Friday 10 December 2021

Festive Fun with... Val Portelli

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Val Portelli back to the blog for the latest Festive Fun with... feature. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 
I live in South east London in a borough which used to be Kent, and still causes healthy disputes amongst the locals, and confusion to everyone else. I have seven books published (eight if you include my first book which was republished with a new cover, a new author name and a new publisher), plus have contributed to several published anthologies, with another charity one due out shortly.

I breed unicorns in my back garden.

What are you most looking forward to this Christmas? 
A return of the original spirit of what it was all about-friends, family, joy and peace.

Do you have any favourite family Christmas traditions? 
I know they’re really old and tatty, but come to my house and you will find the knitted Christmas tree on the banister, a row of Santa’s little red boots going up the stairs, Father Christmas sitting on Rudolph’s back looking out the front room window, and similar things which are already making me smile remembering them.

What is your best Christmas memory? 
Being allowed into Mum and Dad’s bedroom as very young children and strewing Christmas wrapping paper all over their bed as we unwrapped our presents. 

Having a power cut in the middle of our Christmas afternoon in my house so we ended up playing silly games by candlelight.

So many others it’s hard to choose; each year brings its own memories.

Describe your ideal Christmas 
A floating hotel with all my friends and family, where ever in the world they live, so they can magically be picked up to join the party as we cross the oceans, and still get home in time for tea. A bit like Santa’s sleigh only bigger.

If you could choose one person, dead or alive, to celebrate a one time special Christmas with, who would you choose and why? 
Christmas is a sentimental time and my first thought was the love of my life who died very young. If not, how about Elvis for a special treat? Well, it is Christmas and fantasy time, and I would be very grateful.

What is your favourite festive book of all-time? 
How weird, I can’t immediately think of a festive book apart from the old traditional ones, such as ‘A Christmas Carol.’ I know many authors release a Christmas special but although I might enjoy them, somehow Christmas and ‘The cupcake, snowy, village, by the sea, grumpy misery turned happy ever after, romantic, sentimental,’ book never appeals to me at this time of the year. I prefer a fun/fantasy/horror/spooky one, even though I’m actually a total romantic.

What Christmas book would you like to see turned into a film? 
I couldn’t think of any so I cheated and googled. All the old ones are already films, and the new ones seem to be of the cupcake variety, overly gruesome, or short story collections. Perhaps I’d better get started writing one for next year to give Hollywood time to line up the cast.

If you could spend Christmas with any fictional character, who would you choose and why? 
I was going to say Santa but he’s real and likely to be busy, but if ever he got the time off, he would have some fascinating stories to tell about who was good and who was bad.

What is your favourite Christmas song? 
I’ve no idea why, but the first time I hear the song ‘A spaceman came travelling’ I know it’s Christmas. There’s something so realistic and practical about it, yet at the same time it’s magical.

In total contrast who could resist Slade and Merry Christmas Everybody. It’s CHRISTMAS!

What is your favourite Christmas film? 
Anything Disney and/or something old I’ve seen 100 times before. 

And finally, what are your hopes for 2022? 
Common sense makes a come-back, empathy is rediscovered, nature gives us a second chance, and the world stops going crazy.

Quick-fire questions

Roses or Quality Street? Both 
Mince pies/Christmas cake or Yule log? Yes. :D 
Turkey or ham? Turkey 
Brussel sprouts or roast parsnips? Parsnips 
Gravy or cranberry sauce? Both 
Fake or real Christmas tree? If someone else is doing the hoovering, a big, real one and some smaller artificial ones scattered around the house. 
White or coloured lights? Coloured
Giving or receiving presents? Giving, as long as I can think of something and the recipient actually likes it.  I love receiving too, nothing expensive, but daft and quirky. One year a friend bought me a water bin for the garden, which sounds rather boring, but she went to the trouble of dressing it up like a snowman.

Thanks so much for having me as your guest, Sharon. I’d like to wish you and all your readers a very Happy Christmas and to reassure you I’m quite normal really – well sometimes. 

Val x 

I literally started my writing career ‘accidently,’ when a freak accident put me in hospital for a month, and left me housebound and unable to walk for a year. Up until then life had been too hectic to pursue my love of writing, but this gave me the opportunity to have my first book published, so there’s always a rainbow. 

Reviewers often tell me my books are difficult to categorise under specific genres, although the favoured description for my short stories tends to be ‘quirky.’ This time last year we set up ‘Val’s Tales’ which are audio versions of some of my stories available free on You Tube and various podcasts.  

Links

Amazon author page: https://author.to/ValPortelli
Facebook author page: Val'sTales     
Blog: www.Voinks.wordpress.com
Goodreads: Val_Portelli
Twitter: @vals_tales          
Instagram: @vals_tales

You Tube: Val's Tales                 
Amazon Music: Val's Tales  
Apple Podcasts: Val's Tales
Google Podcasts: Val's Tales             

Publishing company: www.quirkyunicornbooks.wordpress.com

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