Can you tell readers a little bit about
yourself and what inspired to write in this particular genre?
I’ve been a huge
fan of fantasy and science fiction my whole life. As a kid, I loved all of the
books by Tolkein, Piers Anthony, David Eddings, Katherine Kurtz, and so on.
What inspired you to write this
book?
My son approached
me a few years ago and asked me to write him a book. At the time, he was into
Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and he wanted something along those lines. When
I was thinking about ideas for the main character, I thought about how my son —
who has Asperger’s Syndrome — can do a lot of amazing things that almost seem
like superpowers to me. So that was where the original idea and inspiration
came from.
Please tell us about your latest
release.
Secret of the Songshell is about a teenage guitarist with
Asperger’s Syndrome who travels to another world where his unique brain waves
can be combined with the sound waves of music to create magical effects.
In the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Joel Suzuki,
struggles with the usual sources of teen angst as well as the challenges that
his Asperger’s presents. Being a gifted musician and songwriter, he thinks that
if he can become a rock star, all of his problems will be solved and he’ll be
happy. He gets what seems like his big chance when his rock star idol shows up
one day and tells Joel that the secret to success lies in an alternate world
called Spectraland. But once Joel arrives there, he finds himself trapped by an
evil warlord who threatens to take over both Spectraland as well as the Earth.
So Joel has to embark on a journey to find the Songshell, an artifact that will
help him defeat the warlord, and in the process he discovers the true meaning
of happiness.
With
this book, I wanted to provide kids on the autism spectrum with a literary hero
that could serve as a positive and empowering role model — someone that saved
the day with his special qualities,
not despite them. I’m donating a portion of proceeds from the book to Autism
Empowerment, a non-profit organization based in my town that works to promote
autism awareness and education.
Do you have a special formula for
creating characters' names? Do you try to match a name with a certain meaning
to attributes of the character or do you search for names popular in certain
time periods or regions?
My main characters
have “regular” names (Joel, Felicity, Marshall), but the locals of Spectraland
have names that start with a descriptive word and end with a part of the body
or a plant — for example: Greenseed, Suntooth, Fourfoot. There were two reasons
behind this: one, Spectraland’s natives are kind of a combination of human and
plant, and two, they name everything very literally, which is kind of how some
people with Asperger’s approach the idea of naming things — when my son was
young, he won a fish at a county fair. He named it “Fish.”
Was one of your characters more
challenging to write than another?
Felicity Smith,
another “earthling” brought over to Spectraland to learn the secrets of
stardom, was challenging to write in that she’s a girl with Asperger’s. Autism
spectrum disorders like Asperger’s tend to manifest differently in females, and
while I could model Joel after my son, I had no real-life example to use for
Felicity. So her character required a bit more research. Fortunately, I was
able to get feedback from Karen Krejcha, the executive director of Autism
Empowerment, who herself is a woman with Asperger’s.
Is there a character that you enjoyed
writing more than any of the others?
Even though she
required more research, Felicity was very fun to write. She uses sarcasm as a
defense mechanism, which made for some pretty entertaining dialogue.
Do you
have a formula for developing characters? Like do you create a character sketch
or list of attributes before you start writing or do you just let the character
develop as you write?
I did create sketches for all of my characters beforehand.
For the most part I stuck to them, but as the book progressed, at times the
characters developed minds of their own and digressed a bit from the original
sketch. It actually turned out for the better that way, as their actions seemed
more natural and consistent.
What is your favorite scene from the
book? Could you share a little bit of it, without spoilers of course?
My favorite scene
is probably the climax. I had written a draft of that scene before I even
finished my outline — it just played out in my head like a movie. It’s the
scene where Joel confronts the bad guy (you probably could have guessed that)
and discovers the true meaning of happiness.
Can you tell readers a little bit
about the world building in the book/series? How does this world differ from
our normal world?
Spectraland is an
island with a tropical climate where electrical particles in the air are
visible to the naked eye. Certain individuals are able to manipulate those
particles through the use of a guitar-like musical instrument called a wavebow.
Basically, they channel their brain waves through the instrument, and when
combined with the sound waves of the wavebow, magic-like effects are achieved —
levitation, healing, and so forth.
With the book being part of a
series, are there any character or story arcs, that readers jumping in somewhere
other than the first book, need to be aware of? Can these books be read as
stand alones?
Secret of the
Songshell is the first book of a planned seven-book series called The
Spectraland Saga, and it can be read as a stand-alone. The future books will
probably function fine as stand-alone stories, although the reader will be a
little less confused if they had read the previous books in the series.
Do any of your characters have
similar characteristics of yourself in them and what are they?
Joel is a
combination of me and my son — the rock guitarist part is me. Also, the fact
that Joel can’t swim, even though he’s from Hawaii, is also me.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s
block? How do you deal with it?
The hardest thing
for me is getting started. So what I’ll do is I’ll read what I’ve written up
until that point, and that usually gets me going. Or sometimes I’ll read
someone else’s book, and derive inspiration from that. Once I get into the flow
I normally don’t have any trouble with writer’s block.
What are your guilty pleasures in
life?
Good beer and the Star Wars prequels.
Other than writing, what are some of
your interests, hobbies or passions in life?
Music is the big
one — I’ve been a guitarist and songwriter since high school. I also like to
get in a round of golf whenever I can, which is about once a year.
What was the last amazing book you
read?
My favorite books
are the ones that force you to postpone real life while you read just one more
chapter. The most recent books to have that effect on me were the first book of
The Hunger Games trilogy and Room by Emma Donoghue.
Where is your favorite place to
read? Do you have a cozy corner or special reading spot?
Recently, I’ve
been doing most of my reading in the car — parked, of course, while I wait to
pick up my daughter from school.
What can readers expect next from
you?
I’m currently hard
at work on the follow-up to Secret of the
Songshell. My goal is to have it out by the fall of 2013, but we’ll see how
that turns out. People are already asking me “where’s the second book?” so the
pressure is on.
Where can readers find you on the
web?
Website: www.thespectralandsaga.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thespectralandsaga
Twitter:
@SpectralandSaga
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/180939
Would you like to leave readers with
a little teaser or excerpt from the book?
Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 2:
WEEEoooWEEEoooWEEEooo
Joel winced as the weird
sound blared painfully in his ears once again. “Um, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Art asked as he
tried to piece together two sections of Joel’s broken guitar.
“Uh — nothing,” Joel said.
That was the fourth time today, and Joel was getting worried. He started a
search for “hearing loss symptoms” on the computer when suddenly, out of the
corner of his eye, he thought he saw movement on the far wall of the store. He
looked around. His eyes gravitated towards an old Biledriver poster that showed
all of the band members in full scowl. He blinked several times. Did Marshall
just . . . smile?
Two minutes passed. Joel
took another bite out of his sandwich as he continued staring at the poster. He
could have sworn that he saw Marshall smile for a fraction of a second. But that’s crazy, right? It’s just a poster.
. . .
January 7 Guest blog
Michelle @ Mom With A Kindle
January 7 Promo and review
January 8 Interview
Fang-tastic Books
January 9 Interview
Roxanne’s Realm
January 10 Promo
January 11 Guest blog
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
January 12 Interview and review
Marked By Books
January 12 Interview
Books, Books The Magical Fruit
January 13 Guest blog
Monique Morgan
January 14 Guest blog and review
Moosubi Reviews!
Secret of the Songshell was just named a finalist in the 2012 USA Best Book Awards for fantasy fiction
Secret of the Songshell
The Spectraland Saga, Book One
Brian Tashima
Brian Tashima
Genre: YA sci-fi/fantasy
Publisher: Prism Valley Press
ISBN: 978-0615648156
ASIN: 0615648150
Number of pages: 318
Word Count: 79000
Cover Artist: Purnima Prasad
Book Description:
Joel Suzuki is a gifted teenage guitarist with Asperger's Syndrome who gets transported to a world where his unique brain waves can be combined with the sound waves of music to create magical effects. Once there, he must use his newfound abilities to locate the Songshell, a powerful artifact that will help him stop a mysterious evil entity from destroying the alternate world as well as the Earth.
About the Author:
Brian Tashima was born and raised in Hawaii and has been a resident of Vancouver, Washington since 2000. In addition to being an author, he is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who has won a Hoku award (Hawaii’s version of the Grammys) and has had his music featured in short films, international compilations, and numerous other forms of media. He is currently a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), Willamette Writers, Northwest Independent Writers Association, and three Vancouver/Portland-based rock bands.
Website: www.thespectralandsaga.com
Author Blog: www.briantashima.blogspot.com
Twitter: @SpectralandSaga
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheSpectralandSaga
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2 comments:
Great inspiration for the book.
thank you for creating a book with purpose and meaning, something Autistic kids can relate to and have a hero to look up to.
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