Love Bites:
A
Collection of Short Stories
Valeria
Kogan
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Wattle Publishing
Number of pages: 134
Book Description:
Love Bites is the debut
collection of short stories by Valeria Kogan. From heartbreak to redemption,
Love Bites provides a spellbinding interpretation of love and friendship,
glamour and guilt, secrets and deceit. Each story provides a captivating
insight into the world of love; its profound impact and effect; and how women
relate to their partners.
This cleverly constructed
collection of short stories will leave you tantalized and yearning for more.
About
the Author:
Valeria Kogan was born in Russia
and moved to the UK in 1991, where she developed her love of art and
literature.
Interview:
Where are you from?
I was born in Russia but we moved where when I was two - I grew up in a very Russian household and my parents took care to ensure I still valued and understood my heritage. I grew up in Wales but live in Hertfordshire now. Wales is very beautiful but there wasn't much to do there as a teenager - now that I'm so close to London I'm not sure I'll move much further out again.
When and why did you begin writing?
I don't remember a time when I didn't scrawl my thoughts or emotions down somewhere. I think I've always done it to get an idea or emotion out. Eventually it just got a little more joined up.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I think a lot of writers often want to see if they can, or work through the 'book inside them' so that was definitely a big part of the decision. The inspiration for the individual stories comes from people I know, or what I'd do/feel in different situations. The themes in the stories aren't really new (loss of a loved on, infidelity, having an affair with the nanny...) but I wanted to put what I saw as a more emotionally real spin on them.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I think the overriding message is that perfect love stories don't really exist; people are flawed, relationships are too, but that doesn't detract from them. If anything, it makes it more special since the chances of two uniquely flawed people finding each other and building a life together out of nothing at all is far more romantic to me than two perfect people being fated to be together. That almost just seems like autopilot.
What books have most influenced your life most?
I wasn't actually much of a reader as a child/early adolescent, but I remember the first time I was really drawn in and affected by a book - that was The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. I've never really recovered (and have since read everything else by Iain Banks that I could get my hands on). That said, I'm not sure books I've loved have really influenced my life - I'm very drawn to darker stories so that's probably for the best.
I also read The Portrait of Dorian Grey (Oscar Wilde) at a young age and keep rereading it and finding new parts that I never remembered the first time. Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk) is another, and then What I Loved (Siri Hustvedt). I tend to find a writer I enjoy and then hunt down every book of theirs I can find, but these are the ones that really stand out to me.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
If I can draw some writers back from the dead, Oscar Wilde. If that's not an option, probably Siri Hustvedt.
What book are you reading now?
At the moment I'm reading Stephen Fry's More Fool Me, Max Morkheimer's Critique of Instrumental Reason, and Paul Auster's The Winter Journal.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
I absolutely loved Erin Morgenstern's first book, Night Circus, and can't wait for her to release something new. Karen Joy Fowler also broke my heart a little with We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves too.
Interview:
Where are you from?
I was born in Russia but we moved where when I was two - I grew up in a very Russian household and my parents took care to ensure I still valued and understood my heritage. I grew up in Wales but live in Hertfordshire now. Wales is very beautiful but there wasn't much to do there as a teenager - now that I'm so close to London I'm not sure I'll move much further out again.
When and why did you begin writing?
I don't remember a time when I didn't scrawl my thoughts or emotions down somewhere. I think I've always done it to get an idea or emotion out. Eventually it just got a little more joined up.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I think a lot of writers often want to see if they can, or work through the 'book inside them' so that was definitely a big part of the decision. The inspiration for the individual stories comes from people I know, or what I'd do/feel in different situations. The themes in the stories aren't really new (loss of a loved on, infidelity, having an affair with the nanny...) but I wanted to put what I saw as a more emotionally real spin on them.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I think the overriding message is that perfect love stories don't really exist; people are flawed, relationships are too, but that doesn't detract from them. If anything, it makes it more special since the chances of two uniquely flawed people finding each other and building a life together out of nothing at all is far more romantic to me than two perfect people being fated to be together. That almost just seems like autopilot.
What books have most influenced your life most?
I wasn't actually much of a reader as a child/early adolescent, but I remember the first time I was really drawn in and affected by a book - that was The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. I've never really recovered (and have since read everything else by Iain Banks that I could get my hands on). That said, I'm not sure books I've loved have really influenced my life - I'm very drawn to darker stories so that's probably for the best.
I also read The Portrait of Dorian Grey (Oscar Wilde) at a young age and keep rereading it and finding new parts that I never remembered the first time. Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk) is another, and then What I Loved (Siri Hustvedt). I tend to find a writer I enjoy and then hunt down every book of theirs I can find, but these are the ones that really stand out to me.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
If I can draw some writers back from the dead, Oscar Wilde. If that's not an option, probably Siri Hustvedt.
What book are you reading now?
At the moment I'm reading Stephen Fry's More Fool Me, Max Morkheimer's Critique of Instrumental Reason, and Paul Auster's The Winter Journal.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
I absolutely loved Erin Morgenstern's first book, Night Circus, and can't wait for her to release something new. Karen Joy Fowler also broke my heart a little with We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves too.
Website: www.valeriakogan.com
Publisher twitter: @wattlepub
Wattle Publishing Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WattlePublishing
Tour
giveaway
3 paperback copies Love Bites
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