TARA K. HARPER
Verifying Technical Ideas/Details

I have been lucky in becoming acquainted with researchers, scientists, and other professionals from across the country (and beyond!) who are generous with both their time and advice.

For example, with Cataract, I spent months interviewing or riding with police officers, undercover police, and customs officers. I was also lucky enough to have the whole manuscript read by a police officer before it went to my editor--something that allowed me to fix a rather large error I had overlooked in the draft. Because of this, the cop-type characters in Cataract are much more believable than they might otherwise be. Another section of Cataract was e-mailed to a biophysicist, who worked with me on the idea of biochemical-to-electronic signal translation.

I also went to Homicide School, and many of the things I learned there and from psychologists in criminology have been useful in adding details to scenes and characters throughout my books. One novel, not yet finished, has been reviewed by sailors and marine surveyors to make sure it was termed out correctly for a particularly tricky scene.

In Grayheart, I worked with two physicists on the stasis field ideas. (I also worked with geologists and lightning experts.) In the end, the Wolfwalker world simply did not develop enough technology to understand the stasis field at the time in which that novel is set, so I didn't get to describe the way the field works. But I will be able to describe it later, in a different story, when the time comes. And in the meantime, I can continue to research the idea.

Science, Technical, and Literary Links for writers
References for writers - books, journals, and software programs

Some Professionals Who Have Helped Me with Technical Issues

Dr. Ernest V. Curto, Biophysics, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Dr. Yehudah Werner, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dept. of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology
Dr. Howard Davidson, Sun Microsystems
Dr. Homer H. Hickham, Jr., NASA

Thomas Moore, M.S., Phanerozoic Climate Research Project., University of Arizona. Dr. Moore is now at Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL
Guy Smith, Associate Professor, Geophysics, St. Louis University
Dr. William C. Haneberg, Assist.Dir./Eng. Geologist, New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Minerals
Craig Jones, Research Associate, CIRES, University of Colorado
Mike Albrecht, Mining Engineer, Pacific Coal Energy
David Ingerson, Cartologist, Portland, OR
John Harper, Mathematics Dept., Victoria University, New Zealand
Lawrence Weinman
Matthew Buynoski, Geology
Phillip Bigelow, Geology

Ray McAlliser, Professor Emeritus, Ocean Engineering
Dr. Jeff Goddard, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology
Alan Corey Silver, Meteorology, Lightning Research, Texas A&M University
The crew of the USCGS Polar Star
Chip Gardes, Marine Surveyor

Ed Godshalk, M.S. Physics, R&D
Marc Wells, Sr. Engineer, Credence Systems
Dave Munroe, Engineer, Hewlett Packard
Sandra Keen, Consultant

Kevin L. Harper, Detective, Clark County Sheriff's Office
Bill Johnston, Detective, retired, Portland Police Bureau
Mike Fleming, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Customs Service
Dr. Karen Gunson, Forensic Pathologist, State Medical Examiner, Oregon Dept. of State Police

Dr. Harley G. Shaw, research biologist
Dr. Jill Mellen, Ethologist, Metro-Washington Park Zoo
Pam Ore, Keeper, Metro-Washington Park Zoo
Stephanie Hirsch, Keeper, Metro-Washington Park Zoo
Rod Crawford, Burke Museum, University of Washington
Nicholas Landau, Rutgers University
Dr. William F. Font (parasitology)

Darin Collins, D.V.M., Woodland Park Zoo (WA)
Mitch Finnegan, D.V.M., Metro-Washington Park Zoo (OR)
Jan Hixson, Animal Information Specialist, Metro-Washington Park Zoo
Stanley Held, Head Keeper, Avian Rehabilitation
Karen Fishler, Director of Publications, The Nature Conservancy
Mike Ellis, Director, Olympic Wildlife Rescue
Lynn Cuny, Exec. Dir., Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Sanctuary
Brooks Fahy, Director, Predator Defense Institute

All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, any part of this copyrighted file without permission in writing from Tara K. Harper. Permission to download this file for personal use only is hereby granted by Tara K. Harper.

[ Top of File ]

TARA K. HARPER Verifying Technical Ideas/Details

Some Professionals Who Have Helped Me with Technical Issues

TARA K. HARPER
Verifying Technical Ideas/Details