From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksYou may know Regina M. Joseph, as she’s very active on social media and has created a splash with her award-winning Alterran Legacy series. I recently bought the first book in the series, a combination of Charriot of the gods, mythology, science fiction and political thriller.

When I interviewed her, I was amazed by how many interests we had in common – from Tai Chi to mythology. Even our favourite authors are pretty much the same!

So, allow me to introduce you to Regina M. Joseph!

The Usual

What inspired you to write this book?

Having always been an avid reader and a lover of history, I had decided to research far ancient history. I read about everything I could find. Of course, this leads mainly to mythology and speculation about megalithic structures. The Bible itself refers to Watchers and Nephilim. Putting it all together, a story began to form that combined mythology and our own upheavals from advanced technology. And so, I thought I’d better write it down.

What was the first thing you ever wrote?  

A story about a red pony, when I was very little.

What other writing have you done? Anything else published?

I have had assorted legal articles published.

In law school at Ohio State, I was the Managing Editor of the law review.

The Alterran Legacy sounds like quite the leap from that! Any hobbies or interests that you enjoy in your spare time?

Managing hobbies with limited time is a challenge. I try to maintain a regular exercise regimen in the form of martial arts (tai chi/qi dong) and pilates/yoga.  I play the piano and sing dramatic songs from musicals. And of course I read extensively.

And of course do activities with family and friends. I don’t have much down time.

Ha, you’re the first fellow Tai Chi enthusiast I’ve met online so far! What are you working on at the moment? Tell us a little about your current project(s).

At tortoise pace, I’m completing Book 4 of The Alterran Legacy Series, titled Redemption.  Since it will be a while before it’s published, I’m planning to write a short story connecting Books 3 and 4, which I’ll offer for free on my website.

I love the idea of offering short stories to keep our readers interested in a series. Which are your favorite authors and what do you love about them?

I greatly admire Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead ), Victor Hugo (Les Miserables), the Dune series, Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy, all Philip K. Dick, Andre Norton, George R.R. Martin, and Robert Jordan.

They were/are geniuses with amazing foresight, capable of creating amazing worlds, while at the same time providing invaluable insights into the human condition. For me to consider a work great literature, it must have a message.

Most of these are my favourites, too. Herbert and Dick in particular… What genres do you read mostly and what are you reading now?

I try to read novels of the indie writers with whom I network, although I naturally gravitate to science fiction/fantasy. I just finished Nightwings by Robert Silverberg and thoroughly loved it.  Members of a book club of which I’m a member, Lit Wits, keep me grounded in contemporary literature. For that we’re reading The Three Junes, a National Book Club Award winner.  Reading those published novels make me appreciate even more my indie friends – their novels frequently are more original.

I agree, it’s one of the things I love about the Indie scene. Are you an Indie author? If so, do you have any advice for other indie authors?

Yes, I self-published The Alterran Legacy Series.  Initially, I attempted the query letter process to get an agent, and I found it to be a juvenile waste of time. I was very glad to have an alternative.

I listed the first book on Amazon without any advance planning, because I didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t on social media at the time. I’ve learned tremendously since then, but the marketing takes a substantial commitment. So, my advice would be to have your initial books well along before plunging into the time-consuming, but necessary, marketing activities.

Hear, hear… Tell us about your website/blog. What will readers find there?

My website is www.alterranlegacy.com and the blog is reginajoseph.blogspot.com

When Facebook was still useful, I tried populating my page with ancient history stories that reinforce mythology in my novels. We have connected those in the blog.

Now, however, my site and blog are used more for indie author interviews and blog trains.

What are the things in your life that you’re most grateful for?

I’m most grateful that, when I was young, I refused to accept the limitations of an uneducated life in a small Appalachian town, as well as the family abuse I was suffering.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a versatile, creative individual.

The unusual

Choose a male and a female character from your book and tell us about them. Who inspired their characters? Would you like to meet them? What would you tell them if you did?

In my series, stranded alien colonists survive on Earth by forging a bond with a village of women who were left destitute by the ravages of invasion.

En.Lil is the leader of the colonists who break away and Alana (a survivor of the destruction of Atlantis) is the women’s leader.

En.Lil was inspired from one of the “gods” of Sumer and from Semjaza in the Book of Enoch. For an Earth woman to be sufficiently alluring to attract him and make him leave his utopian life, she had to be very special. Alana is not only cultured, because of her Atlantean background, but she has been trained to be an Earthkeeper with shamanic powers.

Each had to read the future, see that their old way of life could never come back, and forge boldly ahead on a new path.

Yes, I would love to meet them. I would tell En.Lil that I REALLY need a session in the rejuvenation chamber—it restores youth.

If you had to describe a theme or thread running through your life, what would it be? What’s your life theme?

Adaptability to the upheavals in society and the economy.

A tough one. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Where are you from?

Ancestors are from Alterra, a planet in the Pleiades.

A lovely place, from what I hear. Is it true you’ve been abducted by aliens?

No, merely a descendent.

Name your claim to fame.

Being the mother of Thomas Joseph.

That’s sweet! 🙂 Which one do you prefer: Elephants or tigers?

Love elephants. However, I’m developing a greater appreciation for cats.

If you had to live over again what would you change in your life?

If I have to be an adoptee again, I want a nurturing family with common interests.

Where in the universe would you live if you could travel anywhere?

In light mountains, heavily wooded, with a house at the edge of a very private and very blue lake.  Galt’s Gulch.

The Alterran Legacy

From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksWould you abandon your civilization’s ancient principles to survive on an alien planet?

Blending mythology, advanced technology and political intrigue, the Alterran Legacy Series is a high-action adventure tale. In Book 1, Colony, Earth, the Alterran ruling family of Anu, En.Lil and En.Ki are stranded at their Earthly colony in Albion after a solar eruption pierces their home world’s atmosphere. With their food supplies dwindling, their lives are imperiled after a comet destroys their rejuvenation chamber, unleashing a deadly virus.

Confronting their new mortality, do they calmly accept their fate and permit their revered civilization to slip into oblivion?

Who is Regina M. Joseph?

As a youth, I exhausted the science fiction section of the Zanesville, Ohio public library, falling in love with André Norton. I am a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of The Ohio State University’s honors program, and I graduated from OSU’s Moritz College of Law with honors, where I was Managing Editor of The Ohio State Law Journal. I continue a thriving legal practice in M&A and commercial and corporate law in Toledo, Ohio, and I am blessed with a fine husband and three wonderful children, as well as a special niece.

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