The Tree Of Knowledge is book one of a trilogy about Chelsea Perkins, a young girl who finds out on her 12th birthday that she is descended from a long line of seers, witches who have the much sought after ability to look through time. Her estranged father had kept her away from the magical community because he has seen that it is her destiny to defeat a great witch, Elsbeth Danwich, and in order to have the power to do so, she must kill him. Save the world or save her father? This is the choice that Chelsea must make.

Sounds very exciting. Who is it aimed at?
The Tree Of Knowledge is a Young Adult Fantasy, leaning more toward the adult end because of discussions of mild sexual content, adult situations and some graphic depictions of violence.

This book appeals to readers of fantasy who enjoy a strong female protagonist and complicated moral situations.

Since this is a trilogy, we’d better get to know Chelsea.
Chelsea Perkins has just turned 12 at the beginning of the novel, and has grown up without her father, who abandoned the family when she was an infant. Chelsea’s mom has struggled over that time to make a life for them, but things are finally looking up when dad resurfaces. Although she hasn’t missed him that much – after all, she never really knew him – she’s always had fantasies where he came back and made up for the neglect by showering her with comfort and ponies. “Becoming a woman,” to use a common euphemism, has unlocked Chelsea’s powers, and once she embraces this, she is determined to use those powers for good. She is ready to be the hero. What she doesn’t know is that being the hero will be harder than she ever imagined.

This brings to mind a certain boy wizard – or is there some other series we should be likening this to?
His Dark Materials.

We love that series. Is there anything else we need to know before we press the Buy button?
The original title was The Tree Of Life, but I had the misfortune of releasing this book just after Brad Pitt released a movie of that title, which I did not want to get sued over. So, a little find and replace later, we end up with The Tree Of Knowledge.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
I have a few others for sale now; an action-adventure novel called Before/After, an alternate history/science fiction novel call Warp, a mainstream romance novel called Hope, and a pilot sitcom script called 3rd M.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a native Texan, although I’ve seen a bit of the world outside, and consequently find myself a blue dot in a red state. Sometimes it’s fun to be contrary. I have been married to my artistic wife for 16 years this October, and we have two wonderful girls that graciously let us raise them. I’ve worked in the IT field for almost a quarter of a century, but I was a Theatre Arts major at Texas A&M University and still like to dip my toe in the theatrical pond when I can find the time.

I’m also the founder of the alternate history web site, Today In Alternate History (Important Events In History That Never Happened Today). For several years, this site attracted readers from around the world, (my successor, the current Alternate Historian, is a Brit living in Canada), and remains a lively and active showcase for flash fiction in this genre. Several of my books, including Tree Of Knowledge, started out as flash fiction on TIAH.

We’ll check it out. Do you have a website of your own?
http://robbietaylor.net is constantly under reconstruction, so I use Tumblr to keep people up to date on what’s happening in my worlds – http://robbietaylor.tumblr.com.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
I am @RobbieATaylor on Twitter and the book page for Tree Of Knowledge is https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tree-Of-Knowledge/105476956292781.

What’s next?
I am about to release a horror novel, The Lascaux Nightmare. In that novel, when the ancient cave paintings were found deep under Lascaux, France, something was released that must be buried again…