Belinda McBride - Featured Author

THK. Tell me about yourself. Anything you would like readers know about you.

Belinda: Well, to start, I’m a parent; I have two adult daughters, one is a Physician’s Assistant, the other is a private chef. I also have a niece that lives with me. She’s severely retarded and autistic, so taking care of KJ is really my full time job at this point in my life. Care giving is demanding, but on the upside, I have time and flexibility to write as much as I want!

I breed Siberian Huskies for show and mushing. I’m not as active in this hobby as I used to be, but still have a couple promising young show dogs. My other hobbies include travel, Chinese martial arts and Qi Gong, soap-making and gem collecting.

I’ve been a writer all my life, but a few years back, my life was growing increasingly stressful, and I began writing as a way to cope with everything that was building up inside. After a year of frantic, nearly non-stop writing, I began to organize my work and look into submitting to a publisher. My first two stories were finished and submitted on literally the same day. They were contracted to different publishers within two days of each other!

THK. Tell me about your current and upcoming releases. Please include a blurb and a link to where the book can be purchased.

Belinda: At Changeling Press, I’m working on two series, the Black Planet series, which is Sci Fi/cyber Punk, and the Imperative series, which is more of a fantasy series. I have two books coming up, one in October, the other in November. I’ve also got a novel coming at New Concepts Publishing. It’s an urban fantasy called Soul Keeper, about mythological creatures living in the modern world.

Here’s a blurb for Imperative: Always You:
In the future, we don’t choose our mates; Nature chooses for us. Nature doesn’t make mistakes. And if you don’t pay attention to Nature’s Imperative, you suffer.

She could always get under his skin. He could always send her spinning into fury. Marilyn and Neil aren’t like oil and water, they’re like dynamite and a match!

They say that Nature doesn’t make mistakes when she chooses a person’s perfect mate, but surely this time Nature wasn’t paying attention. Not only do these co-workers hate each other, Mari’s still in love with her ex-husband, and Neil? Well, Neil is gay.

Nature’s got some explaining to do.


THK. What genre do you write it? What drew you to write in that genre? If you mix genres tell us about that too.

Belinda: I tend to mix genres, you’ll find I write a lot of science fiction and fantasy, that can also include Cyber Punk and Urban Fantasy. I love mythology and legends, and tend to go to those sources for inspiration. Most of what I write is bi-racial or interracial because that’s my personal life experience. I am quite comfortable working with alternate lifestyles, some of my descendents (male and female) were polyamorous, so I grew up aware of that lifestyle.

THK. How many books have you written? How many have been published?

Belinda: Sheesh…at this moment, three novellas and a short are published at Changeling. Two novellas and a novel are under contract, and I’ve got one novel in revisions at a publisher, another novel submitted. I’ve got several novellas and shorts sitting on my hard drive, they just didn’t make the cut for me, so I’ll eventually return to them.

THK. What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Belinda: I multi-task, I’ve almost always got two or three projects open on my screen and I switch back and forth between composing on one, editing on another. I have a very busy mind.

THK. What is the hardest part of writing?

Belinda: For me, its patience. Right now, I’m struggling to not lose patience with a publisher that wants my story, but they’re dragging their feet. Some projects I can send away and forget about until I hear back, but others…well, its driving me crazy being stuck on someone else’s schedule.

THK. What do you read for fun when you’re not writing?

Belinda: Boy, I have several favorite authors, including Neil Gaiman, Marjorie Liu, JR Ward, Laurell Hamilton…the list goes on and on. I also read my fellow authors, its fun to compare notes and learn what’s going on in genres that I don’t really write in that much.

THK. Any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?

Belinda: I always have advice, and it changes from day to day! Today, I’d say my best advice is to write. So you have lots of great ideas, or you’ve finished and subbed that manuscript…well, keep writing. Don’t stay static or lose the writing habit. Don’t get dependent on your muse, writing is a discipline and a job, not just an art.

My book covers and buy links can be found at http://www.changelingpress.com/author.php?uid=115

You can learn more about Belinda and her books by clicking the following links.

Website: www.belindamcbride.com
Blog: www.belindam.blogspot.com
Email: belinda@belindamcbride.com
My Space: www.myspace.com/belindamcbride

Thanks for taking the time to be here Belinda:) I really enjoyed your answers.