Today, I have the pleasure to start a new feature on my blog “An interview with…”. My first guest is the SF Author Angela Guidolin, whose new book “Across Spacetime” will be published at the end of March 2017.

An interview with Angela Guidolin

You have a new book coming out soon Across Spacetime, a Sci-Fi romance, it’s your first book right? But not your first piece of published work. What can you tell us (my readers and myself) about this book? 

Across Spacetime is a story about two time travellers from the future who meet in London in 1995. Although they have very different backgrounds-Samir is a Terran and Beatrice is a Progressive (a human who lives beyond the Asteroid Belt), they fall in love. They have to decide whether to stay for good in that point of the spacetime continuum where they are free from the prejudice of their society, but miss their friends, families and the technology that makes their life much easier, or return where they belong and defend their love.

The truth be told I am not a big reader of Sci-Fi nor romance, but the mash of the two sounds too intriguing. I must have read a bit of both but never together really. Who do you wish this book will appeal to?

This book is really about having the courage to follow your dreams, even though it means to disappoint or defy the people you love, like your parents. I wish it will appeal to readers who need some encouragement in a time of struggle, or look for escapism. As it is written in first person singular, and Samir and Beatrice tell the story from their point of view in alternate chapters, it is ideal to read out with a partner.

What is the driving force that makes you sit down and write?

Passion for writing.

Do you have a special writing ritual?

No, but I start every day at the same time, around 9 am, after the school rush.

And a special writing place and any writing tools that you cannot go without?

My special writing place is a table in the sitting room, overlooking a beautiful garden. As for writing tools I cannot go without, they are my laptop, and my grammar and style books.

As I know that you have travelled quite a bit in your life, and have dabbled in many different things, what is the strangest thing you have ever done in your life? 

Well, I was a teenager then. Here’s what I did: I jumped and locked my feet around the head of a man and made him roll over. No, I wasn’t mad. Just performing in a karate demonstration!

What are you most proud of? 

The way I’m bringing up my daughter. Every day I second guess myself, but seeing her happy and achieving her goals makes me feel I’m doing a good job somehow.

On my blog I tend to share childhood memories, thus what is a favourite memory from your own childhood? 

An afternoon spent with my mum baking a cake. You see, my mum was working all the time with my dad when I was little. We lived with my Granma who loved me and my brother dearly but was very strict. Having my mum just for myself and doing something fun in a relaxed way was a rarity.

Do you have a piece of advice for my readers and myself?

Have the courage to walk the road less travelled. It’s scary and tiring and painful at times, but when you are true to yourself life becomes magical and new opportunities appear out of nowhere.

About 20 years ago a major health problem forced me to change the idea I held of what a successful career should be. I understood that my body was telling me to change direction. To recover I would have to find a job that would make me happy, aligned with my core values. Problem was, nothing excited me. Not even when a tarot reader told me that I would write book I considered writing as my new career. I wasn’t ready to hear it.

My quest lasted many years, in which life took me from London to France, back to my own town in the North of Italy and finally to the English Riviera. In 2008 I started to write a story that never saw the light of day, thank goodness, but was important because it made me realise I needed to attend writing courses.

The passion for writing grew in me and three years ago I published my first story, Homecoming, in an American science fiction magazine. And Across Spacetime has just started presale. Yes, I’ve finally found my calling!

What question do you think you should be asked, but no one ever has?

As a science fiction writer, I expect interviewers to ask me whether I believe in the existence of extra-terrestrial life.

Could you answer that question?

Yes, I could. I believe not only that there’s sentient life on other planets, but that many alien races are here on Earth now. Many UFO sightings have been reported throughout human history, even in Folkestone where I live now. Also, if you go on YouTube you find lots of video from around the world that cannot be debunked. It’s good to know that we’re not alone on this speck, but I fear that shortly I’ll have to change the genre I write in!

Thank you so much for these lovely answers! It was a pleasure to have you on this cold Sunday morning!

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More about Across Spacetime

2651: humans have colonised most of the Solar System, and have a vast theoretical knowledge of the Multiverse. The Martian branch of the Earth History Institute decides to put that knowledge into use by offering a few lucky students the chance to spend a short while on a different point of the spacetime continuum for research purposes.

Samir, a young Terran, takes this opportunity to experience London in the ‘90. A few years later he happens upon another time traveller, Beatrice, a young Progressive (human from the outer planetary systems). They fall in love, but for their story to work out they have to overcome their own prejudice and change their expectations from life.

Sale of the book starts on the 31st of March, but as the presale has started on the 3rd of February, this might be a great present Valentine’s Day Present for a SF Fan! You can find it on Smashwords and on Barnes and Noble

More about Angela Guidolin

Travelling around the world as an airhostess or an astronaut is a dream she has nurtured since childhood. However, in her teens, she realised that she preferred literature and philosophy to maths, physics and chemistry; that piloting an aircraft would be much more difficult than driving a car; and that airhostesses were usually taller than she was.

The study of law during her master’s degree course in Business Economics in Venice (Italy) convinced her that the diplomatic career was out of question too. At twenty-six, she left Italy to polish her English in London and there she married an Algerian man (Sami), worked in many different jobs; and attended many courses, including one in Counselling Skills.

Following a few years in France (where her daughter Sofia was born), and in the North of Italy, the beautiful seaside resort of Folkestone convinced her to come back to the UK. Here she frequented a few courses on Creative Writing and met lots of like-minded people.

Her love for Science Fiction, and the realisation that writing would allow her to fulfil her childhood dream of travelling, although just with her imagination, convinced her to teleport herself to London to attend a one-day workshop on what makes SF tick, led by bestselling SF author David Wingrove. Still eager to learn how to hone her craft, she also followed an online intensive writing course with renowned author Gay Hendricks.

Her short story “A New Beginning” appeared in The Folkestone 2014 Anthology and her novelette “Homecoming” was published in the SF magazine Nebula Rift in 2014. Her novella “Across Spacetime” will be released on 31 March 2017 by Fountain Blue Publishing. She is currently working on its sequel and she volunteers as Deputy Editor with the SF magazine Nebula Rift.

Now might be the time to connect with Angela: www.angelaguidolinauhor.co.uk; Facebook; @guidolin_angela; LinkedIn