Eustice is Alex Gulczynski's debut novel. He is currently living in Seattle and teaching science to elementary students. He and his wife had their first child in December. He is using these sleepless nights to work on the next book to further the story of Eustice and Thayer. He hopes to have it out by March 2013.
Twitter: @alexgulczynski
Eustice P. Jennings awakens alone and confused on an ugly piece of office furniture in Purgatory. Being dead is the least of her problems as she is quickly drafted into the dangerous Reaper Corps and plunged headfirst into the endless conflict between Heaven and Hell. Friends and allies are few and far as Eustice struggles to find her place in a surreal world she never imagined could exist.
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
A) I'm not really sure to be honest. I read On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony when I was teenager and was really moved by the imagery and plot. I realized after I had written a good deal of Eustice that I was probably inspired by that book all this time and this is what came out.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
A) It took me ten years to actually sit down and write a book. I had wanted to write when I left college but convinced myself that I should find a more standard career path and that I couldn't write well enough to fill a whole novel. After realizing standard career paths are about as boring as an office plant and that I would never know if I could actually write a book if I didn't try, it only took me a few months to get the rough draft done.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
A) Getting lost in the moment and having the words shoot out of my brain like some Jamaican bobsled team made entirely out of prose and bliss.
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
A) Editing and being stuck. Editing because I get frustrated at mucking about in details and typos. I just want the words to come out right the first time. The more time I spent on a chapter the less I like it. Getting stuck, because that empty page and blinking cursor is a cruel and taunting mistress. Nothing hurts quite so much as nothing.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
A) I'm not really into bodily possession. I'll leave that job up to Satan and Linda Blair. (That's my way of dodging your question)
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
A) I think I have some salsa with some mold in it developing toward stone age weapons. We've worked out an understanding, though. I don't open the lid and it doesn't try to scalp me with a flint tomahawk.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
A) They can expect to be amazed and dazzled and enlightened. Well, they can expect the next part of The Reaper Corps coming out in a month or two. I'm nearly finished with it. I just need to edit it and get it out.
