Interviews with the Author for
OVERMORROW
Overmorrow. 10/20/23
“Here’s the thing, Evan.”
At the rehab facility it was suggested that Meredith’s recovery may have stalled because she’s clinging to her past, so she decides to sneak off to try and find answers. She least expects to find herself escaping a freak summer snowstorm by sheltering in a freeway-side bar that she could have sworn wasn’t previously there, but that’s where the story kicks off. Meredith’s colorful past gradually begins to be revealed as she is joined by two other travelers with equally compelling tales.
One of my earlier novels, Come Back for Me, tells the story of three brothers who were separated as young children but brought together later in life by a contact from a mysterious sister who they unite to try and locate. I felt it was time for the mysterious sister’s story, which stands on its own whether or not readers are familiar with the prior story.
Most people can probably relate to the fact that as we get older and maybe more self-aware, we accept that only we ourselves can course-correct the road we are on, and that involves taking honest accountability for our actions. This book really goes in hard on that concept, but with quite a bit of mystery and other-worldly elements
Meredith has lived through more than her share of stressful situations and, until recently, hasn’t engaged the healthiest coping mechanisms. With help, she’s beginning to learn that she doesn’t need to avoid her past by burying it. Yet she’s willing to risk her sobriety and all that she’s accomplished while getting clean to try and find the siblings she was taken from years ago. I think Meredith’s mixture of grit, humor, and street smarts make her someone most of us would end up enjoying chatting with if we sat beside her at a bar.
I’d like to say there are a great many advantages to going the indie route and you should free yourself to explore them. For me, though this is my fourteenth book, Overmorrow both stands alone with its singular focus on a first-person narrative, which I’ve not done before, as well as builds an elemental bridge to my other books. Some time back I started to have a great time building a unique universe in which all of my tales live – occasionally going back to make minor tweaks in previously released novels as the connections become more apparent to me. That would be something that is not possible to do outside of the indie world.
Q+A With Indie Reader
My love of stories. Seeing worlds created, be they in books or on the screen, was so fascinating to me that I wanted to do that myself.
Yes.
Fantasy, but then again, all of my books have a fantastical element about them.
When you remember something it’s just that, a memory. But reminiscing is a narration of the past told to yourself or to someone else.
Most often I have it from the start, but sometimes it will change as I’m writing when the story itself changes.
Although the town of Coronado, New Mexico is fictional, I grew up in Albuquerque so much of it is based on the surrounding small towns. Oh, and I was once in a jewelry store when it was robbed.
Fifty Feet of Trouble by Justin Robinson
Slade House by David Mitchell & the Southern Reach series by Jeff Vandermeer
I’m working on a “bridge” between my nine-part series The Lizard Queen and what comes next.
Actually two songs play a big role in The Reminisce, Benny Goodman’s version of “Somebody is Taking My Place” and “Green Onions” by Booker T and the McGs
Q & A with Roxanne
Several readers asked me what came after my Lizard Queen series because it ended on such a big note. I had to admit, I was curious as well. I wanted to write a standalone novel that people who haven’t read the series could still get into.
Took me quite a while to decide how I should go about creating a new world and how much should I reference the last one (depicted in the Lizard Queen series). Once I decided on the logistics of the new world and that I wanted a very minor character in the series to be the protagonist in the new book, things began to move forward.
I am so fortunate in that I can write full-time. I seldom write on the weekend because that’s family time, so my typical weekday is going to the gym (or at least considering it) and then sitting down (actually standing up – sitting too long is supposed to be bad for you so my desk is actually my kitchen counter) to write or edit or both. I dress as if I’m going to an office because I think of writing as being my job and I take it seriously. Writing in my bathrobe and slippers wouldn’t put me in that headspace. I typically write from about 10am to 5pm with a short lunch break. Sometimes it lasts longer if I’m on a roll, or if I’ve been editing and I need to apply the changes I’ve made on the hard copy to the word file.
Letting go. Stop trying to make it perfect the first (or even second) time around. Just make some decisions and get to writing. Don’t go back and fix anything until the first draft is finished. Trust yourself.
I’m working on two books at the moment. One that will be a companion piece to After the Stars and another that is connected to my other non-Lizard Queen books. It has been difficult to get into the zone with the pandemic oozing along, so it’ll be 2022 at the earliest before I have something new to release.
Q & A with Markos Papadatos
Interviews with the Author for
After The Stars Appeared
Interviews with the Author for
The Lizard Queen Series
Yes. I’ve been exploring storytelling since I was really young. I’ve delved into several mediums to do so over the years, playwriting in particular, but I’ve discovered that novel writing is my favorite platform to deliver my stories.
I wanted to bring my imagination to life. Characters and stories rattled around my brain and I needed a way to get them out and let them breathe.
The nine-part Lizard Queen is complete. That’s not to say, however, I don’t have more stories to tell about what comes after…
Fantasy has always fascinated me because it’s a genre where you can let your imagination go wild. Of course, you need to tame it from time to time, but it’s freedom in the sense of being able to create your own world.
Write. Stop putting it off. Don’t go back to work on what you’ve already done until it’s finished. Take lots of notes, so you’ll remember what changes you need to make once you’ve completed what you set out to do. And, most importantly, believe in yourself.
Q+A With Charlene Davies
I’m from Albuquerque, New Mexico but I’ve lived in California longer than I lived in my home state so I definitely think of myself as a hybrid. I have a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from UCLA. Over the years I’ve worked a myriad of jobs, none of which were related to what I really wanted to do—write!
I think I’ve always considered myself a storyteller. Even before I could write I was entertaining my grandmother with stories I’d make up involving the dozens of figurines she collected. In high school I joined the drama club and that opened me up to another way to tell stories and I began to write short plays. Eventually that led to being accepted in the playwriting program at UCLA. Jump ahead several years and I needed to find another way to tell longer stories so I moved into writing novels, which I’ve come to learn is my favorite storytelling platform.
I’ll start with E.B. White because Charlotte’s Web was the first book I’d ever read more than once. That story still resonates with me all these years later because of it redefined what family and friendship meant. Other authors that have influenced me would be Gabriel Garcia Márquez who introduced me to Magic Realism, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, and Gregory McGuire for their storytelling techniques, imaginations, and world-building.
I am so fortunate in that I can write full-time. I seldom write on the weekend because that’s family time, so my typical weekday is going to the gym (or at least considering it) and then sitting down (actually standing up – sitting too long is supposed to be bad for you so my desk is actually my kitchen counter) to write or edit or both. I dress as if I’m going to an office because I think of writing as being my job and I take it seriously. Writing in my bathrobe and slippers wouldn’t put me in that headspace. I typically write from about 10am to 5pm with a short lunch break. Sometimes it lasts longer if I’m on a roll, or if I’ve been editing and I need to apply the changes I’ve made on the hard copy to the word file.
The Lizard Queen Series is a story within a story. The books that Amy (the protagonist) and company are searching for are actually short stories that I wrote years ago while working my last full time job. I hadn’t been writing for awhile and was desperate for a creative outlet, so at lunch I sat at my desk and wrote out tales that had been with me since I was a child. When I set out to write Amy’s story I used those tales as a launch pad.
I would have to say having a forty-year-old female lead character in a fantasy setting is what sets it apart the most. Also, it’s not a typical fantasy setting. No dragons or wizards.
My favorite character would have to be Amy. But like a good parent, I love all my characters, even the less-than-lovable ones. There are bits and pieces of me throughout the main characters but I try very hard to let them be who they are without too much influence on my part. They surprise me because often they have qualities that I wish I had.
There are many, but I think I’d have to say the ending. Once I figured out how to conclude a nine book series it was fun to bring my characters full circle. It was also sad because I’d been with them for so long I didn’t want to let go!
That they enjoyed it so much they want to go back and read it all over again. That’s actually one of my favorite things to do with books (movies, as well) because you find aspects you’d missed the first time around.
I hope that people want to go along for the journey. Any series is a commitment, so I always appreciate whenever someone is willing to take it on.
I’m currently working on a new stand-alone novel that I hope to have out sometime next year. After that I may return to fantasy writing. I’ve got this idea about what happens next…
Q & A with Solafide
That’s a loaded question for sure. My first instinct is to say, “Because all my books are special.” But I don’t think that’s the sort of answer that provides you any insight into the book (although it does give a glimpse of my penchant for smartass-ery). The actual answer is that, although on the surface The Reminisce is a tale about a man in his thirties being drawn into the memories of a woman in her nineties, it is also a story of a brother and a sister and the love that they share.
Curtis Aisling is not what you’d call driven. In fact, he has a knack for skating through life, even though he doesn’t think of it that way. Conversely, his older sister Dia Castillo (they have different fathers) has always been determined and has never relied on anyone but herself to get through the twists and turns of life. Up until the events that take place in the book both outlooks have served the siblings fairly well. For Curtis, however, luck comes to an abrupt end when his fiancée calls off the engagement and kicks him out of the house. That’s how he finds himself back in his home state of New Mexico, visiting his sister and her girlfriend, who are the caretakers for the richest lady in town. His arrival also alters the daily life that Dia has carefully cultivated.
Being a sibling—half-, step-, or whole—is an exercise juggling the feelings of love, hate, jealousy, exasperation, admiration, and that familial bond, that shared experience that only people who have grown up in the same household can have. And of course there is the placement within the family. The younger sibling always seems to get away with things the older sibling never could. That’s how it is for Curtis and Dia. They grew up in a home run by a (most of the time) single mother and are a few years apart. Dia, as the elder child, has an entirely different perspective than her baby brother on what growing up together meant. She likes to think that she has a clearer view of Curtis than he seems to have of himself, while Curtis believes that her vision is tinged by the past that he had no control over. They are both absolutely wrong and absolutely right, leaving them to face who they were then, who they are now, and how it makes them different but not separate. Or, as their mother might say, “All my children are special.”
A Question from Linda
Interviews with the Author for
The Reminisce
As a young boy I was taken care of by my paternal grandmother and she would tell me about her past. She never just remembered. She would turn whatever it was she was telling me about into a story. Not having much of a past of my own, I began to make up stories to tell her and she would ask questions to help me fill in the blanks. That’s when I discovered how fun and fulfilling it was to be a storyteller.
Because I started out as a playwright, my first story published was actually a play called, And Jill Came Tumbling After.
Talking to a doctor once at a party. She specialized in Alzheimer’s and we had a very interesting chat about accessing memories. I became fascinated with the (simplistic, because there’s so much more to it) idea that the disease moves backwards, taking away the most current memories until there’s nothing left to recall.
That would have to be Araceli, the girlfriend of the main character’s sister. She's curious and is always willing to explore the unusual, even if she doesn’t quite understand or believe in it.
The ending. Can’t say why or I would give too much away.
A film editor.
I actually have my husband read them first. If they’re good, he’ll read aloud. If they’re not so good, he’ll summarize. They don’t influence my writing at all. You can’t please everyone.
Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Tad Williams, Anne Rice, and a whole slew of not so well-known writers.
I do. I’ve got three: one that I’m currently working on the first draft and two others that are stewing in my head.
Q+A With Billy
