Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m retired from teaching English in high schol and community colleges, always a reader and writer of fantasy and science fiction. I have one novel out, Maven Fairy Godmother: Through the Veil, and five collections of short stories. Maven’s Fractured Fairy Tales and Pumpkineater star my fairy godmothe characater, while Just a Smidgen of Magic is more urban fantasy. Walking off Heaven’s Shore and In the Still Midwinter are stories set in the real world, mostly in the Southern US, where I live.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is In the Still Midwinter, a collection of five holiday short stories. I wanted to approach the holidays with a heart-warming set of stories that also deal with the painful side of the expections of the season.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I do a fair amount of planning paper with a pen, some general brainstoring and then freewrite and revise. Pretty normal stuff. I also do book design, and I make steampunk accessories when I am not grading papers.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My main influences were Robert Heinlein and Terry Pratchett, who while their stories were very different, their characters often shared a sardonic point of view. I’ve also read Louisa Alcott and L. M. Montgomery, as well as Esther Friesner and Janet Kagan.
What are you working on now?
My current book in revision is a steampunk adventure set on a very high-end brothel airship, where the madam is negotiating with colonial diplomats to prevent war among the colonies in an alternate history North America. The grandsons of the men who lost the revolution want to take over the continent from the British, the French and the First Nations.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still experiementing with different promotions. Each time I run a promotion I learn something, and it seems that different techniques work for different authors.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write a lot and get critique on what you write. Don’t take all of it seriously, and don’t take critque from people who don’t write. Write the stories that only you can write.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write from your own unique point of view, from your own unique place in the world. Write what brings you joy.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading Gail Carriger’s Curtseys and Conspiracies. I love her sense of humor and absurdity along with the mechanations not only of political intrigue but of flirting and finding a suitable occupation for women of a certain class.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have several short stories in a prequel cycle to be published as a collection, and then there’s the sequel to Maven Fairy God Mother.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Sir Richard Burton’s translation of 1001 Nights. But instead of books, I’d like a lot of pens and reams of paper.
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