Greetings and Salutations from East Tennessee

LauraJUnderwood

Silly Author Person
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
258
Location
East Tennessee
Hello,

Laura J. Underwood here.

I just joined this forum (it's Teresa Edgerton's fault, if you must know... ;-) ) and thought I would drop in and say hello.

I would show you the way to my webpage, but apparently the links are forbidden until I post enough to prove I am not a spammer. ;-)

Oh, well. If you're curious, you can put my name into google, and if you enclose it in quotes, my webpage should be the first thing there--I am currently getting it redesigned by a friend and fan (who was for a time my editor's assistant) as well, so one day it will be shiney and new.

In the meantime, for your entertainment (amusement and/or information) I was born and raised here in East Tennessee (where I still live and work as a librarian when I am not writing). I started publishing short fiction in 1987 when Marion Zimmer Bradley bought one of my short stories for SWORD & SORCERESS V. Since then, I have written and sold seven novels, several short story collection, a few novellas, a large number of short stories and articles and a ton of book reviews (for a time, I was a freelance journalist for a local newspaper as well). In fact, I sold my first article when I was still in my teens, so I guess I have been writing stuff that people want to publish for about 30+ years.

My first novel, ARD MAGISTER was published by Yard Dog Press back in 2002. My latest novel is DRAGON'S TONGUE, book 1 of "The Demon-Bound" Duology published by Meisha Merlin back in July. I have another novel, THE HOUNDS OF ARDAGH forthcoming from Five Star Press at the end of September, a Mystery novel (a collaboration with my first editor Selina Rosen) titled BAD LANDS forthcoming from Five Star Press some time next year, and a couple more due out down the road.

Oh, and when I am not writing or working in the library, I am generally playing with beads, drawing, reading and fencing as a member of the SFWA Musketeers.

So Howdy from East Tennessee...

Laura J. Underwood
Author of DRAGON'S TONGUE
 
Hi, Laura! Welcome to the Chronicles. It's always great to have a new author join in, both for their insights as reader/fan and for their invaluable advice to aspiring writers. So welcome aboard, and I look forward to seeing you around...
 
I'm more than happy to take the bla-- er, credit for luring you in.

Take off your shoes, make yourself a mint julep, and settle in for a spell.
 
Welcome Laura.

Any friend of Teresa's is a friend of mine..I think?..<Insert cheeky grin>

So a nice easy question to start with:

Who are some of your major literary influences?

I'm a fairly keen fantasy fan of both the old and the new in addition to having a slight predilection I'm told towards the Horror Genre and pulp fiction (Weird Tales), so anything in that or other mainstream literature ala Dickens, Bronte etc... would be of particular interest to this particular bibliophile....:)

Hope you enjoy your stay!
 
Tennessee eh? My mother's name is Laura and she is also a librarian, she doesn't write though...But she can strike mortal fear into the hearts of the foolish. Anyway, welcome! Have some hospitality! We've got enough to spare in Mississippi...
 
GOLLUM said:
Welcome Laura.

Any friend of Teresa's is a friend of mine..I think?..<Insert cheeky grin>

So a nice easy question to start with:

Who are some of your major literary influences?

I'm a fairly keen fantasy fan of both the old and the new in addition to having a slight predilection I'm told towards the Horror Genre and pulp fiction (Weird Tales), so anything in that or other mainstream literature ala Dickens, Bronte etc... would be of particular interest to this particular bibliophile....:)

Hope you enjoy your stay!

That list would be longer than this forum...

But, just to touch on a few, Edgar A. Poe, C. S. Lewis, Barbara Hambly, the Gracious Ms. Edgerton, Alexander Key...

Oddly, I started out reading horse books and mythology and fairytale books, then Mom let me have a bunch of her old gothic novels (yeah, those old ones with the woman in the nightgown fleeing through the dark of a castle, a manor house or just across a swamp) when I was in my teens, so there were writers like Mary Stewart and Joseph Shearing and Shirley Jackson on my list, but I was also reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, lots of mythology from various cultures, Rudyard Kipling, Shakespeare--pretty much whatever I could get my hands on.

I moved into SF in my teens as well (my dad had all the Kenneth Roberson Doc Savage books, and I actually loved those, though as a child I was reading Heinlein and Norton), Mysteries (started out with Ellery Queen and Mickey Spillane and moved into Ngaio Marsh, Dick Francis, Peter Lovesey and others) and eventually, I discovered Fritz Leiber and others.

My current reads are varied. I do a lot of childrens programming now in my new position (First Assistant at a branch library) so childrens books are a focus, but on my beside stand, I currently have a copy of McKillip's SONG FOR THE BASILISK (I've been treading through her books), Ellen Kushner's THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SWORD (which I just started) and Hillari Bell's THE WIZARD TEST (Bell is a librarian who writes YA fantasy and SF).

And in true librarian fashion, "Does that answer your question?" :)

Laura J. Underwood
Author of DRAGON'S TONGUE
 
the smiling weirwood said:
Tennessee eh? My mother's name is Laura and she is also a librarian, she doesn't write though...But she can strike mortal fear into the hearts of the foolish. Anyway, welcome! Have some hospitality! We've got enough to spare in Mississippi...

Yeah, us mean scarry old librarians are everywhere... :)

Laura J. Underwood
Author of DRAGON'S TONGUE
 
Nesacat said:
Meowrr Laura; here's a cookie and some chocolate to go with that mint julep. And a cushion for that chair. All comfy? Now tell us what you like to read ;) Welcome.

See list above. :)

I like fantasy.

I like mystery.

I like YA fantasy.

I even like the occasional literary novel.

Being a librarian means I read across the boards. Have to keep up with the popular stuff in order to be able to make recommendations to patrons.

But Fantasy and Mystery are my first loves as a reader.

Laura J. Underwood
Author of DRAGON'S TONGUE
 
Welcome Laura J. Underwood. You will find some of the friendliest bunch of people on this site. Enjoy.
 
LauraJUnderwood said:
I do a lot of childrens programming now in my new position (First Assistant at a branch library) so childrens books are a focus

I didn't know about the promotion -- congratulations! And doing children's programming sounds like it would be fun. When I worked in a library, in a far more humble capacity, I used to find excuses to shelve books in the children's section.

I'm glad you're reading McKillip; she's a particular favorite of mine. Unfortunately, there's never much discussion of her work around here. Maybe you and I could get some sparkling dialogue going in a McKillip thread.

(And we have an edit function on these forums -- which doesn't last forever, but can still be useful -- and other features, so that you don't have to make a whole string of posts like you did above. Actually, we have a lot more bells and whistles here than at any of the forums we used to frequent together. The vBulletin software is fabulous and gives you a lot of options.)
 

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