High Class Books: Author Interview

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? That I can write romance. I don’t read that much romance, and had no idea I would enjoy writing it so much, but I have, and I’m working on others as well.

What is your greatest strength as a writer? While I am pretty self-critical and have no answer for that question, my beta readers tell me they love the strength of my characters and that my descriptions grab them. I can only hope all of my readers feel that way.

Can you share a little of your current work with us? While you can find a sneak peak of my first couple of chapters of my newest release ‘Tolomay’s World and The Pool of Light’ at amazon.com, here is an excerpt of another book. I’m working on final edits for it now, so be forewarned, you WILL find errors in it. I’m pretty sure of that. This novel is due for release in a few months.

My head ached. Without pulling too hard at the leg iron, my foot raised ankle-high against the metal cuff and chain. I balanced my weight on my other foot, clung to the ribbed metal wall, and pressed my eye up to the slit at the edge of the wide door. The box danced along the rails. I could just reach my desired view through the opening. The sky bragged its false greeting as a million lights, disguised as stars, floated unwillingly in the atmosphere. They were just as bound as I was, forced to watch over all, sparkling their satellite reds and greens and whites, each in turn. It was subtle blinking that none would notice, unless they bothered to look closer, to know the truth of the sky and those who ruled over it.

When we entered the mountain tunnel, the air fell to pitch black, leaving me with nothing left to watch. I sat back down in the crowded spot. The horrific wailing had long since ceased and the silence ate the space, swallowing all within the boxcar that stunk of feces and urine and the sweat of men. Not even snores could be heard, though most must surely be asleep, those who were not yet dead. How many hot bodies filled this thirsty box, Forty? Fifty? A hundred or more? Who could say? It had been dark when I’d been forced inside by cattle prods, hours ago, nearly unconscious, tripping over others.

A dim slit of light bled through the side of the door where I had just peered out. After a long deafening pitch of brakes, the cart jostled to a halt. Voices could be heard. All at once the wide doors slid open. People wrestled themselves to wake. I had to squint to see in the brightness. A figure stood before the door, dwarfed by the height of the steps. He would be taller than me, were we face to face, and twice my weight.

How did you come up with the title ‘Tolomay’s World and The Pool of Light’? This series was named after the book’s main character, Tolomay, who remains the main character throughout the entire series, so it stuck.

How did you develop your plot and characters? When the plot for Tolomay’s World and The Pool of Light came to me, I was really excited about the possibilities of this series. For one thing, I love the outdoors. I mean, I really love the outdoors. Let me explain further. When I garden or landscape I don’t use gloves, because I love the feel of the dirt. I started planting yearly vegetable gardens at the age of seven. (They sold seeds at the back of magazines back then, and you could earn money selling them for that company. I sold seeds so that I could earn back what I’d spent on them… so I could plant my garden.) When we lived in Virginia, we shared our vegetable garden with our yard rabbit, which my daughter named Serephina. The rabbit lived beneath our shed, drank from our backyard pond, and ate whatever she wanted to from our garden. I let her. I even let the grass grow tall on one side of the shed during the hot months so she’d have green grass to eat. I’ve always loved wildlife so there is a very real connection between me and the Tolomay’s World series. I guess I can thank my Native American blood for that. This book is full of nature, though it also contains modern technology in certain sections of it.

Tolomay and her ‘community’ come from a time set five hundred years in the future of earth. By then, of course man has nearly completely destroyed this planet and we are all on our way out. The first entire species to go were the birds- after the insects started dying off, then one by one other whole species followed. In this novel, part of humanity’s situation arises from pollution and neglect of the earth. Another part of it is caused by the deliberate killing off of millions of people, over control of the remaining sections of the livable earth by the wealthiest of the world. Along with all of that came wars and poisonings. This group has many names, but to the communities on earth at that time, they are simply called GoldHoarders.

Even with modern equipment at the Pods, there is nothing that can be done to save humanity from going extinct, along with all the other forms of life that are dying off. But, when least expected, a discovery is made that could potentially change everything. It brings hope back to civilization.

A machine is built. It can fold time in a manner that it can be manipulated to some degree. The machine is called ‘The Pool of Light’, and the project called ‘Vision Fold’. The head scientists can view the future. Soon enough though, tests prove that living things can be sent into the future through these time points, or ‘light points’. The Pod community decides to send people ahead, a thousand years into the future, to a time when the earth has healed itself from the ills of men and is once again liveable. What other choice do they have?

The complex situation the characters have to deal with in this series is their adjustment to a ‘Garden of Eden’ if you will, but along with it there is a lot of work and learning involved. It’s different than their very modern environment at the Pod community, so that was interesting to write about. These characters are young adults and so they are adjusting to many things all at once, but I won’t spoil it by saying more.