And it’s another Eclectica author! Her short story collection is awesome, you’ll see it in my recommended reading list at the end of the year… but why wait? Get it now along with all the other awesome authors! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Sherry D. Ramsey!
Where do you live and write from?
I live in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and I can see the Atlantic Ocean from my house. I’ve lived here all my life, except for my university years (also spent in a port town…do I see a pattern here?). I can’t imagine living far from the scent of the salt sea air.
Why do you write?
I think I’m just mentally tuned that way. Stories and characters show up and I simply want to write them…to delve into the possibilities and challenges they present. I can go for stretches without writing, perhaps a month or so, but I always come back to it.
When did you start writing?
The first “real” story I remember writing was around the eighth grade. It was a very Edgar Allan Poe-type story, with a creepy house and a storm and portraits on the walls whose eyes followed the main character. My teacher at the time really encouraged my writing, and I give him a lot of credit for making me believe this was something I could actually do.
What genre(s) do you write?
I write all over the speculative fiction spectrum (although not much horror). Science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy; I love it all, often mashed up with a dash of mystery and detective.
What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?
I suppose my goal as a writer is to give readers stories they can get lost in and enjoy, and characters they will love and care about. I lean toward writing that primarily entertains (although it can certainly have important underlying themes and messages). I think reading is a necessary form of release and escapism that helps keep us sane in an increasingly crazy world.
What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?
It’s a pretty simple one, really: “Keep going.” The writing life has a lot of ups and downs—the downs usually dominate at first—and it’s so important to keep writing, keep learning, and keep improving. I believe it will happen for most people if they really love to write and accept that it’s a process of getting better in small, incremental steps.
Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?
Big-time improviser who dabbles in outlining with varied success! I can appreciate the value of an outline in many cases, but I’m not always so great at implementing one. I tend to write fast first drafts, and if I don’t start with an outline, I make one as I go—it’s an invaluable tool for those inevitable revisions.
Tell us more about your book in the bundle
My book in the bundle is “The Cache and Other Stories,” a collection of (mostly) previously-published short fiction. The stories range across the specfic genres, so it’s a great fit for the Eclectica bundle. You’ll find an alien ship in a forest hideaway, ghosts inside a computer network, a distraught goddess in a detective’s office, a teenage busker on a space station, and more.
Tell us about your latest book
My latest book is the novella “Toil and Trouble,” the fourth installment in my Olympia Investigations series (one of the earlier OI stories is in the book in this bundle). Here’s the blurb:
Acacia Sheridan is a private detective with a special gift for perceiving the supernatural. When a local coven of urban witches mistakenly summons a malevolent spirit, they look to Acacia to help track him down. Inconsistencies in the witches’ story make Acacia suspect they’re not telling her everything—and then the murders start.
With her assistant Oliver stressing over an unfortunate witch encounter in his past, a demon on the loose, and a handsome police detective who wants to know too much, Acacia’s up to her sixth sense in supernatural trouble in this new novella in the Olympia Investigations series.
It’s available in print and multiple ebook formats, and you can find your favourite retailer link at https://books2read.com/ToilandTrouble
Any other projects in the pipeline?
Always! I’m currently working on revisions for the fourth book in my Nearspace series, and writing the first draft of a new comic fantasy novel I hope to release later this year. Juggling projects is my usual modus operandi (whether that’s a good thing or not, I’m never sure), but those are my projects while I wait with bated breath for spring to arrive in my part of the world.