Tell us a little bit about you outside of being an author. My mother referred to me as her “midlife crisis,” as she was 40 years old when I was born. My siblings were adults with their own families, so unless my mother was baby sitting some of her grandchildren, I spent most of my free time alone. This isolation forced me to come up with ways to keep myself occupied with reading and writing. I suppose you could say the loneliness helped fuel an already active imagination and writing allowed me to express any pinned up frustration and stifle any psychopathic tendencies.

Since my parents never received a diploma past the 8^th grade, they never encouraged me to go to college and my high school my guidance counselor didn’t bother to make the suggestion either. It took a nephew with a lot of faith in my abilities and doped up on drugs to help me decide what I wanted to do with my life. After prayer and supplication, I decided my calling, outside of writing, was education, and I became the first person in my family to graduate from college.

It was during my childhood that I developed an interest in theology and mythology. Whenever I took a notion to go to the public library’s Humanities section, I would lounge there reading for hours. I began to create characters in my head, based on the myths and religious stories I held so dear. By the time I was twelve years old, my mother “got hipped” to my passion. Eventually, the librarians knew my mother and me by name, for when ever I was gone for too long – if I lost track of time – my mother would call the Humanities direct line and request (demand) that they send my “lil’ black ass home.”

On a personal level, I would venture to say that I’m fiercely loyal to family and friends. When I love (agape or romantic), I love hard. My best friend says I am passive, but complicated. Family members would disagree, as I am rarely ever passive and too damn crazy to be complicated. My students are convinced I am painfully honest; when it is necessary-but I am humble enough to admit when I am wrong. I don’t feel everyone needs to see things “my way,” for I love diversity and respect that others’ have a viewpoint outside of mine. I enjoy breaking down society’s discriminatory boundaries. While society continues to pigeonholes darker ethnicities, I remain defiant, refusing to be put in a box.

Tell us a little bit about your work in progress and/or your upcoming release. I have too many irons in the fire. It’s interesting because I write fiction and nonfiction. Currently I am revising one of my non-fiction books where I parallel urban education with classical literature. This research/interview piece compares my students to Odysseus, King of Ithaca. Here, the urban “ghetto” becomes an island, and the students who reside there become the heroes of their own “myths,” since most of the teachers I’ve worked with in the inner city seem to think all these kids do is lie or exaggerate their life experiences. Forgive me for being cynical. I just feel so honored that my kids were so willing to share their lives with me. For the first time in a long time, we don’t focus on the racial perspective as much as we offer an evaluation of the socio-economic issues urban students face.

How many years of professional writing experience (if any) do you have? What have you written? I began writing professionally during my third undergrad year in college. I wrote speeches, poetry, and literature reviews on issues in education. Finally, my novel, MINERVA, was published in 2008. My goal is to find a literary agent willing to represent the horror/fantasy series I am writing. I manipulate writing boundaries and genres, as I blend religion, myth, and folklore into a series about a female werewolf and her mythological (some considered “holy”) companions – all of whom represent each world culture. This series has taken me years to research, organize, and write. Three of the manuscripts in the series are completed and currently being edited.

Do you have an occupation in addition to being a writer? If so, what is it? For the past 10 years I have been: an English teacher, an administrator, a project coordinator, and curriculum specialist. In fact, I researched, outlined, and drafted my horror/fantasy series while teaching grades 6, 9, 10. Now, I work as an educational consultant, ghostwriter, editor, accreditation coach, and professional development coordinator for private elementary, middle, and high schools in Wisconsin.

What credentials establish you as an expert in your field or have contributed to your success as an author? I have a B.S. in Secondary Education – English and an M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin. Interestingly enough, I don’t consider my college education as my “credentials”. I am an expert in my field and a successful writer only when readers and other writers acknowledge me as such. Right now, I’m a baby at this profession, and I’m humble to the issues a writer must deal with when thrown into the mix with true talented professionals. I have a long way to go before I get to where I want to be.

About the Book

What was your motivation for writing this book? The idea just came to me one day as I was watching a news program about a young transgendered Latino who was beaten to death in Texas because of intolerance. Before I knew it, I had the whole novel outlined and drafted. One evening, as I sat beside my dying mother (she passed away September 2007), I read my manuscript to her aloud as I made some corrections. My mother told me, “You know what? You better publish that book.” The demand in her voice made me laugh. She was so serious, even as she lay in that hospice dying from cancer. She made me promise that I would not quit until MINERVA was published and on the book shelves.

It’s published; it’s on the shelves in the Milwaukee Public Library here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now, I have to see to it that it hits the shelves of other booksellers, so my work isn’t done. But, I am keeping my promise…

Tell us some of the factors that make your book unique. It tells a story from the perspective of a woman who doesn’t realize her own power and influence. She wants so much to give something substantial to her students and to her friends, but she has no idea what she needs to make herself complete. Generally, books about African American females are far from “questioning,” even when the main character is clueless, she’s always knowledgeable. Here, we have a goddess who completely clueless about her own self-worth. Also, this book isn’t just a bunch of erotic episodes strung together to get readers aroused. It is literary fiction, filled with analogies, metaphors, and religious symbolism that a college professor of literature would have a ball teaching if given the opportunity.

What is the single most important thing that readers of your book will be able to do after reading your book that they could not do before? If I just had to come up with something, I suppose, I would have to say a reader who has the tendency to make assumptions based on ethnicity, sexuality, and/or level of education may come away from MINERVA far more disillusioned by the human condition (Yeah, you know you wanna ask me what the hell that means…).

Is there local or regional relevance for your book? Definitely. The story takes place in Houston, Texas. Now, what’s interesting about this is the fact that Houston is considered one of the “more liberal” cities in Texas, which you know is sitting at the big-ass-buckle of the Bible Belt. Here we have this black woman from Wisconsin – a Yankee-Nigger (as I was once called by a toothless East-Texan back in the 90’s) – who moves south and chooses to deal with the cultural idiocy of a modern day confederacy. What’s ironic about my choice of setting is the fact that it is a backwards experience. The crap Minerva and her friends deal with in Texas would be tolerated in the north a lot quicker than in the south. I am waiting for one of my readers to attempt to explain why I chose to write the story with such “regional confusion.”

What emotions does your book evoke from readers? Some readers have told me the book made them sad. When they realized that there are people out there in the real world who deal with what Diego had to suffer through in order to survive it breaks their hearts. Others have said MINERVA made them feel empowered, because for the first time they were able to see that there is nothing wrong with being different and a little confused from time to time. Most of my readers just tell me the book was funny as hell and they can’t wait to read the sequel so they can laugh their asses off through three or four hundred more pages of goofiness. As long as everyone’s happy…

Are there any controversial elements in your book? The whole damn book is controversial. The main character is a black woman who prefers Rock and Country music over Rap or R&B. She’s never had sex, although she’s beatin’ the hell out of 40 (years old), and she’s not even sure why, although she thinks it’s because she may be bi-sexual. She has a best friend, a Latino, who has the sensuality of Aphrodite – and that means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING at first, because you have to finish the book and have knowledge of mythology just in order to figure out why…

Let’s see – controversial:

• You have students trying to molest their teachers…
• A teacher who is a homophobe…
• A school administrator and Air Force veteran who is a rapist and a closet bi-sexual…
• A principal who is a blatant racist…
• Janitors who fight in front of students…
• Teachers who threaten, and make good on their threats, to beat the hell out of students…
• White students calling black students stupid…
• Black students calling white students “racist, punk ass bitches”…
• A student beating his classmates with his Bible…
• An “uneducated” African American woman with the I.Q. of Marilyn (Mach) Vos Savant…

I would go on but I’ve seem to have given myself a slight headache…

In researching your book, did you come across any surprising facts, figures or statistics? …Hum…I did, but I don’t think I should say too much because it would spoil it for those who have not read the book yet. What I did find most interesting is that there are a significant number of male rape victims. Yeah – victims – and the worst part is, the fear they go through, knowing what they will have to face if they report it, and what will continue to happen if they don’t. We talk about how women are victimized all the time. Rarely do we ever have valid discussions about what men have to go through. Here’s another example, did you know, there are a significant number of males in the nursing profession who are victimized each year by female nurses? Yeah! I said it – FEMALE NURSES! The men in this field are the minority, and they get abused regularly by the women they work with and they never say a thing because of the fear of looking “like a punk” or being called “a lil’ bitch.” It turns my stomach to know that we as a society make a big deal out of everything female and because sexism ruled the world for so long, men in our society now feel compelled to keep their mouths shut and “just deal with it,” whatever they are abused or unfairly treated. The hypocrisy – man, that’s the kinda mess that makes me want to take a fart and bust the moon…

If your book were for sale in a major bookstore, in what section would it be found? Most likely it would be in the “chick lit” section, literary fiction, or in African American fiction.

What did you learn while writing this book? I have always been a painfully uptight person. It got to the point where I would get on my own nerves, I would be so up-in-arms about certain things. After writing, editing, and publishing MINERVA, I’ve learned one of the most important lessons of my little pitiful life. Regardless of the severity of a situation, there will always be some part of it that somebody will find amusing. Laugh with them and get over it. Hell, some shit is just funny, no matter how you look at it…

What one thing about writing do you wish other non-writers would understand? I wish non-writers would understand that we do not consider writing “a hobby,” to do only once in a while, when we have time. If I hear, “that’s not a viable profession” one more time I’m goin’ to jail (that’s a special warning to my honey…)! For a writer, writing is a part of life that cannot be pushed to the side. It’s like breathing. Writer’s Block is the single most damaging condition of a writer’s psyche. Without our words, we cannot function normally. That’s why we get on so many people’s damn nerves. When you see a writer flippin’ out because of Writer’s Block, give his/her ass something to write about – hell! If only somebody had punched a bitch in the face or something! A black eye would have been less painful than Writer’s Block…

What are three things you wish you’d known before you reached where you are now? Nothing is as painful as losing the most important person in your life. Say “I’m sorry” and “I love you,” a lot… Even when nobody’s listening, somebody [God] is listening… Nobody else gives a damn, so shut-the-hell-up and write it down!

What would you like your readers to take away from your book? Every book you put your heart and soul into will be different from every other book. No one can duplicate what God has given you. My work has me written all over it, so even if you read a book about another black woman with a Latino best friend who lives in Texas, you won’t ever have another MINERVA. For my readers, if you want to take anything away from the book, walk away with this reality: each person is special and deserves to be loved, no matter how messed up, retarded, or crazy we think they are. If you are a Butchy, Beasty, Bi-polar Bitch, so damn what! Trust in this – there will be somebody out there who will be crazy enough to love yo’ manly, scary, wishy-washy, hateful ass eventually. And, when it finally happens, write about it.

If you could change one thing you did during your road to publication, what would it be and what would you have done different? Note to self – I am a human being, not a dumb ass coyote waiting to be outsmarted by a bleepin’ bird… Translation: I would not have taken the whole writing and publishing process so personal or seriously. It is a game really. You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out. I spent too much time being depressed and crying over things that could not be controlled. Valuable writing time and heartfelt learning experiences were lost because of it. I would be more positive and I would definitely be willing to go at things on my own instead of waiting for someone else to drop the anvil on my head.

What advice would you give an aspiring author? Read daily, write hourly, and pray every minute. The minute you stop trying and give up, you will fail….I don’t care if someone “discovers” you and wants to publish your stuff. If you’ve given up on yourself and God, you’re still a failure.

Where can readers learn more about you and your books? Well, I am an educator in the state of Wisconsin, so for those who know me or those who have taken one of my English/Literature classes, like Superman says, “I’m always around.” For those who are a distance away, I’m at www.larktelarana.com; I’m logged in at GoodReads on a regular basis too. I check in on the Poets & Writers Registry, Facebook and MySpace periodically as well. I respond to emails right away (most of the time, anyway). Readers can hit me up at webmaster@larktelarana.com any time.

Please identify five recent books (with title and ISBN) that compete most directly with yours. Hummm…now that’s a good question. My book wasn’t released until June and it’s a self-published piece, so I must say it’s not even in the running with more established authors. Also, MINERVA is the only novel of its genre that I have ever written. I am a hardcore horror/fantasy writer. If you ask me how my writing relates to authors in that subject area, I could rattle them off with ease: Shawn W. Salzman, Elizabeth Lapthorne, R. L. LaFevers, Stephenie Meyer, and some day – in my dreams – Anne Rice and Tananarive Due. However, if you liked Minerva, you’ll love, Messalina: Devourer of Men, by Zetta Brown ISBN-13: 978-1905091119. That is a hot mess to say the least. I am so jealous I didn’t write it.