Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing novels since I was thirteen. I’ve finished six of them, published one, and more on the way.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called 21st Century Slave, and it was inspired by an ex-con I met in Buffalo New York with a story about how he had been wrongfully arrested and sentenced in the state of Florida, to six years of abuse by attorneys, judges and correctional officers. I fused his story with my own as a disaffected college student, and the result was my finest work yet – combining the twin anxieties (prison or education) of our age into one.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write my best stuff between the hours of 4 am and 6 am, no earlier and no later.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Haruki Murakami, mostly.
What are you working on now?
The New Symphony, a novel about a city of masked spirits in the afterlife who are terrified to face their pasts.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Find ideas that have emerged naturally inside you throughout your life, ideas that give you purpose, that make you feel that being human is more than an accident of biology. Embed those ideas into your writing as naturally as you can.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Eternity is in love with the productions of time” – William Blake
What are you reading now?
Carl Jung’s “Modern Man in Search of a Soul”, and re-reading The Book of the New Sun series
What’s next for you as a writer?
To absorb as much meaningful reality as possible, so its most vital moments can become inspired storytelling.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1Q84, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Bible, The Quran, Norwegian Wood
Author Websites and Profiles
Alexander Blum Website
Alexander Blum’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
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