Thank you so much for being here, Joanne Elder.
1: Let's start with the basic question, what genre do you write?
Science Fiction Thrillers
2: Interesting, how long have you been
writing?
Two years
3: What do you like the most
and least about writing?
I love being swept away by my imagination. I find it
more enjoyable to write a story than to read a story. The negative part of
writing is battling the occasional dose of writer’s blog. Aside from that, it’s
finding the time to sit down and write. I find the morning is the best time, so
it’s important to set time aside early in the day.
4:
We’ve all battled that. So tell us, what do you for fun and
relaxation when not writing?
I love working out and taking my dog for a walk. My
iPod is an important addition to both activities. Nothing can beat family time
with my husband and two kids.
5: Sounds
great. Which authors do you like to read?
Robert Sawyer and Steven King are two of my
favorites.
6: What’s the one thing you’d
most like people to know about you?
I have a background in science, with a Masters
degree in Engineering Science. I feel my background lends credibility to me as
an author of Science Fiction.
7: Well
it would certainly help. I know nothing about Science. Tell
us about your current novel, where I can find it?
Spectra was released July 1st with
MuseItUp Publishing. It’s available to order or download through Amazon, Barnes
& Noble, Chapters (Canada) and MuseItUp Publishing just to name a few. It
is science fiction, but very much a thriller.
Here is the blurb:
Light years away from
Earth, a mining exploration crew makes an amazing discovery…intelligent life
comprised entirely of energy. This living energy is so pure and unique it could
provide proof of the existence of the human soul. Those exposed to the entities
gain unimaginable cognitive abilities but at a terrible cost.
A rogue scientific group
will do anything to maintain the mind enhancing gifts, even if it leads to the
destruction of the peaceful beings.
Only two people stand in
their way, and they will sacrifice everything to end the slaughter.
Could the quest for the
secrets of life lead to the creation of true evil; one so dark it threatens to
tear down the walls of sanity and redefine our very existence?
8: Wow,
that sounds deep. Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
You need to believe in your work and be willing to
put in the time required to make it excellent. Beyond that, you need to have a
thick skin because the road to success is ridden with rejection and criticism.
You must stay positive and work hard.
9: Great
advice. A question I often get asked, do you base your characters on real-life
people?
No, but I firmly believe a little bit of every
author goes into what they write.
10: I
agree. Another question people ask, how did you come up with the idea for this
book?
I have an overactive
imagination. A side story in Spectra delves into the possible physical
existence of the human soul. I got that idea after doing some research after my
father passed away.
11: Amazing
how ideas come to us. Tell us what you’re currently working on?
The sequel to Spectra, Entity, will soon be going
through the editing stage. I have thoughts for another book, but that will have
to wait for the marketing and editing tasks at hand to be completed.
12.
I’m sure your readers will look forward to it. Is there anything else you’d
like us to know about you?
I have a passion for writing and hope to make a
career out of it.
13. Well
best of luck with it. I’m sure you’ll do well. Where can we find you? Website?
Blog?
@JoanneElder
“Karen! What the hell!” Dean was monitoring the operation from one of the viewports. He rushed to the airlock, grabbing an environmental suit on the way. “Ivan, stop her! She’s taking her helmet off.”
Dean could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage as he fastened the last connections of his suit. He glanced out the window in time to see Karen’s helmet drop to the ground. Immediately, a cloud of lights descended on her. What the hell is she thinking? He rushed to the airlock and seconds later, he emerged from the pod, dashing toward Karen. Someone grabbed his arm, and he turned to see Ivan’s perplexed face.
“Dean, wait.”
Dean’s wife stood with her palms to the sky and wondrous amazement lighting her eyes. The hair framing her face had dried to ribbons that were taking flight in the chilling breeze.
“I understand them,” she said with hardly a breath. “It’s incredible. It’s binary code, mathematics, I understand them.”
“Roger, can you confirm this?” Ivan sounded anxious.
“Yeah, that’s what I was trying to tell you. The wave frequencies of the impulses have started to change in tandem and tend to be in upper ranges above 400 hertz. Each frequency seems to correspond to a specific spectrum of color. The darker blue and greens of the lower frequencies have all but disappeared. What’s really amazing is the changes are following a mathematical binary pattern. It seems to be some kind of algorithm.”
“Karen, what’s going on?” Ivan asked.
The unscrupulous leader strikes again! Dean couldn’t believe Ivan wasn’t ordering her back into the pod. There was no telling what the lights could be doing to her. He had a mind to throw her over his shoulder and carry her in himself. “Who cares what’s going on? We need to get her back to the pod.”
Karen inhaled slowly as if savoring a fragrance. “Dean, it’s okay. I’m fine. I don’t know how to explain it, but I understand them. They’re some kind of energy, like intelligent energy, not like anything we’ve ever seen. They’re trying to understand what we are. We’re completely foreign to them. Do you understand what this means? The only life that’s been found on other planets is plant and insect life, which hardly qualifies as intelligent. This discovery is a first! I don’t know exactly what they are, but they’re incredibly intelligent.”
Dean edged closer to Karen and grabbed the bio-scanner strapped to her suit. He held it up to her and initiated a scan. Her heart rate, blood pressure, and other vitals were stable, but it wasn’t enough to alleviate his concern. “You feel okay?”
“I feel great, better than great, as though I’ve been revitalized.”
“Dean, I think I’m starting to feel it, too. She’s right. It seems structured and mathematical. I can feel their presence,” Ivan said.
A deafening screech like the sound of tearing metal, shot across the valley. Ivan jerked his head toward the pod. “The rig!” He took off with the agility of a clumsy man from the drag of the suit, kicking up dust on the way. “It’s jammed!” The drill ground to a halt, and one of the footing straps snapped, lashing into Ivan’s suit. “Damn it!” He fell to the ground, wincing.
“Annie, shut the rig down. Ivan’s hurt!” Dean rushed to Ivan’s side, with Karen a few steps behind.
An immense dust cloud hung in the thin air, and Karen sputtered as she started to speak, “That,” she spit some dust, “that looks deep.” She cupped her bulky glove over her nose and mouth and raised her voice. “We need to get him inside, so I can take care of the wound.”
Dean lifted Ivan to his feet and helped him back inside the airlock.
“Lay him down over here.” Karen pointed to the center of the cabin. She removed Ivan’s helmet, and Dean handed her the med kit and squatted down to assist. She started to cut away the thick fabric of the suit in the vicinity of his lesion. The wound appeared deep with several shards of metal debris imbedded in it. After administering a local anesthesia, Karen removed the debris with an incredible efficiency, seeming to sense the location of each fragment of metal. When the wound was clean and ready for mending, she pulled the mender out of the med kit and flicked it on. She held onto the shiny handle like it was a soupspoon and waited for the forked electrodes at its tip to charge. A blue arc appeared across the fork. Karen placed the arc over the lesion. “It’ll take a few minutes to regenerate the tissue. The cut’s deep.”
Ivan whisked her hand away. “Don’t,” he said in a small voice. He looked at her hypnotically as if gazing dreamily across a horizon; then his head fell back, and his body went limp. He shut his eyes, and his breathing became heavy like he was in a deep sleep.
“My God, look,” Annie whispered.
The wound on Ivan’s leg had stopped bleeding, and the little inflammation that had settled in was rapidly disappearing along with the redness around its periphery. Dean gawked at it, completely befuddled. It started to close up millimeter by millimeter as the cells proliferated at an unimaginable rate. A few minutes passed, and a thin scab had formed.
Kevin stared at the wound. “What the hell’s going on out there? What are those things?”
“They’re some kind of intelligent energy,” Karen said. “I could feel them trying to communicate with me telepathically. It was as though they were placing thoughts in my head. That’s why I took my helmet off. They’re curious about what we are. I don’t believe they mean us any harm. They seem peaceful.”
“Intelligent energy? All I picked up was electrical impulses.” Roger took another look at the measurements he’d taken.
1 comment:
I am always in awe of folks with scientific and mathamatical backgrounds. A perfet background for a sci fi writer!
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