St. Paul-based author Eileen Schuh is an expert in straddling two worlds.
The writer, who visited Rochester Library last Monday, exploits parallel universes in her sci-fi novella, Schrödinger’s Cat. She also works in two realms of publishing: self-publishing and traditional, third-party publishing.
During a five-week tour of 23 Northern Lights Libraries — an area that covers much of north-central Alberta — Schuh is giving talks, leading workshops and answering questions about both types publishing. The agenda dovetails with national novel-writing month.
She will speak in Plamondon and Lac La Biche Nov. 20.
Schuh said her interest in physicist Hugh Everett’s many-worlds theory began decades ago, when she needed intellectual stimulation to counter the mundane tasks that accompanied motherhood.
She would be down on the floor wiping up orange juice for the sixth time in a morning, and she would imagine an old man appearing on her doorstep and inviting her to go on an adventure. In her mind’s eye, she would protest, saying she could not leave her children; the man would implausibly promise no time would elapse in her world while they were away.
She began to read up on quantum physics and realized her flights of fancy were not so fantastical, according to multiverse schools of thought, though physicists like Erwin Schrödinger said at some point, reality must collapse into one possibility or the other.
Thirty years later, Schuh said, with her children grown up and a difficult time of life encroaching, she let her imagination run riot again, only this time the scenarios would play out while she was trying to fall asleep.
“It was like a movie playing in my head,” she said.
She decided she would begin to write down what she was seeing and hearing.
“I wish some of the characters would have been more grammatically correct,” she said with a laugh.
She revealed she has a tendency to miss words in first drafts. “I think it’s because I’m on Twitter too much,” she said, noting the 140-character limit encourages her to pare down her words.
At first, proper grammar and syntax didn’t matter. The writing was for her eyes only, and it was prolific: Schuh said she penned nine novels in six months.
“The rest of my life sucked, but I was doing what I had always wanted,” she said.
Her mother had been a children’s book author, and this combined with Schuh’s upbringing on a farm near Tofield with a gramophone and books in place of electricity and modern amenities had moulded her into an avid reader and aspiring writer. She had even worked as a journalist.
When her daughter encouraged her to pursue publication, Schuh learned paring down and editing would take far more time than the first drafts. Still, she self-published a piece of fiction for young adults, The Traz, in April 2012; in October 2012, Schrödinger’s Cat was published by WolfSinger Publications out of Colorado.
Edmonton-based publisher Imajin purchased e-book rights for The Traz, as well as paperback and e-book rights for the sequel, Fatal Error. The books follow a privileged teen who gets involved with the Traz biker gang and then must face the consequences of the violence in which she is implicated.
“I wanted a name that didn’t sound like any real biker gang,” said Schuh of why she chose “Traz”; she didn’t want such gangs to be mad at her for the book’s portrayal of the culture.
Imajin published a school version of The Traz that includes a discussion guide for students and teachers that covers topics like gangs and Canada’s anti-drug policy. The series is carried at libraries in a number of correctional facilities for young offenders, and Schuh has spoken to incarcerated and at-risk youth.
“Any child that’s in adolescence is at risk,” she clarified, adding that although she set out to entertain, the fact that she’s been able to educate youths and adults has been a bonus.
Although publishing with Imajin has afforded Schuh such opportunities, she has reverted to self-publishing for Firewalls, the third book in her young adult trilogy, because she enjoys maintaining editorial control.
That’s not to say she’s turned her back on publishers entirely: for her next book aimed at middle-school children — a book that features a woman returning to the family homestead near Tofield — she’d like to find a publisher.
As for her next foray into sci-fi — which will also be published by WolfSinger — Schuh said she’s written a novel set in the near future, when the Internet has been taken over by criminals and is no longer accessible to the average citizen.
Schuh is not sure why she’s drawn to computer-based scenarios; “I hardly know how to turn one on,” she said, laughing.
Still, her interest in technology is as insatiable as her interest in physics. She recently learned that scientists are perfecting digital replications of smells, and one day, we may all be watching films where smells emanate from the screen in addition to images and sounds.
“I might have to write a sci-fi about that,” she said.
