Sunday Kristine Larson

 

 

Well-equipped with an Arizona Territory outlaw heritage in her blood, Sunday Larson moved to the vibrant, magical red rocks of Sedona to write a story. Raised on an Appaloosa and Thoroughbred horse ranch in the days of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Sunday is a self-proclaimed worldly country bumpkin. She entered the University of Utah early, and earned a self-designed degree, drawing on the disciplines of Art, Art History, Philosophy, Dance, and Anthropology.

For twenty years, Sunday worked as a visual artist. Collage, installations, dolls and small figure sculptures are in her body of work, and pieces of her art have been exhibited in numerous galleries and shows. However, her first love was designing and creating erotic, one-of-a-kind gold jewelry, and pieces of her work grace fine collections worldwide. During this time she also owned, developed, and managed a residential community, which included seven rentals, thirty fruit trees, and a half-acre organic garden. Sunday was often found on the end of a shovel, passionately digging into the mystery of Earth processes and the interior of her mind.

Sunday embarked on a spiritual path at age seventeen, and has spent time with esteemed guides in the Yucatan, Central America, Peru, France, and Greece. She is also a Reiki Master.

In 1998 Sunday published an essay in Pan Gaia Magazine. She has now the author of The Spinning Game…A Sedona Story, the first book of "A Wild Woman's Trilogy".

Sunday brings her outlaw heritage, her love of being a woman, her devotion to Earth processes, her background in art, and personal odyssey to life in her book, bridging the gap between the magical and the real.

Today, Sunday Larson lives in Sedona and is working on the second book of "A Wild Woman's Trilogy". She is also developing an oracle, "The Spinning Game". Sunday has two series of dolls in process, "Witches' Brains" and "On Her Back". She is now offering a series of events and retreats, "Right" Your Story, based on her art background and writing experience. Visit Sunday online at http://www.asedonastory.com

 

"The Spinning Game reminds me of literature by Carlos Castaneda and Florinda Donner" Vicki Noble, author of Motherpeace

"In the land of red rocks, mystery and sorcery, The Spinning Game is a fascinating tale about the power of women."Lynn Andrews, author of "Medicine Woman" and "Tree of Dreams"

"The Spinning Game reminds me of literature by Carlos Castaneda and Florinda Donner." Vicki Noble, co-creator and author of Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess through Myth, Art and Tarot.

"In the land of mystery, red rocks, and sorcery, a fascinating tale about the power of women"
Lynn Andrews, author of "Medicine Woman" and "Tree of Dreams"

“The Spinning Game has it all-great storytelling, memorable characters, passion, intrigue, wandering of the heart and soul, and a linchpin of deep wisdom that we can learn from. Meanwhile, the author's wise, wild voice entertained me to no end. I can't wait for the next book of the trilogy.” Robert Yehling, co-author, 'Full Flight': Biography of Marty Balin

"Sunday Larson has created a quick-moving, spirit-indulging novel, encoded with some of the finer metaphysical notions of our turn- of-the-millennium times. It’s hard to find the adjectives to describe the multi-leveled, complex and utterly sophisticated composition of The Spinning Game. It¹s better just to read it for yourself.” Lane Badger, Publisher, Four Corners Magazine, Sedona, Arizona

"Pure femininity, verve, intelligence, charm, creativity, and energy. Off the charts creative, engaging, and enlightening. I can't wait to get my hands on the second book!" Audre Wenzler Wisdom of the Earth Aromatherapy

 

 

Pageonelit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?

Sunday Kristine Larson: I grew up on a Thoroughbred and Appaloosa horse ranch in Utah so I am indeed a country bumpkin. Although I now say I'm a worldly country bumpkin. Reading was an important part of my early life, having been taught to read at age three. Because I had endless time to scheme and dream, and an environment of endless possibilities, my imagination had no limits. As a child, I didn't watch TV because, as I explained, I had better stories than that going on in my mind. My mother tells me that I was a storyteller from an early age, always pestering her to listen to the latest adventure of "Hudson Rock", a saga and character I made up before going to school. I always loved to write, in fact I gave away many family secrets in a paper I wrote in high school, but became turned off during my university years due to the tiresome academic writing that was required.

I always enjoyed fairytales and the classics, especially Alice In Wonderland, and early in my twenties discovered the Magical Realists. But by far, my earliest and most profound influence was my father, for he gave me permission to dream, imagine and fly.

 

Pageonelit.com: Why did you write THE SPINNING GAME -A Sedaona Story? Where did this story come from? Tell us about how you plotted the story or should I say did not plot the story?

Sunday Kristine Larson:I wrote The Spinning Game because I didn't have a choice. As a visual artist, I never planned to write a book, yet, once the idea came to me, I couldn't stop and here I am. Feeling compelled, yet not knowing why, I moved to Sedona, and within a year I started to write. I wrote an article for a magazine (I'm not proud of it at all), and from that beginning a story was born. As I walked, danced and meditated on the red rocks, the magical landscape of Sedona told me a story that was waiting to be woven into the landscape. In blood, attitude, and spirit, I have an authentic Arizona outlaw heritage to draw from, so I let my heart and mind soar, using my outlaw heritage as a backdrop for a contemporary story.

I couldn't have possibly plotted this book, primarily because I didn't know how. I used the lesson of my own life story and the structure of The Odyssey very loosely; however, as I wrote the story the characters developed a life of their own. I referred to dreams and meditations; I listened carefully and allowed the story to flow from my body.

 

Pageonelit.com: What is the "Spinning Game?"

Sunday Kristine Larson: A primary theme in the book is perspective and how one views their circumstances, therefore the title, The Spinning Game, is really the entire story in three words. The title could also have been, Relationship: Vortex Style, because I used the metaphor of the vortex to exemplify the pattern of the two main character's relationship, the male (the axis) remaining in place as the female (the cone) spins around him.

The Spinning Game is a game discovered by magical children who had not forgotten how to see, and it proves that everything (including your perspective) really, really moves, if you're really, really dizzy.

 

Pageonelit.com: Tell us about the character Lauren in THE SPINNING GAME. Lauren's wildness with a sense of responsibilty - Describe your view/definition of wildness for this character/yourself?

Sunday Kristine Larson:Before discussing Lauren, I want to define wild as I use it in The Spinning Game and in my life. Wild is a term that has gained a negative connotation, and I feel most often misused. The negative connation against the random and wild developed when nature and women were chosen as objects to subdue and exploit. Wild means natural, non-domesticated, unencumbered by expectation, living according to natural inclination. Wild is adaptable, not compliant or defiant. Wild is relational within the context of authenticity. Wild is the difference between a wild, random sunflower and a hothouse cultured rose. Wild is a pine tree happy to be a pine tree, never wanting to be a sycamore. Wild is objective truth.

The heroine of my story is a wild woman who could not be tamed regardless of her circumstances, the wishes of narcissistic parents, or the poker-playing cowboy who loved her. Lauren was a gifted child who cracked under the expectation of perfection, and when she thought she wasn't perfect, she kept a secret, altering the likely course of her life. Protecting her natural inclination, instinct rose up in her behalf, saving a wild random sunflower from suffocating in the hothouse of what others perceived her to be or hoped her to become. Although she stepped in every trap, made every bad bargain, and often defied good judgment in her choices, Lauren fiercely protected her right to live life on her own terms by living simply and scrupulously taking care of her own needs. She was true to her wild, natural self, and what is more responsible than that?

 

Pageonelit.com: In another interview you say, "I have but one teacher and that is our mother earth..." Please explain.

Sunday Kristine Larson: In matters of the mind, spirit and the soul, I have met many esteemed teachers, and they all offered gifts and words of quality. I have seen (not read) many books that offer ideas of how to make sense of our journey, but I have one reference point, and that is Mother Earth. When I press my belly against the body of our Mother, surrender to the eternal return, become aware of the ongoing processes, I am ever reminded that all knowledge is but a by product of her wisdom. Everything is imprinted on the body of the Earth, and all we have to do is be receptive and trust. Most of all, I suppose I mean that I will never surrender my soul to a guru, a priestess, or a master.

 

Pageonelit.com: Being an experienced published author - What advice can you offer for those writers who are working on their first book? In your opinion - What makes a good story?

Sunday Kristine Larson: Storytelling is a universal language, and storytellers maintain the fabric of a culture. The threads that connect us as humans are words. A good story, like good art, reveals the universal in the local and particular. Although it is impossible to separate the artist from the art, a good story depends upon transcending the personal, offering the reader an opportunity to find themselves within the story. My advice is this: be scrupulously honest to your voice, be diligent about writing or you may lose your voice, tell your story in your own way from the heart, allow your body to tell you what evokes emotion and empathy, don't fear emotional responses for you will have them, be willing to take the ride as you write, fall in love with your characters, care about them, suspend disbelief, and be ready for a crash when it's over. Believe me, it's worth it!

 

Pageonelit.com: What has been your feedback from readers? What do they say to you about their interpretations of your books?

Sunday Kristine Larson: Receiving praise for my ability as a natural storyteller has been the most gratifying. Many readers believed the story would be a quick read, a beach book, and wow, were they surprised. Most readers said they had to read the book slowly for every word mattered. Women have told me that the book renewed their love of being a woman and applauded me for honoring "women's work". Men have told me that they will never again look at their woman the same. Oh, Oh! I've had many compliments on the omniscient voice, the interspersing of wisdom. Rita, the grandmother is a favorite for she represents the voice of Earth and the wisdom of the crone. She is a witchy, mysterious, sensual woman who guides the heroine through experience while teaching her about the domestic sphere, the garden where one makes choices, and the ecstasy of the wild where one goes feral, crazy, and back to their original, untouched self. She also knows the real purpose of a broom.

 

Pageonelit.com: Who are your favorite writers and why?

Sunday Kristine Larson: My favorite writer, without question, is Tom Robbins for he is true to his voice. He is a magician with words, and each time I reread his books, I again become enchanted with the fidelity he maintains to his perspective and his tool of expression. I think Cormac McCarthy should be sainted for his gift.

 

Pageonelit.com: What's next? Tell us about the two follow up books to THE SPINNING GAME. The trilogy.

Sunday Kristine Larson: "A Wild Woman's Trilogy" continues with a book that now has four names. As in The Spinning Game, the story will contain a mystery, a love story, and be a testament to outlaw thinking and wild, random female energy. Many of the same characters will return. Can love in middle-age be passionate and hot, will be a question. As a hint, living in a New Age community and having an outlaw heritage are incredible resources.

In the third book, working title Tia…The Portal, a wonderful character emerges, and this book will be full of surprises as I draw upon my background in Art History and as a visual artist.

 

Pageonelit.com: What was the last book you read?

Sunday Kristine Larson: I just read all of the books by Carlos Castaneda and Cormac McCarthy. Is there a connection? I have no idea.

 

Pageonelit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing.

Sunday Kristine Larson: My hobbies have always been my work. Lucky me! I walk several miles at the track each morning, tend a garden, play with my three cats, talk to my dolls, meditate, hike and spend time with friends. For me, each part of my life keeps the channel open. I try to stay fully present in the moment, and I believe by doing so, all activities are food for the senses, and this indeed enhances my writing. As I see, hear, touch and taste all aspects of life, I spiral deeper into each experience, appreciating more detail, thus more magic.