We're happy to help Meerkat Press support the release of their latest title, The Sum of All Things, by participating in their blog tour.
Today we are joined by Seb Doubinsky. Seb is a bilingual writer born in Paris in 1963. His novels, all set in a dystopian universe revolving around competing cities-states, have been published in the UK and in the USA. He currently lives with his family in Aarhus, Denmark, where he teaches at the university.
He is participating in our 40 But 10 Interview Series, where I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!
Why do you write?
Like most writers, I don’t think that I hold the answer to this question
because writing isn’t something I do, it is something that I am. I am my
writing, and therefore being a writer is just being fully myself. I couldn’t be
someone else -- and therefore I write for the same reason that I breathe:
because I exist.
What do you do when you’re not
writing?
I am always writing. Even when I’m not sitting at my desk, typing on my
keyboard, I am writing. Like a musician composes when he isn’t playing, my mind
constantly works on something, gets ideas, gets inspired or just enjoys the
white noise, knowing ideas will come. So I can be with my family, walk my dog,
teach my classes, go to a bar with friends -- I am still writing. All the time.
It’s a curse, and you can’t escape it. Ever.
Would you and your main
character(s) get along?
Actually, I don’t know. In The Sum of All Things, I would probably get
along with Thomas and Kassandra, because they are interesting people with a
story behind them. We could have excellent conversations. I might also enjoy a
glass of mint tea and an oriental pastry with Ali Shakr Bassam, the police
inspector, because he is, deep down, a humanist with an interesting belief.
Hokki, the museum director, I would probably find too superficial for my taste,
and, to be honest, I would probably be very intimidated by the mysterious Vita.
If you could spend the day with
another author, who would you choose and why?
I have a very long list, but for this interview, I would say William
Burroughs, because I love his tight-lipped humor and his crazy vision of
reality, whatever that means. And we would be doing good drugs.
What is your favorite book from
childhood?
Childhood is a long time, so I will give you two books. Before I could
read, I would say Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham, because I thought it
was hilarious and was really wondering if green eggs would taste different than
yellow ones. The second book I loved, later, was Tove Jansson’s Moominland
Midwinter, because I found it both scary and funny, and it was about death
as a fact, and not necessarily as a tragedy. I still re-read these books today,
and have quite an extensive collection of children’s books.
What’s the single best line
you’ve ever read?
Definitely Tom Robbins’s Still Life with a Woodpecker’s last line:
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”
Do you read the reviews of your
books or do you stay far far away from them, and why?
I’m a masochist, so, of course I read
them, because they hurt. Seriously, I do read them because it’s always
interesting to see how reader understand or misunderstand your work, and why
they love it or hate it, or both. It doesn’t change my way of writing, but it
does give me a general idea about the reception of my books and that’s always
interesting for a writer.
If you were stuck on a deserted
island, what’s the one book you wish you had with you?
Another question that is impossible
to answer, but I would say Jack Kerouac’s Doctor Sax, which is one of my
favorite novels ever, and one of the strangest he has written. It’s a childhood
memoir, which blends pulp fiction, Sunday comics and the coming of age of
teenagers in an American city in the mid-30s. Amazing. I could read it over and
over (and I have).
What songs would be on the
soundtrack of your life?
OK,
I will give you 5, because we need a limit.
There are all obvious songs for me and those who know me. But I would
need a good hundred to come close to a vague description of my life.
“A Day in the Life”, the Beatles.
“Sister Ray”, The Velvet
Underground
“No Fun”, the Stooges.
“Anarchy in the UK”, the Sex
Pistols
“The Birmingham School of Business
School”, the Fall.
What scares you the most?
Nothing.
RELEASE DATE: Nov 5, 2024
Science Fiction | Thriller
https://meerkatpress.com/books/the-sum-of-all-things/
The highly anticipated next
installment in Seb Doubinsky’s City-States Cycle is smart, subtle and
unputdownable!
In New Samarqand, trouble is
brewing: The king is very ill, nobody knows who will succeed him and terrorist
groups are plaguing the city-state. In the eye of the storm, the National
Museum is opening a new wing displaying the magnificent tomb of two Amazon
sisters, who fell in battle together. Following parallel lines in this ominous
labyrinth, Hokki, the new museum director, Ali the police commissioner,
Kassandra, the poet, Thomas, the used-books seller and Vita, the secret agent
from Planet X try to keep the pieces together and fight against the forces of
chaos threatening their very existence.
BUY LINKS: Bookshop.org | Amazon