Author Guest Post With Nerys Parry

Nerys Parry has kindly agreed to guest post here about her work, and share her inspiration for becoming a writer in honor of her newest release, Man & Other Natural Disasters.

 About The Author:

Nerys Parry’s writing has aired on CBC radio and appeared in diverse publications. Her work has been shortlisted for the Kenneth R. Wilson Canadian Business Press Award, FreeFall’s Fall Fiction Contest, and the Event Non-Fiction Award. Man & Other Natural Disasters, finalist for the Colophon Prize, is her first novel. Parry holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from Queen’s and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UBC. She lives in Ottawa with her husband, two children, one dog, two cats and her son's colony of ants.

Find Nerys Parry on the Web:

Official Website | Goodreads | Twitter | YouTube | Email

 Guest Post:

Inspiration behind writing Man & Other Natural Disasters

and projects currently being worked on

I have always been fascinated with the darker side of life from a very young age. It may be because I was raised on The Best of British Poetry, which was full of blood battles, gory deaths, evil witches and headless ghosts. My childhood bookshelf included all the Ripley’s Believe it of Not and That’s Incredible books, and I never missed the shows of the same name when they were on television if I could help it (even if they did keep me up at night, terrified of ‘the black ooze’ invading people’s bathrooms and possibly colonizing my very own toothbrush.) 

Even as an adult, with an engineering degree under my belt and a firm grasp of scientific principles, I am still drawn to the mysterious and frightening side of nature. All I’ve seen and heard I know to be only a very small part of all that’s out there, and so when I stumbled upon a dog-eared, beaten-up copy of Lyall Watson’s SuperNature at a local garage sale in 1999, I was instantly drawn to it. I was surprised that a renowned scientist like Lyall Watson would be willing to tackle the world of the paranormal, but he proved fearless, expounding controversial theories on everything from thoughtography to spontaneous human combustion and conciousness in inanimate objects. I fell in love with Watson immediately, and have read many of his books since. He wrote so beautifully, even poetically of nature and the unknown, even if some of his theories and methods later came into dispute. But it was his description of water, specifically, and how it had something akin to a memory, that really triggered the gestation of Man & Other Natural Disasters. His concept, in fact, led to the first paragraph introducing Book 1, that begins “Water has an amazing memory…”

Along with the darker side of nature, I’ve also always been fascinated by the darker side of human nature, and especially how it plays out in history.  I used to read all the historical novels I could get my hands on, my favourites being tales of Marco Polo, Ancient Egypt, and the Vatican. Unfortunately, this led to me being kicked out of religion class one day at my Catholic High School for insisting that the Medici priests had illegitimate heirs, as was stated in the book I was reading at that time. Apparently, this was not a good topic to broach with young Catholics, and I was told to keep my historical knowledge for history class.

So I suppose in the end, it’s no wonder that Man & Natural Disasters should weave together my two favourite subjects—freaks of nature and covert histories. I am drawn to the darkness because it is there, I believe, in the deepest and most frightening places, that some of the greatest truths lie. 

As for what’s coming up, I’m currently working on the e-book launch of Man & Other Natural Disasters, as well as a book trailer.  I’ve also got my blog, Remainders at www.nerysparry.com, which I’d like to expand in conjunction with my writer friends Jasmine Aziz and Sandra Nicholls into a Three Women/Three Books blog.  On the fictional side, I do have one novel in my drawer that’s complete, and I’d like to dust that off to see what can be done with it, and I also have another novel that’s about one third complete. For those who enjoyed Man & Other Natural Disasters, I promise the next one to be even more funny, more twisted and more eye-opening.

 Man & Other Natural Disasters:

Title: Man & Other Natural Disasters

Author: Nerys Parry

Publication Date: September 1, 2011

Publisher: Enfield & Wizenty

Simon Peters, a bookbinder full of theories on everything from heart-broken shrimp to the consciousness of DNA, is hiding from his horrific past in the basement of the Calgary City Library. Enter Minerva, a twenty-two-year-old student. Her ghostly resemblance to Simon’s dead sister compels him to reveal the shocking story of the various natural disasters that killed his family. But Simon’s story does not add up. When he finds Minerva bleeding on his bathroom floor, he must conquer the tyranny of his own memory and confront what really happened that summer of 1962. But the truth proves no less confounding, or tragic, than the original tale.

Find Man & Other Natural Disasters Online:  

Goodreads | Official Website | Book Depository | Book Club Reader’s Guide

Discounts available for purchases of 5 or more copies for book clubs!  Check out http://www.greatplains.mb.ca/guides/ for more details.

Loved the book?  Take the quiz on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/11146-man-other-natural-disasters-quiz

The book is available for purchase at Chapters, Amazon and local bookstores across the country.  For those outside of the country, they can buy the book at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

 Virtual Book Tour Schedule:

Man & Other Natural Disasters by Nerys Parry – NURTURE Book Tourz Schedule:

• January 23rd – Jaidis S. @ Juniper Grove
• January 24th – Cheryl F. @ Black Diamond’s Book Reviews
• January 25th – Lindsay H @ Everyday Is An Adventure
• January 26th – Bobbie @ Nurture Virtual Book Tourz™ Blog
• January 26th – Lucy D.  @ Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf
• January 27th – Laurie J. @ Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews
• January 30th – Jaidis S. @ Juniper Grove
• January 30th – Jennifer @ Mad Moose Mama
• January 31st – Lindsay H @ Everyday Is An Adventure
• February 1st – Morgen B. @ Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog
• February 2nd – Gail An. @ Gail Anderson-Dargatz
• February 2nd – Laurie J. @ Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews
• February 3rd – Bobbie @ Nurture Virtual Book Tourz™ Blog

 GIVEAWAY: 

Thanks to the kind Nerys Parry & Nurture Book Tourz, I have one print copy of this novel to giveaway here on my blog! 

***Open to those with US or Canadian mailing addresses only!***

(They will be sending out the prize!)

Giveaway policies:

·         To Enter: Please leave a comment indicating why you want to read this novel and leave your e-mail address.

·         This giveaway ends on February ^5th, 2012

·         This giveaway is open to those 13 years of age or older. 

·         All giveaway winners will be announced on the blog.

·         I can disqualify any entry as I see fit. 

·         I will use Random.org to select the winners.

·         Once the winners have been notified, they will have 24 hours to confirm their interest otherwise new winners will be selected.

WINNER: Sariah

Happy reading until next time!