Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a queer author writing in the LGBT sandbox. A lot of my work is m/m, but I’m branching into f/f, transgender and asexual stories. My latest work is a science fiction epic novel I’m very excited to have out in the world.
I’ve also written historical paranormal, contemporary romance, erotic horror, and under another penname, YA fantasy and science fiction.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Perihelion is the first in the Queenships series and the seed of the idea started with my desire to write about sentient space ships. I’ve always been entertained by the idea of ships that can think for themselves and, in this case, talk back.
As space operas usually are, Perihelion is a politically tangled plot involved with epic battles and rogue AI. I spent several weeks before writing the book watching all nine seasons of The West Wing– a political TV show on in the early 2000’s. (It holds up very well).
Perihelion is also the first book where I made a deliberate choice to diversify my cast. Both MC’s are black, there’s a collection of Native Americans, many characters have names I pulled from nationalities I’m unfamiliar with, so a lot of research has gone into this book to get them right.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I spend the majority of my day on the corner of my couch wrapped up in blankets convincing myself it’s a good idea to do some writing. Drafting, of all the processes one needs to go through to produce a book, is the one I dislike the most. I outline heavily, try to draft something as fast as I can, then spend time lingering in the edits, which I love most.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Before I started writing, most of my influences were popular writers I could find in the local bookstore. And generally outside of my chosen niche, which has only recently been producing more mainstream attention.
Now that I have a social circle of other authors, it’s largely comprised of other LGBT folks you’d never find in a bookstore! Jordan L Hawk, L.A. Witt, E.E. Ottoman to name a few. You can find them all on twitter.
What are you working on now?
My current project is a short contemporary m/m romance I intend to submit to a publisher. It’s called Dawn Patrol and features a surfer that falls hard for an artist. It’s only a few thousand words long, so by the time this goes live I’ll probably have moved on to a new project! Come find me on twitter to see what I’m doing now.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
There’s nothing better than having my own website where I can control the look and feel of the books as my fans come to see them. All the stories are organized how I’d like them and I can provide links to free stories/novels that other websites might not be able to include.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Finish often! New/aspiring authors often get caught up in starting stories or struggling through the middle of them after the rush of inspiration is gone, but practicing how to finish is just as important! If you don’t finish your work you can never publish it and it takes just as much practice to perfect how to finish as it does how to start. Don’t neglect finishing!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Finish your work! (See above) I believe… Neil Gaiman was the one I heard it from, but I honestly couldn’t say for sure. Even if he’s not the source, you should google the commencement address he gave (it’s on youtube). It’s quite inspirational, I love it.
What are you reading now?
Currently I’m reading a science fiction novel by Autumn Kaloquist called Better World, but I just started it today so I can’t tell you how amazing it is yet!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m moving this year into more contemporary m/m and f/f, maybe some shifter stories. I’d like to get a series going that the popular readers can sink their teeth into. Blood In The Water (historical Paranormal) and Perihelion (scifi) are both labors of love, but they’re not hitting the popular ranks and I could use the boost in visibility that contemporary brings.
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?
This is almost a silly question now that the kindle has been invented! I’ll take my phone and have a thousand books! But if I needed to break it down I’d bring Stephen King’s On Writing, which is always great for a reminder on how to get back to basics, and then I’d take 3 blank notebooks so I had something to write in when I finished reading my how-to book!
Author Websites and Profiles
Tami Veldura Website
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