Lucy Harrison
Where do you live?
Ft. Pierce, Florida
Where were you raised?
England for 10 years, Colorado for 8 years
What's your favorite food?
Taco Bell's Chicken Soft Taco plus Sour Cream
How long have you been writing?
Since I took Harry Crews' fiction class in 1988
Is writing your primary occupation? If not, what do you do for a living?
No, I'm a Reference Librarian at Indian River Community College
What is your writing style? Do you write every day at a specific time?
When inspiration strikes? In sleepless binge sessions?
Whenever I can't stand not to write anymore. I jot some notes down everyday, but as for writing the actual story, I usually wait until I have the whole thing set in my mind, then write it straight down. Then make changes after it's all been set down.
What or who are some of your influences?
Harry Crews, for obvious reasons. Faulkner. Sylvia Plath. Dick Francis!
What are your (legal) drugs of choice (coffee, Pepsi, chocolate, etc.)?
Diet Coke, a good red wine
If stranded in a windowless, doorless room with nothing but a laptop, how
would you write your way out?
E-mail the police, I guess. I can't imagine I'd ever find myself in a windowless, doorless room with a laptop. I hate laptops.
James Katowich
Where do you live?
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Where were you raised?
Tucson, Arizona; Muskogee, Oklahoma; Fayetteville, Ar.
What's your favorite food?
Fruity Pebbles
How long have you been writing?
Three years, seriously; all my life for fun.
Have you been published elsewhere? If so, where?
In the Blue Penny Quarterly and Kudzu (ezines only--postage and envelopes seem so much trouble)
Is writing your primary occupation? If not, what do you do for a living?
Yes, I suppose it is, since I'm a graduate student in Fiction at
the University of Arkansas.
What is your writing style? Do you write every day at a specific time?
When inspiration strikes? In sleepless binge sessions?
I write often in my journal, fiction comes when it comes or when
it has to come.
What or who are some of your influences?
Richard Bausch, Rick Bass, Alice Munro.
What are your (legal) drugs of choice (coffee, Pepsi, chocolate, etc.)?
Fruity Pebbles seem to do it for me.
If stranded in a windowless, doorless room with nothing but a laptop, how
would you write your way out?
I would give anything to be stranded in a doorless, windowless
room. I'm like the old guy in the Twilight Zone episode who is locked in
a bank vault over the weekend and comes out to find everyone is dead. He
goes to the library and is overjoyed at the prospect of the spending the
rest of his life alone with his books. "All the time in the world!" he
cries. Unfortunately, he breaks his glasses and can't read without them.
That's what I fantasize about: bank vaults, cave-ins, desert islands,
incapacitating illnesses.
Mary Soon Lee
Where do you live?
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Where were you raised?
Putney, a suburb to the south west of London, England.
What's your favorite food?
I don't think I can pick a single
favorite. I love Indian food (samosas, chicken tikka, pakoras, lamb
curry, aloo gobhi, bombay aloo), and other favorites include chocolate
icecream, Lindt chocolate, chicken fajitas, good pizzas, melon,
satsumas, wonton soup.
How long have you been writing?
Nearly six years, if you include several rejected Star Trek: The Next Generation scripts, otherwise just under five years.
Have you been published elsewhere? If so, where?
I have had a total of twenty stories published, plus some reprints. The best known magazine I've appeared in is The Magazine of Fantasy & Science
Fiction, with a story called "Ebb Tide" in the May 95 issue. "Ebb
Tide" has qualified for next year's preliminary Nebula ballot, much to
my delight, and I have a further three stories due to appear The
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Other places my fiction has
appeared include Interzone, Deathrealm, On Spec, and Pirate Writings.
Is writing your primary occupation? If not, what do you do for a living?
I consider writing my primary vocation, but I spend more time and
make considerably more money as a computer consultant.
What is your writing style? Do you write every day at a specific time?
When inspiration strike? In sleepless binge sessions?
I only work on one story at a time. My typical story cycle goes:
several days or even weeks trying to come up with an idea I'm happy
with---a very different task from simply coming up with AN idea; I
have many of those filed away. Having committed to an idea, I spend
up to a week working intensely on the story until I have a completed
draft. After that I revise the story based on feedback from my
husband and my writers' workshop. And (shame on me) I usually take
off at least a week in between finishing one story and starting to
think about the next one.
What or who are some of your influences?
I am not sure who has influenced my writing most -- perhaps unexpected sources -- but my father was the one who taught me to love science fiction, and my two favorite authors are Jane Austen (not well known for her science fiction) and Ursula K. Le Guin.
What are your (legal) drugs of choice (coffee, Pepsi, chocolate, etc.)?
Coke, coke, coke, and chocolate from time to time.
If stranded in a windowless, doorless room with nothing but a laptop, how would you write your way out?
[No answer offered.]
