. I had a chance to chat with Alisa recently and I was so intrigued by her description of her story and inspiration, I had to buy the book to read it for myself!
Alisa Jeruconoka: First of all I
want to thank Natalie for this fantastic opportunity to spread the word about
my YA fantasy fiction novel ‘Unparallel Worlds’. The future of the whole planet
depends on the delicate balance of Light and Darkness. Love and Hatred,
Friendship and Betrayal are the keys to open and reveal the ancient secrets.
Natalie Wright: Do you have any news to share about your work?
Alisa Jeruconoka: Having only recently put the book on Amazon I’ve had
5 reviews already and there all great! It made me really happy that people are
enjoying my book and for me this was the first step and although sales are
important knowing that I have managed to write a story that people enjoy is
priceless!
The other bit of news is that I had a
very talented video maker email me after visiting my site, he said he was
really impressed that at a time when everyone else is writing about vampires
and werewolves in the YA market (and I’m not saying that these aren’t good
reads) it’s refreshing that someone is trying to introduce the almost lost
genre of otherworldly fantasy fiction to this audience. He said that this was
vital to give them the opportunity to expand their minds with such a richly
imagined story (I gathered that he was a fantasy fiction fanatic).
He liked the whole idea of the story so much that he
went on to create a really cool video for me which is now on Youtube and my
website www.unparallelworlds.co.uk.
NW: I love this trailer for your book so much, I had to include it here for people to see.
NW: What was the inspiration for your book?
AJ: I have always
enjoyed writing and from a young age I found I really enjoyed writing fantasy
fiction. I could never wait to get home from school to read the latest story to
my mum (who’s still my biggest fan) and we would have a real laugh acting out
the characters.
This love of
writing stayed with my throughout college and university where I had many of my
works chosen over others to be performed by the drama students in annual
productions.
Like everyone else though when I left University I went
straight into full-time work as a translator/interpreter and because I was
dealing with international clients from very early in the mornings to late in
the evenings my favourite
hobby of writing fantasy fiction was put on hold for several years.
Then one day I
visited a bookstore with my fourteen years old niece to choose a book and found
that there was a lack of genres for her age group to read (strangely the same
view the video maker I mention above shared). This happened about the same time
I had changed jobs to one which was not so demanding, so all of a sudden I had
spare time on my hands. It was then that I decided I would use this time to
write a book for her age group that was completely different to anything else out
there. The result is Unparallel Worlds.
Whilst writing
London the city I live in also inspired me. I visited my
favourite places in London
to get inspiration. Top of my list were Hampstead Heath where I got most of the
ideas about the forests I write about in my book, The Natural History Museum
and it’s exhibits played a part when I needed ideas about either the colourful fantasy creatures or the odd and weird
dark creatures that exist on the planet Adriana in my book.
The Natural
History Museum building was also a source of inspiration with all the carvings
on its walls. This along with the beautiful monuments and
mausoleums in Highgate
Cemetery gave me inspiration to describe the two great palaces in my
story.
If anyone
reading this has not been to any of the above places then please make sure you
do if you visit London I highly recommend them.
I also got
inspiration whilst writing the book from listening to different types of music
when writing about characters. The main types of music though were classical
and gothic. I would use the melodies of each to create images and
characteristics in my head for the wonderful, weird and odd characters in the
book.
NW: What is your favorite scene from your book and why?
AJ: My favourite
scene in the book is when Aurelia the princess of Light, a main character in
the book, makes her way to the deepest and darkest part of the vast palace
library that has thousands of halls and rooms, a part not many visit. She goes
there to read the most ancient books and also to find an ancient spider, a
guardian of this part of the library that can give her the answers about an
ancient prophecy, which forms the basis of my story.
NW: Which character from
your books do you like most / are most like?
AJ: From all the
colourful and weird characters
in my book, my favourite is professor Norris Wolfidge, a bumbling but likeable
and wise character (almost like Boris Johnson the mayor of London). If only
Zalion the King of Darkness had listened to him, it would have prevented the
mutation in his land on the Dark Side and saved a lot of lives. (but if he had
listened to him then I would not have such an interesting book)
AJ: This is a difficult question because I have so many
favourite books. But if the portal took me to Adriana then the books I would
take are:
Mark Chadbourne
‘Age of Misrule’ (first three books in one volume)- Just because I love these
books
Tad Williams
‘The War of Flowers’ – This because it’s about someone who becomes part of a
fairy world in the end.
Martin Millar
‘Lonely Werewolf Girl'- This because it would always remind me of London I love
with a bit of urban fantasy.
AJ: In the day I do
freelance translations for large multi-national corporations. This is not as
demanding as my previous job so it gives me enough money to survive but also
gives me the time to write - my favourite hobby.
AJ: I love creating
and developing new characters in my head and then trying to overcome the
challenge of describing them exactly as I want on paper.
AJ: ‘Hell Boy 2’and
‘The Fifth Element’
AJ: Umm, I love good
music and it depends on my mood what I want to listen. I like Vivaldi’s Four
Seasons, ‘Muse’, ‘Cold Play’.
AJ: As I am aiming this book at young teens I hope they realize
there is more genres that just the vampire and werewolf stories out there. I
hope they read my book and really get lost in the fantasy fiction I have
written. I hope that after reading my book their minds are expanded and I
secretly hope my book inspires the next generation of fantasy fiction authors.
United States customers can buy Unparallel Worlds by clicking on this link:
You can also purchase from Smashwords:
For more
information about Alisa, please visit her site:
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