Marie Basting
About Author
Discover an alternate world peopled by Roman gods in Marie Basting's Auntie Medusa and Me, the follow-up to her hilarious My Family and Other Romans.
For a long time, Marie had believed a careers advisor that girls like her don't become writers. But then something magical happened and Marie finally came to realise that girls like her can do anything they want.
Marie lives in Manchester with her husband, son and a giant, hairy woo-dog called Polly. When she's not writing or annoying her family, you'll find her supporting children to follow their writing dreams.
Interview
Auntie Medusa and Me (Chicken House Books)
August 2024
Discover an alternate world of Ancient Roman gods, Romana, on the other side of Hadrian's Wall, in these hilarious, action-packed adventures by Marie Basting - My Family and Other Romans and the latest adventure, Auntie Medusa and Me.
When Silvia discovered a way to Romana through Hadrian's Wall in My Family and Other Romans, she also learned she is related to a number of Ancient Roman gods. In this new adventure, Silvia is on a quest to help her unfortunate Auntie Medusa find her head! ReadingZone spoke with author Marie Basting to find out more about Roman gods, myths and impossible missions!
Q&A with Marie Basting: Roman gods, myths and quests!
"It's a head heist with a mythical twist, Mission Impossible vibes and a hint of 80s nostalgia."
1. How would you describe yourself in three words.
Northern. Fun. Chaotic.
... And what makes you laugh; what makes you grumpy?
My dog makes me laugh at least 20 times a day. She also makes me grumpy when she wakes me up at 5.00 am because she's decided it's morning…for the whole of five minutes before she goes back to bed.
2. What kinds of books do you enjoy writing? And what happens in your series Auntie Medusa and Me and My Family and Other Romans?
I enjoy writing funny books which subvert tropes and blend fantasy and myth with urban settings and contemporary issues. I also like to throw in a little pop culture and love exploring subcultures such as the BMX you'll find in Princess BMX or, more recently, Live Action Role Play.
My Family and Other Romans (the first book) is about a girl called Silvia who thinks she's at a role-playing event but finds herself in an alternative version of Ancient Rome called Romana. There, she learns she's a demigod, daughter of the war goddess Bellona, with shed loads of brothers and sisters. Name your favourite mythical being and she's probably related to one. And like that's not enough to blow her mind, her dad's been turned into a lava soldier, her uncle's starting a war and it looks like it's up to Silvia to sort it all out.
In Auntie Medusa and Me, Silvia is summoned back to Romana on important family business. The gorgon Medusa - Silvia's auntie no less! - has returned from the underworld and wants her head back. And, yep, she's chosen Silvia to find it. It's a head heist with a mythical twist, Mission Impossible vibes and a hint of 80s nostalgia. But it's also a story about acceptance and acknowledging the wrongs of the past.
"The idea for the story came to me in a dream! The dream was in glorious technicolour: red caped legionaries
glowing amber as they boarded a gleaming silver bullet train"
3. What inspired these stories set in Romana, an alternate Ancient Rome?
The idea for the story came to me in a dream! The dream was in glorious technicolour: red caped legionaries glowing amber as they boarded a gleaming silver bullet train. It seemed obvious these soldiers belonged to the god of fire, Vulcan. But Vulcan wasn't child-friendly enough to take the lead, so I gave him a niece - Silvia - a schoolgirl who just wants to blend in but is about to discover just how extraordinary she is.
4. Silvia is a LARP fan (Live-Action Role-Play) fan and it is a big part of these stories - do you LARP?
I'm not a LARPer but I do like a bit of dressing up. I recently enjoyed dressed up as Galadriel from Lord of the Rings and would love to stick to the mystical elf vibe when I do make it to a LARP.
I was drawn to LARP because I'm interested in subcultures and what makes people tick and also because it looks like a lot of fun!
"I knew I wanted to write a fantastical story with a convincing Roman setting,
so the gods were ripe for the picking."
5. How well do you know your Ancient Roman mythology? And what drew you to writing about the Ancient gods?
Well, I certainly know it better than I did before I wrote these books. I'm not a historian or classicist so I had to do a LOT of research. I started with an online course in Greek and Roman mythology, read tonnes of books, watched inions of films, dramas and documentaries and scoured the Internet with more enthusiasm than a frenzied Medusa looking for her head.
Writing about the gods kind of came with the Ancient Roman fantasy territory. I knew I wanted to write a fantastical story with a convincing Roman setting, so the gods were ripe for the picking. Of all the gods and mythical creatures I researched, I enjoyed revisiting Medusa's story the most. There are some great recent retellings which offer Medusa the opportunity to tell her story and give a different perspective on the myth.
6. Who are your three top Ancient Roman gods, in order? If your parentage, like Silvia's, included an Ancient god, who would you want it to be?
I think my answer here is skewed by the characters I developed in the My Family and Other Romans series. I spent a lot of time with Minerva, Vulcan and Bellona and they now feel like family. That doesn't mean I like everything about them, but they were all great fun to write about. If I had to choose one as a parent, it would be Vulcan for reasons that will become clear if you read the book.
"I even did a course in Roman architecture to help me get the world right."
7. Did you also need to brush up on your historical research of life in Ancient Rome before you could write these books?
Absolutely. Again I did lots of reading, watched some brilliant documentaries and I even did a course in Roman architecture to help me get the world right.
8. What made you laugh the most when you were writing these books?
In My Family and Other Romans, it was the character Bellona. She's just so amazingly rude and lacking in any form of self-awareness or moral compass. But this viewed through the eyes of the daughter she abandoned, Silvia, allowed for some great comedic moments.
In Auntie Medusa and Me, it was Medusa's mythical sisters Stheno and Euryale that made me laugh. They are a great comedy duo, and like Bellona, Stheno doesn't hold back.
9. Family, warts and all, is a big part of these stories. What would you like your readers to take from Silvia's experiences in Romana and with her extended family?
That family comes in all shapes and sizes and as so beautifully put by Lemn Sissay, despite our differences 'We have more in common than sets us apart'.
10. Do you have more adventures planned for Silvia? And what are you writing at the moment?
I think Silvia would love to keep adventuring, but I honestly don't know right now if that will happen. I guess it will depend on how much people enjoy reading about her current ones. If I do go back to Romana then I'd maybe do a little re-reading to remind myself of some of the specific details about the world but I think Silvia and friends are now such a part of me that getting back into the story would be easy.
I am currently in the very early stages of writing a ghost story inspired by northern folktales. I'm having fun exploring the characters, who seem to want to be funny rather than spooky. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
Auntie Medusa and Me
My Family and Other Romans
