Hello all, I have a deal for you. I have some wonderful writer friends who have put together a giveaway of their books starting on November 20th and running through November 26th. They have graciously offered their books for free so that you wonderful readers can download them and let them know what you think.
http://www.whatisaplot.com/sff-giveaway/
I had the opportunity to get an interview with one of the contributors, Ginger Booth.
Tell me about your books:
The Calm Act series is a day-after-tomorrow dystopian scenario. Climate change
suddenly accelerates to the point where we can’t feed everyone, let alone curb
global warming. The Calm Act itself is a draconian plan by the U.S. government
to address the crisis by imposing censorship, martial law, and migrant-control
borders.
As her old world disintegrates, upbeat programmer Dee Baker teams up to build a
new one.
This is a very different take on the post-United States scenario. For one
thing, the action takes place during the fall, not after it. The military has
taken pains to ease the disaster experience. There is no evil super-villain,
just a bad bad situation, and decent people trying to cope against long odds.
What makes your protagonist different from the industry standard or genre
standard?
In the usual post-apocalyptic grown-up story, we have a gun-toting tough guy,
trying to protect a damsel determined to be her own worst enemy, both pitted
against a cartoon arch-villain. Lots of blood and guts and guns, generally set
someplace empty, like west Texas.
In the Calm Act series, Dee Baker is a craftsy programmer who likes to garden.
She has a problem. Her world has fallen apart due to accelerated climate
change. Sure, she can still grow vegetables and feed herself, but there are
hundreds of millions who can’t. She needs protection or they’ll steal her food.
If we all play that game, growing food is pointless, and we all die. Most
people happen to agree with her, including the U.S. military – law and order is
preferable to blood and guts. They’d rather find a way to work together, and
shoot the bad actors as needed.
Oh, and Dee Baker lives smack in the middle of the I-95 corridor, the most
populated part of the country, about 100 miles from New York City.
Climate-wise, it’s a real lottery winner, but alas rather crowded.
The forces for good have the upper hand in this series. Winning just isn’t
easy.
The reason for doing it this way is that I believe really, deep down, people
aren’t willing to face the truth of climate change. It isn’t a theory, and it
isn’t in the future. It’s real, and it’s now – just not to this accelerated
degree. I wanted a protagonist who has to face it, with little more than her
wits and ethics and friends to draw on. Our heroes have the courage to do the
right thing.
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
It cost $200 to buy a nice cover for Civilly Disobedient, an intro prequel that
I wrote for the sole purpose of giving it away for free. That was really,
really hard to justify. But without a great cover, who would give my books a
try? So far, I’ve spent nearly $1000 on book covers, wincing all the way. My
cover designer Jalena does such a beautiful job on them, though, capturing the
love of natural beauty that I wanted them to express.
Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?
I certainly express myself spiritually through the practice. Some people get
writer’s block. I get living block, where everything seems to get stuck. I need
to write to clear that block.
Do you believe in writer’s block?
I believe writer’s block is my subconscious trying to tell me I made a wrong
turn back a ways. So go back and fix that. When I’m on firmer ground, I’ll be
able to go forward again.
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
Actively writing the first draft, maybe 10-12 weeks, then another month or two
on the end for beta reading, revisions, cover design, and publishing. That’s
for the full length novels, about 90k words. That includes research, which I
along the way as needed. The novellas are much quicker, maybe a month. On a
good day, I can write almost 5k words. Most days are stickier than that, and
life intrudes.
Time Ran Out on Climate Change Upbeat programmer Dee Baker is
successful in her media career. But climate…
http://books.gingerbooth.com/
