Welcome to the Wednesday Coffee Chat!
This week's guest author is Theresa Crater who writes intriguing novels of ancient secrets and civilizations.
Good morning, Theresa. What may I get you to drink?
TC: I’m a tea drinker. I recently found out my DNA is 73% British, so that explains that.
Ally: Then I'll pour you a spot of tea, while you introduce yourself to readers.
This week's guest author is Theresa Crater who writes intriguing novels of ancient secrets and civilizations.
Good morning, Theresa. What may I get you to drink?
TC: I’m a tea drinker. I recently found out my DNA is 73% British, so that explains that.
Ally: Then I'll pour you a spot of tea, while you introduce yourself to readers.
Bio:
Best-selling author Theresa Crater brings ancient temples, lost civilizations, and secret societies back to life in her visionary fiction. Her novels include The Power Places series, Under the Stone Paw and Beneath the Hallowed Hill, The Star Family and God in a Box Her short stories explore ancient myth brought into the present day. The Star Family won best fiction in the Indie Spirit Book Awards in 2015. She blogs with the Visionary Fiction Alliance and Women Write the Rockies, and is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Independent Authors Network. Currently, she teaches writing and British literature online.
Something unique that isn't in your regular bio: "I’ve meditated all my life and taught meditation, plus studied Eastern, Western, and Native American metaphysics. A lot of that finds its way into my writing. "
Contact the Author:
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Good Reads
Pinterest
Linked In
Best-selling author Theresa Crater brings ancient temples, lost civilizations, and secret societies back to life in her visionary fiction. Her novels include The Power Places series, Under the Stone Paw and Beneath the Hallowed Hill, The Star Family and God in a Box Her short stories explore ancient myth brought into the present day. The Star Family won best fiction in the Indie Spirit Book Awards in 2015. She blogs with the Visionary Fiction Alliance and Women Write the Rockies, and is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Independent Authors Network. Currently, she teaches writing and British literature online.
Something unique that isn't in your regular bio: "I’ve meditated all my life and taught meditation, plus studied Eastern, Western, and Native American metaphysics. A lot of that finds its way into my writing. "
Contact the Author:
Website
Good Reads
Linked In
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Tell us about the genre you've chosen.
TC: I write Visionary Fiction, but since that’s not so well known, think Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Suspense, only no vampires. The book I’m currently working on is Women’s Fiction.
Ally: Since I was going to ask you about it later, tell us more about this next writing project.
TC: This book is different from my usual adventure stories. I’ve pretty much finished it and it is out to an agent right now, but the title is still eluding me. It’s either The School of Hard Knocks or The Worst Thing a Mother Can Do. What do you think? What’s it about? The segregation lines are clear in 1950s North Carolina, but the bloodlines—not so much. The past and present intertwine when Maggie Winters risks a friendship with Lily, a white woman, and rescues her daughter and Lily from abuse by the same family that tormented Maggie as a young girl in the 1890s.
If the agent passes, the book could be out in a couple of months. If the agent picks it up, it could be up to a year and a half before it’s out.
Ally: My vote is for The School of Hard Knocks. Maybe some of our readers will comment on their choice. Does your real life show up in this book or any of your other novels?
TC: This latest project is part fiction, part memoir, and all my books have some relationship to my life. I travel to ancient sites with my archaeologist husband and these mysterious temples and ruins find their way into my Power Places series. My last novel, The Star Family, came from the discovery that the poet and painter William Blake’s mother belonged to the same tiny Protestant church I was raised in, but her membership was in the 1740s when they were way more mystical, much to my surprise. I had to find out more. I did a great deal of research and found they practiced sacred sexuality, so I wrote my novel based on this research.
Ally: Tell us about one of your favorite main characters.
TC: Raised on a decaying plantation in 1890s North Carolina, Maggie Winters (from the yet untitled women's fiction novel) sees it all—a woman beaten nearly to death, hidden in the barn, and healed by her African-American mother; a man lynched; and the machinations of a white woman hired to teach her to read but who has become determined to marry Maggie’s widowed white father. When Maggie's father is forced by his Virginia family to marry someone more appropriate, Maggie and her mother are left without protection. The KKK attacks the house, murdering her mother along with other servants, and rapes Maggie. She is left wounded and pregnant. The son born from this tragedy is taken from her when the doctors fear she will die.
Ally: How do you spend your non-writing/editing time?
TC: My husband doesn’t drive, so a good part of it is spent chauffeuring. I read a ton and watch a lot of TV series these days. Currently watching Once Upon a Time, but waiting for Mr. Robot and Travelers with baited breath. I love to travel and my husband leads tours to Egypt. I’ve gone with him four times, once to Peru, and once to Scotland. I’m slated to help lead a tour to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat in December. That’s been on my bucket list for a while and I’ll be leading meditations at the sites. I’m very much looking forward to this and am sure another Power Places book will come from this trip.
Ally: Tell readers a little about yourself with the following short answer questions.
Ally: Thanks so much for chatting with us today. Now let's take a look at a few of your books that are already published and available to purchase.
Ally: Tell us about the genre you've chosen.
TC: I write Visionary Fiction, but since that’s not so well known, think Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Suspense, only no vampires. The book I’m currently working on is Women’s Fiction.
Ally: Since I was going to ask you about it later, tell us more about this next writing project.
TC: This book is different from my usual adventure stories. I’ve pretty much finished it and it is out to an agent right now, but the title is still eluding me. It’s either The School of Hard Knocks or The Worst Thing a Mother Can Do. What do you think? What’s it about? The segregation lines are clear in 1950s North Carolina, but the bloodlines—not so much. The past and present intertwine when Maggie Winters risks a friendship with Lily, a white woman, and rescues her daughter and Lily from abuse by the same family that tormented Maggie as a young girl in the 1890s.
If the agent passes, the book could be out in a couple of months. If the agent picks it up, it could be up to a year and a half before it’s out.
Ally: My vote is for The School of Hard Knocks. Maybe some of our readers will comment on their choice. Does your real life show up in this book or any of your other novels?
TC: This latest project is part fiction, part memoir, and all my books have some relationship to my life. I travel to ancient sites with my archaeologist husband and these mysterious temples and ruins find their way into my Power Places series. My last novel, The Star Family, came from the discovery that the poet and painter William Blake’s mother belonged to the same tiny Protestant church I was raised in, but her membership was in the 1740s when they were way more mystical, much to my surprise. I had to find out more. I did a great deal of research and found they practiced sacred sexuality, so I wrote my novel based on this research.
Ally: Tell us about one of your favorite main characters.
TC: Raised on a decaying plantation in 1890s North Carolina, Maggie Winters (from the yet untitled women's fiction novel) sees it all—a woman beaten nearly to death, hidden in the barn, and healed by her African-American mother; a man lynched; and the machinations of a white woman hired to teach her to read but who has become determined to marry Maggie’s widowed white father. When Maggie's father is forced by his Virginia family to marry someone more appropriate, Maggie and her mother are left without protection. The KKK attacks the house, murdering her mother along with other servants, and rapes Maggie. She is left wounded and pregnant. The son born from this tragedy is taken from her when the doctors fear she will die.
Ally: How do you spend your non-writing/editing time?
TC: My husband doesn’t drive, so a good part of it is spent chauffeuring. I read a ton and watch a lot of TV series these days. Currently watching Once Upon a Time, but waiting for Mr. Robot and Travelers with baited breath. I love to travel and my husband leads tours to Egypt. I’ve gone with him four times, once to Peru, and once to Scotland. I’m slated to help lead a tour to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat in December. That’s been on my bucket list for a while and I’ll be leading meditations at the sites. I’m very much looking forward to this and am sure another Power Places book will come from this trip.
Ally: Tell readers a little about yourself with the following short answer questions.
- a. book you're currently reading - The Lightbearer by Alan Richardson
- b. an author (living or dead) you'd love to take to lunch - Doris Lessing
- c. favorite accessory - My husband brings me tons of scarves home from Egypt and I can never decide which one to wear. I give a lot of them away.
- d. A guilty pleasure - Those big cupcakes from Whole Foods.
- e. favorite after five drink - I live in Colorado
Ally: Thanks so much for chatting with us today. Now let's take a look at a few of your books that are already published and available to purchase.
RSS Feed
