Featured Interview With Susan Roebuck
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and brought up in the UK (down in the soft south). When I was 26 I met my husband, who’s Portuguese, in London and lo! I was exported to Portugal where I’ve lived ever since. I love both countries, but they’re so different in terms of culture and general traditional way of life. The Portuguese are hot-headed (you can tell that when they get in a car) but also very friendly (outside their cars). They don’t follow rules gladly – take a look at the restaurants and cafés where people still puff away on their cigarettes.
When I’m back home in the UK (notice I say “home” for both countries) people do look at me strangely when I’m paying for something and I’m looking at the coins wondering, ‘Is that a 20p or a 10p?’ Obviously, I’m English, but I act like a foreigner, so people must ask themselves whether I’ve been in prison for a long time and only recently released. I haven’t been in prison (yet!), I’ve been at home in Portugal.
I live overlooking the sea, right where the mighty Tagus meets the feisty Atlantic Ocean. I don’t think I could live anywhere that wasn’t near a river or sea. There’s something about watching vessels of all shapes and sizes entering Lisbon harbour, and I’ll never get tired of the different moods the sea throws at us. This has definitely been an influence in writing my new novel, Rising Tide.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Always and forever. I won a school prize for a short novel I wrote as part of a project when I was 14. The book was called, “It Takes a Soldier” and was set in the Second World War – so much for that old adage that is thrown at authors about only writing what you know.
When the teacher gave out a composition title to develop for homework, I was that nerdy kid who’d shout, “Goody” while the rest of the class groaned.
I was a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language for many years, working for the British Council as well as the Portuguese civil service so I had no time to write. But in 2009 I had to stop work, for health reasons, and that’s when I had all the time in the world to write. Since then I’ve had three novels published.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
We’re a funny (peculiar, not ha-ha) species, aren’t we? Least I am because I’ll read everything. It does depend on my mood, though. I love adult paranormal novels and will devour those: the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson books are my must-haves at the moment. Otherwise I’ll go for a women’s fiction book and Millie Johnson’s Ladies who Launch was perfect for me the other day when I just wanted to laze about and read. Terry Pratchett’s Disc World series makes me laugh. I love Granny Weatherwax and the way Pratchett catches quirky ways of speaking and creates out-of-the-ordinary characters. But my favorite novel of all time is the Gormenghast Trilogy by Melvyn Peake – a wealth of gothic glory. If you read those books you’ll never forget Swelter the Cook, creepy Steerpike or the Earl of Groan who gets eaten by owls.
I know this is an array of genres and this does affect my own writing. I’ve never written a paranormal book but my stories do tend to have at least one quirky character in it and I try to add a touch of humor whenever I can.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
You’d think from my answer to your previous question that I’d tell you my new novel, Rising Tide, is a paranormal story. It’s not, although one reviewer has said it has a touch of magic mixed in. It’s mostly considered to be women’s fiction, cosy suspense with overtones of romance. Anyone who likes Portugal, is planning a visit or has ever been here might like to read it since it is set on the east coast of the Alentejo, which is the area between Lisbon and the Algarve. Two very different people meet up in a tiny fishing village; Leo Shine is a courageous pollock fisherman in Alaska USA (straight out of the “Deadliest Catch”) and Piper Pines is a feisty young woman who works quietly with her father fishing crabs off the coast of North Norfolk UK. They don’t know each other, but each has come to find answers to questions in their lives which each believes can be found in the tiny fishing village of Luminosa. They experience danger and frustration, and soon become aware that something evil lurks in this sunny village which is seemingly filled with friendly Portuguese. Their quest for answers fills the book, even though Leo is attracted to Piper who has no time for him who she believes to be a dishonest adventurer. The beauty and danger of the sea, pollution, drug trafficking, corruption and fishing are all features of “Rising Tide”set in a peaceful fishing village that time, and most of Portugal, has forgotten.
This is the book I’ve always wanted to write, although it happens to be my third one published. The story has been bubbling away inside me for many years, maybe because it’s set in Portugal (Perfect Score is set in 1960s United States and Hewhay Hall is in current day UK). I do think that little place, Luminosa on the Portuguese Alentejo coast, needs to be seen again (it doesn’t exist, by the way, but villages like it do along that coastline) and so I’m preparing to write another story that will feature it and some of the characters. It won’t be a sequel, but it will be a familiar setting for my readers.
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