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- Author interview - |
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| Interview with Barbara Lakey, author of Spirit of the Straight Edge By PJ Nunn  PJ NUNN - Welcome, Barbara. It’s so exciting that your first novel is being published after years of you publishing everyone else’s work in Futures Magazine. Tell us about Spirit of the Straight Edge. BARABARA LAKEY - I think of it as an avenge thriller with more than average sexual tension. It's harsh and the characters are not black and white. In this first book, my protagonist has the forces of both good and evil inside her, doing their best to take control. In most ways, good wins but evil is always right there, waiting for good to leave an opportunity to move in. When Elsie is bad, she is not just a little bad. She must avenge the wrongs that surround her. I hope that you understand her motivation and are eager to watch her and her friends as their lives unfold. I like books with endings that make you want to cheer, that make you excited to read more. I hope this series accomplishes this. I know you have two more books that follow the same title theme. Are they sequels or just similar? When will they be released? Two books are completed and a couple more have been started, all for the same series. They will be out at the rate of one every few months, or so I'm told. The titles are Screams from Spirit Lake and Spirits of the Once Walking. My work in progress is called Spirit Juggler. One agent who read them all said that he was surprised at how they could be a series and still be so different. He seemed to feel this was an accomplishment. As I write, the characters that we love and hate are constantly changing. That makes every book a whole new story, yet one where we meet up with friends again. You're also a publisher. Tell us about the evolution of FUTURES Magazine. After I completed my first novel, in my mind I wrote letters to famous authors asking their advice, and I was sure that the world was going to love my work immediately. Of course that is not what happened, yet I would bet that many writers feel the same way. Jonathan Kellerman wrote me an adorable letter and John Sandford said to join the Loft. The Loft was the largest writers' community in the nation at that time, and I was afraid of them. But I joined, which got me into classes with other writers. Ellen Hart, one of the teachers, got me interested in Sisters in Crime and in a group just starting out for beginning writers. Then I started doing their newsletter and other things, met many writers with incredible talent and saw them go through terrible times, coming this close to tossing it all away. I wanted to help them and decided to give them a forum for their work. Thus Futures was born. How did you get started writing? When I broke my leg and couldn’t work, it seemed the perfect time to give writing a try. So I did. Has your writing won any awards? No, but then I haven't entered anything. Outside of newspaper columns and non-fiction articles, I haven't been published until now. I was awfully busy writing those first novels and publishing Futures Magazine. I've only written three short stories in my life, and a wonderful screenplay that may make it to the silver screen one day. It’s an adaptation of the first Hitchcock film called Blackmail. Charles Bennett wrote it originally and his son optioned me to do the adaptation. It seems that major studios are fighting over what I've done and it is now in copyright limbo. What kind of trends do you see in the publishing industry? I wish I could tell you something interesting. What I can say is that I hate trends. I am curious to see what will become of agents now that we have electronic publishing and they seem not to be needed. You're a staunch supporter of new writers. You're not afraid to take risks and stretch the limits. What do you see happening in the world of e-publishing and POD? My works are being published electronically first, then on paper, then on film if I can manage it. Yes, I take risks. It takes guts to publish a magazine like Futures and know that you are making mistakes that make you look like a fool. But you keep on because you know that one day you'll get there. And on the way, you may help some people. Futures is now a worthy writer’s magazine. One of my daughters sent me an email this past year that meant more to me than anything. It said how she was proud of what I had achieved because I believed in myself and never gave up. Who are you when you're not writing? What are your hobbies? I am the mother of three glorious daughters and stepmom of another glorious daughter and son. And more important, I'm the grandmother of ten. You could say that granny comes near first. I am blessed with an understanding husband. We have a motorcycle business and he works awfully hard at it. This year we planned to do a lot of motorcycle touring around the United States, but he's been too busy and we've put it on hold until next year. So, there you have the real me. My husband, children and grandchildren, motorcycles and books. There are so many books around here, you can barely find a place to sit. Who or what has most influenced your writing? For me, writing is therapy. There is always a bit of truth in what I write. I had a battered life and made many mistakes along the way, yet survived it all with the help of my family and the spirits I write about. It occurs to me that this was the reason I started writing. At that point, survival was the important thing. Eventually, I changed and amounted to something good, doing things to help others. It could have gone a different way. That's what I write about. In terms of authors I love, I read and reread all of Ayn Rand, Dostovesky, Hugo, Poe, oldies but goodies. As a writer, where do you see yourself in 10 years? In a bigger room that is more organized. And I hope that in ten years, I will be writing bestselling, popular novels and screenplays, which will ensure that I continue publishing to help other writers starting out. Where can we find your website and previous publications? The Futures' website is at http://www.firetowrite.com - I also share a website with a group of terrific mystery writers at: http://www.mysteryauthors.com |
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