Kazu Kibuishi FAQ:
When will Amulet 9 be released?
Kazu: I am currently drawing Amulet 9, the final book in the series. Scholastic will announce a release date when we get closer to its completion.
What inspired Amulet?
Kazu: When I was in college, I read Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki and Bone by Jeff Smith. I wanted to someday create a series of graphic novels that could sit next to these two works and feel like it belonged on the same shelf. I even keep Nausicaa and Bone on my desk next to me while I work to remind myself. I also wanted to write about growing up with my brother, and our experiences having to help our parents out financially while we were in our early 20s. So, Amulet is a combination of many inspirational fantasy/sci-fi movies, games and books combined with the emotions of what our family went through in the years after my brother and I graduated college.
How many Amulet books do you plan to write?
Kazu: The Amulet series will be completed with book 9.
Do you plan to make more books after Amulet is done?
Kazu: Yes. I have been developing a different series for a long time. The project is something I started working on years before Amulet was published, though the project is not quite as old as Amulet.
Is Amulet going to be made into a movie or show?
Kazu: Several movie production companies have attempted to adapt the series with the support of several major movie studios (Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Disney) and the projects never made it past the script phase. The rights are back in my possession and I am currently considering what to do with them. My focus remains on books, but I would like to see Amulet in motion.
What advice do you have for aspiring artists and writers?
Kazu: Give yourself room and time to make lots of mistakes. Just schedule it in. If you stay focused on trying to learn and get better at something- anything- you will learn to work with and around the mistakes over time. Stay patient, and stay focused.
Where can I send a letter for the author?
Kazu: I currently receive too much reader mail that I am unable to respond to letters. The volume of email has also reached a point that I am unable to answer most of the emails sent. However, if you do want to send something, I recommend doing it by way of sending email to info@boltcityproductions.com.
Amy Kibuishi FAQ:
When will The Rema Chronicles: Kingdom Of Water be released?
Amy: There is currently no official release date, but I am happy to say I'm halfway done with the second book.
What inspired The Rema Chronicles?
Amy: When I was twelve, my family was going through a difficult time. I had a dream, and when I woke up I just wanted to go back to that dream. The dream was of Rema, Tabby, Philip, Raed, and Paeter. Since that moment, Rema had become a creative playground where I could experiment with my favorite ideas and hone my skills as both writer and artist. The world is also heavily inspired by my favorite novels, anime, manga, video games, and mostly real life events. My mother's hometown, Chumunjin, South Korea, remains a huge inspiration as well as the stories of her childhood. The city of Cerey is directly inspired by Chumunjin: a town nestled between tall mountains and the sea. Many of Tabby's experiences seeing the Cerian culture for the first time mirrors my experiences visiting Korea for the first time back in 1994.
Some key inspirations in media are His Dark Materials Trilogy, Howl's Moving Castle, Final Fantasy 6 and 7, Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, A Wrinkle In Time, and Secret of Mana.
How many volumes of The Rema Chronicles will there be?
Amy: I plan on five, but it could be more or less depending on how much room is needed to tell Tabby's story.
What advice do you have for aspiring artists and writers?
Amy: Go at your own pace, live your life to the fullest, and stay curious. There will be a lot of pressure to be something early, or to change your style/story to fit trends. Be true to yourself and your path. Draw often, read a lot, and practice drawing comic pages if comics are what you like to do. No one will give you permission to start that book/graphic novel, so you might as well start working on it today.
How do you pronounce Rema/ciphrony/Cerey/Raed/Nonak/etc.?
I'm actually not that picky about how the names are pronounced. Whatever you read in your mind is valid. This is, after all, a fantasy! But for those curious few, this is how I read some of the names from Rema in my head:
Rema – Ree-mah
Nonak – No-knack
Cerey – Sair-ee, like hairy with an “s”
Geist – like heist with a hard g
Cyphrony – Siff-run-ee
Hiida – Hee-dah
BONUS: Kehn uroon hiyen pronounced Ken oo-roon hi-yen = "Put the ring back on your finger." Literally: "Finger(kehn) ring(uroon) put(hiyen)."
Reman grammar is similar to Korean grammar (subject-object-verb, unlike the usual English order of subject-verb-object). Oftentimes, verb tense and certain parts of speech (such as articles and prepositions) are implied through conversational context rather than explicitly stated.
Where can I send a letter for the author?
Amy: The best way is to send it via email to info@boltcityproductions.com
