I am very excited today to welcome Aleksandr Voinov to the blog. Aleks is the author of the amazing Dark Soul series (among many other things). He is also one of the founders of the new Riptide Publishing.Β [P.S. Check out my reviews of VolumesΒ 1,Β 2, andΒ 3]
Aleks, welcome and thanks so much for stopping by today!
Thank you for having me β Iβve been following your blog for a while (and read back to the beginning) and have been really impressed with the quality of the reviews. It shows youβre putting a lot of thought and passion into this. [Aw, thanks! That is so nice to hear!]
First, Iβd love to chat more about Dark Soul. Silvio. Hot. Need I say more? Ok, he is such an interesting character. A combination of so powerful in some ways, and submissive in others. Plus totally hot. Was he a fun character to write? How did you first come up with Silvio?
Yeah, he does the same thing to me. (Laughs) Characters happen to me. Some are more polite and gentle than others, but Silvio (whoβs neither) showed up during my troubled teenage years and wouldnβt go away, which included him constantly commenting on my real life. Itβs fun and disconcerting when characters turn into βinvisible friendsβ β new level of the usual chat and connection I have with other characters. Others fade into the background after a while, usually a few years, but Silvio just wouldnβt fade. Heβs been always there.
Iβve been trying to write about him for close to twenty years β I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages about him, but it never went anywhere. The characterβs essence kept changing shape, too, so there are stories about him in his mid-thirties, as a fierce, stone-cold cocaine-addicted killer in lust with his mafia boss, and stories about him when heβs sixteen and working out his sexuality with girls his own age and much older men, and, in an attempt to find a place for himself, is taken under the wing of an older Mafioso (with predictable results). Still, heβs always the same person β fierce, amoral, and sensual. And he always has those light-defying eyes.
I find the mix of weakness and strength extremely interesting. Silvio is completely devoted when heβs in love, loyal unto death, but at the same time, he plays only by his own rules. If you told him βyou canβt do thatβ, or βthatβs forbiddenβ, the best youβd get from him is a blank stare. He doesnβt get those concepts and really doesnβt understand why they should apply to him.
The story takes place in the mafia world, which is not an easy place for anyone, let alone someone gay or bisexual. What drew you to this setting for the story?
Silvioβs always been a petty criminal who develops into a professional killer. When he showed up, I knew he was connected to the Cosa Nostra. At that point much of what I βknewβ about the Cosa Nostra came from The Godfather (by no means a realistic image of the real world criminal organization, which is much better depicted in Goodfellas or The Sopranos).
Still, for all the pretty poor writing and terrible research of Mario Puzo, the idea of the βgood Mafioso taking care of his familyβ is a powerful one, and Michael Corleone is a noble man (what else could he be with a name thatβs half warrior angel and half βlion heartβ?). So thereβs my Al Pacino crush, too. Iβm trying to show, however, that Silvioβs an outsider β he freaks out even the hard-bitten Mafioso and has some powerful allies that make sure heβs not simply shot and left in some ditch by the road. Similarly, Stefano is not your usual Cosa Nostra boss (for one, heβs way too educated and has been pushed into the role by a domineering father).
But, yes, the Cosa Nostra is certainly unforgiving towards gay and/or bisexual members, as the murder of Joey DβAmato shows. I still think there have to be men there who are attracted to other men, and the social pressures at work here make for an interesting story, wouldnβt you agree?
The Dark Soul series is told in a really interesting way. Each book highlights what Iβd call βepisodesβ where we get a little look in time at what is happening in the story. What made you decide to use this narrative style versus a more traditional linear format for this series?
To be honest, it was the last available option after Iβd exhausted every other one. Iβve always tried to tell Silvioβs story as a novel, but the characterβs whole outlook is extremely episodic. He goes through lovers, most of them casual, and kills, and thatβs the very definition of episodic: You get a hit, you do the research, you kill the target, you move on. Or: you see someone, you score, you move on the next morning or same night.
His three defining relationships happen at different stages in his life. He sees himself in his brother Franco (with Franco a much more inhibited person who struggles with his inability to trust and connect); heβs devoted to the older Mafioso Gianbattista Falchi, who is both an odd type of father figure and at the same time clearly more experienced and more powerful (let alone much more political and better at playing mind games); and then thereβs his huge crush on Stefano Marino, who starts out as the βstraight man he canβt haveβ (and who is therefore almost irresistible). This relationship evolves, however, because the attraction and their own moral codes and desires force both Silvio and Stefano to change. In the end, these core relationships arenβt really suitable for a classically-structured romance novel.
The idea is to focus on one aspect of the character, one revelation, one different angle per story, to get closer to the βtruthβ about these people. We get to see Silvio both deadly (Dark Lady) and tender and caring (Dark Night), and get to understand what drives his kinks and desires throughout. Sex is always a revelation of character. And by seeing Silvio mostly through the eyes of others (usually his lovers), we also discover more about them.
So far you have published three books in the Dark Soul series. Are there more to come or is the story now complete?
Right now, I have enough material outlined to fill five. Three of them are written, two more are in my head and need to find the way onto paper. Iβm looking to put them out in February/March 2012. Once they are all complete, I want to put them all out in a paperback. Iβd say weβre looking at 80-100k in total. But these things change all the time. A bookβs shape is only fixed once itβs on the page and in the hands of readers.
Do you have anything else you are working on now youβd like to tell us about?
I have a whole flock of novels set during WWII, but these have been stalling recently, and Iβm currently not sure where I will submit these β I think at least one of them might stand a chance in the traditional mainstream. If I do go into the mainstream, thatβs an investment of several years, so who knows when these will come out. Iβm currently mostly evaluating where I want to take my writing next.
During the last few weeks, Iβve had some ideas centered around Widowmaker from Scorpion. It might be interesting to give this ruthless, snarky bastard his own book, but itβll be a departure from my usual m/m writing.
Ok, now can you put on your Riptide hat and tell us more about what is going on over there? You guys have now been up and running for almost two months. How are things going? Any surprises or are things running as expected?
(Changes hats). Okay. Right now, Riptide switches gears from the craziness of the launch to the medium-term business model. One of the big developments is that Iβm currently in the process of building a team of editors. At present, I have one freelancer on file and two people who we want to work more regularly with, but thatβs only the start.
One of the big addition was our first-ever intern, Callie Greystone, who is already a huge asset and should progress very nicely inside the company. Weβve also closed our first acquisition: We bought Guiltless Pleasure Publishing, and its owner, Tal Valante, has joined the Riptide Partnership. This gives us access to some exciting manuscripts and a terrific editor. With Tal, Callie, and our freelancers, weβre more than ready to tackle the next step in our growth.
Now that the initial launch and blog tour are nearing an end, what can we expect from Riptide going forward? I know you have a lot of releases planned. Anything you can tell us about?
Iβm in talks with some exciting authors (who will hopefully join our βSecond Waveβ in the next few weeks). Three of those we have already announced: Anne Tenino brings us a hot and romantic (and often very funny) college romance, and J.S. Cook has submitted a literary steampunk novel called βThe Lovely Beastβ and a gangster novel set during the Prohibition era. And last but not least thereβs Anne Brooke, whose βThe Heartβs Greater Silenceβ is also very much literary gay fiction. [Yay! Sounds awesome!]
As far as the next step goes, we are looking very much to acquire more trans* books, and should expand our product offering with more colours of the rainbow once weβve finished researching the market.
One thing I have been constantly impressed by is the general awesomeness of the Riptide book covers.Β Bad covers are a HUGE pet peeve of mine (as my readers probably know by now) so I have been thrilled to see so much attention paid to beautiful and original looking covers. Was this something you guys placed a priority on from the start? Or did you just get lucky with amazing artists?
Oh yes, good covers are definitely not accidental. Rachel put a lot of work into researching and sourcing fresh new talent for our painted covers, and Jordan Taylor, Reese Dante, and LC Chase have done amazing work on the photo manipulation front. Weβre lucky to work with some of the most talented cover artists in the business.
The general guideline is: Would we want to have that cover on our piece of our own writing? Does it suit the mood of the piece? Will it attract buyers? If not, that cover doesnβt happen or is changed until weβre happy. At Riptide, nobody will ever get a cover that looks like a publisherβs six-year old nephew cut out some naked guys from a porn mag, cut off the heads, put them in a collage and then made it all look fuzzy to βblendβ the different images. At Riptide, we want everybody to be proud to put their names on the end result: author, editors, publisher, artist, layouter. Anything worth doing at all is worth doing right.
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today. Β If readers are interested in finding out more about your or your books, how can they find you?
The most uncomplicated is probably Twitter β I tweet as @vashtan. My blog is at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.blogspot.com/, my website at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com/and if you want to join my forum, you can find it here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/38618.
Thanks again so much again for visiting today! Iβd love to have you back any time!
Iβm more than happy to come back whenever! Thank you for the interview!
And Aleks has brought a giveaway along with him today! Yeah! Β Leave a comment to enter to win a copy of one of Aleks’ backlist books (excluding Counterpunch). The contest closes Friday, December 23 at 11:59 pm EST. Β
- By entering the contest, youβre confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- Winners will be selected by random number.
- If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay andΒ leave your email addressΒ if it is not in your profile.
>wonderful interview about Aleksandr Voinov!!!
wish her all the best as well for 2012! keep your muse running!!!
jessica
jessica_klang(at)hotmail(dot)com
>Great interview with Aleks. He is an amazing author. I love the "Dark Soul" series and am happy to learn there will be more. I am also very impressed with Riptide Publishing and the books I have purchased from them so far.
lkbherring64(at)gmail(dot)com
>Thanks for the interview and more notes on Silvio, Aleks.
Good luck with the B&E release today, too!
Adara
adara adaraohare com
*kicks blogger for the 3rd time*
>I love Silvio. Can't wait to see where he goes next. I am eagerly awaiting the "Second Wave". Take care.
-Sabrina
sabrinayala at gmail dot com
>Hello to everyone, specially to Aleks. So nice to hear from you! Iβm glad you are writing this, because I have a thing for bad boys. And congrats about Riptide Publishing, itβs awesomeness in every book.
You know, itβs sad, being gay and Cosa Nostra member donβt end up well in the real world. I was doing some research and found out the real story about that poor guy, the one you just mentioned, who was demoted from capo, killed (his body has never been found) simply because his ex girlfriend told someone he was bisexual.
This interview brought so many memories to me. Like young Marlon Brando wild looks. Gosh! The other day I stopped everything to watch again A Streetcar Named Desire. It's not only the way he looks, it's how he moves, fascinating. Sensuality at its best. Itβs the way I like to remember him.
BTW, Al Pacino is also a favorite of mine, besides his roles in famous movies, I like two less popular ones he played really well. The first, (a movie that showed a controversial peek of the gay bars to me) was started by Al Pacino, if you guys havenβt seen it, it might be worth a rental. Itβs called Cruising. Of course, at the time was scandalous to say the least. That movie and watching an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer convinced me to never portrait a serial killer in any of my books. Never.
The other performance that impressed me, is Al Pacino as Roy Cohn, in Angels in America. Excellent acting, so good, one hates him most of the show. After watching it, having unprotected sex becomes a big turn off.
>These books are in mt TBR pile, I love a complicated character! Thanks for the interview & giveaway, heather
sassycyclist at bak dot rr dot com
>Great interview! Sign me up please!! Reading SF was life changing read for me! I need another Aleksandr Voinov story!!!
summer.michaels@gmail.com
>Great interview π
I LOVE Dark Soul and I LOVE Silvio!
blaine(at)blainedarden(dot)com
>Great interview as usual! I LOVE the sound of this series and its memorable characters. I enjoy dark themes and characters and this sounds right up my alley.
Thanks for being here!
joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com
>I enjoyed the post; it was a great read.
I can't wait to start this series.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
>Observation: if you want to understand Silvio better, you need to read interviews with Aleks. π
Hmmm.. Was Puzo's writing that poor? I only remember that I enjoyed the book much more than the movies. But if I had to choose between Puzo or Voinov.. There's simply no contest. π
japoki at inbox dot lv
>I have been very impressed by Riptide and the high quality of publishing so far! And I must move Silvio to the top of my TBR mountain (hangs head in shame) π
smaccall AT comcast.net
>Loved the interview~
Wishing you the absolute best in 2012 Aleks!! Looking forward to all of your new releases!
Judi
arella3173_loveless(at)yahoo(dot)com
>Happy Holidays and thanks for this interesting interview!
gardemarin(at)gmx(dot)de
>Great interview I loved Counterpunch, it's my favorite of the Belongin series!
Happy Holidays!
Anzumerlin(at)mail(dot)ru
>I loved the interview. I have not yet read Alex's books but would love the opportunity.
Thanks and happy holidays!
m.lanz28@ymail.com
>Hi guys – thanks for the comments. I was tied up in family stuff yesterday (visited my dude's 90-year-old grandmother in Coventry, so we were travelling all day).
Jessica – Thank you. The Muse is really extremely slow at the moment (it got quite a kicking in November), but I'm hopeful that I'll get into my old rhythm in 2012. Thanks!
Lisa – Thank you. Yes, there will be two more pars of Dark Soul (according to my plan, which can always change a little, but I know how it ends, which is always the hard bit). Also thank you for your kind words about Riptide – it's great to be able to publish books you love, and even greater to see that readers love them, too. We have amazing writers under contract and want them to do really well. Those stories just deserve to be out there, even if they can be different to what people are used to. π
Adara – Blogger can be quite temperamental at times. π Glad it worked now. And thank you. Break and Enter was really good fun to write – I hope people will enjoy it.
>Sabrina – Thank you. I'm really happy I managed to unleash Silvio on a largely unsuspecting world. π And regarding the Second Wave…. can I say AMAZING talent? (Old hands, fresh voices, we got them all!)
Naaju – Thanks for your comment. I agree – when I read about Joey D'Amato, it was quite a punch in the guts, really. We can all agree he probably wasn't a nice guy to start with, but being murdered for "being gay" or even bisexual is excessive. For a writer, this is great material, and a very real threat for Stefano (Silvio is generally better at taking care of himself, AND he has the protection of somebody really powerful). It also means they have to play things extremely safe.
Brando and Pacino were both amazing, and absolutely magnetic in those roles you mentioned. I want to hit Lovefilm and get a stack of their works now. π
Sassy – Thanks for stopping by. These guys have so many issues that "complicated" is a mild word. π
>Summer – Thank you. Hey, that book changed my life, too. 2.5 years, one million words. I'm still vaguely disbelieving that I did that. π If you liked Special Forces, the grim and grit of Counterpunch, Scorpion and Dark Soul could work for you. Also, there's a fair bit of Vadim in Sergei of Dark Edge of Honor.
Blaine, thank you!
Joder – Absolutely. I'd say Dark Soul is the darkest I've ever done. I'm not sure how much further I *could* travel down that road, if I wanted to push things further. I think this is a about as far as I can go while feeling mostly comfortable in my own head. Thanks for stopping by!
>Tracey – Thanks for stopping by! π
Aija – Puzo might not be a bad writer, I only read Omerta, which, I believe, is not seen as his best piece, and I thought it was eye-roll-worthy, and there were bits in there where I really completely disengaged; I'm not sure I'd ever want to get back to that book, but I remember strongly that I kept thinking "What, this guy has created Michael Corleone? Impossible!"
Bookwyrm – Alternatively, you can wait for the last two parts. π Also, thank you for supporting Riptide, we're really grateful for the awesome reception we've had from readers.
>Judi – Thank you! I hope to get a couple novels written in 2012, and travel to Canada and maybe somewhere else, too, and get some stuff done around the house, so it's already looking pretty busy. Hope you're having a great Holiday Season, too!
Gardemarin – Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!
Anzu – Thank you! I'm biased, but I think Rachel's next one in the series will give me a run for my money. π
M – Thanks for stopping by, and good luck on the draw!
>Hi, what am I read, there is another one in the Belonging series??? When???? I love the series!
*blushes*
Uhm, and now on the actual topic…I'm looking forward to reading your new release Break&Enter, since two of my favorite authors wrote it, I have high expectation!;)
Merry Christmas!
Aramis_blue(at)gmx(dot)de
>I'm looking forward to the orange sucker guy.
Amber
Visit http://www.shapeshiftersinlust.com tonight!
>What a GREAT interview Jay you had with with Aleksandr Voinov, I really enjoyed just how much he shared with Us. I would very much like to read his "Dark Soul Series".
I was really surprised to find that he is also one of the founders of the new Riptide Publishing. They have many Great Authors to choose from with their excellent books.
Aleksandr I became a Google Follower of your Blog under the name of PaParanormalFan, joined your Goodreads Group under the same name & I subscribed to your βMaking Waves: The Riptide Publishing Newsletterβ under paranormalromancefan@yahoo.com
Take Care & Have a Very Happy Holiday Season,
Renee' S.
paranormalromancefan@yahoo.com