Released: 5th November 2019
Published by: She Writes Press
Genre: Short stories
Source: Publisher
Pages: 152
Seven Sides of Self explores seven aspects of an individual — the storyteller, the skeptic, the survivor, the saint (or the sinner), the scholar, the seeker, and the savior.
Through the lives of the central characters, Nancy examines themes of battling strong emotions, the lengths we might go to for self-preservation and self-sacrifice, the inability to accept things as different, and taking responsibility for what we create.
Each story seeks to contribute something to our ability to better understand ourselves, the world around us, and the conflicts we all face. Original and thought-provoking, these stories will delight any fan of science-fiction and fantasy.
Each story seeks to contribute something to our ability to better understand ourselves, the world around us, and the conflicts we all face. Original and thought-provoking, these stories will delight any fan of science-fiction and fantasy.
Author Interview with Nancy Joie Wilkie
The answer to your question starts with the
Preface in the book:
The title and the concept of grouping together these seven stories came to me in a flash. I had just spent the morning exploring my favorite art museum. My mind was full of ideas for new art pieces and projects. I then made the short drive to the nearby artisan village. After visiting several shops I found myself hungry and walked over to a little sundry shop — “simplyummy.” I placed my order and prepared myself for a wait of a dozen minutes. By the time my sandwich and salad arrived, I had sketched out the general structure for the book on a paper napkin. As I stepped back out into the hot Southern afternoon after finishing lunch, I carried with me the seeds for ‘Seven Sides of Self’ firmly registered in my mind. Oh, yes — and I had a beaming smile on my face! The Muses had chosen to bless me once again with their spark and inspiration. God bless them!
As for what the title signifies for
me—there are little pieces of me in each of those seven stories — hence the
title of the collection.
The answer to this question is pretty much
summed up in the first story of the book (”There Once Was A Man …”). If
one reads that first full sentence of the story, it goes like this: “There once
was a man who wanted to write.” The story is somewhat autobiographical and
relays the trials and tribulations that one must go through when one first
feels the urge to write.
Actually, this was not a conscious decision
because most of the stories were written before I ever had the inspiration to
group these seven stories together as a collection. So three of the
stories (“There Once Was A Man …,” “Microwave Man,” and “Old Mims”) are set
more or less in the present day — definitely not on some distant planet or in
the far future. Three of the stories (“The Ledge,” “An Intricate Balance,”
and “Of The Green And Of The Gold”) are most definitely set in a “sci-fi”
realm. The one remaining story (“Journey To Pradix”) is not really set in
either the present day or in the far future but rather has more of an epic
fantasy feel to it.
And hence — all of this only serves to convey
one of the criticisms of the collection — that being that it is very difficult
to categorize the book as either pure science-fiction or strictly short story
fiction.
Ah, yes, good question! In general,
I offer these stories as a means for readers to explore different ways to
deal with dreams, fear, curiosity, sacrifice, desire, faith, love. But
each story has its own message:
We all struggle to be creative, to be
unique.
We all face life-defining decisions.
We are all curious about what’s “out
there.”
We all struggle to balance
self-preservation with self-sacrifice.
We all want justice for all.
We all strive for certainty that there is
something beyond this life.
We all have a need to protect our children.
To sum things up: We all must deal with our
emotions.
From “The Ledge”
“Why prolong thought for the sake of being
able to think for a few more minutes?”
This line of thinking speaks to me every
time I contemplate prolonging the life of someone who is suffering from a
terminal illness.
From “Of The Green And Of The Gold”
“By Earth standards, the Color of one’s
clothes is trivial; meaningless for all practical purposes. And yet, in
the absence of any other difference, this relatively inconsequential factor has
become something monstrous on Aurillia—something that can, if disturbed, invoke
nausea, arouse suspicion, and lead to death. The logical summation of
this set of circumstances is that the more identical those within a society
are, the less tolerant the society is of differences. So intolerant of this
difference are the Aurillians, that it is the only reason one is put to death
on this otherwise crime-free and war-free planet.” This story is really about how we deal with
homophobia and transphobia.
From “Old Mims”
“You still can’t convince me your bleeding
all over typing paper is good for the soul. What I can’t figure out is
from where do these wretched individuals that you dream up come? Is there
some repository of dark characters in the back of your mind you tap into every
time you write one of your stories? Have you ever thought maybe someone
‘upstairs’ is dropping these folks into your pitiful little brain because He
can’t bear the thought of giving them life any other way? What if a power greater than you or me is
pulling all of the strings in this grand ol’ universe and there really isn’t
any such thing as individual creativity?”
And this bit of pondering comes from my own
thoughts about the Muses.
Could you give us a hint at what you might be working on next?
Sure!
First, there is my music! My fourth
collection of original tunes titled “Aurillian Tales” is scheduled for release
in early 2020. Several of the compositions are meant to bring a musical element
to the stories that mention Planet Aurillia. The opening track titled
“Aurillian Sea” mimics the painting described on Page 44 of Microwave Man.” The
closing track titled “Aurillian Dream (Casla’s Lament)” attempts to convey the
rather harsh punishment that Aurillia gave to Casla (one of the characters in
“Of The Green And Of The Gold”). And I think that the overall “feel” of
the CD is meant to mirror some of the same feelings that a reader might
experience while reading the stories.
I also have a collection of short
stories — actually fables — each ending with a moral containing a pair of
anagrams. The idea is that the fable will highlight either the humor or the
irony of the anagrammic pair (think “present” and “serpent,” or “ocean” and
“canoe,” or “listen” and “silent”).
I have started working on a follow-up
short story collection tentatively titled “Faraway and Forever.” There are
four short stories (“The Natural Order of Things,” “The Wishbringer,” “Half The
Sky,” and “The Last Sunday of Summer”) all a bit longer than the stories in
“Seven Sides of Self,” and all are in the sci-fi/fantasy realm. I want
to explore more fully the Three Laws of Spiritual Mechanics, Mothersouls, and a
few other surprises.
And finally, some number of years ago I
started a sci-fi novel titled, “The Oaks of Mamre.” It explores one man’s quest
for immortality and the lengths to which he is willing to go — even at the
expense of other people’s lives.
About the author
Nancy Joie Wilkie worked for over 30 years
in both the biotechnology industry and as a part of the federal government’s
biodefense effort. She served as a project manager, providing oversight for the
development of many new products. Now retired, she composes original music,
plays a variety of instruments, and records many of her compositions. “Seven
Sides of Self” is her first fiction publication. Nancy resides in Brookeville,
Maryland. More about Nancy and her work can be found at www.mindsights.net.
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