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LYDA F.A.Q. Are You Still Publishing?: The Origins and Current Books: When did you first start writing? So once you got an agent, getting a book deal was easy, right? What do you mean if only you could find an agent? You'd think it'd be easy for you now! That explains how Archangel Protocol saw print, but what's the story behind Fallen Host? You talk a lot about this first novel Sidhe Promised. What ever became of that? About Writing and the Writing Life: How does one get into the field of writing? Also, what about copyrights--is there a copyright office? How do I apply for a copyright? About agents--how do I get one? And would any be willing to take a teenager as a client? Which publishing companies do you prefer? How do you feel about outlining? So when do your do most of your writing? Do you follow a strict schedule, or do you work in spurts? Do you do most of your writing on computer, or do you do a lot in long hand? You have the best cover art! How much control do you have over what goes on the cover of your books? What religion were you raised? Why do you write so much about religion?Where the Author and the Books Intertwine and Other Random Silliness: What are you reading currently? Anything fantastic or wonderful? If you were a student at Hogwarts, into which house would the Sorting Hat place you? If you could be any animal what would you be (and why)? If you could be any tree what would you be (and why)? What's your favorite color (and why)? If you could go back in time and talk to any historical character, who would you pick (and why)? Boy, this just wasn't enough for me: Okay then! Here's a collection of links to online interviews with Lyda
When did you first start writing? I'm a victim of an over-active imagintion. I almost always made up stories. When I was little, I coerced neighborhood kids into playing "Star Wars" with me (I was always Han Solo). Eventually, that became somewhat awkward and inappropriate, so I had to find another outlet. So, I started writing things down on paper. I also was, as a youngster, very fond of the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz and the Dragonrider series by Anne McCaffery. I have notebook after notebook after notebook filled with what is essentially fanfic. It took Katherien Kurtz (and Anne McCaffery) too damn long to write her next book, so, while waiting, I'd make up what happened next. Using her characters, her world, and essentially her plots, I started practicing writing dialogue and scene setting. Thank the Goddess that I came of age in a time pre-Internet or there would be piles of fanfic out there by me. As it is, you can only find bits and pieces of "shared fluff" written by me when I was a member of a listserv (back before it was spelled with the "e" at the end) called VAMPYRE-L. And, since I know you'll go looking for it, the embarassment lives here, at RedOak. I'm not sure when I wrote my first piece of original fiction. But, I'm certain did it out of boredom. You see, I have this tendency to take on really, really boring day-jobs that only require about a tenth of my actual brain power to do. I know that I started writing my "trunk" novel, Sidhe Promised (a classic story of lesbian romance gone hay-wire, the Irish Republican Army, and the faerie folk) when I was working the Publicity department as a temporary, full-time employee of Pillsbury. I didn't even have a computer terminal. Just a desk and a typewriter and the occassional file that needed filing. At first, I typed a lot of letters to my friends who had moved away. Then, I started making up weird limmericks and crazy children short stories with titles like "Alfred the Slug." Then, suddenly, I was eighty pages into a really weird fantasy novel. At this point, someone probably should have discouraged me. Or, I should have gotten a better job. But, no. I went home to my Apple IIe and kept typing away. Pretty soon, I had a couple hundred pages. Then, several jobs later, I showed a bit of the novel to someone who wasn't related to me. Granted, she was still a friend, but she was really very encouraging, and told me that I should, you know, finish it and try to get it published. Well, I didn't do anything about it, because I hadn't a clue how a person went about doing any of that stuff. I just keep twiddling away at it whenever I was bored out of my skull, which, frankly, happened pretty often at my job. Then, probably on Shawn's encouragement (or maybe Julie, the above-mentioned friend), I took a class at the Loft on science fiction writing. I remember it was taught by John Hartnett, who, I'm convinced, is a space alien. According to the very exhaustive Locus List, he's published, maybe, three stories in his entire life. But HE WAS THE WORLD'S BEST TEACHER. I kid you not. If I could find this guy, I'd like to credit him for really putting me on the path to publication. But, he, like, totally disappeared. I'm telling ya: Space Aliens. Crop Circles. John Hartnett. At any rate, John also taught me everything I know about critiquing fiction. He encouraged those of us in his class to start a writers group, which we did. Harry LeBlanc (writing name "H. Couregges LeBlanc" and I formed Wyrdsmiths, which celebrated 15 years together as of September 20, 2008, and we're still going strong. Being in Wyrdsmiths made me a professional writer. For one, I learned the discpline of deadline. Wyrdsmiths requires its members to turn in some insanely small amount of writing every month, but, when you're used to writing when you're bored... well, I suddenly learned to write every day, at least a little, so I could have something to turn in to group--which I really dug, I mean talk about a cure for boredom...Ain't nothin' cooler than hanging with a bunch of hipster skiffy writers at a coffeeshop every other Thursday night when you're a geek grrl like me. But, seriously, Wyrdsmiths also provided me with marketing information. Together, we suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in the form of "alases" from GVG and Gardner Dozois. Plus, a friend of a friend of a friend of Harry's knew this guy who was an editor at Tor books, named Jim Frenkel. Well, through this friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, I got my work under Jim's nose. Jim didn't end up buying the book (that would be Sidhe Promised) for Tor, but he did want to agent the next one (this little book about a private investigator who meets up with an real angel named Michael). Wait... did you just say an editor was your agent? That's right. The guy who sold Archangel Protocol (and several other books on proposal) to Roc Books is a the editor of several Hugo award winning authors. Yes, my former agent, not my editor. Don't ask me how that works, just know that it did. But, seriously. How did that happen? Well, like I said, I originally sent Jim the manuscript for Sidhe Promised which he wasn't all that thrilled with. Luckily, I didn't know he wasn't thrilled because he wouldn't return my letters or email. So, I kept writing. I ended up writing about fifty pages of Archangel Protocol when the above mentioned friend of a friend of Harry's, a great guy named Nate Bucklin, suggested that I send what I had of the newest novel to Jim to try to light a fire under him. Well, Nate was right. Jim loved what he read of Archangel Protocol and when we finally met at Minicon, Jim told me he'd love to represent this book when I finished it. So, even though I had Sidhe Promised on the desk of another agent Merilee Heifietz, I withdrew my novel from her, and signed with Jim. However, Jim is no longer my agent. I'm now represented by Martha Millard of the Martha Millard Literary Agency -- and very, VERY happy with her. So once you got an agent, getting a book deal was easy, right? Wrong. First of all, the book Jim liked wasn't even finished yet. It took me about a year and a half to finished Archangel Protocol (although, at the time it was called Dancing on the Head of a Pin). Once it was done, I thought... okay, here comes fame and fortune. Alas, it didn't quite work that way. Archangel Protocol was rejected three times before it sold to Laura Anne Gilman at Roc Books. First, the book went to Bantam, where it sat on Pat LoBrutto's desk, unread for almost a year. Then, it went to Avon for about four months or so, where Diane Gill almost bought it... but the deal fell through. Then, it went to Warner, and Betsy gave it a quick (about a month) no thanks. Then it went to Roc... and at this point, I was really starting to give up. I was thinking: so what I have an agent, I still can't sell anything. In the meantime my short story "Twelve Traditions" made it over the transom at Science Fiction Age and I made my first professional sale. Scott Edelman will long be loved by me for "breaking my cherry" as Gardner Dozois says. But just to bust another one of my long held beliefs, making that short story sale didn't instantly mean I got respect for my other short stories or for my novel. I was still getting a ton of rejections, right and left. And, I was so depressed about the state of my career that when Jim called me to tell me he sold Archangel Protocol, the conversation went something like this: Jim: Are you coming to WisCon this year? Once Jim started quoting numbers I actually started to believe it. Then I started dancing around... which looked a little strange since I was at the Minnesota Historical Society, at work. I told Shawn, my partner, all about it when we went home for lunch. BUT.. it didn't feel real. I swore Jim to secrecy and told him not to tell anyone until we signed on the dotted line. After what happen with Avon, I just didn't trust the deal to go through. But, of course, Jim couldn't QUITE contain himself... he let lots of hints slip out to my Wyrdsmith colleagues at WisCon. It didn't seem real until I got a "welcome to Roc" email from Laura Anne. But, then I told myself, in my more parnoid moments, that anyone could buy a penguinputnam.com email account and pretend to be an editor. I finally believed it when the galleys came and I saw my name on the spine of the book. Sometimes, I still can't believe it. It's so cool. That explains how Archangel Protocol saw print, but what's the story behind Fallen Host? When Jim sold Archangel Protocol I was in the middle of a novel that I was calling To Catch A Gene Thief. Kristen Livdahl from a writing group I was in at the time (Karma Weasels) still bugs me about when I'm going to finish this book, but I was, frankly, struggling with it. I'd restarted the beast three times, and I didn't know where it was going. If you're intrgued, you can read the first chapter. Anyway, when things were heating up at Roc, Jim asked me if I had anything else to offer. I told him about Gene Thief, so he suggested that I send him however many pages I had of it and a synopsis. Well, I'd never written a synopsis before, much less for a book that I didn't know how it ended. But, I knew this was one of those make it or break it moments. So my partner Shawn and I went out to eat and drank a bit of wine (okay, a lot,) and I sat down to craft this thing. In retrospect, it was... deeply unprofessional. Oh, I spelled everything right, but that was about it. I'm not even sure it was in proper synopsis format and there were clearly places where I basically said, "and somehow they get themselves out of this mess." It should NEVER have worked. But, apparently, Archangel Protocol was strong enough to carry my lamness, because when the details finally got hammered out the contract was for two books: Archangel Protocol and "an unnamed science fiction novel." You talk a lot about your first novel Sidhe Promised. Whatever happened to that?
It has since sold to Tapas Media. Check it out! The only thing that's kind of odd about this venue is that you have to download a free app before you can read it. But... if you're curious....? There are several chapters to be had for free. So... how does one get into the field of writing? By accident and by design. The field of writing is actually very odd. Unlike someone who decides they want to grow up to be a doctor, someone who decides they want to be a novelist really doesn't have a formalized way of going about that. I mean, take that doctor. S/he doesn't have to work very hard to realize that she'll be expected to go to medical school for several years to study medicine, have a kind of apprenticeship which the medical field calls a "residency," take x many tests, etc., all of which will lead directly to employment. Writing, as you've probably already discovered, isn't like that at all. Sure, you can go to college and get an English degree (which I highly recommend. If for no other reason than an English degree will expose you to the classics of literature.) There are even some universities that will offer courses in science fiction or in creative writing. However, there's no real "residency" or formal apprenticeship that leads a person directly to employment and publication. I mean, some could even argue that writing is not a "field" at all, since very, very few of us writers (including myself) make a living from their writing. Many of us write as a second job. Writing is something we do in-between delivering pizzas or being clerical assistants. Back to that doctor: she's not expected to practice medicine in the evenings while being a bicycle courier from 9-to-5, but the majority of the writers whose books you enjoy do just that for their entire career. (Well, maybe not the bicycle-courier thing, but you get the gist of what I'm saying.) So, there is that part of it to consider; there's almost no money in writing. You should be cultivating some other moneymaking job to keep while trying to pursue your dream of writing. But so, I just kind of learned my trade by accident. I did a lot of reading. It's the best way to learn how to write, reading is. Read everything you can. Then read some more. Read. Read. Read. I can't emphasis that enough. Then there's a lot of practice writing, like the fanfic. Write as often as you can, as well. Write for your school newspaper (I did). Write reviews of movies for a small press newspaper if you can get the job (I did.) Write articles. No writing is wasted; even if it's not fiction, you'll still learn something about being bold and clear, about getting your message across to an audience. Ah! Which reminds me. Find a copy of Elements of Style by Strunk and White and read it cover-to-cover. They have much to say about writing that is incredibly helpful. As I've said above, I did finally find a course in writing, which I took. That helped me figure out the "by design" part. There is a method to the madness of writing. On the very basic level, you need to do what Harlan Ellison suggests, which is: "Write. Finish what you write. Send out what you write." I started with short fiction, which is often the recommended path. Learning to write a short story that has a beginning, middle, and an end is a good skill for a novelist to cultivate as well. There are a bunch of places online that you can learn about the craft of writing fiction (and about the business end.) Let me suggest a few: Speculations, Rumor Mill: http://www.speculations.com/rumormill/ Speculations is a great place to learn from people who are currently writing and marketing short fiction. Critters is an online workshop, where writers critique each other (a great way to hone your skills as a writer, although I believe there is an entry fee). Ralan and Paula's sites are listings of places to send the stuff once you've written it. SFWA has a great online section about how to get your manuscripts into the correct format for submission, how to do the actual act of submitting, and tons of other articles about the writing life. Also, what about copyrights--is there a copyright office? How do I apply for a copyright? You don't. Under no circumstances do you want to waste the money on an official copyright. Here's the deal. If your name is on every manuscript page (and it should be if you follow the official manuscript format) it is UNDERSTOOD by copyright law to be copyrighted. You do NOT need to put the copyright symbol on your work, nor the date. Your name is sufficiant in the eyes of the law. In fact, if you have put a copyright symbol on your work, editors will probably figure you for a newbie writer (of any age.) It also shows a lack of understanding of how the book/story business works. When you send out your manuscript, you are, in effect, selling that copyright. The publisher pays you for the right to publish your work one time (often called in this country the First North American Serial Rights -- you may see abbreviated FNASR.) In FNASR, once your story is published, the copyright reverts to you. So, you have the right to sell it again. With books, the publisher copyrights your book. If you open up the title page of any novel, you'll see "copyright Lyda Morehouse, 2001" or whatever. Your publisher does that for you. It's part of their services, like getting an ISBN for you, etc. For further reading about copyright issues, let me suggest one of the SFWA pages: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/copyrite.htm About agents--how do I get one? And would any be willing to take a teenager as a client? You get an agent the same way you get a publisher, which is to say that you find a list of agents somewhere (ala the Market Guide to Literary Agents), and you find out: 1) if they're open to submissions, and Then you send along whatever they asked for with a cover letter that basically tells them you're looking for representation. There are lots of books about how to do this successfully. My favorite is one called YOUR NOVEL PROPOSAL: FROM CREATION TO CONTRACT by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook (Writers Digest Press, 1999). It should still be in print, and easy to find at a library or through Amazon.com or your favorite independent bookseller. I will also give you the peice of advice once given to me: it helps if you have some short story credits to list. So, if I were you, I would try to sell some short stories while also trying to land an agent.
As for whether or not they'll take a teenager as a client, I can't rightly say. I would like to believe that they would represent anyone they think has the talent to sell. But, I'm not an agent. Which publishing companies do you prefer? The ones that buy my books. I mean, you make it sound like I have much of a choice in the matter. I sent (well, actually my agent sent) my novel to a number of publishing companies that rejected it. Certainly, he did his homework. That means, he sent my novel to places likely to accept it, such as those known to publishŠwell, science fiction. Science fiction houses include: Tor, Roc, Ace, Daw, BaenŠalthough you will also sometimes see SF from places like Houghten Mifflin, Harper Collins, and more "mainstream" publishing houses. But, seriously, my favorites are the ones that pay me to write. You should be considering that seriously, too. NEVER send your novel to a publisher (or an agent) who expects YOU to pay THEM. As Theresa Neisen Hayden says, "The money should always flow toward the writer," and she's right. Never pay anyone to publish you. Your work should be paid for by a publisher (even if it's not enough money to live on, you should still get money for your writing.) A. C. Crispin has a great article about things to look out for here: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/anti-scam.htm I also honestly have a preference for "traditional" publishers (as in ones that print the kinds of books I expect to find in bookstores), like those I mentioned above. Small press and e-publishers are also acceptable, but big publishing houses, if you can get into them, are going to do more for you. First of all, they pay better. Secondly, they will get your book into bookstores and libraries and under reviewer's noses. All of which is really important if you want to survive as a writer. Have you ever tried reading the Koran? It's very poetic to say the least. I've tried, but I will admit to mostly skimming it. I've read bits and pieces of the Torah and the Bible, but I MOSTLY rely on secondary sources. (As a former history major, I hate to admit that.) In general, I find that research for fiction is a strange thing. It's not so straight-forward that I could just give you a list of books that I used and you could read them and say, "ah, ha! That's where she got that!" I find I pull things in from all sorts of weird places: newspapers, magazines, web sites, movies, TV, people's blogs, other people's fiction, conversations I've had, my life.... And, of course, if I don't find what I want, I make stuff up. :-) But, that being said, there are some books that I've read that I'm certain had some influence on what I've written. I started doing research into the Christian mythology after having read a story by Neil Gaiman in which his Satan (named Morningstar -- yes, that's where I got it,) decides to give up the keys to Hell. I believe the story is collected in the Seasons in the Mist graphic novel. (I'm only not sure because I've read all of the Sandman stories.) Anyway, after having gotten intregued by Neil's Morningstar, I went looking for information about the war in heavan. I was very surprised to discover it's not in the Bible at all. I'd read Milton's Paradise Lost as part of my English degree, so I knew the idea had been around for a while. I went looking for sources. In the course of that search I read all of Jeffery Burton Russell's "devil series," which I highly recommend. (Despite their scholarly titles, they're actually written in a fairly popular style. I found them fairly "easy" reading, at any rate.) Those books are: The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primative Christianity, Russell has a number of other books that I'd love to read, if I could find copies of them. He's apparently got a history of witchcraft in the Middle Ages, which is supposed to be pretty interesting. I also own his history of Heaven, but, interestingly, he doesn't write with the same passion about the "good guys" as he does the devil. Another book that has intrested me that I would like to recommend would be The Origins of Satan by Elaine Pagels. Pagels is a Gnostic scholar, and she has a number of other books about Gnosticism, which, embarassingly, I'm only now just discovering. Another scholar who writes well about religion is Margaret Wertheim. My favorite book by her is Pythagoras' Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars. The book is actually more about women in the "hard" sciences than it is about God, but she makes a really interesting connection between early religious movements and gender. I also read a lot of books on the Antichrist. Some of them "serious" and some very (in my opinion) silly. One that I would recommend to serious scholars of religious history is just called Antichrist by Bernard McGinn. I learned the word "eschatology" (the study of the end of times) from that book. Antichrist is an expansive look at the legends of the Antichrist. Very good. But, one that I really enjoyed is called Antichirst and a Cup of Tea by Tim Cohen, who contends that Prince Charles (yes, that one,) is actually the Antichrist (yes, that one). My favorite part of this book? In the introduction Cohen surrenders his copyright should the tribulation begin. That made me very happy. As you can see, most of my reading has been in the area of Christianity. I think part of that is because I was not raised Christian, and so a lot of the schoarship about Christianity is completely new to me. I also had a lot more time to do major investigative research before I published Archangel Protocol. After the book was sold, I had a year to write each subsequent book, so a lot more of my research became "on the fly." So, for Islam, I mostly consulted web sites and general encyclopedias, etc. I did make a valient attempt to read Understanding Islam, but I didn't finish it before I had to turn in the manuscript for Fallen Host. I actually have been living in fear that someone will call me on my portrayal of Islam, but so far, the only commentary I got was from Timothy Furnish who happens to be an Islamic scholar who specializes on Islamic eschatology (love that word!) who wrote to say he liked Fallen Host. So, maybe I channeled the right answers. Furnish has also offered me several peices of his own research to me for help with the following books. Here's an article by him that appeared on the History News Network called "How the Media Misconstrue Jihad and the Crusades." A couple of the web sites I consulted regarding Islam, are: The Daily Life of a Muslim Judaism, like Islam, I researched mostly on the fly. I had more help in this regard, however, because I know a number of people who were raised Jewish. For instance, the opening chapter of Messiah Node was taken almost directly from my experience (minus the angels and Elijah, of course,) at the Seder of my friend Andrea Gorrilla (yes, that's her real name). Andrea, like Rebeckah, liked to change the genders (even of God's pronoun) in the haggadah to be more inclusive. I really, really, REALLY wanted to include the semantic argument she and her sister Elaine had over what the gender neutral word for "forefathers" was. (We eventually decided "forebears" would work.) However, it just didn't fit into the story. Similarly, in Messiah Node Mouse's reflection on the party he attended where a bunch of people looked up the f-word in the dictonary and discovered that a "fucker" was a "habitual bungler" is also based on a real-life party that I attended at fellow author Kelly McCullough's house (back when he still lived in Saint Paul and had semi-regular Friday night parties... *sigh*). I'm afraid that was just too good not to work in. But, much of the "research" I did into Jewish eschatology came from the web. Some of the sites I used, include:
Moshiach Online Also, because I love this site, I have to include a evangelical Christian one called Rapture Ready. A person could spent a month reading all the articles on this site. I could probably go on. However, I think these are plenty of good places for people to get started, if they're interested on following up on some of the ideas in Archangel Protocol and my following books. (The bibliographies of the books and sites should take you further, as well). I'm also always reading new stuff. So, feel free to check into the "What are you reading currently" question on this page to see what new sources I'm stumbling across. So when do your do most of your writing? Do you follow a strict schedule, or do you work in spurts? I am better at writing in a quiet, empty house and so the pandemic has been hard on me... because suddenly everyone was in my office space. However, with three books pending, I'm back to writing whenever I can for as long as I can. So what the hell are you working on now? I'm kind of swamped (happily!!) with writing projects at the moment. I am writing a lesbian space opera which Wizard's Tower Press will be putting out as a new Lyda Morehouse book sometime (fingers crossed) early next year. After that, I am on the hook for a new Alex Connor book (which follows up both Precinct 13 and Unjust Cause). AFTER THAT, I will be writing some fun lesfic for a new publishing consorium called Kalikoi Press. So, there is a lot to look forward to! But, you can also always catch up on my backlist! Previously, as Tate, in addition to Precinct 13, I wrote the vampire princess YA series (Almost to Die For, Almost Final Curtain, and Almost Everything.) I also wrote the Garnet Lacey books, which in order are: Tall, Dark & Dead (May 2006) What are you reading currently? Anything fantastic or wonderful? I post what new books (and manga) I'm reading every Wednesday on my Dreamwidth Journal. Sometimes I'm a day or two late, but the Dreamwidth community posts about what they're reading on Wednesdays, and I try to play along. I also have a separate account where I review manga that I'm reading MangaKast>, so called because my son and I used to do a podcast about manga... it's now mostly just me posting about the yaoi I read. Do you do most of your writing on computer, or do you do a lot in long hand? I've done both, but I prefer typing on computer. I can type ALMOST as fast as I can think (which either says a lot about my typing skills or the speed of my brain processing). These days, I've gotten into the strange habit of writing semi-prone. We recently re-did our TV room with a brand new couch, and I love to lay in it with the laptop on my lap and write. I don't know what it does to my process, but it's great for my back! Stephen Fry from The New York Times had an interesting article all about this question. To which I have to reply: PC, Times Roman, 12 pt. Although I religiously reformat all my work into proper manuscript format, which is to say, double-spaced, Courier 12 pt., not only for submission, but also for my writers group. I've actually gotten quite used to reading things in Courier, but I find when I sit down to write if I have that header that says Morehouse, page 1 staring at me, I get a bit of performance anxiety... a kind of writer's block that says to my brain: "THIS IS FOR PUBLICATION, DON'T FUCK IT UP." So, I trick myself into a first draft by writing in Times Roman, single spaced. In fact, I wrote almost all of Messiah Node in little chunks, all of which were labled, "scrap page #." It's funny what you have to do to trick yourself into writing sometimes. LOTS of rewrites, yes. I rewrite constantly as I write. I talk about it as "one step forward, two steps back." I always reread what I wrote the night before, and then plunge into the new stuff. PLUS, I have this bizarre habit of getting 2/3rds into a novel and figuring out what the book is "about." Then I end up going back to the beginning and re-writing the whole damn thing from the start. Oh, and then there's the rewrites that I do for my editor, Anne Sowards. She typically sends me an "editor's letter" (it's actually an email that's about 12 pages printed out) outlining line by line where she wants more (or less) information, character development, etc. Then I get to do more rewriting when I get the copy-editor's notes. By the time the book is at the printer... it's been gone over several times. And STILL there are typos. Pisses me off. :-) You have the best cover art! How much control do you have over the covers of your books? None. Zero. Ziltch. If I'm lucky my editor sends me a picture of what things are going to look like sometime in advance. But she doesn't really ask me what I think of it. It's much more of a: "here it is!" Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I have lucked out completely with these covers. Bruce Jensen is an amazing artist and should be nominated for a Hugo. If I ever meet him, I intend to kiss him soundly on the mouth. I'm very certain he's the reason my books have sold as well as they have. My characters always surprise me. Although Mai Kito from Fallen Host was the most full of surprises... in Archangel Protocol it was Mouse that surprised me. I don't want to spoil anything for people who might be coming to my web page first, but let's just say the endings for both Mouse and Mai were COMPLETE surprises for me. I had no intention when I started Archangel Protocol for Mouse to end up where he did... which is part of why I think I'm enjoying Messiah Node so much. I get to redeem him, as it were. And, Mai... well, from the moment she showed up she was her own character. I followed where she led, not the other way around. The most fun to write? That's a toss up. Morningstar was wickedly fun to write, but I really, really enjoy Mouse's voice (which is why there are so many Mouse letters, etc. on my web site.) What religion were you raised? Why do you write so much about religion? I was raised Unitarian Universalist in a mostly Catholic town. So, I got a lot of practice as the outsider, espcially since --while you can be Christian and be UU-- I was not. I write about religion because it continues to fascinate me. Originally, LINK was just my skiffy subsitute word for Web or Internet. But, my friend Kelly McCullough came up with a backronym for it. LINK stands for Lymphatic Interface Network Kernel. Ask Kelly to explain it. Kelly is also a science fiction writer, you can read about him at: http://www.kellymccullough.com/. A recent New York Times articles suggests that the LINK might actually become possible, at least between conventional computers. Read "With 6 Degrees of Separation, Computers Stay in Sync" by Ian Austin. Also, apparently Google would really like to be implanted in your brain. Kirk. Don't get me started. I once started a flame war on STREK-L about why I thought the New Generation was a bunch of NAZIs. If you attended Hogwarts, into which house would the Sorting Hat place you? I've actually thought about this question a LOT. As an adult, looking at the qualities I cultivate and admire, I would have to say that, the person I am NOW, would be a fine addition to Slytherin. I am an extremely ambitious person and, like Professor Slughorn, I really enjoy placing friends into positions of power and otherwise playing politics behind the scenes. However, at 11, I would have been quite certainly been placed in Gryffandor (much to my eternal chagrin.) At 11, I wanted to be a knight in shining armor, rescue the heroine, and otherwise embrace bravery, honesty and all that. Like Harry, these two side of me war within my heart. If you could be any animal what would you be (and why)? An otter. I would be an otter because once, when I was visiting the aquarium in Chicago, the tour guide told me that of all the creatures in the animal kingdom the otter is the only one that would rather play than eat. This matches my personality pretty well, honestly. It's not so much that I'm a "party animal," but that making a living is not as important to me as having fun. Thus, the string of boring jobs that have lead to a second career as a writer. I'm actually incredibly ambitious (and disciplined) when it comes to my playing, ie. my writing. But, in the mundane employed universe, I very easily fit the joke "employer recommendation," "You'll be lucky to get this employee to work for you." If you could be any tree what would you be (and why)? A California Redwood. Okay, in all honesty, this has more to do with delusions of grandeur than accurately fitting my personality. I mean, I'm 5'2", people. I'm as unlike a California Redwood as I could possibly be. Sure, I could try to make some kind of association with having been born in California, but, really, I just want to live forever be an intensely impressive. Hmmmm, maybe this says more about my personality than I'd really like.... What's your favorite color (and why)? Yellow. Even though my friend Mary Klauda tells me that yellow is the favorite color of the insane, I have a serious fondness for this sunny color. What can I say? It's bright, bold, and cheery. Whenever I paint a room in our house, I always say to Shawn, "How about yellow?" It just picks up the light, and here in wintery Minnesota, the more light the better. If you could go back in time and talk to any historical character, who would you pick (and why)? Lizzy Borden. I guess I'm curious... did she do it? Or maybe I'd ask Prince Albert if he was Jack the Ripper.... That's a tough one, honestly. There have been a lot of interviews with Tate, many of which I have not linked to. However, the most recent one (December of 2012) is at Amberkatze's Blog: Author Interview with Tate Hallaway A very nice article about my/Tate's newest release and my life appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Check out "St. Paul author introduces her new series about a vampire princess." My alter-ego and I did another podcast. This time for "Vampires, Witches and Geeks" with Morven Westfield, and you can here it here: Interview with Author Tate Hallaway My alter-ego and I did a podcast for Adventures in SF Publishing with Shawn Ferrell that is available at http://adventuresinscifipublishing.blogspot.com/2007/07/aisfp-26-tate-hallaway-and-lou-anders.html. A long, detailed interview about me by Lynne Jamneck appeared in the 24 July 2006 issue of Strange Horizons. A very brief interview with me/Tate appeared on the Oshkosh Word Nerd blog: http://bkwriter.blogspot.com/2006/06/author-answers-with-tate-hallaway.html. Another news article (with a lot less information) showed up in the Pioneer Press archives. This one has the very clever title of "Following Protocol." Not much about me, but still neat to see. I'm trying something new here, and I thought I'd give y'all links to some audio of me talking on KFAI "Fresh Air Radio." KFAI "Write On Radio" Show from September 21, 2000: In which I struggle to explain Archangel Protocol for the first time, discuss genre writing in general, and angel snot in particular. As MP3 KFAI "Write On Radio" Show from June 14, 2001: In which I talk about and read from Archangel Protocol, the LINK, and religion. As MP3 And, please don't feel like you shouldn't write me! I'm always happy to answer questions about writing, books, or my universe any time!
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