Welcome everyone to the twenty-eigth Authors Not-So-Anonymous weekly meeting!! This weekly series is about authors from Twitter and Facebook! This week, I would like to introduce Ira Nayman into Authors Not-So-Anonymous!
Ira Nayman has a PhD in Communications (but don't call him Doctor!), is Canadian, wrote film criticisms for Creative Screenwriting, and he won the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Award. He is an author of "comic science fiction in the form of journalism" aka: The Alternate Reality News Service. A little confused? (I know I was...) "There is an organization called The Alternate Reality News Service that sends reporters into other dimensions and has them write news articles about what they find there. In addition to the straight news articles, the feature has evolved over the years to include two advice columns, obituaries and behind the scenes narratives...a science fiction version of The Onion." (Yeah, I admit it, I had to Google The Onion.) Watch the YouTube video too - A Book Trailer called "Book" Trailer. heh. I bet you will chuckle a bit.
The Alternate Reality News Service is very intriguing and one I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes on. "Each book
contains 80 separate pieces of writing, which allows me to throw in absurdest
humour, political and social satire, cultural parody and whatever else I happen
to be thinking about at the moment I am sitting at my computer ready to write.
I like to think my books are rich literary experiences."
Ira began his love affair with humour when he began dedicating his entire life to in his late teens and early twenties. He began regularly writing in the year 1984. "Although I have been writing (and promoting) humourous science fiction for about seven or eight years, I do not consider myself primarily a science fiction writer; I consider myself primarily a humour writer. I have also written humourous horror stories (about vampires) and straight humour in various of the genres sub-genres (ie: sitcoms, satires and surrealism)."
Ira runs a website where his work can be found easily. This site has a mixture of his work. "...although I mostly write prose now, I am not necessarily committed to this medium. Before I started my Web site, Les Pages aux Folles (10 years old in September!), I wrote lots of scripts for film and television (for example: the vampire stories were for an original un-produced TV series). Visitors to my Web site will find that, in addition to its prose, there are also two new cartoons every week. This focus on content rather than medium gives me tools that strictly prose authors do not have." Click here to be taken to Ira's website.
This is part 1 of 2 (click here to see part 2) in the live radio show that Ira has written based on his novels. "I have written a six part radio series based on stories out of the first two Alternate Reality News Service books."
Two of Ira's favorite authors are Thomas Pynchon and Douglas Adams. He draws humour writing influence from the Marx Brothers and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Ira is currently working on several projects "I wrote a novel called Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience). It is about an investigation by members of the Transdimensional Authority, the organization that monitors and polices traffic between dimensions. Although the TA was mentioned in a couple of Alternate Reality News Service articles (and new Alternate Reality News Service articles are incorporated into it), the novel stands on its own. I am currently looking for a publisher for it. I have also written two novelettes which, although they stand alone, will eventually be melded with other work into a second TA novel; I am currently looking for a publisher for them."
He is also working on, "I have written a series of stories that take
place in a universe where matter at all levels of organization has become
conscious. They feature a character named Antonio Van der Whall, who is an
object psychologist. To date, four of these stories have been sold. “A Really
Useful Engine” has been published in Even
Birds Are Chained To The Sky and Other Tales: The Fine Line Short Story
Collection and “Escalation is Academic” has appeared in the anthology UnCONventional. “If the Mountain Won’t
Come to Mohammed” was just released in Here
Be Monsters 6. And, finally, “Thinking is the Worst Way
to Travel” has been accepted into Explorers:
Beyond the Horizon; it will be published in the next month or two. Several
other stories in the series are currently awaiting editorial decisions at
various publications. Finally, I wrote a short story about everybody in the world
waking up and finding that their gender has flipped called “Both Sides. NOW!”
That was really fun to write; I hope it is accepted into the anthology for
which it was written." (I think Both Sides, NOW! Sounds hilarious!)
A few words of encouragement from Ira..."I have come to understand that making people laugh is (almost) always a virtuous thing to do. If I can make them think after the laughter has died down, I have achieved all that a writer could have hoped for."
Ira's novels can be found on Amazon here. Have an author to nominate? Send me a message via Twitter or leave a comment with the author(s) name and Twitter name or contact information. I'd love to add new members! Happy Reading!
Ira Nayman has a PhD in Communications (but don't call him Doctor!), is Canadian, wrote film criticisms for Creative Screenwriting, and he won the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Award. He is an author of "comic science fiction in the form of journalism" aka: The Alternate Reality News Service. A little confused? (I know I was...) "There is an organization called The Alternate Reality News Service that sends reporters into other dimensions and has them write news articles about what they find there. In addition to the straight news articles, the feature has evolved over the years to include two advice columns, obituaries and behind the scenes narratives...a science fiction version of The Onion." (Yeah, I admit it, I had to Google The Onion.) Watch the YouTube video too - A Book Trailer called "Book" Trailer. heh. I bet you will chuckle a bit.
Ira began his love affair with humour when he began dedicating his entire life to in his late teens and early twenties. He began regularly writing in the year 1984. "Although I have been writing (and promoting) humourous science fiction for about seven or eight years, I do not consider myself primarily a science fiction writer; I consider myself primarily a humour writer. I have also written humourous horror stories (about vampires) and straight humour in various of the genres sub-genres (ie: sitcoms, satires and surrealism)."
Ira runs a website where his work can be found easily. This site has a mixture of his work. "...although I mostly write prose now, I am not necessarily committed to this medium. Before I started my Web site, Les Pages aux Folles (10 years old in September!), I wrote lots of scripts for film and television (for example: the vampire stories were for an original un-produced TV series). Visitors to my Web site will find that, in addition to its prose, there are also two new cartoons every week. This focus on content rather than medium gives me tools that strictly prose authors do not have." Click here to be taken to Ira's website.
Oh look! Another video!
This is part 1 of 2 (click here to see part 2) in the live radio show that Ira has written based on his novels. "I have written a six part radio series based on stories out of the first two Alternate Reality News Service books."
Two of Ira's favorite authors are Thomas Pynchon and Douglas Adams. He draws humour writing influence from the Marx Brothers and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Ira is currently working on several projects "I wrote a novel called Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience). It is about an investigation by members of the Transdimensional Authority, the organization that monitors and polices traffic between dimensions. Although the TA was mentioned in a couple of Alternate Reality News Service articles (and new Alternate Reality News Service articles are incorporated into it), the novel stands on its own. I am currently looking for a publisher for it. I have also written two novelettes which, although they stand alone, will eventually be melded with other work into a second TA novel; I am currently looking for a publisher for them."
He is also working on, "I have written a series of stories that take
place in a universe where matter at all levels of organization has become
conscious. They feature a character named Antonio Van der Whall, who is an
object psychologist. To date, four of these stories have been sold. “A Really
Useful Engine” has been published in Even
Birds Are Chained To The Sky and Other Tales: The Fine Line Short Story
Collection and “Escalation is Academic” has appeared in the anthology UnCONventional. “If the Mountain Won’t
Come to Mohammed” was just released in Here
Be Monsters 6. And, finally, “Thinking is the Worst Way
to Travel” has been accepted into Explorers:
Beyond the Horizon; it will be published in the next month or two. Several
other stories in the series are currently awaiting editorial decisions at
various publications. Finally, I wrote a short story about everybody in the world
waking up and finding that their gender has flipped called “Both Sides. NOW!”
That was really fun to write; I hope it is accepted into the anthology for
which it was written." (I think Both Sides, NOW! Sounds hilarious!)A few words of encouragement from Ira..."I have come to understand that making people laugh is (almost) always a virtuous thing to do. If I can make them think after the laughter has died down, I have achieved all that a writer could have hoped for."
Ira's novels can be found on Amazon here. Have an author to nominate? Send me a message via Twitter or leave a comment with the author(s) name and Twitter name or contact information. I'd love to add new members! Happy Reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment