Saturday 16 September 2017

Author Interview3 - Anne Barwell

Today I welcome Anne Barwell to the blog to answer a few questions for Interview³.


Anne Barwell Author Interview³
 
1) Tell us 3 fun facts about your writing history
I started writing because I waiting for one of my favourite series to be written, and so wrote my own version of what happened next. I was in primary school at the time, and every creative writing exercise turned into a fully realised interconnected universe. I wrote my first release—Cat’s Quill—in my down time when I was studying for my conjoint BA/BTeach degree.

2) Describe your writing style in 3 words
I struggled with this one so it’s not the conventional kind of answer. Character-driven, Kiwi, Genre-crossing

3) Name 3 of your literary influences
Choosing only 3 is difficult: Susan Cooper, Diana Gabaldon, Tanya Huff

4) Share your 3 favourite books
I have way more than 3, so these are 3 of: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, and Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines.

5) What are your 3 essential writing tools?
Laptop, notebooks, pen. I figured cup of tea didn’t count although it is. Really.

6) Where are your 3 favourite places to write?
I write at my dining room table, which is my office space. I’ve also written longhand at Rimutaka Forest Park,  and if it wasn’t so cold and sandy, I’d write at the foreshore at Petone. Those two locations are very inspiring.

7) Name 3 items on your writing wish list
Historical mystery detective, a Dreampun Beyond for Dreamspinner Press, a gothic/ghost story.

8) What are your top 3 tips for aspiring writers?
Write every day, even if it’s just a little bit.  Read a lot.  Believe in yourself.

9) Tell us 3 of your writing plans for the year ahead
One Word, which is the third book in my Hidden Places series is releasing from Dreamspinner Press on November 6th.  Prelude to Love, a Dreamspun Desire from Dreamspinner is in edits and has a projected release date of January/February.  I’m planning to get back into writing The Harp and the Sea with Lou Sylvre this month, which is an historical with magic elements set in 1745 on the Isle of Skye.

10) Tell us about your latest release
Comes a Horseman was released on 1st August from DSP Publications, and is the third and final part of my WWII Echoes Rising series.  It’s an action/drama story, with a touch of romance.

Comes a Horseman
Echoes Rising
Anne Barwell
DSP Publications
1 August 2017

Sequel to Winter Duet

France, 1944
Sometimes the most desperate struggles take place far from the battlefield, and what happens in secret can change the course of history.

Victory is close at hand, but freedom remains frustratingly just beyond the grasp of German physicist Dr. Kristopher Lehrer, Resistance fighter Michel, and the remaining members of the team sent by the Allies—Captain Matt Bryant, Sergeant Ken Lowe, and Dr. Zhou Liang—as they fight to keep the atomic plans from the Nazis. The team reaches France and connects with members of Michel’s French Resistance cell in Normandy. Allied troops are poised to liberate France, and rescue is supposedly at hand. However, Kristopher is no longer sure the information he carries in his memory is safe with either side.

When Standartenführer Holm and his men finally catch up with their prey, the team is left with few options as they fight to keep atomic plans from the Nazis. With a traitor in their midst, who can they trust? Kristopher realizes he must become something he is not in order to save the man he loves. Death is biding his time, and sacrifices must be made for any of them to have the futures they want.



About the Author
Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand.  She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing "discussion," and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning.

In 2008 she completed her conjoint BA in English Literature and Music/Bachelor of Teaching. She has worked as a music teacher, a primary school teacher, and now works in a library. She is a member of the Upper Hutt Science Fiction Club and plays violin for Hutt Valley Orchestra.

She is an avid reader across a wide range of genres and a watcher of far too many TV series and movies, although it can be argued that there is no such thing as "too many." These, of course, are best enjoyed with a decent cup of tea and further the continuing argument that the concept of "spare time" is really just a myth. She also hosts other authors, reviews for the GLBTQ Historical Site “Our Story” and Top2Bottom Reviews, and writes monthly blog posts for Authors Speak and Love Bytes.

Anne’s books have received honorable mentions four times and reached the finals three times in the Rainbow Awards.  She has also been nominated twice in the Goodreads M/M Romance Reader’s Choice Awards—once for Best Fantasy and once for Best Historical.

2 comments: