LA Jacob: 00:00:08 Hi, and welcome to Small Publishing in a Big Universe, the middle of November in the NaNoWriMo episode, many of us here are in the midst of our national novel writing months projects. If you don't know what that is, it's when you have 30 days to write 50,000 words. Piece of cake, right? For more information, go to N A N O W R I M O.org.
This month we have author Morgan Chalut talking about her first published novel Seeker, which is book one of the Unwoven Tapestry series. Coming from our sponsors this month; just in time for your holiday shopping, from Paper Angel Press and author Michael Thal comes a fictionalized memoir about a deaf woman who refuses to let the challenges in her life stop her from living a fulfilling life. Water Dragon Publishing has two novels coming out this month, Bubbles of Time by Lorna Hopkins Keith is a follow up to her novel City Fall. Second Sky Chase, the first book in the Flight of Ships series by Lauren Masuda is a young adult fantasy novel that will transport you to a vast world of airborne ships and floating islands. And in the Dragon Gem Series comes Third Time’s the Charm by Stephen D. Brewer. When an air ship is hijacked by pirates, a young man with a secret loses his mentor and his future. There are also audio books featured this month.
LA Jacob: 00:01:48 Shelby McDougal is facing a mountain of student debt and a memory that she’d just as soon forget. An ad asking for a surrogate mother offers her away to erase the loans and write her karmic place in the cosmos. From author Nancy Wood comes the Shelby MacDougal Mysteries. Now available in audio editions narrated by Jen Broda. Listen to Nancy Wood's suspenseful world solving mysteries of kidnappings, stolen fertility, genetic experimentation, and surrogate motherhood. The Shelby McDougal series Due Date, The Stork and The Found Child, in addition to Treasure Hunt, a Shelby McDougal story, all written by Nancy Wood and Read for You by Jen Broda are available in audio additions from Audible, Amazon and Apple iTunes.
Welcome back to the interview portion of our program.
This month we have Morgan Chalut who will be telling us about her new book Seeker, which is the first book of the Unwoven Tapestry series. This is Morgan's first published novel and we're excited to have her with us today to share that experience. We discuss why and how she wrote it and who she wants to play the main character in her movie.
LA Jacob: 00:03:16 With me, I have Morgan Chalut who is the author of Seeker, which is the first book in the Unwoven Tapestry series. So Hi Morgan.
Hey, how are you?
LA Jacob: Good, how are you?
Morgan Chalut: 00:03:29 I'm fantastic.
LA Jacob: 00:03:30 The first question is, what is your most recent book about?
Morgan Chalut: 00:03:34 I'm gonna say the short of it is that the book is about loss and gain and ultimately the never ending need to recognize your bias and the blinders that you put on around the functioning of society.
LA Jacob: 00:03:47 Is your book part of a series and if so, what is the whole series about?
Morgan Chalut: 00:03:52 Yes, it is part of a series. Seeker is the first book, the second is Hunter, and the third is Magus. That is a trilogy and hopefully I will get to turn it into a quartet with a companion piece. We'll see. But the overarching series is about reassessment of your worldview and it's about never taking for granted your bias and privilege and making sure that you take off your blinders. Things are not as they appear.
LA Jacob: 00:04:17 What is your favorite character in the book?
Morgan Chalut: 00:04:20 See, that's hard man.
LA Jacob: 00:04:22 <laugh>. It's hard to choose one child, isn't it?
Morgan Chalut: 00:04:25 It's, it's, I mean, we all have our favorite children. Um, so Whitman, Whitman is a lot of fun. He actually just like brought himself on the scene and yeah, like I said, I was writing it and then just suddenly this character appeared and started talking and being very entertaining and I was like, okay. So he's a lot of fun. Definitely his dialogue can be something of a trial cuz he's a lot smarter than me but <laugh>. But he's fun. But I will say my main character, Donovan really is a joy to write. He, I just love his flaws and his, the virtues and stuff that he's got and, and I'm, I'm really proud of the work that I've put into him and how he's developed. So it feels good to write him and feels like he's a real person.
LA Jacob: 00:05:05 What is your f favorite scene or do you have a favorite scene in the book?
Morgan Chalut: 00:05:11 I do actually. I'm a big, I'm very demisexual myself. I like to have a relationship with someone before any kind of like romantic stuff comes up. And so I, I really love platonic relationships and I don't feel like we see enough of that in media of any flavors. So there's a scene where the job title that Donovan, my main character has is a retriever. They go out and pick up the kids that show magic and bring them to the school for magic, the Order. And there's a scene in there where a bunch of the retrievers all kind of come back at the same time and they all sit together in somebody's room and they just talk. They're coworkers but they, and they're not all especially super close because they're all on the road at different times. They each have kind of their partner partnerships. But I just really love that cuz it shows that kind of detox moment and I could have written 30 more pages of them just hanging out and just talking to the wee hours of the night.
LA Jacob: 00:06:04 What was the most difficult scene for you to write?
Morgan Chalut: 00:06:06 Generally? This started out as a writing project to get myself to prove my descriptions of stuff cause I'm not a visual thinker. So pretty much anything where there's description, especially the view, the visual nature of seeking the magic that Donovan uses, hence the title roll credits. That was tough, but I think really the one scene was the introduction of my antagonist because I probably rewrote that scene more than a dozen times and it's not published yet, so it's probably gonna be <laugh> a few more times. But I really wanted to get it right because that introduction makes a big difference and I like him. I think he is an interesting antagonist, so that's hard tough.
LA Jacob: 00:06:49 Do you write mostly novels or short stories?
Morgan Chalut: 00:06:52 I prefer to write novels cuz you couldn't tell I never ever stopped talking, so I don't understand the whole concept of less is more. I've tried to write some shorter stories, but they just keep going and it's fun and I have so much fun developing the world and the characters and everything that I, I can't <laugh>. So definitely long, long form is my game.
LA Jacob: 00:07:15 What is your work schedule while you are writing?
Morgan Chalut: 00:07:18 So I do have a regular day job, but I try, try being the keyword to write for an hour in the evenings or at least be active with my writing in the evening. So whether or not I actually put words on page if I'm doing some research or looking for artwork, things like that, and educating myself in that way. Yeah, I try to do that sometime between, you know, four and seven, just an hour. So, and then oftentimes I'll manage to write between 800 and 1500 words and you know, just kind of a chunk and it feels good to get that on paper.
LA Jacob: 00:07:51 What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
Morgan Chalut: 00:07:55 So I'd say that, so plots are my bane. I really struggle with plots. I am, as far as plotters or pantsers go, I am 100% a pantser. This book started out as a writing exercise, so, and then it just developed and then I was like, oh. And then I got to the end and I was like, apparently it wants to be more than one book. I honestly, I'd say my quirk is that I like to start with either an emotion, I'm a very emotional thinker and processor, or I'll start with a character like a scene and I'll build off of that, but what do I want to see and kind of get into that way.
LA Jacob: 00:08:29 Would you want your book to be made into a movie and who would star in it?
Morgan Chalut: 00:08:33 So I think generally speaking, the idea of a movie is always exciting and delightful, but I think these days we all kind of want our session, Megan, to a show so there's more time to kind of explore and ex explore Oh, a TV show.
LA Jacob: 00:08:44 Okay.
Morgan Chalut: 00:08:45 Yeah. You know, mini, mini series. Yeah. So you know, more time to explore the world and get all those little scenes and dialogue pieces in. So yes, I would, as far as who would play, who would star in it, I'd have to say probably Donald Glover, but like 30 years from now, because Donald's older now, he, he is in his sixties. Right. I love Donald Glover. I think he's fantastic. So I think he'd do a good job.
LA Jacob: 00:09:07 How was your publishing experience?
Morgan Chalut: 00:09:09 It's been fantastic. Water Dragon Publishing, been very responsive and we have a regular kind of sense of humor back and forth that is very easy to turn into a more serious discussion of stuff that needs to be addressed right away. So it's been great. Everybody's been really fantastic and, and like I said, very communicative, so I'm very excited to, to be working with them.
LA Jacob: 00:09:29 Now how can people contact you?
Morgan Chalut: 00:09:31 Uh, you can contact me
[email protected]. That is where I'm taking all of my comments, questions, political statements, et cetera.
LA Jacob: 00:09:40 And where can they find your book?
Morgan Chalut: 00:09:42 You can find Seeker on the Water Dragon publishing website, water dragon publishing.com, and you can also find
[email protected]. That's C H A L U T, curse the French, which we'll probably redirect you to Water Dragon Publishing. But you can see pictures of my dogs. So
LA Jacob: 00:09:59 Thank you very much for your time.
Morgan Chalut: 00:10:01 Absolutely. Thank you so much for yours. It was a pleasure.
LA Jacob: 00:10:18 Bubbles of Time is a follow up to Lorna Hopkins Keith's novel CityFall. When Janni's mind talent leads her to space, she discovers other human colonies and a threat to them all on the world of Peace, Janni must persuade her clan of the danger and move the colonists from another planet to her world on the planet. Starview leader Simon LA facing earthquakes and water and food shortages after their disastrous move from the dying city, foresees a coming menace and faces the daunting task of convincing her people to move to another world. When aliens attack Peace, Janni must convince the Watchers who have programmed Jan's clan to replace them, that her clan should remain Human. Bubbles of Time by Lorna Hopkins Keith is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Cobo smash words and other online book sellers, or support your local independent bookstores by ordering it through bookshop.org or indiebound.org. For more information, visit water dragon publishing.com/bubbles of time.
LA Jacob: 00:11:41 Thanks again to our guest, Morgan Chalut, author of Seeker. We plan on publishing new episodes every second Wednesday of the month. Watch for new episodes around that time. Next time we will have Lisa Jacob. Oh, that's me--talking about her book, Carnival Farm. Music is provided by Melody Loops, additional sound effects by NASA. If you want to know more about small publishing in a big universe, visit our website at S p B u-podcast.com. Tweet us at S P B U dash podcast and like us on Facebook at SPBU dash podcast. This podcast was recorded and edited by yours truly, LA Jacob. This month's episode was sponsored by Paper Angel Press and its imprints Water Dragon Publishing and Unruly Voices. You can hear our podcasts on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music. Thank you everyone for listening and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 4 00:12:48 Three modern empires clash. One will fall while Charlie and Kappa are in China. Seeking help from Charlie's formal martial arts master Anne Perrin must decide if a new faction of vampires in San Francisco created from her own genetically modified blood are worth sparing, or if they're simply adding to the growing vampire scourge from author Ryan Southwick comes Angels fall. Book three of the Zec Chronicles. Dive into the epic urban fantasy and science fiction series that readers say is powerful, has enough intensity and inventiveness for three books all by itself and surprises and satisfies with every hairpin turn. The Zec Chronicles are written by Ryan Southwick, published by Water Dragon Publishing and available from all your favorite retailers, including amazon.com, apple Books, Barnes and Noble and Cobo.
Speaker 6 00:14:02 This is my shift, dammit, and I'm not going to let an infinite stream of gurgling inner space move magic, turn my home. Tore it though it is into a piece of drifting junk with a gaping hole where the escape pod used to be.
