Hey Tamara. For all those that don't know about your awesome book Being can you tell us a little about it.
Megan, thanks so much for hosting the Being Event, giveaway and interview. I greatly appreciate it.
Being is the first book in the Being series. It’s a story about an elite extraterrestrial pilot, EBN (pronounced Ee-ben) whose ship crashes in California during the Gulf Oil Spill Crisis after it collides with space trash orbiting Earth. Although there are three narrators (EBN, her younger brother Aix (Ace) and a human teen, Shale) EBN’s troubles are the main focus of the three intertwining storylines.
Where did the idea for Being come from?
I wish I had the answer to that question. The best way I can describe it is, it just popped into my head while I was watching a television show about unexplained lights in the sky / extraterrestrials. I thought, what if some UFO sightings were the result of wayward extraterrestrial teens? What if they were attempting to let us know that we’re not alone in the universe?
An aspect of Being I liked was that the book is about an alien coming to Earth but I love that it's told from EBN's perspective of us as the "aliens". Do you think that EBN's and her society's perspective of Earth is right? Fighting among ourselves, our enviroment being bad etc.
Personally if I was an alien coming to Earth I would probably think the same. This is a very complicated question. It saddens me to say that I do identify with EBN and her people’s perspective. I’m a Gulf Coast resident (Houston, Texas) and I’m answering this question on the one-year anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill Crisis. I wish I could defend humans and our actions, but in less than one year, human error has caused two of the worst environmental catastrophes in recorded history: the Gulf Oil Spill Crisis and the on-going, epic nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
The Gulf Oil Spill Crisis devastated this region, poisoned the waters, destroyed the economy and ruined peoples’ lives. Over the past year, hundreds of dead dolphins (approximately ½ of them babies) have washed ashore along Florida, Mississippi and Alabama coastlines. Furthermore, there's still an immeasurable amount of oil in the water, sitting on the ocean floor and beneath the sand. And that's just the portion we know about.
Regarding the situation in Japan, radiation continues to spew from the damaged reactors and will continue to do so for at least 3 more months. What are we doing to ourselves, our environment and at what cost? Our ineptitude and stubborn refusal to change sickens me. Situations like the aforementioned crises make me embarrassed to be human, because I know we’re capable of so much more. Perhaps my standards are too high.
Please understand, I love our world and I love most everyone in it. But we’ve got serious problems we need to fix. Now, you may be thinking, everyone’s got problems and I would agree. But the problems we’ve got never had to happen in the first place and they’re problems we can prevent from happening again. No more oil spills. No more nuclear devastation and in America’s case, no more wars we shouldn’t be fighting. But we have to want it in order to make it happen. We can do it. I believe in us.
So, for those who might say that EBN and her people view we humans through a narrow scope, I would remind them that we give them good reason to do so.
What sort of books do you like to read yourself?
Really, really great ones. I adore Water for Elephants and The Historian to name a few.
Is there any books you are excited about reading or have read this year?
I’ve been reading non-fiction titles lately for research purposes, but I’m very excited about the next installation in Charlaine Harris’ southern vampire series, Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse book 11.) Guilty pleasure.
Which book do you wish you had written?
That’s easy. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but not because of its success, but because Rowling’s love and care created a magical work of literature.
What was your favourite book as a child/teenager?
Illusions by Richard Bach.
.
Do you have any writing advise for people who want to be author's?
Do I! How much time you got? For those still in school, I recommend a dual course of study. These days, unless you’re a celebrity or the child of a celebrity, the road to publication is long, arduous and mountains of fantastic work never gets published for various reasons. There’s not a lot of money in being an author unless Hollywood comes knocking, and even then, just because your story gets optioned, it doesn’t mean the project will get made into a film. So it’s important to have marketable skills to pay the bills.
Otherwise, read incredible books, write your heart out, study the craft, learn from the masters and grow a thick skin. Never stop studying. Always aim to be better and learn more.
Finally. Do you believe in Aliens?
I believe in the extraterrestrials residing in my head, the characters in my book. I think the majority of unexplained phenomena people see and report is secret military craft. However, I have seen some inexplicable video footage that almost made my head explode. The universe is ineffably big and I have a hard time accepting that humans are alone in it. Nevertheless, until I meet an extraterrestrial, I shall remain cautiously skeptical.
A huge thank you to Tamara for this awesome interview! Being is now available as a Ebook.
Tamara will be popping by over the next few days to check out your wonderful comments and any questions you may have!
P.S Commenting may earn you an extra entry into the Being giveaway coming tomorrow were 3 Ebooks of Being will be up for grabs for three lucky winners!
