Name: Linda Jordan
Queen of May
What attracts you to the genre in which you write? I write in several different genres—fantasy, science fiction, young adult fantasy and mystery. Basically, I go where my ideas lead me. Sometimes, mystery gets mixed into the other genres. I also write the sort of books I loved to read as a kid. Not so much the mystery—I watched those on tv. But fantasy and science fiction were my core reading material from fifth grade on. As soon as I discovered them, I knew I was home. So when I began writing in my twenties, it was just natural that my characters and worlds would fit there.
What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d known when you started your writing adventures? I wish I’d understood the importance of practice. That I had to let many words stream out my fingertips before I’d get to the good stuff. And how essential it was to sit down on a regular basis, hopefully daily, and just get out of my own way. Tell my critical brain to take a few hours off.
And. Just. Write.
If you could have dinner with any famous person or character who would you choose? The first person who popped into my mind was Tyrion Lannister. I think he’d make a truly entertaining dinner companion. The things he could tell me. Maybe even how the books end!
Who has been the greatest influence on your own work? I can’t pick just one person. I’ve absorbed everything I’ve ever read. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Anne McCaffrey, Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rowling, Connie Willis, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Robin Hobb and Sarah Addison Allen come to mind.
I’ve also had fabulous teachers. Taken workshops from Steve Perry, Terry Carr, Suzy McKee Charnas, Norman Spinrad, Vonda McIntyre, Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. The last two being the teachers I’ve benefitted from the most.
I’ve belonged to critique groups with wonderful writers. Been supported by other wonderful writers. Probably one of the largest influences on my work is my husband, who goes out five days a week and brings back money and benefits. Which allows me to stay home and write! And our daughter, another inspiration. At 14, she’s tapping away at her own keyboard, creating her own stories. For hour upon end. She’s amazing.
Do you think the e-book revolution will do away with print? No way. I can’t see that. Too many people love the tactile experience of paper books. Even kids who’ve grown up with their brain always attached to a phone or tablet. They read paper books. Ebooks are convenient, I love them. I don’t see paper leaving us anytime soon.
Which 3 books would you take to a desert island and why?
Only 3?
They would have to be large. Something I could take my time and delve into. The compact Oxford English Dictionary? Is that still even around? Maybe I’d just take one volume.
I’d need a non-fiction book. Something entertaining and enlightening. Maybe Barry Lopez or Terry Tempest Williams.
But how could I live without a Fantasy or SF book? Maybe I could cheat and say Blackwatch & All Clear by Connie Willis, since they’re all one book.
Seriously, questions like this make me want to throw up my arms in defeat and run screaming from the room. Being limited to only 3 books for the rest of my life would be a special kind of hell.
So maybe I’ll toss all the above out and just say a trilogy by Robin Hobb. Any trilogy. Just three fat books to chew on until I’m rescued from the island.
Author bio and book synopsis Linda Jordan writes fascinating characters, funny dialogue, and imaginative fiction. She creates both long and short fiction, serious and silly. She believes in the power of healing and transformation, and many of her stories follow those themes.
In a previous lifetime, Linda coordinated the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop as well as the Reading Series. She spent four years as Chair of the Board of Directors during Clarion West’s formative period. She’s also worked as a travel agent, a baker, and a pond plant/fish salesperson, you know, the sort of things one does as a writer.
Currently, she’s the Programming Director for the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest.
Linda now lives in the rainy wilds of Washington state with her husband, daughter, four cats, seventeen Koi and an infinite number of slugs and snails.
That’s the official bio.
In reality I divide my days between writing, doing massive amounts of publishing (editing, copy editing, formatting, creating covers, keeping up two websites—one very badly—and pretending to do social media.). That’s my day job. The other jobs include herding the four cats and the teenager, planning everything in our lives (and re-planning them when plans go astray), keeping the budget together, cooking, organizing the to-do list for the half-acre garden, shopping and everything else. Sometimes I clean, but not often. Mostly when I’m procrastinating on writing, because I can’t figure out what comes next. Or I’ve set up an unsolvable problem and my brain is working on it as I clean places that haven’t been touched in a decade, maybe two.
Tell us about your book(s) – title, genre etc (short)
The Queen of May is set in the same world as the entire Bones of the Earth Series. Just a whole lot earlier in time. Faerie Unraveled is the first book in the series. Followed by Faerie Contact, Faerie Descent and Faerie Flight. The final book in the series comes out this April—Faerie Confluence.
Linda has a VERY impressive library to her name – I have posted a selection here, but suggest you check out her bio links for all the others.
Promoted books Faerie Unravelled
Bundles
Faerie Summer Bundle
Spring Surprise
Novels:
Faerie Flight, 2018, print, ebook, Fantasy
Horticultural Homicide, 2017, print, ebook, Cozy Mystery
Faerie Descent, 2017, print, ebook, Fantasy
Faerie Contact, 2016, print, ebook, Fantasy
Faerie Unraveled, 2016, print, ebook, Fantasy
Collections:
Bibi’s Back, 2017, ebook, Fantasy
To the Stars and Back Again, 2017, ebook, Science Fiction
Stories of the Jeweled Worlds, 2017, ebook, YA Fantasy
Bibi’s Bargain Boutique, 2012, ebook, Fantasy
Elements, 2011, ebook, Fantasy
Elemental: 5 Stories for Teens, 2011, ebook, Fantasy & Science Fiction
Short Fiction:
Coming Into Being, 2018, ebook, Fantasy,
The Magic of Clay, 2017, ebook, Fantasy
To Death and Back Again, 2017, ebook, Fantasy
A Breath from Elsewhere, 2012, ebook, Fantasy
Links
My website: www.LindaJordan.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LindaJordanWriter
Metamorphosis Press website: www.MetamorphosisPress.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/creativelunatic/
Twitter (where I rarely go): Linda Jordan@LindaAJordan
Instagram: lindajordanwriter
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