Author Ransom Noble visits with Anna Maria Prezio

We're excited to have author Ransom Noble drop by for a visit on her Virtual Book Tour. Ransom Noble has always loved stories. She's been an avid reader and writer as long as she can remember. Believing determination can help one attain any goal, she set her sights high and achieved many goals. Her love of the sciences led her to a career in mechanical engineering and often pushes her imagination into the speculative fiction realm.

Ransom and her husband enjoy watching movies and playing games with their friends. She likes to go see local bands play and occasionally attends sports events at her alma mater. Her live-and-let-live policy extends to stinging insects and spiders, which earned her the nickname the Wasp Whisperer. Ransom currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa, though she's lived several other places. She's sure she isn't fond of snow since she was born in Modesto, California, and didn't learn what it was until she was eight. She graduated from engineering at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Her work includes "Qui's Contract," a short story that appeared in Ruins Metropolis in June 2008 and The Art of Science, which will be published in 2009.

Ranson, we'd love to know more about you, so here goes:

1. What three words do you think describe you as a human being?
Creative, determined, curious

2. How do you think others would describe you?
About the same way. Some would say caring instead of curious, I think.

3. Please tell us what you are most passionate about outside of writing.
Yoga. I used to teach, but have moved and not yet found a new class. Now waiting until I have the baby before finding a new venue- I hate restricting students to my pregnancy routines, though they are more challenging than most in my condition.

4. Do you have any pets? If so, introduce us to them.
I have three plants. Peace is a peace lily, Porthos is a creeping Charlie type, and the geranium that graces my doorstep in the summer months.

5. If you weren't a writer, what would you be doing with your life?
I've just retired from mechanical engineering, and I enjoy yoga. Have previously been part of an at-home sales jewelry company. Next year I'll become a mother.

6. Can you describe the time you realized you were indeed a "real" writer?
This year I've been working hard to send out a lot of things. The first time I got an acceptance email, I squealed. I jumped up and down in my chair (luckily no one else was in the house.

7. What is going on with your writing these days?
Working on my second YA novel and I just finished a submission to a science-fiction anthology.