Date Published: January 5, 2021
Publisher: Blackrose Press
Astoreth, the Devi Goddess of Love, demands complete devotion from her morevs because hearts divided cannot serve.
Moreva Tehi’s hearts aren’t divided. They belong to Laerd Teger.
And the price of her love could be her life.
Book Reviews
"Bland may very well be the Alice Walker of science fiction." The reviewer is Vincent Dublado, Readers' Favorite.
"This is perhaps the most entertaining science fiction novel I have ever read." Rabia Tanveer, Readers' Favorite.
Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
Bigotry and hate destroy the soul. Open your
mind and heart, and you will experience the true meaning of joy, love, and life.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
To be honest, no. Writing is my passion. I love
all of it—even self-editing, a task so many authors profess to hate. For me, doing
the work of self-editing can lead me to even better ideas.
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
So far, four. Right now, there are two more in
the works. I don’t have a favorite book of mine. I love all my children equally.
If You had the chance to cast your main character from
You know, to answer this question, googled a list of female actors
working today. A long, long list. After studying about a hundred (and there
were many more than that), I gave up. None of them suited. That might because while
I was writing Moreva Tehi’s character, I kept seeing Eartha Kitt in my mind’s
eye. Yes, I know. I just seriously dated myself. Kitt was a Black actress
and singer. Sultry—what we used to call a man-eater—with an iron will. You know
she had one if you know anything about her birth and childhood. Horrendous.
Instead of letting it beat her down, she got out and fought her way to the mountaintop.
When did you begin writing?
Like so many writers will tell you, I started in childhood.
Except I wasn’t serious about it. For most of my life, I wrote off and on, mostly
off. I didn’t discover writing was my passion until decades later.
How long did it take to complete your first book?
That depends. If you’re referring to my first attempt at
writing a novel, four months. If you’re referring to my first published book,
almost a decade. That’s partly because having a day job (and I still do) means there
aren’t nearly enough hours in the day to dedicate to writing. Sometimes there
aren’t any at all. The other part is that after I finished that four-month novel,
I sent it to a woman whose business was connecting authors with editors interested
in working with them. She connected me with Don Gerrard, who’d been in the writing and publishing business for about a
thousand years and was pretty well-known in those circles. In my first
conversation with Don, he told me he’d never read anything like my book, and
that he was going to teach me how to write a novel. And he did. That novel became
The Underground. I can’t tell you how many times he made me write and rewrite
Chapter 1. When he finally said I was ready to draft Chapter 2, I asked if that
meant Chapter 1 was finished. He said, “No. It just means you’re ready to begin
your first draft of Chapter 2.” And the process with Chapter 1 was repeated.
Don’s no longer with us, but every time I start writing a book, I think about
him: “What would Don say about this?”
Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
There were a lot of
authors who inspired me to write, but not in the way you think. I’ve been
reading science fiction and fantasy since childhood, and there came a point
where it felt like I was reading the same book, over and over again. Different
characters, different events, but the story arc was basically the same. I wasn’t
seeing anything new on the shelves, so, like Maya Angelou said, I decided to write
the kind of story I wanted to read. A story that upset the status quo. It’s
interesting that in so many of my reviews, there’s the phrase “I’ve never read
anything like this before,” and the word “original.”
What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Brainstorming. Unlike many writers, I don’t make up story
outlines before writing a word of the draft manuscript—that is, I’m not a
plotter. I have a general idea, and I start writing. I don’t know what’s going
to happen. Sometimes I have an idea for an ending, but it’s not fleshed out.
And that idea for an ending may not turn out to be the ending. When I write, it’s
like I see a movie in my mind, and I just follow it to its finish.
Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Love triumphs over hate.
Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
I’m
writing the 3rd book in The Underground series. After our heroes’
adventures on Earth (Books 1 and 2), they take off in the alien’s spaceship to
explore the galaxy. Where, of course, they get themselves into lots of trouble.
Through their escapades, they learn more about each other than they thought
they knew, and it sorely tests their friendships. So, imagine—four people on a
spaceship, and they don’t know if they like each other anymore. Worse, there’s
nowhere to get off and go back home. And that’s it. That’s all I know about it.
Yet.
About the Author
Award-winning author Roxanne Bland was born in the shadows of the rubber factory smokestacks in Akron, Ohio but grew up in Washington, D.C. As a child, she spent an inordinate amount of time prowling the museums of the Smithsonian Institution and also spent an inordinate amount of time reading whatever books she could get her hands on, including the dictionary. A self-described “fugitive from reality,” she has always colored outside the lines and in her early years of writing, saw no reason why a story couldn’t be written combining the genres she loved and did so despite being told it wasn’t possible. Today, she writes stories that are mashups of paranormal urban fantasy, romance, and science fiction, as well as other speculative fiction genres.
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