T.C. Powell

Never Too Old, poem, Issue 15, June 1, 2011

T.C. Powell starves full-time and is a freelance writer on the side. His poetry has been published by the Christian Science Monitor, Tapestry of Bronze, the Shine Journal, and Big Pulp. A new poem is scheduled for upcoming publication by Death Rattle. His woeful web presence can be found at http://tcpowellfiction.blogspot.com.

Get to know T.C...

Birthdate? June 1, 1977

When did you start writing? I've dabbled for many years, but I started taking writing "seriously" about a year and a half ago.

When and what and where did you first get published? My first fiction publication was in a literary magazine produced by my college--UC Santa Cruz. It was a small tale of a Santa Cruz hippie who's been selected by aliens to be humanity's ambassador in the stars.

Why do you write? I write because I've been deeply touched by things I've read. I'm interested in learning to create such spiritual experiences (for they are), for others.

Why do you write Science Fiction and/or Fantasy?They're fun genres. They allow a writer to use the full measure of his imagination as he creates, not only specific characters and situations, but races, timelines, entire worlds and realities.

Who is your favorite author? Your favorite story?

Does anyone have a straightforward answer to these questions? :)Among my favorite authors I include Alexandre Dumas, Stephen King, Thomas Hardy, Hermann Hesse, and Victor Hugo. Favorite story? I won't even try to fashion that list, but suffice it to say that I really enjoyed Watership Down.

What are you trying to say with your fiction?

If there are messages in my fiction (which there sometimes are, and sometimes are not), they vary and are specific to the story. My main objectives, regardless of whatever I'm "trying to say," is to say it 1) truthfully, and 2) in an entertaining fashion.

Do you blog? Where? Poorly and sporadically, but yes I do: http://tcpowellfiction.blogspot.com/

If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?

T.C. Powell

1977 - 2418

Husband, Father, Author, Bazillionaire.

What books and/or stories have most resonated with you as an author? Why? How do these stories and their characters find expression in your work? Tough question(s). I'm a reader first, an author second, and so those works which have resonated with me usually have been on that first level. I've loved the character work of Stephen King; the plotting of Thomas Hardy; the scope of adventure in Tolkien; the philosophical-theme structure of Hesse. Comparing what I write to what I've read always leaves me feeling bad, so I try not to do it. But I'm sure that everything I attempt bears the mark of the things that I love. To what extent that's true -- as to how derivative I ultimately am -- I'm going to leave that as a question for my centuries-later biographers. :D