kaleidoscope? Oh, yes!

Familiarise Friday has a great treat in store, today.
  
Adam S. Leslie, a fellow Crooked Cat author, has persuaded Peter Tobey to come along and be interviewed.

Who, you might ask, is Peter Tobey?

Peter, a character in kaleidoscope, is heavily involved just now since it's launch day for Adam's novel - kaleidoscope -  published by Crooked Cat. 

There's a fantastic FaceBook Launch Party today but Peter's squeezed in a really excellent interview to share with us.
(Join Adam at the online cyber party at https://www.facebook.com/events/456889537719318/ )

I haven't managed to read anything of kaleidoscope, as yet (Got it on my kindle at the fantastic launch price today!), but I wanted to get to know this fascinating character in the novel. It has such an arresting cover, but who the figure represents might only be divulged by reading the book!

The genre of kaleidoscope almost defies classification, so you really need to read on to the blurb below for the novel to get a gist of what's it's about. But first... 

 
Let's hear what Peter has to say in answer to my questions....

Someone is looking at you very closely. What do they see?

I like to be different.  People love to follow trends – wear the fashionable clothes, drink the fashionable drinks.  That’s not me.  If the trend is to look smart, I’ll be casual; if the trend is to be casual, I’ll be out there in my three-piece suit and tie.  I’m not interested in being one of the herd.

Is that how your best friend would describe you?

Everyone likes to imagine that their friends would describe them as loyal, interesting, fun to be around, don’t they?  But who knows.  Maybe they secretly hate me.  I suppose at the moment they might describe me as the guy leading them into danger they may not be able to get out of.

Do you have somewhere you call home where you can kick back and enjoy things?

I have an apartment in Blue Zone, but I don’t spend much time there.  I really only enjoy being out in the malls shopping.  That’s when you’re really living – seeking the best bargains, comparing prices, hunting out sales.  There’s an art to it.

I must confess I have a severe aversion to shopping and only rarely do I indulge in retail  therapy, so you'll have to persuade me otherwise. Does your main occupation give you some leisurely moments?

I’m technically a man of leisure – but all that will change as soon as The Plan goes ahead and we’re forced to flee the Centre forever.

Satisfaction is relative to circumstances, but what gives you most pleasure?

When I’ve found a great bargain, or mined a really good sale.  There’s nothing better than discovering a sale in a hidden corner of your favourite shop. 

That was, at least, until Kaleidoscope came along and ruined everything.

It does sound like you do have it down to a fine art! How did you view your future unfolding when you were a raw, untried youth?

Everyone wants to work in shops – retail is the highest aspiration there is.  I was no different when I was little.

Funnily enough my very first job was working in a 'Sweetie' shop! Is that earlier image transpiring as you imagined?  Or, is what you do now vastly different?

When I do work, I work in retail, but it’s not really what I enjoy.  And now Kaleidoscope is here, people don’t really shop any more, not the way they used to.  They mostly just stay in their apartments and watch the sitcom. 

But in a way, that’s provided me with my true calling in life.  I’m the one who has to free them from Kaleidoscope before my beloved Centre goes to hell.

Oh, my. That sounds so sinister.... I think you have to tell us a bit more about Kaleidoscope.

Everyone loves a sitcom.  Next to shopping, they’re our favourite thing.  There are over a hundred TV channels dedicated to them. But Kaleidoscope is different... it doesn’t have a story, it doesn’t have much dialogue, it doesn’t even have any real jokes – just two men sitting in a black and white room for hour after hour.  Somehow it’s addictive, though, like a narcotic – it causes severe apathy, and worse, it can make some people psychotic. I’m sure the recent increase in killings is to do with Kaleidoscope.  It has to be stopped.

I think I'm beginning to agree with you! What do you fear the most?

Everyone has phobias.  Experts say it’s because our enclosed lifestyle makes us hypersensitive.  I have phobias of limescale, feet, anything sharp near the crook of my thumb, beetles, plasterboard, vests, fish bones, cooked celery, anyone touching my spine, babies’ necks, the big vein under the tongue, turquoise rust, small holes, men’s belly buttons, elasticated trousers, opaque red liquid and raw egg white.

Though they’re just phobias.  What do I actually fear the most above everything?  The Outer Zones.  But then, everyone does.

Okay! I think 'The Outer Zones' just might need to be read about in 'the flesh' as it were. Tell us another 4 things that we’d love to learn about you.

My favourite drink is Midget Greenie.  It makes my skin glow in the dark. 

(Very cool! I'm guessing a very lovely green? -  whereas some yummy cocktails just make me go a lovely bright red!)

My favourite sitcoms are What The Cat Dragged In, Lucy Pie-Head’s Windmill of Sugar, One Good Turn Deserves A Mother and Horrible Hospital.

( I'm thinking Crooked Cats might just like that first one!)

My favourite colour is... you guessed it, whichever one it’s the least fashionable to like.  Currently: purple.

(Well- colour me purple is quite retro, don't you think?) 

It’s my secret ambition to one day go outside... and that may be coming true at some point in the very near future.

(You should really consider that one very carefully before you indulge, Peter. Let us know how that one pans out, please?)

What's your biggest goal in the near future?

I need to rid the Centre of Kaleidoscope.  It doesn’t matter if I won’t be around to enjoy the benefits – this is a higher calling.  And who these days can say they’ve ever had a higher calling?

Hey! You've got to take care, Peter, and come back sometime and give us another great interview. It's great to know a little about you, so thank you so much for taking time out on this exciting day to talk to us.  

Step outside...

Peter Tobey lives an idyllic existence of energy drinks, mindless television sitcoms, phobia-induced hypersensitivity – and shopping.

Into his world comes Kaleidoscope, a sinister, addictive sitcom that turns bright, happy shoppers into lethargic drones.

Peter realises that he and his small group of friends must make the ultimate sacrifice: end Kaleidoscope, flee their beloved shopping centre, and be the first people in generations to step Outside into the great unknown...

Kaleidoscope is a pulsating blend of magical realism, dystopian fantasy adventure, satire, trash culture, science fiction, post-modern horror, and the childhood fever in which you and your family have been trapped for the last thirty years.  

A product of the 1970s, Adam S. Leslie is made up of ochres, browns, oranges and olive-greens.  By day he is a novelist, screenwriter and musician; by night he is much the same, only in the dark.
Adam is a peddler of magical-realism – his influences include the mysterious voices he hears as he drifts off to sleep, childhood fevers and the nightmares he struggles to remember when he wakes.
He is engaged in a number of top secret film and television projects, still finds time to work on his sprawling four-part epic novel Blinsby, but hasn’t found the time yet to release his debut album Berlin Horse, which is neither about Germany nor horses.

Adam’s debut novel is the kaleidoscopic science-fiction fantasy, Kaleidoscope.
Amaz UK paperback
Amaz UK Kindle
Amaz US paperback

Amaz US Kindle

Bio at Crooked Cat Publishing
Find Adam on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/aslauthor

Thank you so much for coming today, Peter and Adam, and my best wishes for a successful launch of 'kaleidoscope' today! 

Slainthe!