Enter a wondrous universe…the latest volume of Sword and Sorceress, featuring stories
from new and seasoned authors. Herein you will find tales of fantasy with
strong female characters, with some version of either martial skill or magic.
Not all the protagonists will be human, and sometimes the magic will take
highly original forms, but the emotional satisfaction in each story and in the
anthology as a whole, remains true to the original vision. The release date will
be November 2, 2018.
Kindle: https://amzn.to/2NitlHH
Deborah J. Ross: Tell
us a little about yourself. How did you
come to be a writer?
Jessie Eaker: When
I was in elementary school, I would painstakingly write out my thoughts and
stories, along with accompanying illustrations, and keep them in a special
binder which I fantasized about publishing.
I loved making up stories about rockets, robots and dragons. (I didn't much care for unicorns--they were
too hard to draw.) When I hit middle
school and on into high school, I entered what I now consider my great input
phase--I read everything I could get my hands on. And out of that I began to craft my first
stories. But as fate would have it, one
of my high school English teachers gave a very harsh criticism of one of my
works. I was devastated--my fantasy of
being published evaporating in a moment.
But then I got angry. My story
couldn't be that bad. I resolved right
then and there that I was going to prove to that I could be a published author. Of
course, it took me another fifteen years to actually develop enough to pull it
off.
DJR: What
inspired your story in Sword and
Sorceress 33?
JE: "All In
a Name" was inspired by my youngest daughter's pregnancy and their search
for a suitable name for the baby.While they offered us hints as to what it
might be, she and her husband had decided they would keep the name secret until
the baby was born. It nearly drove us
crazy not knowing and we feared it would be some off-the-wall name that would
permanently scar the child.
During this time I pondered the power in a name. I had dealt with this idea before in a prior story, "Name of the Demoness" in Sword
and Sorceress #6. But thinking of
the coming child, I came up with a new direction to take this idea.
And by the way, the name they chose for my newest
granddaughter was perfectly lovely.
DJR: Why do you
write what you do, and how does your work differ from others in your genre?
JE: I love
fantasy and science fiction. From my
first comic books as a kid, I was fascinated with all things outside our present-time
reality. So naturally, I write primarily
in those genres. Early on I became
intrigued with the differences between straight up fantasy and technology based
fiction. While we tend to treat them
differently, I believe that they are one in the same. So when I can, I like to take science fiction
elements and mix them with my fantasies.
Admittedly, some stories allow this more than others.
Also, I absolutely love strong women characters. I try to make every female character in my
stories have a depth to them that the reader can appreciate.
DJR: What have
you written recently? What lies ahead?
JE: What I like
to write has evolved over time. In my
younger days, I tended to write "serious" works and strove to turn
out text that would be leave the reader awestruck. But I found trying to be the next great
author quickly lost its luster and it became harder and harder to produce
anything I truly liked. My busy life offered the perfect excuse and so I put
aside my writing for several years.
Then as I was cleaning up, I ran across one of those stories
that I had drafted but never finished.
It was a lighter fare, a fantasy adventure, which I had cast aside as
not being "serious" enough.
That was when I said, to hell with it and took it back up. And you know what? I had a blast. I rediscovered the absolute joy in writing. That one story grew and morphed into two
novels with at least two more coming.
I would say my writing now is more fun and more
confident. While I think my writing
voice was good before, it is definitely better now.
DJR: What advice
would you give an aspiring writer?
JE: I think there
are three basic things an aspiring writer should do. The first is to doggedly write every day
whether you feel like it or not. All
writers give this advice, but it's really true.
The second thing is a variation of the "write what you know"
saying. I would say instead to write
what you like. This of course, assumes
you are knowledgeable of the area you like.
And if you aren't, you might want to fix that first. Thirdly, and this is the most important, keep
a notepad beside your bed to capture your ideas. Like all mystical things, truly good ideas
are rare and fleeting. So you must be
ready for when they arise.
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