Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a scientist, having attained Associate Professor level status in the field of Stem Cell Biology. My research focuses on novel molecular mechanisms that allow us to manipulate stem cells and other types of cell, in different organs. The work of my team relates to neurodegenerative disease, neurological disorders, cancer, and diabetes. Thus, I write and publish regularly, but in the research science field.
This is my first attempt at the literary arts. Thankfully, I had great help from www.bewilderingstories.com where I submitted the first iteration of this story.
I also enjoy composing music (often in odd time signatures) and playing the drums. I like photography and I seem to have a knack at enticing cats to pose for me.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The history of this novel started a while back. I had just finished a ten year research stint in the USA during which I lived the “work hard, party hard” mantra to the full extent that my personality allowed, anyways. It was time to go back home, to lovely Athens, Greece. The country fell into financial disarray and my plans to flourish back home oozed down some Athenian storm drain spilling its contents probably close to the Piraeus port where huge boats and superb sea food co-exist. Jobless and antsy, the brain drifted its own way. One day, five years later, I chose to follow, and a novel was created.
I called that story “Oikos Nannion” and I used the pen name “Elous Telma” for practical and artsy-smarty reasons. What now? My buddy, Steve, said, try Bewildering Stories. I did. And they said, OK.
Then the tutoring started. Feedback, edits, weekly insight, email exchanges. This was enormously educational and exciting fun. Don Webb, the Editor, alone was like a school for an aspiring writer.
Thanks, Don.
Wonderfully, Oikos Nannion was given a lovely honor at Bewildering Stories, being one of the submissions to receive the “Mariner Award”.
Once done, Don said I should now have fun with the story. Thus, “Nannion” was ‘born’. I kept all my favorite bits from the original story and I decided to write in fully uninhibited (even unhinged) mode, producing the story I wanted to tell.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
This is probably not that unusual, but I do benefit from changing locations where I write. Writing about the sea close to the sea, for example, gives a different result from writing when far from the sea. Both types of location can lead to very welcomed results.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Being a scientist, a lot of the scientific literature (where one can read about fascinating discoveries in the natural world) have had a profound effect on my writing. But the mind also likes to process these influences and presents them after extensive filtering. Some of it may point towards Philip K. Dick.
What are you working on now?
A supernatural police story. A completely different Universe from the one Nannion lives in.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am learning as I go, being a newbie to this.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
If I succeed, then I should have.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Now, you should have fun with the story”. Don Webb, at Bewildering Stories, after I finish the predecessor of Nannion.
What are you reading now?
Scientific literature… We need to design complicated experiments in the lab.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Promotion, promotion, promotion (while learning how to promote…)
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?
Something that teaches facts, something that struggles with how the brain works (and how easily it can go wrong), something funny, and one with white pages (if I get to bring a pen along).
Author Websites and Profiles
Andreas Androutsellis-Theotokis Website
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