Monday, July 20, 2020

Character Interview: Anna Incognito's Anna Colin Beck #characterinterview @laurapreble

We are really excited to have Anna Colin Beck here with us today at Blogging Authors! Anna comes from the inside pages of Laura Preble's new book, ANNA INCOGNITO. Take it away, Anna!

What is your name?

Anna Colin Beck

What do you look like?

I’m 42, have nothing but fuzz on my head since I constantly pick at my hair and skin, and I wear a

wig whenever I’m in public. The wig is short, dark, and a little wavy. My eyes look like two root-beer jawbreakers rolling around and I’m told that I seem a little bit unstable.

Where are you today and what are you doing?

Today, I’m sanitizing my groceries that were delivered. Since I have severe OCD, I am extremely careful about anything that comes into my apartment. I have a station set up outside my door, complete with latex gloves, a small bucket of bleach water (one gallon and ¾ cup of bleach if you need to know the ratio) and a rag to wipe down everything. I also have several face masks to wear if I do need to go outside, but I am avoiding the outside world at the moment. Too many germy, careless people.

You come face to face with your worst enemy. How do you react?

My worst enemy? Hmmm…. I’m not even sure who that would be. My neighbor, Petra, is overbearing and constantly barges into my place (although I’ve told her she must wear a mask and gloves) but she’s not my enemy. I’m going to say that my worst enemy is contamination. If I come face to face with contamination, I Lysol it into submission.

How would your parents describe you?

Since they’re dead, I doubt they’d have much to say. I’ve been told I was a difficult child, rather demanding, and unlike most children, I kept all of my belongings orderly and neat, alphabetized, and in perfect rows.

Who is your best friend?

This is going to sound odd, but my best friend is Annabella, my wig head. (I’ve included a photo of her). She was a gift from someone very special, and she holds my wig when I’m sleeping or just trying to cool off. I used to consider my therapist my best friend, but he betrayed me.

Are you faith-oriented?

If there is a God, and I ever meet her, I will definitely be having some serious conversations about the design flaws in this plane of existence. What kind of supreme being creates a world where a tiny thing we can’t see can kill us? Also, why give us arms that can’t reach all the way to the middle of our backs? It’s almost as if She wanted us to be uncomfortable all the time. I also need an answer for why the most fattening foods are the worst for you.

Are you married or in a relationship?

I have been married. I’d rather not talk about it.

Do you have children?

Why are you asking such pointed questions? I thought this was supposed to be a casual interview, not some interrogation! Honestly, do you think I could raise a child? Look at me. I’m an absolute mess. And don’t go digging around in old newspapers to find any information because all of that happened a long time ago.

Inside the Book

Lots of narrative pull…wonderfully complicated. – Jincy Willett, author of The Writing Class, and anthologized by David Sedaris in Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules.

Anna Colin Beck knows all too well what can happen when things go wrong really wrong. So, she’s spent the last several years living an extremely regimented life at home, doing everything she can to avoid subjecting herself to the torments of a germ-infested world. Everything must be just so, and when things don’t go to plan, she punishes her own body…and that still hasn’t helped alleviate her pain.

After a chance meeting in a laundromat, she finds herself completely infatuated with another person, something that hasn’t happened to her in a long time. Dr. Edward Denture is seemingly brilliant and magnetic…and in the blink of an eye, she’s attending intense somatic therapy sessions as his newest client. The more he draws from her, the further their relationship grows, until it’s crossed countless lines and consumed Anna with a fierce toxicity. And before she knows it, she finds herself buckled into the driver’s seat of a powder-blue El Dorado for a solo cross-country road trip, determined to stop his wedding. It’s a trip that will test every limitation she’s ever set for herself, and though she’s planned extensively for all contingencies, there are some twists and turns you just can’t prepare for.

With wry observations on the intersection of luck, fate, and life, Anna Incognito is a searing, darkly witty exploration of what it means to be alive.

PRAISE FOR ANNA INCOGNITO

IndieReader.com: 5/5 “Rich with witticism in the face of painful realities and evoking lyrical truisms throughout, from of a rating scale of 1 – 5 this novel is so off-the-charts good, it deserves a 10.” LINK HERE

OnlineBookClub.com: 4/4 “The writing was captivating…This book would be great for readers who are struggling with mental health or for those trying to understand it better. Are you ready to go for a drive with Anna?. Buckle up, because you are in for the ride of your life!” LINK HERE

Kirkus Reviews: “The protagonist’s acerbic wit and mordant tone work well in the difficult material in Preble’s unconventional road novel. A razor-sharp, oddly fun romp through the American West.” LINK HERE

ORDER YOUR COPY

Mascot Books → https://mascotbooks.com/mascot-marketplace/buy-books/fiction/romance/anna-incognito/

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3gWo7wf

Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/2MtLLSV

About the Author

Laura Preble is the award-winning author of the young adult series, Queen Geek Social Club (Penguin/Berkley Jam), which includes the novels Queen Geeks in Love and Prom Queen Geeks. Her novel, Out, dealt with the concept of LGBTQ rights within a young adult dystopia; Alex Sanchez, author of Rainbow Boys, says “Out explores an intriguing, mind-bending, and challenging portrait of an upside-down world that turns the tables on homophobia, acceptance, and love.” She has won a Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize, and has been published in North American Review, Writer’s Digest, Hysteria, and NEA Today.