Where do you live?
What’s your home life like?I'm married with two kids. I spend my time writing to escape from that fact. What genre(s) to you like to write? To read?The main focus of my writing is fantasy. I've been working on three different series of fantasy novels, to varying degrees of incompletion. Meanwhile, my short stories tend to be either fantasy or horror. Currently taking up most of my time, however, is a YA historical fiction which I am publishing as my debut novel early next year. I tend to read the same genres that I write, though I would add in sci-fi and non-fiction (mainly history, politics or true-crime.) I have some ideas for sci-fi stories, even a novel, that I hope to get around to in the future. Why did you start writing?I've always loved telling stories, though I only grew more serious about writing late in university. I think I was feeling oppressed by engineering school and needed a release of creativity. What do you do when you’re not writing?I say this as a joke sometimes, but it's sadly and mostly true that between my IT day job and kids, all my spare time is spent writing. That would be ideal, but actually, I also procrastinate a lot. I love reading about politics, sports and pop-culture, but from an intellectually snobbish remove. And reading fiction of course! Someday, I hope to have time to play video games again. Where do you like to go when looking for a new book to read?Unless there is a specific author or book series I'm looking for, I will browse for new books at the library. It’s a great place for discovering overlooked gems and not just the latest and greatest. Toronto has one of the best public library systems in the world. Beyond books, they offer so many services that are free that any other library in the world would charge for, or not even offer. At what point do you call it quits when reading a new book?I'm not sure I officially call it quits on many books. I tend to catch reading times when I can, while commuting to work or in bed before I go to sleep. I might be juggling books of different genres across these time slots. If one of them’s not working for me, my interest peters out and I pick it up less and less, until I stop altogether. If it's a book I got from the library, basically when it comes due and I have to return it, that's when I officially quit on it. Are you independently or traditionally published?I'm heavily in favour of independent publishing, especially self-publishing. It's a lot of responsibility, but it feels good to have creative control and not spend ages slogging past all the gatekeepers. Of course, I say that being someone who’s too lazy to do all the query work involved with traditional publishing. If, by some miracle, a big publisher came knocking on my door, who's to say what my tune would be? How many books/stories have you published so far?Right now, everything is a first. This short story will be my first professionally published work and the novel will be my debut. What book/story are you currently promoting or working on?
The next thing after that will be my debut novel, Sparrow Squadron, the start of a YA historical fiction series set during World War II called Aelita's War. What’s the elevator pitch?When the Nazis invade her homeland, a 16-year-old Russian flight instructor overcomes her age, doubtful superiors and bitter rivals to join a women's fighter regiment, only to learn that risking her life is just the beginning as she is thrown into the bloodiest battle in history: Stalingrad. How long have you been working on it?The inspiration came around 15 years ago, when I saw a documentary on Soviet women combat pilots during World War II. I almost immediately went to work on a screenplay that tried to follow their real life stories. It was pretty much unproduceable and sat around until a little over a year ago, when I was spurred to fictionalize the story and make it into a novel aimed at young adults and up. When will it be available to buy? Where?I'm aiming for a release in February 2018, first on Amazon Kindle and Amazon CreateSpace, then several other outlets to follow. If it sounds interesting to you, sign up for my newsletter for updates (I only mail about important stuff, no spam!) http://www.dariusjung.com/news-signup/
Anything you’d like to add?Like many authors, I honestly thought that promoting my work would be such a slog. But beyond the simple joys of learning how to do new things, it’s been a pleasure to connect with fellow authors and bloggers and to see how supportive everyone in the community is. Case in point, getting a chance to talk to you! I'd like to thank Darius for taking time away from his busy schedule juggling work, home and writing. I think we all know how precarious it can feel most days. I look forward to reading his story in the upcoming anthology, and I'll be keeping an eye out for his debut novel in the future!  Sincerely, Nicholas Adams
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