Showing posts with label new author interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new author interview. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2016

Welcome New BWL Author Roberta Grieve


BWL: Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself and your history.

RG: I grew up in Kent, known as the Garden of England and some of my books are set there. I have lived in Sussex for more than forty years. I have done many different jobs but mainly in local newspapers and the public library service.

BWL: How long have you been writing and in what genres? 

RG: I have been writing for most of my life but it was only when I took early retirement that I started to aim for publication. I write mainly write historical romances but I have written short stories, magazine articles and a couple of film scripts for the local film makers club. 

BWL: Where you do get your inspiration?
 
RG: My inspiration comes mainly from my interest in history, particularly the Victorian period and the two world wars.  I love visiting stately homes, especially touring the kitchens and servants’ quarters. I also frequently visit the Weald and Downland Open Air museum near my home. It is a collection of buildings from various periods that have been rescued from demolition and re-erected on the site and provides a wonderful insight into life in days gone by. 

BWL: Tell us about your book(s).
 
RG: My first published novel was ‘Abigail’s Secret’ and is set during the Second World War in my home town of Chichester, Sussex. It is the first and only time I have used a real place in my books and I really enjoyed the research. Since then I have used real settings but fictionalised them so that I can use my imagination more. 

My other novels have covered the First World War, World War Two, and the period between. These were periods of real change for women and allowed me to create strong heroines who were not afraid to go against the conventions of their time. 

My favourite so far is ‘On Wings of Song’ about a society girl who moonlights as a music hall singer. The research was fascinating and I grew to love Arabella, my heroine.

BWL: What about your next book?  Will it be part of a series or a standalone?  Can you give us a taste to whet our appetites?

RG:  All my books are stand alone although I am toying with the idea of writing a sequel to ‘On Wings of Song’. However, my next book is to be called ‘Song of Memories’ about an orphaned English girl who has gone to live with her family in 1930s Russia. Her family are arrested in the Stalin purges but she escapes to England not knowing if her lover is dead or alive.

BWL: What are your hobbies and interests?
 
RG:  As you may have guessed my main interest in history and I try to indulge it as much as possible with visits to historical places and talks on local history. My son is involved in a medieval re-enactment group and that has sparked my interest in the period so who knows – a medieval romance might be in the pipeline.

I am secretary of the Chichester Writers’ Circle whose aim is to encourage and nurture beginner writers and I also belong to Chichester Literary Society. We enjoy talks on famous and not so famous writers, as well as literary walks and outings to places such as Kipling’s and Jane Austen’s houses.

BWL: What does the future hold for you?
 
RG: More books of course. 

Look for Roberta's books coming soon from Books We Love.

http://bookswelove.net/
 

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Welcome to new BWL author David Anderson



David Anderson brings his thriller novel The Beachhead to Books We Love. Welcome David!


BWL: How long have you been writing and in what genres?

DJA: I’ve been writing seriously for about a decade.  I write adult thrillers and now YA thrillers.  I’m particularly interested in updating some classic thriller tropes such as man-on-the-run and the classic heist novel.  The Beachhead might be summed up in the cry, “I am not a number, I am a free man” from the Sixties TV cult series, The Prisoner.


BWL: Where do you get your inspiration?

DJA:  From the books I’ve read throughout my life, and still like to read, and from experience and reflecting upon experience.


BWL: Tell us about your books.

DJA:  Earthly Powers is a novel about old (and new) Nazis and buried treasure on a remote island.  An innocent man is relentlessly hunted in the depths of the forest while his female partner is locked in a race against time to uncover a vital artefact.  I told you I like modernising classic thriller tropes!  

Meaner Things is a heist novel centring on a fiendishly difficult vault robbery.  Unlike, say, the movie Ocean’s Eleven, my heist is ethical, and also feasible (as it’s based on a true crime that succeeded).  I’ve woven in moral quandaries about trust and humanised it with some good old-fashioned romance.
 
The Beachhead is a ‘prison break’ kind of thriller, again revisiting the man-on-the-run trope which I love so much, and again dwelling on themes of trust/suspicion and the value of teamwork.  


BWL: What about your next book?  Will it be part of a series or a standalone?  Can you give us a taste to whet our appetites?

DJA:  I’m currently working on a sequel to The Beachhead and, simultaneously, an adult thriller provisionally entitled Shadow of a Killer.  The latter will deal with guilt, shame and vengeance, and have my usual fast pace and action.  I try to push myself harder and further with each new project I write.  My aim is that both these new novels will blow my readers’ socks off!


BWL: What are your hobbies and interests?

DJA:  Reading and philosophy.


BWL: What does the future hold for you?


DJA:  Preferably, bestselling author status and several movie contract offers!

Find David at Books We Love here: http://bookswelove.net/authors/anderson-david/

and his blog here:


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