Interview with Chantal Bellehumeur, author of Paranormal Investigation

 

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Chantal Bellehumeur, author of Paranormal Investigation

What was the inspiration behind Paranormal Investigation, your ghost story published on January 4th, 2024?

There is a historical jail in the city of Cornwall Ontario with a reputation for being haunted.  Granted, a lot of them are, but this one is at the top of Canada’s most haunted places. 

I went on a guided tour of the old building during the day and came back in the fall to conduct a paranormal investigation with my husband and son.  The special activity was organised by a company called Phantoms of York, who specialises in this kind of thing. They conducted their own investigation there and have been giving tourists the opportunity to do the same in October.  They provided us with ghost hunting equipment and gave tips on how to potentially communicate with spirits.

Our two-and-a-half hours session was recorded with a night vision camera and the footage was uploaded on YouTube for us to watch and analyse. As I was having fun replaying certain parts and taking notes, it gave me the idea for the story.

 I must admit nothing much happens during these kinds of investigations. There was no guarantee we would experience anything, and it’s all a matter of interpretation too.  But, we did capture a few things so I used my own experience, those of others, as well as historical facts to create a fictional story. I made the ghosts a lot more active than during a real investigation to make it more interesting and added humour.  

How much is the story fact, and how much fiction?

It depends on your beliefs. 

Before conducting our own paranormal investigation, we watched a short video about the jail’s history as well as testimonials and clips from other people’s investigations.  My prologue which introduces the Cornwall jail and its past inmates is real.  That being said, some of the ghosts and supernatural activities were based on real people and claimed sightings. 

For example, there was a doll in one of the cell blocks. When I asked the dolls name, a voice on the radio transmitter we had on said ‘’Raggedy’’ and then ‘’Ann’’.  At least, that’s what I heard.  My family didn’t hear those specific words until we watched the footage at home. 

I included the most exciting parts of our investigation in my story and embellished. Everything that happens after the Roy family leave the jail, including the epilogue, is pure fiction.

What prompted you and your family to do a real-life investigation at Cornwall’s old jail?

I personally believe in the paranormal. 

A lot of people died inside the walls of the Cornwall jail and I was curious to see if I could actually communicate with their spirits. 

Part of me was a bit scared of messing with the supernatural.  Violent criminals such as convicted murdered were hung there.  Men and woman deemed insane also died there because the jail doubled up as an asylum.  It also held homeless people, including children.  I wanted to learn their stories and thought a paranormal investigation would be an interesting activity to do around Halloween. 

It felt like a safe environment; one in which I could leave any time and not have to return if I didn’t want to.  I don’t think I would be comfortable doing something like this in my home. 

Have you written other stories about ghosts and the paranormal?

Yes. 

My novel “Past lives’’ is about reincarnation. The main character goes under hypnosis to remember all her past lives, including times she roamed as a ghost. 

I’ve also written a few short stories involving ghosts. The first one that comes to mind is “Imaginary Friend” which was published in an issue of Mom’s Favourite Reads eMagazine.

As a writer, have you got a favourite genre?

No. It really depends on my mood.

I write a lot of slice-of-life type stories, but enjoyed writing romance, horror, historical, fantasy, memoires, and even poetry equally.  I don’t like writing typical poetry though.  Mine read more like stories.

How important is the humour in Paranormal Investigation?

The humour in Paranormal investigation is light and helps keeps things more realistic.  The main character is like me in the sense that she believes in the supernatural, but her husband Dave is more sceptical so keeps cracking jokes.  Its also a coping mechanism. He’s a bit spooked but won’t admit it. A lot of people react that way.

What prompted you to become a writer?

I always liked telling stories. 

When I was a young child, I asked my mother to note down my made-up stories for me, and once I learned how to write I started making little books with stapled papers.  I continued writing as a teen and wrote a novel in my early twenties. It was a fictional diary I never intended to publish but somebody encouraged me to do so. I find it quite therapeutic to write and got a lot of positive feedback from my first book so continued publishing my work.

Now I have 20 published books, and a lot of my short stories, poems, memoirs, and even recipes have been featured in anthologies and digital magazines.  I also wrote a few articles for a local newspaper to create awareness about Ulcerative Colitis, a chronic digestive illness I was diagnosed with in 2009.

Do you have a daily writing routine?

No. I write when inspiration strikes. I do prefer a quiet environment so I can concentrate.

How do you balance the demands of family, work and creativity?

When I am struck by inspiration, it’s usually at an inconvenient time.  It can be while I am in the shower, trying to sleep, or enjoying an activity with somebody.

I do my best to focus on my work while I am at the office but might quickly jot down a thing or two on a post-it so I don’t forget general ideas.  If I am elsewhere, I use my phone to write little notes.  At home, I will sit down at my computer to write as soon as I can.  My family knows when not to disturb me.

I’ve written a lot while on sick leave too and it has given me time to focus and do research.

What writers have inspired you?

I love a lot of different authors for various reasons, but none of them specifically inspired me to write. I try to avoid reading a book when I am in full writing mode because I don’t want another author’s writing style to subconsciously influence my own.

You have struggled with serious health issues, mentioned on your website. How has that changed the way you write and the subjects you choose?

Indeed. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis around the same time I started publishing so it became my escape. 

The first few years of dealing with my chronic illness was tough, especially while trying to raise a child on my own.  I wrote to distract myself and feel somewhat productive when I was too sick to work. 

I mention the illness in a couple of my novels.  The first one was ‘‘Hope’’.  I was so desperate to make people understand what I was going through after being hospitalised.  Little did I know, I hadn’t even experienced the worst of it yet.  I hate to say it, but it was the worst book I’ve ever written.  I’ve since then written personal articles about my illness which were published in a local newspaper and their website.  I was later approached by Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, a foundation I volunteered for, to share my story to potential doners.  

As a writer of ghost stories, do you believe in ghosts? 

Yes, I do. 

Call me crazy, but sometimes I feel another presence in my home.  My sister said she feels the same when she comes over.  It’s a weird sensation; like I am being watched.

I felt it from time to time inside the Cornwall jail and other historical sites; in London, England especially! The London Tower felt haunted and going on a Jack the Ripper Walk was creepy, and not just because of the murders that happened over a century ago.  Those weird vibes I got in Whitechapel pushed me to write my novel ‘’Just.Another.Common.Killer’’ as well as a bonus story called ‘’Mary Kelly’s Diary’’ which I included in the second edition of the horror book.

Years ago, when I was visiting an old jail in Ottawa, I had this similar sensation. I felt something brush me while our group was standing in front of the original hanging spot, staring at a hanging noose.  I thought it was my friend, but he swore it wasn’t him and there wasn’t anyone else behind us.

I could go on…

Are you planning to carry out more investigations in historic buildings?

The same people who organised the paranormal investigation at the Cornwall jail do the same thing at other historic sites.  I am definitely interested in trying the experience at other locations.

What are you working on now?

My dad told me a crazy thing that happened in the early 80’s while we were moving from Timmins to Burlington. I have no recollection of it because I was only three at the time, but it inspired a short story.

How do you imagine the audience for Paranormal Investigation? 

I believe my book is ideal for people who enjoy reading light ghost stories. It’s spooky, but not to the point of giving you nightmares.

Amazon

About Chantal Bellehumeur:

Chantal Bellehumeur is a Montreal author born in 1981. She has 20 published books of various genres as well as numerous short stories, memoirs, poems and articles featured in compilation books, eMagazines, plus articles in The Suburban l newspaper.

For a complete list of publications, including free reads, visit the following website: author-chantal-bellehumeur.webnode.com/products-/

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Markov's Hexameron: The Culling and Wormhole's Edge by A.E. Williams

 

About Markov's Hexameron: Wormhole's Edge:

HUMANS BATTLE AN ALIEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EMPIRE IN SPACE FOR SUPREMACY!

When Captain Aurora Blackthorn of the United Earth Federation encounters an alien AI probe near the Neptune wormhole, she is still stinging from the loss of her last command and crew in a desperate fight. Now in command of a scout ship, the Athena, she finds out that some of her passengers may not be who they seem.

When she leads a team to a wrecked AI probe on an asteroid near the Neptune Wormhole, she makes a shocking discovery of intergalactic implications! Knowing the importance of returning their new prize to Earth, the Captain makes a drastic and dangerous move. She orders the navigator and pilot to skirt the wormhole, and attempt to use it’s gravitational field to slingshot them towards an outpost near Pluto.

But when the ship becomes ensnared in the energy maelstrom, the humans and alien AI find themselves facing a horrifying death, where they may be torn to shreds in the cold blackness of outer space. As the ship plummets towards certain destruction, the Captain faces a grim decision - enlist the aid of the AI and her suspicious passengers, or die along with her entire crew.

Can they survive?

Enjoy a rousing science fiction tale of military action and excitement in the vein of EE Doc Smith, Robert Heinlein and other classic Sci-Fi greats!

Amazon

About Markov's Hexameron: The Culling:

WILL THIS BE THE END OF THE HUMAN RACE?

Planet Earth is dying.

When the first Singularity emerges, it is into a world of chaos and horrors. Billions of people are suffering from centuries of mankind's callous disregard for their home world. The global powers of old have given way to enclaves of survivors, who fight for survival against disastrous climactic forces. Droughts, floods and fires decimate the population.

The Singularity formulates the ultimate plan to save the human race. Using its enormous powers, it identifies the genetic markers that will best guarantee survival. From the ruins of the world's government, it assembles the Heptagon to collect those who will become the ultimate saviors of humanity. With ruthless precision, they do its bidding.

Selina Norden celebrates her ninth birthday with her parents and siblings. She's happy that she and her family have found their place in a community of survivors of the old regime. Then, the Heptagon turns her world upside down! Selina and her brother, Michael, are taken to a rigorous academy to mold them into the best and brightest hope for the future.

Driven and abused by the AI, Selina makes plans of her own. Follow her as she discovers the untold secrets of her heritage, her innate powers and her destiny.

The first story in the Markov’s Hexameron Series, that sets the stage for the most exciting military space opera ever!

Amazon

About A.E. Williams:

A.E. Williams has a unique background of military experience, aerospace engineering and intelligence analysis. He has a varied career, from inventor to consultant, and pretty much everything in between.

Born near Pittsburgh, A.E. Williams is man of a mystery.

As a young man, Williams served the United States government in various capacities, which he then followed with fifteen years as a consultant. Williams currently resides in rural Central Florida.

He does his writing at night, usually accompanied by a bottle of Maker's Mark bourbon and a large supply of Classic Dr Pepper and ice.

Website | YouTube

Interview with Craig Smith (C.K. Smith) author of What's in a Name, EAT-ME and DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Craig Smith (C.K. Smith), author of award-winning short story What's in a Name? and much more.

First of all, tell us how you came to be a winner of the George Floyd Short Story Competition with your story What’s in a Name? which appears in Earth 2.0: A Nottingham Writers' Studio Anthology, published by Big White Shed.

Following the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police in 2020, Nottingham Writers’ Studio launched the ‘George Floyd Short Story Competition’. For the last competition, they received over 150 excellent entries with the very best 27 being chosen for the anthology. My story blends environmental prophecy and the American civil rights movement, so I guess that it ticked all the boxes for the competition brief! I always wanted to write a civil rights piece, so I am glad that it was my first story committed to traditional paper publishing and not an e-book. 

Tell us about What’s in a Name? the title and the story’s plot or theme.

This ‘day in the life’ story is set in a mid-future Louisiana where two Black men struggle to eke out a living in the last days of capitalism, against a backdrop of environmental disaster. It was written in memory of the prominent civil rights pioneers Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) and Medgar Evers, and the victim of a fatal race crime, Emmett Till. The Shakespearean title was inspired by the fact that as far back as the 40s, studies indicated that the names we are given can significantly affect how we perform later in life. Given the right social stimulus, I hope that another ‘Stokely’ and ‘Medgar’ will rise again in the future and take up their forefathers’ struggles.

Why was it important to you to write about environmental issues and what can you tell us about the anthology as a whole?

Writing about environmental issues is not easy, but it’s extremely important. Ultimately, it should educate people about the dangers we are facing and inspire people to act and make changes to their lives. It’s easy to talk about the problems and restate the statistics, but providing solutions is where speculative writers can make the biggest impact. By imagining and sharing stories of new, creative environmental initiatives and practices, we should be able to motivate readers to get involved and make a difference in their own communities. Writing can inspire great change – that’s why it’s still such a fantastically dangerous medium! 

The Earth 2.0 anthology provides a wide range of speculative visions of the future. It’s particularly pleasing that the stories cover mid to distant future time periods, which stimulate a lot of questions about humanity’s survival on this planet. I have also been working on an environmental children’s book with a talented illustrator called Chloe McNeill for the last year. It was written to empower primary school children to enjoy nature, and to be instrumental in protecting the environment. We can’t build the next generation of eco-warriors too soon! The book will be launched later this year through our fledgling company, Little Sprout Publishing. 

All profits from Earth 2.0 will be donated to WaterAid. Please tell us about the charity and what it means to you as a writer.

We live in a world of plenty, where enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet, and enough fresh water exists to sustain us all. WaterAid delivers clean water, toilets, and good hygiene to some of the poorest places in the world. Together with the World Food Programme, which is tackling starvation in over 123 countries, these two charities are trying to ensure that people have the basics for life on this planet – food and water. Not-for-profit writing can help to ease this suffering. Half of my Amazon bookshelf profits are pledged to charities. It’s important to give something back.    

Who are the Nottingham Writers’ Studio and how did they start out?

NWS was established in 2007 with one clear goal: to be a home for all writers.
Housed in a one-of-a-kind venue in the heart of the Midlands, Nottingham Writers’ Studio is a place for people to come together; meet like-minded individuals, develop new skills, and become the best writer you can be. They share a building with designers, illustrators, and photographers, which works great for collaborations. I would like to thank Adam O’Connell at NWS for all his help and support. I would also like to thank my long suffering editor, Elizabeth Woodhouse, for all her help and support.

In your bio, you say that you write “in a Victorian house stuffed with dog-eared sci-fi paperbacks, poster art, cats, and curios.” Is your home the perfect space for a writer?

Probably not, but it works for me! I have been an avid collector of old paperbacks and music posters for years. I find something comforting and inspiring in being amidst organised clutter with cats climbing on my keyboard. My office looks like Hunter Thomson’s eclectic home in Colorado, minus the guns! I generally write to music, so having some vinyl stimulus on the deck also works for me.   

Have you always loved speculative fiction and how did you first discover it?

Yes, I remember as a kid always loving sci-fi films like Mad Max, Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, and Rollerball, which all portrayed terrifying visions of plausible futures. I was lucky enough to live close to a cinema where the elderly ladies that ran it did not care about 18 classifications, or X rated as it was known in the day. If you were enthusiastic, they would let you in! These films struck a chord in me and steered me toward writers like H.G Wells, George Orwell, J. G. Ballard, Nevil Shute, and Nigel Kneale, particularly his Quatermass stories. I was hooked on the genre from that point and have hoovered up as much as I can find to this day.

You worked in the Fuel Cell industry in marketing and engineering, plus 20 years as a development engineer. How has that technical and scientific background informed your writing?

It has fundamentally brought insight and rigor to my writing. Unfortunately, good ideas don’t become the next big thing because they should be. Fantastic concepts that could change our lives immeasurably sit collecting dust. The more something challenges the status quo, the more likely it is to be buried unless those making big money continue to make big money. It helps to understand these market dynamics if you want to predict when/if/how something will impact humanity. Writing white papers and technical magazine articles also helped build my writing muscles and ensure that my work is well researched. 

For a writer of speculative fiction set in the future, or near future, does it help to have knowledge of the real dangers of climate change and tech, such as AI?

You need a solid baseline if you want to predict anything accurately. Since I was at school, I have always read New Scientist magazine and had a general interest in new technology and climate issues. It is important to read as much as you can, generally trying to stick to professional journals rather than the popular press. Knowledge of key industry periodicals is critical to establishing new trends and directions, particularly with emerging technologies like AI.    

Tell us about some of your other works, beginning with EAT ME, a dystopian tale of the food industry and its future.

This was my first piece of published work and I still love the story concept. It’s based on a well-funded technology where you can grow a reactor full of meat from a simple biopsy sample from a host animal. Today, it’s possible to grow human meat in the lab as easily as it is to grow fish, pork, or beef. It is not hard to imagine celebrities, like the Kardashian family, selling a range of prime cuts to their fans that are literally made from them. EAT ME provides a chilling vision into the bioethics behind this technology and predicts how an industry selling human meat could easily become corrupted by big business. In essence, EAT ME is a fast-paced, speculative adventure story set in the mid-term future.  

What about JANKER, a vision of future Britain where criminals are tagged in a new way? What inspired you to write this story and do you foresee it in our future?

In the UK, around 116 thousand people are tagged each year. If you are 15 minutes late home, then you can be arrested by the police for breaching your order. The Ministry of Justice has failed to achieve value for money in the management of the TAG scheme, which is where the inspiration for the story was born. In Janker, the criminal is fitted with an internal charge that will explode if it is not exposed to a light bed at a set time, which is installed at their home. These dire consequences ensure that Jankers do not breach their orders and do as they are told, saving money and time for the Ministry. The story follows the plight of Billie Nord, a Janker whose light box has failed and who is desperately trying to find a donor unit. 

There is currently an epidemic of violent crime in the UK. It’s easy to imagine the government voting for explosive tagging or public hanging as a last-ditch response to gaining civic order, or to support a draconian, ‘Make England Great Again’, campaign.   

How important is it for you to confront radical and challenging themes?

Unfortunately, we live in a time where radical and challenging themes are commonplace. The scope includes the failure of legacy political and social movements, AI ethics, environmental activism, Black and Indigenous rights and power, and Women's rights, to name but a few. I think it is important that we confront these issues through fiction writing, where themes can be expanded to their final nightmarish conclusion, giving people the chance to see what could happen if the current trends are left unchecked. Authors can raise awareness through their writing – I love words and all they can achieve – so let’s put them to good use!  

In DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE you go off-planet and imagine the future of humanity following the Artemis program. What can you tell us about the story and the link to Alice in Wonderland?

This is my attempt at an Asimov-style story that embraces his unembellished style of writing. In essence, it is a vision of how your environment shapes you over time. In this case, the inhabitants of a lunar base are long forgotten by the world for 800 years, while war and environmental disasters ravage Earth. The inhabitants are physically mutated and have no idea that anything exists outside of their cave until the failure of their life support systems drives two brave souls back to their ancestor’s home world. This short sci-fi story takes you from the depths of the Moon to the sprawling Australian Outback, on the land of the Yolngu people, now a mixed collection of Aboriginal Australians who inhabit north-eastern Arnhem Land. “Down the rabbit hole” is a trope that refers to ending up somewhere strange, or a journey that is particularly problematic or unusual, as used in the novel, Alice in Wonderland. I love Lewis Carroll and the nonsense world he created. The title for EAT ME unwittingly came from the same origin.   

TURN LEFT OR GET SHOT looks at a more idealised future. Do you approach this theme with scepticism or hope (or both?)

The title of this story has its origins in a photograph of a handmade sign in front of a police barricade during the Watts race riots in Los Angeles (1965). It’s a last-chance warning, just like the one that we currently face environmentally. In this story, an AI entity has taken over from our conventional leaders and nations to wholistically solve our problems and save humanity. Unfortunately, this transition from a selfish world to a sharing world is not for everyone! Humanity is great at reacting in the end times when our backs are against the wall, but forward planning and self-sacrifice are not prominent in our makeup. AI is hopefully free of our self-interest and can provide a positive catalyst for change. This is an optimistic and hopeful vision of how AI could save us from ourselves. For example, if an AI avatar popped up on all our computers today and asked if we wanted it to take over, end war and famine, and make things better, rather than sticking with the old political parties that have left us in fear for years - would you vote yes, or no? 

In the fourth quarter of the year, you have a new book coming out, about “the Royal Family in dire straits and gender inequality”. Tell us more about this and the importance of humour in your writing.

Every story I have written has been a specific writing challenge, so I thought it was time to try my hand at satire. I enjoyed writing dark comedy with the Johnny Vega – Satan’s Bartender stories, but I wanted to use humour to expose the current issues in contemporary politics and the monarchy; to make a serious point. The story hinges on the hunt for a new monarch, which exposes the current weaknesses in the system and questions what we want from the Royal Family. I always liked the idea that the King or Queen could be much more than a highly decorated ornamental effigy, designed to entertain and amuse the watching masses. This story explores an alternative future for them and us. In writing comedy, someone must be the butt of the joke, or the joke must contain an element of truth. This is what makes writing comedy so difficult and rewarding. I have great respect for the late Sue Townsend, who did a wonderful job of satirizing British life for decades. Hopefully, my story will be entertaining for the reader and highly uncomfortable for those people currently in power.   

Amazon 

About Craig Smith:

C.K. SMITH is a Kindle author living in Nottingham, England. He writes in a Victorian house stuffed with dog-eared sci-fi paperbacks, poster art, cats, and curios. SMITH is a recent winner of the George Floyd Short Story Competition & was published in 'Earth 2.0: A Nottingham Writers' Studio Anthology'. His story ‘What’s in a Name?’ takes us to mid-future Louisiana where two Black men struggle to eke out a living in the last days of capitalism - ‘Smith’s tongue-in-cheek observation “What does colour have to do with anythin’ when we’re all bound for Hell?” could be a tagline for the whole competition!’ 

Amazon Author Page

Interview with Nancy Joie Wilkie, Author of Faraway and Forever—More Stories

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Nancy Joie Wilkie, whose collection of novelettes Faraway and Forever—More Stories has its debut on July 18, 2023.

Tell us something about Faraway and Forever—More Stories and how it relates to your previous collection, Seven Sides of Self.

Seven Sides of Self is a collection of seven short stories. The stories, however, are not all in one genre. There are three science fiction tales, three generic fiction stories, and one fantasy tale. Faraway and Forever is a collection of five novelettes … all science fiction … less confusion for the reader, I think.

And whereas the stories in Seven Sides of Self are mostly unrelated to one another, the first novelette in Faraway and Forever takes place one hundred plus years in the future and takes place on Planet Earth, with each new story taking the reader further into the future and farther out in space.

There are certain people and places introduced in Seven Sides of Self that appear in the Faraway and Forever stories … such as Mothersouls, Planet Aurillia, and the events on Planet Solus II.

You come from a scientific background but your Christian faith is also important to you. How do you reconcile the two and does fiction form a bridge between them?

My belief is that science is all about trying to explain the creations of God. My career in science came out of me trying to make sense of all that the Good Lord has built around us … the sea, the sky, the sun, the stars. The fictional stories I write are simply me trying to convey the patterns I see in nature and society and the passion I feel in my heart about God’s creations.

And to answer the second part of the question … I wouldn’t say that fiction builds a bridge between my scientific background and my Christian faith. It’s just a tool.

Are your stories allegories, as with C.S. Lewis, or are they more like Tolkien’s works, where his faith underlies the stories?

I believe they are both. Many of my stories are allegorical depictions of slices from my life and the people who have played major roles in my life.

And for the record, I am a huge fan of both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien … even have paid a visit to the final resting place of Tolkien in Oxford, England during the spring of 1979.  I have no doubt they each influenced my writing in some way… I just can’t say how.

How does a genre like Science Fiction lend itself to philosophical or spiritual investigation?

To me, certain philosophical and spiritual concepts are hard to grapple. By creating a fictional analogy of a certain notion or theory, putting what is complex into simpler terms, one might be better able to understand a difficult concept. And science fiction is most definitely a wonderful tool for investigating philosophical questions and spiritual realms.

What are your thoughts about the recent emergence of AI and what role it will play in the creative arts? Is it a threat?

I have to say that I am not a great fan of artificial intelligence (AI). My only interaction with it (to date) is dealing with the suggested edits made by Grammarly … software built using artificial intelligence. It wanted to make changes to my stories which made no sense and were completely out-of-context. And I do fear that younger folks might be tempted to use it to create “original” works of art, music, and writing. Nope. Not a fan of it. We have already lost enough to technology. I don’t want to lose any more.

What do the stories in Faraway and Forever explore and is there an underlying theme?

This collection of novelettes takes the reader from the not-too-distant future to a time when travel between worlds is a common occurrence. Each stop along mankind’s journey outward to the stars is accompanied by a deeper look inward. These stories examine how extraterrestrial beings might use our own biology against us, question the nature of the afterlife, reveal how wishes are really granted, and finally … explore how a book written by someone claiming to be the second coming of Christ can spark a new religion.

You are also a musician and a visual artist. Tell us about these other creative paths and how they relate to your writing.

I've been playing music since I was ten years old. I thank my Dad for encouraging me and exposing me to different artists and different styles of music. And with that came learning about music theory. Then when my paternal grandmother gifted us with her piano when I was fourteen, I taught myself how to play piano and guitar. It wasn’t long before I was able to play along with all the songs on Abbey Road (by the Beatles), Tommy (by The Who), and Jesus Christ Superstar.

And there are indeed connections between my music and my writing. After all, so many of my songs have lyrics and those lyrics do relate to people and events in my life just like my stories. After the release of “Venus In The Trees,” a friend called me and said, “Do you realize the word ‘God’ appears ten times in this collection of songs?” And God and heaven are often themes in my stories.

“The Goldfire Project,” “The Wishbringer,” and “The Last Sunday of Summer” are certainly examples of this.

As for the art?  I’ve been drawing pictures ever since I can remember.  I was inspired by a cousin who could perfectly draw all of the comic book superheroes! Then he purchased one of the first Apple MacIntosh computers and I quickly followed in his footsteps.  When I first developed my Website in 2005, it became a wonderful opportunity to create and post original art. In the years that followed, I have had many opportunities to create cover art for my CDs and CDs of friends.

And then there is this.  Several years ago I wrote a song titled “Aurora’s Ring.” After recording the basic tracks, a friend contributed vocals and a lead guitar part.  He turned the song into something special!  But what was even better?  He suggested we compose a concept album centered around Aurora’s story.  Its  title?  “Dragon’s Door—A Tale of Ring and Sword” (released on Mindsongs Musique, December 25, 2022).  This gave birth to the short story of the same title included in my third collection of stories titled The River Keeper and Other Tales (to be released by Austin Macauley Publishers in early 2024).  

Take a listen … 

https://sparrows-tale.hearnow.com/dragons-door-a-tale-of-ring-and-sword There you have it!  What more do I need to say!

What are Easter Eggs and why are they important to you?

In fiction, Easter eggs are cultural, literary, or personal references embedded in the text that only a few readers will understand … little gifts for those who find them.

I often take the name of someone or something familiar and look for an anagrammatic cousin. Take for example the fictional Planet Solus II in “The Last Sunday of Summer.” Rearrange the letters of “Solus” and you get “souls.”

Or in the case of “Once Upon a Helix,” the first letters of the names of the two main characters … Gunther Trent and Catherine Arkette … are the same first letters of the four nucleotides present in DNA molecules … G, T, C, and A. Dr. Arkette’s friend, Lizzie, even mentions how it is she keeps track of which letters are paired with which … and that “C” and “A” do not go together.

Other Easter eggs are the incorporation of street names from streets I pass on my way to North Carolina or Bethany Beach, Delaware. Inspector Saathoff and Queen Addix from “The Ledge” and Madison Mills from “Half the Sky.”

How far does your writing, though set in the future or distant places, refer to the present?

If one ignores the stories being set on a distant planet or in the future … all of the stories are meant to serve as allegories of events that have happened to me over the last several dozen years of my life … or the immediate present.

You worked in the areas of biotechnology and biodefense. What did that involve and how did it affect your writing?

While my advanced degree is in what I would call classic biochemistry … things like protein purification … my true love is organic chemistry. I spent my formative years as a production chemist … making bathtubs full of nasty chemicals before trading in my lab coat for two decades of managing new products on their way from a light bulb over the head of an R&D scientist to being a product on a shelf, ready for sale. The last seven years of my career were spent working at NIH in this nation’s biodefense program … managing the development of an alternate smallpox vaccine (Modified Vaccinia Ankara).

As far as influencing my writing, I think science opened up my mind to all sorts of tools begging to be used to explain some sort of technical whatsamacallit.

When you write, how important are your characters and are you drawn to exploring their lives further?

Characters are everything … especially because many times the characters are me or a piece of me … and the stories are allegorical slices are my life … hence the title Seven Sides of Self. I often feel that I do not do my characters justice … don’t describe them more thoroughly. I use them and their voices more to explore an issue or discuss some idea while ignoring certain aspects of their physical or emotional being. The story “Old Mims” is all about that very short falling … me poking fun at myself. But, remember, I’m writing short stories and novelettes and keeping things abbreviated so that more can happen in the short span of the story.

How do you imagine your readers?

I’d like to think my readers are individuals searching for truly original things to ponder … individuals trying to understand the world and the universe it sits in … and individuals trying to understand themselves. It always helps if readers are intelligent, curious, emotional, spiritual, and able to receive the flights of fantasy I’m sending their way. Mindsights!

Did you read Science Fiction or Fantasy when you were growing up, and were there any particular influences?

I absolutely read science fiction in my formative years. It was a time when the masters of science fiction classics were hitting their stride. Isaac Asimov, Arthur

C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert. And it was also a time when the masters of classic fantasy were publishing their greatest works … J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Terry Brooks, Stephen R. Donaldson, and Zilpha Keatley Snyder. But my favorite author of all time had her literary feet in both waters -

Ursula K. LeGuin … oh my! The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, The Dispossessed, and The Earthsea Trilogy are some of my favorites.

You are working on a science fiction novel and a children’s story. How does writing a novel differ from short fiction for you?

I’ll start off saying that writing a novel is much more challenging than writing a series of unconnected short stories. I’d like to think I’m slowly working my way up to dealing with a novel. Seven Sides of Self is a collection of short stories. Faraway and Forever is a collection of novelettes. That is to say, the stories in the second collection are longer than the stories in the first collection.

My fourth work of fiction (unpublished) is a 100+ page novella titled Who Moved My Planet?  Once again, I’m working my way up to a longer singular work.

And as I think about some of my favorite novels written by Isaac Asimov … specifically the novels in the Foundation series … many of his novels are a series of very long interconnected novellas … stories within a certain overarching umbrella … but with new characters and situations introduced with each new section of the book. I’m using this approach for my novel … tentatively titled The Oaks of Mamre.

You will be releasing a third collection of short stories, The River Keeper and Other Tales, in early 2024. What can you tell us about those?

After reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings many years ago, I was captivated by Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth. I then read the biography of J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter and discovered information about where the author lived in Oxford, England, as well as his burial site north of town. So, on one cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, my friend and I drove from Gosport to Oxford to visit Tolkien’s home and traipse through a cemetery to find his final resting place and the tombstone on which he likened himself and his wife to Beren and Lûthien, characters in the central love story of The Silmarillion.

But the last important thing the biography revealed to me was that Tolkien had written several shorter stories outside the bounds of Middle-earth, stories such as “Leaf by Niggle,” “Smith of Wootton Major,” and “Farmer Giles of Ham.” It is these often overlooked gems that inspired me to write the seven stories in The River Keeper and Other Tales.

It is a collection of seven tales, all fantasy. And while each new tale might be considered a fable, like all good fables, each addresses a theme relevant to our lives today. Themes of sacrificing one's own life for the greater good, to the power of truth to break through hurtful intentions, to how wishing for things designed to help others can have disastrous results, to what an afterlife might be like and choices we might still have to make.

This collection of tales introduces the reader to the imaginary Kingdom of Imlay, a world still filled with magic, mythical creatures great and small, some good and some bad. Characters, both young and old, face making decisions which will affect those they hold dear.

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About Nancy Joie Wilkie:

Nancy Joie Wilkie worked for over thirty years in both the biotechnology industry and as part of the federal government’s biodefense effort. She served as a project manager, providing oversight for the development of many new products. Now retired, she composes original music, plays a variety of instruments, and has recorded many of her original compositions. She also created a series of greeting cards that display her artwork and photographs. “Faraway and Forever—More Stories” is her second collection of stories. “Seven Sides of Self” was published by She Writes Press in November 2019. She will be releasing a third collection of short stories, “The River Keeper and Other Tales,” in early 2024. She is also working on a science fiction novel and a children’s story. She resides in Brookeville, MD. Her cards, prints, and more information about her books can be found on her website. 

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