Evy Journey writes. Stories and blog posts. Novels that tend to cross genres. She’s also a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse. Evy studied psychology (M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D. University of Illinois). So her fiction spins tales about nuanced characters dealing with contemporary life issues and problems. She believes in love and its many faces. Her one ungranted wish: To live in Paris where art is everywhere and people have honed aimless roaming to an art form. She has visited and stayed a few months at a time. Her latest book is The Golden Manuscripts: A Novel.
Author Links
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Thanks for this interview. Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regard to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing? Can you tell us about your journey?
The beginning was definitely a learning stage, mostly in unlearning the academic writing habits of social science research and adapting the ways of fiction writing. But my biggest hurdle is promotion and marketing, a process that seems to keep shifting, and with which I can’t seem to keep up.
When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?
I do art in various media, although lately I’ve been drawn to digital art making. I love to travel—and am planning to go again, now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted. And, of course, I read; nowadays, mostly fiction. At night, I usually watch a movie on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Kanopy.
What makes your book stand out from the rest?
I think it’s a combination of things. It’s a cross-genre novel, for one. It’s about a medieval art form that’s seldom the subject of books, for another. And these themes are couched in a biracial young woman’s search for self and home.
Can you give us the very first page of your book so that we can get a glimpse inside?
The book starts with a Prologue:
April 1945
Spoils of War: East Germany
Everyone knew the end was near. But so much still needed to be done.
Hands on hips, shoulders stooped, and eyes weary, he stared at a dozen or so wooden crates. He stood before them, paralyzed, his body and spirit exhausted. Three years in training camps and on the battlefields—that was how much time this senseless war had stolen from his life. But for him, it was a lifetime of horror no one else could fathom who had not experienced it. Those years were about to end, and yet he couldn’t say he felt relieved. Another life was waiting for him—a life of peace his fellow survivors couldn’t wait to return to. But he wasn’t ready. He needed a sense of closure for the life of war he was leaving. But how? Could anyone rise out of the ashes of hell he had been through?
Had it only been a day or two since his battalion crossed the border into Germany from Belgium? They had been among the first to breach enemy territory. They had also been among the first deployed into the European Theater in 1943, landing in Sicily to fight the Germans.
In only a matter of days, the Allied Forces expected the Nazis to surrender.
He was lucky, he was aware of that, having seen too many dead bodies. After a while, it no longer mattered to him what uniforms they wore. They had all perished in service of a mad monster and his cadre of fiendish lackeys.
If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?
I can think of two. Not federal holidays, but they’re obviously celebrations of the arts—World Art Day on April 15 and National Arts Day on October 25. The Golden Manuscripts has a lot to do with the art world.
Would you consider turning your book into a series or has that already been done?
The book is the sixth and final installment in my series Between Two Worlds, but except for themes and two or more details like setting and the characters meeting in the same coffee shop, each novel is a standalone.
When you were young, did you ever see writing as a career or full-time profession?
It was a dream. I wanted to become a journalist. But I was aware my parents and teachers expected me to go into the sciences. I ended up getting a graduate degree in psychology.
What’s next on your to do list?
I’m in the gestating stage for a historical novel, or maybe a dual timeline one.
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