Welcome to Fractured Fairy Tales of the Twilight Zone by Author, Jeri Cafesin

Welcome to the weekly Indie Fantasy Author Spotlight. Today we feature in interview with fantasy author, Jeri Cafesin, author of the collection of tales, Fractured Fairy Tales of the Twilight Zone.

What can you tell us about Fractured Fairy Tales of the Twilight Zone?

So, when I was a kid I used to watch this cartoon called Bullwinkle about a moose and flying squirrel always going up against a Russian bad guy. In between their story they had featured segments, one of which was Fractured Fairy Tales, generally a 5-7 minute clip ending with a twisted moral. Around the same time I watched reruns of Bullwinkle, I started watching reruns of The Twilight Zone. While Fractured Fairy Tales was comical in its delivery, and The Zone was not, they both had profoundly wonderful, insightful, wise lessons for all of us, told simply, clearly, and evocatively. I’m carrying forward this tradition with Fractured Fairy Tales of the Twilight Zone.

What inspired you to write the book?

Our attention span is getting shorter and shorter. (Sorry, what was that? I was texting.) Now more than ever the short story format is poised to launch. Have a quick, complete, satisfying read at lunch, on your bus ride home, at night relaxing. Pick a rich, engaging 20-30 page story from Fractured Fairy Tales of the Twilight Zone and get your fantasy fix fast, with characters, ideas and ideologies that linger long after the read.

Who do you imagine is your ideal reader?

Mid-late teen, young adult/adult. There is cursing in [at least] Tales of Finnegus Boggs, so I don’t think most parents are going to want their kids reading the F word (but it simply HAS to be in there. Some words are simply irreplaceable).

What was your journey as a writer?

It is still unfolding…tell ya on my deathbed, which is basically when I stop writing.

What is your writing process?

Five days a week. All day. Think about it all the time. Run scenes, dialog in my head, out loud in my car when alone.

What authors most inspire you?

Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, John Fowles, Dostoevsky, Graham Joyce, Rainbow Rowell, and about a million others. Great writers abound, which is what makes reading so endless entertaining!

What one book, written by someone else, do you wish you’d written yourself?

Most recently, Hunger Games. She is an extraordinary writer, off-the-charts clean, cinematic, touchingly human, and she humbles me.

How have you marketed and promoted your work?

I’ve gotten some great reviews for my novel Reverb, and over 6,000 reads on Disconnected, but it hasn’t translated into much sales.

Why indie publish?

Random House wouldn’t read me without an agent. Looked for a year and couldn’t get an agent without proven sales; a tightly specified genre; a different personality(?)…

What advice would you give to a first-time author thinking of self-publishing?

Rock and roll—publish! Just don’t count on making any money. In other words, keep your day job. Most all authors do. We have to. No $$ in fiction, especially now, with every mother’s son publishing on Amazon and their like.

Thanks Jeri!

More about the author:

Jeri lives on the eastern slope of the redwood laden Oakland Hills with her husband/best friend, two gorgeous, talented, spectacular kids, and a bratty, but cute Shepherd-mix pound hound.

Essays and articles are featured regularly in local and national print publications. Many of the essays from her ongoing blogspot have been translated into multiple languages and distributed globally: http://jcafesin.blogspot.com/