Author Interview – Sherrie Cronin

What social issues interest you the most? World peace. I’m not trying to be flippant. The concept of developing empathy with those who are different, or far away, or who threaten you or have a history of hostility with your kin is a subject that fascinates me. It inspired x0, the first novel in the collection, and it plays a large role in the theme of z2 as well.

Do you find the time to read? I do but I can’t read other people’s lengthy works of fiction while I am writing my own. It hurts my momentum too much. I do read some short stories, mostly science fiction, and a lot of non-fiction on subjects about which I am writing.

Last book you purchased? Tell us about it. It’s called “Half the Sky” and it’s by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It tells inspirational stories about the many women and men fighting for women’s rights everywhere. It’s an incredible book.

Who do you admire? I admire anyone who is sincerely trying to make this word a better place. With each of my novels I have found a group of people that impressed me so much that I have pledged to give ten percent of my profits from that novel to the organization. Researching the book x0, which takes place partially in Nigeria, I learned about the origins of “Doctors Without Borders” in the Biafra struggle for independence. When I started to design my blog for the second novel, y1, I discovered that an organization in the Pacific already had the URL I wanted. It’s called “To the Power of One” and it’s dedicated to making communities on islands in the Pacific more self-sufficient. Finally, I turned to the Southern Poverty Law Center for a lot of the research for z2, and ten percent of my proceeds for z2 are going to the SPLC.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why? “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” An English politician in the 1700’s named Edmund Burke said it, and I find it provides this odd sense of comfort that I can make a difference, or at least that I’m not a fool for trying to do so.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? Writing each book has taught me so much that I don’t know where to begin.  I’ve learned to be more organized and disciplined. I’ve learned to be a lot more thick skinned. I’ve learned that I can do something that I once thought was almost magic. I’ve learned that I have strong voice inside. And I’ve learned that Kiribati is the only nation on earth to straddle four hemispheres, and how to write the numbers one through twenty in Mayan hieroglyphs. It’s been a great journey already.

Alex once walked away from a rare ability to warp time, thinking it was only a young man’s trick to play basketball better. Now, as a father and teacher, he needs to relearn the skill quickly before the past begins to destroy his own future.

To protect his daughter and his most promising student, he must stop the school at which he teaches from turning the clock backwards to an era of white supremacy. He wants desperately to use his unique gifts to help an old high school friend solve an ancient Maya mystery that offers a rare chance to bridge the past and the future. Both are possible, but only if Alex can learn to control his temporal talents before he runs out of time.

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Genre - Speculative Fiction

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Sherrie Cronin on Goodreads

Website http://zsquaredblog.org/