Interview with Author Ally Malinenko
I first became acquainted with Ally through her book, This is Sarah, released this year through BookFish Books. Like myself, Ally writes in more than one genre -- you can find her book of poetry on Goodreads. We soon began an email correspondence. The first thing you should know about Ally is she’s a very generous and gifted writer. I’m grateful to her for giving me so much good advice and feedback on her own publishing journey. When LG O’Connor invited me to choose someone to interview, I immediately thought of Ally, who is always up to something interesting. I couldn’t wait to learn more about her projects and get to know her a little better.
Here's my interview with Ally!
What are you working on?
I just finished what I hope beyond hope will be the final major revision of my not so little sci-fi book.
The book is called Palimpsest – which is by definition a manuscript or page from a book where the text has been scraped away in order to be reused. The script that is scraped off is called the scripto inferior. Considering the number of revisions I have done, (early counts are putting it in the billions) the books itself has now become an actual Palimpsest.
How does your work differ from others’ work in the same genre?
Palimpsest is a science fiction book that doesn’t take place in the future or space. It contains time travel which breaks all the conventional rules of time travel and has a good guy that might be a bad guy and a bad guy that might very well be a good guy. It combines Nietzsche, Proust, philosophy, the Matrix, physics, the theory of the Big Bang, multiple dimensions, doppelgangers, Alice in Wonderland and chess.
I haven’t come across too many other sci-fi books like that. Course that’s probably cause it’s un-publishable.
Why do you write what you do?
Because it’s what came to mind. My first novel was a middle grade urban fantasy about a girl who finds out she’s the last living descendant of Shakespeare and who is joined by an immortal Muse by the name of Jonathan to help protect her from Shakespeare’s greatest enemy – the descendant of Kit Marlowe – who wants her dead.
My second novel was a sad quiet story about one boy’s nervous breakdown when his girlfriend and the love of his life is kidnapped. It’s a book about loss and, hopefully, about forgiveness.
Palimpsest, my current sci-fi book is, as I said, about Nietzsche, Proust, philosophy, the Matrix, physics, the theory of the Big Bang, multiple dimensions, doppelgangers, Alice in Wonderland and chess.
If you can tell me what binds those three books together, you win the grand prize because I have no idea. So since we can find no common theme, I’ll just say I write what I do.
How does your writing process work?
The alarm goes off at 5 am. My husband wraps me in a bear hug and whispers in my hair that it’s time to get up. I mutter something that sounds to him like “five more minutes.” He says “You got it.” In about 12 seconds, not five minutes mind you, he’s again whispering that it’s time to get up.
We get up.
We put on the coffee and tea kettle.
We feed June the cat, who is circling between our legs daring to trip one of us.
I open the door to the closet that is my writing room off the living room. I turn on the little lamp my sister Stephanie bought me years ago. I turn on my laptop. June comes in and curls up on the floor.
In the other room I hear my husband’s radio flip on. He puts on his computer.
The kettle whistles. I pour my tea and his coffee. He hugs me, kisses the top of my head.
We say, “good luck, baby” at the same time.
We write.
We meet up in the kitchen an hour later for more tea and coffee. We trade stories about the morning.
We go back to our rooms. I can hear him typing from my closet. I delete a paragraph. I change dialogue. June meows and tries to climb in my lap.
At nearly 7:30, two and a half hours later, I hear him call.
“Time to go,” he says.
I save my work. I turn off my computer. I coax June out of the closet.
“How’d it go?” he asks.
“Alright,” I tell him.
“You?”
“Fair to middling,” he says. I turn on the shower. The water hisses. We get ready for work.
This Is Sarah
Here's my interview with Ally!
What are you working on?
I just finished what I hope beyond hope will be the final major revision of my not so little sci-fi book.
The book is called Palimpsest – which is by definition a manuscript or page from a book where the text has been scraped away in order to be reused. The script that is scraped off is called the scripto inferior. Considering the number of revisions I have done, (early counts are putting it in the billions) the books itself has now become an actual Palimpsest.
How does your work differ from others’ work in the same genre?
Palimpsest is a science fiction book that doesn’t take place in the future or space. It contains time travel which breaks all the conventional rules of time travel and has a good guy that might be a bad guy and a bad guy that might very well be a good guy. It combines Nietzsche, Proust, philosophy, the Matrix, physics, the theory of the Big Bang, multiple dimensions, doppelgangers, Alice in Wonderland and chess.
I haven’t come across too many other sci-fi books like that. Course that’s probably cause it’s un-publishable.
Why do you write what you do?
Because it’s what came to mind. My first novel was a middle grade urban fantasy about a girl who finds out she’s the last living descendant of Shakespeare and who is joined by an immortal Muse by the name of Jonathan to help protect her from Shakespeare’s greatest enemy – the descendant of Kit Marlowe – who wants her dead.
My second novel was a sad quiet story about one boy’s nervous breakdown when his girlfriend and the love of his life is kidnapped. It’s a book about loss and, hopefully, about forgiveness.
Palimpsest, my current sci-fi book is, as I said, about Nietzsche, Proust, philosophy, the Matrix, physics, the theory of the Big Bang, multiple dimensions, doppelgangers, Alice in Wonderland and chess.
If you can tell me what binds those three books together, you win the grand prize because I have no idea. So since we can find no common theme, I’ll just say I write what I do.
How does your writing process work?
The alarm goes off at 5 am. My husband wraps me in a bear hug and whispers in my hair that it’s time to get up. I mutter something that sounds to him like “five more minutes.” He says “You got it.” In about 12 seconds, not five minutes mind you, he’s again whispering that it’s time to get up.
We get up.
We put on the coffee and tea kettle.
We feed June the cat, who is circling between our legs daring to trip one of us.
I open the door to the closet that is my writing room off the living room. I turn on the little lamp my sister Stephanie bought me years ago. I turn on my laptop. June comes in and curls up on the floor.
In the other room I hear my husband’s radio flip on. He puts on his computer.
The kettle whistles. I pour my tea and his coffee. He hugs me, kisses the top of my head.
We say, “good luck, baby” at the same time.
We write.
We meet up in the kitchen an hour later for more tea and coffee. We trade stories about the morning.
We go back to our rooms. I can hear him typing from my closet. I delete a paragraph. I change dialogue. June meows and tries to climb in my lap.
At nearly 7:30, two and a half hours later, I hear him call.
“Time to go,” he says.
I save my work. I turn off my computer. I coax June out of the closet.
“How’d it go?” he asks.
“Alright,” I tell him.
“You?”
“Fair to middling,” he says. I turn on the shower. The water hisses. We get ready for work.
This Is Sarah
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