I'm excited to have relatively new author Aby Irving here with us today, and I hope you enjoy it! She has a bubbly personality and outlook on life and writing which I am so glad she decided to share with us. First, a brief introduction ...
Aby Irving
is possibly one of the more confusing people you will ever know. That’s okay, she confuses herself too. Having thrown herself into writing with
reckless abandon she has recently published her first novelette and writes
risqué comedy under the pen name of Chastity McVirtue. She’s far more educated than anything she
does will ever convince you of (even if you’ve see the paperwork) and she earns
her keep as a ghostwriter. She’s very
nice and very flexible. She like dogs.
How does one go from a career in sales at an aerospace firm
in Georgia
to trying to become a writer in London ? There has to be a story there!
Ha! Good
research:-) I had a lot of dealings with
the branch in Georgia
but I never actually visited there, I was always based in the UK . I got into aerospace by accident and because
I can’t help but work hard I found myself progressing and getting caught in the
maelstrom. One day I woke up and
realized that adrenaline isn’t passion, stress isn’t drive and that if I didn’t
do something soon I’d be in the same job forever, so when my branch decided to
move I elected not to go with them. I
decided instead to give myself a chance at earning a living from what really
compels me.
We know what your bio says.
Tell us one thing about yourself that you think might surprise us.
My husband thinks I should have been born a man.
Do you remember what it was like, the feeling you had when
your book was finally “out there”?
Absolutely! I’d made myself a little crazy over it during
the week before and I pretty much just retreated into reading and tried to
forget that there was such a thing as reality and that mine involved anything
like the leap into self-publishing. Once
I’d taken the plunge though I didn’t feel anything but excited.
Your published novella is called “The Hereafter”. Tell us a bit about this book and the
inspiration for it.
The story is a first person narrative from the perspective
of a young male protagonist who finds himself in hell after a particularly
raucous night out. He meets Dr. Lucifer
and Nurse Azrael who use a series of less and less gentle persuasive methods to
get to the bottom of where his life went wrong.
I was actually inspired to write this about eleven years ago when a
young actor in a TV show I was watching died suddenly of an overdose, I just
remember thinking what a terrible waste of life that was.
What other cool things do you have bouncing around in your
head? What’s next for Aby Irving?
I have a busy head! I have several science fiction stories that
I’m working on. Two are space tales; one
is about xeno-espionage (like James Bond in space) and the other is centered
around a telepathic character who struggles with his own culture and the new
species he meets in the wider universe.
The two I’m most focused on are near future tales of suspense with a
psychological element. I’ve promised my
sister-in-law that I would finish a werewolf romance that I started and I’ve
also been thinking for a while about a darkly amusing series of comics about
mutated fish people living in the Thames . Equally I’ve not given up on my character
from ‘The Hereafter’, he may yet get a second chance at life, just maybe not an
easy one;-) I love comics and art and
I’d also be incredibly excited to be able to create an illustrated version of
the ‘The Hereafter’ so I’d love to hear from any artists who like the story and
have a vision of how it can be brought to life.
*Deep Breath*
I’m likely to focus on the two near future stories as I have
a goal to publish my next novella/novelette by the end of the year.
What about being published and the book industry in general
has most surprised you?
It would definitely be how supportive people have been. Self-publishing can make you feel like a lone
idiot flying in the face of reason to tout your sub-standard prose at a world
that just doesn’t need it, but I’ve felt very encouraged by the reactions of
those who’ve read the book so far and I’m really enjoying the networking and
marketing side.
What other things besides writing do you have going on that
keep you busy?
At the moment a lot of my time is being taken up by ghost
writing which I have to say I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing. I’ve also
taken to baking bread and cakes…to varying degrees of success!
To close the interview, I have ten questions for you, plus
one. Here they go!
- What is your favorite word? Serendipity
- What is your least favorite word? Worm
- What turns you on? Food
- What turns you off? Boredom
- What sound or noise do you love? Bird Song
- What sound or noise do you hate? Alarm Clocks
- What is your favorite curse word? Bollocks
- What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Cooking
- What profession would you not like to do? Management
- If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Well done, have a hug.
- What question have you never been asked, that you wish someone would ask you? Why didn’t you try to be a writer before?
Aby, thanks so much for spending time
with us. Can you let us know where to
follow you, and where we can go to purchase your work?
My novelette is here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hereafter-ebook/dp/B00DR7NCBW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1374004791&sr=1-1&keywords=aby+Irving
You can also find me on:
www.abyirving.com
(Home of my blogs, my work in progress diaries (which I need to update), my
published work and some of my short stories and flash fiction.)
www.minutesofmayhem.com
(Where I write articles as Chastity McVirtue (only for the open-minded).)
www.facebook.com/AbyIrving
(Where I post links to all of the above.)
www.twitter.com/abyirving
(Where I also post links of all of the above, chat a lot and occasionally
ramble pointlessly after consuming red wine.)
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Rudy and Trish are the main characters in our two published short stories in the "Evernight: Romance in a World of Darkness" anthologies. You can get to know them as well as get 23 other great stories! Here's where you can find them:
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