Oracle Online

O: Do you have an entire Angel Armor series of books written?

LL: That’s what I’m starting on. I have finished writing the third book, but I’m going to release it as an e-book, because I don’t have enough money to publish another one.

O: If you had to cite an inspiration for your writing, what would it be?

LL: Too many to pick from. Probably the most direct one would be an anime called Fushi Yugi, which is a similar plotline, the idea of a school girl and school boy getting transported to a fantasy world. I’m sure there are other American sources that I use but I can’t remember them.

O: Are the characters in your books representative of real people you know or of yourself?

LL: In some cases. The main character, I will admit, yes, vanity wise, I did name him after me. But, I changed the spelling to try to distinguish him. But yeah, I tend to promote my own political and ethical views through the main characters.

O: How do you balance time between writing and publishing books and everything else in life?

LL: It’s gotten harder in college. Now, I have to spend a lot of my time reading. In high school it was a lot easier, because I’d have a lot of free time. I would get done with a test, I’d pull out my simple little laptop that I actually wrote both of these books on. But now, I manage time just by using any free minute to write out as much as I can. I think about what I want to write beforehand.

O: Is writing something you’re planning on pursuing in the future?

LL: I intend on getting a creative writing major.

O: Are you going to stick with the Angel Armor series?

LL: Probably, because I have this problem that when I start writing something, I never want to stop. When I’m finally sick of it all, maybe I’ll stop.

O: Would you like your books to be made into movies?

LL: Yes and no. I have a very dim view of Hollywood. I would love to have them made into movies, or better yet, a mini series.

O: Why the dim view of Hollywood?

LL: I’ve found that Hollywood tends to be really, really liberal, to the point where they think that they are the all-consuming gods of everything that is free and wonderful about America. I love America, I am a conservative who really believes in its greatness, but I think that Hollywood hold a very pretentious view of themselves. And a lot of times, even though they have that view, they don’t make that out in their movies. They’re totally concerned just with money. Which is not a problem, I’m a capitalist, but artistic creativity can then be sacrificed in favor of just the money.

O: If you had the authority to make Hamline students do or not do something for a day, how would you use that power?

LL: Well, disregarding the psycho/moral issues, I probably would encourage them to go read certain books. I would probably promote comic books in general, because I think they get a bad rep. I’m a big fan of comic books myself. I don’t really think about this sort of thing. I have a high ethical/moral code behind enslaving or controlling other people.

O: Do you see moral and ethical issues as being a problem in America?

LL: It can be. Even though I am a conservative, a lot of my social views tend to be on the liberal side. I tend to take a very objectivist view in terms of right and wrong. There is an absolute good and an absolute evil. I do believe in gray areas though. Certain situations can become morally gray depending on how you view it. Say, for example, I had the option of averting all war and making peace with all nations in the world, but in order to do that I would have to murder someone. I would never, ever do that, because you should never compromise your ethics for a supposed greater good.

O: What do you think the worst problem facing the world today is?

LL: Not necessarily just terrorism, but the idea of dictatorships, or any country that has totally subverted freedom for its individuals.

O: If you had the opportunity to be the ruler of a country, would you accept?

LL: Maybe. Not America. I couldn’t do America. Maybe a smaller country. Like the Federated States of Micronesia, where life is simpler. I could do that.