Welcome to today's posting and author interview. Well, it's not exactly an author interview per se, but an editor interview has collected 28 stories from around the globe from a variety of authors called "Writers in Lockdown: A collection of short stories," edited by Faith Jones. What makes this special is that all stories were written during three months during the lockdown due to the pandemic. Don't worry, the stories aren't about COVID or the pandemic, but rather a variety of genres. The book is a lot of fun. One of the things I like about it is that I can pick and choose what order to read the stories and I don't have to read the book all at once. Take a look and read about Faith who put all of this together and how she came about it.
Writers in Lockdown: A collection of
short stories
by Faith Jones (Author & Editor), J. Drew Brumbaugh (Author), Jeffrey Caston (Author), Adam Corres (Author), Kristyna Corres (Author), Carolyn Geduld (Author), Hakon Gunnarsson (Author), Perry Lake (Author), M. L. Roberts (Author), Dale Lehman (Author)
This collection of 28 short stories is an
international anthology written in the days of the virus when writers around
the world were confined to their homes as part of the 'lockdown.' The stories
are not about the virus itself but represent a broad range of genres and
subjects, such as humour, drama, science fiction, thrillers, fantasy,
supernatural horror, heroes, and mysteries of the paranormal. The authors who
have contributed to this collection are: Saj Brodie, J. Drew Brumbaugh, Thor S.
Carlsson, Jeffrey Caston, Kristyna Corres, Adam Corres, Julia Davenport,
Carolyn Geduld, Hakon Gunnarsson, Jim Hamilton, Faith Jones, Ville V. Kokko,
Perry Lake, Dale E. Lehman, Stephen Mills, Sherri Fulmer Moorer, Eileen
Moynihan, L. Jay Mozdy, M.L. Roberts, Mike Sherer, Paul Sloop, Casey D. Sloop,
Magnus Stanke, P.L. Tavormina, Leticia Toraci and Jenny Torniainen.
Faith Jones (Editor)
Writers in Lockdown - a collection of short stories
Tell your readers a
little about yourself, where you grew up, where you live now, where you went to
school etc. Let them get to know the personal you.
I'm not interesting enough to give you a sensible answer to this
question, so let's just say I am standing on the shoulders of better writers. I
feel an affinity with many of them, perhaps because we went to different
schools together.
What inspired you to edit this book?
Lockdown has been a difficult time psychologically, a difficult
adjustment for a lot of people to accept an autonymous routine but still
maintain focus on their working standards when they've had to stare at the same
four walls for three months or longer. There is one group of people in society
who should be fully used to this goldfish style of working, who prefer to be
alone in a quiet room with a keyboard all day (and get frustrated when they
can't be), and that's the world's authors. I'm an editor and am used to doing
my job from anywhere, so I took this project on predominantly as a community
duty to show that writers across the fiction genres can still produce
high-quality entertainment despite the background crisis. The second motivation
was that I went through debilitating ordeal
four years ago and was getting back toward a level setting in my mind with confidence
when 'boom,' all the heightened tension came back with the COVID scare. I find
that if I have a lot of work to do anyway and then add extra projects like this
one that demands all my attention during waking hours and results in good
mental health and productivity. In summary, editing this kept me sane.
Where did you get the inspiration for your book's cover?
I found a freelance artist and graphic designer who took my
lousy cover instructions, ignored them politely, and produced something better.
I would say the main difficulty when you have more than 20 authors is fitting
their names on the front without encroaching too much on the defining image. It
is a neat and unfussy cover, in my view, without imagery, which would suggest
all 28 stories are from one subject or genre, which they aren't.
Who has been the most significant influence on you personally
and as a writer?
I was reading and reviewing over 100 novels a year up until I
became too busy producing other people's publications, so I have probably
forgotten most of my many influences. I could say Terry Pratchett, but
literature and indies have left their mark on my style too. I have learned from
writers to notice great lines or forms of description, which could be from
books or from sitting behind and overhearing a chatty couple on the bus. For
me, what a person says sets their character for the audience, which is perhaps
why I very often fail to describe their appearance.
What were your struggles or obstacles you had to overcome to get
this book written?
I put out an open call on Goodreads.com with a three-month
deadline, and over thirty established and first-time authors got in touch. It
was supposed to be one story per author, but then one family of writers sent three
short stories and another submitted two, so a decision was taken that they
would be accepted as individual works and not to choose the best from each
group. This was an easier decision to make because they were high-quality
pieces of writing.
One headache arose when a person on Goodreads demanded full legal contracts to
cover detailed copyright and revenue questions, even though I had previously
put these in writing in the public forum (all authors retain copyright to their
own work and any profits go to a charity chosen by the authors), so I went to
the trouble of drafting those documents for a couple of days only to find that
the person who insisted on them didn't write anything and dropped out. There's
always someone like this, with the self-importance factor ready to bash anyone
down who tries to accomplish something new.
Then I had the impossible task of enforcing the original word count when
several stories had exceeded it and couldn't be cut down too far without losing
essential elements. In the end, I gave up, let through longer stories, and even
revised my own past the original quota.
Apart from those things, it was easy to work with the dedicated, friendly bunch
of authors who got involved, and the rest went swimmingly.
Tell your readers about your book.
Writers in Lockdown is an anthology of 28
fiction short stories, not about the coronavirus itself but representing a
broad range of genres and subjects, all written when their authors were
confined at home during the first three months of 'lockdown' (from late March
to late June 2020). Fitting the something for everyone description, this collection
should also be taken as a historical snapshot of creative minds across borders,
still producing quality works of thought-provoking fiction during a time of
global paralysis. When someone asks, "What did you do in lockdown?"
well, authors around the world combined to make this. The genres include
humour, drama, science fiction, thrillers, fantasy, supernatural horror, heroes,
and mysteries of the paranormal.
Who is your target audience, and why?
I think the anthology should appeal to readers of any age group
and English speaking origin. The broad appeal is probably a result of including
such a diverse range of international authors, with varied life experiences.
What do you consider your greatest success in life?
Leaving a legacy, so future generations can look you up and see
evidence that you lived. Another writer told me that it would be quite a thing
if descendants read an ancestor's book, got into their distant relative's head,
and found their jokes funny. It would be a kind of immortality.
What one unique thing sets you apart from other writers in your
genre?
My stories do not fit any genre. You can't say "this is
like..." or "it's Neil Gaiman - on acid!" because I prefer to go
my own way. If readers come around to liking it, that's a bonus. Obviously, I'm
only one of the many writers who have contributed to the collection, so they'll
all have their own unique answers!
