Getting To Know... Pamela Turner

Pamela Turner's writing career began in middle school. And if a writer needs an interesting life from which to work, she's got it. Here's a bit from her bio:

"I’ve worked as a freelance magazine writer, exotic dancer, artist model, secretary, and substitute teacher. I’ve been homeless, lived in shelters, and taken flying lessons. (I had to give that up because of bad depth perception.) These experiences have helped shaped me as a writer."

See? I figured you'd want to get to know her. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

I’m currently revising a short dark fiction suspense story, “Family Tradition,” about an artist who’s facing eviction from his studio when he’s commissioned to paint a portrait of a mysterious, faceless model. It was recently contracted by MuseItUp Publishing and is scheduled for release this winter. I’m also revising two angel urban fantasies and recently submitted a short necromancy story.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Vengeance and obsession seem to be two themes that show up regularly in my writing. Quite often it’s my angel characters who seem to be the most driven. For example, in Death Sword, Samael is obsessed with getting Xariel back. In Serpent Fire (currently a work in progress), the Seraphim are determined to kill Samael to get him “out of the way.” Zaphkiel, the titular character in another angel urban fantasy, wants revenge against his boss, Ophaniel, after the latter orders the execution of his lover. In a short  necromancy story, Corinne is obsessed with finding a way to get her dead boyfriend to admit he loved only her.   

What would be your dream project?

I would love to have one of my books turned into a graphic novel.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

I have a screenplay about a widowed homicide detective and his retrocognitive partner. I’m thinking about turning it into a novel. But I also plan to revise the screenplay now that I’ve learned more about homicide investigation.

What inspires you to write?

I can’t not write. Seriously. I tried. It didn’t work. I love the creative process, watching how a story unfolds, seeing the characters take on a life of their own.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Rod Serling, Ray Bradbury, Algernon Blackwood, Robert Arthur, Madeleine L’Engle and shows like Night Gallery, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc. Even if I don’t remember specific details or titles, certain scenes stay with me. For example, it’s been decades since I’ve read Ida Chittum’s Tales of Terror, but so many scenes still resonate with me. That’s what I want to accomplish. When the reader finishes one of my stories, I want a memory to linger in the subconscious.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Interesting question. If you’d asked me that a few years ago, I might have said “Art.” But over the years, I’ve learned how art and science interconnect and influence each other. On a side note, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time researching the Transit of Venus, planetary harmonics, and neurobiological resonances for one book. How much of this information I’ll use is debatable.

I found it interesting that Leonard Shlain mentions in Art and Physics how certain authors actually predated scientific theory, including Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity”. For example, in his essay, Eureka, Poe writes, “Space and duration are one.” Shlain goes on to say, “The first sentence of this passage thrusts right to the heart of relativity’s fusion of space and time into the spacetime continuum – sixty years before Einstein” (page 299).

Of course, one cannot forget Wells, author of the Time Machine , who explored the idea of traveling to the past and future. Then there’s James Joyce who, in Finnegan’s Wake, “has created a literary analogy of the recursiveness of the geometry of non-Euclidean spacetime” (page 303).

And science and art don’t complement one another? I beg to differ. LOL   

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

This isn’t an upcoming work, as it came out in June, but another short story, “Family Heirloom”, was recently published in the digital anthology, Scared – Ten Tales of Horror. It follows “It’s in Your Blood” which was published in Bites – Ten Tales of Vampires.

To learn more about Pam and her work, visit http://pamelaturner.net