By Matt Koper/ne news editor
An author will share excerpts from her debut novel with TCC students, faculty and staff.
Laura McBride, author of We Are Called to Rise, will discuss her book 7-8:30 p.m. on April 8 and 9:30-10:30 a.m. April 9 in the Larry Darlage Center Corner (NSTU 1615A) on NE Campus.
McBride said the inspiration for her novel came from her love of reading and writing.
![We Are Called To Rise, Laura McBride](https://collegian.tccd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/040115_CalledToRisebookcover-199x300.jpg)
“I started with the idea that I wanted to write a novel that would appeal to someone like me,” she said. “My favorite novels are the ones where I fall into the story and I think about the characters. And I slow down at the end because I don’t wanna let go of them and I don’t want to let go of their lives.”
McBride, who teaches at the College of Southern Nevada, a community college in Las Vegas, said a local news story also sparked her interest while planning her novel.
“On the morning I said, ‘I’m going to commit today,’ I picked that little bit of a story that I wasn’t going to use at all,” she said. “That story was something that happened five or six years before in Las Vegas that involved the interaction between a poor family and the police.”
McBride said even though that story sparked her interest, she used it only as “a springboard” in trying to create her own idea.
“And I didn’t research that story ever,” she said. “I actually wanted to be away from it. I used what I remembered about it. I’ve never forgotten it. Once I decided to take it, I thought ‘Wow, this is really going to capture a lot of these ideas that I have about Las Vegas and the kind of town it is.’”
McBride said she is looking forward to presenting at a community college.
“I’m really excited about TCC because I teach at a community college,” she said. “I’m a community college person, and TCC is. I’ve gone lots of places. I’ve spoken to lots of different kinds of groups, but TCC is the first time I get to go to a community college.”
Following the presentation will be a Q&A session, and McBride will sign books.