Zilla Novikov's Blog, page 34
November 24, 2022
Wrong Genre Covers
November 22, 2022
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha : Today we’ll talk to Ryan Uytdewilligen about his satirical novel, He’s No Angel . Ryan, can you introduce us to your book?
Ryan: Charlie Fritz is a Hollywood talent agent hanging onto his career by a thread. After embarrassing himself at a movie screening, he’s in need of a comeback and a superstar client. Luckily, success comes his way in the form of his presumed-to-be dead father. When Bernie Fritz mysteriously arrives in the middle of Los Angeles by taxi, it’s evident he doesn’t remember anything about his prior life, but the white-robe-wearing man does have a cryptic message from the afterlife to share with anyone who will listen. Is he an angel from above or someone who’s simply lost his memory?
After Bernie’s message goes viral and creates a social media sensation, Charlie seizes the opportunity to become his dad’s agent. It’s the perfect opportunity for them to finally connect and find a little meaning in their lives—even if for one of them, life is technically over.
Sabitha : That sounds delightfully absurd. What inspired you to write this book?
Ryan: I lost my father nearly ten years ago and I went on a walk one day, wondering, “What if I ran into my dad?” Then a few moments later, I thought “What if I ran into my dad, and he didn’t remember me or anything about his life?” I thought that was an intriguing premise and fleshed it out from there.
Sabitha : We have a lot of writers in our community. What’s your writing process?
Ryan: I’m one to plan ahead, so after coming up with the premise, I made a “beat sheet” with the entire plot and then wrote that exact plot, which took about seven months. I like to edit as I go too, so the first draft is very concise and polished by the end.
Sabitha : Do you have a “fan-cast” – do you have actors you’d cast as your main characters?
Ryan: Slovenly Bill Murray would make a perfect Bernie Fritz while motormouth Charlie Day would make a great Charlie Fritz. Perhaps the dearly departed Anne Meara would be a perfect Nancy Fritz. News anchor Ted is blatantly Ted Knight.
Sabitha : What was the hardest part of editing?
Ryan: It’s always tough taking criticism, but I think for this book, most of the feedback was that the protagonist was not a likeable person. But he’s not supposed to be. Some said they liked his “nasty to nice” transformation while others didn’t. That was a tough line to walk.
Sabitha : How did you choose the title?
Ryan: The movie We’re No Angels with Robert De Niro and Sean Penn is an inviting and curious title that has often stuck in my head. When I first played around with that, He’s No Angel seemed like it could strike the right chord.
Sabitha : What do you most want your readers to take away from reading your book?
Ryan: If you’ve ever had a loss and wanted to reconnect with a family member, I hope this book tugs at the heartstrings, shows grief in a relatable way, and gives people hope alongside a good laugh.
Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
Ryan: They can find my book here, or connect with me on Facebook.
November 18, 2022
Book Report Corner
by Zilla N.
Merey’s books lodge themselves in my heart, take up residence somewhere near the left auricle, leave me breathless and internally bleeding. His books are raw and visceral and they hurt like memory.
The characters in The Pink and the Blue are drawn in their truest sense, sometimes so transparent that you can see the city through their outlines, sometimes melting off the page, sometimes with limbs scattered around the bedroom. It’s body horror, but the horror is that it reflects a reality that we fail to observe when we look at a person in meatspace and think they are whole, think they are okay. As always, art is truer than life, because art is not bound by physics or convention.
I got this book in physical form because I needed to touch it. It’s hard to explain why. It’s digital art, and there’s a note that the colours are brighter in the pdf version. But I need to touch the pages, to run my fingertips over the smooth paper of textured pixels and images of cut outs. I needed the book to be as real in my hands as it is in my heart.
You can find it here.
November 15, 2022
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha: Today we’ll talk to Edale Lane about her newest novel, Sigrid and Elyn: A Tale from Norvegr (Tales from Norvegr). Edale, we’re excited to have you! Tell us a bit about your book.
Edale Lane: Attracted by passion, repelled by war. Can two shieldmaidens navigate battlegrounds of the sword and the heart?
Sigrid the Valiant is legendary throughout the kingdoms of Norvegr for her many heroic deeds, but her heart has not found a home. Now, racing on the heels of their father’s murder, a neighboring kingdom’s raids threaten an all-out war.
Elyn is a young shieldmaiden with a score to settle, fighting her own insecurities along with enemies who threaten her homeland, but she remains unconvinced all is as it seems.
When the two clash on opposite sides of their shield walls, sparks fly from both their swords and passions. But when they talk, the two discover an antagonist’s plot has pitted their kingdoms against each other.
Will Sigrid and Elyn move past their suspicions to forge a relationship and foil the villain’s scheme, or will the enemy’s assassins end their search for the truth?
Sabitha : We love a good sapphic romance! What inspired you to write this book?
Edale Lane: I am a historian and primarily a writer of historical fiction. I love anything Viking and have been excited by recent archeological discoveries confirming the authenticity of women warriors’ roles in Scandinavia’s past.
Sabitha : That’s fantastic. Once you have the idea, what’s your writing process?
Edale Lane: I’m a “plantser.” I engage in tons of research, write out character sheets, plot outlines, and lists of facts to include in world-building. But as I write, invariably new characters are added, plotlines may veer from their assigned paths, and I try to infuse something previously unexpected. Therefore, I plan a lot and pants a little for good measure.
Sabitha : What was the hardest part of editing?
Edale Lane: Not catching every mistake. I can take advice on content edits from betas, use my software, and hire a proof-reader, then reread. After half a dozen sets of eyes have scoured the manuscript, it still goes to print with a few mistakes. Luckily, as a self-published indie, once a reader points them out, I can easily upload a corrected copy.
Sabitha : Which character do you relate to the most and why?
Edale Lane: I relate to both of my main characters for different reasons. As a younger person, I often found myself in doubt and indecision, like Elyn, but now, with years of experience and wisdom behind me, I display Sigrid’s confidence. At heart, I am as much a peacemaker as Elyn, but ready, willing, and able to fight off an attacker as they both are. I don’t have Sigrid’s temper or Elyn’s figure, but both women’s passions burn in my soul. I don’t shy away from a challenge.
Sabitha : When you picture your ideal reader, what are they like?
Edale Lane: She or he is someone who loves to become immersed in another world, who enjoys action, adventure, and romance, and is a sucker for a happily ever after. Ideally, this reader would love this book and go buy all my other ones—and post reviews!
Sabitha: We can relate—reviews are like gold for an author. Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
Edale Lane: You can find more about me at my website, my Goodreads page, my BookBub page, or by signing up to my newsletter. You can buy Sigrid and Elyn here, or see all my books for sale here.
November 13, 2022
Rachel’s talk at the Merril Collection
Check out my talk at the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Speculative Fiction from Nov. 11, 2022. In it I talk about climate change, doomerism, hopepunk, Canadian politics, and my debut novel, Cascade.
Of course, you can just read the book if you want! Buy Cascade here:
https://mybook.to/cascade | https://bppress.ca/shop/ | https://books2read.com/sleep-of-reason-cascade
November 10, 2022
Book Report Corner
by Zilla N.
We were given a review copy of The Phantom of Nob Hill Theater in exchange for an honest review.
This book is ridiculous in the best possible way. John Luke Maxwell wrote a gay romance with enough spice to burn off the roof of your mouth. An ordinary guy falls in love with his former porn-star crush, who is also a top-notch chef, painter, and sleuth. Named, appropriately enough, Holmes. Good thing too, since crimes seem to be piling up all over the place. The world needs a man with a smoking pipe, deductive reasoning, and several pairs of tearaway pants, and Holmes is up to the job. Very up for it.
The writing in this book is solid, but the style is playful. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. I never had a moment’s concern that the men might fall short of their happy ever after, but I was still curious enough about the murder mystery to stay engaged the whole way through.
A perfect book for a summer read! Find it on Amazon here.
November 8, 2022
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha: Today we’ve got H.S. Down talking about a dark and exciting novel, The Shareholders. Can you tell us a bit about your book?
H.S.: In the late 21st century, Earth is ravaged by climate change. The billionaires have bioengineered immortality, fled to Mars, and rule Earth’s last biospheres as their personal shares. Those left on Earth struggle to find balance as the planet tumbles into its terminal years of habitability. Ian Gateman, one of Earth’s last bureaucrats, is tasked with finding a buyer for a fledgling colony of newly settled ecological refugees. As Ian travels to the estates of several visiting shareholders, it becomes clear the shareholders have other plans for humanity’s future.
Sabitha : What inspired you to write this book?
H.S.: Panic. I am terrified that we will leave it up the billionaires to solve the climate crisis. The Shareholders explores this fear to what I believe will be its conclusion. The world building focuses on immortality, the colonization of Mars, and ecosystems sustained solely by prostheses. Many of the characters are hell bent on preserving an unsustainable status quo at the expense of life itself. I think the politics for the rest of this century will be framed around ‘letting go’. Letting go of postwar expectations of luxury consumption, perpetual growth, of capitalism as an organizing principle. I see The Shareholders as a crude and embryonic form of art for this movement.
Sabitha : Was there any music that inspired you while you were writing?
H.S.: I listened to Dies Irae composed by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind for the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. It is a heavy, solemn electronic piece, but it’s the banshee caterwaul that calls just out of frame that does it for me. For Kubrick, the piece was an exploration of colonialism and the unspeakable violence that haunts western societies. A careful reader will see that The Shareholders is preoccupied with these themes as well, and that preoccupation registers in the names of some of the characters and the novel’s setting.
Sabitha : How did you choose the title?
H.S.: In the novel, the billionaires of the early 21st-century have become shareholders of the last biospheres on Earth. They also own shares of a virus that extends their lives considerably. So, the title is a good description of the key antagonists in the novel, but there is more to it. As the world plummets into climate crisis, the action or inaction of governments and corporations is very much circumscribed by groups of shareholders. Shareholders are determining humanity’s future. The title puts that into focus.
Sabitha : If you could pick any author to read your book, who would you want to read it? Why them?
H.S.: I am drawn to the irreverence and storytelling of Kurt Vonnegut and J.G. Ballard. I’d love to receive notes from them on craft for this book, but not now of course, because that would have to come from beyond the grave, which would be, at the very least, distracting. Margaret Atwood wrote some of the first dystopian climate change novels, so I’d like to get her take on The Shareholders as part of the genre.
Sabitha : Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
