Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we interviewed Amy B. Nixon, a designer and columnist by day, an aspiring fiction author by night who has recently released her new book, Ghouls and Alchemy, a brilliant urban fantasy about an Amethyst Hunter trying to save the country.

Amy B. Nixon is a designer and columnist by day, an aspiring fiction author by night and a 24/7 caffeine addict.

When she’s not working or writing, Amy enjoys cooking, playing board games, taking roadtrips, shocking the people around her with dark humor, playing the piano and ruining group photos due to not being able to pose seriously for a proper picture.

You can subscribe to her newsletter and find her social media handles on www.amybnixon.com

BookView Review: What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

Amy: This was definitely not the first time I realized language had power, but it stands out among other memories. I was in fifth grade, studying at a specialized music school, where we were encouraged to pay more attention to music compared to all other subjects. My Literature teacher took a leaf from some tree in the yard, showed it to us, and asked the class to describe it in writing. She said we could write “the leaf is brown” or we could compare its nervures to human veins, its browning edges to burnt paper… She went on and on, and I was just awestruck.

BookView Review: What does literary success look like to you?

Amy: I’ve never understood those people who set one big life goal. I always set series of small goals, so each small achievement brings me satisfaction. As such, I don’t have one grand, endgame vision of literary success. One sold book copy is success. One touched reader is success. If I have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, publishing two more books this year would be literary success.

BookView Review: Do you Google yourself?

Amy: Haha, who doesn’t?

BookView Review: What are your favorite books?

Pet Semetary by Stephen King tops my list. Call me screwed up in the brain department, but it’s a great love story. The first time I read it, the ending with Rachel’s gravelly-spoken “Darling” gave me goosebumps. It’s the best love-beats-all-odds tale I’ve come across. The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi is also another favorite, though for the exact opposite reasons – the broken characters, their cruel world and their repulsive choices troubled me to such an extent, it was impossible for me to swallow the book’s lingering aftertaste.

BookView Review: Is writer’s block real?

Amy: Yes, and not just writer’s block. Whatever aspects of our brains are responsible for creative flow into our axons, they simply freeze; and all creativity gets blocked, whether it comes to writing, painting, composing music, sculpting and so forth. I can only hope one day I’ll find the superhuman power of other authors who’ve learned how to overcome the creative block.