Quinton D’Lima is a recent Curtin University graduate, with a double major in Professional Writing and Publishing and Creative Writing. He has loved fiction since he was a child, trying to read whatever Emily Rodda books he could get his hands on. In his spare time, he enjoys playing games and daydreaming.

Tell us about a typical day?

A typical day for me starts with the urge to throw my phone at the wall. There’s no feeling quite like needing to turn your alarm off. The day usually gets much better from there. Swimming is one of the best parts of my day, it’s nice to just let my thoughts ping-pong around topics in my head while I get into the rhythm of the pool. After that it really depends on the day. But my nights are usually ended by playing relaxing games with friends, if you consider shouting at each other into our microphones relaxing.

What is your future hope?

One of my biggest hopes for the future is to publish my own fantasy book series. I don’t really mind how well it does, or if it gets money, I just want the chance to be someone else’s Emily Rodda. But don’t get me wrong being a successful author also wouldn’t be terrible.

If you could invite one person to dinner, who would it be and where would you take them in your city?

It’s random but I would invite a guy called Matthew Mercer. I would love the chance to pick his brain about the worldbuilding he does for his own fictional world. We would absolutely have to go to Get Chunky in Vic Park, simply because I could eat 1,000 of their choc chip cookies and not be satisfied.

What does a port culture look like to you?

I see ports as the truest crossroad of life. Whether seaport or airport they’re places of welcomes and goodbyes. Bustling shops and restaurants filled with people of all kinds, from places of all kinds. They have a sort of endlessness to them, like the rest of the world doesn’t exist when you visit.

What’s your favourite sea creature?

My absolute favourite sea creature has always been Jörmungandr from Norse mythology. The idea that there was a serpent so enormous that it could circle the entire planet and chew on its own tail was something that made the ocean seem so mysterious and frightening to me. I now know the ocean is mysterious and frightening on its own, but Jörmungandr never fails to really make me sit back and comprehend how tiny I am.