Ask the Author: Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Answered Questions (12)
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Thanks for the offer. I sent you an email.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
“Why won’t they listen?” Rose asked.
“They can’t hear you,” I met my grandmother’s eye in mirror, “because you’ve been dead for thirty years.”
“They can’t hear you,” I met my grandmother’s eye in mirror, “because you’ve been dead for thirty years.”
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Let’s suspend disbelief for a moment and suppose that I’m not an administrative worker, but rather, am a scientist in the near future on the eve of man’s greatest achievement: terraforming Mars. If I could travel to any fictional world, I’d go to the world of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars tell an amazing tale of terraforming the red planet for human occupation – and the political and social concerns that follow such a quest. I realize it’s an older series, but I just reread it this past spring, and was as captivated by it as I was years ago when I first discovered these books in a secondhand bookstore near my office.
I’d love to be a scientist on this interstellar quest, especially with the longevity treatments that allows Robinson’s characters to live well into their second decade. It would be amazing to inhabit a new world and build it from scratch, first scientifically and then socially. I’d want to be on the forefront of the terraforming team as the planet evolves , and later serve in the new government to set up a new society on the world I helped to create. It would also be amazing to live long enough to serve such a wide variety of purposes, and to see things from so many different perspectives. With all of the resistance movements, it would be sure to be an amazing adventure without a dull moment, on a landscape that only exist in our imagination (because we haven’t really made it there yet).
Plus, I know that Westeros is probably pretty crowded in the imagination of others with the current season of Game of Thrones in progress, which I also love. But in pondering it, another world seems more exciting than an alternate version of the one we know – especially if you help create it, as writers love to do!
I’d love to be a scientist on this interstellar quest, especially with the longevity treatments that allows Robinson’s characters to live well into their second decade. It would be amazing to inhabit a new world and build it from scratch, first scientifically and then socially. I’d want to be on the forefront of the terraforming team as the planet evolves , and later serve in the new government to set up a new society on the world I helped to create. It would also be amazing to live long enough to serve such a wide variety of purposes, and to see things from so many different perspectives. With all of the resistance movements, it would be sure to be an amazing adventure without a dull moment, on a landscape that only exist in our imagination (because we haven’t really made it there yet).
Plus, I know that Westeros is probably pretty crowded in the imagination of others with the current season of Game of Thrones in progress, which I also love. But in pondering it, another world seems more exciting than an alternate version of the one we know – especially if you help create it, as writers love to do!
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Summers are strange times for me. While most people are on vacation and enjoying a break, I’m usually in my busiest time of year at work in May and June. This means that my reading usually slows down, and I typically work on my writing in July once the load lets up and I have enough “mental RAM’s” to be creative again. This means that I usually don’t get on a “summer reading list” until late July or August, when most people are wrapping up their lists and moving on to fall goals.
However, I do need to relax during crunch time at work, and usually dedicate my summer reading to indie authors. This is something I started two years ago, when I realized that I was stuck in a rut of reading the same authors over and over again, and wanted to broaden my horizons. I discovered a lot of great work out there, and it even inspired me to become a reviewer at Reader’s Favorite. I think this summer will be dedicated to reading more mystery/suspense and maybe some political thrillers. I’ve read a lot of scifi lately (because that’s what I’m writing), and I think I’m ready to leave deep space behind and get back to Earth with people being people. While I don’t have any definite titles on my list yet, I’m sure that I’ll discover some great things on Reader’s Favorite over the summer, and will share my reviews here.
That being said, I’m ditching the list and letting 2017 be an Indie Author “Surprise Me!” summer!
However, I do need to relax during crunch time at work, and usually dedicate my summer reading to indie authors. This is something I started two years ago, when I realized that I was stuck in a rut of reading the same authors over and over again, and wanted to broaden my horizons. I discovered a lot of great work out there, and it even inspired me to become a reviewer at Reader’s Favorite. I think this summer will be dedicated to reading more mystery/suspense and maybe some political thrillers. I’ve read a lot of scifi lately (because that’s what I’m writing), and I think I’m ready to leave deep space behind and get back to Earth with people being people. While I don’t have any definite titles on my list yet, I’m sure that I’ll discover some great things on Reader’s Favorite over the summer, and will share my reviews here.
That being said, I’m ditching the list and letting 2017 be an Indie Author “Surprise Me!” summer!
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
The mystery in my life that I would love to have solved – and that would make for an excellent mystery novel – is the death of my great Uncle Bunk.
As a child, I was close to my grandfather’s sister, great Aunt Myrtle. She was a retired teacher who lived alone and never had children of her own. We got along great, and I was heartbroken when she died from complications with Alzheimer’s when I was eight years old. When my grandfather died six years later, my parents had to explain who that person named “Bunk” was that was buried beside her. I never knew she was married until then, but when I found out the rest of the story, I was shocked.
Uncle Bunk was hit by a train. The story is that he was out drinking whiskey with his friends when the accident happened. Aunt Myrtle was embarrassed, and feared that I wouldn’t understand that she had been widowed before I was born. Bunk was drunk, and that’s why he died. That’s what the family believed, and that was the end of the story. She moved on, loved her great-nieces and great-nephews, and lived a full life, and Bunk became a secret.
I don’t believe it.
I can understand why the family is embarrassed. Getting hit by a train is dumb in any generation, especially when it’s so easy to step out of the way. If Uncle Bunk had a reputation as a drunk, then the story is more pitiful. But Aunt Myrtle was no fool, and I have a hard time believing that she would have the patience to marry a drunken idiot. There’s more to the story. I can hear the trains traveling on the tracks two miles from my house every time they pass, so he had to be passed out to get hit. And surely, he didn’t decide that a train track was a good place to do that.
I think Uncle Bunk had help getting on that train track, perhaps from his “friends.” After all, he alone was hit, and none of them shared this unfortunate fate. There’s probably a fantastic mystery here. Too bad they didn’t have today’s forensic science in the 60’s and early 70’s, or Uncle Bunk’s unfortunate demise could have made one of these intriguing true crime TV shows.
But it isn’t, and will never be. The true story died with him, and if anybody else was involved in this “accident,” then they’ve also no doubt met their demise and ultimate judgement as well. As for the living generations that follow, we won’t know.
Alas, a great mystery never to be solved. Or, maybe it is what it is, and he was a drunk hit by a train. I prefer to maintain the mystery.
As a child, I was close to my grandfather’s sister, great Aunt Myrtle. She was a retired teacher who lived alone and never had children of her own. We got along great, and I was heartbroken when she died from complications with Alzheimer’s when I was eight years old. When my grandfather died six years later, my parents had to explain who that person named “Bunk” was that was buried beside her. I never knew she was married until then, but when I found out the rest of the story, I was shocked.
Uncle Bunk was hit by a train. The story is that he was out drinking whiskey with his friends when the accident happened. Aunt Myrtle was embarrassed, and feared that I wouldn’t understand that she had been widowed before I was born. Bunk was drunk, and that’s why he died. That’s what the family believed, and that was the end of the story. She moved on, loved her great-nieces and great-nephews, and lived a full life, and Bunk became a secret.
I don’t believe it.
I can understand why the family is embarrassed. Getting hit by a train is dumb in any generation, especially when it’s so easy to step out of the way. If Uncle Bunk had a reputation as a drunk, then the story is more pitiful. But Aunt Myrtle was no fool, and I have a hard time believing that she would have the patience to marry a drunken idiot. There’s more to the story. I can hear the trains traveling on the tracks two miles from my house every time they pass, so he had to be passed out to get hit. And surely, he didn’t decide that a train track was a good place to do that.
I think Uncle Bunk had help getting on that train track, perhaps from his “friends.” After all, he alone was hit, and none of them shared this unfortunate fate. There’s probably a fantastic mystery here. Too bad they didn’t have today’s forensic science in the 60’s and early 70’s, or Uncle Bunk’s unfortunate demise could have made one of these intriguing true crime TV shows.
But it isn’t, and will never be. The true story died with him, and if anybody else was involved in this “accident,” then they’ve also no doubt met their demise and ultimate judgement as well. As for the living generations that follow, we won’t know.
Alas, a great mystery never to be solved. Or, maybe it is what it is, and he was a drunk hit by a train. I prefer to maintain the mystery.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
I read a lot of scifi and mystery/suspense, so romance isn't a major element there. If I had to choose, I'd say it's a toss up:
Cinderella and Prince Charming - hey, C.S. Lewis said even adults can enjoy fairy tales, and this is one I still like because of it's overriding theme of following your heart. It disappoints me that there are still so many people (women in particular) who marry for security, money, or "company" over true love. You'd think we would have evolved beyond that and while I think it's less common, it still happens too much.
The second couple is Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark in A Song of Ice and Fire. They're interesting because they're better matched than they realized, despite the malice in their matching. I believe that in time, they could have become a great and powerful couple. In fact, I keep hoping the series will bring them back together to be the powerful couple they have the potential to be.
Perhaps not a conventional answer but hey, love is strange!
Cinderella and Prince Charming - hey, C.S. Lewis said even adults can enjoy fairy tales, and this is one I still like because of it's overriding theme of following your heart. It disappoints me that there are still so many people (women in particular) who marry for security, money, or "company" over true love. You'd think we would have evolved beyond that and while I think it's less common, it still happens too much.
The second couple is Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark in A Song of Ice and Fire. They're interesting because they're better matched than they realized, despite the malice in their matching. I believe that in time, they could have become a great and powerful couple. In fact, I keep hoping the series will bring them back together to be the powerful couple they have the potential to be.
Perhaps not a conventional answer but hey, love is strange!
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Sadly, from the decline and death of a family member with dementia. When you watch someone slip away to death slowly like that, it leaves you feeling less than human. And it came out in the development of this trilogy.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Real life is the inspiration. It's amazing at how the things I experience and see get the creativity flowing.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
A science fiction trilogy titled The Earthside Trilogy. I recently finished the rough draft of Book 1, titled Fracture, and will resume writing the series in 2015. It's about a different kind of alien invasion in the not-too-distant future.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Don't give up, and be patient. It takes time to learn and grow, but it happens if you keep at it. In writing, fortune favors the persistent. The quitters weed themselves out. The ones that keep on keeping on succeed.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
The creative power of being able to invent your own characters and your own worlds.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer
Sometimes I take a break. Simply living is usually enough to get the inspiration running again. Unlike some writers, I do believe that writer's block is very real, because you need a break from things, even things you love, to stay sharp and on top of your game.
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