Welcome to The Wormhole and my day on the tour.
It is my pleasure to feature:
Molly Best Tinsley and Karetta Hubbard as well as their book: Satan's Chamber.
Molly Best Tinsley's Bio:
Air Force brat Molly Best Tinsley taught on the civilian faculty at the United States Naval Academy for twenty years and is the institution’s first professor emerita. Author of My Life with Darwin (Houghton Mifflin) and Throwing Knives(Ohio State University Press), she also co-authored Satan’s Chamber (Fuze Publishing) and the textbook, The Creative Process (St. Martin’s). Her fiction has earned two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sandstone Prize, and the Oregon Book Award. Her plays have been read and produced nationwide. She lives in Oregon, where she divides her time between Ashland and Portland.
Karetta Hubbard's Bio:
As a businesswoman and entrepreneur, Karetta Hubbard has more than twenty-five years of experience in consulting, strategic management, and organizational change for companies throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. Having recently turned to literary endeavors, Ms. Hubbard credits her five grandchildren as her inspiration and encouragement to put pen to paper.
As an active member of the Washington, DC community, Ms. Hubbard has held appointments at the Small Business Advisory Council (SBA), the Tyson Business and Professional Women Foundation (BPW), and the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. Ms. Hubbard attended the University of Virginia and received her B.A. degree from George Mason University. She also attended Catholic University’s Graduate School in Social Work.
...and now the interview:
?
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Growing
up as a military brat, Molly never lived long in one place. She made friends and learned the ropes at one
school only to leave everything behind when her dad got transferred somewhere
else. As a result, she cultivated a
tenacious memory—to take the edge off the continual loss, she hung onto the
people and places in her mind. The same
motivation started her writing—it was a way to rescue and control a world that
was always in the process of disappearing.
Quite simply, she felt better after she’d captured a person, place, or
event in words.
Karetta
was a late bloomer when it comes to writing.
In her first career, she researched workplace issues and wrote reports for
clients digesting the information and making recommendations. But ever since childhood, she has had
stories that she wanted to share but was afraid to write down. She thought she would be criticized for
“making things up,” and she was intimidated by the importance placed on correct
grammar. Temporarily, it snuffed her
desire to write, and she indulged her second passion, Politics and
Government. It wasn’t until she had a grandchild
that she began to take her storytelling abilities seriously again. Her political science background merged with
storytelling to produce the wonderful thriller, Satan’s Chamber.
? How many jobs
did you have before you became a writer?
Molly: I majored in English, went on to grad school,
and an academic career in English on the civilian faculty of the US Naval
Academy. I resigned 15 years ago to
write full-time, but really I was writing and publishing fiction the whole time
I was teaching there. I was never not
writing.
Karetta: Thirty years I co-founded a management
consulting firm specializing in diversity issues, or high-risk EEO issues such
as harassment prevention in the workplace.
Presently we are in the process of selling this company. Once this is completed I can concentrate full
time on Fuze Publishing and co-writing the sequel to Satan’s Chamber, working title,
Hotel Limbo, not to mention pursuing other writing ideas I have.
? How long does
it take you to write a book?
To research and
write Satan’s Chamber took Molly and
Karetta 2 ½ years. Besides her collection
of short stories (Throwing Knives,
Ohio State University Press), Molly has an earlier literary novel out (My Life with Darwin, Houghton Mifflin)
and estimates it probably took her about 2 ½ years to write that also.
? What would you
say is your most interesting writing quirk?
Molly: I need a steady infusion of black tea. I can’t stand using track changes.
Karetta: I don’t
like the answers “no” or “I can’t.” It
drives me crazy to hear them, and sends me into high gear trying to make whatever
the situation is work. I get
satisfaction turning a no into a yes, a can’t, into a can., or can do!
? Where do you
get your ideas or inspiration for your characters?
Molly: From the people around me, whom I analyze
psychologically (to myself) all the time.
It’s important to give your characters distinctive bodies, and I find
that a little more challenging. It’s so
tempting to resort to physical clichés—tall, dark, handsome, etc. When I’m developing the details of a
characters body, I stare at people in a crowd, noticing the physical
oddities and converting them into words
in my mind.
Karetta: I find myself looking at the most ordinary of
circumstances and wondering, “what if”?
For example, my husband and I were at dinner and a wine tasting in a
Greek restaurant the other night, where many of the patrons were Greek. I found myself wondering what could be an
interesting connection between each table, something or someone in common that
each table of patrons was not aware of.
Then I imagined someone having a heart attack at one of the tables. Why? Was the wine poisoned? Would someone in the restaurant want this
person dead? And if so, of course what
would be the motive? Or was this a legitimate, but tragic event? My husband was not amused! He just wanted to learn about the specific
grape that only grows in Sicily
and produces a wonderful flavor because of the centuries old volcanic ash.
? How do you
decide what you want to write about?
This is the most
difficult part for us. We have so many
ideas we would need to be twenty again to be able to write about them all. Given the fact that we have to make the
trains run on time with the new independent press we co-founded, Fuze
Publishing (www.fuzepublishing.com), the time to work on our sequel to Satan’s Chamber, Hotel Limbo, has been hard to rescue. However, we are almost finished with the
first draft, Tory again is the protagonist, the setting is Ukraine, and
the backdrop is human trafficking. Lots
of plot twists and turns and a surprise ending! Stay tuned.
? What books
have most influenced your life?
Molly: One book that reshaped my way of thinking was
The Dancing Wu Li Masters—an
explanation of New Physics for the layperson.
It helped me realize how limited our conscious minds are, and thus how
incomplete our knowledge of reality. I
find that reassuring somehow.
Karetta: Nancy
Drew series, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Exodus – any book that keeps me up all
night that I had to finish before I did anything else.
? What are you
reading right now?
Molly: A number of non-fiction works on subjects
pertaining to Hotel Limbo.
Karetta: Unsolicited manuscripts that come in to Fuze
Publishing; I really have no time for pleasure reading at the moment, possibly
later in the summer I can take time to read.
? What do you
like to do when you are not writing?
Karetta: I enjoy visiting with family, specifically my
grown children and their children – I have five grandchildren. Secondly, I like to go boating on the
ocean. Having the sea air in my face
relaxes me greatly.
Molly: I’m a live theatre junkie, as well as a
duplicate bridge addict, and I love to garden.
? What is your
favorite comfort food?
Karetta:
Chocolate and red wine.
Molly: A certain local brand of tortilla chip.
?
What do you think makes a good story?
Karetta: Fascinating characters caught up in
meaningful plot, with many twists and a surprise ending.
Molly: Couldn’t put it better than that.
? Who would you
consider your favorite author and why?
Karetta: Molly Tinsley because every time I read
something she has written, I am in awe of the almost lyrical quality of the
writing, and of course I learn more about the craft of writing.
Molly: Thanks, but Toni Morrison is my pick.
Fun random
questions:
dogs or cats?
Karetta: Dogs – the best, most forgiving companions
Molly: Cats – they don’t slobber
Coffee or tea?
Karetta: Both – I need two cups of freshly brewed
coffee in the morning to start the day and then Tea, green, white, black – any
kind for comfort during the day.
Molly: Tea.
Dark or milk
chocolate?
Karetta and
Molly : Dark – a little bit goes a
longer way.
Rocks or
flowers?
Karetta
and Molly: Both - living on the coast of Maine
and in the Oregon
mountains, we are in love with rock outcroppings that take the breath away; but
flowers fill our hearts.
Night or day?
Karetta: Day.
Molly: Night.
Favorite color?
Karetta: Blue
Molly: Green
Crayons or
markers?
Karetta and
Molly: depends on the job.
Pens or pencils?
Karetta and
Molly: Again, it depends on the job –
pencils if we’re working on numbers; pen, if doing the Times crossword puzzle.
Satan's Chamber Summary
Junior CIA operative Victoria Pierce is posted to Khartoum, Sudan, where her father vanished five years before. Obsessed with solving the mystery of his disappearance, she uncovers a horrific plot that threatens to ignite World War III. A fast-paced spy thriller, Satan's Chamber shuttles between Washington, DC, and war-torn Sudan, geo-political intrigue and ancient mysticism. It introduces a rich array of memorable characters, from Bart Wilkins, the bumbling but buff young supply officer at the Embassy, to Kendacke, one-eyed descendant of the female pharaohs, to Adam Marshall, one of the richest and most ruthless men in the world.
Author bio:
Mostly a's:
Your pet is a cat! Witch’s has used
familiars for years to help increase the power of their spells. Cute and
helpful!
