything you want to know about climate change and how it affects Earth’s: water, land, and every species.  She also explains how it affects our overall health and the nutrition value of our foods.

“Climate Change – Health Connection” is an enjoyable and thought provoking read.  At the end of each chapter Khandelwal asks questions that encourage all of us to make a difference.   This is the perfect book for the general public, and as an educational resource for schools, from junior high, to college and university.

Khandelwal writes in understandable language, backed up by scientific research. The structure of the book, and its chapters, are a great template for further books on climate change, and for other environmental subjects.

This is a positive book.  Khandelwal explains what climate change is, how it affects every aspect of our life, and offers suggestions on what we can do to alleviate the situation.  She encourages us to work with the government as well as special interest groups.

“Climate Change – Health Connection” is available through Amazon at:

India

Canada

United States

United Kingdom

For other countries try typing amazon (followed by your countries name)

Nandita Khandelwal has a Master’s degree in Geology from Rajasthan University, and is a certified Nutritionist through ISSA.

Nandita can be reached at:

@nanditakhandelwal

YouTube channel:  Nandita Khandelwal

Stay tuned for our Zoom interview…   

Interview with Darren Joy, author of the epic, dark fantasy book A Viral Imperium

Interview with Darren Joy, author of the epic, dark fantasy book A Viral Imperium:  The Plagueborn Series: Book One

by Dan Watt

As I read through Darren Joy’s, A Viral Imperium: The Plagueborn Series: Book One, I was immediately caught up in the imagery and banter.  Joy has written a book that pulls you into a world where magic and undead make sense.  There is also an introduction to Viralic and Spectralic magic, and the combination of the two.  The characters are not always who, or what they seem to be, nor is it always clear if they are good, bad, or complicated.  As the story progresses, you’ll find yourself reading long past your bedtime. 

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a story that caught my attention and held it to the very end.  How long have you worked on A Viral Imperium?

I began this book way back in 2014. I had written three unpublished novels before it, so technically this was my fourth book. It should have been completed much sooner, but due to illness, I had to shelve it for a time in 2016. I managed to finish it last year. Overall, it’s taken almost three years.

Your description of characters, creatures, buildings, and sceneries is both vivid and engrossing.  How do you go about writing those scenes?

A lot of rewriting, lots and lots of rewriting. No kidding. That’s how. What’s in my head never translates to the screen as I write it, or at least, I’m never happy. So going back and reworking those descriptions, and the novel as a whole is essential, and that’s what I put it down to. That, and I read a lot, so descriptions in other books do grab me. I try not to write paragraphs of description too often, but blend it in with the ongoing story wherever possible.

Within the main plot there are many subplots.  The webs and layers of George R.R. Martin’s: A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones TV series); Ken Follett’s:  Pillars of the Earth, and Edward Rutherford’s: Sarum come to mind when I consider the plots within A Viral Imperium.  Did you sketch these out beforehand or did you find them writing themselves?

 Well, put simply, ’I’m a pantser. I write from the hip, not having much of a clue where it’s going to go. Well, maybe a little clue, but I certainly don’t have it all planned out. This means I have to do heavy rewrites. Ideal? Probably not, but I tried planning novels in the early days, and I never finished those. I tend to plan as I go, adding in notes to the first draft, and rewrite drafts, which I then read as I go through the book the next time, also making more notes. It’s my process, and I don’t know if other writers work that way. It works for me though. I also write each main character’s storyline as a separate manuscript before combining them later, so as to make sure the structure for each story is as I want it.

If I was a publisher I would be contacting you and Amazon books to work out a deal.  How do readers and publishers contact you and where is A Viral Imperium available?

For the moment, it is only available on Amazon, but I am strongly considering having it available on other platforms soon. I don’t know if any publishers will contact me, but anyone including readers can get me through the contact page on my website at: www.darrenjoy.com

I also understand you have the second book in the series coming out.  Could you tell us when and if there’s a pre order?

Yep, anyone can pre order it now on Amazon. It’s called A Malignant Fetch and it is on sale for 99cents from the 8th of November this year, so not long to go. I’m getting nervous all over again. Easiest way to pre order it is to just pop over to my website, www.darrenjoy.com, and there is a link from there.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview.  I’m very much looking forward to reading A Malignant Fetch!  

Review of The Tomorrow War

Review of The Tomorrow War

by Dan Watt

Picture only used for this post

The movie starts off with Chris Pratt’s character, Dan Forester, waiting to find out if he has a new teaching job.  Everything is normal until individuals from the future show up.

The script by Zach Dean (Deadfall, 24 Hours To Live) is about a future war with aliens but with a twist. 

I really enjoyed the human reaction to everything that goes on in The Tomorrow War.  The interaction between the characters reminds me of George Lucas’s 1978 Star Wars (Episode IV).  In Star Wars the characters are so endearing because they act like we would to situations.  Dan’s interaction with his wife and attitude towards his father is down to Earth and real.  I also enjoyed Dan’s interaction with his daughter(s).  The casting for this film was right on.  Everyone makes the scenes believable. 

Unlike the screenplay by Edward Neumeier (Robocop) for Starship Troopers (based on the book of the same name by Robert Heinlein) the social and political comments aren’t commercials or newsreels but ones we make to each other daily.  In The Tomorrow War lack of faith in world leaders and NATO is brought forth by individual comments.

The battle scenes are similar to Ridley Scott’s Blackhawk Down.  The director, Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie) makes sure you’re right there. 

A pivotal realization in the movie made me think of Neill Blomkamp (Elysium) and Terri Tatchell’s (Chappie) screenplay for District 9.  And for anyone who has read Liu Cixin’s Dark Forest, the movie suggests another terrifying possibility.   

The Tomorrow War gives me hope that Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War can finally be made.