Please tell us a
bit about yourself:
Fascinated
by physics, multiple timelines/multiverse concepts, alien life and psi
phenomena, family relationships, world affairs and the environment, and
unrequited/requited love, I have incorporated all of these themes and topics
into my sci-fi novels.
I am a
practicing Buddhist meditator, feminist, swimmer, singer/pianist, feminist,
dreamer, and mother/ sister/ aunt/ daughter/ cousin/ friend. I have an adult
son who lives in New Hampshire.
I am a
published, nonfiction author (ACTING OUT裕HE WORKBOOK: A Guide to
the Development and Presentation of Issue-Oriented, Audience-Interactive,
Improvisational Theatre, co-written with Mario Cossa, Jennifer
Russell and Lauren Glass) and a produced playwright
(children's theatre, Crystal Dreams,
part of "The Atlantis Project," co-developed with Mario Cossa and Grading System, a full-length
adult-audience play). I have also published and presented educational research,
some short stories and articles and other nonfiction short pieces related to my
work. I have co-written, edited, and proofread many nonfiction books and worked
for a couple of magazines. I also write unrecorded songs, corny lyrics, and
mediocre poetry.
In my
"other" professional life, I have worked as an educator and
upper-level, nonprofit manager in colleges, universities and private nonprofits
for over thirty-five years in New England (every state), New Mexico and the Bay
Area (where I now live). I have a BA, master's and doctorate in education
(Ed.D.).
My website, http://www.sallyember.com/spanners, has the first
fourteen chapters of Volume I, as do authonomy.com and wattpad.com. I also
posted excerpts on my series' Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/THESPANNERSSERIESbySALLYEMBER. Follow
http://www.twitter.com/sallyembered and please Tweet about this book and
series! I am also on LinkedIn as Sally
Ember, Ed.D.
I blog many times per week, sharing stories about my
Buddhist meditation practice retreats,
personal philosophies, science topics, writing tips and whatever else strikes
me as interesting: http://www.sallyember.com/blog
My Pinterest boards (http://www.pinterest.com/sallyember) are
mostly devoted to The Spanners Series and to help readers get to know me. I
would love to get readers following me there or on Facebook and commenting
there or back on my website or tweeting me about their experiences.
Tell us about This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series:
I talk about TCE like this:
After several millennia
of mostly secret visits and contact with Earthers, members of the Many Worlds
Collective (MWC) Council decide that a liaison, dubbed the Chief Communicator
(CC) must be contacted and that this contact must be made public in order to
avert multiple types of disasters on Earth. The visiting members of the MWC
come in hologram form to the selected CC (Clara Branon, 58, living in northern
California) for the first time on December 21, 2012. Clara is closely modeled
on me, so I know how she thinks and feels very well!
As a “Spanner,” Branon is one of millions of “Baby Boomers” who survive across two centuries and bridge the
divide (hence, “Spanners”) between nonpublic and public contact with the MWC
and many other major changes that occur during these decades.
Because most Earthers
are not prepared to accept this type of reporting or storytelling as
nonfiction, this first and some other volumes of the series are of the
realistic fiction/science fiction/fantasy genres. Many of the characters,
events and locations are actual; some are not, or haven’t happened (yet) at the time of first publication.
In This Changes Everything are: a love story, spanning about 35 years;
dialogue and scenes of the relationships among the CC and her mother and
siblings; communications between the CC and her adult son; dialogue between the
CC and some friends; info about the selection and identity of the chosen media
contact for the CC, with excerpts from her journal; news stories about the CC and
the MWC events from Earth media as well as MWC media; background about the CC
and the reasons for her being selected; excepts from minutes of meetings of the
InterGalactic Council of the MWC; and much more.
In the novel, after the
MWC educational resources and information become widely available, in 2013, all
time is now known to be simultaneous. Writing from any point in time and
timeline is means that the love story and other aspects are depicted in
multiple versions. Readers will have to decide: do Branon and her Future or
Fictional Husband get to be together? Which Re-set
of the Transition After Public Contact prevails?
The tone is
humorous/serious; the mode is utopian. I really dislike reading the endless
stream of dystopian futuristic sci fi. I decided to write the books I want to
be reading!
The narrative is unique
in that it includes history, poetry, literature, music/lyrics, science and
technological advances, paranormal skills, law and government, Buddhism and
other religions, meditation, social-emotional intelligence, time and space
travel, interspecies communication, and social/futuristic depictions of the
Earth, post-MWC public contact.
This Changes Everything is the first of The Spanners series, which chronicles the public contact between
the CC and the MWC and the impact of these contacts on Earthers and the MWC
over the over 30 years that Branon is the CC. Chapters are written from several
perspectives. Some Volumes in series are purported to be nonfiction or have
nonfiction sections, as Volume I does. Even-numbered Volumes are narrated and
written from the perspectives of young adults, teens, and new adults
exclusively; odd-numbered Volumes are mostly written from Clara's and other
adults' perspectives.
I place these
novels in the sci-fi romance/speculative fiction genres, targeting adult, YA,
New Adult audiences.
What inspired
you to write this particular story?:
I'm not sure exactly what "inspired" me
to write this series. One night in February, 2012, I was awakened by a very clear
voice that said: WRITE. I went to the computer, hearing sentences and seeing
scenes in my mind. Five hours later, most of the first Chapter, all of the
summaries for all the Volumes, and the Chapter outline for Volume I were
drafted. I kept going from there and finished the first draft of Volume I, over
80,000 words, in 8 weeks.
TCE went through 19 other drafts via my own ideas,
consults with friends and family, and letting it "sit," over an
18-month period to reach the final version. During that time I started Volumes
II, IV, and V and sketched out parts of the others as well.
I feel very driven. Part of the
reason is that I identify a lot with Clara. The line between fiction and
nonfiction is very blurred in these Volumes, intentionally, and my life seems
that way sometimes as well. I'm curious as to what the readers will decide is
"real."
I also strongly believe that
Earth is in serious trouble, politically, economically, environmentally,
socially: in every way. I do wish we could be rescued by stronger, more
intelligent, compassionate, capable beings!
Please share a
favourite snippet from your book:
From
Chapter One, This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series,in which Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon,
Ph.D., first meets the visitors from the Many World Collective:
…my mind is racing through
possibilities. They are aliens! I am
feeling excited and intensely interested. I assume that if they meant to harm
me, I’d
be harmed, already, so I am rapidly becoming less scared. Brimming with questions
and curiosity, I go right over to them.
My
upbringing kicks in, maybe because they are around my dining table, and I ask
them kind of automatically,"Would you like some tea or something cold to
drink? Are you hungry?” Then, I laugh, and they make some
noises that must be their ways of showing amusement; they aren’t
here; they are holograms. They can’t
eat or drink anything. Duh.
I
sit down in my chair which they seem to know is mine because it isn’t
blocked or occupied. I look towards them, expectantly, and realize I don’t know
where to look. Only one of them has anything resembling “eyes,” and
the other four do not even really have anything I would call a “face.”
Still, reflexively, I guess, I keep my focus on their upper bodies’
uppermost sections and on the zeppelin’s middle.
I
ask, “How
may I be of service? Why have you come to see me?”
Which comes
first for you – a character's looks, personality or name?:
Probably a combination of personality and function come
first for me. My story needs characters, and it doesn't exist without them. How
they look or what they are named definitely comes later because these are not
as important to the plot, usually, as the function and personality.
Any tips for
aspiring authors?:
I still consider myself an "aspiring author," I
suppose! The tips I provide and use myself are usually having to do with the
types of perspectives I bring to first drafts vs. subsequent drafts and
revision, and each requires a different point of view, in my opinion.
Being wide open, allowing it all to flow and not
self-censoring for first drafts work best for me. Except for typos or wrong
words, I just write and do not revise. Then, I usually let is sit for a little
while and write other things before returning to it for a first look at the
first draft from a revision point of view.
My drafts go through many revisions,as I said,but some are
very minor. Some are major. At several points, I re-arranged almost all the
chapters: working with multiple narrators, timelines and topics allows me to do
that.
I tend to write backwards a lot, meaning, the best or most
importart of a sentence or section, or even the book, are not written first or
initially placed at the beginning. I am now in the habit of
"flipping" sentence pieces, chapter sections, entire chapters, until
I find the right sequence.
Another tip: if you
know your grammar, sentence structure and/or spelling are not up to
professional standards, you HAVE to get a professional editor. I can't tell you
how many uploaded excerpts, even titles and blurbs, I stop reading because of
typos, poor grammar and just bad writing, even though I enjoy or think I would
like the topic, plot or characters.
Important: Don't use sexist, racist or outdated language:
there is no excuse for "kike," "nigger,"
"mankind," "mailman," or "girl" (for a woman 18
and older), and other exclusive, pejorative terminology in 2013, IMHO.
What is your
favourite book? (aside from one of your own!):
Robert
Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land was
pivotal in my life as a reader and a writer. Read it when I was 15; re-read a
few times since. Not knowing that, one of my reviewers, Alexander Crommich,
compared TCE to that and just about made me fall off my chair in delight!
Favourite genre
and why?:
I love
well-written, uplifting, inspiring sci fi, sci-fi/romance, and speculative
fiction veering into fantasy (but without a lot of techno-speak, gnomes, elves,
and dragons and definitely not a lot of battles). I like to visit other worlds,
other versions of this world, and other universes that are written so well as
to be captivating, seemingly "right here" in my life.
Thanks to every
author who has that gift, which I strongly aspire to acquire.
Upcoming news
and plans for the future?:
Volume I, The Changes
Everything, has been uploaded in e-book format via Smashwords and is available
there and on iBooks, nook and Kobo for pre-orders 11/5- 12/19 at half-price
($1.99). Release date at full price ($3.99), to all retailers, is 12/20/13.
Volume II, This Changes My Family and My
Life Forever, narrated by young adults and new adults exclusively, is in
the final revision stages and set to release Spring, 2014. Volumes III - X are
in various draft stages.
I change my books based on readers'
suggestions! Also, I would be delighted to visit your Book Club or class if you
are using one or more of the books in The Spanners Series. Ask me to
co-develop curricula, projects and activities for your group/class members!
I am
experimenting with CROWDCREATING sections or entire upcoming Volumes of The
Spanners Series. If you'd like to participate, please email
sallyember@yahoo.com ssfember@gmail.com and tell me a little about what Volume
or portion you'd like to help create! Put "CROWDCREATOR" in the
subject line.
I'm being interviewed LIVE on BlogTalkRadio's SciFi station, by
Will Wilson, 11 AM EDT, 12/27/13, and available in the archives after that:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiebooks
