Exile On Second Avenue received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author James Walsh
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The name of my book is Exile On Second Avenue it was published on September 6th 2018
What’s the book’s first line?
Before I explain to you the events that have led me to find myself in this situation I feel the need to make a confession that is quite pertinent to the story to come.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Exile On Second Avenue is about Michael Venier and the week leading up to his younger sisters wedding. This is also the week that he has planned to kill himself.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I first thought about this character when I was sitting out on the terrace at a birthday party. I was alone smoking a cigarette staring at the moon and I began to this about this person.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
This a book that deals with life and loss, how to keep moving on when the world continues to throw curve after curve at you.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
I think that the most distinct thing about Michael is his ever present ability to just completely sabotage himself, he is very much the lovechild of Henry Chinaski and Zooey Glass.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
This is the first book that I will have published, I have had a couple of stories published in literary magazines as well. This is not the first novel I have written though, however one of my favorite quotes is, “You can not be judged for anything you wrote before you were 25.”
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
I hand write everything and carry a black note book with me anywhere I go.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Get out there and write don’t worry about taking classes and writing groups, do it for you and you alone. Go out into nature, into the world, talk to people, live and write about it.
Is there something in particular that motivates you?
Writing for me is really a selfish undertaking, for me it is really a release a way for me to relieve the thoughts and stories in my head. If there is anything that is motivating me it is that feeling up completion that you feel upon finishing a novel or story in general.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
I would have to say Ernest Hemingway–everything about the way that he wrote and lived is just what I aspire to. He is a real life folk legend.