Ask the Author: Leonide Martin
Answered Questions (14)
Leonide Martin
I dreamed that I'd failed to save the latest writing that I did for my current book. When I woke and checked my computer, it was true.
Leonide Martin
The fourth book is scheduled for release in October 2018. I'm about 80% done writing it and hope to meet the publishing deadlines--should Fate smile and the creek not rise. This story features Pakal's daughter-in-law, K'inuuw Mat who married his youngest son; their son became ruler and continued the lineage. I'm so happy that you enjoyed the prior three queen's stories, thanks for telling me. This feedback sustains us authors and keeps us writing!
Leonide Martin
Recently I finished re-editing The Mayan Red Queen for the upcoming print version. It's surprising how much an author can continue refining and improving word-crafting. You could get so caught up editing that you never finish the book! But I did get it done, and think its an improvement, though the changes are small. Publication date is set for March 1, 2018.
Next on the plate is to finish writing the final book in the series about Mayan queens. I'm about halfway done, but took a long break due to travel, health issues, and re-editing and marketing earlier books in the series. So, I'll need to read and edit from the beginning to get my mind wrapped around the story and characters. Already I've got good suggestions for changes from my "street team" who read the first draft. Thanks, queridos!
Next on the plate is to finish writing the final book in the series about Mayan queens. I'm about halfway done, but took a long break due to travel, health issues, and re-editing and marketing earlier books in the series. So, I'll need to read and edit from the beginning to get my mind wrapped around the story and characters. Already I've got good suggestions for changes from my "street team" who read the first draft. Thanks, queridos!
Leonide Martin
I would time travel to the ancient Maya Classic Period, 250-900 CE in southern Mexico and Guatemala. While there, I'd visit many cities and meet the lords and commoners, learn about their daily lives, and watch them in action. Maybe I could get a few puzzles solves: how did they build pyramids over 200 feet high made of huge limestone blocks, without forklifts and hydraulic machines (or maybe they had them?) How did they know so much about astronomy; the Precession of the Equinoxes, how to predict solar and lunar eclipses, motions of planets, calculation of the solar year so accurately? And their mysterious relationships with different dimensions of existence, their shamanic visionary abilities, their richly evocative creation myths, their advanced knowledge of unimaginable antiquity? They could probably tell an "earth history" that would astound us.
Leonide Martin
East India by Colin Falconer, The Hidden Codex by James O'Kon, The Devil in Canaan Parish by Jackie Shemwell, The Train to Orvieto by Rebecca J. Novelli, and Mirror Vision by Kathy Cunningham.
Leonide Martin
Why I was born into a traditional Louisiana southern family, when I've always been a mystical free spirit and rebel against the limits of tradition, is the mystery in my own life that could be a plot for a book. Once I moved to California as a young adult, I found the open-minded and progressive culture to which I felt suited. Hmmm . . . maybe I should write that story!
Leonide Martin
Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler are my favorite fictional couple, because of their edgy personalities, complex motives, and the dramatic and tragic time of the U.S. Civil War in which their story is set.
Leonide Martin
Go to Facebook at the Virtual Book Fair Event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/92756...
Click on "See all topics" and scroll down until you find the author listing you're interested in. Each day a different genre is featured. My book is in Historical Fiction and the post appears Feb. 25. You can interact with authors, enter to win a giveaway, and post until the Fair ends March 6.
https://www.facebook.com/events/92756...
Click on "See all topics" and scroll down until you find the author listing you're interested in. Each day a different genre is featured. My book is in Historical Fiction and the post appears Feb. 25. You can interact with authors, enter to win a giveaway, and post until the Fair ends March 6.
Leonide Martin
I really have not experienced writer's block. I do reach a point when I have to distance myself for a while (only a few days when actively working on a book), to take a rest and rejuvenate the creative juices, and let the imaginative tension build up again. One thing I do, not advised by everyone, is to keep reading other fiction while I'm writing. Sometimes that serves as an impetus, or gives fresh ideas, or just inspires me by excellent word-smithing.
Leonide Martin
Getting to "live" in the world of your stories, to experience through the characters, to watch the story unfold - sometimes that's even surprising to the author. I also enjoy the challenge of crafting compelling stories and creating vibrant and exciting settings.
Leonide Martin
Have great passion for your writing subject! This passionate involvement provides the energy and commitment that are needed to successfully pursue your writing goals. Without that intense drive to tell the stories of your subjects, its hard to sustain the effort. If you have the passion, however, nearly all hurdles are surmountable.
Leonide Martin
My current work is the third in the 4-ebook series, "Mists of Palenque" about four remarkable Mayan queens. This queen was the wife of K'inich Janaab Pakal, most famous Maya ruler. She came from a neighboring city, and was given the royal name Tz'aakb'u Ahau, which means "Accumulator of Kings." She had 4 or 5 children, all sons, two who became rulers after Pakal's death. Her grandson also became a ruler, so the dynasty continued through her. Otherwise, we don't know much about her so I've got a lot of creative imagining to do.
Leonide Martin
The fascinating lives of these historic women, the ancient Mayan "queens" and their exotic culture gives me endless inspiration to write. I've been writing stories since pre-teens, and my academic career required lots of writing and publishing, though those were professional texts. After retiring I took up fiction again. I feel a mandate to bring the magnificent Maya civilization to more readers' attention through works of fiction, which are more accessible than scientific tests.
Leonide Martin
When I was living in Merida, Mexico several years ago, I learned about a mysterious royal burial at Palenque. Archeologists had uncovered the tomb of a woman whose skeleton was permeated with red pigment called cinnabar, used by ancient Mayas as a preservative. There is still controversy about who this high status woman was, though most experts now believe she was the wife of K'inich Janaab Pakal, most famous ruler of Palenque. I was intrigued by Mayan women rulers - we call them queens though the Mayan word was K'uhul Ahau (Holy Lord/Lady). I began research about the queens of Palenque and conceptualized a 4-ebook HF series covering the lives of Pakal's grandmother, mother, wife and daughter-in-law. The first two ebooks are published, on the grandmother Yohl Ik'nal and mother, Sak K'uk. Now I'm working on the third queen's story, the wife Tz'aakb'u Ahau.
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