Out of the Blogosphere: Robin D. Owens

I have a bit of a writing hangover this morning. Last night I really got on a roll and wrote something like 35 pages. I was writing until past one in the morning, and then after I made my paranoid backups and got ready for bed, I didn't actually get in bed until around two, and then my brain would not shut off. I was on the verge of trudging upstairs and writing the scene that insisted on playing out when I finally managed to drift off. Then I woke up earlier than usual, totally wired. I'm within about 4,000 words of my target word count, but I suspect I'm going to go over. I have at least three more chapters to get through. I'm hoping I'll be done with this draft Sunday night.

In the meantime, we're resuming the Out of the Blogosphere book tours. This particular blogging circle focuses on authors of paranormal romance/women's fiction. That can include science fiction, fantasy, time travel and a bunch of other "other" stuff. The first guest is Robin D. Owens, award-winning author of the recently released Sorceress of Faith. She's also the author of the popular "Heart" series.

When grad student Marian Harasta is summoned to the land of Llandrana as the desperate hope to stop the encroaching Darkness, she's stunned to find herself the center of a dispute among Sorcerers who want to augment their Power with her own. She must quickly learn her new magical Powers – and decide who she can trust in this strange land. She has prayed for a miracle to save her brother – could Lladrana offer that knowledge, and can she somehow return to Earth with it?

I've tried to come up with some interesting questions for authors who write about other worlds (and let me know if there are questions you'd like to see answered).

Where did you get the idea for the "other" world in which your story is set?
I have two worlds going...the "Heart" series, Celta, is an offshoot of interest in pagan spirituality, the popularity of Celtic music and culture, and simply thinking about the first scene in HeartMate...T'Ash rolls divination dice and is told "Today you will meet your HeartMate," and he is shocked and fascinated...and believes. So I had to develop a world where a macho guy would do a daily divination and believe, which, of course means divination and magic work, and doesn't look like a wimp or sissy. Did I say he was a blacksmith? Muscles. Oh, and a jeweler, too. Shiny, pretty presents...

Amee, of the Summoning series, is a wounded planet. Evil monsters living north of the main country, Lladrana, and the "Dark" itself has injured the world. The main society is "aural" or "hearing" based. Oddly enough, this series came to me many years ago before I started seriously writing. They were stories I told myself before I went to sleep.

Naturally, I also make 'em up as I go along...

Is it a world you'd actually want to live in?
Celta more than Amee. Celta has some class problems and some injustice problems, but it is overall a stable place (though even in 4 centuries humans aren't multitudinous and families die out or go sterile or get cursed...). Amee...well my heroines are all in a desperate battle, and will all fight evil and BE on a battlefield.

If you did live there, what role do you think you'd play?
On Celta, I don't think I'd mind being anyone there, though it would be fun if I had excellent Flair (psi power/magic). On Amee, I think I'd like to be like Marian (of Sorceress of Faith, JUST OUT), who will probably be less on the battlefield than the rest, but still...it's a dangerous place. She still gets an excellent man and is very powerful and flies on winged horses, she just won't be on the battlefield as much.

And finally, the most important question :-) :
Which is your favorite Star Trek captain, and why?
Oh, Jean-Luc Picard, for sure. Sexy, and that voice...incredible. A good leader, calm in a crisis, and I loved how he played in the holodeck...

For more info on Robin or her books, check out her web site.

Now, I have a research question: Has anyone out there ever spilled something (like a cup of coffee or a soda) onto the keyboard of a laptop computer? Or have you been present when someone else has done that? Or are you a computer expert who would know what would happen if someone did that? I need to know what would happen -- would there be noise, sparks, smoke, would the screen go black? I've never actually done that (and now I'm going to move my tea mug well away from the computer, lest I tempt karma by bragging.) and I have no idea what it would look like.