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Yeoryios Pantazis attended the Humber School for Writers in Toronto, Ontario. When he isn't revising his fantasy novel, he researches suburban retrofitting in an effort to complete his Masters degree in Urban Planning at York University's Faculty of Environmental Studies.He started writing fiction to impress a girl who sat across from him in English class years ago in high school when his biggest worry was not getting caught for uniform infractions. His reason for joining the ranks of planners and environmentalists is twofold: one, who would hire someone with a Bachelors in English? and two, planning for cities and suburbs joined the practical with the creative, the science with the art. His fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming in Space & Time Magazine, Golden Visions Magazine, Silver Blade, Rogue Blades Entertainment's eSsassins, HUNGUR Magazine, and Sorcerous Signals. You can contact him at: yeoryiospantazis@gmail.com.
Get to know Yeorylos...
Expiration Date, fiction, Issue 16, September 1, 2011
Yeoryios Pantazis
Birthdate? September 6, 1986.
When did you start writing? I always thought about writing and storytelling from very a young age, but when I started writing seriously was in high school. I wrote to impress a girl. Letters; stories; poems; plays. Every day I'd have something new to show her. She was my muse for a very long time; then came the day that I realized I wrote not only to impress this one girl but because I was a born storyteller.
When and what and where did you first get published? My first short story was published by Silver Blade. That was about a year or two ago. I was ecstatic about it. Finally, a publication! After hundreds of letters and emails starting with "Unfortunately..." it felt good to finally get a "We would like to publish..." The story was called "City of Lost Souls" and I had written it when I was eighteen. It showcased the sword and sorcery hero Zanis, my version of Elric or Corum or Sojan or any of those fascinating and loveable Eternal Champions by my favourite author Michael Moorcock.
What themes do you like to write about? Love. Family. Heroics. And religion. But I found out the hardway that no magazine publisher will touch a story on religion. Makes sense: often those stories are done poorly and been done to death. If you're going to do a story about religion, it has to be fresh and enjoyable. R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing taught me that.
What books and/or stories have most resonated with you as an author? The books, authors, and characters that I've mentioned above have definitely resonated with me. Michael Moorcock is the definition of a writer. He writes everything: fantasy, sci-fi, comedy, romance, satire, horror, contemporary, political, biographical, etc. etc. Brandon Sanderson is another favourite of mine: his writing taught me how to make fantasy fresh and not the same boring magic and world building. The writer who practically forced his influence on me with his fantastic writing is Stephen R. Donaldson. The Gap series is the greatest thing in literature. Period. I urge everyone to read it. I urge publishers to re-release them so new generations can read the series.
Why? How do these stories and their characters find expression in your work? The way I see it is this: Michael Moorcock's work inspires me to fantasy and literature overall; Brandon Sanderson inspires my work to be original and exciting; Stephen R. Donaldson inspires my work to have powerful emotion and to have at-the-edge-of-your-seat action and drama. My work also finds expression from the people in my day-to-day life. "Expiration Date" is a great example of this. I have a history of dating women for only two weeks (can you say, major commitment issues?). I usually warn them of this on our very first date by stating, "We're only going to date for two weeks, and then we'll break up." I mean it as a joke, obviously, albeit a joke full of douchebaggery; but once a girl turned around to me and said, "I think that's how relationships should be. They should always have expirations dates on them so people don't waste time and don't get hurt." BAM!--the idea struck me and I wrote it down instantly. I have Grapes to thank for that one.
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