Interview With Author Marjorie Noble
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My childhood zigzagged. I was born in California. My parents moved to Tennessee, then Kentucky and returned to California when I was fourteen. I graduated from UCLA (theater major), was an actress for a split second then moved to Reno and raised children. In Reno, I started a location casting company, then moved back to LA, worked as a casting director. Then I became an English teacher, the biggest challenge yet. When I was an English teacher in East LA, I saw donated boxes of YA novels. I decided to give writing a try. How hard can it be? Incredibly hard. Still, a family story sparked my curiosity. Arthur, my great uncle had been an inmate at an Ohio State Penitentiary. There was a prison fire, the cell doors wouldn’t open. Almost everyone was killed. I wondered who or what caused it? The site is now a parking lot, But what if it was a mall on Christmas Eve? Would it happen again? In response, I wrote The Demon Rift. When I read a Ray Kurzweil story about mind-uploading and VR paradises, I was concerned. If the technology is successful, and people decided to keep existing indefinitely, what could go wrong? Quite a lot. Babylon Dreams explores the downside of a VR heaven. Currently, I’m working on a third, The Dark Side of Dreams. It is the sequel to Babylon Dreams.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Dark Side of Dreams, among other questions, explores the nature of identity and what makes us who we are. How many memories, decisions or dreams? The protagonist is the same one who deleted himself by riding the virtual roller coaster, Babylon Dreams. A mind upload copy was made and hidden away, years before Gunter Holden killed himself and uploaded to Bali Hai. Unlike the original, the copy is not guilty of murder but when Mira, his descendent finds him, she plans to use him in a deadly attempt to regain Bali Hai and its virtual residents and VEI, the company stolen when Gunter failed to protect it. As he encounters the challenge of his new existence, the copy of Gunter Holden wonders who he is and what was left behind.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nope, no cigars nor do I toast the end of a story.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My mother loved to read. She died when I was a teenager. We shared a love for James Michener’s novels where the landscapes, the creatures that inhabited it and the human who came later all share one grand story. The weaving of one story into another influence my first book, The Demon Rift, a story that spans generations. Charles Dickens was another influence. I love his humor and the characters he created, all the flawed human beings.
What are you working on now?
I am almost done with The Dark Side of Dreams. My next novel is called “The Daevas”. It concerns a woman who is followed by some daevas, demigods she encounters as a young girl.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Linked In has been helpful.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be open and curious. Write for the pleasure of it. Read. Social media is necessary.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing and be open to criticism.
What are you reading now?
Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Picking up where I left off and completing The Daevas
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?
Hawaii
Great Expectations
The Black Stallion
The Illustrated Man
Author Websites and Profiles
Marjorie Noble’s Social Media Links
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