Questions and Answers Born in Taiwan and raised in Texas, Tippi N. Blevins writes everything from science fiction to fantasy, horror to humor, and the occasional men's room poetry. Her work has appeared in major anthologies, many magazines, and she is a frequent contributor to the popular vampire fiction magazine, "Dreams of Decadence". What are you currently working on? I'm writing a weekly serial and posting it on my FANGSTERS.COM site. WELCOME TO OLOROSO deals with the vampires in a small Texas town. One of them wants to start a mafia. One of them is a vegetarian. Another fancies himself a major rock star despite having sold only 400 copies of his one and only record. Also, I just finished a novelette set in the same universe as my story "Presumed Icarus" (DREAMS OF DECADENCE #10). Where the serial is goofy and weird, the novelette is rather darker and more ominous. I have a lot more planned in that universe. When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author? I don't know if it was a conscious decision, exactly. I was telling stories before I could write or read. When I was about four, I would get the other kids from around the apartment complex and make up stories for them. Usually, it was something I'd seen on TV and then added in a giant squid or spacheships and monsters. Both Captain Kirk and Captain Steubing have the distinction of being eaten by a giant squid in my childhood stories. When did you first feel that you were an author? Oh, I'm not certain. What does an author feel like? I can mention something that came full circle for me, though, a little triumph, if you will. I was able to send some of my anthologies to a teacher who'd encouraged me to write in school. There weren't many teachers like that for me, so I was very pleased to be able to tell her "thanks". What was your first professional sale? How did it feel when you received the acceptance? Well, that's sort of a tricky one. See, when I was about fourteen, I sent a poem off to one of those big poetry anthologies that promises huge prizes and endless prestige. Sometime later, I got a letter from them saying my poem had been accepted. I think I actually screamed. I was just enormously thrilled. I thought it was my first professional sale. And then of course after a while, I found out that everyone's poems were accepted. I could have sent them my laundry list. My first REAL pro sale was a short story ("The Vampire's Burden") to an anthology called HORRORS! 365 SCARY STORIES. I don't think I screamed that time. Or at least not as much. Are you for or against e-books? I think it's a technology with a lot of potential, but generally speaking, they're not enjoyable for me to read just on a physical level. I'm not against them. Are you a music fan? If so, what? Oh, man, I am SUCH a music fan. My tastes are pretty varied but the main thing I listen to when I write is Nine Inch Nails, whether I'm working on something funny, horrific, romantic, whatever. It doesn't matter. It's just the best music for helping me focus and making my inner critic shut the hell up. But I also listen to this really fantastic band called The Friends of Dean Martinez who play this gorgeous, haunting, surreal guitar stuff. Also in rotation on the CD player are: Tool, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Beethoven, Debussy, Puccini, Concrete Blonde, The Platters, Delerium... I used to have a Hank Williams CD, too, but I think my Rob Zombie CD hunted it down and killed it. Do you have a favourite place to write? I write in the car. I write in the shower. Quite often when you see me staring blankly into space, I'm actually writing. Then I come and sit down at my computer and start typing. I also carry pen and paper with me everywhere I go, as well as a little digital voice recorder in case something comes to me in the middle of the produce aisle at the local market. Why do you like SF/F/H? A lot of times when I read a review of a SF/F/H movie or book, the reviewer will call it "escapist" or dismiss the work as "escapism". For me, the appeal isn't so much to escape reality but to transform it... to show the little magical bits that exist hidden under the grime of the mundane. Or maybe the grime itself is magical. What book are you reading at the moment? It's a book about these pink dolphins that live in the Amazon River basin. I'm really fascinated by almost anything to do with the water. Did you know there are these tiny little catfish in the Amazon called candiru which are attracted to urine? So if you take a leak in the water, they swim RIGHT UP your urethra and LODGE themselves in there with these spines. Is that not the weirdest coolest thing?! Have you won any awards for your writing? My stories have won a couple of readers polls, which is very nice, I think. It's nice to see that people have enjoyed a particular story, especially if it's one that's near and dear to my heart. If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be? I'd tell them to not be too concerned with whatever advice I gave them. If you get ten writers together, chances are you'll get ten different opinions on just about anything. You can drive yourself bonkers trying to sort out who has the correct viewpoint on anything from career advancement to character development to what font to use when printing out your manuscript. That isn't to say there isn't a time to seek advice, or that you shouldn't do your research. But it's just as important, I feel, to enjoy yourself and just WRITE. Get the words down, you know? Advice on any particular matter won't do you much good until you've written enough to know that you need advice in the first place. What's your main ambition? I just want to tell a good story, have some fun, and if I make a living at it, all the better. Plug away - what do you have coming out? I'm one-half of a two-author collection of vampire stories coming out from DNA Publications. That one's been in the works for a while. I'm not sure when it'll be out. I have a few SF poems coming out in The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, and a few vampire works in Dreams of Decadence. It sure seems like I write a lot of vampire stuff, doesn't it? Really, there's more than that. For anyone who's interested, I have a monthly newsletter with updates, news, and story excerpts (http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/inherelement), and readers can check my site (link below). Many Thanks, Tippi Relevant Links Tippi N. Blevins Short Story Guide Tippi N. Blevins's Web Site