about zusana's work
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Whether writing in speculative, gothic or realist genres, I frequently come up with characters beset by covert or cumulative bad luck. These are people burdened by disadvantages of the sort that rarely stimulate compassion in others; the strokes against them are far more likely to provoke irritation, distaste and maybe even a desire for abuse. Yet, in truth, there's nothing of the loser about these figures. Just as their suffering is hidden to much of the world, so too is their strength and guile, their wit and tenacious capacity for joy and finding worth in life.
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about zusana
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I've lived in five countries and well over forty homes of disparate sorts, these in all sizes of place, from remote countryside to vast capital cities. I've had nine careers to date (though career is an overly generous description of some of them), and I've been part of various social classes and cultures and numerous, diverse communities. The result of all that is that I'm profoundly un-tribal in outlook, plus I have lots of stories to tell, and some of these are very nearly incredible.
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what I'm up to just now
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Aside for looking for an agent for my debut novel Qhuarrance, I'm working on a second novel Clavos Valley. This started off life a few years ago as a novella. I'm finding it a curious - and very demanding - process to move from novella form to novel with the same story. There's reluctance to lose the succinct quality of the novella, an unwillingness to let the story relax into a bigger space. Also, with this book, I know exactly where the tale is going, there's scarcely any surprise left, so I'm not giving myself many thrills; some sort of elation, I'm discovering more and more, is almost essential when writing anything, but especially a big thing like a book.
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I'm also developing a second novella, this dissecting a profoundly loving relationship stifled by pragmatism. Essentially a realist piece, a substantial part of the novella takes the form of an extended ecstatic vision arising from a particular hope wilfully unfulfilled.
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Aside from way too many 'completed' short stories and flash-fiction pieces sitting in storage devices, I confess to having several unfinished shorties loafing on my desktop. Fortunately these tales are seemingly content to wait for handouts of occasional new paragraphs. They're joined in their patience and hope by an embryonic novella-in-flash.
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