As the author, how would you describe your book?
"Woman Justice" (ebook and paperback) is lesbian fiction that contains three storylines: a murder mystery, erotica, and a love story.

A mystery writer is plagued by visits from a character she concocted by never completed. In her attempts to give the character an exsistence, she finds herself falling in love with her. The story opens, however, with the investigation into the discovery of a shallow grave containing human bones.

Can you tell us the behind-the-scenes story about how "Woman Justice" came into being? What was the germ? How did the characters come to life? Is there a character who still lives inside of you?
My stubborn streak has always caused me to cringe and then confront the words "I can't!"

"Woman Justice" is a novel because I was a poet and couldn't write prose very fluidly. Just to up the ante, I gave it three storylines.

"Woman Justice" is a murder mystery because I couldn't imagine developing the mentality needed to concoct and carry out a murder - even as a writer on paper.

"Woman Justice" is filled with erotic short stories because writing them was a definite "I can't!" I had been called a prude once too often.

The main thrust of the story centers around a writer's character coming back to its author and demanding a more fulfilling existence. What is incredible is that this is precisely what the characters in this book did. They seemingly took on lives of their own, with enough power to wake me in the middle of the night with stories ideas, with enough power to allow me to see through their eyes.

Can you tell us something about you as a writer, i.e. when you started writing, what's your creative process is like, what inspires you, etc.?
By the time I was a teen, I was writing poetry in a very disciplined manner. I have had my poetry published many times, both separately and as a collection. I started concentrating on prose only a few years ago and find this realm very consuming.

Sometimes I think I am more a voyuer of life than a participant. I notice and study everything and everybody. It would probably be pretty scary to take a look at all I keep in my head. Things aren't filed very neatly; rather, they all live together and become tangled into characters and scenarios and poems and aspirations and dreams...

How do you keep a balance between family, work, and your writing?
For me, this is a continual battle. I am very "responsibility" driven and have a tendency to put "responsibility to myself" much lower on the list than it should be. My family will always come first, my work is a necessity in terms of both finance and self-fulfillment, and my writing becomes something I end up running back to like a long lost friend. I believe that writing is not just the act of putting pen on paper, but one of observing life, incubating thoughts, allowing characters to develop.

Balance? Me? Ask the poor man in my novel-in-progress who has been lying dead in front of a fireplace for the past two years!

Can you tell us something about you as a person?
I have an obsession with rapid movement, meaning that I have to be doing something, I have to be learning something, I have to be one iota better as a person than I was yesterday. Life is research, and I find great joy in it.

If you had a chance to be mentored by one author (living or dead), who would you choose and why?
For me, that's a tough question.

I would pick Shakespeare or Twain or Dickenson or Woolfe or Plath or Proust or...the big guns that will be with us forever. How come nobody writes anything nowadays than will end up being a classic? I think we dropped something important along the way.

And...I'd love to pick Agatha Christie's brain --- but not so much because I like her style of writing. I am in awe at how she seemed to have a bottomless well of stories inside of her. She is STILL only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. I want one of those bottomless wells.

Despite the wisdom that says you can't take it with you, if you could take four things with you when you leave this world, what would they be?
1) A fire extinguisher
2) My sense of humor
3) My insatiable curiosity
4) The love I feel for and from the important people in my life

What is your view of epublishing? What opportunities does it provide for you and for other authors? What do you think is the future of epublishing?
I first imagined the possibilities of epublishing when I stumbled upon the Guttenberg Project on the internet. There were all the classics...Shakespeare, Harding, Cather...all suddenly accessible to me without a trip to the library or the bookstore. Words are words...whether on paper or computer screens or bathroom walls...they provide a glimpse into another's soul, another world.

I think there is still the stigma attached to reading on screen, but a lot of people don't stop to consider how much time they stare at a screen anyway - in chat rooms, in newsgroups, etc. They come away with what? A gender check? An unsavory chunk of spam? I would much rather turn the screen off after having delved into a book that gives me something enduring!

I also think that epublishing will attain its respected place in the world. For a long time, the New York publishers belittled e-authors and e-publishers. Now, they promote their own ebooks. This WASN'T their idea (although they'd like you to think so); they were forced to see it for what it is --- a legitimate form of expression.

And since I have been assured that my answers will not be edited...:-) I'd like to give a plug to DLSIJ Press. When I approached them with lesbian fiction, knowing they 'said' they published women authors, I really expected them to send me elsewhere, to go with the majority that tends to compartmentalize people.When they say they publish women, they mean ALL women, not segments of the population --- but women of any color, belief systems, orientation, etc.

What other published works do you want us to know about?
I have a short story in SHARDS, and I don't say that so much to blow my own horn as to promote the anthology itself. SHARDS is an incredible mix of women authors, each with her own voice and background. One thread of commonality, however, ties them together so that they become one voice, one background. That thread is the desire to contribute to this collection in an effort to raise money for breast cancer research. I am honored to be a part of it.

If you haven't bought SHARDS yet, go buy it NOW!

What projects are you currently working on?
Like I said, there is a dead man in front of a fireplace that needs my attention. It is another Laura McCallister mystery that WILL be completed.