Eleven Questions For Laura Preble, Author
Author: Laura Preble

Ms. Preble is an award-winning teacher, a jazz singer and
pianist, and the author of The Queen Geek Social Club and its
just-published sequel Queen Geeks In Love (both available from
Penguin Books). A self-admitted geek, Laura is a science fiction
fan and currently lives in the San Diego area with her husband,
jazz saxophonist Chris Klich and her sons Austin and Noel.

T.E. Pouncey: I thoroughly enjoyed your novel. Are any of the
elements in The Queen Geek Social Club autobiographical?

Laura Preble: Actually, the book is sort of like how I would
have been in high school if I'd had better clothes and more
confidence. Other than that, a lot of it is based on various
elements of the schools where I've taught (West Hills High and
Mar Vista High in San Diego, CA). I study my students, then take
pieces of various kids, stitch them together, and create new
characters. It's kind of like Frankenstein, but with less
lightning.

TEP: Do you create a character and then visualize what they
look like, or do you visualize a character and then create their
personality?

LP: I think I usually have a voice in mind first. For Queen
Geeks, I woke up one morning at 3 a.m. and just had this idea,
and the character of Shelby in mind. Her appearance developed as
I developed her personality; the smart-ass attitude and wry
observations definitely shaped her appearance. Plus, she looks a
little like me if I'm having a really good day and have access
to a foggy mirror.

TEP: The character Shelby Chappelle in TQGSC has a great robot
sidekick named Euphoria. Which robot would you rather hang out
with, R2-D2 or C-3PO?

LP: Geez. That's like asking someone to choose which child
they'd abandon on The Titanic … but if I had to pick, I think
I'd go with C-3P0 because he actually talks. R2-D2 is much more
down-to-earth and actually more intelligent, but since he just
beeps and sounds like static from a faint radio station, it
would probably bug me.

TEP: Speaking of movies, if TQGSC was optioned as a movie,
would you want to write the screenplay?

LP: Yes, and if you happen to know of some really powerful
Hollywood mover and/or shaker, please hook me up. I love to
write dialog, so I think I'd do really well with a screenplay.

TEP: You once said you grew up in Ohio on a diet of hot
chocolate and science fiction. Who were some of your favorite
authors?

LP: I used to work at the local library, and my job was to go
to the basement and bring up back copies of old magazines (this
was before Internet … arghgh!). Anyway, when I wasn't busy, I'd
hide in the stacks and read Isaac Asimov and Amazing Stories,
Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverburg, Spider Robinson, Larry
Niven, Jerry Pournelle, plus fantasy like Tolkien and Piers
Anthony. I'm really a sci-fi whore and will read anything
anybody puts in front of me.

TEP: Any plans for a TQGSC sequel or do you want to work with a
brand new group of characters?

LP: Well, I do have a sequel coming out in November of this
year, and it's called Queen Geeks in Love. It follows the
exploits of the same geeky characters (as well as Euphoria), and
tackles the thorny problem of what happens when geeks date. Some
highlights: attending Comic-Con as homemade superheroes, and
putting on Geek Fest, a celebration of talent designed to
humiliate those involved as well as those watching.

TEP: You have two sons. How do THEY react to Mom's being a
self-admitted geek?

LP: Ah! They are little geeks in training. The oldest one,
Austin, goes with me to Comic-Con. In fact, we did a singing
contest together there on a new lip-sync video game. It was also
great this year, because Penguin (my publisher) sold the first
book at Comic-Con and gave postcards out for Queen Geeks in
Love, so Austin would go up to people near the booth, hand them
postcards, and say "Buy my mom's book so she'll feed me!" Noel,
the youngest, is too young to understand the true meaning of the
word 'geek,' but he's obsessed with space, aliens, and Harry
Potter (at age 4) so I think it's destiny that he'll be a little
geek himself.

TEP: Is your first novel, Lica's Angel, still in print?

LP: Yes … I self published it a few years ago when I thought
I'd never get a publishing contract. It's available on Barnes
and Noble's website as well as Amazon and iUniverse. When I do
book signings, they often have it in the store also. I started a
sequel to that book also, but never got to finish it.

TEP: How did you become interested in jazz music?

LP: My dad had a killer collection of jazz, swing, and Big Band
music, and when I moved away to college, I stole all his Duke
Ellington records. Then I met my husband, Chris Klich, a
consummate jazz professional (sax player), and now we make
beautiful music together (yuck! Overt sentimentality!) Our most
recent album, Blue Skies, still sells lots on CD BABY (and you
can hear it at his website chrisklich dot com). We also had an
originals band where I wrote all the music and lyrics, and that
album is still floating around out there too, and can be heard
at laurapreble dot com, my music site.

TEP: Which is harder to be: a good teacher, a good writer, or a
good musician?

LP: It's hardest to be all three at the same time, which is
what I go for. Plus good mom, good wife, and good Olympic discus
thrower. (No, that last one was just to see if you were paying
attention.)

TEP: Can you tell us about any new projects that will be
published before the end of the year?

LP: In addition to Queen Geeks in Love, which comes out
November 6 — and I'm hoping every person in the United States,
Canada, and all English-speaking countries will buy a copy — I'm
also working on a novel titled Punk Boy Mysterious which is not
within the Queen Geek series, and I am in the process of
finishing Prom Queen Geeks, the third book in the Queen Geek
series, which will be out in Fall 2008. I've also been writing
for Writer's Digest, and will be doing a workshop at the
Southern California Writer's Conference. And I'm still hoping
for a TV show, a movie, an appearance on Ellen, and perhaps a
Pulitzer Prize for humorous literature featuring a robot. (Is
that a category? It should be!)

Interview by T.E. Pouncey, and reprinted with permission from
GeeksofDoom.


About The Author: Laura Preble is a journalist, singer,
teacher, and writer from San Diego. Her first Queen Geek novel
is The Queen Geek Social Club, followed up this fall with Queen
Geeks in Love. Learn more at http://www.queengeeksocialclub.com/