Hello STF,

I am so excited to bring you this interview. The writer and I are college roommates of sorts. Not like Harvard silly but the best intergalactic space college around…STF Academy. GO Potatoes! It was our unofficial mascot because we were making a still below decks in engineering throughout our academy stint. She was on the USS Challenger while I was on the USS Disco but the second I met her I was hooked on her ability to tell a story that was humorous, engaging, and just plain fun to read. Over the past few days, I have had the honor of interviewing Ffion Grace, who is almost a five veteran of the club for this month’s Kate’s Coffee Corner. Ffion joined the club in 2016 where she was placed on the USS Challenger as a fresh-faced engineering JO by the name of Samantha Keene.

Positions she has held in STF:
XO of the USS Saracen

Here’s a list of Ffion’s current characters in the club:

Unassigned Characters
T’Mera
Professor Grinnch

So now it’s time to grab a drink, I am partial to the new brown sugar oatmilk shaken espresso, find a nice comfy spot outdoors to soak up the springtime sun, and get ready to learn about one of our amazing writers!

20 QUESTIONS WITH KATE O’NEILL

1. It is Spring and as the saying goes April showers bring May flowers. So when you are stuck inside, what is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
I love board games or tabletop RP session with some good friends, snacks, a couple of bottles of something nice to drink :)

2. Are there any current Podcasts you are listening to? If so what are they and why do you like them so much.
I’m not really into podcasts to be honest, I do like to listen to some actual play roleplay campaigns if the players and DM are committed and entertaining like Critical Hit https://majorspoilers.com/category/critical-hit/

3. If you were a spice or seasoning what would it be and why?
Probably a chili pepper, small but spicy ?

4. What story does your family always tell about you at family get-togethers?
I was born on my older brother’s birthday so I’m often told that he had asked for a train set but was upset that he got a sister instead!

5. Congrats Ffion you just won a million dollars to start a new life. If you could pick up and move anywhere where would you go and would you change your career?
Where would I go? Somewhere with good people and easy access to outdoor pursuits as I love hiking, cycling, climbing and pretty much everything wild you can do outdoors! I’m not sure a million dollars would keep me in the manner to which I am accustomed for the rest of my life so I’ll probably have to keep my job ?

6. The best part of waking up is....?
Umm. Yeah. Come back to me on that one, a value sleep as much as cats do ?

7. Your profession is all about helping people. Outside of the million things, you do a day to make people feel better have you ever done any volunteer work? If so, what was?
I used to help out my local rugby team as pitch side first aid/physio. Totally altruistic on my part, with nothing to do with all the fit rugby lads.....

8. We are all writers and use words to paint a picture, tell a story, or change someone’s mind. We all know I love my coffee. We all know you as a medical professional tell us to drink more water. So sell me on giving up coffee and drinking more water.
It would be massively hypocritical if I tried to convince anyone to give up caffeine ? I’m not that good a writer!!

9. Great Golly Miss Molly it’s April Fools Day but you are so exhausted from long hours at work you miss that fact and see a post in command saying we are now allowing cross-over genre’s in STF. Hastily you grab your laptop and start typing out an amazing story where your ship has found a space bubble that has lead to....where? This can be any genre from Firefly to Downtown Abby and why you picked them.
“Captain, we have come out of the wormhole and appear to be in orbit around a disc-shaped world, resting on the shoulders of 4 elephants, who are in turn stood upon the shell of a giant turtle…”

10. What is immediately next to you as you write your answer to this question? Describe it in detail and if it is something special to you.
I’m in bed writing this (yeah yeah I know. Lazy.) so next to me is my current book ‘the trouble with peace’ by joe Abercrombie. I highly recommend his ‘first law’ books if you haven’t read them, low fantasy at its best.

11. If you could own an exotic animal what would it be?
I’d love to have a house on the beach with a friendly dolphin that comes to visit ?

12. Daydreaming is an activity we all do from time to time. If you could choose two celebrities to be your parents who would they be and why?
Hmm, that’s a tough one! I’d have sally field as my mom and Christopher Walken as my dad! Don’t know why, those two just popped into my head!

13. You play a lot of engineers in STF and now recently are an XO on the USS Saracen. Both positions require you are fast on your feet with problem-solving situations so I have a problem for you. Oh, noes! You just got work that an Admiral is coming around for a surprise inspection. You however are dealing with a group of crew members that recused an elephant from a bad circus on shore leave. Of course, you will find the elephant a forever home but your room is the next stop on the Admirals tour The only thing in the room large enough to hide the pachyderm is the refrigerator. How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator?
To paraphrase the patrician of Ankh Morpork, the key is to find the piece of the elephant that wants to be inside the refrigerator and motivate it appropriately....

14. You are trapped on an enemy world. Darn, that bad intel. They said it would be a walk in the park. They said it was an easy peasy lemon squeezy mission however, low and behold what do your eyes see. Someone has come to rescue you. If you could choose any resourceful hero to bust you out and set the world straight who would you see on the other side of the jail bars with a key to help set you free? Malcolm Reynolds, The Doctor, Han Solo, or Captain Kirk
Pfft, I don’t need to hero to come save me! I blast my own way out of there! Captain Malcolm ‘tight pants’ Reynolds would be acceptable arm candy however, to witness the greatness of my escape ?

15. If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
‘She did what now??’

16. So you are on a hike and find an old man injured. You doff your baseball cap and don your nurse’s hat fixing the man up good as new. As a reward, he says he is a wizard and wants to reward you with something that will make your life easier. He says he can cast a spell to magically clean all your dishes or magically clean all your clothes what do you pick?
I would convince him to both clean and iron my clothes, I hate ironing!!

17. If you had to work on only one project for the next year what would it be?
I’d love to have to time to create and publish my own RP setting, that would be a life goal for me!

18. What is the most exhausting thing you have ever done?
Probably performing the part of Mary Poppins on stage, especially ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious‘ which just about killed me!

19. If you hadn’t become a nurse, what career would you have followed?
If my movie career failed to kick off (lol) I’d probably have been a chef as I’ve always enjoyed cooking and baking.

20. You’re out in the town and hit the karaoke bar, what is your go to tune to belt out?
No Doubt Just a Girl
https://youtu.be/PHzOOQfhPFg last time I sang this for karaoke was in a bar on a hen night dressed up as Daenerys Targaryen, but the rest of that story probably isn’t Pg 13 lol :joy:

And there you have it. Another amazing interview of another amazing writer Stay tuned for next month when I will bring you the nitty-gritty on another one of our stellar writers. Thanks for reading!

~ Kate O’Neill