Featured Interview With Ana Spoke
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in the in the part of the Soviet Union which is now Russia. I grew up in the US and now live in Australia.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved books – thanks to the boring grey Soviet TV and movies, it was the best entertainment. I would read a book every day or two, and consumed them without regard to genre, although historical adventures were my favourite. I’ve tried to write a novel for at least a decade, but Shizzle, Inc is my first finished and published work.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love Stephen King, although I would rather read humor and chicklit than horror. My writing style is undoubtedly influenced by some of my early favorites – Russian Ilf and Petrov’s “Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf”; Czech Jaroslav Hašek’s “The Good Soldier Švejk”; and O. Henry’s short stories. More recently, I’ve loved John Kennedy’s “A Confederacy of Dunces” and Jonas Jonasson’s “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared”.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Shizzle, Inc is a slightly bizzare comedy about adventures of Isa Maxwell – an average and not especially bright 20-year old community college graduate. More than anything else, Isa wants to be discovered, so that she can solve her financial woes and win back Brad, the love of her life.
Thanks to her clumsiness, street smarts, and an unbelievable bit of luck, Isa lands a dream job at Shizzle, Inc. Things start to look up when Mr. Hue, the playboy billionaire owner of Shizzle, Inc takes Isa under his wing. Isa even gets a number of new love interests, but all is not what it seems.
Shizzle, Inc took about two-an-a-half years of hard work – what started as a joke spoof of one scene from 50 Shades of Grey grew into a full-fledged story, complete with life and death dramas, kidnappings, car chases and gunfire. I’ve had a lot of fun writing it and so far it seems my readers enjoy it – I keep getting requests to hurry up with the second installment!
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