Spotlight Author: Nerine Dorman

Ashton Kennedy wasn't a nice guy. He cheated on his girlfriend, knocked up a powerful drug lord's sister, and abused vast quantities of illegal narcotic substances. Whoever ran him over with a big shiny SUV was doing the world a favour. His very male, tattooed body is the last place Elizabeth Rae Perry--a member of an ancient Egyptian cult--expected to reincarnate in, instead of the three-year-old girl she'd been promised.

Not only must she now come to terms with her new existence in the body of a disagreeable man, and clean up the mess he made of his life, she also has to unravel the mystery of why House Adamastor's chapter house is standing empty and find a way to protect a dangerous secret she had no idea she was supposed to keep. As if fate couldn’t deal her another blow, she has also attracted the attention of a malicious and potentially dangerous ghost. And to top it all off, she must deal with the consequences of finding love in a most unexpected place.

Tell us a little about your current release.

If you’re looking for something that’s a departure from the standard fare of vampires, werewolves and angels—fallen or otherwise—then Inkarna might just be what the doctor ordered. Enter the shadowy world of my Inkarna, a race of supernatural beings who get to live many mortal lives by stealing bodies. In short, I tell folks that this is a tale about the conflict between members of an ancient Egyptian reincarnation cult—then I sit back and watch their expressions. In short, Inkarna the novel tells the story about Lizzie, a Victorian-era lady who dies in the mid-1960s then gets reincarnated in the wrong body—that of a 21-year-old barman and metal head. Not only does she need to figure out what’s gone wrong with her colleagues, but she needs to sort out the mess the young man made of his life.

What was your inspiration behind this book?

Dreams, definitely. One in particular, where I dreamt that I was “borrowing” the body of a very tall man, and in the dream I was particularly conscious of the fact that this a) was not my body, b) my new body moved very differently from my old and c) people’s reactions to me as a six-foot male was very different from when I was a woman. People got out of my way!

Why did you choose this particular genre?

Can I be cute and say it chose me? To be honest, I’m not a great fan of reality. I like mutable worlds where anything can and sometimes does happen.

Tell the readers a little about you.

Hhmmm, lemme see. I’m in my mid-thirties and can be classified as a granny goth, who still listens to Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and Dead Can Dance. I can pronounce Einstuerzende Neubauten and know that Type O Negative doesn’t just refer to a blood type. By day I’m a sub-editor and writer at a newspaper. Sometimes I get sent away to do travel stories. Most of the time I review books and interview cool people. At night I edit fiction, play guitar and drink tea. Occasionally I raise the dead and ponder the words of the philosophers. From time to time I’m known to write tales of darkness and despair, often with tragic, Heathcliff-type figures upon whom my readers and I fixate.

What inspired you to become a writer?

I got tired of having my role-playing group unravel my carefully constructed plans for their characters. That, and I can’t afford the psychologist’s bills, so I write novels instead.

What do you find is your biggest writing struggle?

Having to do stuff like wash dishes, do the laundry and cook dinner. That, and not allowing the myriad distractions of modern living suck me into the necrotic black hole that is the internet and other people.

Any tips for new writers?

Get your butt on the chair and set yourself daily writing targets. Be they 500 words or 2 000 it does’t matter. What matters is that you write. Every. Day. Then join a writers’ group or, if that’s lacking in your area, START one. Don’t be precious over your words. Read outside of your genre. Useful sites include www.critique.org and www.absolutewrite.com/forums. Stop talking about writing and actually DO it. The trick is to be consistent, and to constantly apply any useful critique that comes your way. Be a sponge and suck up learning, not a damp squib.

Any other books in the works?

Hopefully I’ll be done with the follow-up to Inkarna soon. Book two’s gone on in fits and starts because I’ve been hopelessly busy with other projects, and also because there’s That Scene I must write that’s so horrible and harrowing that I’ve put it off for a while. My readers will hate me. I’ve also been busy with edits for a YA urban fantasy novel, Camdeboo Nights, which is due out some time this year. Then I’m also working to reboot and release my Khepera series, which will keep me out of mischief for the rest of this year, I suspect. And yes, there’s other projects I must write, but I can’t think of them just yet.

How/where can readers find you?

Stalk me on Twitter @nerinedorman or follow my blog at http://nerinedorman.blogspot.com

Even better, go check out my books on Goodreads: Goodreads

Or find me on Amazon: Amazon

Add Inkarna to your TBR pile: Add Inkarna on Goodreads