The Write Stuff – Monday, May 11 – Interview With Sally Ember

In the wake of featuring so many authors from genres other than mine, I’ve decided to focus on creators of science fiction and fantasy for a while. Although I read a wide variety of literature and most of you do as well, most of my followers look first to the genre I create. That said, I have the pleasure of introducing Sally Ember, Ed. D., author of the complex and controversial Spanner Series.

As in the case of some earlier guests, Sally and I met through Facebook’s Fantasy SciFi News Network, #FSFNet, a group open to readers, writers and bloggers alike. Sally, who fits into all three categories, has been passionate about writing since 3rd grade. Now, she blurs the lines between fact and fiction in the space opera, The Spanners Series, utopian sci-fi with romance/ paranormal (psi only)/ multiverse/ Buddhist/ Jewish components. She meditates, writes, swims, blogs, reads and hosts her Google+ Hangout On Air (HOA) *CHANGES* conversations between authors, broadcast from St. Louis, MO, USA. Sally has worked as an educator and upper-level, nonprofit manager and has a BA, Master’s & Doctorate in education.

When I asked her to describe her work, she had this to say:

The Spanners Series is a 10-volume (planned; Volume I released Nov., 2013; Volume II released June, 2014), original, science-fiction/ romance/ multiverse/ paranormal/utopian/speculative fiction ebooks series for adults/new adults/young adults.

I was halfway through Volume III in early April, 2014, when I had a terrible accident, resulting in a concussion and broken nose. With Post-Concussion Syndrome, all my fiction writing had to come to a halt and hasn’t resumed, yet, for my series. I hope to return to The Spanners Series soon (June or July, 2015) and release Volume III later this year. I had also already started Volume IV, which I hope to return to and complete for release in spring, 2016.

Volume I, This Changes Everything, “spans” the entire series’ time frame, moving freely and non-linearly between events that occur [the series is written entirely in the present tense, remember, to remind us all that all time is simultaneous] many millennia prior to Clara’s meeting with the first five alien holos from the MWC in late 2012 and extend throughout Clara’s entire term as Earth’s CC, about thirty years. As the introductory Volume for the series, it lays most of the groundwork for all ten books.

Volumes II and III cover the same time period as each other, the five years of Earth’s “Transition.” These five years are the time that starts with Clara’s revealing her visit with “The Band” of alien holos and the deadline given to Earth for deciding whether or not to join the Many Worlds Collective. Each of the Volume’s narrators come mostly from the two different age groups, so we get their perspectives. Volume II also includes “Snapshots” from ten Octobers in Clara’s life, about one every five years for a while then one every year after the aliens visit her, starting in her childhood and extending beyond the Transition, to allow readers to get to know her and her generation better.

Volume II also provides more details and scenes that show both her and her nephew, Moran’s, Excellent Skills Program trainings, Moran’s “Interludes.” The main Chapters for Volume II are the interviews Espe conducts with Clara’s son, Zephyr (32 when the series begins), and each of Clara’s nephews, nieces; her grandnieces and -nephews make a few appearances.

Both Volumes II and III refer to Earth’s internal Psi-Wars, the extreme consequences from the problems that occur when Fragmenters and Trenchers protest Earth’s accepting the MWC’s invitation. There is more about those conflicts in Volume III than II.

Volume III has more narration and scenes from the older group of narrators, including Clara’s siblings, friends and her mother, Epifanio, and a few new characters, some not human, while also including Espe and Moran as well, providing more stories from the five years of Earth’s “Transition.” Some allusions to later Volumes and their events appear in Volume I and each of the earlier Volumes, leading to Volume IV, which is entirely set at the Earth’s first Campus’ Excellent Skills Program (ESP) trainings.

The stories in Volume IV focus on the experiences of the youngest and youth/young adult students, human and not, but Clara, Moran, Espe and a few others appear again, including a new/returning love interest for Clara, Steve. Epifanio, as her husband (and not), depending on what timeline Clara happens to be experiencing on any given day, also keeps appearing.

Whew! Time related stories are certainly complex. What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this series and how did you overcome it?

Still working to “overcome it,” I guess. Meditation was also affected, and losing my ability to meditate for almost 8 months was worse than not being able to write fiction. I have coped by focusing more on nonfiction, writing short pieces for my own blog and creating guest blog posts. I also began an online talk show, *CHANGES* conversations between authors, in August, 2014, that I still do almost every Wednesday (10 AM Eastern USA time), and which is how I met YOU, Raymond! Thanks for being a guest!

What else have you written?

The two Volumes I’ve released in The Spanners Series are my first two fiction novels. I am a produced playwright, a published short-story and feature articles writer and nonfiction co-author, an uncredited ghostwriter and editor of several other nonfiction books.

Have there been any awards, productions, videos or anything else of interest associated with your work?

On my YouTube channel (Sally Sue Ember is my Google+ ID and Youtube Channel name) are four self-made book trailers (via Animoto.com): three for Volume I and one for Volume II (concussion, remember?); also, two author public readings from The Spanners Series, and one author Q & A (with almost no “A” because the feature didn’t work!) as well as all the *CHANGES* Episodes (as of this week, up to Episode 29). https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqnZuobf0YTCiP6silDDL2w/videos?view_as=public

What else are you working on?

I do some editing/proofreading and write reviews occasionally, but mostly I write for my blog and host my show, waiting for my brain to return to full enough function for me to resume writing my novels, again. My sci-fi series is immensely complicated; even with a spreadsheet I had created prior to my accident (THANK GOODNESS!) that only hints at all its components and overlapping, multiple timelines that span over 80 years for the main characters and grab historical events from “past” millennia up to the present as well.

The novels are also all written in the present tense, which is a meditation-while-writing that takes an enormous amount of concentration, since it’s not the way we usually write (or think or speak, either). Suffering still from memory problems, aphasia and other brain deficits makes that kind of writing impossible, still.

I also can’t yet quite access my full memory of what I planned to include in this and future Volumes, so I keep exercising, meditating (which I was recently made able to return to and it’s working almost completely, now), writing short pieces and trying to be patient.

I have some research topics for the series and my own interests which I regularly blog about: physics, astronomy/cosmology, the multiverse and parallel universes, medicine/health, meditation/brain mapping, feminist topics, book reviews, movie reviews, and much more: whatever I’m in the mood to learn and write about, I do. I also have created and will write some more guest blog posts (most are about writing or indie publishing), some more interviews like this that are really more writing projects than interviews, per se, and who knows what else?

What inspired you to write your series?

Unrequited love. Really. I needed an outlet and a place to write the life I wish I were having with the man I love who does not return that feeling. BUT, I also wanted to write him OUT of my life. So, I’m doing both!

Furthermore, I feel a deep despair about Earth’s future, including extreme disgust with many humans. I recognize the need for better interspecies communication here and with beings from off-planet.

Combine all that with a life-long keen interest in and belief in quantum physics, astronomy, multiverse existence and life elsewhere, and BOOM: sci-fi/romance.

I am writing the future I wish us all to have. Somewhere, somewhen, not just because I’m writing it, all of this IS happening because, as physicists are fond of reminding us, everything that can happen is happening in the multiverse.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I am “Crowdcreating” Volumes VIII and IX of The Spanners Series, so I seek YA-aged and -themed and NA-aged and -themed writers, readers to contribute to Vol VIII and I seek adult authors/readers for Vol IX.

I am also requesting readers’ suggestions, questions and ideas for what I’ve left out of or you’d like to see of alternate timelines’ versions of stories in any previous Volume to put into Vol X (the final Volume in the series).

Please contact me (sallyember AT yahoo DOT com) no later than Jan. 1, 2016, if you want to participate in Crowdcreating by offering suggestions and even writing portions or entire Chapters of Vol VIII or IX. The deadline for submitting questions and ideas for Vol X is January 1, 2017. Share!

Now that’s an uncommon approach. Tell us, Sally, what motivates or inspires you?

Dreams, visions, meditations, experiences.

One night in February, 2012, I was awakened by a very clear voice that said: WRITE. I went to the computer, hearing sentences and seeing scenes in my mind. Five hours later, most of the first Chapter, all of the summaries for all the Volumes, and the Chapter outline for Volume I were drafted. I kept going from there and finished the first draft of Volume one in 8 weeks.

TCE went through 19 other drafts via my own ideas, consults with friends and family,and letting it “sit” over an 18-month period to reach the final version. During that time, I started Volumes II, IV, and V and sketched out parts of the others as well. I feel very driven. Part of the reason is that I identify a lot with Clara.

The line between fiction and nonfiction is very blurred in these Volumes, intentionally, and my life seems that way sometimes as well. I’m curious as to what the readers will decide is “real.”

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I strongly believe that Earth is in serious trouble, politically, economically, environmentally, socially: in every way. I do wish we could be rescued by stronger, more intelligent, compassionate, capable beings! I wanted to show how things would change, and especially, how things would improve, if Earthers could be certain that we are not “alone.” Then, there would to be some dissenters of various types and intensities, so the psi Wars came about, with the Psi-Warriors and Psi-Defiers.

Fascinated by physics, multiple timelines/multiverse concepts, alien life and psi phenomena, family relationships, world affairs and the environment, and unrequited/requited love, I have incorporated all of these themes and topics into my sci-fi novels. I have and continue to do extensive research for each Volume. The parts that are scientific and authentic are the most fun to fictionalize.

I also subscribe to the optimistic view that their are inherent intelligence and value in all species, so interspecies communication among equals, both on Earth and off-planet, becomes central to the Series.

Because I am very interested in the Excellent Skills Program (ESP, or psi) aspects. I look forward to and have enjoyed writing the parts about each character’s ESP training and experiences, uses of the Excellent Skills and the ways having access to these Skills changes Earthers.

Finally, my erstwhile love is not with me, just as Clara’s is sometimes not with her, so I empathize with that situation and write scenes in which she and Fanio are together as a sort of wish-fulfillment. Then, I introduce other interests, romantic and personal, for Clara, to show how a strong, independent woman does NOT need a lover to be happy.

I always conclude with a Lightning Round. Please answer in as few words as possible:

My best friend would tell you I’m…

intensely loyal and forgiving, but once I write you off, we’re done.

The one thing I cannot do without is:

Buddhist dharma principles and practice.

The one thing I would change about my life is…

I wouldn’t have had an affair with one of my college professors as an undergraduate.

My biggest peeve is…

incompetence.

The person I’m most satisfied with is…

my son, Merlyn Ember; he’s an amazing man (he’s 35).

For those who’d like to learn more about Sally and her writing, here are some links: