Isis Sousa's Blog: Tragic Books' news - Posts Tagged "protest"

A little protest: I have always thought about it, since I made my author profile… However, I always forget to write about the matter!

The thing is, authors have Blogs here at GoodReads, while non-authors simply don’t have the feature. I wonder why – and I want to tell GoodReads I am disappointed about it.

Not that everybody will be blogging loads – but hey, there are lots of people who have things to share and many non-authors who are also bloggers, so why not give this space to them?

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Spotlight with Elizabeth Morgan: So I had the pleasure of doing an interview with indie author Elizabeth Morgan.

She writes in a variety of genres and is just re-releasing On The Rocks – a short story I have reviewed (you can read it here: )

And I invite you to read a cool interview on Elizabeth’s work and life as a writer on my Creative Blog: https://illustratingwords.blogspot.no/

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Follower’s Giveaway: While I am cooking my upcoming novel, As Cold As Thorns – coming closer to writing the end – started the illustration process and am doing beta reading with an amazing group organized by RBTL Blog Tours, I don’t want to say goodbye to Elisa! Not just yet!

So, if you’d like an e-book copy of The Night of Elisa - An Illustrated Gothic Novel (though not as nice as the print editions!) – you can participate following these rules: 1) You need to follow my work here at GoodReads and 2) leave a hello or a comment on this blog post :)

I am giving away 5 e-books (you can choose the format Kindle or Epub). The winners will be announced in two weeks: 29th August!

I came across Harry Whitewolf's work here at Goodreads. I noticed several friends adding his work to their to-read lists and/or reading it and of course, it got me curious. So I went to check it for myself and read his Poetry book New Beat Newbie - which i totally recommend, even for those who do not like Poetry, like me! (You can read my review HERE https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .) Since then I have admired his work :) I invite you to learn more about Harry's great mind, through the interview we did for my blog:

1 - When did you start writing? And why did you pick up Poetry/Travel and Children's Fiction?
I’ve always written things. Even as a small child I was coming up with stories and poems, and as a young adult, I was writing a lot of poetry and often performing it. So poetry has always been something that’s just within me. The travel books weren’t something I particularly planned. I just started writing about my Argentina trip and before I knew it, I discovered I had the makings of a book (Route Number 11), which then paved the way for its sister book The Road To Purification; set in Egypt.

Although I published my kids’ books after those travel books, I had actually written the drafts for them a few years before. I haven’t promoted my humorous children’s books (which I write under the pen name of Mr. Wolf) as much as my other work, as I see it as a sort of sideline. Writing kids’ books is most definitely just good fun though. I enjoy the process so much more than writing my other stuff, as my imagination can just run riot and I feel like I’m in a cosy bubble.

2 - You have published several books, which one do you consider your best and why?
I consider The Road To Purification: Hustlers, Hassles & Hash to be my best. I had constructed a new and unique way of writing with Route Number 11, so I was then able to improve and refine that with its successor. I have minor quibbles about my other books, but I feel Road To Purification is exactly how it needs to be. It was also the hardest book to write, ‘cos it wasn’t easy reliving my mad fucked up Egyptian trip!

And I think Two Beat Newbie is my best poetry book. I feel like I reached my apex with my poetry in that one, and I’m not sure I can do any better. That’s why (seeing as I always attempt to improve my writing with each project) I decided to take a sideways step with its successor Rhyme and Rebellion and make a few minor changes to the way I wrote.

3 - How's your writing process, from drafting to finished books?
I write in a mad flurry of blurriness where I can’t get the words down quick enough. Then I edit, rewrite, edit, rewrite etc. for as many drafts as it takes. I’ll have read my books dozens of times before they take shape as the finished articles.

4 - What is your biggest challenge as indie author?
I guess it’s the same as any other indie authors: trying to get noticed! And I guess ‘cos I write non-genre-friendly stuff, it’s a little more difficult too. (i.e – My travel books read more like beat-ish fiction and are mostly enjoyed by people who don’t read travel and my poetry books are enjoyed by people who mostly don’t read poetry!)

5 - And your biggest dream?
The big dream for myself is to earn a modest living solely from writing books. But the biggest dream of all is for world peace. Obviously. :)

6 - Which genres do you like most as a reader?
Yeahhh… see, I’m not really a genre person. Like, I don’t read much fantasy but I love Lord of the Rings, and I don’t read much sci-fi but love 2001 and Vurt. I like Beat stuff, I like Irvine Welsh, Anthony Burgess, William Blake, Mervyn Peake, Sue Townsend, Douglas Adams, George Orwell, Richard Bach, Douglas Coupland… The list goes on, of course. I like specific writers and specific books more than any genre.

7 - How do you get inspired?
By living!

Smoking a fatty boom blatty doesn’t hurt either.

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CHECK OUT HIS BOOKS!
Rhyme and Rebellion Awards: 50 best indie books of 2016, readfree.ly

Where to find Harry's work:

Read Two Beat Newbie for free

Read Mr. Wolf’s The Top Secret Cheese for free

Harry’s books on Amazon.com

Harry’s books on Amazon.co.uk

Website: www.harrywhitewolf.com

Mr. Wolf’s website: booksforchildren.wixsite.com/mrwolf

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And a small news to I wanted to share: I have started a new photo-portfolio in form of a blog. I had one before under the name "YggdrasilFoto.no" and now I reshaped it into Sousa & Neshaug Photography and invite you to take a look :) There's a lot of cool pictures coming!

https://sousaneshaug.com/

I came across Andy Carrington’s work here at GoodReads. I had interviewed Harry Whitewolf and he liked and shared the post. After that we became acquaintances. Andy’s bio and his books got me all curious. I have always been a non-conformist, so the ideas behind his book titles and covers were something I assimilated with. I think we live in a world where the systems have failed and Andy, like Mr. Wolf and R. Dreyfus are some of the few who are representing this indignation through works of written art.

I haven’t yet read Andy’s books - yet, but have added them to my to-read list. However, some good friends of mine at GR, have read and left excellent reviews of his material. Without further ado, you can read here an interview we did these past days.

1- When did you start identifying yourself with the punk lifestyle and ideas?
Quite late. I grew up on Public Enemy / Wu-Tang and pretty much lived off Hip-Hop’s Golden Era (late ‘80s-early ‘90s) through all of my teens. I didn’t really start listening to The Clash / Upstarts till the early ‘00s. There wasn't really any music scene around our end and we relied mostly on mixtapes / CDs and word-of-mouth. It wasn’t till after moving to Bradford I started knocking about down the 1 in 12 Club, getting out to gigs and becoming more involved in the movement. The writing pretty much coincided with that.

I just love Punk’s angst. It’s urgency. It can be whatever the fuck it wants and it doesn’t care whether you like it or not. Some of my closest mates help out voluntarily, work the bars, play in bands, run local charity events; and it’s this self-sufficiency and collectiveness that I respect most / identify with.

2- When did you start writing your books?
2008 / 2009.

3- We can see you use the written art as form of protest. How easy/difficult is it to bring your message to the people compared to other forms of art, such as visual, music or performance?
Not easy.
If I could sing or dance, I wouldn’t be doing this.

4- Do you do/have done live reading? How was/is the experience for you? What can people expect from you on such events?
First reading was on a Halifax radio Punk show; then @ the 1 in 12 in Bradford for an anti-fascist all-dayer. I’ve done a few. The one in Dublin warming up for Hooligan / Upstarts was probably the best.
Sometimes they cheer, sometimes they heckle, sometimes they sit in stone silence. It all depends.

What can people expect? Aggressive outbursts, mumbling fuck-ups and nothing going to plan.

5- How’s your writing process? Do you have any rituals?
I find smoking weed and listening to Public Enemy alleviates stress. Then the writing just happens when it happens…

6- What keeps you inspired?
See above.

7- What are your biggest challenges as a niche indie author?
Being heard. Also jumping from shitty job to shitty job, just trying to eat / pay the rent and get by on a week-to-week basis is a challenge in itself.

8- Do you have any favourite books or authors?
Harrison / Bukowski / Orwell / Larkin / the Fantes / Ian McMillan / M.J. Black / Larkin / Whitewolf / Dreyfus / Andy T / Laura Taylor.

I take more from music than I do reading, to be honest.

9- Which is your best book, according to yourself and why?
Apathy Will Kill Us All, probably. I dunno.

10- What can new readers expect from your books, in general?
Bad language / scepticism / direct insults / lefty bias.

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SPOTLIGHT
Here you see a couple of Andy's books - and their cool covers!
Click on them to visit the book's page here at GoodReads.






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Where to find Andy’s work:

Website: www.andycarrington.co.uk
Amazon UK | GoodReads