Summer Songs - Interview Series - Pavarti K. Tyler!

WELCOME PAVARTI K. TYLER!

Tonia (T.M.):  Pavarti I want to say welcome to my Summer Songs Interview Series.  I am excited be able to visit with you and ask a few questions so we can all get to know more about you and your writing.

Pav:  Yeah!  What fun!  I'm thrilled to be here, what a cool idea.


Tonia (T.M.):  Please share with us what prompted your desire to write.

Pav:  Honestly?  It was the crap filled writing in the Twilight Saga.  I've been writing my whole life to one degree or another, but after reading Stephanie Meyer's version of "feminism" and "love" I was just pissed off.  I went to read some fanfiction and decided, hey I can do that!  My stories were so well received I decided to throw caution to the wind and work on one of the books in my head.  That was DEVOUR, which will hopefully be out next year. 

Tonia (T.M.):  This is the first I have heard of Devour.  Can you elaborate any at all on this project?

Pav:  Sure!  Here's the blurb.  I love Stacia and love working on that story.  I've rewritten it three times and seem to be over thinking it.  Hopefully someday I'll be happy enough to publish it!

DEVOUR:
In a a small town in North Dakota Anastasya Ruinski struggles to finish her senior year of hight school, believing that there is no fate worse than being an outsider in an American small town.  Her sense of self and community is rocked as a virus spreads across America, taking over the populace and turning them inot somthing unrecognizable.  Will Stacia realize the danger she's in before it's too late?

Tonia (T.M.):  This story sounds amazing.  I hope we get to read the entire story some day.  Do you have certain authros that inspire you?

Pav:  Totally!  Vikram Seth, Haruki Murakami, Anais Nin, Neil Gaiman, Frank Herbert, Olivia Butler, there are so many it's hard to stop listing them!

Tonia (T.M.):  Who is your favorite author, of those you've mentioned? 

Pav:  Can I have two? Anaïs Nin is my favorite because of her complete disregard for convention.  She did what she wanted and said what she felt.  I love that about her.  From a story construction point of view though Haruki Murakami totally overwhelms me.  His stories are lyrical and thought provoking without losing any of the fun and momentum.

Tonia (T.M.):  I know you have one story published.  Can you tell us about Consumed by Love?

Pav:  Hehe, you sure about that? Consumed was originally written as an entry for a Romance Short Story contest.  After writing it though I decided it really wasn't "Romance" in the way they intended.  Although I find the story deeply romantic it's not the kind of thing that swash-buckling pirate readers are looking for.  Since it's an erotic horror piece it was hard to find it a home.  SNM Horror Mag and my good friend Steven published it in Feb of 2011 and the response was so positive I decided to put it up as an ebook. 

Tonia (T.M):  I have read Consumed by Love and was stirred by the level of commitment your heroine had for her husband.  What brought you to the place you had to be at to write a story like this?  

Pav:  Thank you!  Since Consumed is such a different style than most stories I always worry if the underlying theme of the book which really is love.  For me the story is an extreme example of what we do when we are in a long term relationship.  When you really love and respect the person you're with you want them to be the most amazing person they can be and you'll do anything you can to support that.  Ideally, they will do the same for you.  That's the thing about Bree and Hugo, I think the husband loved the wife just as much.

Tonia (T.M.):  In Consumed by Love you introduce us to the Abenaki Native American People.  Can you tell us more about the reason why you chose this particular group of people to model one of the characters in your book after?

Pav:  I used the Abenaki Tribe because of their Wendigo lore.  While Hugo isn't exactly in line with the mythos of the Wendigo that is what I drew my inspiration from.  I love writing about different cultures and looking to find the element that connects us all.  It’s a challenge but also really satisfying when it works.  With Hugo his culture felt like a natural part of him, not something that was exploited or superimposed on the story. 


Tonia (T.M.):  Now, your second book, Shadow on the Wall, which is part of a series you are writing will be published this fall by Flying Monkey's Press.  Is that correct?

Pav:  Haha no!  I love that name though!  Shadow on the Wall will be published by my small Indie Publishing House: Fighting Monkey Press.  Fighting Monkey has been my business for over 10 years in my real life.  It has supported my family and provided my husband and I with consulting work.  When I decided to publish it only made sense to me to do it under a subsidiary of FMP.

Tonia (T.M.): Okay, so I screwed up on the name, but it is catchy.  No?  Can you tell us anything about your new story?

Pav:  Surely! (Don't call me Shirley) Shadow on the Wall is Book One in the SandStorm Chronicles.  It's a dark fiction about the lives of people who live under the oppressive rule of the Islamic religious police.  The main character, Recai Osman, is fun to write and live with.  He's conflicted and dark, but also very open to the world around him.  He wants to believe in the good in people but its hard when every time he turns around there's just more violence and oppression.  So what does a Moderate Muslim with a degree in Philosophy do?  Well he becomes a superhero of course!

Tonia (T.M.):  Is that a "superhero" with super powers or a "superhero" who uses his wits to help those in need around him?  And what made you delve into the world of Islam?

Pav:  For the superhero, it's a little of both.  He's not like kryptonite superhero but there are some mystical/divine interventions which make him more than just a man.  I think Recai has some of the darkness that makes us love the anti-hero and some of the tragedy that makes us root for his side.

As for Islam, there are a lot of reasons, but mainly it's a story that needs to be told.  The culture of Islamophobia we live in now and the misunderstanding the west has about an entire people is a travesty.  Any extremist is dangerous but for the most part Muslims are kind, faithful, loving people.  Religious intolerance and prejudice against a whole people based on the actions of a few is no better in this circumstance than it was during slavery or the holocaust and I felt like I had a story to tell that was evocative and rooted in truth which can illuminate the sameness between us instead of the differences.

Tonia (T.M.):  I like the fact that you have gone "out of the box," so to speak, to create a character from a different culture that is entertaining and fighting for a cause he believes in.   How many books will be in the series?

Pav:  Right now I'm thinking three.  Book Two: Prisoner of the Wind should be out next year.  The third is still in the mulling/plotting stages but I know where I'm going so I think three is a safe guess for now.

Tonia (T.M.):  I understand that you have launched a campaign to raise money by preordering your next book to defer the publication costs for Shadow on the Wall?  Do you have a link to a web site for those that might be interested in placing an order? 

Pav:  You can preorder books at www.fightingmonkeypress.com.  I'm accepting pre-orders and donations.  Donations come with a prize and there are a number of different ones to choose from including swag and a bound copy of my story The Fragrant Taste of Rain.

Tonia (T.M.):  I know you read a lot, among the other thousand or so things you do each day, so can you tell us what genres most interest you? 

Pav:  I love me some sci-fi.  For those of you who know me, you've probably heard me whine about the lack of quality sci-fi out there.  It's never long enough and it seems like the concept of fantasy and sci-fi have become conflated, which is too bad, they're both great but very different.  Basically if there's an alien or some genetic manipulation I'm in.

Tonia (T.M.):  What are you reading now?  

Pav:  I just finished Perfect Copy by Judith Gaines which was great.  Now I'm reading Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson and this great new book just showed up in my mail box, Wings of Fate by some loon named T.M. Hobbs, have you heard of her?

Tonia (T.M.):  Your humor is applaud worthy.  I love that about you.  *smile*  Okay, do you have a blog site you would like to share with everyone here?

Pav:  I blog at www.pavarti.com or you can follow news about my books at www.fighitngmonkeypress.com. 

Tonia (T.M.):  I am grateful that you agreed to be a guest at my blog.  Would you like to leave the readers of this interview with a thought, an encouragement, or an idea? 

Pav:  Just keep swimming my friends!  You'll get there eventually! 

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I would like to say a big 'thank you' to Ms. Tyler for visiting with me and letting us get to know her.  She is a very talented and determined woman whom I am glad I have gotten to know.

Please stop by again next week for another featured author in my Summer Songs - Interview Series.