Stronghold received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Kesha Bakunin.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Stronghold. June 01, 2021.
What’s the book’s first line?
Erik Mortensson had always known he wouldn’t die peacefully.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Stronghold is a societal metaphor that is meant to remind its readers that every society is always is just a step away from a tyranny. And that the most insidious and dangerous kinds of tyranny are the ones that present themselves as virtuous and morally upright.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I witnessed with my own eyes a free society in which I was raised disintegrate and succumb simultaneously to religious extremism and secular autocracy. That strange combination may seem unlikely, but only to those who haven’t yet learned the most important thing about tyranny: ideologies are fungible and expendable; the only thing that matters is the acquisition of power. The hunger for power is something that can easily unite former atheist communist nomenclature and KGB operatives with religious obscurantists of any persuasion.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Self-defeating as it may sound, I prefer not to use even soft imperatives like “should” when it comes to my book. Reading is one of the most intimate processes that I know, and nobody should read anything unless they themselves want to, for any number of reasons. My promise to the readers of “Stronghold” is that it’s an honest story, devoid of pretense, posturing, and preaching. At least I did my utmost for it to be the case.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Since my book is a metaphor, a great many of its characters are indeed based on some real-world personages: some well-known, others quite obscure. But I would absolutely not say who they are: the only thing worse than explaining a metaphor is explaining a joke…
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Write for yourself, your friends, and like-minded people, however many or few. Don’t try to cater to anyone’s views or preferences. It’s the whole point of being independent.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Only if I were to retain 100% editorial control over the text and the veto power over the cover. Actually, I rejected some traditional offers for “Stronghold” because of that.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I wrote “Stronghold” to make sense of my experience of living in a country becoming unfree. It was my way to catalogue, structure, and crystallize my own thoughts on the topic of tyranny. Writing that book was in fact my dialogue with myself. Different characters in “Stronghold” played parts of competing ideas that I have held or still hold. Their conflict represents my own conflicting views on the rules and principles that govern human societies.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
“Stronghold” turned out to be just the book I’ve always wanted to write. Sure, it’s imperfect, and not to everyone’s taste. But I know that I couldn’t have done better. If I never write another book in my life, I’d still be satisfied with what I accomplished with “Stronghold.”