Day Unto Night by TammyJo Eckhart
Please welcome TammyJo Eckhart author of Day Unto Night
Day Unto Night
by TammyJo Eckhart
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GENRE: Vampire
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INTERVIEW
- What or who inspired you to start writing?
My mother. She wrote stories, mostly but not only children’s stories, though she was never traditionally published. She encouraged both my verbal and written storytelling. Even though she didn’t understand my first several books, which are often classified as erotica, she said she thought I had talent and she liked the stories themselves.
- How did you come up with ideas for your books?
I don’t know. I once was interviewed by a scholar who really wanted me to say that some divine force was pushing me to write. Honestly that interviewer was not doing a very good job as a scientist, from her flow of questions. While I will say that my muses push me to write, that’s me personifying a drive I have inside to create a story. I don’t believe anything outside of myself is responsible for making up the worlds my stories take place in or the characters that populate them. I draw from my studies and work as a historian, from my observations of life, from my beliefs as a Christian and a Feminist, and from my life experience and talking with others. I also take on challenges, though that generally applies to short stories more than novels.
- What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I have a PhD in ancient history with minors in folklore and the history of gender and sexuality; all of those things factor into worldcrafting, particularly with Day Unto Night, which begins in ancient Sumer. I also have decades of experience running roleplaying groups where the participants cooperate to make a story and develop characters. I believe my years of teaching helped me learn about different communication and learning styles, which aids me not only with writing situations and characters whose lives have value to the reader but also in evaluating how choices within the narrative would be realistically made. Even in the most outlandish fantasy settings, readers must be able to feel connected to what they read to invest the time to continue.
- What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
I’m a huge movie and television viewer. I was raised on television in the 1970s. I find enjoyment in that idiot box or on the silver screen. I love a bad movie that I can make fun of while I watch it, too. MST3K girl right here!
- As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I have a contract for the first four books in a series, and the first one’s due in the editor’s hands at the end of this month. The series is called Almost Partners, and it’s a mixture of social science fiction and reverse harem. Think old-fashioned feminist science fiction that’s been updated with dark romance edginess. I’m looking at how systems of inequality maintain themselves but how individuals can try to break free from them if they’re given even the smallest opportunity to do so. It’s a battle between our ideals and our reality. It won’t always be happy; in fact, it will get very dark and intense in some places, but it can also be light and sexy as heck in other places.
I’m also creating brand new fiction on my Patreon page for subscribers that only they will ever see. This is a way to motivate myself to keep writing every week and to be creative even when other parts of being an author demand my attention, like editing or marketing.
- If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?
Calypso from Day Unto Nightwould be my current choice. I can deeply understand the hardships and betrayal she overcomes and the desires she feels. I don’t know if I would have the strength to make some of the choices she makes, but I hope I could. The runner-up would be Joanna from my forthcoming series, Almost Partners, though I hope I’m not as self-righteous. The fact that she can see beyond how she was raised by her family and the society around her reflects a hope I have that all of us can see injustice if we open ourselves up to realizing it’s there.
- If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your leading roles?
Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t picture actors in my mind when I develop characters. I know many writers do that, but I’ve only done that once in a short story, and that actor was in that short story, so he was himself.
- Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?
I don’t belong to any type of writer’s group. Ever since school group projects, I’ve not been a joiner when it comes to such things. I find that there’s often an imbalance of who’s willing to do the work or give feedback. I’d rather spend that time writing or working with a beta reader or editor whom I trust.
- When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
If you mean way back when I was first published, that was in fifth grade. I had a teacher who submitted a story I wrote to the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. I didn’t even know she’d done that until she gave me back their response. After that I started submitting to local newspapers and school publications, with mixed results. I’ve never written easy-to-read work; I always write complex characters and intense stories.
My first paid story was in 1995 after a therapist said that what I was writing for her was good enough that I should send it to a publisher. I happened to meet an author who was also the head of a publishing company; she bought a story. Then she suggested I send some stories to a bigger publisher, and he contracted my first two books, both short story collections that came out in 1996 and 1997.
Day Unto Nightcame about because I asked my former literary agent where I might send a short YA book I had, and she suggested Liminal, who’d put out True You 101. Once that agent and I parted ways, I asked if Liminal might be interested in anything else, and they were.
- What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
The best advice was “Write what you know; research what you don’t.” You start where you are, and you push yourself to go beyond that. That should be part of everything in our life, not just in writing.
The worst advice was “Give it one more year.” Sometimes you need to realize sooner when it’s time to cut ties with institutions and people who aren’t giving back what you need. Life is short; keep putting yourself out there, and stop trusting so much without documentation to back it up.
- Do you outline your books or just start writing?
Am I a pantser or a plotter? I’m both. When I get a story idea, I have the ending in my mind; I know where I want the characters to end up. If there’s a government or magic system or something else that’s part of the overarching world, I’ll sketch that out as much as possible before I start writing. As I write I keep notes, and I’m not afraid to go back and revise based on the needs of development. For example, I created five families of vampires for Day Unto Nightbased on Sumerian society and language, and I knew what type of relationships I wanted to thrive; I filled in how those families functioned as I wrote so that the main characters fit into those families yet were also not firmly of them.
- Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?
My playing and running RPGs has helped a lot in terms of plotting and understanding the interaction of both cooperating and competing characters. RPGs were something I could only get into after I was married because my mother thought they were satanic. Turns out they’re really acting and group storytelling more than anything else.
- Do you have an all time favorite book?
While Octavia Butler is my favorite author, my favorite book is The Silver Metal Loverby Tanith Lee. That book showed that a hot romance could be told that also looked at serious social and personal issues at the same time, plus it had a sexy robot. That’s basically everything I want, and a lot of what I try to write myself.
- Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?
I will tell you a bit more about Almost Partners. The series is told from two viewpoints. Joanna McMillin is the heir of one of the most powerful families on a future Earth called Gaia. The challenge for her is that her ideals don’t match the society her family helped create nearly a thousand years before. The second main character is named Scott, just Scott, which should immediately tell you something about his status. He’s always seen himself as an extension of whatever woman he’s currently contracted under, whether it was his mother, the company that owns him, or possibly this weirdo Joanna, who simply won’t act like any other woman he’s ever met … until she does. The book won’t pull punches about violence or sex, but it’ll never include those just for kicks. If there’s sex, there’s a reason, and if there’s violence, there’s a reason; that reason will be to make the reader think about not just the story they’re reading but the life they live right now and the lives that may be lived here on Earth in the next fifty years, or hundred years.
- Who is your favorite actor and actress?
I don’t have a favorite actor or actress currently or in the past. I’ve never been the type of entertainment consumer who will watch something simply because an actor is in it. Even if I find them incredibly attractive, like Keanu Reeves, I may not watch everything they do, and I will turn something off if it just isn’t making me feel invested in the characters within the first 20 minutes or so.
- Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?
There isn’t a “black moment” in Day Unto Night. There are several pivot points and tough choices that the characters must make in each chapter. The chapters are part of the whole, or you can enjoy them (particularly in the first half of the book) as individual stories. Life doesn’t have a make-or-break moment; that’s not realistic, so I never write that way. Life (human or vampire) is always a series of moments and decisions and the consequences from those.
- What is your favorite reality show?
I don’t like reality TV, because I know it’s scripted, and I don’t like the fakeness of that. Give me flat out fiction, and make it as engaging as possible.
- Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series.
Day Unto Nightisn’t a series, but the next series feels quite natural for me to work on. I have big ideas, and I put in a lot of work behind the scenes, as most authors do, for my world and character building. It feels freeing to be able to really show off that world and to allow characters to develop slowly and in a more naturalistic fashion. It does take patience and time, a lot of time.
- Anything else you might want to add?
I know that Day Unto Nightcan be seen as an unusual vampire book. There’s a lot there you will find familiar. There’s enough there that you will find different. I hope that intrigues you to try it out. That’s what I do with every one of my short stories or novels, I play with the familiar and twist it to entertain and encourage you to think. I hope you check it out and come find me on social media or Patreon. Remember, for me and all other authors, book reviews and book ratings at online bookstores matter, so please consider leaving them.
BLURB:
A Sumerian child named Ningai survives the murder of her entire family and cries out to her people’s gods, who answer her prayer in an unexpected way. Now, as the first of the Akhkharu, the living dead, Ningai embarks on a journey across the millennia to rebuild what she lost. The best of her offspring must maintain some shred of goodness to prove worthy to their Child-Mother while fighting the deadly impulses of their kind. Join their journeys across time in a series of interconnected stories from the earliest cities to a brutal future where humans are mere pawns in the hands of near gods. Like all of us, Ningai and the best of her children will stop at nothing to protect her family. Can they succeed before they lose what’s left of their humanity, or will all of humanity become enslaved to the Akhkharu forever?
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EXCERPT:
I remember running.
I ran between their bodies as they did things to her that I didn’t even have words for. I ran over the cold stone floor, slipping on the cooling sticky substance that dripped from my mother’s still body. I ran over the door and my brother’s cold mass trying to block it. I ran over the earth and grass, matted from my father’s slaughter.
I remember running.
I ran until I fell into the Great Water, what you call the Euphrates, but we only called Puranum, and was carried until I could grasp a branch with my hands, tearing at it until my blood also covered the ground as I pulled myself up.
I remember my pain.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
TammyJo Eckhart, PhD, is the published author of science fiction, fantasy, contemporary, horror, and historical fiction. Her non-fiction works covering subjects ranging from history to alternative sexuality to relationship advice and the challenges of trauma recovery. She holds a PhD in Ancient History with doctoral minors in Gender & Sexuality and Folklore. Her blog, The Chocolate Cult, has been the go-to guide for chocolate lovers since 2009. She loves visiting conventions as well as organizations to read, sell books, or share her experiences and insights on various topics in the form of lectures or workshops.
https://www.tammyjoeckhart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thechocolatepriestess/
Dr. TammyJo Eckhart’s Edgy World @thetammyjo
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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Unto-Night-TammyJo-Eckhart-ebook/dp/B09DF7MLBH/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
TammyJo Eckhart will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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