Shelli Frew, author of Ink Smith’s newest novel Time Sailors, may have never learned how to ride a bike but thankfully she learned how to write. Hidden away in her bedroom or seated at her kitchen table, Shelli is always prepared with a hot cup of tea and music playing. Her eclectic background is what sparked the story behind Time Sailors.
She lived in a backpacker’s hostel for a year and a half, and currently lives with 12 roommates from all over the world. The interesting and unique people she has met over the years sparked the initial idea for the story. Se spent approximately a year and a half working on Time Sailors before she finished it.
Her novel is full of quirky characters, spanning multiple cultures and decades. The people she has met through her experience as a contortionist and performer in the circus provided a lot of inspiration for those characters. “Most everyone I know in these communities is from a vastly different background, but they somehow mesh together to create these wonderful little families,” Shelli said.
Some of Shelli’s favorite books include To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. “These are all excellent science fiction books, and each interprets the mechanics of time travel in unique ways,” Shelli said.
She also loves Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson, which is a series science fiction graphic novels. Even though it is set in the distant future, Shelli finds many of the themes and stories to be relevant to today’s political climate. She is also an avid Harry Potter fan.
“The only time I’ve stayed up all night and seen the next day’s sunrise was when I got the last Harry Potter book. I read it in seven hours!”
The Inkwell And Quill 