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| The Author |
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| The Novel can be bought at P'kaboo Publishers |
Despite some international confusion about time frames the launch was well attended. Here are some of the salient points of the interview:
Leslie Noble Hi Carmen - how do you like your own book in relation to previous ones - as good, or do you think you have gone one better?
Carmen Capuano Leslie Noble, they are hard to compare, being very, very different. However the same amount of love and heartache has been poured into all of them.
Leslie Noble I know some authors don't particularly like one of their books, even thoough the public does, and on the other hand they personally love something that doesn't catch on.
Carmen Capuano I don't think I could have written the story if I hadn't personally been enjoying it to be honest.
Lili Rossouw Tell us a bit about the story? I know people can get a pre-glimpse here http://www.pkaboo.net/splitdecision.html but let's hear a little bit?
Carmen Capuano It's really about a girl who has to make a decision between two boys. It is such a simple concept and one that happens every day in life and we never much think about the consequences...what happens because one path is taken and not the other. So that is what this book is about.
Yvonne Walker Almost like parallel lifetimes Carmen?
Carmen Capuano Yes very much, except that for the character, one of the lifetimes is very real indeed!
Lili Rossouw You tell the story from the perspective of a (nearly) 16-year-old. When you were 16, were you like Natalie (the protagonist)? In which ways? Or not at all?
Carmen Capuano I think in truth I am a combination of Natalie and Stacey. I was always living not far from the edge.
Iain Rossouw Can one really express in a book the "worldly wisedness" of a person completely?
Carmen Capuano Perhaps not entirely but Natalie start off as very innocent and that was what I loved about her, that and her loyalty.
Leslie Noble On a new tack, when you write, do you have the whole thing in your head like JKR, or (as I do) simply write and get taken along?
Carmen Capuano A little of both. I mostly know overall where I am going but I get surprised by events which happen, strange twists of fate and connections I didn't anticipate along the way.
Lili Rossouw Writers often "become" the character they are creating, while they write. What is your experience? Did you "become" a teenager again writing Natalie?
Carmen Capuano Oh how I wish Lili! I live with a teenager, isn't that enough?
Carmen Capuano You tend to think that teenagers today are different than they were years ago but they aren't - they just wear trendier clothes!
Sheryl Browne Fab pic, Carmen. xx
Carmen Capuano Thanks Sheryl!
Lili Rossouw How many teenagers do you live with?
Carmen Capuano I have three kids, the oldest is fifteen!
Yvonne Walker Ok Carmen, as a complete newbie to a book launch, convince me why I should buy your book tonight, and hopefully read it too!
Carmen Capuano Well Yvonne it will be something new for you but you will become totally immersed in it. You will be turning the pages, desperate to find out what happens next and you will be in turns exhilarated and terrified...
Yvonne Walker hm, exhilaration is fun, but terrified? .... perhaps not so much, I am the original gentle soul and we live with so much terror on a daily basis?
Carmen Capuano Yes but its not gratuitous and because you will be so wrapped up in the characters you will enjoy the terror.
Lili Rossouw Tell us about Natalie's most endearing qualities.
Carmen Capuano Natalie is strong and resilient and underneath everything she is a tough cookie - one of life's survivors, but for al that she never compromises her integrity.
Leslie Noble Are the central characters likely candidates for a sequel, do you think?
Carmen Capuano No not in themselves... but there is a Split Decision 2 planned. Watch this space.
Iain Rossouw Which is true for split decision? "Opposites attract" or "birds of a feather flock together"?
Carmen Capuano Both Iain, it just a question of timing.
Concerning Carmen's other books, "The Owners" series:
Lyz Russo On another note, you also wrote a science fiction series "The Owners". Would you like to tell us a little about that series too?
Carmen Capuano The Owners is a science fiction series and its like a cross between avatar and Planet of the Apes [or so I have been told].
Leslie Noble Adult or YA?
Carmen Capuano Both Leslie Noble.
Carmen Capuano My writing has been compared to that of JKR in the sense that all age groups seem to enjoy it.
Lyz Russo Carmen Capuano - could you give us just a little bit of a blurb?
Carmen Capuano Its really about a couple of teens who realise that things aren't quite how they ought to be in their world, and set off to find out why. It's a world where humans are kept as pets by huge bird-like creatures called Eyons.
Leslie Noble How many words per book, approximately?
Carmen Capuano The first book is about 80k but the others are less, around 70k ish.
Lyz Russo That sounds fascinating! So, teens again?
Carmen Capuano Yes I clearly have an affinity with teens lol.
Read the whole interview (including all the Facebook-style fun and games the Book Club members had) here.
Thank you to all our book club members who attended. We are looking forward to further launches, and news from this author and her promising novel.
Pink Wish Ice Cream deals
with a sweet, rounded, good-natured Polly Pink Witch teaching some
brats to be nice. It is a classic kiddies book with classic morals, the
type your mum, grand-mother and aunt would have instilled in you. It’s
really simple: Say “please” and “thank you”, and your wish will be
granted; be rude and obnoxious and you forfeit your wish. This even
applies if you’re a mommy trying to bend the rules a little for the sake
of your kid… I’m curious which lessons the other witches will be
instilling in potential sequels.
I remember the very first time I ever read the Standard. I was house-hunting in Bromsgrove and it seemed like a good idea to read the local newspaper to get a flavour of what life could be like here. It was also the first time I had encountered a local newspaper, since none of the cities I had lived in before [Glasgow, London, Birmingham] had published anything so closely linked to the lives of its inhabitants.
The distinction between a national newspaper and a local one, is more than just a difference in the types of articles they cover, for the disparity lies not just in scale but in proximity. The Standard knows its readers [‘demographics’ to other newspapers] better than just by their bank balances and the size of their homes – it knows their hearts, the things that make them tick, their whims and their foibles and it knows this because the people who write for it are local too. 
What they say: