#26 Patricia Gilliam
First of all, I want to thank Susan Kaye Quinn for the amazing opportunity to be a part of this project. I also want to thank Samuel Peralta (The Future Chronicles) and Patrice Fitzgerald (Beyond the Stars) for also including my short stories “The Backup” and “Wily and Tate” in the anthology portions of their payloads.
For my personal payload, I’ve included the first three novels of The Hannaria Series, which is science fiction and follows an alien ambassador and his family. I began development on this around 2006, imagining an alternative world where alien contact with Earth changed the course of its history, society, and technology. Start with Out of the Gray, followed by Legacy and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
A Superhero’s Duty is the first book of my most recent series (Heroes of Corvus) and is more urban fantasy and action-based. Its cover was designed by Jake Caleb Clark. As of today, I’m working on the second Corvus novel as well as another sequel novel for Hannaria.
For personal photos, I wanted to include my family on the journey. I’m the daughter of Robert and Stella Joyner and was born in 1983. I have one brother, Chris, who is two years younger than me. My grandparents on Mom’s side were farmers. My grandfather on Dad’s side was an electrician and a U.S. Army veteran (served in Korea), and my grandmother on Dad’s side worked for several retail companies.
Both my parents worked at a television manufacturing factory called Magnavox when they met, and Mom came home to raise me and later my brother. I attended public schools my entire life and had many caring teachers. Industry changes in my dad’s work and issues connected to my brother’s health led to us moving to Blountville, Tennessee in 1993. We lived there for the majority of my childhood until I started college in 2001.
My Great-Aunt Midge (Mildred Davis) worked at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and was one of my early role models. She encouraged me to have an interest in science and provided me with contacts and resources where I could follow NASA projects from the time I was 12. I was also able to share what I was sent with classmates and teachers. I’m very grateful for her influence and loving character.
After receiving an academic scholarship, I began attending East Tennessee State University when I was seventeen years old and majored in psychology and broadcasting. I loved writing at this point, but I didn’t see a viable way to pursue it other than a hobby. My instructors and friends encouraged me to keep going.
I met my husband Cory during a college project between ETSU’s broadcasting and theater departments. We were friends for about a year before we started dating and will be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary on May 2021. I graduated college and got married in the same week. Our best man, Rich Krenn, contacted Cory with a job opportunity in Knoxville, TN a few months later.
My writing career began with short stories, posted for free on a website called Writing.com (still exists in 2021) and later Gather.com (now gone). As I got feedback and learned more about the craft, I branched into full-length novels and other larger projects. Amazon Kindle and other online avenues have allowed me to sell books all over the planet—something that still amazes me on a daily basis. Over the course of the past decade, it’s opened up opportunities I never would have imagined when I first started—like having my work sent to the Moon. ☺
There is always more to learn, which is one of the reasons I love this field so much. The other is the wonderful people I’ve met along the way. I’m very grateful for that.
Thanks for reading, and best wishes to you! I’m looking forward to what the future brings.
Patricia Gilliam
Find Patricia Gilliam’s stories here.