Sophia Martin An Author Interview – The Impact Of Gandhi On Her Life

Author Interview – Sophia Martin – author of fantasy novel The City Darkens

Sophia Martin has a mystery series with a psychic protagonist named Veronica Barry

Sophia Martin has a stand-alone novel that deals with surviving abuse called Broken Ones

Sophia Martin has been writing fiction since she was thirteen. She has always been a fan of fantasy, both in more mundane settings as well as wondrous ones. Her favorite movie growing up was Flash Gordon and her favorite TV show of the last decade was Medium. She reads every chance she gets and has so many favorite books she can't pick one. When she's not reading and not writing, she is a mom, a wife, and a part-time high school history teacher. She lives in Mount Shasta, CA with her family and dog, three cats, and five chickens.

Welcome, Sophia Martin on my blog. Thanks for sharing your experience about the impact of Gandhi on you. Your mystery series with a psychic protagonist named Veronica Barry, the stand-alone novel Broken Ones and the fantasy novel The City Darkens are well acclaimed by your readers and fans.

Sophia Martin with Jeff

Your real name and pen name?

Sophia Martin for both.

Please share some of the best memories of your childhood:

The best memories that immediately spring to mind are the weeks my family and I would spend in Corsica, a small island off the coast of France. My mother is French (my father is American) and one of her best friends from childhood is Corsican, so we would stay at her friend's flat in Calvi. Calvi is a breath-taking citadel out of a fantasy world, overlooking the crystal blue Mediterranean. The apartment building where we stayed had these ridiculously high stairs you had to climb to reach the flat at the top of it because many years ago the government used to tax property owners on how many stairs were in their buildings. The building sat on the highest part of the citadel, and I would walk all the way down the winding cobbled streets, through a colorful market full of jewelry, sarongs, souvenirs, pottery, and foods, and find my way to the shore. We liked a spot far down the beach, which is five miles long, so I would walk for about an hour in the sun, the waves, rarely very big, lapping my feet. And then I spent the day building sand castles and swimming in the turquoise water. Corsica has a distinctive smell, which comes from the maqui, a blend of thyme, lavender, sage, and other herbs that grow wild and bake in the sun. It is the most beautiful place I've ever been.


About your education:

I've attended several different colleges, and as an undergrad I went through seven majors, finally settling on history. Currently, I'm completing my masters in history at American Public University.

What career did you plan during your education days?

I wanted to be a book editor. Then a filmmaker. Then a psychologist. Then a botanist. Then a historian. But I also always wanted to be a writer. The way I made it through the boring classes was to ask myself how I could use what they were teaching in a story.


What languages you can speak and write?

English, well. French, not so well.

What hurts you most in this world?

Violence and the way people make each other suffer. Yesterday I got really upset because some religious extremists picketed a local high school, shouting at the kids that they were all going to hell. I think they did it because of a law that passed here in California, which gives rights to transgendered students. I was working so I couldn't go over to the school, and I don't know what I would have done if I had, but it is just so hateful. I went to an Episcopalian elementary and middle school, and they taught that God is love. The people picketing were not about love, they were about hate, and it breaks my heart not only that they inflicted that on the kids, but that they did it in the name of Jesus. I don't identify as a Christian (partly because I can't stand for what the self-proclaimed Christians in America stand for--at least the ones you hear about all the time--and partly because my beliefs are broader), but I have a lot of respect for the message of Jesus. I hate to see people use it to do the exact opposite of what he stood for.

What is your favorite genre and why?

I go through phases, but at the moment it's fantasy. I love all the possibilities, and I usually fall in love with the worlds authors build and want to live there for a while.

Which of your works has been published so far? Would you like to share a synopsis of your work?

I have a mystery series with a psychic protagonist named Veronica Barry. I also have a stand-alone novel that deals with surviving abuse called Broken Ones. And I just released a dieselpunk fantasy novel called The City Darkens. I'm currently working on the sequel to that one. If you'd like to look at descriptions of my novels, you can see all of them here.

(The link is http://sophia-martin.blogspot.com/p/my-ebooks-with-descriptions.html.)

What are your forthcoming writings?

The sequel to The City Darkens will probably be titled The City Smoulders.

What are your future plans?

My husband and I have decided to pursue adoption! That's the big news of the moment.

Other countries you have visited/ stayed. What best things you liked in these countries around the globe?

When I was younger and lived in France I got to do a lot of traveling in nearby areas, like England, Ireland, Tunisia, Egypt, the Czech Republic... it was really awesome. I wish I could still travel like that. I loved aspects of all of those places. I think if I were to return to one place out of those it might be Tunisia or Egypt. North Africa is so beautiful and I admire the cultures I've encountered there.

Your favorite color and why?

I've always loved green. It seems the most complete to me. I don't know why.

Your favorite celebrity and why?

Well, I wouldn't really call him a celebrity, but I recently showed the 1982 movie Gandhi to my students, and it reminded me of how deeply I admire him. I watched that movie over and over as a child, and I think it had a profound effect on the formation of my sense of ethics and morality. People throw his name around now so it's sort of lost meaning, but I encourage anyone who cares about social justice to revisit his story and spend some time appreciating how truly wise he was. I'd like to be able to have even a fraction of the impact he did someday.

Long Drive or Short Drive?

I'm not a huge fan of binaries but this one is a standout. I have driving anxiety, so the shorter the drive, the better!

State your best quote:

When I first started teaching history I tried to think of why I believe learning history is important. The whole "doomed to repeat it" thing strikes me as pretty empty considering we repeat the same mistakes all the time despite learning history in school. So instead, after thinking it over for a while, this is what I came up with: "Sometimes, the only justice you can give people is to remember them."

Links:
My blog
Amazon page
My books on Barnes and Noble

Thanks, Sophia Martin for sharing your thoughts on the impact of Gandhi in your life, about your fantasy novel The City Darkens, mystery series with a psychic protagonist named Veronica Barry, and the stand-alone novel Broken Ones. All these are well acclaimed by your readers and fans.

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