Page 66 - Reader's HouseMagazine - Issue 62

Continued from page 64
Dr. Ember is a luminous visionary whose intellectual rigour and spiritual depth offer a refreshing, transformative blueprint for speculative storytelling.
teaching, training teachers and
creating curriculum since I was
14. I do believe that those of us
who acquire the knowledge, do
the research and make the effort
to get a doctorate the traditional
way (NOT by “mail order,” NOT “honorary,” and NOT by doing what we’re already doing and getting “life experience credit”) have a lot of untapped skills, abilities and talents which ought to be put to better use than teaching college courses or working in nonprofits (which are most of what I’ve done). Why not have that set of gifts come to the global table and help save the world? We EdDs GET IT DONE!
Can you discuss the role of multiverse theory in shaping the narrative structure of your novels?
”Every possible configuration of matter and energy could occur an infinite number of times.”
“Everything that can happen is happening, now.” These two concepts, and variations of them, have inspired my use of the present tense in my novels. I attempt to demonstrate the “nowness” of all experiences. I also show multiple versions of the same experiences, with only slight variations, for the main char- acters and some minor characters, to display how the multiverse’s infinite forking timelines might play out for those of us who can expe-
Showing that Clara has this ability and can therefore timult the various versions of her romantic and friendship rela- tionships with both Fanio and Steve, for example, gave me a lot of satisfaction. Wouldn’t we all like to experience our lives at least once just the way we want it?
I also drew on talks I’ve had with and books written by my Buddhist teachers, my own meditation practic- es and rituals for the series’ conversations, teachings, information and experiences
66 II Reader’s House
writing the series?
rience more than one, which, in my books, I term “timulting.”
What motivated your decision to make the first volume, This Changes Everything, permanently free?
I self-published first in 2012, at a time when authors were beginning to do this frequently. In a very crowded field, it is hard to stand
out. After much research into marketing and trends, I decided to ease access to my series by making the first ebook permanently free and hoped that readers would like it enough to purchase the next volumes electronically or in paperback.
What advice would you offer to aspiring authors interested in self-publishing speculative fiction?
I don’t know if writing speculative fiction constitutes a unique category regarding self-publishing, but given that traditional pub- lishing houses of all types now provide very little in the way of author support, marketing or much of anything, offering no guarantees, AND they take a much bigger cut off any prof- its, I highly recommend self-publishing.
Unless you really believe your books are the types that agents can sell to traditional publishers, DIY.
Plus, if you object to all these non-authors taking a large “slice” of YOUR author’s “pie” while doing almost nothing for you, self-pub- lishing is the way to go.
However, GET A GOOD EDITOR and PROOFREADER. Really.
In what ways did your
meditation practice contribute to the creative process of
My first book started as an auditory dictation experience that occurred partly while dream- ing and partly while meditating. I rushed to write it all down and finished the first novel (which is about 120K words) in under one month. The other two novels weren’t com- pleted quite as quickly or “automatically,” but equally easily.
“We need to access our power. Live our
power.”
as depicted in each novel, mostly for Clara (the main character).
“The main precept, or vow, Buddhists
take is ‘to do no harm.’ How much more of a utopian life would we all be having if we each practiced just that!”
T