PTL Perrin's New Release: Terra's Anthem

Welcome Patty Tracy Perrin!

Dear Readers, 

Today, I am happy to welcome Patty Perrin, writing as PTL Perrin, author of science fiction adventures for young adults. I first met Patty at the Books by Brats group on facebook, and have really enjoyed getting to know her and other authors who, like myself, grew up traveling the world as military dependents. 

Please enjoy my interview with Patty, as she releases the fourth and final book of her Tetrasphere tetralogy. 

Welcome, Patty! Tell us a little bit about the Tetrasphere tetralogy.

Thank you, Laura! It's my pleasure to be here with you!

The Tetrasphere series is about four gifted teens who, when faced with an impossible challenge, discover they have no choice but to take it on, or risk losing our planet to self-destruction. It becomes apparent that two alien races have inhabited Terra longer than humans, and that one world, light years away, will die when Terra dies. Enemies among the aliens are determined to see them fail, and one of them has claimed one of the teens as his own. He will do anything to possess her.

In their search for answers, the teens meet strange beings they thought were myths. In order to save the world, they will have to work together with them and the aliens, despite their many differences. They are racing against time, fighting enemies at every turn. Will they make it? 

Tell us about your background. How did you get your start in writing and how long have you been doing it?

I grew up overseas in a military family. We had no television and lived among the natives of the countries we were guests of, rather than on post surrounded by other American kids. We learned the languages and made weekly visits to the post library for stacks of books to supplement the stacks we borrowed from the school library. I’m convinced that our prolific reading stretched us and gave us a great foundation for anything we chose to do in life.

In high school, I tried my hand at poetry and became editor of the literary magazine. I also worked on the yearbook for a couple of years, inserting poems and essays written by the students. For many years, I wrote nothing as I worked and raised my family. When my husband encouraged me to take an online writing course a few years ago, and my first article was published in a local newspaper, I was hooked.

When was your first book published and what have you published since then?

My first book, published in 2014, grew from a daily gratitude project on Facebook, where snippets of my life kept coming to mind as I did my daily Bible reading. Before long, my friends were urging me to put them in a book, and the result is REFLECTIONS OF A MISFIT. It is currently out of print until it's re-release in the spring. 

Since then, I’ve published TERRA’S CALL, which was a finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards, TRITON’s CALL, which won third place in its category, VOICE OF VIRACOCHA and now TERRA'S ANTHEM; all four of my young adult sci-fi series TETRASPHERE. I self-published the first two in the series, until Foundations Books picked up all of them.

You can read more about the books and my bio on www.ptlperrin.org

How does your background influence your writing?

Growing up military, we were like tumbleweeds, moving every time Dad got his orders. I was exposed to cultures, languages, customs, and the art and architecture of many countries. The differences in culture can cause problems because people are trained to think a certain way; but I found a common thread of humanity and learned that we’re all the same inside. We all want love, acceptance, family and respect.  After I finished my second book in the sci-fi series, I realized I was following that thread of differences versus commonality. The fourth book wraps it all up. 

Tell us about the path to publication and why you chose indie or traditional.

I chose to publish the first book through an independent publisher who approached me while I was writing it. I knew nothing about the mechanics of putting a book together or getting it published, so I went with them. It was costly and I wasn’t happy with the results, so I followed the advice of other writer friends and tried Create Space and Kindle Direct Publishing. I didn’t pay to self-publish but I did choose to pay for editing after I found an editor I like. It’s money well-spent, and I advise anyone writing a book to get a good editor. 

I met my current traditional publishers at a book-signing event and submitted the VOICE OF VIRACOCHA manuscript to them. They’ve since picked up all the books.

Having experienced a vanity publisher, indie publishing and a traditional publisher, the only one I will never do again is go with a vanity press, which asks payment for services I can do myself or my traditional publishers offer with no advance payment. 

What inspires you to continue writing?

I believe both art and literature start out with one question: “What if…?” Take the story of Icarus, for example. What if man could fly? Leonardo da Vinci took the same question in a different direction and invented a prototype of a helicopter before technology would make it a reality. Jules Verne took us on a rocket to the moon and in a submarine under the ocean long before either was considered possible. I firmly believe that we ask the ‘what-if’ questions because they are answerable and possible to achieve.

An author creates a scenario in answer to their own ‘what-if’ question that gives life to history or romance or other imagined worlds. Laura, your own books explore the question: what-if history can be changed by time travel? In the process of your answering it through story, we, the readers, learn details about history we might never have known or even been curious about. We also fall in love with your characters, who bring it all to life.

I have a gazillion what-if questions, and they demand answers, whether real or imagined. So I write. 

What is the best thing about being a writer?

There are two best things about being a writer for me. The first is doing research. If you had told me that in high school, I would have laughed, but we didn’t have the resources then that we do now. There’s little chance that I’ll dive the Caribbean or explore the tunnels under Superstition Mountain, but I’m grateful for search engines – invaluable tools available to anyone with access to the internet. I’ve discovered more fascinating facts about our planet Terra than I know what to do with, and I’m eager to share them with anyone who will listen. Instead, I’ve chosen to include many of them in the flow of my story, where they come alive in the settings and in the actions of the characters.

The other best thing is simply writing and feeling the story flow through the keyboard. We’re all different in our approach to writing, but when I’m in the zone and the words flow from that place inside where research and imagination coalesce, where the characters know what they’re doing and what comes next, where scenes come alive and must be written, I’m in a very happy place.

What is the worst thing?

Having to market my books after I’ve written and published them is the worst thing for me. It’s not that I can’t learn how to do it effectively, because there’s plenty of literature and instruction out there. It’s that I don’t want to. I’d rather write.

What is your best advice for aspiring authors?

Write and then re-write and do it again. Shut down your inner editor and let your first draft out. My first draft of TERRA’S CALL turned out to be all backstory. It would have been boring to my readers, but it enriched my characters because I knew background information that my readers learn little-by-little, in ways that interest rather than bog down. I published my eighth draft of the book. No book will be perfect, but it’s as polished as I was willing to make it. 

Why do the events of the past matter to us today? Why do we keep reading about the past?

Literature breathes life into history. It can take us to new worlds and plunge us into mystery. It gives us the experience of great love or great loss and engages and immerses us in the lives of the characters. It challenges us to think outside the box. Isn’t that what we, as writers, want to do? 

Thank you, Patty, for being on my blog today! Where can readers find out more about you? 

* FACEBOOK * AMAZON * WEBSITE * BLOG * GOODREADS *

ABOUT THE SERIES:

Terra's Call (Tetrasphere Book 1)

A Cherokee prophecy, escalating natural disasters and strange sounds, mark the approaching end of planet Terra, our Earth. When Jewel Adams leaves home school for high school in her senior year, she discovers she's not the only one with special abilities. Jewel, the Fletcher twins and Storm Ryder share a destiny as the only ones who might avert the coming disaster, but will their enhancements be enough to save Terra? Will an ancient enmity between two star systems cause their mission to fail? Are they willing to take the chance? If they don't Terra will self-destruct and mankind will be destroyed. 

Triton's Call (Tetrasphere Book 2)

In this exciting sequel to Terra’s Call, the four young people discover that things are not at all as they seem. There are more mysteries in this world than any of them have dreamed of, and they’re about to meet some of those mysteries head-on.

Voice of Viracocha (Tetrasphere Book 3)

When Jewel and her friends are needed in South America, they discover a malevolent enemy zeroing in on her. How can they stop him? In their search for answers, they find unlikely allies as strange as the interplanetary races they’ve already met.​

Will their combined efforts be enough to rescue Jewel from a fate that would doom the planet to self-destruct? In this exciting sequel to Triton’s Call, more prophecies are revealed, but if even one of the four is unable to help, all hope is lost.

Terra's Anthem (Tetrasphere Book 4)

Time is nearly up for Jewel Adams, Storm Ryder, and the Fletcher twins, Pax and Sky. When they discover the magnitude of their task, the challenge looks insurmountable. If they can’t find a way to save our planet Terra and Allara, a planet whose fate is entwined with ours, then nothing matters.

​

Powerful forces seek to break them apart. A looming war and a vicious enemy claiming Jewel as his own threaten to end humanity. Unless every sentient species inhabiting Terra can cooperate, the planet is doomed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Patty grew up as a military Brat, mostly in Europe, with no television and a huge imagination. Books were her entertainment and augmented a very good education in German, Italian and American schools. Books were her lifeline, ties to other worlds and people and characters who enriched her life through their stories.

She lives in Florida with her tennis-pro husband.

The Battle is O'er is now available!

Start from the beginning: Prelude One 

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