Tara Barnacle lives in sunny South Australia, and dreams of walking on wild wintery Atlantic shores. She worked in a Library in another life, but had to quit before her book addiction reached epic proportions...well, almost before! Blood, Bone and Stone is her first fiction book.
How did you get started writing, and what made you decide to go ahead and try publishing something?
It’s almost a cliche, but I’ve always written, even as a child squished into the back of the car on summer holidays, or in class, especially Chemistry and Physics! At least I looked like I was taking notes…
By the time I was writing Blood, Bone and Stone I’d already had a non-fiction book published, and also several articles for various peer reviewed journals. Friends had been nagging me for years to get some of my stories in print, so I thought I would try to capture some of the tales running around in my mind. There are lots more still in there, so this might take a while...
We know what your bio says. Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us.
I once found a Roman coin by tripping over in the middle of a crop circle!
Do you remember what it was like, the feeling you had when your book was finally “out there”?
I won’t forget it in a hurry! A queer breathless mix of elation and anxiety that maybe I hadn’t REALLY finished it…palpitations either way!
So your published work is called “Blood, Bone and Stone”. Tell us a bit about this book and the inspiration for it.
This book bubbled into life from the ferment of my obsessions, some life long and some more newly acquired. A fascination for prehistory and archaeology, and the myths of Orkney and Glastonbury simmered along comfortably enough together, but then I had my mitochondrial DNA tested and that well and truly upset the pot. I had wanted to do it for many years, and it was genuinely life changing, in a ‘light the blue touch paper and retire’ kind of way! I wrote Blood, Bone and Stone because I couldn’t think of better way to share the profundity of that experience.
The story spans the millennia between modern day Oxford and Bronze Age Orkney, with the mysterious town of Glastonbury floating somewhere in between, combining modern day archaeology and ancient history, cutting edge DNA research and reincarnation, and blurring the borders of life and death..
How did you choose the setting for it?
That was the easiest part of the whole process! I chose places that I absolutely love, and hope to keep on visiting throughout my life. Orkney and Glastonbury absolutely top that list, with the added bonus of their own fabulous atmospheres.
What does the future hold for Tara Barnacle’s writing career? What’s next?
Definitely another book set in Orkney, in fact I think there will be a trilogy in that series. The next one is about the male side of things..YDNA and Vikings!
What about being published and the book industry in general has most surprised you?
Two things mostly – How much it has changed since I published my first book, social media and eBooks were unheard of then! A very steep learning curve...I hope I’m at least hallway up the hill!
The other thing was a very pleasant surprise - how supportive the online community of authors are to each other on the whole. There’s always someone ready with an answer or suggestion, really wonderful!
What other things besides writing do you have going on that keep you busy?
Busy is an understatement! I’m also a Marriage Celebrant, and I manage a Bed and Breakfast for some dear friends of mine, in between finishing building my mud brick house and carving out a garden from an ex vineyard!
To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus one. Here they go!
1. What is your favorite word? Yes!
2. What is your least favorite word? But…
3. What turns you on? Wit!
4. What turns you off? Being bored.
5. What sound or noise do you love? The cabin announcement “Ladies and Gentlemen, the ferry will be docking in Kirkwall harbour in ten minutes..”
6. What sound or noise do you hate? The slow glacial grinding of approaching deadlines.
7. What is your favorite curse word? No one word in particular..I prefer a good old Anglo Saxon string of ‘em!
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Anthropologist…Watching the world is an occupational hazard for a writer, I’m pretty sure I could do it professionally!
9. What profession would you not like to do? Anything to do with a Complaints Department. Move on people!
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Where the Hell have you been?
11. What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you?
Exactly how DOES it feel to be on the Times Bestseller List?
Tara, thanks so much for spending time with us. Can you let us know where to follow you, and where we can go to purchase your work?
Thank you too, it’s been a pleasure! I can usually be found lurking on my Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tara-Barnacle-Author
Blood, Bone and Stone is available from all eBooksellers…Amazon Kindle, the iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes & Noble...and wherever you buy your ebooks!
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Rudy and Trish are the main characters in our two published short stories in the "Evernight: Romance in a World of Darkness" anthologies. You can get to know them as well as get 23 other great stories! Here's where you can find them:
Another lovely interview and a chance to get acquainted with a new-to-me author. Thanks to both of you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for coming by again, Diane!
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