Blog Tour: The Sum of All Things

 

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