We Are Animals by Tim Ewins - Book Tour
We Are Animals
A cow looks out to
sea, dreaming of a life that involves grass.
Jan is also looking out to
sea. He’s in Goa, dreaming of the passport-thief who stole his heart (and,
indeed, his passport) forty-six years ago. Back then, fate kept bringing them
together, but lately it seems to have given up.
Jan has not. In his long
search he has accidentally held a whole town at imaginary gunpoint in Soviet
Russia, stalked the proprietors of an international illegal lamp-trafficking
scam and done his very best to avoid any kind of work involving the packing of
fish. Now he thinks if he just waits, if he just does nothing at all,
maybe fate will find it easier to reunite them.
His story spans fifty-four
years, ten countries, two imperfect criminals (and one rather perfect one),
twenty-two different animals and an annoying teenager who just…
Will…
Not…
Leave.
But maybe an annoying
teenager is exactly what Jan needs to help him find the missing thief?
Featuring a menagerie of
creatures, each with its own story to tell, We Are Animals is a quirky,
heart-warming tale of lost love, unlikely friendships and the certainty of fate
(or lack thereof).
For the first time in
her life the cow noticed the sun setting, and it was glorious.
Purchase Links:
For a limited time, We Are Animals will be available for only 99p.
Author Q&A
Tell me
something about yourself.
I love
dogs, particularly dopey fluffy ones, and I’m a big reader. I’ve recently found
myself delving into the kid’s sections of bookshops with my son who, so far,
seems to share my love of reading.
My dog
doesn’t share my love of reading, but we do both like lying down, so we have
that in common.
Do you
have a writing routine?
I’ve
spoken with a lot of writers over the last few years, and I’ve enjoyed learning
about the different routines that people have. I’m slightly envious of those
people who have a desk facing out of a window that overlooks the countryside. I
used to have an hour lunch break and I’m a fast eater, so I got into the habit
of booking out a meeting room at work and trying to write on my old broken
iPad. Most of We Are Animals was written this way, and as a result, it took me four
years.
I’ve
allowed myself a little luxury whilst I’ve been writing my second novel,
occasionally working on it in the evenings after my son’s gone to bed, with
relaxing music and a glass of wine. This time around, the first draft has taken
me around a year, so maybe this is the way forward for me (although it could
also be the first step towards convincing myself that I should drink wine every
night…)
Your
second novel…will there be a We Are Animals 2?
The one
I’ve been working on isn’t a follow up to We Are Animals, but there are hints
towards some of the characters being in both books. We Are Animals is set over
a long period of time, so I enjoyed creating sub-plots and background
characters (some of them actual animals) that start, say, in the fifties, and
then we find out what’s going on with them again later, in the nineties, for
example. As a reader, I like finding little links like that, so as I writer I
enjoy putting them in. It would make me so happy if someone was to notice one
of them one day!
Do you
have general themes you like to explore in your writing?
I enjoy
writing about age. I like creating a sense of nostalgia, but also appreciate
the innocence of youth and finding the common ground between generations. I
find that there is always the common theme of long-lasting love in my writing
too, with all the human flaws and the withstanding passion that can come with
that.
Going away from writing now, tell me about
yourself as a reader. What genres do you like reading?
I used
to read mainly best-sellers of pretty much any genre, although my favourite is
probably historical fiction. My theory was that there are so many books in the
world, why not read the ones that have been vetted by the masses. However, We
Are Animals is being published by an indie publisher (Lightning Books) and I’ve
since learnt that best-sellers are vetted by the few large publishing houses,
and then the press, before they manage to get to the masses.
I’ve recently
found that reading independently published books has broadened the scope of
what I read massively. I’m finding that when people ask me for a book
recommendation now, it always tends to be an indie.
Do you
have any advice for aspiring writers?
I don’t
think there is a right or wrong way of writing (although it’s probably quite
hard to write underwater), so I think my advice would be to do what feels right
to you. I’ve heard lots of writers feeling down as a result of writer’s block
or having the feeling that what they’ve written isn’t good enough. I would
suggest just stopping for a bit if this happens. Writing is an enjoyable
pastime, and if it ceases to be so, give yourself a break. You’ll probably find
yourself longing to come back to it.
And
don’t write underwater.
Author Bio –
Tim Ewins has enjoyed an eight-year stand-up career
alongside his accidental career in finance.
He has previously written for DNA Mumbai, had
two short stories highly commended and published in Michael Terence Short Story
Anthologies, and enjoyed a very brief acting stint (he’s in the film Bronson,
somewhere in the background).
He lives with his wife, son and dog in Bristol. We
Are Animals is his first novel.
Lightning Bolts launches as
digital-first imprint
Lightning Books, the fiction arm of independent publisher
Eye Books, has unveiled a digital-only imprint. Its new series of Lighting
‘Bolts’ will be launched as initially as ebooks only, with print editions to
follow for titles that sell particularly well.
The series kicks off on 6 March with We Are Animals, a quirky, heart-warming tale of friendship and lost
love, set in Goa, by stand-up comic turned writer Tim Ewins.
Following at two-week intervals throughout the spring are:
•
All the
Beautiful Liars, a semi-autobiographical journey into her Austrian past by
Australian writer Sylvia Petter;
•
iRemember,
a sci-fi noir with a psychedelic twist by writer and filmmaker SV Bekvalac;
•
Landsliding,
a dark domestic drama by Mandy Jameson, which was originally successfully
self-published and is now re-edited and repackaged by Lightning;
•
and Marrow
Jam, a cosy crime caper by Susan A King, shortlisted for the Write Here,
Right Now novel competition at the Bradford Literature Festival.
Publisher Dan Hiscocks says: ‘We want to continue to bring
exciting new voices to the market, but the changing conditions and levels of
support by both media and retail mean that it is not always possible to publish
their work traditionally.
‘Under this new imprint, we will launch some authors in
digital form first, where the barriers to market are lower, to allow them to
get a following. Once they do so, we hope that will persuade retailers to
support the same novels in traditional print format.
‘The initiative also allows us to be more agile and launch
books much more quickly than traditional critical paths allow, which appeals to
many of our authors.’
More information: Dan
Hiscocks | 020 3239 3027 | dan@eye-books.com312 Uxbridge Road, Rickmansworth,
Hertfordshire, WD3 8YL www.eye-books.com
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