Community invited to author reading

Community members can grab a seat at the Kingfisher Bookstore and chat with a local author.

By Luisa Loi • September 17, 2024 1:30 am

In Tina Lear’s fantasy world, dragons and epic battles are replaced by family conflict and a struggle against tradition, while heroes eat “buttered aspirations” and “cackle tea” for breakfast.

Much like the characters in her debut novel “StoryEarth Chronicles: The Sting Baby,” language is a staple in Lear’s diet, fueling her creativity throughout her decades-long career as a singer and songwriter. Despite being diagnosed with a neurological condition that forced her to put a halt on her musical profession, Lear isn’t ready to put her pen down and stay away from the keyboard.

At 5:30 p.m. this Thursday, community members can grab a seat at the Kingfisher Bookstore in Coupeville and enjoy a taste of her novel and her poetry book, “Partial Views, a Collection of Poetry,” for free.

“StoryEarth Chronicles” tells the story of Millie, a girl whose mothers run a catering business called “Alphabet Delights” and dreams of moving to the Preservation Precinct, a Hollywood-esque place where the same tales are re-enacted, over and over again.

While living a seemingly glamorous life, the players in these stories can face “a fate worse than death” if they make a mistake, Lear said. After defying her family’s wishes and leaving her community, Millie learns the hard way that the Preservation Precinct isn’t as fabulous as she thought.

While the novel might be particularly enjoyed by teens and young adults, Lear believes it’s a story for parents, older adults and LGBTQ+ folks as well.

The story depicts the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, a “boring normal” lesbian marriage, romantic and platonic love, and the rejection of oppressive ideologies, Lear said.

The 69-year-old author was inspired by a musical script set in the same world that she wrote for an assignment at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, which she attended in her 50s.

In 2022, a year before the release of her novel, Lear published her first collection of poetry, “Partial Views.” The poems were written over the course of a decade and offer glimpses into the author’s life, from childhood to late adulthood.

The poems are accessible and relatable, she said. With a clear and simple language, Lear writes a compassionate and honest reflection on her experiences as a flawed parent, a wife in a failing marriage and the daughter of a difficult yet brilliant father — William Powell Lear, the inventor of the Learjet.

The poems are an invitation to introspection and expressing one’s true feelings rather than seeking distractions and unhealthy coping methods, Lear said.

“The book is about giving the pain its voice with a little bit of love,” she said.

After a lifetime moving around the world, Lear moved to South Whidbey in April with her wife and partner of 22 years, Elena. She was already familiar with Whidbey, a place she fell in love with when she briefly lived on the island between 1999 and 2002. The landscape in her novel, she said, is also inspired by South Whidbey’s forests.

Lear looks forward to reading out excerpts from her books and chatting with visitors. To learn more about the author, visit tinalear.com.