An Interview with Taniko
by Myrrhine
Taniko
has been one of the mainstays of the Pan Historian for which we are all
extremely grateful. What's the part of the paper and its production you
like most?
I'd say a combination of writing material for the Pan Historian, and helping out behind the scenes. I'm lucky to be working with an editor as creative, skilled, insightful and flexible as Myrrhine (no, she did not pay me to say that!), and with many other great individuals, who take their time to judge and interview featured personalities, who write a variety of articles, and who do other necessary work around the paper. We have an incredibly good group of people who hang here at Pan Historia, and it is a pleasure to develop new friendships while at the same time doing something useful. And yes, I still feel funny about accepting the featured personality thingamajig this time around. Oh, Amashelle????
Taniko has a long list of novels and reference books to her name - does she have a particular favourite among them all?
The only novel Taniko is in is Thicker Than Blood - The Sisterhood and Their Brethren (the Junction and Short Cuts don't really count). I am getting revved up for events that are beginning to happen in the 18th century setting in that novel. As for Taniko's reference books, I'm really fond of On the Trail..., Animalia, Fleur-de-lis, and The Craft Faire, although I don't post in them half as much as I'd love to. I think Taniko needs to join MORE Reference Books, I do! (My alternate characters are already in most of those.) They need to invent the 40-hour day and the ten-day week. I'm also keen on the Reference Library, and try to keep up with Colonial America and the Revolution, Geographica, Australia (vicarious armchair travel), and other places, with mixed success. I think a "favorite" is momentary; there are so many good things to explore around here at Pan Historia.
Taniko comes from 18th century Japan, what was the spark of inspiration behind her character?
Taniko as a character actually started off as Dr. Taniko Kishimoto, a contemporary Japanese-American woman who played in several novels as a physician, or a surgeon, or a pathologist. I still use her in that role over in PE's 666 West End, a novel that began here on Pan Historia prior to the Crash. My original thought behind the character was to create someone who, as a subplot, could find it important to learn more about the Japanese side of her background. I think I created her in part because I was raised in my formative years in a very multicultural environment - I'm of German/English heritage, and I then lived in a Jewish community and went to school where my classmates were 95% Cuban. I like exploring differences, finding commonalities, discovering uniqueness. Taniko (without the "Dr.") came about because I wanted to join a bunch of reference books, and thought I didn't need the excess baggage of the rest of the name for those. When I decided to join Sisterhood, I looked through my stable of existing characters, and decided it would be inventive to come up with a story as to why a descendant of samurai would find herself a pirate in the 18th century. I'm planning on exploring her cultural legacy in this novel, as passed down from her parents, as well as having some good rip-snorting fun.
I've been following your butterfly postings at Animalia and in Postal Service's blog and there are some fine shots among them. Are wildlife and photography passions of yours?
Thank you. When I was a child with my first camera, I caught hell for going through every roll of film in the house, snapping endless shots of the family kittens. Later, I graduated to wildlife. Yes, both wildlife and photography interest me, and it is great when the two interests co-incide. I like the "natural setting" types of zoos, and I sidetrack to visit marine aquaria. Best of all, though, just seeing wildlife outside my house, or on woodland hikes - I think crows must be my totem bird, and there are few creatures more inspiring than dragonflies and damselflies. It's just great to stumble over something unexpected. As far as photography goes, I've taken a couple short classes in it, but there's always more to learn. I use both a digital camera and a film SLR camera - they complement each other. I don't limit myself to wildlife or animal photography, but it's very challenging since animals will do what they want - especially in that split-second when you press that shutter button! My next goal will be to take up black and white photography - the challenge of seeing in terms of shade and tonality without color cues is exciting, and something I haven't come close to mastering.
As a regular interviewer for the Pan Historian, if you could interview anyone, anywhere, who would it be and what would you ask them?
An immediate answer would have been Mark Twain, but he's pretty much interviewed himself. I'd like to sit down with Queen Boudicca before her defeat by the Romans. I'd ask her about the role of women in her society, and if what she did in fomenting and leading rebellion upon her husband's death would have been that unusual. I'd ask her about the role of Druids during her time. I'd try to ask questions that would foster insight on her way of thinking and experiencing life.
This is the harvest edition of the Pan Historian, what does the harvest season mean to you?
"As you sow, so shall you reap". All right, no biblical touches! I do think, with the days growing shorter, and the equinox upon us, a taking-stock of what we've done and who've we become over the past year is in order, and almost comes naturally. I try not to put too much symbolic harvest into context with the larger political climate, which I find mighty depressing. Instead, I hope personal motifs transcend that. I want to hope I've learned something valuable since my last cycle on this planet around the sun. If so, if I have, at least today I fear an inability to plant it into words.
