I had retired the literary Would You Rather interview series, but didn't want to stop interviews on the site all together. Instead, 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!
Shameez Patel Papathanasiou was born and raised in Cape
Town, South Africa. She lives there with her husband, child and two cats named
Turbo and Charger. During the day she juggles her time between singing Baby
Shark to her daughter and working as a civil engineer where she designs roads
and analyses traffic, but at night she writes fantasy worlds with magic,
monsters and someone to fall in love with. She considers herself a professional binge-watcher and fangirl. Don’t be
surprised to bump into her dressed as a Hobbit or Lady Loki. Should you need
anything from her, offer a choc-chip cookie and her heart is yours forever.Shameez fell in love with fiction, especially fantasy fiction at a young age.
Her parents fondly recall receiving her first handwritten story before the age
of ten, titled The Treasures of Zombie Island, which surprisingly featured no
zombies at all. She has been writing ever since.Her fantasy novel, The Last Feather published in 2022 by Flame
Tree Press – it, at the very least, features a feather.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I work a full-time job as an engineer and that keeps me
busy throughout the day, in the evenings, I spend time with my husband and kid
and after the sun’s gone down and the house is quiet, if I am not writing, I am
generally reading.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Funnily enough, this is answered in The Last Feather
along with all my reasons, because it’s something I think about rather often!
I’ll tell you anyway: Teleportation.
How do you celebrate when you finish writing a new
book?
This is a bit embarrassing, but often I cry. It’s a
strange feeling writing a story to completion and depending on how long it took
me, I spent a lot of time with those characters in my head and finally
finishing their story, is, in a way, saying goodbye to them.
Describe your book in three words.
Fun, sexy, magical.
If you met your characters in real life, what would
you say to them?
I’m sorry and also you’re welcome.
Would you and your main character(s) get along?
Cassia is headstrong and I am sure we’ll butt heads, but
I have no doubt she’ll be in my corner whenever I need her and who doesn’t need
a friend like that? Lucas, well… I would have to do everything in my power not
to fall madly in love with him.
What is your favorite way to waste time?
THE SIMS. I could easily spend an entire day glued to my
screen with a game of The Sims. Since the first release, I have been binge
playing this game every couple of years.
Do you read the reviews of your books or do you stay
far far away from them, and why?
Two pieces of advice have been given to me and I hold
them near:
1.
Review sites are for readers not for writers.
2.
Good reviews will find their way to you.
I’ve found this to be true. Friends and family often send
me screenshots of raving reviews without me having to look for them myself.
Do you think you’d live long in a zombie apocalypse?
Oh man, this is my entire motivation for attempting even
one minute of exercise. I am so slow, so if there is a zombie apocalypse, I
will survive long enough provided there aren’t any runners. My aim is great, so
there’s that.
What songs would be on the soundtrack of your life?
My music taste, much like my style, is rather
eclectic–but there is one thing they all have in common: Lyrics I can sing
along to which speak to my soul. From Bastille and Imagine Dragons, to Mika and
Taylor Swift, with plenty of Coldplay in between. I can promise you’ll have a
good time listening to it, and maybe you’ll cry a little.
South African born, debut author brings a
threat-and-danger, hidden-world fantasy with touches of Suzanne Collins which
fans of VE Schwab or Sarah J Maas will love.
In The Last Feather, Twenty-two-year-old Cassia's sister is dying, and she doesn't know why. Cassia
wakes up in another realm to find her missing best friend, Lucas, who knows how
to save her sister. Meanwhile, Lucas is part of a community of Reborns, people
who were born on earth and after death, were reborn in this realm with magical
abilities. The original beings of the realm, the Firsts, rule over them.
To keep the Reborn numbers manageable, the king of the Firsts releases a curse
to cull them. Cassia needs to break the curse before her time runs out and she
is trapped there forever.
Now... In The Eternal Shadow:
After returning to her realm, Cassia continues to use the magic
she’d discovered in Selene. Little did she know, that wasn’t allowed
and because of it, she’s abducted by the king. Luckily, Prince
Lochlan is still living in the castle pretending to be under the
king’s command. After Lochlan frees Cassia, they all need to flee
Selene to escape the king and find allies elsewhere.
But in this new realm, all the inhabitants are afraid of the
dark where a shadow is lurking, feeding upon them.
With nowhere else to go, they have to choose, either they face the
king or this eternal shadow.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Shadow-Shameez-Patel-Papathanasiou-ebook/dp/B0B4T9FSFX
No comments:
Post a Comment