LSQ Editor and long-time supporter Tara Calaby is our featured author interview today!
Hello Tara! First off, please tell us a bit about yourself. Have any super powers or secret talents?
I’m British-Australian, which means that people often ask me whether I’m from New Zealand. I live in Melbourne, Australia with my fiancée and I can spot a grocer’s apostrophe at one hundred paces.
Can you tell us a bit about what inspired your story in the anthology?
I wanted to tell a big story in a tiny number of words. The setting just gives away my own fascination with all things space-related.
What have you been up to lately? Do you have any books out right now? Are you working on anything new?
I’m an Assistant Editor for the lovely Luna Station Quarterly, which takes up time in the most enjoyable of ways. I have a short story about to come out in Grimdark Magazine, and another slated for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine towards the end of the year. Oh, and I’ve just finished (well, pending a thesis mark) my second Masters degree.
I’m always fascinated by where and how people work. What is your writing setup like? Any tools you enjoy using?
I have a dedicated computer for writing and editing, which helps me to keep my focus where it needs to be. I use Scrivener if I’m writing on the computer, but I do a lot of writing in longhand as well. I have to work at a very tidy desk because I distract easily, and I rarely listen to music while writing, for the same reason.
My fiancée is a writer as well, so she makes for a great first reader. (For the sake of our relationship, however, I probably shouldn’t call her an enjoyable tool…)
Most writers are lifelong readers and books tend to be important to them. What books or stories have most influenced your life (genre stories or otherwise)?
I love the classics and my favourite authors are Jane Austen and Emile Zola, but I read a lot of genre fiction as well. I gobbled up all of Stephen King’s novels when I was a teenager, and I have enormous collections of Sweet Valley and Dragonlance books. I’m also a huge Marvel fan and I’m currently reading through their back catalogue in chronological order.
Where can we learn more about you and your writing?
My website can be found at http://www.taracalaby.com
Thanks Tara! We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for your upcoming publications!
If you’re intrigued by the inspiration behind “Air”, consider getting yourself a copy of “The Best of Luna Station Quarterly: The First Five Years” and read it for yourself, along with the other forty-nine awesome stories and gorgeous cover art by Julie Dillon.