L. Salt Q & A

#author #authorinterview

What is your name?

My real name is Valeriya Salt, but I use a pen name. I write under the name L. Salt.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?

My journey as a fiction writer started at school, at the age of 12-13. I wrote a sci-fi series about time travel and another dimensions.

What genre books do you write?

I’m a multi-genre author, but I focus primarily on thrillers/actions, dramas, historical fiction, mysteries, and sci-fi.

What is the name of your book/books?

I've written two full-length novels, a futuristic urban drama “The Ways We Follow” and its sequel “Angels of Zion” and two novellas—an action/thriller novella “His Personal Reich” and a speculative history/mystery drama “Legacy of the Iron Eagle”. I’ve also written a few short stories in different genres.

Were there alternate endings you considered?

I wouldn’t consider alternate endings for my books. I’m happy with them as they are.

Does your family support your career as a writer?

Yes, I’m getting lots of support from my husband. He’s a beta-reader. He also does proofreading for my first drafts for me.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?

I’d say to describe their thoughts and feelings. I prefer to write in third person in past tense, so it’s a bit easy than in than in first person, I suppose.

Does writing energise or exhaust you?

It depends. Sometimes I feel exhausted if I write for a few hours, but it’s extremely satisfying, when I can finish a chapter or a scene, so I feel fulfilment as well.

What items do you surround yourself with when you write?

A pen, a notebook to make notes, a cup of tea or coffee, my pussycat.

What is your favourite genre of books to read?

I’m a multi-genre author and a pretty much multi-genre reader. There are a few genres I don’t read (erotica, epic fantasy, for example). My top favourites are historical and speculative history, thrillers, dramas, sci-fi, suspense, mystery, magical realism, and classics, of course.

What is your favourite childhood book?

All books of Jack London, Jules Vernes, Alexandre Dumas.

Do you have a favourite author or one who inspires you to write?

I have a few, but at the moment, I’d say Dan Brown and Carlos Castaneda influence my writing.

Andrea Zissman was brought up by her strict grandmother and never knew the truth about her family. When her mother dies at a special care home, the only legacy she leaves her daughter is a mysterious envelope full of old photos.

Andrea finds out that her father, a scientist who studied the energy of Aurora Borealis, didn’t die in an avalanche in the French Alps, but was killed by members of some mysterious neo-Nazis’ colony somewhere on a remote Icelandic island. Moreover, she has an older brother she has never seen before.

Desperate to find her brother and bring to justice her father’s murderers, Andrea meets Leon Callais, a flamboyant, scandalous journalist, who is on the hunt for the Nazi super weapon “Nothung”, a device which can open a portal to other dimensions. He believes that death of Andrea’s father and “Nothung” are connected.

The investigation leads Andrea and Leon to Iceland where they are determined to discover the truth about the neo-Nazis’ colony, its secret weapon, and Andrea’s family. However, the colonists give them an extremely cold welcome. Now, they need to fight not only for the truth but also for their own lives.

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Philip Rutkowski, a son of a Polish immigrant, “enjoys” all the benefits of big city life—a boring, routine office job, the everyday long commute, a massive mortgage, and rare nights out with a few friends.

Everything changes for Philip, when his colleague and best friend, David Zilberschlag, gives him a vintage mirror to help his friend to decorate his newly-bought apartment.  The mirror belonged to David’s deceased granddad, a Holocaust’s survivor, who believed that the mirror hides some dark secrets from the past.

Both friends don’t believe in old man’s “fairy tales”, but when Philip continues to see visions of a German SS-officer in the mirror who tries to talk to him, he has nothing to do, but to try to find the answers to the questions he doesn’t know.

The investigation leads the two friends to a tiny town of San Augustine del Agua, hidden deeply in the woods of Misiones Province (Argentina). There, they meet Claudia Alvarez and her friendly grandparents, the proud members of a huge German community.

Eager to find out the truth behind the mirror, lost in the woods full of evil and possessed by his visions, Philip slides deeply into madness. When Claudia does everything to help him, her own life starts to crumble, revealing secrets that her family prefers to hide, whereas David is more concerned about his own benefits.

It seems this time evil is about to win…

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Four best friends, young, talented and ambitious try to find their own way in a reality where people can't speak and even think freely. Laura Danco is a young talented designer who returns to the city after studying and working in the UK. Friends tell Laura about new controlling institution, the Department of Censorship. All media sources are under control, government opposition is destroyed completely, minorities are under threat. Everyone who resists is obliterated. Laura tries to live an ordinary life of every young person in a big city--friends, relationships, travels, parties...Everything is changing when a reputable design company employs her as an assistant to a dangerously attractive, scandalous architect and designer, Daniel Polanskiy, whose ambitious and outstanding projects don't comply with the government views and its dictated taste. Daniel's colleagues believe he is insane, the press calls him "Russian Gaudi", the Department of Censorship watches his every movement. The situation becomes even more complicated, when Laura meets her Uni-mate from the UK, Mark Evans. Completely lost between two absolutely different characters--friendly, amiable Mark and sophisticated, bad-tempered, but ingenious Daniel--she struggles to whom to give her heart. The future looks bleak for Laura, as the company gets into trouble, when the Tax Office conducts a detailed financial audit, the Department gives Daniel the final warning, and one of Laura's friends is killed by his boyfriend. The plot leads characters through many challenges--from love to betrayal, from revenge to a murder. The story which starts like a comedy is turning into a tragedy. Will friends find their way to follow?

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