Really fun 3Q’s today! My guest came onto my radar in 2022 with her really dark ‘Salamander Justice’ novella. Now, with her newest collection about to drop, I was so happy that she was able to visit for a Special 3Q’s!

Please welcome Tamika!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Tamika: My background is in journalism, so the transition from working for television and web to working for myself was pretty seamless once I made up my mind to do so. I created a writing practice with a dedicated workspace in my home. But I also have kids! So, I write and revise daily, yet almost never at the same time. When they are at school, I write without interruption. When they are on break, I write at the beginning and end of the day. I ensure that my works-in-progress are also accessible on my phone so I can write and revise on the go. I don’t keep a word count goal, but I do ensure that I complete the creative process on every piece I start. That means write, revise, revise, revise, workshop, revise, workshop, revise, polish, submit.

Steve: You win the lottery, and the only condition is that you need to fund another author’s book to be made into a movie. What book would you choose to be filmed?

Tamika: The entire time I read Tananarive Due’s My Soul to Keep, and, honestly, her entire African Immortals Series, I kept picturing it on the big screen. The imagery is precise and cinematic, and the love story is made for Hollywood. Reading Due’s work and eventually getting lucky enough to participate in one of her workshops gave me the courage to write speculative fiction.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release and why someone should read it!

Tamika: Unshod, Cackling, and Naked is a collection of speculative fiction stories with transgressive characters who often violently break free of the labels, constraints, and boxes that family, society, and country have placed on and around them. The book couldn’t have come at a better time for the United States, when we are facing myriad political shifts, social upheavals, and health and safety catastrophes – the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, mass shootings and rampant gun violence, the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, the climate crisis, the global coronavirus pandemic, and the ongoing oppressive forces of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia. I hope readers will not only recognize the pressures many of the characters face, but also get angry with them, and gasp (and sometimes laugh) at their responses to those pressures.

Steve: Bonus Question! If you could be an extra on any TV show, which one would it have been and why?

Tamika: If I could time travel, I’d return to the 1980s to be a background performer on any suspenseful episode of Tales from the Darkside. When I was a kid, I’d watch Monsters, Tales from the Darkside, and Friday the 13th: The Series, and Tales was my favorite. Those shows are a big part of the reason I love reading (and writing) speculative fiction now.

Oh, great choices!

Thank you so much, Tamika! And best of luck with your book launch!

To find more of her work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tamika-Thompson/author/B07XFFMRNP

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tamikathompson

Website: https://www.tamikathompson.com/