Marvelous Marie Gilbert
Marie Gilbert, my
friend, fellow writer and cohort chats with me about everything. She agreed to a blog
interview so I can share her amazing personality and interests with you. Oh, and she's also just published a book.
Dawn:
You've enlightened me about zombies in that the idea of the
undead symbolize something possible in reality. Could you
explain a little about this?
Marie: I
love writing about zombies because I believe they represent us for several
reasons. I sometimes feel that people believe what they read or hear in the
news without checking out the facts. We are letting other people do our
thinking for us. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t make it true. Anyone
can put a spin on a story to make it look interesting, but we should check it
out and when we don’t, we’re no better than a mindless zombie.
We
are what we eat. We are eating food that is bad for us. There is no getting
around this. It was proven that the tobacco companies put addictive chemicals
into cigarettes to get people hooked, and now, companies are doing this with
our food, especially with processed food. I have an overly active imagination
and I asked myself, “What if the government could control our minds via
chemicals added to our food?” Is it
possible? The meats we buy already have hormones and antibiotics added; the
next step would be so easy. This was one of the ways that ‘The Leader’ in my
book, Roof Oasis, created his army of mindless slaves.
I
do a lot of research before writing a story. I’ve become very involved with
organizations that are trying to make people aware of the consequences of
pollution, fracking, GMO’s and how these things have an effect on living
organisms. I’m a big fan of NASA and Space X and believe that life does exist
on other worlds. In my book, I use a wormhole for Razhep to travel to our
world. Is this possible? Why not? NASA is already planning for ‘faster than
light’ space travel. I think we will see this sometime in the future.
Dawn:
When is the second book in your trilogy due out? Your final book
in this series?
Marie:
I’m hoping to get the second book of the series, Saving Solanda, out by next
summer and then jump into the third and maybe fourth book of the series. I’m
also hoping to get my Life with Fred and Lucy stories published within the next
two years. I’ve accumulated a lot of fans from South Philadelphia, and
surprisingly, from around the world that not only love reading the adventures
of my dysfunctional family, but also tell me that my stories remind them of
their childhood. I’m also working on a ghost story based on one of my
investigations and a story about vampires.
Dawn:
You're the South Jersey's Writers' Group's promotional person organizing
book signings for the groups' anthologies, "Tall Tales and Short Stories
from South Jersey" and "Reading Glasses." You also promote other authors' works from this group. How does it feel
to have a book of your own to promote after two years of promoting
the group and others works?
Marie:
This past year has been one hell of an adventure that I wouldn’t trade for
anything. I’ve had so much fun promoting via blogs and book signings. Dawn Byrne and I travel all over the
place doing book signings, and because of these trips, we have met some amazing
people; some alive some not. Poor Dawn has had to suffer through my impromptu
investigation on several of our outings, but that’s okay, Dawn still likes me
and we haven’t taken home any unwanted guests.
I’ve
done several interviews for the South Jersey Writers Blog on the members of our
group and also on the coffee shops and book stores that allowed us to do a book
signing. People began to hear about our group and the group has grown since our
anthologies were published.
Through my connections with Steampunk and ghost
investigations, I’ve made many friends and have done many interviews, some for
my blog http://gilbertcuriosities.blogspot.com and some
for Biff Bam Pop, a pop culture website extraordinaire www.biffbampop.com I love writing for Biff Bam Pop and working
for Andy Burns was instrumental in my growth as a writer.
This
past year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Film Director, Chris Eilenstine
for the independent film, The Soulless. We became friends and I was invited to the
private screening and the premier of the film, which I wrote about for Biff Bam
Pop. Chris had ordered Roof Oasis from Amazon and was so pleased with my book,
that he asked me to be part of his writing team that will be writing the bible
for the television series. I am so excited.
I
love interviewing people. I want to learn about them and their work, and I want
to know what inspires them to reach for the stars. But, when it comes to me
being asked the questions, I freeze. I’m fine talking about me in the Fred and
Lucy Episodes, or when I’m explaining what goes on during an investigation, but
to be out in the open for an interview feels strange. I’ll have to get used to
this.
Thank
you Dawn for taking the time to interview me and asking where I got my
inspiration for Roof Oasis, my apocalyptic tale with a twist. Dawn
and I will be out and about promoting the South Jersey Writers’ Group, Tall
Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey, Reading Glasses and Roof Oasis. Come up and say
hello to us.
Dawn:
Thank you, Marie, for sharing your fun and informative self with
us. I love going on the road with you
and meeting more people than meets my eyes.
For more interviews of Marie, see: www.kevinstephany.wordpress.com, and www.lorettasisco.com.
For more interviews of Marie, see: www.kevinstephany.wordpress.com, and www.lorettasisco.com.
