Saturday 20 April 2013

Q & A with Dean MacAllister

Title: The Misadventures of a Reluctant Traveller

Author: Dean MacAllister

Genre: Travel/Fiction/Adventure

Page Count: 310

Buy Links:  
Amazon   B&N

Book Description: Tagden fitts has a problem, besides his name. His sleepwalking self is a traveller; a past-time he would rather avoid and his travels are beginning to take over his life. Destroying any chance of a relationship or career, he spends his life chasing after his own body, dreading the night he will finally wake up in a situation too deep to handle.

Q & A with Dean MacAllister

Q:  Tell us a little bit about your main characters.
A:  Imagine you had no control over your nocturnal actions…and that your whole life consists of surviving one disaster after another. This is Tagden Fitts. A sleep walker that finds himself constantly waking up in different parts of the globe, always in trouble. His friends Terry and McKay are people that also have sleeping problems and try to help out as best they can. Also there are the myriads of travellers Tag meets on the road and some other characters that take a sinister interest in his unusual condition.

Q:  What was your favorite scene to write?
A:  There is a scene in the desert where Tag starts an intensive diatribe about how he is feeling, saying everything that comes into his head as he stumbles along. It was fun putting myself in his shoes (or lack thereof) for a while and venting my frustration through him. I got a lot of positive feedback about this scene.

Q:  How would you describe your writing style?
A:  I haven’t been to any writing classes, or had any formal writing schooling at all. The way I think is the way that I write. I guess I just spill my mind on the page. Luckily for me…my mind is organically twisted, which I’ve been told makes my writing fun to read.

Q:  Who designs the covers for your books and what is that process like for you as an author?
A:  I actually designed the front cover of this book myself. I had a picture in my head that I didn’t want someone else to make a version of. I wanted something precise…so I spent the time and pain-stakingly pretty much designed it from scratch….using a crossing-sign as my muse. I like being in control of every aspect of creating a book.

Q:  What do you see as influences on your writing?
A:  I love any kind of art that makes you feel something. Books, songs, movies, anything. I wanted to write a book that would have you invest in a character and then suffer and rejoice every time that he did. I like writers that immerse you in their stories…like Jeff Long and George R.R.Martin. Also, my books are completely influenced by my travels and experiences, my inspiration behind writing.

Q:  Where do you hope to see yourself in the next five years?
A:  Robbing service-stations to feed my drug habit. I don’t know….I have been asked that a lot. I travel to a new country every year…so I guess I see myself lost somewhere new, with a fresh idea for a novel.

Q:  What do you do to unwind and relax?
A:  A wise crustacean once said: “Darling it’s better, down where it’s wetter. Take it from me.” I find that my mind and heart-rate only slow down when I am diving. It’s like life in slow-motion. Where nothing above the water matters. Actually…where did I leave my wet-suit….?

Q:  What book are you reading now?
A:  Despite trying my best to avoid book series, I have begun the seven book series of Game of Thrones.
There goes my next couple of years….


About the Author
 
Dean is a mad traveller. He travels the world looking for new experiences, stories and tries, occassionally successfully, to keep out of trouble. He has done extensive travel through every continent, from Laos to Antarctica, Brazil to Madagascar. He writes travel-fiction and is currently writing his second novel for publishing. He enjoys getting lost, diving, wine, photography and trying something new.


He lives with his wife in Melbourne.







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