Why My Love Life Sucks
by Shevi Arnold
Series-The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer Book # 1
Published-March 23, 2010
Blurb-
Seventeen-year-old Gilbert Garfinkle is the ultimate tech geek.
He likes to take apart, figure out, and fix things, and he dreams of someday
fixing the world. But now his own life has been taken apart by the one thing
he'll never be able to figure out. Her name is Amber, and she's a gorgeous girl
with a killer smile who wants to turn him into her platonic BFF--literally
forever! It's the ultimate geek's ultimate nightmare, and it leaves Gilbert
asking life's ultimate question: "Why me?"
Why My Love Life Sucks is a funny novel about geeks, girls,
gadgets, vampires, and the start of a most unlikely friendship. It's the first
book in The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, the series that proves it takes the
ultimate geek to be the ultimate hero.
Our Author Interview
What would you have done
differently if you were the main character of your book?
Everything. Gilbert is a teenage boy and a super genius who can
fix just about anything. I’m not.
What was your inspiration behind this book?
I’m a geek, and I love geeks. Geeks love things beyond what
some people consider socially acceptable. That’s how I feel about stories,
particularly funny fiction, fantasy and science fiction, like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and
The Lord of the Rings. I see geeks as
real-life heroes, and it’s long bothered me that there are no books that show
this.
Why My Love Life
Sucks started with Gilbert Garfinkle and my determination to
create a series about an ultimate geek who turns out to be the ultimate hero.
Of course, if I wanted to show this, I needed to give him the ultimate
conflict. Gilbert has a desperate need to take apart and make sense of things,
so I had to give him something he couldn’t take apart and make sense of. Enter
Amber, the gorgeous vampire girl who has inexplicably chosen to spend eternity
with him. She wants to be his platonic BFF--literally forever! It’s the
ultimate geek’s ultimate nightmare, and that’s what makes it so very funny.
Why did you become a writer ?
I don’t know if I became a writer so much as I was born one. My
family has been working in newspapers and magazines for five generations, and
when I was little, I was constantly writing stories in my head. I didn’t become
a writer; I just am one. John Green in an interview with Craig Ferguson pointed
out that writers are wired differently. We think differently. We see the
potential stories in everything. I know I do. I’ve only ever been good at two
things--writing and illustrating, and I’ve been working at both since 1987.
As a reader and writer, I think it is important to get to know your fans and make a connection with them. Authors should take the extra step to hear what their fans think and want in their continued writing. It’s the key to an author’s continued success and to selling more books. Do you agree with that?
I love connecting with readers. Geeks are my world! And I do
suspect some readers will want certain things as the story continues. I can’t
promise I’m going to give you them, though, because that would ruin the
surprise--and comedy is all about surprise.
Have you ever laughed at a joke the first time, but not the
second time? That’s because the element of surprise was gone. I’m not going to
ruin the joke for you. I plan to surprise you, and surprise you, and surprise
you again.
But rest assured, I have the entire story planned in my head,
and it is all leading to a fantastic conclusion, probably better than anything
any reader can imagine. To quote The Best
Exoctic Marigold Hotel, “Everything will be all right in the end. If it is
not all right, then it is not yet the end.”
Do you have a favorite author or authors?
Yes.
Oh, you want a list?
Peter S. Beagle, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, J.R.R. Tolkien,
Ray Bradbury, Sue Townsend, Louise Rennison, Patricia C. Wrede, Ursula K. Le
Guin, Rick Riordan, Georgia Byng, Christopher Moore, Dave Barry...I could go on
and on, but I’ll stop there.
Do you like to write your books in a continuing series?
That depends on the book. Why
My Love Life Sucks is meant to be the first in a six-book series entitled The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer.
If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why?
Gilbert. Because he’s my idea of the perfect guy. Of course, he
would probably be terrified of me.
What kinds of books do you like to read in your spare time?
Anything that makes me laugh or takes me away to amazing new
worlds, preferably both.
Do you cry when writing sad scenes?
Of course, I do. I cried buckets when I was writing the most
heart-wrenching scenes in Ride of Your
Life and a certain
scene near the end of Toren the
Teller’s Tale. It has to
make me cry first if I want it to have that effect on the reader. I’m also the
first to laugh at my own jokes. Many scenes from Gilbert’s story make me laugh
out loud when I just think about them. It can be a little embarrassing when
that happens in public.
Did you have a Cover Designer?
Yes. Me. I worked for years as a magazine and newspaper
illustrator and designer, so of course that was something I wanted to do
myself. In fact, you’ll find several articles on my blog about cover design.
Who is your fictional boyfriend or girlfriend crush?
Gilbert. I love him to death. Literally.
If you were able to dine and have a one on one with your favorite writer/author who would it be?
Mark Twain. I know the conversation would be fascinating.
Do just re-read your favorite books?
Do I reread my favorite books? Sometimes. Rarely. It has to be
a geeking awesome book.
Do you ever get in a reading slump like your readers do?
No. I can always “read” the stories in my head. I have many
more than I could possibly write down in a lifetime.
What is the funniest book you ever read?
The first books in The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They are funny on every page. That’s
something I aspire to with The Legend of
Gilbert the Fixer.
Links-
And here's the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHSVkegWeWM&list=PLCB49B1B8A26EDED3&index=4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHSVkegWeWM&list=PLCB49B1B8A26EDED3&index=4
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280989
Freado (where you can start reading the book for free): http://www.freado.com/read/14575/why-my-love-life-sucks-the-legend-of-gilbert-the-fixer-book-onehttp://www.freado.com/read/14575/why-my-love-life-sucks-the-legend-of-gilbert-the-fixer-book-one
About the Author-
I've always been super geeky about comedy, fantasy and science
fiction.
When I was little, I'd take them apart and analyze them, kind
of like what Gilbert Garfinkle--the hero of Why My Love Life Sucks--does with
electronics. This continued into my college years, when I majored in English
Literature and Theater Studies.
For twelve years I worked in magazines and newspapers as an
editorial cartoonist, illustrator, editor, arts-and-entertainment writer
(specializing in children's entertainment and, of course, comedy), and a
consumer columnist.
My last job was at the Jerusalem Post, but I had to quit when my
family decided to move to New Jersey to pursue better education options for my
autistic son.
This was in February 2001. Since then I've written 40 picture
books and seven novels for kids and teens, four of which I've indie published.
I was an ABNA quarterfinalist with Why My Love Life Sucks, and I won third
place in SmartWriter's Write It Now contest in the the YA category (which was
judged by Alex Flinn, the author of Beastly) for my romantic, YA ghost story,
Ride of Your Life.
Links-
Pinterest- http://pinterest.com/shevistories/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SheviStories
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shevistories
Facebook Event-
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