The Lockdown Tales by Alan Whelan

Please welcome Alan Whelan author of The Lockdown Tales

Alan Whelan will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The Lockdown Tales

by Alan Whelan

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GENRE: Fiction – Contemporary

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

Alan:

I don’t know what inspired me, exactly, because I was making up stories and songs, terrible, I’m sure, almost from the time I learned to talk.

But by the time I was about ten, I’d write stories whose style was copied from pulp science fiction and adventure stories, and I’d try to use some of the effects in plotting and character-writing that they used.

My teachers started to tell me that my stories were good – I’m sure they weren’t, but that sounds better to a ten-year old than “shows promise” – so I believed I was good.

I kept going. Eventually having to hold down a paying job got in the way, and I mostly used writing skills in my work. But I’d still come home and work on my own stuff.

So my teachers and my parents certainly helped and encouraged me, but I think it would’ve been hard to stop me from writing.

How did you come up with ideas for your books?

My current book, The Lockdown Tales, is set in the Covid-19 lockdown, so that’s as current as you can get. I started writing in March 2020, because it was obvious that my life and everybody around me was about to change, and I wanted to write about that. I also wanted to write something that suggested, without being preachy, that people can help each other through hard times.

It happened that at the time I was reading a new translation of Boccaccio’s Decameron, which is about seven women and three men who leave Florence to escape the Black Death and stay together in the countryside, where they tell each other stories, to stay sane and keep each others’ spirits up. It was obviously the right framework for my book, and I borrowed and updated it.

My (unpublished) novel Blood and Bonewas sparked by my anthropology tutor, who’d helped steal the ashes of a famous Maori guy, where there was one tribe who believed, probably with good cause, that the man was being buried on the wrong marae. But that didn’t become the heart of a fictional story, for me, for years. Probably a good thing, because the less people connect my story to the real event the better.

Other times it’s more calculated. I read something about a famous children’s author, published in an obscure book in 1912, that was quite damning. But I didn’t have enough evidence to write it up as fact, so a friend suggested I write it as fiction. I picked Frank Harris as my main character and storyteller, because he really existed and was a famously unreliable narrator. So that was a much more deliberate planning and plotting process.

What expertise did you bring to your writing?

Alan:

I’m a very good researcher. In one story I had to have a young guy in the air force “fix” his commander’s vintage car so it wouldn’t start, but there was nothing visibly wrong with it. I tried Google, without much luck, and then started asking mechanics until I got a couple of useable ideas. So I can write like I know a lot about old cars, and believe me, apart from research I know nothing.

Apart from that, I have a feel and concern for “surface”. I want my stuff polished and smooth so you look straight through the writing to the people and events in the story. I’m not an “expert”, but I practice and I get better.

What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

Alan:

I’m a bit of a risk-taker, and that helps me bump into stories. But mostly I hope that they know that I’m an enjoyable and sometimes perceptive writer, whose next book is reliably worth buying.

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

Alan:

I’m writing the rest of The Lockdown Tales. I’m nearly finished, so I hope that gets into the shops before Christmas.

And I’ve got a historical novel that I shelved when I started The Lockdown Tales, and my poor characters are stuck halfway up a mountain in Persia, waiting for me to get back to them. So that’ll take me into 2022.

If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

Alan:

I’d have to make do with Frank Harris. If he’s remembered at all it’s as a notorious cad and liar, but my impression is that he was kinder and more honest than his reputation remembers. Still, he had fun. Overall, though, I’m happy to be me.

If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your leading roles?

Alan:

Someone unknown, I hope. Anyway, I’d want a hand in the script, but I’d leave the rest to the relevant experts.

Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

Alan:

Not a group, exactly, but I have a gallant band of beta readers. Their suggestions and criticisms are always absolutely helpful.

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

Alan:

I went to a Famous Publisher. They said my book sounded interesting but they’d let a lot of staff go because of the lockdown, and they’d read my book when the lockdown was over.

I thought, “If you can’t see an opportunity in having lots of people stuck at home, needing escape, comfort and entertainment, then you are possibly in the wrong business.”

Timing was crucial and I knew I had a good book, so I went the self-publish route at that point.

What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

Alan:

“Write what you know” is the worst advice.” The best advice might be, “When it makes you uncomfortable to write it, you’re probably getting something right.”

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

Alan:

I have the story I want to tell in my head, and I know the key scenes, motivations, etc. But then I just write it, and edit it later.

Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

Alan:

I’ve read a hell of a lot of poetry. Homer, Catullus, Ovid, Dante, Ariosto in translation, and then the great English poets. I keep coming back to Shakespeare, Shelley and Yeats. More recent poetry from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.

It’s given me a feel for rhythm, and respect for new similes and metaphors.

Do you have an all time favorite book?

Alan:

Right now, the Decameron, The Thousand and One Nights, and The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.

Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?

Alan:

I’m working on The Lockdown Tales: Emergence.

The stories are told on Fridays, and each Friday has a theme. In this book the five story themes are Fear, Deception, Birth, Forgiveness and Emergence. At the end most of them go back to Sydney, even though Covid-19 isn’t over, except for four who choose to remain in the countryside.

Who is your favorite actor and actress?

Alan:

I suppose the immaculate Cary Grant, and the Scarlett Johansson. Nobody’s perfect, and it’s wrong to expect them to be.

Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?

Alan:

The darkest moment is near the beginning, when Dr Margo Colonna uses her contacts to get into the ward where her younger brother is struggling with Covid-19, and she sees him fail to breathe, and then die. By the end of the book, though, with caring people around her, she is on her way to recovering.

What is your favorite reality show?

Alan:

I don’t have one.

Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series.

Alan:

There will probably be a series of books starring Frank Harris. But it’s not written yet.

Anything else you might want to add?

Alan:

I think that conflict between reasonably good people who are trying to do what they think is right is much more interesting than fights between “good” and “evil”.

BLURB:

Seven women and three men leave the city to avoid a pandemic. They isolate together in a local farm, where they pass the time working, flirting, eating, drinking, making music and above all telling stories. It happened in Florence in 1351, during the Plague, and gave us Boccaccio’s Decameron.

Seven hundred years later, in Australia, it happens again. The stories are very different, but they’re still bawdy, satirical, funny and sometimes sad, and they celebrate human cleverness, love, courage and imagination.

“Alan Whelan brings us a clever, sensual and sometimes poignant collection of stories that would make Boccaccio proud”

– Tangea Tansley, author of A Question of Belonging

“An old frame for a sharp new snapshot of contemporary Australia”

– Leigh Swinbourne, author of Shadow in the Forest

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EXCERPT:

It was late and getting cold by the time Margo’s story was done. I reflected that she’d come a long way, in the three weeks she’d been here. She’d got close to Sue and Stuart, and they’d helped her believe that she could come back from Harry’s death.

Stuart and Danny pushed my barbecue back to the house, with Sue and Margo helping to keep it steady. This time it didn’t tip over.

Bran and Astrid stayed close to the fire, which had died down from a bonfire to a campfire. Jayleen and Bob stayed close. Bob had slept through most of the stories and was now awake, and enthralled by the night, the lake and the fire. I heard Astrid say, “The beast with three backs!” She punched Bran, amused.

He put his arm round her and drew her close. Bob climbed onto Astrid, so Jayleen took her place beside Bran, and he put his other arm round her. The night was cold. I had no idea if he really did want a threesome, but if he did I thought his chances were still close to zero.

Grace had relented after a stoned night of mostly ignoring Amelia. They walked back to the house together. I didn’t fancy Amelia’s chances much, either. But I knew that I’d make no declarations to Amelia unless her infatuation with Grace had been resolved and gone.

I collected empty bottles and put them in my pack. I probably missed some, but I’d check the ground in the morning. I shrugged the pack on and trudged back to the house.

When I reached the verandah I turned and took one last look at the fire and the lake. Astrid was kissing Bran, with intent, and Jayleen had snuggled in tight against his back. I wondered if I’d underestimated his chances. Though I still didn’t know if he had any threesome intentions. I decided it didn’t matter and I didn’t care, though no doubt it would mean a lot to them.

I shut the door behind me and went up to my bed.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Alan Whelan lives in the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia. He’s been a political activist, mainly on homelessness, landlord-tenant issues and unemployment, and a public servant writing social policy for governments. He’s now a free-lance writer, editor and researcher.

His story, There Is, was short-listed for the Newcastle Short Story Award in June 2020, and appeared in their 2020 anthology. His story, Wilful Damage, won a Merit Prize in the TulipTree Publications (Colorado) September 2020 Short Story Competition, and appears in their anthology, Stories that Need to be Told. It was nominated by the publisher for the 2021 Pushcart Prize.

His book The Lockdown Tales, using Boccaccio’s Decameron framework to show people living with the Covid-19 lockdown, is now on sale in paperback and ebook.

His novels, Harris in Underland and Blood and Bone are soon to be sent to publishers. He is currently working on the sequel to The Lockdown Tales and will then complete the sequel to Harris in Underland.

Alan Whelan co-wrote the book, New Zealand Republic, and has had journalism and comment pieces published in The New Zealand Listener and every major New Zealand newspaper, plus The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald.

He wrote two books for the NZ Government: Renting and You and How to Buy Your Own Home. His stories also appear in Stories of Hope, a 2020 anthology to raise funds for Australian bushfire victims, and other anthologies.

His website is alanwhelan.org. He tweets as @alannwhelan.

His phone number is +61 433 159 663. Enthusiastic acceptances and emphatic rejections, also thoughtful questions, are generally sent by email to alan@alanwhelan.org.

CONNECT WITH ALAN WHELAN

WEBSITE: https://alanwhelan.org/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/alanNwhelan

ADD THE LOCKDOWN TALES TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELF

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56931387-the-lockdown-tales

THE LOCKDOWN TALES PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON.COM: https://amazon.com/dp/022884052X

AMAZON.CA: https://amazon.ca/dp/022884052X

AMAZON AUS: https://amazon.com.au/dp/022884052X

KINDLE: https://amazon.com/dp/B08SCQ132Q

BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/books/the-lockdown-tales-disobedience-love-patience-and-other-stories-9780228840534/9780228840527

INDIGO CHAPTERS: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-lockdown-tales-disobedience-love/9780228840527-item.html

BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lockdown-tales-alan-whelan/1138592053

BOOK DEPOSITORY: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Lockdown-Tales-Alan-Whelan/9780228840527

KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-lockdown-tales

SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1063049

APPLE BOOKS: https://books.apple.com/us/book/lockdown-tales-disobedience-love-patience-other-stories/id1548072263

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Alan Whelan will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

RAFFLECOPTER:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3763