Today it's my pleasure to be shining the spotlight on author Chrissey Harrison and her debut novel Mime which was published this week.Chrissey is an author of supernatural thrillers and other spec genre fiction featuring monsters, magic, action and adventure, and fragile human characters trying to muddle through as best they can. They make mistakes and bad choices sometimes, and they have to learn to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses and turn to their friends and loved ones for help and support.
Her debut novel, Mime, was published in July 2020. Working on this book has been an epic 10 year journey learning how to be a writer. In that time she has published multiple short stories including novelette The Star Coin Prophesy and most recently Henchman in the anthology Forgotten Sidekicks from Kristell Ink.
She is a science geek, gamer, fan of sci-fi and fantasy, and wearer of many hats. Metaphorical hats, that is, not so much real hats. At the moment she mostly wears her writer hat, her graphic designer hat and her crafter hat.
She lives in Clevedon, North Somerset, in a creaky old Victorian terrace with her partner and her 18 year-old goldfish, Ambition. You can follow her fish on Twitter if you like (@AquariumDays). One day she will own a cat... one day.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your writing journey started?
Hi Sharon, thanks for having me on your blog. I’m Chrissey and I’ve been writing seriously for about 10 years now. I used to dabble in fiction as a kid and as a teen, but I drifted away from it in my early 20s. When I was 26, I was making a short film with a group of friends and in that creative atmosphere the idea for Mime was born. Thinking back on my younger years and my passion for fiction, I decided to have a go at writing the idea as a novel. I mean how hard could it be?
Answer? Hard! I quickly realised I had a lot to learn. Mime has routinely been on the back burner while I built up the toolkit of skills to do it justice. The good thing was that the challenge never put me off. I’ve loved every minute of the journey.
If you had to give an elevator pitch for your debut novel Mime, what would it?
“Paranormal journalist takes on demon mime artist.”
Or if it’s a tall building with a lot of floors:
What starts out as an investigation into several unnatural deaths turns into a cross country quest which takes journalists Elliot and Sam to dusty libraries, secret crypts and forgotten tunnels. For Elliot the journey is about discovering his true purpose in life and forgiving himself for past mistakes. For Sam it’s about accepting her past trauma and facing her fears.
