Orsayor: If your life was made into a movie, what would the title be, and would it be a comedy, drama, or adventure flick?
Aliya: Uh oh – I’m really not very good at choosing one genre and sticking to it. It would probably be an avant-garde pastiche of all the genres mashed together. There’d be an element of slapstick comedy because I’m so clumsy. And an element of horror, for the month after I first saw Jaws and I was certain a shark was coming up the stairs every night to get me. We can get some surrealism in at that point, too. I’ve had moments of drama and adventure and fantasy, so far. I think I’ll cram every genre in my movie and call it ‘The Confusion.’ That sounds about right.
Orsayor: Who would you like to be stuck in the elevator with?
Aliya: That depends on how long the elevator is stuck for. If it’s just for a couple of minutes, then I’d like to get stuck with an actor that turns my knees to jelly. Just for long enough to get an autograph and soak up their presence without having to think of anything clever to say. The pressure would be too much for me to cope with if it went on for any length of time.
If we’re talking about an hour in that elevator, then I’d want to be stuck with a writer so that we could have a great conversation about that. Then the time would fly by. It would be even better if I were allowed to get stuck with a dead writer who was brought back to life just for the occasion – can I do that? Since this is my imagination, I’m going to say yes, and go for the jugular: Shakespeare. An hour in an elevator with a resurrected Shakespeare would do nicely.
Orsayor: What song best describes your work ethic?
Aliya: I just keep plugging away, having no idea where it’s all going to end up, and I sometimes find myself singing Just Keep Swimming from Finding Nemo when I’m sitting at my desk. You know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming. Or writing.
Orsayor: Is there one question above all else that you don’t want to answer about yourself? What is the question?
Aliya: I really can’t answer the question: what is your book about? I don’t know, beyond the plot and the characters. I’m not about providing answers so much as enjoying trying to ask certain questions.
Orsayor: Can you tell readers about any upcoming books/projects?
Aliya: Skein Island will be released on November 5th by Titan Books, and it’s a horror-fantasy-adventure-drama about a woman who goes to an island retreat in search of her long-disappeared mother, and discovers a secret that changes the world: a secret encompassing Ancient Greece and Nazi Germany, from historical fiction to contemporary politics. I told you I couldn’t stick to one genre.
Skein Island, since 1945 a private refuge for women, lies in turbulent waters twelve miles off the coast of Devon. Visitors are only allowed by invitation from the reclusive Lady Amelia Worthington. Women stay for one week, paying for their stay with a story from their past, a Declaration for the Island’s vast library.
Marianne’s invitation arrives shortly before her quiet life at the library is violently interrupted, the aftermath leaving her husband David feeling helpless. Now, just like her mother did seventeen years ago, she must discover what her story is. Secrets are buried deep on Skein Island. The monsters of Ancient Greece and the atrocities of World War II, heroes and villains with their seers and sidekicks, and the stories of a thousand lifetimes all threaten to break free.
But every story needs an ending, whatever the cost.
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