Good evening, passengers of the good spaceship Space Opera Libretti! I'm still reeling from last week's trip into the wormhole, so I only briefly forgot that Monday exists. Now, unless you are a stowaway who snuck aboard at our last pitstop, you know that we invite one of our authors up to the cockpit every Monday to discuss their story available now in Space Opera Libretti. (and if you are a stowaway, we're cool with that. We always bring extra snacks.)
Today's guest is Lizz Donnelly. Lizz and I were both published for the first time in Circuits & Slippers, and then we realize that we lived in the same town. I have had the pleasure of meeting her personally and she is lovely and she is a fan of Nikola Tesla, as am I.
Lizz's story Groovy is a, well, groovy tale about aliens, man.
In 10 words or less, how would you describe your story?Today's guest is Lizz Donnelly. Lizz and I were both published for the first time in Circuits & Slippers, and then we realize that we lived in the same town. I have had the pleasure of meeting her personally and she is lovely and she is a fan of Nikola Tesla, as am I.
Lizz's story Groovy is a, well, groovy tale about aliens, man.
First contact meets Woodstock? Or maybe the benefits of arts and humanities curriculum in higher education?
What was the inspiration for this story? Be as brief or detailed as you want.
I honestly don't remember. It was a prompt of some sort, from one of the writing prompt twitter bots. I wrote the first draft of Groovy in July 2018 when I did Zoetic Press' Write Like You're Alive event. 31 stories in 31 days is the goal so it was all kind of a blur. But I remembered it when I read the call for submissions to this anthology and thought it was a perfect fit.
If your story had a theme song, what would it be?
I think it would have to be the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations"
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I'm so bad at this part. I work for a small town accountant even though I have two english degrees and spend my free time writing, knitting and spoiling my cat. I'm also a little obsessed with the Great British Baking Show and sometimes I try to make things that are waaaay out of my league. They usually turn out edible, but it always requires every dish I own, no less than three hours, and making a huge mess of my kitchen. Also, I am a wealth of information about 80s crime shows and musical theater.
What was the last book you read? Did you like it?
Wilder Girls by Rory Power. I did like it--the premise was really cool and I liked both the main narrators. My only complaint is that the ending felt super rushed but I'm expecting a sequel since the end was literally open water.
Do you have anything you want to promote? Other stories or books, your Etsy shop, a cool video you found online of dancing llamas that you think the world needs to see?
Um... check out my Patreon I guess? www.patreon.com/LizzDonnelly
I'm in the weird limbo of the end of the year right now but 2020 is going to be my Year of Reading (exclusively) Women authors so there should be more interesting content coming soon.
And to promote something that isn't mine, check out The Octavia Project. www.octaviaproject.org --a friend from grad school started this organization that brings a completely free 4 week writing day camp to teenage girls and nonbinary youth in Brooklyn every summer. It's awesome, and I try to spread the word about it every chance I get.
Anything else you want to say?
Thank you to Brian and Jennifer for the chance to work with you both! I'm excited for this anthology :)
Every story in Space Opera Libretti is accompanied by a title page. Groovy's features a cute lil alien and a lot of flowers. Too many flowers? Possibly. But definitely not as many flowers I wanted. I restrained myself.
Lizz Donnelly is a writer, knitter, cat lady, baking enthusiast, and occasional actor. She writes speculative fiction of all lengths, essays, and even the odd short play. Her work has been published recently in Speculative City, Brave New Girls Volume 4, and Grimm, Grit and Gasoline, among others. She is the founder of The (K)indred Experiment, an extracurricular writing club for middle school students. You can find her on Twitter @LizzDonnelly and on Patreon, where she blogs monthly about books, shares new fiction, and will be undertaking a year-long project of reading exclusively female authors in 2020.
Every story in Space Opera Libretti is accompanied by a title page. Groovy's features a cute lil alien and a lot of flowers. Too many flowers? Possibly. But definitely not as many flowers I wanted. I restrained myself.
Lizz Donnelly is a writer, knitter, cat lady, baking enthusiast, and occasional actor. She writes speculative fiction of all lengths, essays, and even the odd short play. Her work has been published recently in Speculative City, Brave New Girls Volume 4, and Grimm, Grit and Gasoline, among others. She is the founder of The (K)indred Experiment, an extracurricular writing club for middle school students. You can find her on Twitter @LizzDonnelly and on Patreon, where she blogs monthly about books, shares new fiction, and will be undertaking a year-long project of reading exclusively female authors in 2020.
