A little bird (maybe a Ruby-crowned Kinglet?) told us that today is the birthday of Notable19 author Teresa Robeson, the subject of this blog post! It also happens to be the book birthday of Notable19 member Jessica Lanan…THE FISHERMAN AND THE WHALE is one beautiful baby! Maybe Teresa was a beautiful baby, too? Teresa: Not as beautiful as Jess’s book, I'm sure. You be the judge… Notable19: Let’s say you and Jessica’s book are beautiful in different ways. LOL! You’re smiling like you’re amused by something in the photo. Teresa: I might have been watching TV. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say I watched a lot of TV growing up. Notable 19: Really? What was your favorite TV show as a kid? Teresa: I don’t know that I had a favorite show. In Hong Kong, I loved a couple of series imported from Japan. One involved a moon-fairy who was banished to Earth to do a certain number of good deeds before she would be allowed back to the moon. Another was about a competitive swimmer who could execute a kick at the turn that launched her out of the water so she could reach the finish faster than her competitors. The third show I adored was Star Trek. It was syndicated in Hong Kong in 1968 and I just loved Spock with all the passion of a 4 year old. I think it was the ears…or maybe the bowl haircut that most kids endured at one time or another. Heh. Teresa: After we moved to Vancouver, my favorite shows were Six Million Dollar Man, Twilight Zone, Bionic Woman, and Wonder Woman. As you can tell, I have always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy. Notable19: It’s surprising that your first book wasn’t SFF. Teresa: Well, I have SFF stories in the anthologies published by the Minnows Literary Group. All the money earned from the anthologies is donated to Doctors Without Borders. Notable19: That is a terrific charity to support! Let’s stick with your childhood for another question. What is a moment in your youth that is crystal clear in your mind? Teresa: Hmmm, shall I talk about a traumatic moment or non-traumatic? I’ll go with the latter. I will never forget watching the stray alley cat that adopted us give birth inside a blanket-lined box that we used to put out for her. Newborn kitties are just the cutest things…the mother cat eating the placenta, not so much. Notable19: Ah, the miracle of birth! Did that make you want to be a veterinarian? And, relatedly, what’s the weirdest job you ever had? Teresa: That didn’t make me want to become a vet; it did, however, make me want to become a crazy cat lady. Funny enough, the weirdest job I had was almost vet-like. I had to perform gonadectomies on rodents in hormones studies for a biopsychology professor. I made some good friends in that job though, including the admin assistant of the psyc department who gave me a well-paying summer job the next year that helped me save up enough to take a one-month vacation in Europe after college graduation! Notable19: That was serendipitous. And speaking of vacations, if you could travel anywhere now, where would you go? Teresa: If there choices were not confined to Earth, I would love to travel to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. If confined to Earth, it would be a toss-up between the Galapagos or back to Hong Kong, especially for Chinese New Year. Notable19: Those are very disparate choices. Sounds like Chinese New Year is a special holiday for you, but if you could invent a holiday what would it be?
Teresa: If I were the Queen of the 'Verse (Firefly reference for those of you not in the know), I would create a “Sleep For 24-Hours” holiday where you can catch up on REM and deep sleep without the guilt. Seems like most people are sleep-deprived these days and it would really be a perfect holiday. Family gatherings, setting off fireworks, and picnics are overrated. Notable19s: You may be on to something there. We hope you can run the universe one day so we can all catch up on our sleep. Thank you for sharing your quirky experiences and thoughts with us! Teresa says that if you're not scared off by her odd jobs and odder sense of humor, you can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Pre-order her book on our Book page or at your favorite local independent bookstore. Comments are closed.
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Notable19sWe are a group of writers and illustrators who have debut books (actual debuts , debuts as author-illustrators, or debuts with medium/large publishers) forthcoming in 2019. Thank you for joining us on our exciting journey! Archives
April 2020
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