Thursday 20 February 2020

Interview with Author Francis H Powell

Today I have an author interview with Francis H Powell, who stops by to chat about his writing and his new book, Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation. Enjoy.


Interview with Francis H Powell




Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.

I am approaching 60 years old, I am married with a seven year old son and I live in Brittany.


Could you tell us a bit about your latest book?

It is called “Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation”
Set in a different time in a variety of settings and time periods, the past, the present, and the future, the book explores the inevitable unknown that lies before us all "death". Death can arrive in a multitude of forms. Each part of the book explores different themes. There are characters who following their demises have to face up to their lurid pasts. There some who face annihilation and others who are in a crazy pursuit of world destruction. The book aims to contain some ironic twists. Even as young children we build up nightmare visions of what death involves. The reader is often left to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as stories reside within stories and the storytellers can never be fully trusted. Not all the book is doom and gloom, there are Elsa Grun's bizarre encounters with men and Shellys' hapless husband Arnie.


How long have you been writing, and how many books have you published to date?

I have had two published, apart from short stories and poetry, in magazines and anthologies.


Of all the books you've written, do you have a favourite?

My first book I am obviously proud of, but my second I equally like, as it is an evolution from the first.


Why did you decide to write in the horror genre?

It is a genre that fits in well with my style.


What is the hardest part of writing horror fiction?

Writing consistently strong stories.


What do you enjoy most about writing in the horror genre?

Evil characters, in my first book, I have a character called Maggot, who sells his own daughter.


Why did you write this book? What was your inspiration?

I guess I have always been fascinated as well as fearful of death.  There is also so much gloom in the media, newspapers, and TV. It seems like we are going to be hit by some rogue planet or be attacked by extremists.


What did you enjoy most about writing your book?

I got to describe heaven, which in my story is a vast luxurious hotel.


What did you find most challenging about writing your book?

Getting the story to flow. Creating a memorable ending.


What did you hope to accomplish by publishing your book?

Too attract new readers and build up a body of work.


When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

In Paris I started writing short stories. I had some published a small magazine called Rat Mort.


Can you tell us about your writing process? Where do your ideas originate? Do you have a certain writing routine?

I have an idea, which I hope to expand. I don’t really write a definite outline, but at the same time my mind is calculating how the story will evolve. With my first book, with one of my stories, I imagined a character “Bugeyes” about a person with huge eyes and I wrote about all the misfortunes that befall this character.


What’s your next project? Any upcoming book secrets you care to reveal?

I have a project called I am the Priest Killer.


***

Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation



What if the human race was considered irrelevant and then each being was just uploaded then locked away on hard drives called "brain pods"?

What if a subspecies was to come into fruition, then the human race turned on it, hunted it down before trying to annihilate it? Imagine you found out you were an ancient soul, who is reunited with another being from your former life?

Set in a different time in a variety of settings and time periods, the past, the present, and the future, the book explores the inevitable unknown that lies before us all "death". Death can arrive in a multitude of forms. Each part of the book explores different themes. There are characters who following their demises have to face up to their lurid pasts. There some who face annihilation and others who are in a crazy pursuit of world destruction. We are living in an age in which it appears that the doomsday clock is ticking ever faster, as we teeter over the edge of world destruction. The book aims to contain some ironic twists. Even as young children we build up nightmare visions of what death involves. The reader is often left to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as stories reside within stories and the storytellers can never be fully trusted. Not all the book is doom and gloom, there are Elsa Grun's bizarre encounters with men and Shellys' hapless husband Arnie.

From secluded beach houses, to obscure motels, to visions of heaven, which takes the form of the Hotel Paradiso, to the world of the future death is always a wild adventure, that can't be ignored.


Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation is available at Amazon




Excerpt from Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation


THE MASTER’S HOUSE 
Part one

The strange goings on in the life of Amos Toft.
We had found her face down on the sand, as the tide closed in. The moon shed silvery light and there was a soft gentle offshore breeze that glanced our faces. We’d run out of our house, having seen torch light. They had left as quickly as they had arrived. There were sounds of horses, leaving at speed, shadowy figures, hooded, dressed like soldiers, soon fading into the horizon. We presumed she was dead and were relieved when she spluttered and coughed
and fought for breath.
“Let’s get her inside,” my wife said urgently. She was totally naked and had no possessions.
“Are you all right?” I demanded. She did not respond. I repeated myself again, there was just
the sound of her heavy labored breathing.
“She appears in terrible shock,” my wife said, as we helped her up. We draped one of her arms
over my wife’s shoulders while I propped the other. We struggled along the sand and then headed towards our small house, which looked over the large bay.
“What’s your name?” I asked, expecting by now she was in some kind of condition to speak.
Again no response, her eyes were fixed on the ground, she made no attempt to speak. We got her back to the house and sat her down on a couch.
What had happened? Why had she been left naked on the sand, as the tide came
in? What was going through her mind? My wife got a towel and offered it to her to clean her and cover her naked body.
“She will have to stay the night, it is late, at least she will be safe here,” my wife said before searching for some clothes. I hardly dared not look at her. She was evidently young, very beautiful, with long flaxen hair that cascaded down her back.



About the Author



Born in 1961, in Reading, England Francis H Powell attended Art Schools, receiving a degree in painting and an MA in printmaking. In 1995, Powell moved to Austria, teaching English as a foreign language while pursuing his varied artistic interests adding music and writing. He currently lives in Brittany, teaching English and history while writing both prose and poetry. Powell has published short stories in the magazine, “Rat Mort” and other works on the internet site "Multi-dimensions." His first was called “Flight of Destiny” while his most recent is called “Adventures of Death, Reincarnation and Annihilation.”




Saturday 15 February 2020

Book Spotlight: Chawlgirl Rising

Today, I bring you another book spotlight, this time for science fiction with the novel, Chawlgirl Rising by Tim Young. Enjoy.



Chawlgirl Rising by Tim Young




Every time he shut off a city’s supply of food and water and doomed its citizens to starvation, Lucas Seraph thought he was doing the right thing. In the Indus Hegemony of 2118 AD few resources remain, and only the iron rule of the Hegemony’s sadistic leader Ju-Long Ng stands in the way of society’s collapse. But Lucas chafes at Ng’s cruelty and his wife’s devotion to the Hegemony, and when he clashes with Ginevra, the scarred but beautiful leader of a shadowy resistance against the Hegemony, his faith in Ng’s vision for humanity’s survival is shattered.

Ordered to eliminate the rebels, Lucas instead discovers Ng’s true goal: the forced modification of every Hegemony citizen’s body to adapt to the wasted planet, and the murder of all those who cannot survive the procedure. Horrified, he joins Ginevra in a desperate search for a poor girl from the slums named Shakti who escaped Ng’s experiments and holds the key to toppling the Hegemony somewhere in her damaged mind.

Yet Shakti has been hunting Lucas as well, and may be the avatar of a Hindu god who’s chosen him to aid her own inscrutable plan for humanity’s evolution. Caught between conflicting loyalties and despair at the suffering he’s helped cause, Lucas must choose who and what to believe in the race to stop Ng’s plan before starvation and thirst claim two billion lives. 



Chawlgirl Rising is available on Amazon






About the Author



T.K. Young’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including the Journal of Microliterature, Rosebud Magazine, and Hopewell Publications’ Best New Writing anthology. He’s the author of the flash fiction collection When We’re Afraid and once played a mean lead guitar in one of MTV’s Top 10 DC-area bands.


Subscribe Now:

Search This Blog

Powered By Blogger

Monthly Pageviews