Shah Sight Bev Allen, Welcome. We are delighted to have you on our live show today. Will you start this interview with saying a few things about yourself, where you live, what else you do apart from writing, what is your normal job, etc, please?
Bev Allen I am a writer and a researcher and I work as an admin. bod for a small military charity.
Shah Sight Thanks, Bev, may I ask you about Jabin, your book, what is it about please, does it have any connections to your work or anything else in your personal life?
Bev Allen Its a "ripping yarn", an adventure story in the old style, but brought up to date for a young 21stC audience. The strong military theme reflects my interest in military history, especially the British and Indian Armies. There is also an under lying story about child welfare, something that as a mother concerens me
Shah Sight Thanks, is your book a character-driven story, you may want to describe a few of your characters in the book, maybe the main character if there is any please?
Bev Allen
Jabin is about 13, an orphan who has been abandoned by his mother and been subjected to a number of bad fosterings, he is a brave kid who allows himself to be taken by slavers in the place of another boy. The story is about his search for happiness and a home. I'm very fond of him, he's a realist, he does brave things, but is terrified while doing them. He expects nothing from life, but is grateful for every little kindness and joy
Shah Sight Brilliant, do you want to read a few lines of your book to us, just as much as we get a sense of your writing please?
Bev Allen Its a bit hard to chose small piece, but this is when Jabin finally gets the chance to get what he wants, its very short, but I hope gives you a feel of the boy
Bev Allen He sniffed hard, wiping away a tear and then he gathered up the courage that’d brought him sane to this point in time.
The boy who’d tried to protect his mother from fist and foot, the boy who asked a slaver to take him instead and the boy who’d refused to sacrifice small children stood up and put the cover back on the bed.
He sat and thought for an hour. In that time, try as he might to stop it, a dream was born, a fragile and precious dream that might have no place in reality.
He drew a shuddering breath, left the room and walked to Battalion headquarters.
Shah Sight Amazing, where can we buy your book, please give us a few links to it?
Bev Allen Amazon "Jabin and the Space Pirates" by Bev Allen. Its on kindle as well as paperback, I think the publisher maybe going to make it free on kindle this week, so its a good time to look. And that version is the good one, not the unedited version I just posted here by mistake:-))
Shah Sight Thanks, what are you writing now, is there any sequel to Jabin, or you are working on something else?
Bev Allen I've just finished another adventure story called "Lucien and the Tattooed Tribes", this time with a strong eco warrior/green theme. I'm now working on a magic free fantasy full of mercenaries and new fangled flintlock muskets
Shah Sight Are you happy with the way things are going on with your book, I mean sale wise, publicity wise, etc?
Bev Allen Its never easy breaking through with a first novel, especially when you are published by a small indepedent like Taylor Street. Tim and Kathleen are doing their very best for me, but we are up against people like Waterstones, who won't stock my book because Tim uses Create Space as a printer. Word of mouth is my best friend and the best friend of all of trying to get our work read.
Bev Allen For me, being read is more important than making money
Shah Sight Sure, do you have any particular message to our audience who are mostly authors and readers themselves, at the end of this interview?
Bev Allen I'd probably say, read each other, review each other and tell others about the ones you like. Very few of us have a marketing department and buget behind us, but between us we have the capacity to be one big marketing force. So, go read and shout about what you like.
Shah Sight It's has been a pleasure having you with us, thank you so much, hope to see you again soon.
Bev Allen I enjoyed it. Thank you:-)
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