Tag: author interview

WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Rhiannon Held

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Rhiannon Held writes urban fantasy, along with space opera and weird western (as R. Z. Held). She lives in Seattle, where she works as an archaeologist for an environmental compliance firm. At work, she mostly uses her degree for copy-editing technical reports; in writing, she uses it for cultural world-building; in public, she’ll probably use it to check the mold seams on the wine bottle at dinner.

Wolf: If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?

Rhiannon: I’m not sure I’d ever want to be an animal literally, but being one metaphorically (in the best tradition of animals that talk in folktales) would be fun! My personal metaphor animal (or patronus) is a fox. Sometimes foxes are the villains of the piece in Western folktales—sly, killing chickens, stealing what isn’t theirs. But what if folktale foxes applied their methods to less villainous goals? I aspire to be stubborn like a fox. Not stubborn like an ox, just going forward and hitting your head against a wall until it breaks (or does it?). Stubborn like a fox, who sees a goal and goes over or under or around or talks their way in or distracts the guard or in the end, makes peace with deciding it wasn’t actually worth it. If they do decide it’s worth it, they keep stubbornly trying different methods of getting to their goal until they succeed.

Wolf: I never thought about foxes like that. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Rhiannon: At one time, I thought I might write a spin-off series of my main urban fantasy series, Silver. That ended up not being where I wanted to go with my limited creative time (though I still love the idea for it!). The spin-off was intended to be set about 60 years in the future, when the werewolf characters who were part of a society hidden from humans in the Silver series had mostly died in clashes with humans once they were discovered. It meant that the characters I’d written about originally had somewhat passed into legend, with all the crunchy misunderstandings and exaggerations that intrigue me about real history. It also meant that I had to know how they all died.

That’s not the mean part, though. Death is death; it comes to every character off the page. No, the mean part was when I figured out what life must be like for the characters who remained. Though the series was slated to take place in a relatively safe enclave, anyone who’d made it that far had lost pretty well everyone in the life to violence. That’s one thing to have in backstory, but it’s another to have happen to characters readers have already met!

Wolf: So true. While walking in the woods you come across…

Rhiannon: As the interest in history I mentioned above hinted at, for my day job I’m actually a professional archaeologist. Specifically, I work in compliance archaeology, which involves checking places slated for development before ground is even broken, so that we can know or predict with confidence whether there are any “cultural resources” (not just artifacts or objects, but also other things that are evidence of past humans, such as stains in the soil, trails, ditches, or building foundations) that might be disturbed when development goes forward. Over my career, I’ve specialized and now mostly edit the technical reports we produce for our results. However, I was trained in survey, which is what I would be doing when I was walking out in the woods and came across something.

What might I find, out on survey? In the Pacific Northwest, not much on the surface—our survey almost always involves digging what are called shovel probes because otherwise things are just plain too grown over to see. But we’re hypothetically walking, not digging! When walking, we often find railroad grades, but almost never rails or ties, as those were removed by the railroad companies when they closed the lines, or moved spurs as they opened up new areas for logging in historical times. Old roads are also out there. Occasionally one can find concrete foundations or pads associated with homesteads or houses. And can or bottle dumps! Workers on the job or people traveling on a road might dump the cans or bottles from what they’d eat or drunk by the side of the road or tracks. Cans rust away and can be hard to identify very precisely, but bottles often have maker’s marks, as well as how particular shapes tell you what’s inside (take a look in your recycling bin—you know what had wine in it, and what had ketchup!).

Just as a note—even as archaeologists, most of the time we record things, we don’t collect them. The point is what they can tell us, not possessing them, and they can tell us things while staying right where they are for another person to see! So if you find historical stuff in a the woods, be like an archaeologist: look it over and leave it there.

Wolf: Just like I learned in scouts. Take only picture. Leave no trace. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Rhiannon: There are two answers to this question! The first is, I’d love to be able to teleport, mostly so I could visit far-flung friends whenever the heck I wanted. Narratively, though, that one’s no good, because no super power can just work quickly and conveniently with no side effects, tradeoffs, or complications. I’ve seen plenty of complications for teleportation across fiction, but none of them are meaningful for my personality. For instance, getting lost in some kind of limbo state if you step in without picturing your destination clearly enough makes the most narrative sense for a character who metaphorically doesn’t look before they leap as well. That is the diametric opposite of me!

So the second answer is, I think I’d probably have empathy. It’s great for understanding people and helping them, but it’s pretty terrible for making sure you don’t burn out trying to fix the world all on your lonesome. If I had that superpower, maybe I wouldn’t use it very much…

Wolf: Interesting. One of my works in progress is about an empathic teleport. She has loads of complication. What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?

Rhiannon: I have a very high, wonky prescription for which I currently wear contacts, but obviously in that case I’d want my glasses first and foremost. The next things are all bound up in what I’d like to consider my long-term survival strategy. Assume for the sake of these items, that in this new world, there are now more resources than people (true for a disease outbreak, not true for crippling drought for decades, etc.). Most fiction likes to focus on the fighting after the cataclysm, but people already tend to stick together during disasters, and enough resources afterwards means there’s much less impetus to fight to go steal someone else’s food because you’re starving, for example. But I digress!

Second item, I want a farmer’s almanac. Gotta get some crops in the ground if I want to eat in the future. But those won’t be ready for a season, if not more, so time to get me something to eat now, with a book of city maps. Remember those, from the 90s, with street maps for an entire city in far more detail than one fold-out map can give? It’ll be outdated, of course, given all the updates went online, but it would be enough to orient you and record your progress as you start scavenging. Maps are important! I won’t just be scavenging food, so I’ll want a solar panel so I can generate electricity to run any useful items that I find.

Last? Well, it’s kind of a big item, but I want a printing press. Preserving knowledge is so important, and while it’s easy to go the direction of worshiping books as singular, magical objects, I think that’s not the way to go. Preservation of knowledge is about replication. Find the books, copy down the information, and fire up the press! Print a hundred guides describing how to build a water filtration system using charcoal, and which wild plants are good to eat. Then all the people around you and their knowledge of their experiences can survive in the new world too.

Wolf: You and Tatiana, the main character in Star Touched, would get along great. Books and wild edibles are her things. What story are you working on now?

Rhiannon: Oddly enough, speaking of a post-apocalyptic world…That’s not quite true, I have at least four projects on my hard drive right now in various stages of completion, but the one I’m currently revising is a weird western, set centuries after the apocalypse, that explores, among other things, just what people looking back on us might put in their books about the period of their history we’re currently living in. Also it has conscious AI and other leftover technology from the old world as well as tall tales, lonely trails through deep forested canyons, private dancers, saloons, gun battles, and bicycle chases.

Wolf: That sound great. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Rhiannon: For hobbies that get me out of the house, I belong to a community choir and have a D&D game, and I also enjoy hiking and finding little local museums to poke around. On a given evening, though, I write until I have no more brain left, which isn’t always bedtime, so I also have to fill that time. To get away from words without completely vegging in front of Netflix (which I do my share of, let’s be honest) I enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles and cross-stitch. The bigger the picture the better, for both of those!

Wolf: All fun activities. What’s your philosophy that keeps you going through the hard times of writing?

Rhiannon: A question I get a lot that I never know how to answer is “Has there ever been a time you tried to give up writing?” It’s hard to answer because the honest reply is, “No.” But there’s a really interesting question buried inside of that, it’s just been made too specific. When times are hard (and every writer knows, damn but they get hard) even if you don’t feel that difficulty in the form of wanting to quit, how do you get through?

My philosophy: things work out. That needs a bit of explanation, otherwise it sounds like an empty platitude. Not everything will succeed. Not everything will get better. But things will change. That change might bring something that’s even better than what you thought you wanted. It might bring what you feared but you find out there was no reason to fear it after all. It might bring something so awful that you’re forced into making a decision that you never would have imagined making that brings even more change…that might be better than you imagined. Or worse. My life philosophy is that change is terrifying but as you get used to things, you realize they’ve worked themselves out. Somehow. Not how you imagined. But probably not bad, in the end. And a writing career is just a microcosm of that. There are no guarantees you’ll succeed at any one project or goal, but if you keep writing and submitting and give the change something to work on, you’ll end up somewhere new. And I’d like to keep finding out where that new place is!

Wolf: Great philosophy. You can connect with Rhiannon through these links:

Twitter: @rhiannonheld
Website: www.rhiannonheld.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5324198.Rhiannon_Held

February 27, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Heidi Hanley

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Wolf: Thanks for stopping by today, Heidi. Tell us a little about yourself.

Heidi: There are worse things than living in a world of kings, queens, warriors, bards, and all manner of magical beings. After a life spent burying myself in the imagination of others and lamenting my inability to create such a story myself, I was challenged by my husband and a friend to bust down the barriers to my own creativity and just do it! I did, and the Kingdom of Uisneach series is the result.

I have been blessed by careers as a Registered Nurse, an interfaith minister and a hospice chaplain, but ever-flowing beneath the surface was my passion for books and writing. Whether I was writing care plans, weddings or journaling my own personal odyssey, I crafted words in ways that others found . . . interesting.

The Kingdom of Uisneach series taps into the core of my Irish heritage, evoking the spirit of ancient myth and legend. I hope you enjoy this story and would love to hear from you.

Wolf: Sounds interesting. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?

Heidi: I am drawn to swords, which represent many things such as justice, ritual, power and strength. Specifically, I would choose the longsword. On the physical level it is the common weapon of the warriors I write about in the mythic fantasy genre. It requires a great deal of strength and dexterity to manage in battle and can get the job done completely. Granted, it is usually more difficult for women to use effectively, but not impossible. It is both an elegant and earthy weapon, crafted and honed by the hands of a smithy in a simple wood-fired cottage. On the symbolic level it is power and strength, two attributes of the men and women I write about. It plays a key role in The Prophecy in the magical sword Nuada, one of the four treasures of Uisneach.

Wolf: There is nothing like a good blade. You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.

Heidi: I adore ferns for their diversity and grace. They remind me of faeries and whimsy. Being one who is often referred to as ‘a bull in a china shop’ the lithe grace of ferns is something I can only dream of. Living in forested places, changing color with the seasons and hosting shelter to small or magical beings, is all I could hope to be in the botanical world.

Wolf: And some of them taste good. I mean the ferns, not the faeries. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Heidi: Definitely canine! I adore dogs and have often said I’d have one of every kind, though that would leave little time for writing. In my mundane world, I have a very un-mundane Scottish Terrier named Riley, who people on Facebook have come to know as my office buddy. In Uisneach, Briana has Dara, an Irish Wolfhound. She saved him when he was wounded and in turn, he became one of her loyal guards. I cannot imagine any world without dogs in it and none of my future books will be without some form of canine hero.

Wolf: I know exactly what you mean. While walking in the woods you come across…

Heidi: Well, obviously a magical oak tree that is a portal to another kingdom in need of a savior-queen.

Wolf: Of course. What else could there be? If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Heidi: All my life, I have had this occasional dream of being able to fly. They are rare, and I really treasure them. It feels so good to be able to fly fearlessly above the world, seeing everything from a higher perspective. I am also inspired by watching documentaries where they are looking down on say, the African savannah or the Amazon River and birds are flying below. It gives me the same feeling that I’m flying.

Wolf: I’ve had those dreams as well, which is kind of funny. I don’t like heights. Do you have a favorite character?

Heidi: Every character in The Prophecy is my favorite for a different reason. However, I am really beginning to appreciate Briana as a force to be reckoned with. Readers have so far either loved her or have rolled their eyes and picked her apart. I guess she makes an impression and that is exactly what I like about her. She isn’t ordinary, though she thinks she is. Up until she walked through a tree in the woods near her house and ended up in Uisneach, she lived a pretty sheltered life. On the other side of the tree, she immediately discovers she is the savior to a land of gnomes, dryads, witches, druids and very mythic men and women and must adapt quickly to this new paradigm. She goes from being a young woman who cries at the drop of a hat and rejects most men because they don’t meet her dreamy expectations, to a woman who makes hard, sacrificial choices for the greater good of a kingdom she falls in love with. I freely admit it is cosmically cliché. I meant it to be. Her character arc seems complete in The Prophecy, but through the writing of the second book, The Runes of Evalon, it is clear she has room to grow, and is. She impresses me more and more with each passing day.

Wolf: Describe a meal you (or Briana) would be served while visiting another world.

Heidi: So, I’m on Uisneach and it’s the season for Christmas and Briana wants to celebrate the holiday she remembers so fondly. She consults with Moira Flannigan, the head cook and Reilly Doherty the butler, to create the meal. Slabs of cheese and baskets of nuts and fresh berries start the meal. The main course is roast turkey, pheasant, rabbit and venison, with sautéed mushrooms and wild onions. Brimming bowls of potatoes, turnip and carrots are set on the tables. Fresh oat bread with herbed butter is a staple at the castle and one of Briana’s favorites. Apple crisp and wild berry cobbler with whipped cream will be dessert. Cups will overflow with red ale, Uisneach mead and fresh goat milk. What won’t be served is plum wine, an Uisneach specialty that makes Briana act a little crazy.

Wolf: Yummy. What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

Heidi: Two bodies of water play important roles in my life. Waterfalls are magical and play a significant role in my writing as you will see as the story of Uisneach unfolds. I live within a couple of hours drive of the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. When I’m feeling stressed out, overwhelmed or overtired, I head for the ocean. The timelessness of wave after wave, crashing on rock or breaking on the sand is healing and reassuring for me.

Wolf: I agree, sunny day ocean waves are soothing. What story are you working on now?

Heidi: The Runes of Evalon is book two of the Kingdom of Uisneach trilogy. I have just finished the first draft and hope to have it edited and published in the spring. This book is written from Briana’s and Silas’s alternating points of view. Silas is on a quest to find important magical runes to restore magic in Uisneach and Briana and Brath are trying to capture Lord Shamwa and stop him from wreaking havoc across the kingdom.

Wolf: If this question were any question in the world, what question would you want it to be and how would you answer it?

Heidi: What is the meaning of life? Ha! Isn’t that everyone’s question? Doesn’t everyone want an answer? In my work as a hospice chaplain, I often ask people what gives meaning to their life. I think the answers to the question about the meaning of life are varied and personal. So, for me, I will answer that the meaning of life is to find the place where I am connected to the song of the universe and then to discover how to work with that energy in the quest to be all that I am capable of being and bring something of meaning and value to the other souls and beings I share this life with.

Wolf: I hope everyone enjoyed Heidi’s visit to Wolf Notes. You can connect with Heidi through these links:

Facebook: Heidi Hanley Author Page
https://www.facebook.com/heidihanleyauthor/
Kingdom of Uisneach (closed group on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1936863969722285/
https://www.instagram.com/heidi_hanley/
http://kingdomofuisneach.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Prophecy-Kingdom-Uisneach-Book-ebook/dp/B079DS3R2M

February 20, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Catherine Lundoff
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Wolf: This week we have Catherine Lundoff.

Catherine Lundoff is an award-winning writer, editor and publisher from Minneapolis. She is the author of Silver Moon and Out of This World: Queer Speculative Fiction Stories and editor of the fantastical pirate anthology, Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space), as well as a number of published short stories in different genres. She is also the publisher at Queen of Swords Press, a genre fiction publisher specializing in fiction from out of this world.

Wolf: If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?

Catherine: I love swords, but I also have long term damage to the tendons in my arms, so it depends on how realistic I’m being. Fantasy Me would love to wield a rapier with finesse and panache because they look cool and elegant. They’re also the kind of sword you can use to disarm or disable, rather than necessarily kill. Real Me recognizes that I don’t have the arms, hands or, based on my brief flirtation with fencing, the physical coordination to pull off using a nice sword properly. Real Me probably just needs a small maneuverable tank.

Wolf: That sound very familiar. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Catherine: Make my characters fall in love. Falling in love is new and glorious and exciting. It can happen on so many different levels, emotional and physical. It’s a big motivator for change, and change makes for interesting stories.

Wolf: It certainly does. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Catherine: Make my characters try to stay in love despite the obstacles. I mean, I could say turning them into werewolves and sundry other monsters, but they generally want some version of that. Falling in love is hard. Staying in love is harder. It’s also sometimes a very bad idea, but they don’t always know that until they’re in trouble.

Wolf: Yes. Sometimes relationships can be hard work. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Catherine: Cats! So much cats! I like dogs okay, but they’re a lot of work. My cats are too, but they make it seem like you’re lucky to be serving them. My cats are also Egyptian Mau mixes so they’re very soft and cuddly and people-oriented. And they invent interactive games, so it’s a bit like having dogs that don’t have to go for walks, I suppose.

Wolf: Do your cat’s like belly rubs? My daughter is living with one that loves them. (For real, not the usual cat trap.) While walking in the woods you come across…

Catherine: A mysterious object that is clearly more than it seems and a crone with a wolf who is waiting for me in a part of the forest I have never wandered into before. Instaquest! And no, I don’t know what the mysterious object is yet. Maybe something small and portable, like a glass orb or a ring. Those are always popular. Part of my fantasy involves having both a bag for carrying stuff and pockets, just to make all this more convenient. And maybe a few scraps of meat for the wolf.

Wolf: Yum. Can you make those filet mignon scraps? If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Catherine: Healing, self and others. This would come in so handy right now! While it would be fun and useful to have my own illnesses and injuries heal very rapidly, it would be even better to be able to share that power and help others. I think that’s something I’d be happy to fantasize about.

Wolf: I love that. Some of the characters in my novel Star Touched can heal. Speaking of, what five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?

Catherine:
1. A Swiss Army knife
2. A bottle of rubbing alcohol
3. A box of bandages
4. A box of energy bars
5. A box of water purification tablets
Dull, but practical. I’d say a favorite novel, but I can compose my own and make due on the storytelling front.

Wolf: Practical helps you survive. What story are you working on now?

Catherine: I’m working on one of next year’s Queen of Swords Press titles, but when it comes to my own writing, I tend to work on several projects at the same time. Right now, that’s Blood Moon, the sequel to Silver Moon, my menopausal werewolves novel, a gaming tie-in project that I can’t discuss yet and a new short story set in the late 1700s. The last one is about a young woman who wants to be a playwright.

Wolf: menopausal werewolves? Interesting. I’d like to read that. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Catherine: Or editing or publishing? I like hanging out with friends. I love theater and concerts and some films and I like to read. Also, high tea, preferably combined with the hanging out with friends and/or reading. Really, tea, friends and reading in some combination are all lovely. Cat snuggling is also a big part of this vision of relaxing fun times.

Wolf: Thanks for stopping by. You can connect with Catherine through these links:

Websites: www.catherinelundoff.net and www.queenofswordspress.com
Twitter: @clundoff and @qospress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clundoff/

Can you be who you are meant to be?

STAR TOUCHED

Eighteen year old Tatiana is running from her past and her Star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population.

Her power to heal is sometimes overshadowed by the ability to create ravaging fires. Fleeing the fear induced persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. This civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Tatiana is once again left with the choice to flee or to stay and fight for the new life she has built. Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends… and herself.
February 13, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Rebecca Gomez Farrell

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Rebecca Gomez Farrell writes all the speculative fiction genres she can conjure up. Her first epic fantasy novel, Wings Unseen, debuted in August 2017 from Meerkat Press. You can find her short stories in over 20 anthologies, magazines, and websites including Dark Luminous Wings, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Fright into Flight. In California, Becca co-leads the 400-member strong East Bay Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Meetup group and organizes a chapter of the national Women Who Submit Lit organization, which encourages female writers to send their work out for publication. She also co-moderates Facebook discussion groups for female-identifying writers and is a regular participant in the Bay Area literary reading scene. Becca’s food, drink, and travel blog, theGourmez.com, has garnered multiple accolades and influences every tasty bite of her fictional world building.

Wolf: If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?

Rebecca: The universe is so big! I’m going to take a page from Doctor Who and be a star whale, which feeds on the light of stars that it passes in the galaxy. Star whales can travel freely in space, and they live quite a long time. I’d imagine that’s an adventuresome, fulfilling life.

Wolf: I loved that episode. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?

Rebecca: I’m a food blogger, so this is actually a hard question to answer! There’ve been a number of times that I’ve had to close my eyes and just dig into a bite, choke it down fast as I can. Head cheese is one of my least favorites for sure. For the past decade, foodies and chefs have been entranced with the idea of whole animal butchery, appreciating all the parts of a creature that’s been slaughtered for our consumption. I honor the morality of that aspiration, but dear lord, head cheese—the combination of, yes, meat from the head and gelatin—does not need to exist. And it’s so salty! RUN AWAY.

Wolf: My mom used to get head cheese but I never tasted it. Now It’s hard to find. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Rebecca: Writers are sadistic beasts, as there’s not much of a story if you’re not subjecting your characters to mean things. Excluding death, the meanest thing I’ve done is revoke the happy endings for characters who thought they had one coming.

Wolf: Harsh. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Rebecca: Cat person, for sure. Dogs are totally fine, and I had dogs, cats, lizards, rabbits, fish, and hamsters growing up. But cats are as independent as I am, and that purr is excellent when you need soothing on a bad day.

Wolf: There is definitely something to be said for that soft outboard motor. While walking in the woods you come across…

Rebecca: Beautiful, tiny, white flowers that I’ll take pictures of to add to my floral photography collection. If I’m lucky, I’ll also glimpse some rabbits hopping between the trees. If I’m feeling imaginative, nothing is better than a hanging mist between redwoods that I can’t quite explain.

Wolf: Sounds like the beginning of a story. What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

Rebecca: Growing up, my answer was lakes, as I didn’t visit them often and enjoyed the still water and fun of easily swimming coast to coast. But once I learned about the existence of leeches? Oh, sorry lakes! Oceans have been my favorite ever since, especially at night as waves beat against the cliffs.

Wolf: Give me an ocean any day. I got turned off of lakes when I saw a huge spider on the dock at camp. What story are you working on now?

Rebecca: I’m working on the first draft for a sequel to my fantasy novel, Wings Unseen. The working title for the rough draft is Wings Unfurled. All the things I feel like I got away with in writing the first book will be addressed in this one. The metaphorical becomes physical, throwing the world of Lansera into tumult once again.

Wolf: Sounds good. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Rebecca: Feel guilty for not writing. Just kidding! I don’t like that part at all. What I do like is going for a swim, going out to new restaurants and bars, seeing theater, and breathing in nature on a fresh, clear day with a hint of rain.

Wolf: But that guilt always seems to follow. What would you like to do if you won 1 trillion dollars?

Rebecca: Why, I would like to hire the brightest minds in the world to figure out how we could provide universal healthcare, housing, and enough income to cover basic needs for everyone on the planet, because we absolutely could with that amount of money. And then I would like to tackle how we, as a species, can better protect all the other species the Earth sustains.

Wolf: Amen. I like that idea. How can readers find out more about you and your books?

Rebecca: You can find me anywhere @theGourmez! But mostly, you’ll find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

STAR TOUCHED

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

February 6, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Loren Rhoads

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Photo taken by Anna Carson Dewitt.

Loren Rhoads is the author of a space opera trilogy, co-author of a duology about a succubus, and has written a whole bunch of short stories about Alondra DeCourval, a witch who hunts monsters. You can learn more about her work at lorenrhoads.com.

Wolf: Great to have you here on Wolf Notes. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?

Loren: When the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook came out, the local science museum hosted a book release party. Instead of a simple signing or a reading, the author did a cooking show. I tried the Orthopteran Orzo (pasta salad with cricket nymphs) and a sugar cookie starred with white chocolate chunks and pudgy wax moth larvae. It was the first time in my life that I thought: make sure you get a bite with a bug in it. I still regret that he didn’t make enough Scorpion Scaloppine for everyone to try.

Wolf: That’s a cool idea. I haven’t eaten any bug, but that’s probably the best way to try them. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?

Loren: I’d like to be able to kill people with my mind. I promise I wouldn’t misuse the power.

Wolf: I’ve heard that before. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Loren: In No More Heroes, the third book in my space opera trilogy, I set the human main character Raena up with her big lizard boyfriend Haoun. After she’d had two really bad relationships in the earlier books, I decided she deserved to be happy.

Wolf: What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Loren: Lorelei, the succubus heroine of my work-in-progress, is subjected to some nonconsensual body embroidery. The scene is pretty far out there and I’m kind of horrified at myself for coming up with it.

Wolf: I think most writers have some really scare scenes banging in their heads. They can be very hard to write. (or terrifyingly easy.) There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?

Loren: I would knock and ask, “Is everything all right in there?”

Wolf: You’re brave. What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?

Loren: Water purification tablets, matches, a shotgun, a case of shells, and a composition notebook. Hopefully I can find some ink pens that still work.

Wolf: Charcoal should be easy to find. Which of your characters is your favorite?

Loren: Alondra DeCourval is a witch who travels around the world fighting monsters. Her stories combine my love of mythology and fairy tales with my wanderlust. The latest of her adventures – a werewolf story — just appeared in Weirdbook in August. Another of her stories should be out in Occult Detective Quarterly before the end of 2018. She’s also appeared on Nina D’Arcangela’s blog in the last couple months: https://ninadarc.wordpress.com/2018/11/28/ladies-of-horror-flash-project-horror-author-loren-rhoads-morbidloren-sotet_angyal-loh-fiction-2

Wolf: I’ll take a look. What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

Loren: I’d have to say the Pacific Ocean. I moved to California because I saw the sun set into the ocean and fell in love. Well, there was a man involved, too… All these years later, I am continually awed and amazed by the ocean. This year was the first time I’ve seen whales while standing on Ocean Beach.

Wolf: Cool. What story are you working on now?

Loren: I’m finishing up the second Lorelei book, which is called Angelus Rose. It’s a sequel to Lost Angels, which came out a couple of years ago. Lorelei is a succubus who falls in love with an angel. In the first book, she was possessed by a mortal girl’s soul. In this second book, she’s trying to learn to fit when she has been radically changed by love. It’s part urban fantasy, part paranormal romance, and a splash of horror.

Wolf: Wow. I don’t usually read horror, but that sounds interesting. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Loren: I like to hang out in graveyards. A year ago, I had a book out called 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die. I still have more to see!

Wolf: That’s a bit too creepy for me, but I like to hang out with wolves. To each their own. Connect with Loren through these links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2rhJ38v
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loren.rhoads.5
Twitter: https://twitter.com/morbidloren
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morbidloren/
Blog: https://lorenrhoads.com/blog/

STAR TOUCHED

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

January 30, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Juliana Spink Mills

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Juliana Spink Mills was born in England but grew up in Brazil. Now she lives in Connecticut and writes science fiction and fantasy. She is the author of Heart Blade and Night Blade, the first two books in the young adult Blade Hunt Chronicles urban fantasy series. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies and online publications. Besides writing, Juliana works as a Portuguese/English translator, and as a teen library assistant. She watches way too many TV shows, and loves to get lost in a good book. Her dream is to move to Narnia when she grows up. Or possibly Middle Earth, if she’s allowed a very small dragon of her own.

Wolf: Good luck getting a dragon. I think there’s a waiting list. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?

Juliana: Although the characters in my Urban Fantasy series tend to use swords, and I actually did a year of longsword lessons in the name of research when I was writing the first novel, I’ve always wanted to learn archery. Put that down to a childhood obsession with Robin Hood!

Wolf: Archery has always been one of my favorite sports. You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.

Juliana: I’m a nice fat dandelion sitting in the sunshine in a tangled overgrown lawn. My flowers bring a splash of color to people’s lives. My leaves feed the wild rabbits. My seeds give wishes and please small children. I might be a ‘common weed’, but I’m a glorious one.

Wolf: Dandelions are great. They also make great fritters. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Juliana: I love both, but I’m allergic to cats so sadly can’t have one at home. We do have a six-month-old rescue pup named Misty, though. (Yes, like from Pokémon.) She’s awesome, when she isn’t chewing everything in sight.

Wolf: Yup, that’s a pup. I’m partial to dogs myself. While walking in the woods you come across…

Juliana: The inspiration for my next novel! I always have an eye open for ideas, as you never know what will emerge from a simple walk. And speaking of woods, I have a sci fi thriller I’ve been working on which actually draws inspiration from the Amazon jungle…

Wolf: Sounds interesting. Let me know when it comes out. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Juliana: My actual superpower is walking into things, which is kind of a lame skillset and results in lots of bruising. If I could choose a power, it would be super speed. I could get so much done, and still have time for reading and binge-watching TV shows.

Wolf: Or bump into things faster. There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?

Juliana: Open it, of course. There is clearly a dragon behind it and all dragons should absolutely be set free. Fly, you amazing fire-breathing beastie, fly!

Wolf: Love it. Which of your characters is your favorite?

Juliana: My half-demon Camille! Probably because her personality is closest to my own. Well, apart from the fact that I’m not actually an immortal succubus, of course.

Wolf: Good to know. What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

Juliana: The Iguaçu Falls that straddle Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina are amazing! I could have stood there and watched them for days. This is one of those ‘marvels of the world’ that truly lives up to its hype.

Wolf: I’ll have to put it on my list of things to see. What story are you working on now?

Juliana: I’m working on Star Blade, the third and final book in my Urban Fantasy trilogy. It’s a weird feeling, writing a series ending. There are so many loose ends I have to remember to tie up, so it’s almost overwhelming, but at the same time it feels good to finally work towards the happily ever after my characters deserve.

Wolf: It was great chatting with Juliana today. You can connect with her through these links:

Website: www.jspinkmills.com
Twitter: @jspinkmills
Instagram: @jspinkmills
Facebook: jspinkmills

STAR TOUCHED

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

January 23, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Jayne Barnard

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

JE (Jayne) Barnard is a Calgary-based crime writer with 25 years of award-winning short fiction and children’s literature behind her. Author of the popular Maddie Hatter Adventures (Tyche Books), and now The Falls Mysteries (Dundurn Press), she’s won the Dundurn Unhanged Arthur, the Bony Pete, and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award. Her works were shortlisted for the Prix Aurora (twice), the UK Debut Dagger, the Book Publishing in Alberta Award (twice), and three Great Canadian Story prizes. Jayne is a past VP of Crime Writers of Canada, a founder of Calgary Crime Writers, and a member of Sisters In Crime. Her most recent book is When the Flood Falls, a small-town psychological thriller set in the Alberta foothills west of Calgary, and her upcoming one is the sequel, Where the Ice Falls (Dundurn, July 2019), set at Christmas in those wild lands.

Wolf: Glad you could come by. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Jayne: I give my characters – most of them – other characters who love them and genuinely want what’s best for their lives. That’s not to say there aren’t miscommunications and occasional disappointments, but that underpinning the characters’ lives are other characters who support them the way I would love to be backstopped by friends and family.

Wolf: What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Jayne: Just one mean thing?

Wolf: Yes, Sorry, just one please.

Jayne: I routinely cost them their jobs and financial security. I’ve made one homeless. I threaten their loved ones with danger and death. I dangle them off cliffs, punt them into flooding rivers, lock them into burning buildings. But the worst thing I’ve ever done (and it was so heart-wrenching that I had to do it off-page) was letting the dog die. Don’t ask. It was so traumatic that I still weep whenever I see a Golden Retriever.

Wolf: I hear you. I’m a huge dog person. How about you? Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Jayne: For all that I adore Goldens (and solicit donations for Golden Rescue Canada whenever I can although I’m in no way affiliated with the group; see www.goldenrescue.ca for more information), I’ve been a cat-slave since my earliest years and am never happier than when there’s one or more feline treating me like comfy furniture to nap on in the sunshine.

Wolf: Cats can be sweet. Some of them. While walking in the woods you come across…

Jayne: Funny you should ask. Lacey McCrae, my urbanite ex-cop in The Falls Mysteries, spends a lot of time walking in the woods. And jogging in them, x-country skiing, hunting for missing people…. I’ve done all those things too, in a past stage of life. Never found a dead body but I’ve searched for a few. What I’d most like to find is a lamppost. Or a wardrobe and then a lamppost. I’d give that White Witch a taste of her own Turkish Delight. Seriously – any portal to another dimension. It comes up often in my fantasy writing.

Wolf: Cool. There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?

Jayne: Hey, I’ve read Jane Eyre. I’d get a fire extinguisher and a tranquilizer gun before I ever opened that door. But because I also found Wide Sargasso Sea compelling and highly possible, I’d bring along some chocolate and a hug. And a good lawyer for that locked-up wife, because she’d damn sure have a lawsuit worth pursuing in today’s world.

Wolf: Smart choices. Which of your characters is your favorite?

Jayne: Depending on mood and weather, I might be answering this question differently every time I’m asked. Today my favourite is Maddie Hatter, runaway daughter of Britain’s Third Steamlord, who’s making a precarious living as a fashion reporter when the story of a lifetime falls into her lace-gloved hands, carrying her by airship from Egypt to England and onward in search of batty Baron Bodmin and his legendary Bloodstained Diamond (see Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond, Tyche Books, 2015). She’s had three zany Adventures and my agent & I are discussing a further trilogy.

Wolf: What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

Jayne: Definitely the Pacific Ocean. I lived on the west side of Vancouver Island as a child and ever since then have gotten dehydration of the spirit if I’m too far inland for too long. Now that I’m past my workforce years and my children are adults, I spend half the winter on Vancouver Island, rarely more than a mile from the sea. On fine afternoons I take my coffee to the shore to sit with the waves and the sea birds, listening to the seals bark, watching for whales, petting the dogs and chatting to their walkers.

Wolf: Sounds very peaceful. What story are you working on now?

Jayne: This winter I’m editing Where the Ice Falls, the second in The Falls Mystery trilogy. It’s a contemporary suspense involving people going missing in the frozen Alberta foothills, and a psychologically demanding book to edit because it also involves a terminally-ill mother and her daughter grappling with the question of whether to apply for medically assisted dying (MAID, now legal in Canada but unevenly available across jurisdictions). My father went out via that route last winter, a whole year after I had planned this book, and the storms of emotions I survived during his journey opened my eyes – and maybe my veins – to that fictional daughter.

Wolf: Sound interesting. Thanks for visiting. Connect with Jayne through these links:

www.jaynebarnard.ca
@J.E.Barnard (Twitter)
@JayneBarnard1 (Twitter)
Saffron.hemlock (Instagram)
https://www.facebook.com/FallsMystery/
https://www.facebook.com/MaddieHatterAdventures/

When the Flood Falls

Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond

STAR TOUCHED

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

January 16, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Dawn Vogel

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Dawn Vogel’s academic background is in history, so it’s not surprising that much of her fiction is set in earlier times. By day, she edits reports for historians and archaeologists. In her alleged spare time, she runs a craft business, co-edits Mad Scientist Journal, and tries to find time for writing. She is a member of Broad Universe, SFWA, and Codex Writers. Her steampunk series, Brass and Glass, is being published by Razorgirl Press. She lives in Seattle with her husband, author Jeremy Zimmerman, and their herd of cats. Visit her at http://historythatneverwas.com or on Twitter @historyneverwas.

Wolf: If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?

Dawn: A cat. Naps all day, and people give me love and food when I’m not napping. That sounds pretty excellent.

Wolf: It does indeed. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Dawn: Some might argue that it’s letting them survive situations that appear to be certain death. There’s a scene in the manuscript for Brass and Glass 3 where one character escapes an extremely dangerous situation with just a mild concussion and another character escapes basically unscathed. A crueler writer would likely have killed one and maimed the other.

Wolf: I suppose that can seem nice from the right point of view. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?

Dawn: In Brass and Glass: The Cask of Cranglimmering, Captain Svetlana Tereshchenko has to go to a party in order to get some information. It’s a very elegant party, and very much not her speed. So her crew dolls her up in a borrowed dress that necessitates a corset as an undergarment AND a corset as a fashion accessory, pins a very tiny hat to her hair, and sends her in on her own. Basically, any time someone gets to dress Svetlana for an event, she regrets this option immediately.

Wolf: Eek. I’d regret that too. Corsets are torture. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Dawn: Definitely a cat person. I’m not fond of dogs of either extreme (very small or very large), but I have found virtually no cats that I can’t come to terms with.

Wolf: Hope you’re okay with wolves. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Dawn: I’ve wanted telekinesis since I was a kid. As I’ve gotten older, it seems even cooler. That way, when I go into a room and forget what I wanted, and then remember what it was as soon as I sit down, I could just bring the thing to me!

Wolf: Wish I could do that. Of course, remembering what you want is the hard part. Which of your characters is your favorite?

Dawn: Because I write a lot of short fiction, I’ve written a whole lot of characters, so picking one of those is nearly impossible. If we’re limiting it just to the characters in my novel series, Brass and Glass, my favorite is Indigo, the ship’s mechanic. He’s a teenage boy who was raised at the fringes of the “civilized” world, so he’s got some unusual speech patterns and other quirks. So writing him is always a bit of a challenge but also a delight, as he sees aspects of the world through a very different lens than his fellow crewmembers.

Wolf: Sounds like an interesting fellow. What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

Dawn: I love the ocean, particularly the northern Pacific Ocean in the damp and dismal Pacific Northwest. I would much rather be on a cloudy gray beach than a sunny one. That being said, however, I really love water in just about any format. I feel more alive when I’m near or in the water.

Wolf: Interesting. I like the ocean as well, but am very much an east coast gal. What story are you working on now?

Dawn: At the moment, I’m working on three VERY different stories. I’ve got a sci-fi noir detective story, a space opera story, and a post-apocalyptic story with mechas and climate change that really is only barely spec fic when you peel away the trappings.

Wolf: Sounds like you’re very busy. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? (Assuming you have time.)

Dawn: Gaming, watching TV or movies, and crocheting. Normally crocheting happens while one of the other two is going on.

Wolf: Thanks for visiting. You can connect with Dawn through these links:

Website/Blog: http://historythatneverwas.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/historythatneverwasdawnvogel/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/historyneverwas
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Vogel/e/B004Q2XCJY/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/268206.Dawn_Vogel

STAR TOUCHED

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

January 9, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – LJ Cohen

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives. We’re starting 2019 off with LJ Cohen.

LJ Cohen is a Boston area novelist, poet, blogger, ceramics artist, geek, and relentless optimist. After almost twenty-five years as a physical therapist specializing in chronic pain management, LJ now uses her anatomical knowledge and myriad clinical skills to injure characters in her science fiction and fantasy novels. When not bringing home strays (canine and human), LJ can be found writing, which looks a lot like daydreaming.

LJ is active in SFWA (The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and Broad Universe, and blogs about publishing, general geekery, and other ephemera at http://www.ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com. A Star in the Void (book 5 of the SF/Space Opera series Halcyone Space) is her most recent novel. Derelict, the first novel in the series, was chosen as a Library Journal Self-e Select title and book of the year in 2016. For more about LJ and her books, visit http://www.ljcohen.net or https://www.amazon.com/LJ-Cohen/e/B006QL6GA0

Wolf: Thanks for joining the pack. You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.

LJ: A perennial, my leaves emerge every year starting in the late spring or early summer. Spindly stalks grow amid the leaves and can reach four feet high. From the tips of my stalks, buds swell and each bud becomes a long, wide colorful flower. I come in many varieties, some carefully developed for selective gardeners, others emerging from the side of the road, blooming for no one in particular.

While each of my flowers only blooms for a single day, with so many buds, I can be in continuous bloom for months.

I am considered a weed by some, but I see myself as simply adaptable and hardy. I can grow in almost any soil and in a large variety of conditions.

Given enough time, I will spread year by year and become a hedge. But I am also happy to be divided and planted in new ground – both my old plant and the new will thrive. Winter will not destroy my bulbs. Nor will a gardener’s neglect.

Wolf: Sounds nice. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

LJ: Definitely a dog person. While I didn’t grow up with any animals (my mother was a fastidious housekeeper and didn’t like the chaos pets brought), I’d always been drawn to dogs. I’ve had dogs now as an adult since I got married and was gifted with a 12 week old puppy! (Not your typical wedding gift!)

We have been owned by an assortment of pups ever since, all rescues. Our current dogs are a Jack Russel mix (Dustin) and a border collie mix (Mya).

Since I work from home, I am around them most of the time. They have beds in my office, which has radiant heat. Once it gets turned on in late fall, it’s their favorite room in the house.

I’m certain that dogs exude a special kind of gravitational wave that makes it nearly impossible to get up from the sofa when they curl up nearby.

Wolf: So true. While walking in the woods you come across…

LJ: A faded blue police box, shaded by a canopy of trees. There is a sign with white lettering on the front. The words are blurred, impossible to read.

The birds have stopped singing. The wind fails. The trees still.

I pause with my hand on the handle. I expect it to be cold. Roughened by the rust. It is smooth. Warm. A surge of heat moves through me and I’m very aware of my own heartbeat in the sudden silence.

I look back at where I came from. There are no footprints in the deep leaf litter. The forest path is obscured in a swirling fog. I turn back to the box. The blue is now a clear and vibrant hue. Why did I ever think the box was old?

A beam of low sunlight pierces the tree branches and illuminates the bottom line on the curious sign: Pull to Open.

Wolf: Please say hi to the Doctor form me. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

LJ: To understand all the languages in the world. I would love to be able to travel and hear the music in the local language and understand a place the way someone born there does. To be able to communicate with anyone, without the barrier of an unfamiliar language between us would be amazing.

Wolf: The main character in my WIP can do that. I’m not good at learning new languages. Which of your characters is your favorite?

LJ: I’m not sure I have a favorite, per se, but the character whose creation most delighted me was that of Aeon from THE BETWEEN, book 1 of the Changeling’s Choice series.

He was not a planned character. I was writing a scene after my protagonist Lydia had been taken into Faerie and told she was a changeling. In order to clear her mind and cope with her anxiety, she goes for a run in what turns into a hedge maze. Lost and resting in a clearing, she struggles to understand her new reality. She asks aloud, “Who am I?”

At that moment, my fingers typed this reply: “That’s an interesting question.”

I had no idea who was there with her and why. But I know I needed to find out.

I remember that moment of creation with absolute clarity.

That character became Aeon. He was an ancient Fae who’d been bound to the maze. I thought he’d be a minor character, but he had different ideas. So much so, that his history turned into the backdrop and major conflict of the sequel TIME AND TITHE.

Wolf: Amazing how our characters tell us what to do, isn’t it? What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)

LJ: In my 20s I had the opportunity to learn how to sail when my then boyfriend’s (now spouse’s) father bought a sailboat. I spent many hours on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland sailing that boat. One of my favorite sounds in the world is the sound of waves lapping against the hull, so any body of water that has a tide feels like home to me.

Wolf: What story are you working on now?

LJ: It doesn’t have a name as of yet. It’s a totally different world from either my Fae Changeling books or my space opera series (Halcyone Space). It’s broad themes are inspired from this verse by Rabbi Tarfon: “It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.”

Multiple worlds are connected in the quantum realm. Most are safely sealed off. Most have no knowledge that they are but one in an infinite multitude.

A few people on a few scattered worlds can see though the multiverse. Most of those go mad. Fewer still are able to bear the burden of so many possibilities. Those are seers and are either considered cursed or blessed. Though the reality is some of both.

Perhaps one in a billion has the ability to slip from world to world and becomes a Traveler. But always, there is balance. A Traveler comes, a Traveler goes, never more than any world can bear, treading lightly to encourage balance. Until now.

Three individuals from three different worlds are drawn to one another through the thinning walls between the worlds. None of these three are Travelers in truth. But they are all that is left. For they discover something is hunting Travelers and obliterating them and the balance they bring from the multiverse.

Together, they must rescue each other and fight a foe they cannot name to heal the worlds before the walls dissolve for good.

Wolf: Cool. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

LJ: My other major creative outlet is ceramics. I make functional ware both on the wheel and by slab building. I’ve always been a tactile/kinesthetic learner and working with clay is extremely relaxing.

I also love to cook. Making soup – especially in wintertime – is one of my favorite things to do. Especially when I can feed friends and family.

So between cooking and ceramics, I can both make the food and the bowl it’s served in. 🙂

Wolf: I love clay, especially hand-building.

Connect with LJ through these links:

http://www.ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com
www.ljcohen.net
www.facebook.com/ljcohen
www.twitter.com/lisajanicecohen
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006QL6GA0

STAR TOUCHED

A. L. Kaplan

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

January 2, 2019
WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Rachel Mankowitz

Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Author Biography: Rachel Mankowitz lives on Long Island with her family, including her two dogs, Cricket and Ellie, and the memories of all of the dogs that came before. She has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Manhattanville College, a Masters of Fine Arts in fiction, from Queens University of Charlotte, and is working on a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University. And yes, that is a lot of student loan debt. Rachel’s first novel, Yeshiva Girl, is now available on Amazon.

Wolf: I remember the day I finally paid off my student loans. It’s a good feeling. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?

Rachel: My father made me eat Ptcha once. He wanted to make sure my brother and I tried all of the Jewish foods (though it’s more Eastern European than specifically Jewish), and we weren’t allowed to say no. Ptcha is Calf’s foot jelly, a cloudy white savory jell, sprinkled with lemon juice. And it is absolutely disgusting.

Wolf: I’ve never tried that one. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?

Rachel: A Light saber. First of all because I hate weapons and I really don’t want to have one of my own. Second, because light sabers captured my imagination when I was little and first saw the Star Wars movies. The light sabers seemed more like an extension of the person, a way of dancing with light.

Wolf: Good description. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?

Rachel: I am absolutely a dog person. I love their enthusiasm for life and the wild rumpus they make of everything. I like cats too, but I’m allergic to them. I used to sleep over at my aunt’s house and her cats would inevitably sleep on my chest and I’d wake up choking, but I still loved them. I just had to make sure that as soon as I got home I took a long shower and set a blow torch to my clothes.

Wolf: That’s one way of getting a new wardrobe. While walking in the woods you come across…

Rachel: The Giving Tree. Shel Silverstein was my favorite poet as a child. I read The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends pretty much every day and memorized as many of the poems as possible to recite back to myself when I was trying to fall asleep at night. My brother and I created a whole fantasy world in our front yard based on a tree that seemed to us like the Giving Tree, and we always trusted that tree to tell us what to do next.

Wolf: Love it. I have fond memories of that book as well. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

Rachel: I’m working on a novel with super powers in it, one character can fly, and one can make herself invisible, and one can read minds. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life trying to be a mind reader, so that would be the ideal super power for me, even though I’m not sure I would enjoy it all that much. People have all kinds of crazy going on in their minds that we should never know about.

Wolf: Not sure I’d want to know what people are thinking. What is your favorite body of water and why?

Rachel: My favorite body of water is Lake Placid, in upstate New York. It captured my imagination when I was little and my Mom told us stories about summers spent on the lake with her family. I especially liked to picture her rowing through the mist in the early mornings.

Wolf: Sounds beautiful. What story are you working on now?

Rachel: I’m always working on multiple projects at once, because I can’t choose just one thing to focus on. It’s a problem. I’m thinking about a mystery set at my synagogue, and a memoir of sleep away camp, and a middle grade novel about an older African American actress and a little Jewish girl who become best friends, and there’s the super power story…it’s a long list.

Wolf: That’ll keep you busy. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Rachel: I watch enormous amounts of TV and always have. When I was little I watched TV shows to get an idea of what normal people were like. Most of my sense of the world came from The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, which explains a lot. I watched TV until the shows went off the air late at night, and then we finally got HBO and there was TV to watch all night and I felt like I’d found paradise.

Wolf: Sounds like we both had the same addiction growing up. Thanks for visiting.

Rachel also has a weekly blog on WordPress called The Cricket Pages, where she weaves together stories about her dogs with anything else she can think of, at: https://rachelmankowitz.com/

Star Touched

Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

December 19, 2018