Alison S. Parkins Fun Author Interview with
*~* Annalisa Crawford *~*
All about you!
Name: Annalisa Crawford
Location: Cornwall, UK
Star Sign: Aries
What genre/genres do you write? Contemporary fiction, with a hint of paranormal
Tell us a random fact about yourself: I’m a gym instructor, which basically means my two favourite things (writing and lifting weights) are also my jobs!
Where is your dream holiday destination? Alaska
Food
What is your all-time favourite food? Chocolate cheesecake
What is your favourite Take-Away choice? Chinese
Tell us your favourite sweets/candy? Dark chocolate
If you like to cook, which dish do you enjoy preparing and cooking yourself? I don’t cook, but left to my own devices I gravitate towards chicken and mashed potato – and even then, I don’t always get the timings right, so my mash is too mushy and my chicken just the right side of food poisoning.
Do you enjoy baking? If so what is your favourite food item you love to bake? I’m good at scones, but not much else
What is the one dessert you can never resist? Chocolate cheesecake, or… you know… any of them!
Book Characters
Which of your book characters has a lot of you in them? All of them have a small piece of me in them – including the ghosts, the murderers and the eighty-year-old men. My published books are short stories and novellas, so I’ve written hundreds of characters!
Who so far, has been your favourite character to write? Sally, from my Our Beautiful Child collection, was a great character to write – I knew exactly where I was taking her, but she comes as a surprise to readers.
If you could be any character from any book, who would you be and why? I’d be Elizabeth Bennett, from Pride and Prejudice – she’s feisty and charming and strong. She’s a character ahead of her time, and she gets Darcy in the end!
Is there one of your book characters that you have disliked or do you love them all in some way, even the bad guys? I have to like them, because I created them. And it’s fun to write bad guys. Cat, from my first book Cat and The Dreamer, was probably the one I disliked the most, simply because I wove some of my childhood bullies into her.
Random Questions
What car do you drive? I don’t drive. I never learnt.
What is your dream car? Any car with a chauffeur!
Who is your current eye candy/crush? Probably Sketch, from Tattoo Fixers
Which celebrity did you have a crush on as a teenager? River Phoenix (I was a teenager a long time ago)
What is your favourite movie of all-time? 10 Things I Hate About You (Heath Ledger was my 20-something crush)
Who is your favourite band/singer of all-time? David Bowie or Queen
Tell us more about you, tell us as much or as little as you like…
I live in Cornwall, with a good supply of moorland and beaches to keep me inspired. I live with my husband, two sons, a dog and a cat. I write dark contemporary, character-driven stories, with a hint of paranormal. I’ve been winning competitions and publishing short stories in small press journals for many years, and I’m the author of four books, Cat & The Dreamer, That Sadie Thing and other stories, Our Beautiful Child and You, I. Us. I won 3rd prize in the Costa Short Story Award, 2015.
If we wanted to stalk you where can we find you?
Website Blog
Facebook Twitter
Now we know more about you, tell us about your books…
Cat & The Dreamer
Blurb
“In my world, I am fifteen, the age I was when I met Rachel Carr, the age I was when Rachel Carr killed herself with a tonne of painkillers and two bottles of rum.”
Julia survived a teen suicide pact: her best friend Rachel did not. Years later, Julia is introvert and insular, spiralling into depression, shrouding herself in daydreams to protect herself from reality – a controlling mother and a huge burden of guilt.
When Adam walks into her office, Julia knows he won’t be interested in her; Cat, her flirty blonde colleague, has already chosen him as her next conquest. But his presence alone is enough to shake Julia up, and make her realise real life could be so much better.
Except Cat has other plans, lurking in Julia’s imagination, torturing her, telling her she should have died too. And she’s right, of course, because Cat is always right.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon // Amazon UK
Nook // Kobo
Smashwords // Vagabondage Press
That Sadie Thing and other stories
Blurb
That Sadie Thing and other stories is an intense and emotional journey through the relationships that define our lives
- A couple breaking up on a rainy night
- A woman finding comfort from eating lunch as her best friend lies in hospital
- A runaway longing to go home
- A teenager oppressed by her father, and many more…
All of the characters in this collection are struggling to find their place in the world, attempting to find connections that matter with the people around them, however fleeting.
This is a dark, unsettling yet memorable collection, bringing together prize-winning and published stories from the past twenty years: the ‘greatest hits’.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon // Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble // Createspace
Our Beautiful Child
Blurb
“The Boathouse collects misfits. Strange solitary creatures that yearn for contact with the outside world, but not too much. They sit, glass in hand, either staring at the table in front of them, or at some distant point on the horizon.”
… so says the narrator of Our Beautiful Child. And he’s been around long enough to know.
People end up in this town almost by accident. Ella is running away from her nightmares, Sally is running away from the memories of previous boyfriends and Rona is running away from university. Each of them seek sanctuary in the 18th century pub, The Boathouse; but in fact, that’s where their troubles begin.
Ella finds love, a moment too late; Rona discovers a beautiful ability which needs refining before she gets hurt; and Sally meets the captivating Murray, who threatens to ruin everything.
Three women. Three stories. One pub.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon // Amazon UK // Smashwords
Nook // Vagabondage Press
You. I. Us.
Blurb
In You. I. Us., Annalisa Crawford captures everyday people during poignant defining moments in their lives: An artist puts his heart into his latest sketch, an elderly couple endures scrutiny by a fellow diner, an ex-student attempts to make amends with a girl she bullied at school, a teenager holds vigil at his friend’s hospital bedside, long distance lovers promise complete devotion, a broken-hearted widow stares into the sea from the edge of a cliff where her husband died, a grieving son contacts the only person he can rely on in a moment of crisis, a group of middle-aged friends inspire each other to live remarkable lives.
Day after day, we make the same choices. But after reading You. I. Us., you’ll ask yourself, “What if we didn’t?”
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon // Amazon UK // Barnes & Noble
Book Depository // iBooks // Nook
