Olivie Blake is the pseudonym of Alexene Farol Follmuth, a writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. She is the author of multiple novels, anthologies, graphic novels, and film scripts, including the internationally bestselling THE ATLAS SIX from Tor Books, with forthcoming TV adaptation from Amazon Studios and Brightstar Productions.
To celebrate her upcoming book Alone With You in the Ether, Olivie takes on our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born and bred in the San Francisco Bay Area by an immigrant mother in a biracial family. I attended university in Los Angeles, where I returned later in life and now live.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
At twelve I was desperate to be a knight. (All credit owed to Tamora Pierce.) At eighteen I wanted to be a classical flutist but didn’t consider myself well-suited to a life of rejection, so I had selected urban planning as my career based on my love of social sciences and cities. At thirty I was desperate to be a writer in any form—by then I’d discovered it was the only thing I could do both well and happily, so I settled in for the life of rejection I’d been so desperate to avoid. You can’t escape your fate, I suppose.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?
That I would end up alone. Seems very dark to confess at this moment but this is ten terrifying questions, right? (And my personal politics have always been radically left-wing.) Unbeknownst to me at the time, at eighteen I was beginning my journey with mental illness and also very invested in a life of professional success, which up to that point I had not been given a reason to believe involved marriage or family or any sort of happily ever after.
Now I’ve loved the same person for a third of my life and together we have a small goblin of a toddler—I practically stink of love. I’m never alone. And it is not always easy, so eighteen-year-old me may have been onto something there, but believing myself unworthy of love has been ever so gently disproved over time.
4. What are three works of art – this could be a book, painting, piece of music, film, etc – that influenced your development as a writer?
This could take me years so going with my gut response: “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt, The Royal Tenenbaums, and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a novel?
I’ve always loved books. I would always rather pass time reading than doing anything else, probably because I like the sound of the inside of my head (there’s a little ego to writing, isn’t there? let’s be honest). As a musician, or when it comes to visual art, I like to interpret and feel but not invent. Stories are my preferred method of communication.
6. Please tell us about ‘Alone With You In The Ether‘!
Alone with You in the Ether is about a time travel-obsessed mathematician and a self-sabotaging artist who agree to six conversations that ultimately alter the trajectory of both their lives. It’s a genre-bending exploration of time, art, and mental health as well as a story about the intricacies of an unconventional relationship, but mostly it’s about learning to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you’re not broken.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
I hope they feel something, or think about something. I hope my stories make something in your chest go boom or your head go buzz. Mostly, though, I hope you walk away with something true, yours or mine.
8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?
Elena Ferrante writes the ugly parts of the feminine experience with unparalleled honesty and fluidity. Part of it I’m sure is the maturity in her writing, so maybe there’s still hope for me, an idiot in the grand scheme of things. But I will admit that I’m also a little jealous that her work stands so beautifully on its own while she remains a mystery… truly icon behavior. I also admire Zadie Smith very much, since the timbre of her narrative absurdity is what I am often trying to accomplish.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I hope I get to write for a long, long time, and that my stories keep a roof over my son’s head and food on our table. Sounds mundane I’m sure but given the nature of publishing it’s a real wish upon a star.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Not every published author is the best writer in the world, but without exception they are the most resilient. There will be “no”s at every level of publishing forever, and if you don’t believe in your talent before you finally get the agent or the book deal or the starred review, nothing will ever convince you. There is no finish line, just the success you allow yourself to feel. So be adaptable, be authentic, and don’t give up.
Thank you for playing!
— Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake (Pan Macmillan) is out on the 13th of December!
Alone With You in the Ether
The bestselling author of The Atlas Six
Chicago, sometime. Two people meet in the armory of the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. After their meeting, those things do not change.
Everything else, however, is slightly different.
Both obsessive, eccentric personalities, Aldo Damiani and Charlotte Regan struggle to be without each other from the moment they meet. The truth - that he is a clinically depressed, anti-social theoretician and she is a manipulative liar with a history of self-sabotage - means the deeper they fall in love, the more troubling their reliance on each other becomes.
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake is a glimpse into the nature of love, what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken.
8 more BookTok-approved reads to dive into!
Comments
No comments