Author Interview


Interview with Varun Sayal – Author of Time Crawlers

I had the amazing honor to interview a relatively new author, Varun Sayal!

He recently contacted me to read his new book, Time Crawlers, and to say I was impressed and immediately drawn in was an understatement. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the book.

So of course I had to ask him for an interview! It’s been so long since I’ve had one here, and I figured he would be the perfect to pick it back up again. The bar is high!

Interview with Varun Sayal - Author of Time CrawlersSo who is he?

“VARUN SAYAL is an engineer and MBA from I.I.T. and I.S.B. (top schools in India), who has been involved in theatre as a playwright, actor, and director, and has also been an independent movie-maker. His genre of writing is predominantly science fiction blended with mythology and a sprinkle of the gruesome actualities of life. In his own words:
“I think of each story as a surreal, fast-paced narrative that pulls in the reader right from the beginning, takes them through a voyage into an alternate dystopian realm, bequeathing to them images etched permanently on their minds. I live by the quote, ‘a true art calms a disturbed mind and disturbs a calm mind.’””
I focused most of my questions on his book, so I feel you will really understand his answers once you read it, and I do HIGHLY suggest it.
Without further waiting, here is the incredible interview. Thank you once again Mr. Sayal!!

  1. Where did you get the inspiration for some of the names from your story as they were so unique?

I always try to give those names to characters which have some meaning attached to them, such as, Guru Trikalacharya in story “Nark-astra”. His name is derived from word Trikal which in Sanskrit means all the three timelines, past, present, and future. Kaaljeevi roughly evaluates to one who lives within time or beyond it. Jokie is someone who will usually take everything as a joke or lightly.

 

  1. Why did you choose to do some of the story in an ‘interview style’?

When I started writing as a student, I started as a playwright, writing and adapting umpteen number of plays for our college competitions and they were fairly popular. At that time, I built a strong grasp on how I can communicate stories via pure dialogs, which influenced my writing a lot. And hence you see a lot of stories here written in pure dialog or interview format. That’s my natural style of writing. However, I found out the hard way that many readers find this a tough format to read. Or many feel that they liked the story but they wish some more details were given out in pure prose. So I am inclined to change my style, tough thing to do, but I love such challenges. J

 

  1. The stories themselves are filled with facts and data. Do you have training in this area? Where did you learn about all of this for your story?

I am an engineer by education hence I have studied a lot of advanced level Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics. Which influences my writing style, when I try to bring realism to my stories by using facts from these disciplines and that also helps me stay true to my writings in terms of their scientific meaning. For example, I will rarely write about an animal or creature which is 5 feet tall and suddenly grows to 50 feet. I just can’t do that because I don’t believe such a sudden change in mass of a body is possible out of thin air.

 

  1. When I was reading some of the stories I really had flashbacks to some of Clive Barkers writers. Did any of his novels inspire you, or did any other author inspire your writing?

No, I haven’t read Clive Barkers, but now that you mention him, I would check out his works. I am more inspired by Isaac Asimov, because despite being a Sci-Fi writer, he never wanted to bamboozle his readers with details of Space Opera, armadas and planets etc. He kept his stories real and instead focused on the human conflicts arising due to technical or robotic advancement. At the end of a story if it’s just a dump of details then it’s just a Scientific Pulp fiction, which may entertain a reader for a few minutes, but won’t leave an everlasting impression on her or his mind. Nothing against those genres, but I want to focus on scientific realism.

 

  1. One of your short stories focused on the darknet and what was happening down there. Did you make it up or did something push you to choose that side of the darknet?

I have thought a lot about how dark-net functions and I do believe in some of the controversy-theories around it, that we are slowly becoming slaves to a secret hidden AI entity. All those caricature-pics, which you see casually being shared on Facebook where people are shown to be glued to their cell phones, something sinister is indeed going on in the background. Within your friend circles or acquaintances, you can see normal people sharing jokes / memes on people who have died, in a lighter vein. Sharing funny videos of people flying, crashing into boxes, each other etc. where I believe those people in the videos might have been badly hurt. So people are losing that sensitivity towards other humans, and that too just for sake of a few microseconds of mirth. In this scenario, I don’t believe “Death By Crowd” is a far-fetched thought but in fact it may already be happening is some other form.

 

  1. In your spare time, what can you be found doing?

I watch a lot of American TV series on Netflix. They just take my mind away from work, from worldly tensions and help me relax. Mentalist and House of Cards were a few non Sci-Fi ones I immensely loved, but usually I love the likes of Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG1, Altered Carbon and even paranormal ones like John Constantine. Oh I can go on and on about these TV Series.

 

  1. What inspired you to be a writer?

My inspirations are rather negative ones .. haha, which means that I saw other published authors and thought I could write better.. I have been writing short stories for a very long time, but never published formally like now, mostly on blogs, sharing with friends. But when I read some of the Indian “Best Selling” authors, I gained a lot of confidence. Because I felt I can write better than them, at least in terms of content. In terms of grasp of language on prose, I feel I still need to learn a lot take some giant strides.

 

  1. Why did you choose this kind of sci-fi genre, and your particular niche of the dark kind of reality?

I love writing sci-fi, and I will be honest, there are times when I think of writing a pure romance story, or a pure drama, but I don’t find that kind of fire within me to do so. But when it comes to sci-fi I love those times when I am creating an entirely new universe, with diverse characters, fantasy-filled scenarios, and problems or situations arising out of something scientific.

 

  1. If anyone wanted to write a book similar to yours, on that detailed kind of sci-fi topic, what would your suggestion be to them?

Firstly, I would say do your basic research well, because Sci-Fi is usually read by readers who have some basic fundamentals of physics and mathematics cleared up. You won’t believe the kind of technical discussions that happen on FB groups “Science Fiction” and “Time travel”. So, you would not want to have embarrassing, glaring potholes being brought out in reviews. Secondly, dystopias generally go well with Sci-fi but you may not always have to show a post-apocalyptic world, just because it’s Science Fiction. You can pick a particular situation out of a normal non-dystopian world and just write about it.

 

  1. When you are writing, what are some things that you cannot do without?

I try to bring a sort of peak into my story which pinches the reader somewhere within. Without that, I think the story fails to get attention or leaves the reader unfulfilled. Having said so that feeling of a pinch is different for different readers. Some find a mystery built up critical to a story, some find a heart-wrenching incident is required, and some others may want a more descriptive set of scenes to connect with the narrative. Tough to please all the audiences.

 

  1. Do readers get to expect another book from you?

Absolutely, I am very excited by the warm reception “Time Crawlers” has received and the rave reviews it is getting on GoodReads that too from top reviewers. I have already written the summary of my next book which is a novel, now I need to carefully execute it with some smart words to captivate the readers. It will be a full prose novel with elements from Time Travel, multiple dimensions, parallel universes and some themes from ancient Indian Mythology. I may include some paranormal characters and situations if they make the story more intriguing. Stay Tuned!

 

  1. What are your hopes with your current book and any future writing you may create?

With these books, I aim to bring a few new tales in this world, narratives which are not just flowery descriptions that enable readers to pass time, but each of them should make the reader put down the book for a second and think about what would happen if that story were real. If I am able to do that I would consider my writing endeavors a success. I also have a secret desire that one day one of my sci-fi stories will be picked by Hollywood. Seems a bit far-fetched, but you never know.


You heard it from the source, folks. You may be seeing an amazing Hollywood movie one day! So keep your eyes on the horizon. I, personally, would love to see one of these stories turn into something big!
Mr. Sayal’s writing is amazing and I highly suggest it. It’s  simple enough to read but the ideas are so deep an profound.
Check him out on other social media sites, and add his book to your Goodreads list!

Up-and-Coming Interview with Sci-Fi Author!

Check back in two days for an interview with an absolutely incredible author.

He has degrees, he’s smart as heck, his writing grabs you and makes you question the universe and yourself, and he writes short stories.

You probably haven’t heard of him, but if you haven’t then you are missing out! His writing is fantastic!

Tomorrow I will be posting a review of his first book and on Saturday expect to see an amazing interview!

You really won’t want to miss it!

 


Interview with Nalini Singh

nalini-singh-author-photo-smallI got the unimaginable chance to interview Nalini Singh, my favorite author of my ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOK SERIES, The Guild Hunters Series.

First off, I’d like to send a massive thank out to Nalini Singh for taking time out of her extremely busy schedule to answer these questions. Secondly, I’d like to send a thank you to her assistant, Ashwini, who I was in correspondence with over getting the interview. She was fantastic and pushed it through for me, even though I had to wait a little while. It just shows what a little perseverance and patience can be rewarded with.

Now, without further delay, let’s get to the interview. It’s fantastic with some amazing answers and definitely worth my wait.

Once again, thank you SO much to Nalini Singh and Aswhini.

Check out Nalini Singh’s website here.


 

1. What inspired you to write both The Guild Hunter series as well as the Psy/Changeling series?

With the Psy-Changeling series, it was a “what if” question: What if we had true psychic abilities like telepathy that allowed us to talk mind-to-mind, or teleportation that allowed us to travel at a thought? At first, I thought it would be amazing. Then I began to consider… what if the flip side to all that psychic power was insanity of the worst kind? What would you do to survive?

Those questions drove me to write the books – to search for the answers alongside my characters.

With the Guild Hunter series, it was slightly different. I had an image in my mind of an archangel high in a tower in New York. Only, he wasn’t an angel in the religious sense. He was a warrior, a powerful being with wings and incredible power – and oh, he had a sleek black phone in his hand. An archangel who uses a modern phone? I had to know what was going on! But when I put pen to paper, it wasn’t the archangel who spoke first, but a smart, slightly snarky, and dangerously competent guild hunter.

And the adventure began, all darkness and blood and beauty.

2. Besides the characters in the books who you stated were obviously written for a friend, thus meaning the character was based off that person (or so I can assume; referencing Archangel’s Shadows with Ashwini), were any of your others characters based on real life people that you know or were they all just created/came to life in your head?

All my characters are unique in themselves, even Ashwini. I just borrowed her name. 😉 Like all writers, I enjoy people watching, but when I sit down to write, I don’t base characters on the people I know – I listen for the character’s voice, try to be authentic to that voice and to who they are as individuals.

3. When did you know you wanted to write and what made you want to start to write?

I’ve loved reading from a young age. I remember people giving me books as gifts when I was very young, because everyone knew that was what would make me really happy. And I was also always a daydreamer, happily amusing myself with imaginary adventures – and then at some point, I began to write those stories down. So I can’t pinpoint any one point in time where I realized I wanted to be a writer. It was a very natural process.

4. Beside romance novels, which I hopefully can safely assume you enjoy to read, what other genres, if any, do you like to read and what are some of your favorite books from said genres?

I totally adore romance – I read tons and tons of it across all its subgenres, from historical to contemporary to paranormal.

Outside romance, I really enjoy mysteries and thrillers. Some of my favorite authors in that genre are: Jonathan Kellerman, Kathy Reichs, & JD Robb (who also gets shelved in romantic suspense).

Science fiction and fantasy is also a lifelong love of mine. In those two genres I love: Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Tanya Huff, and a new-to-me author whose books I’ve been racing through, Jack Campbell.

Those are just a few! Like any voracious reader, I can keep going.

5. Are you currently reading anything and if so what is it?

I’m reading Half Share by Nathan Lowell, a science fiction novel. It’s the second book in the “Trader’s Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper” series.

Unlike many of the other sf series I love, this series isn’t about a grand adventure or big politics, but rather, it follows the story of an eighteen-year-old who joins a trading ship because it’s his only option. It shows how he settles in, how he goes from a “greenie” to a valued member of the crew, and his growing knowledge of what it means to be on a trading ship.

It’s a “quiet” story, but I’m really enjoying following along with the hero’s development. It feels like I’m cheering along a friend step by step through his life.

6. What are your writing habits? Such as do you have to have a cup of coffee, a scented candle, etc.

I do like to have a pot of tea every morning as I settle in, but over the years, I’ve learned to write anywhere, under almost any circumstance. On one memorable occasion, I wrote almost half the first draft of a novella while sitting on the floor of an airport, my laptop plugged into the only power point I could find that was free.

7. When you are not writing, what can you usually be found doing?

Reading, hanging out with friends, gardening, planning travel, scribbling notes for stories I want to write!

8. For a more fun question, if you were sent to a deserted island and were only able to bring 5 things (they don’t have to be realistic) and food and shelter wasn’t an issue, what would you bring?

A notebook.
A pen.
A magical ereader that downloads any book I want and that never runs out of battery power.
An outdoor bed with hanging curtains so I could sleep on the beach if I wanted.
And a really hot genie to get me anything else I want!

9. And one final question. As my favorite series written by you was The Guild Hunter series, I am definitely curious as to when readers can possibly expect the next book to come out and if you can give any hints as to who may be featured, or the potential choices. And of course when the next Psy/Changeling novel will be released and any secrets you may be able to divulge to your readers about that book too?

The next Guild Hunter book is titled Archangel’s Heart and it will feature Elena and Raphael, and the story will link back to a mystery in Elena’s past. There are some big surprises in this book!

The next Psy-Changeling book will release in June this year and it’s titled Allegiance of Honor. This book is a reunion book that will feature many of the characters we’ve come to know over the previous books in the series, but it’ll also continue to move the series storyline forward. I had so much fun writing this and I can’t wait for it to be out! You can read an excerpt from it on my website: nalinisingh.com

Also releasing this year is Wild Embrace, a collection of four all-new Psy-Changeling novellas. An exclusive excerpt recently went out in my newsletter, but it should be available on my website soon.

 


Shannon Cordon Author Info

Shannon CordonBiography
Shannon Condon (1969-) was born in upstate New York and raised in South Florida. She graduated from the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. While she was married she moved frequently to several states. When she got to North Carolina, she fell in love with the state. Soon she divorced her husband and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. She and her sons were soon joined by the rest of her family who migrated up from South Florida. Shannon comes from a close knit family and with the help of her parents, she is able to work and raise her three sons. Her dream has always been to write books. In 2015 she got that chance and the result is her debut novel, Finding Magdalena. It will pull at your heartstrings from the first few pages and hold you captive until the shattering climax.


BookBear logo Disclaimer: These questions are courtesy of BookBear.

Q & A

1. When did you realise you wanted to become an author?
 
I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was in high school and went to college with that goal in mind. Of course, life happens and it wasn’t until recently that I have had the opportunity to realize my dream.
 
2. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
 
The message I want readers to take away from this book is abuse in teenage relationships and at the teenage level, whether in a relationship or not, is a very real thing. I think girls are particularly susceptible at college when they are away from home and looking for security which is often equated with a boyfriend. Abuse can come in many forms and I knew many girls who experienced it, myself included.
3. What genre do you consider your book(s)?
 
My book has been labeled by the publisher as coming of age/ young adult. Due to the nature of the content, I would recommend it for 15+.
4. What was the hardest part of writing this book?  
 
I think the hardest part of writing this book was keeping the length to a reasonable length. I had a lot more I wanted to add to the book but had been advised not to go over a certain word count. Fortunately, that is what sequels are for.

5. Do you have any advice for other writers?
 

My advice to other writers is not to get discouraged. I received lots of rejection letters before I decided to self publish. I am still sending query letters to publishers. Just because what you write doesn’t strike a chord with one agent doesn’t mean another won’t love it. The most important thing is to believe in yourself and make sure you EDIT your manuscript before you send any part of it to an agent.

6. How long does it take you to write a book?

 

It’s hard to put a timeline on how long it takes me to write a book. I can spend a couple of months developing a book and the characters before I actually put a single word on my computer.  Once I begin writing, however, I would say it takes about six to eight months.  I am constantly rewriting in my head even as I am writing on my computer and this leads to deleted chapters and backtracking. It’s important to me that when I am done, the characters are strong and the story fluid.

 

7. What books have most influenced your life most?
 

I think the books that have had the greatest influence on me are the ones that I don’t want to end. They draw me in so much that I am immersed in another world. Some examples would be my all time favorite, ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding and the Hunger Games series.

 

8. What are you working on at the minute?
 

Right now I am working on the sequel to Finding Magdalena. I am very excited about it because I feel that Maggie is growing as a woman and in strength. There will be a lot of surprises and I hope everyone who has been asking for a sequel will be asking for more!

 

9. Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead characters from your book?
 
To be honest, I cannot think of any current actress who could play Maggie. She is such a unique character. I would envision a new face playing her if a movie was made of Finding Magdalena.
 
10. What’s is your book about?
 
My book is about a girl named who suffers a terrible tragedy at fifteen. As she begins to recover with the help of her best friend, Graham, she meet’s her roommate’s older brother, Eric. He becomes obsessed with Maggie. His obsession becomes violent and he abuses and sexually tortures her. She flees to Spain to attend college and try to find her mother’s estranged family. Just as she settles into what she believes is a safe life, Eric finds her and she begins a journey across Europe to escape him that draws upon all her strength and shows her the woman she is meant to be.

Get To Know Faisal Ansari

Book Bear is currently doing a book tour for Faisal Ansari’s new book The Prestilence and I was graciously provided with a fantastic interview/answers which Mr. Ansari answered.

His responses are great and his screw up with the first book agent he saw hilariously sad and a great read as well.

Unfortunately I don’t have time to check out this book at the moment but I hope to soon because it looks fantastic! If you give it a shot, let me know what you think.

Now, without further ado, here we gooooo!

Disclaimer: Adult language in the final interview set. Viewer discretion advised.


 

Faisal Ansari headshot

Writers Routine

Faisal Ansari wrote his debut novel The Pestilence in twelve months.  He shares his writing routine with us.

I wrote The Pestilence from October 2014 to June 2015 and was lucky enough to be able to treat writing as a full time job.

Dostoevsky said that one must have the courage to dare.  I think any new writer needs to have the courage to sit down and just go for it.  If you write from your heart, if you write from within; then the without will take care of itself.

When I commenced writing The Pestilence I had just finished a short story which contained the main characters of the book.  It outlined for me who my characters were.  Of The Pestilence itself, I knew the destination the story was headed in, but was not entirely sure of how best to get there.

Internet research told me that a typical first time novel was around 100,000 words in length.  So I planned for 20 chapters comprising 5,000 words each.  I broke this little rule on my very first chapter and the book eventually came it at 85,000 words.

I wrote scene by scene and not necessarily in chronological order.  I asked myself every morning what scene did I feel like writing today.  If I didn’t have an answer I would just continue where I left off the day before.

Keeping track of word count as you write is a small but supremely motivating detail.  I averaged about 1,000 new words a day.  My personal world record daily word count was 2,400 words when I achieved a once in a lifetime Zen like state and entered writing nirvana.

I rarely edited as I went along.  I found that it was too disruptive (and boring).  My focus was to get the ideas out of my head and onto the page/screen.  I shied away from the write, edit, write, edit approach preferring instead to review big chunks at a time. I don’t believe in mentally masturbating over a word, paragraph or sentence.  If I got stuck (which happened a lot) I just wrote something else.

I was lucky in that I had a network of people around me that would review and critique the book as I wrote it.  Importantly they had the courage to tell me when something didn’t work or when what I wrote sucked balls.  I changed large sections of the manuscripts based on the vital feedback I received.

My working routine when I didn’t have any outside appointments was as follows: Get kids breakfasted and off to school. Sit down about 9.30am to write. I took tea and half a packet of digestives at 11.30am religiously.

I wasted an insane amount of time looking out of the window or surfing the internet.  I sometimes disconnected the network cable on the PC and switched off my phone just to find a moment free of distraction.

Due to the sacred digestives I found myself rapidly getting fat.  I started a workout called P90X3.  Which was 30 minutes and day and it helped keep my arse from spilling out of my chair.  Lunch and exercise was around 1.30pm then I would write until kids returned from being educated.  Any creativity dissipates in the face of family onslaught and I rarely wrote in the evenings.

Following editing (the most boring part of the whole process) and amendments the Pestilence was published by Matador on October 31 2015.  The book took 12 months from inception to publication.


 

How I became a writer

Two factors came together that enabled me to write The Pestilence. Firstly, for the first time in my salaried life I had the luxury of time.  I had been working in the City for 16 years.  It was physically and mentally challenging.  The long hours meant you were away from the people who matter most to you.  Looking back it was an excellent experience, but there wasn’t much scope for creative writing.  The closest I got to being creative was trying to sneak inappropriate words into legal documents such as Listing Particulars.  My favourite sentence was saying that a product had a “banal penetration” rate in a market.  Then on the next draft of the document the “b” would mysteriously disappear.  Unfortunately, I never got it past the lawyers.

I had got to the point where I felt I wanted to carve out some time to write, making time is the single most important thing for a writer. I was lucky enough to be able to do so.

The second factor was inspiration.  On an ordinary London street I witnessed a man falling badly. He was old and frail, his face awash with blood. The shock of the fall caused his hands to contract and flex like my daughter’s the day she was born. I couldn’t sleep thinking of that man and his hands, always his hands.

I wished I could have taken away his pain.  I wished I could have given him my strength.  I wished I could have healed him. I got to thinking; what would happen if somebody did?  What would happen if in this 24/7 news cycle a healer came from the east that could guarantee you a long life, free from injury, sickness and disease?

Over the next two weeks I wrote a 2,500 word short story about the healer. Writing it was a horribly painful process far harder than writing the actual book, it was something akin to passing a watermelon.  I have documented my struggles in my Writer’s Diary.  The finished story was raw, but it contained the main characters and was the genesis of The Pestilence.


 

Author Faisal Ansari, took a drastic career change when he went from investment banker to author, and he’s here today, recalling one of his first tentative steps into the publishing world – meeting a literary agent!

It didn’t quite go as planned…

How I fucked up my first meeting with a literary agent

The demigod Zuul, worshipped by the Mesopotamians, Sumerians and Hittites was a minion of Gozer the Destructor; she was also known as the Gatekeeper.  

In the publishing world, the Gatekeepers are the literary agents.  Very few traditional publishers accept unsolicited manuscripts.  For a hopeful debut author the literary agents are the bridge to the promised land.  You want someone to publish your wonderfully crafted prose?  Get an agent.  This is how not to do it.

As a new author seeking to go down the traditional publishing route I had two choices to hook an agent: Write hundreds of submission letters and wait and wait and wait and then watch as the rejections slowly dripped into my inbox; or try agent speed dating.  Writers’ festivals across the country offer the opportunity to pitch your work directly to a real life literary agent.  Prior to the festival you submit the usual cover letter, synopsis and the required chapters of your manuscript and on the day you have a 15 minute slot to discuss your work with an agent.  So I paid my money, sent my submissions and rocked up to the Winchester Writers’ Festival.

In a room full of agents and nervous authors my first interview was horrific and went something like this:

Agent question: What genre is your work?

Answer given:  Errr… it’s a page-turning thriller set in Jerusalem about a healer.  It has strong spiritual, religious and supernatural undertows, but not vampires or werewolves or anything shit like that.  [I actually liked the Twilight series, so no idea why I said the last bit].

Answer I should have given: A commercial thriller set in Jerusalem.

Agent question: Who would read it?

Answer given: Errr…Men and Women.

[Long pause].

[Trying again].  Errr…actually, everyone really.  Most probably anyone who likes reading? [Yes, I managed to turn a stupid answer into a stupid question].

Answer I should have given: As a commercial thriller I believe the book will have wide popular appeal.

Agent question: Which book will it sit next to on the shelf?

Answer given:  Errr…The Hand I Fan With by Tina McElroy Ansa [desperately trying to think of alphabetical shelf listings].

Answer I should have given: Any of the successful commercial thriller writers such as Dan Brown or John Grisham.

Agent question: Are you writing the next book in the series?

Answer given: Errr…no way. I have just emerged from my underground bunker after spending nine months of my short life writing this book.  I am enjoying the sunlight and fresh air.  I will start the next book soon, but right now I would rather eat my own feet than climb back in my bunker again.

Answer I should have given: Of course, I have so many exciting ideas for the next seven books in the series.  I love writing, it is my life, my passion.  I burst from the womb holding a pen.

Agent question: Who is your favourite author?

Answer given:  Murakami.

Agent follow up question: What I have seen of your work it possess nothing like the flair of Murakami.

Answer given:  Err…you asked me who my favourite author was.

Answer I should have given: Go fuck yourself you fluffed up arrogant arse.

You live and learn.

 


About the author:

Faisal Ansari has spent the majority of his adult life strapped into a suit writing marketing and stuffy legal documentation for M&A transactions in the City.

Despite growing up in London, Faisal’s overwhelming preference is to be outdoors.  When trapped indoors he reads until his eyes bleed.

Faisal wrote full time to complete his first novel, The Pestilence.