Author Interview with Tamara Wilhite
Tamara Wilhite is a science fiction and horror author, engineer, and mother of 2 (humans). Check out Tamara’s Amazon Author Page and see her on Hubpages.
Please tell me a little about your current
work in progress.
I have a
weekly column with Liberty Island Magazine. I’ve recently been interviewing
science fiction and horror authors for that publication. This year, I started
publishing book reviews and author interviews with N3F or National
Fantasy Fan Federation, as well.
Then
there’s the steady stream of work for clients. I write everything from frugal
living articles to real estate copy to “what do I do about this error message
on my smart fridge?” Projects like that sometimes spawn ideas for my fictional
works or my technical columns.
Where did you get the idea for this book
or series?
In the
case of Liberty Island Magazine, I asked if they were interested in speculative
nonfiction articles. The editor asked for examples, and I literally sent him
half a dozen. What are the hidden problems with self-driving cars that I see as
an engineer? Why have we almost forgotten the entire genre set on the bottom of
the ocean?
I watch
and read sci-fi and wonder about things like this. They liked the variety and
the fact that I could generate so many such pieces.
Do you write in more than one genre?
I write
everything except mystery and romance. Technical writing pays the bills. Science
fiction and horror are a passion of mine.
How I
ended up in technical writing is its own story. In college, I knew I could
write and survive engineering. I chose a bachelor’s degree in industrial
engineering. I ended up writing engineering reports or assembly instructions
for a production line I’d designed.
The
company I worked for at the time was rolling out shop floor data management
software. I took it upon myself to read the 800 page manual. I took notes, too.
I gave my opinion on software configuration for routers and work instructions.
It was a
group joke that I had actually asked for the manual to take home and read in a
weekend and had actually done so. After all, I had my notes to prove it.
The
Monday of the software launch, I was besieged by shop floor workers desperate
for help. “I heard you read the user manual. Can you help me?” I said I’d try.
“Can you tell me how to log in to log my time?” Yes, I could do that. (The
company spent so much time selling to stakeholders it forgot to ensure they
knew the basics.) Then I wrote how to references for each job title.
A week
later, an IT manager came in angry that I had released unauthorized software documentation.
He was holding a print out of one of my references; they’d been forwarded
across the company, and someone had called the helpdesk referencing it.
My
defense? Work was at a standstill on the shop floor, and I was helping them do
their jobs. Why hadn’t people called the help desk? They had, but it was
overwhelmed with calls. My boss said, “Tamara, you’re in the wrong department.
I’m reassigning you.” I worked there for a decade before becoming a freelancer.
Tell me about something that you believe
makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.
Nearly
every story starts with a headline or discovery. The story is my extrapolation
of where it can and will go given human nature. If positive or neutral, it is
science fiction. If negative, it is horror.
Is there anything about your personal
history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?
Barring
my rare werewolf or ghost story, they are all a technical professional’s
thought experiment - and thus plausible.
What else would be helpful for readers to
know about you?
Positive,
uplifting science fiction led me to become an engineer. I wanted to help create
that future I saw. In my professional opinion, one reason we have to push kids
into STEM today is because of how dark and depressing most of the modern young
adult science fiction is. Bring back “Ringworld”, “Foundation”, and
“Dragonriders of Pern”. You’ll get working fusion and affordable nanotech in a
generation. Just look at the list of real life inventions Star Trek led to –
and give them more material to work with.
Excluding your own work, what underrated
author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?
A
masterpiece of the science fiction writing craft is “In Conquest Born” by Celia
S. Friedman. The interrelationships between
characters and the evolution of the main characters as they wage a personal and
empire wide war are amazing.
I’d add Octavia
Butler’s “Xenogenesis” series. It is an excellent look at a truly alien
species. You learn part of this from the aliens themselves, but you learn even
more through its human hybrids. (We’re a captive species they’re saving from
extinction, so we don’t have much choice in the matter.) Ethical quandaries, truly
alien aliens and pushing the limits of what it means to be human, it pushes the
limits of imagination.
Which of your books do you most highly
recommend? Why?
“Humanity’s
Edge.” With a dozen short stories, you’re going to like something in it. It is
available as an ebook and audio book.
Which break, event, decision, or
fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?
I sent a
dark sci-fi story to a horror editor by mistake. And he responded! The story is
that he was looking at vampire stories, ghost stories, mundane stuff for him …
and here’s a story about death by nanites. It got points for being different.
He asked
if I meant to submit it to their science fiction magazine or if he could
publish it. I said if you’ll publish it, I don’t care what publication it is in.
I ended up in half a dozen or more horror publications that way. This is why
many of my first published short stories are in horror anthologies, not science
fiction ones.
All of
this was before I began freelance technical writing for pay. That career path
sprung from my day job.
What question do you wish you would get
asked more often?
What do
we need to do to inspire more engineers and scientists? Alternatively, how do
we turn science fiction into science fact?
Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you
like? What is it? And why do you choose it?
Nobody
realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. -
Albert Camus. That quote often feels like a summary of my life.
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