Wednesday, 4 May 2016
A Year Since The Rain by Shane Wilson
Release Date: 15th March 2016
Publisher: Snow Leopard Publishing
Publisher: Snow Leopard Publishing
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Ebook From Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Year-Since-Rain-Shane-Wilson-ebook/dp/B01D1WD9Z6
I am delighted to welcome Shane Wilson to the blog for the first time. Welcome Shane and thank you for agreeing to be interviewed today.
Do you write under your real name or is this a pen name you
use?
This is all me—100% uncut. No pen names.
Where are you from?
I’m currently living in the Sandhills of North Carolina, but
I was born in Alabama and raised in Georgia. So I’ve been bouncing around the
southeast my whole life.
List 3 interesting facts about yourself.
1.
I put myself through college as a mobile disc
jockey and karaoke jockey. My DJ name was—wait for it—DJ Biscuit.
2.
I grew up with a video camera in my hand. I
would recruit the neighbourhood kids—anybody really—to be in my movies.
Sometimes the concepts were original. Sometimes we would just make new Star Wars movies.
3.
I withdrew from a Ph.D. program because I
decided I like myself too much to do that to myself. I’ve known many people
change and lose themselves in those programs. Others come through unscathed. I
didn’t want to risk it.
What was the first thing you ever had published?
The first thing I ever had published was a creative
non-fiction piece called “Just Past the Yellow Sign.” It was about my father’s
heart surgery.
Do you have a writing routine?
Not a very strict and regimented one, no. I kind of just
write when I find a minute. I hate writing in the morning because I hate any
activity that starts before 10 AM. I’m a teacher, so I can get a little more
strict (and I do) during the summer months. During those months, it’s a “Wake
up by 10:00, start writing by 11:00, write until you can’t anymore, then read”
situation. I get a lot of work done over the summer.
Do you have any writing rituals?
During the school year, before I write, I play a little
Xbox. It serves as a palette cleanser from the day and the stuff I deal with at
school. After I get all of that out of my system, I like to write with
instrumental rock music (or thematically-appropriate-to-whatever-I’m-writing
music) on in the background. I will also usually have a glass of bourbon over
ice to help ease the words out.
Where did the idea for your most recent book come from?
I honestly don’t know. I know the title came from a
break-up. The last day I had seen this girl that was pretty significant to me
at the time was a really rainy day. In fact, most of the days I had spent with
her had been rainy—driving us inside toward one another. It was one of those
doomed situations, though, and one day—the day I was leaving town—was the last,
and it was raining. A year later, nearly on the anniversary, I wrote the title
on a sheet of paper in my journal. I thought that “A Year Since the Rain” would
be a poem, but it continued to grow and grow until it became a book.
Who was the first person you shared your book with?
Even though Bukowski would find fault with this, I shared it
first with my supportive and loving girlfriend. As supportive and loving as she
is, she didn’t hesitate to give me some very valuable feedback.
Do you have a current work in progress?
I do. It’s another magical realism book about music and rock
bands. I’m not ready to say anything else.
Do you have any advice for budding authors?
Just write. Don’t worry about the stuff that happens when
the story is finished. If you focus on all of that (submission, rejection,
etc.), you’ll never set about doing the actual business of writing.
About the Author
Born in Alabama and raised in Georgia,
Shane is a child of the southeastern United States where he feels
simultaneously at-home and out-of-place. He graduated from Valdosta State
University in south Georgia with a Masters in English. He taught college
English in Georgia for four years before moving to North Carolina in 2013.
No matter the temperature outside, there is always an iced coffee in
his hand when he walks into class in the mornings. He tends to chase the day
with a whiskey and a re-run of The Office.
A Year Since the Rain is Shane’s debut novel. He has also
published poetry in Tethered by Letters and the Stonepile Writers'
Anthology, Volume III. He is currently at work on a new novel as well as a collection
of short stories based on the mythos of and set in the same town as A Year
Since the Rain.
Author links
Website: www.shanewilsonauthor.com
Blog: www.virtualnapkins.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shanewilsonauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/a_shanewilson
Instagram: www.instagram.com/a_shanewilson
Blog: www.virtualnapkins.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shanewilsonauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/a_shanewilson
Instagram: www.instagram.com/a_shanewilson
Book Blurb
Alan —a heart-broken and stubborn computer programmer—took
much in his life for granted, including the vast supply of water in his town.
But when the rains stop falling and the rivers dry up, he begins to realize how
temporary it all can be. His life begins to unravel as, across town, a sinkhole
threatens to swallow every bit of the place he has come to call home.
Taken on a journey of self-discovery by the magical women in
his life, Alan is drawn into an unexpected affair and comes face-to-face with a
Mystic who walks through his dreams. For Alan, dreams become a new reality, and
reality erodes into something of a dream. As his town transforms into an arid
wasteland that crumbles beneath his feet, Alan is compelled by the inevitable
to strike out into the unknown or perish.
Buy Links
From the publisher: http://www.snowleopardpublishing.com/#!product-page/iil1o/e227aab1-190e-f895-8686-89f2b167fbd1
Ebook From Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Year-Since-Rain-Shane-Wilson-ebook/dp/B01D1WD9Z6
Thanks