Interview With Author Peter Raposo
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born in England to Portuguese parents, I’m the author of 14 books, most of them published in the last 3 years but written in the last 20 years. In 2020, during lockdown, I went through a painful divorce and found myself living away from my children and trying to deal with loneliness and depression, and in 2021, just when I thought that I couldn’t go on, I found an independent publisher through a friend who also happens to be a writer and that was the push that I needed to move forward with my life. During that time I also wrote a trilogy which I call the Darkness Trilogy. The three books in the trilogy are “the illusion of movement”, “cast away your dreams of darkness”, and “those who lie will fade and die”, and those books are mostly made of stories of people that I met during the years of 2020-2023. Looking back, I wouldn’t have been able to write those books hadn’t I gone through a divorce, followed by another breakup a few years later (I guess it’s not the right time for love). Writing has kept me sane and allowed me both to move on and to meet some extraordinary people in the last few years.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called “the mechanical tears of the immortal being”, and the idea for it came when I read an interview about this writer who went to New Zealand for a speech and found out that the only speakers present were a few billionaires who wanted to know more about a possible end of the world. Then I read about another millionaire who is trying hard to become immortal so I put all the stories together and created this book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I tend to write at my local library or at a café, mostly in the afternoon, after taking my daughter to her mother’s house after school. I carry the laptop with me, a few notebooks, and then just get to work. Once a week I take a break from writing, and I go to a church where I help some other people preparing food for those in need, and once a week I sweep the floors of my local church because it helps me to stay grounded in the real world.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read everything, and authors like Kenzaburo Oe, J.K. Huysmans, Henry Miller, Ballard, Dumas, Proust, Ma Jian and Trevanian were a big inspiration when I decided to become an author. I remember the first time I read “The Three Musketeers”; that’s when I knew I wanted to be a writer.
What are you working on now?
After writing fiction and science-fiction for so many years, I’ve decided to take a break from it and work on a horror novel. The novel will be set in Portugal and England, my two countries, and it will probably take me a couple of years to write.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I email radio stations, bloggers, podcasters, etc., and in the last few years I have been interviewed for the BBC, Manchester North FM radio, written a few articles for some bulletins, was interviewed by other authors, and I have also done a few festivals.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up, even when you feel as if things aren’t going your way. And don’t listen to jealous minds.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A few years ago, a divorced father who read my book “the illusion of movement”, told me not to give up and to keep on writing because my experiences could help others who were going through the same thing.
What are you reading now?
“A Head Full of Ghosts” by Paul Tremblay.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to finish this new novel of mine, get my own apartment so that I can have my writing corner, and just keep on living a quiet life.
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?
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano, The Bible, Omega Minor by Paul Verhaeghen, and The Shards by Brett Easton Ellis.
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