Indie Spotlight: Terra Harmony

Like most reviewers, I get pitched a lot of books. In most cases, they are books that are a poor match for my blog (and my tastes) that were emailed to me with a request that bordered on desperation. The thing I enjoy most about getting pitched, though, is searching through the slush and finding the one or two gems that really stand out and summon a second look.


Terra Harmony, and her debut novel Water, did just that. While it's not typical of the sort of book I would review, I felt there was much more to Terra and her novel than initially meets the eye. 


She joins us today not to merely plug her novel (though, truly folks, we wouldn't be blogging if it were not for plugging and promoting novels, am I right?), but to also raise awareness of this new breed of genre called Eco-Fantasy - which has it's roots in the promotion of all things "Green". 

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Despite the meaning of my name "Peace on Earth", and the fact that I am almost always barefoot, I am not a hippie.  I can definitely be classified as weird, and have been labeled as 'granola', but my days of long armpit hair and marijuana smoking are not just long gone – they never were (although the same cannot be said about my parents).

But I have a monumental task in front of me; gain the support of a legion of those slightly more crunchy than myself in order to increase interest in the up and coming genre; Eco-Fantasy:

I admit that I have two motives here.  The first is to promote my debut novel, Water, which falls under this very genre.  To some, this motive might be selfish; some would call it good marketing. I prefer the term self-marketing, or maybe good-ish.

The second motive is to, here it comes, my tree bark eating friends...help the planet.  Actually, conserving our natural resources or 'going green' has become a big topic of discussion within politics, our schools, and even the entertainment community. 

But what does this mean for the reading/writing community?  Have an e-reader?  That's a start.  Water can be found on both the Kindle and the Nook (there I go with the good-ish again).  But studies have found e-readers to be more environmentally friendly than paper books.  This, of course, depends upon factors like how voracious of a reader you are, if you're buying used or new books, etc.  But as a general rule, yes, that e-reader you have is kinder to the planet than that stack of tree corpses you have on the bookshelf.

What else can you do to help kick-start this patchouli oil soaked, literary revolution?  Well there's this:

• Join the Goodreads Eco-Fiction group.  It's lonely in there.  I don't think e-overpopulation is a bad thing.
•  Follow #eco and #ecofantasy on twitter; tweet using these hashtags every time you read a good Eco-Fantasy book.
•  Help support this genre by contacting Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Shelfari, Smashwords etc. about adding Eco-Fantasy to their genre lists.
• Support the Green Press Initiative (http://greenpressinitiative.org)
• Know Leonardo Dicaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow, or Brad Pitt personally?  Probably not, that one is a long shot.  But if you do, get them involved.  They are considered to be among the top 'Green Celebrities'.  Besides, I want their autograph! 
• Finally, help me start a movement.  I want a web-based community that supports green publishing, promotes Eco-Fantasy, and that will eventually make monetary donations to eco-friendly causes.  

More to come on this, but my time is limited and my technological know-how is worse.  I need help! Comment on this post with ideas.  The publishing industry is about to go #eco on y'all! 

  

Drop me a line on Facebook or Goodreads and ask to be included in future giveaways and promotions.  In the meantime – stay green!

Indie Authors can connect with me at:

www.twainwannabe.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/harmonygirlit

Hippies can connect with me at:

www.thecornerofHaightandAshbury.com – Just kidding.  No hippies there anymore, just scary drug addicts.