About FireCatRich aka Richelle Sholdice
Richelle Sholdice (she/her) has operated under the artist handle FireCatRich for over twenty years. By day, she works as a freelance illustrator and creative support. By night, she writes and illustrates everything from webcomics to short stories and novels. Her longest-running and most well-known title is Where Does It Hurt? which is an ongoing erotic fantasy webcomic that began publication in 2017. While she thinks of herself more as a citizen of the internet, she is an American artist who moved to Canada in 2012 and has enjoyed the hospitality of The Great White North ever since. You can find links to all her various homes on the internet on her Carrd.
A Conversation with FireCatRich
We sat down with Richelle to discuss her writing journey, creative process, and what inspires her stories. Get an inside look at her experiences and learn valuable insights from a fellow writer in our community.
What is your favourite genre in which to write and why?
Fantasy. I think it’s the well I keep going back to because as a child, I would pick up a fantasy book and think anything could happen. Literally anything. It’s a light-hearted feeling that still makes my chest swell remembering it.
Do you have a current work in progress? Can you tell us a bit about it?
I have an ongoing webcomic called Where Does It Hurt? It’s an erotic fantasy that explores the different shapes of relationships. I don’t think connection and romance of the physical or emotional kind has ever come in just one flavour, and I’ve been able to take my time with the weekly comic updates to explore and change with it. It’s a live piece in the sense that people are reading it as it’s being produced, and I really look forward to celebrating with my following during the comic’s anniversary in July. I’m very proud to be able to hire other creatives to join me during the month as part of the festivities to lend their creative talents to the little world I created many years ago. Being creative together is some of the best food for the soul, in my opinion.
List three books you have recently read and would recommend. What did you like most about each of them?
The first book I would like to recommend is Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It’s the first in The Locked Tomb series, and I found the character writing incredibly charming. It was originally pitched to me by a friend as “lesbian necromancers in space,” which it is, but also the clashing personalities and messy chaos that is people even in the strange setting was wonderful from start to finish.
The second would be Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. The near future humor and science hit just right for a really stimulating experience that I’ve gone back to read a few times now. I would highly recommend listening to the audio book read by Ray Porter. The addition of the audio embellishments really added to the characters in a way I wasn’t expecting.
Finally, I’d recommend The Apothecary Diaries, written by Itsuki Nanao and illustrated by Nekokurage. The manga adaptation is beautifully illustrated and the writing leads you into the inner palace of Imperial China from the eyes of a young girl who grew up in the red-light district. She worked as an apothecary under the tutelage of her father before she was kidnapped and sold to the Imperil Palace as a servant. There is a lot of mystery and intrigue in the royal court, and it examines the sort of power the women in this society have and their motivations that often go over looked by those around them.
To learn more about Richelle Sholdice, her books, and her writing process, please visit her at her at her website or itch.io, Subscribestar and Patreon.