Cross-genre author Evy Journey chats with me today about her new romantic mystery, The Golden Manuscripts: A Novel.
Bio:
Evy Journey writes. Stories. Blogs (three sites). Cross-genre novels. She’s also a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse (an ambler).
Evy studied psychology (M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D., University of Illinois) initially to help her understand herself and Dostoevsky. Now, she spins tales about nuanced multicultural characters negotiating separate realities. She believes in love and its many faces.
Just as she has crossed genres in writing fiction, she has also crossed cultures, having lived and traveled in various cities in different countries. Find her thoughts on travel, art, and food at Artsy Rambler.
She has one ungranted wish: To live in Paris where art is everywhere and people have honed aimless roaming to an art form. She visits and stays a few months when she can.
Welcome, Evy. Please tell us about your current release.
An unusual sale of rare medieval manuscripts sends nomadic Asian American graduate student Clarissa and doctor-cum-art journalist Nathan on a quest into the dark world of stolen art. But when their earnest search for clues whisper of old thieves and lead to the unexpected, they raise more questions about an esoteric sometimes unscrupulous art world that defy easy answers.
Will this quest reward Clarissa with the sense of home she longs for? This cross-genre literary tale of self-discovery, art mystery, travel, and love is based on the actual theft by an American soldier of illuminated manuscripts during World War II.
What inspired you to write this book?
My love of art, in general, and painting and illustrated books, in particular. Also, as the sixth and final standalone installment in my series Between Two Worlds, it was already in the cards.
What exciting project are you working on next?
Exciting? We’ll have to see. I’m reading about two mid-1800’s artists Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot who might have had an illicit love affair. But what intrigues me about them is the possible rivalry between two great artists and how that figured in their art and their romance. It will be fiction, if I find enough meat in my research for a novel.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
In high school when I won a couple of writing contests and was chosen as an editor for the school paper.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I don’t write full-time. Never have. So much life out there for anyone to ignore—travel into other cultures, art-making and appreciation, sampling exotic food. Plus, I used to work as a social science researcher and program developer.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
More annoying than interesting: I’m kind of obsessive-compulsive and always find something I wished I had done some other way even after a book has been published.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A journalist, maybe because of my teachers, but my parents discouraged me.
Links:
Evy Writes | Artsy Rambler | Escape into Reality (Book reviews) | Goodreads
