📚 A Bookish Chat with 'Ten Gold Coins' Joni Parker | Author Interview | #AuthorInterview #BlogTour #Interview #fantasy #scifi
Joni Parker was born in Chicago, Illinois, but moved the Japan when she was 8, so her father could become a professional golfer. Once he achieved his dream, Joni and her family returned to the U.S. and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. After high school, Joni served her country for 22 years in the Navy and another 7 years in federal civil service. She retired and lives in Tucson, Arizona, devoting her time to writing, reading, and watching the sunrise.
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Welcome to The Writer's Life, Joni. Can we begin by telling us how you started your writing career?
I was addicted to the Lord of the Rings series and knew the movie by heart, leading me to develop a female Elf character named Alex. She came with a lot of stories, but it got to the point I couldn’t hold any more in my head, so I wrote them down. By the time I finished, I’d written three books. When I decided to publish them, I had to create a whole new world for Alex and called it, Eledon. My fan books became something unique. I’ve been so fascinated by Alex and Eledon, I haven’t been able to stop writing about them.
Before that, you were in the Navy? Can you tell us about that time period in your life?
I never planned on a career in the Navy. Some people know what they are going to do in life from the time they’re born, but I never did. Although I graduated from high school with honors, I never had a strong interest for any particular subject. So, when I went to college, I lost interest during the second semester and dropped out. I had no job and didn’t know what to do next until I saw a commercial on TV for the Army. When I talked to my mom, she convinced me to join the Navy, so I took the entrance exam and enlisted for three years. I thought it would give me time to figure out what I wanted to major in, and I would be eligible for the GI Bill to pay for college. At last, an actual plan!
The results of my entry exam qualified me for any job in the Navy, so once again, I was in a quandary. For whatever reason, I asked to become a journalist or a photographer. Since the journalism billets were taken, I became a photographer. I enjoyed my tour in the Navy and got married as soon as I got out. I went back to college and got a bachelor’s degree in accounting. I’d picked accounting only because it was useful in any business. I got a job at a local utility company in accounting while I pursued an MBA in finance. All covered by the GI Bill.
After a year of working in the dullest job in the world, I needed a new plan, so I went back in the Navy, but this time, as an officer. My goal was to retire with 20 years of military service. For my first job as an officer, I was sent to Italy for three and a half years. From there, I was stationed in Phoenix, Arizona, then to Dallas, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Washington, D.C., where I retired. Most of my work was administrative, and none of it involved accounting.
I retired with over 22 years of service and achieved my retirement goal, but what was next? I still didn’t know what to do with my life, so I got a civil service job. It wasn’t until I reached my late fifties before I discovered a passion for writing. So, here I am.
Is writing a full-time job now?
Yes, and I love it, but it took me a long time to get here. I usually work 6-8 hours a day, writing or editing something, and I even work on weekends and holidays. Writing has become a labor of love, not duty.
Your latest book is Ten Gold Coins, an exciting fantasy/scifi. How did you get interested in writing those genres?
Initially, I wrote only in the fantasy genre, even though I loved science fiction. I didn’t feel I had a strong enough background in science to do it justice. But over the years, my writing has evolved, and I now include some facets of science fiction and combine it with fantasy.
What is the most difficult part of the writing process for you?
The toughest part is doing the loglines, blurbs, and synopsis, once the book is done. And this flows into advertising and marketing. Ugh!
Will there be more books in your future?
There are two more books in the Golden Harvest series coming up. The working titles of the next ones are The Golden Deficit and the last one is The House of Gold. I hope to come up with another series beyond this, but I’ll just have to wait and see what develops.
Title: Ten Gold Coins
Author: Joni Parker
Publisher: Independent
Publication Date: March 3, 2024
Pages: 354
Genre: Fantasy/Scifi
Lady Alexin (Alex), the Keeper of the Keys for the Elfin Council of Elders, returns home to Eledon to help her grandmother clean out the warehouse, but she’s kidnapped and forced to use the magical Keys of Eledon in a series of life-or-death missions with consequences that span across the realms. Her captor, Lord Fissure of the Rock Elves, demands her magical help, but once he’s done with her, he turns her over to the Marsh Elf Sawgrass, a criminal, who sends her into the treacherous depths of Hades’ kingdom in the Underworld for his own benefit. To save herself, Alex calls upon the powers of Poseidon, but he enlists her help with the Golden Harvest for Olympus before the Mentors arrive. His brothers, Zeus and Hades, are the only ones who know where the gold is stored, so Alex follows their trail into the mortal world, only to find they aren’t ready to return. What must she do to get them back to Olympus so she can return home to Eledon?
You can pick up your copy at Amazon at https://amazon.com/dp/B0CW1GJDPH .
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Thanks for the interview!!!
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