Today I’m so excited to have the author of Waves of Darkness Tamara A. Lowery!
Lillian: Welcome Tamara! Thank you so much for being here. To get us started, can you tell me a little about yourself?
Tamara: Currently, I work full time in the Body Weld Shop at the Volkswagon manufacturing plant in Chattanooga. When I started writing the Waves of Darkness series, I lived in Central Florida and worked for Merry Maids. I do the majority of my writing during work breaks. It seems there are just too many distractions at home. This probably explains why I don’t have more stories out there already.
Lillian: Home town girl!! I’m from Cleveland 😀 So what inspired you to become a writer?
Tamara: Originally, I planned to be a newspaper journalist. Circumstances and finances prevented that dream from coming to fruition. My opinion of the journalism industry has since disinclined me to try to pick that up again. I’ve always enjoyed reading, writing, and illustrating. I once considered entering the comics or animation fields. In fact, my first rejection letters were from Marvel Comics and Disney Animation back in the 1980s. I wrote fanfiction for a short while in ‘89 and ‘90, but had a falling out with the fanzine I submitted to and didn’t really do much writing after that until the early 2000s, when I found a new fandom. That honed my writing skills. My husband gave me the seed idea for my current series of books, when he observed (at the time) that pirates were popular, and vampires were popular, but no one was combining the two. The first book in the series, Blood Curse, took me a little over a year to write (not counting time spent researching pirates and the history of piracy). I finished the original manuscript in 2007. It saw publication as an ebook in 2011, and as a print-on-demand edition in 2013 with Gypsy Shadow Publishing.
Lillian: Is there an author or book that influenced growing up?
Tamara: Anne McCaffrey. Her ability to create complex worlds and believable characters are something I strive for. I don’t think there’s a single one of her books I’ve read that I don’t like.
Lillian: I’m going to have to check her out! Waves of Darkness is a unique concept in the pirate/historical fiction genre in that it combines many myths. Where do you get your ideas from?
Tamara: It’s best not to know. Some of the things that have worked their way into my books leave me wondering that, as well as disturb me deeply.
Lillian: 😆 Yeah I can agree with that statement, especially this last one I read! Is there anything based on real-life experience or is it all purely imagination?
Tamara: I avoid making too many references to real-life events or keep the references vague/general to avoid rebuttals from history buffs who are sticklers for accuracy. The one historical event I have included into the background is the American Revolution. My main character hails from Georgia, the youngest of the original thirteen colonies, and the series’ main storyline starts in 1771. The Revolution has to factor into events when the characters visit Colonial ports.
Lillian: I picked up on that and really enjoyed it, especially their run-in’s with the Navy! One of my favorite scenes from the the whole series occurs in book two towards the end where you let Vik have some feelings. It makes him seem very human instead of the ruthless blood-sucking pirate! What was your favorite part to write?
Tamara: There have been so many; how can I choose? As the series has progressed, the characters have taken on lives of their own. I always enjoy getting revelations from them about events I did not originally plot out.
Lillian: If you could go back and do it all over again, is there anything you would change about your series?
Tamara: I would tidy up the POV sequencing in the first two books. This is something my editor and I have been working on since book three, Silent Fathoms. I write third person omniscient. She has been trying to get me to limit it to one POV per chapter, or at least only one per scene.
Lillian: Oh! I’ve really enjoyed the POVs. It’s refreshing and has helped me to understand the characters better! Speaking of, I know the series is still ongoing, but is there a character or theme you’d like to go back to?
Tamara: Since I’m still writing the series, I already am going back to a few things, especially in book six, which I’m in the middle of writing the first draft of. One of my plans early on was to borrow a trope from quest games: have the main character get so far in the story only to find out he has to backtrack to something or someone he thought he’d finished with several adventures ago before he can move forward further.
Lillian: Oh that sounds like it will be fun! Maybe not for Vik who isn’t too patient 😉 What project are you working on now?
Tamara: The Daedalus Enigma, the sixth book in the Waves of Darkness series. I started writing it back in January and am just barely past the midpoint of the manuscript. I have several other story ideas not part of this series either started or planned, but I’ve put them on the back burner until I get the seventh book finished. I made the mistake of trying to alternate between the fifth book of Waves of Darkness, The Adventures of Pigg and Woolf (a steampunk serial to be done in episodes), and A Dream of Water (a stand alone fantasy inspired by a very vivid dream I had in March of 2012). It cost me one year of my MS to publication buffer. I’m having to focus just on Waves of Darkness in order to make my one book a year goal for the series. It will end with book seven, but I do have plans for a new series with the same main characters to follow it. I also have to make the time to flesh out a short story idea titled Lake Effect for The Nameless, a horror anthology I’ve been invited to by Iron Clad Press which is due out in 2016.
Lillian: Busy girl!! Being published unfortunately comes hand in hand with criticism. What would you say is the hardest criticism you’ve received?
Tamara: Prior to major revisions to Black Venom, now due out as an ebook this November, my editor told me I had the plot stretched out so thin she didn’t feel compelled to read beyond the 21st chapter. I struggled for nearly a month for an idea to keep what I’d already written but add to the story and strengthen the plot and suspense. Apparently, what I came up with satisfied her, since she’s sent me the pre-production galley and hasn’t requested any further changes. As for the best compliment, the demand from a reader for the second book months before it saw publication would have to be the tops. The particular reader is not related to me, nor someone I’ve ever worked with or hung out with. It was my first indication that I was on the right course with my books.
Lillian: Do you have any advice you’d like to share with aspiring writers?
Tamara: Be prepared for rejection out the wazoo. Don’t be afraid of it; it comes with the territory. Just make sure you have a VERY thick skin and a willingness to improve and hone your skills. Take constructive criticism for what it is, an effort to direct you in the right direction, not an attack. Research the industry as well as what you want to write about. Words matter! Make sure you use the correct words and grammar, and do NOT rely on spellcheck alone. Nothing gets a book rejected faster than an editor seeing how much work THEY will have to do to make the book publishable. (I have several editor friends, and total trainwrecks of manuscripts are one of their major beefs.) Be prepared to rewrite or revise everything you write, but above all, WRITE.
Lillian: Great advice! Is there anything you would like to share with your fans?
Tamara: I’d like to thank all three of them for being readers. (Okay, I know there are more than that, but not a whole lot, or so my book sales tell me. We’re gonna have to work on that.)
Lillian: We most certainly will 😉 Now for the hard questions…Favorite color?
Tamara: Yes
Lillian: ❓ Favorite movie?
Tamara: To Kill a Mockingbird (and the book is even better)
Lillian: Favorite TV show?
Tamara: I refuse to pick a favorite TV show. I don’t watch that much TV anymore, anyway, but whenever I really like a show, it either finishes its run or gets cancelled.
Lillian: I understand that completely! Favorite place to write?
Tamara: Breakroom at work, downtime between panels/shows at conventions, and the waiting room at the doctor’s office.
Lillian: Last questions…What brand of cereal best describes you and why?
Tamara: Considering the predatory nature of two of my main characters, I refuse to identify as anything edible.
Don’t miss Waves of Darkness available now!
I received this book via the author, . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Blood Curse by Tamara A. Lowery Series: Waves of Darkness #1
Published by Gypsy Shadow Publishing Company on 2013-11-15
Length: 268 pages
Reviewing eARC Rating:
Known as Bloody Vik Brandee, Viktor Brandewyne had a reputation as a bloodthirsty pirate. The world would soon learn just how bloodthirsty he had become. Thanks to the vengeful curse of a powerful witch, he had become a vampire. However, since he was cursed, rather than bitten, he was not vulnerable to daylight or holy items. As curses went, he didn't think it was all that bad, until Mother Celie, his foster mother and a witch in her own right, informed him that the curse would eventually destroy him. Now he finds himself in a race against time to find the seven Sisters of Power and gain some of their magic in order to survive the curse. He is aided in his quest by Hezekiah Grimm, his first mate; Belladonna, a siren and sea witch; and Lazarus, a creature that is sometimes a cat and sometimes a raven.
I received this book via the author, . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Demon Bayou by Tamara A. Lowery Series: Waves of Darkness #2
on 2013-11
Length: 236 pages
Reviewing eARC Rating:
Viktor Brandewyne's search for the second Sister of Power leads him to the bayou country near colonial New Orleans. Along the way, he has his first encounter with vampires not made by him, as well as running afoul of smugglers. The black waters of the bayous hold their own danger as well. An ancient demon guards the way to the Sister. Worse, the siren Belladonna begins to die in the swamps. Should Viktor return the siren to the sea or continue on to the Sister? Without magic from all the Sisters, he won't be able to break the curse that has made him a vampire before it destroys him. Without Belladonna, he cannot find the Sisters.
Silent Fathoms by Tamara A. Lowery Series: Waves of Darkness #3
on 2013-11-05
Length: 223 pages
Reviewing eARC Rating:
The search for the third Sister of Power takes Viktor Brandewyne to Mexico and the Devil's daughter. She sends him to find devil's hoof, but doesn't explain exactly what it is. All Viktor knows is that she will use it to try to enslave him once he brings it back to her.
His quest strands him in the middle of the shark-infested Indian Ocean with no food or water, no wind . . . and no siren to sing one up for him. Try as he might to reach her, his bond with Belladonna has fallen silent.
Book Four Coming November 2014
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