The Questioning: Daniel E. Olesen

The Questioning is where everything gets upside down. As part of my blogiversary celebration, I invited 10 authors and 10 bloggers/reviewers who showed great support during my first year as a blogger. Then I pushed them waaaaay out of the comfort zones. Authors had become interrogators and Bloggers got interrogated. Rest assured, no one got hurt (much) and everyone had fun (eventually). You can find every related post on The Questioning page!

Daniel E. Olesen spent entirely too long studying Comparative Literature and now works freelance as a translator and editor. Writing in fantasy, he draws strongly from history and travels around Europe, always searching for inspiration. His first book, The Eagle’s Flight, is an epic fantasy that can be downloaded for free from his site, www.annalsofadal.net.

Why do you blog about fantasy and not another genre?

Because I mostly read fantasy. Though I don’t really want to corner myself into reading only one genre. To take a break from fantasy I read historical fiction or occasionally YA fiction. You might have seen a few of those reviews around.

Do you ever read non-fiction, or it is all about the fiction for you?

I don’t even remember when I read a non-fiction book last… Probably The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith back in 2015. Once I’ll have a little more time I want to do some research on Hungarian folklore – tales, superstitions, beliefs, things like that. I have a collection of Hungarian folktales I want to get to one day. But for now, I primarily read fiction. Actually I always liked to read fiction more.

Does your academic background ever play a role into what you enjoy reading or select to read?

Definitely. I have a degree in History and History of Religions. Naturally, I like reading historical fiction – if it’s done well, that is. And since I’m really into mythology I always enjoy books which are rich in mythology – whether based on already existing tales or creating new ones. I think one of the reasons I love Benedict Patrick‘s books is the way he uses folktales to give depth to his stories.

What was your best experience of 2018?

2018 was such a great year that it’s hard to choose only one… So, I’ll give you my top 3! In no particular order of course. You can read about the rest in my 1 year anniversary post 🙂

Creating my blog and everything that happened with me thanks to that definitely has to be mentioned. It had an impact on my life I didn’t expect. I made friends, I got opportunities to try and change my life for the better. And overall it was a really positive experience with a lot of learning about myself. I really came to love the community.
That first Hungarian Shinedown concert and the opportunity to make an interview with Barry Kerch, the drummer. It was a really awesome moment in my life.
BristolCon. My first con ever. I was stunned by the reception I’ve got. And the experiences it brought.

+1 because I have to! My birthday last year was really cool with visiting the Harry Potter studio tour and meeting Damien Black for a drink!

What is your wish for 2019?

My wish? Hmm, I’d like to leave my day job behind and make a living of something I actually love doing: reading, editing. It probably won’t happen all at once this year, but I want to make at least the first few steps.

What’s the one Hungarian word you’d like to teach us all?

Soooo many options. You should have specify! Do you want a swear word? A lovely word? Something funny? Do you even know how much I hate making decisions? You are absolutely not helpful with this question! Okay, so, this is a book blog, how about book? We call it ‘könyv’. But if you want to tell me you love me, you can say ‘szeretlek’.

Have you ever noticed that your blog mate seems shifty?

Shifty? What do you mean shift? You know something I don’t? *takes out ~~torturing~~ therapic tools* Come on, lie down on this table, right. Don’t be afraid, these traps are only here to keep you in place in case you’d wriggle too much. Now, tell me nice and calm. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Books aren’t all that interesting, let’s discuss the medium of serialised TV. What’s your favourite shows?

Uh oh. To be honest, I’m terrible with shows. If I watch tv then usually some movie or documentary shows about crime investigations (mostly murders). I used to love Friends – I can watch that anytime – and Gilmore Girls. Oh, and I loved that HBO mini series Benedict Cumberbatch did, Patrick Melrose. For a while I was addicted to the Vikings series, I think I binge watched the first 4 seasons or so when I had nothing to do and was at home. I recently watched the BBC mini series, Les Misérables – though I still have 2 episodes to go. I have quite a few shows on my list I want to watch like True Detectives, Race to the Edge (How to Train Your Dragon spinoff series), Dragon Prince, The Hollow Crown. I just can’t find the time/energy. Watching stuff in English still needs a bit more focus from me than I’d like, and a tired brain is just not the best for that. And besides, then I can’t do anything else – I like to do at least one other thing while watching TV like coloring, chatting people online, writing blog posts, etc. Maybe one day I’ll catch up with these shows.

Have you ever considered becoming a cat burglar?

Not until the other day when I saw a picture of Kay Villoso‘s cat. Damn, that animal is gorgeous! I need to tell Tam to send it over to me while he is in Canada. Besides, I wouldn’t be a good burglar. I’m small so I can get into building easily enough I guess, but I’m a klutz, and would just be too anxious to do anything while in there. And let’s not forget about the fact that I’m not the best person to trust caring about another creature. Although if I can make money out of it… Selling the cats, I mean. I think I should move on to another question…

What is your policy on spiders? Insect-eating friends or hostile creeps?

Eww, eww, eww. No spiders please. They are reeeeally creepy. And books like Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets didn’t really help their reputation.