Bio:
EPIC
Award winner and Lambda Award finalist Aleksandr Voinov is an emigrant German
author living near London, where he until recently worked as an editor in
financial services. His genres range from science fiction and fantasy to
thriller, historical, contemporary, thriller, and erotica. His books were/are
published by Random House Germany, Samhain Publishing, Riptide Publishing and
others.
If
he isn’t writing, he studies sports massage, explores historical sites, and
meets other writers. He single-handedly sustains three London bookstores with
his ever-changing research projects. His current interests include special
forces operations during World War II, the history of chess, European magical
traditions, and how to destroy the world and plunge it into a nuclear winter
without having the benefit of nuclear weapons.
Visit
Aleksandr’s website at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com, his blog at
http://www.aleksandrvoinov.blogspot.com, and follow him on Twitter, where he
tweets as @aleksandrvoinov.
The
Questions:
-
What language do you speak most of the time?
English. I really only speak German when talking to my German
family these days, or when I a fellow German expat starts a conversation in the
language.
-
What language do you think in?
English. I think the switch happened
after about two years in the UK. That said, I’d been living with my English
partner for a year before that, so things were starting to get muddled even
then.
-
What language do you dream in?
English.
-
What language do you swear in after you’ve really hurt yourself?
Mostly English, because “f*cking
hell/shit” just isn’t the same in German. German creeps in at times when
there’s no equivalent English translation, or when I translate a German turn of
phrase into English, and my editor, for example, remarks on how “original” that
phrase is—when in German, it’s a well-worn cliché.
-
What language are you most comfortable in?
English. My vocabulary in German is
narrowing, and I think I have a hint of an English accent when I speak. Mostly,
though, I stutter and stammer looking for the right word when I speak German,
which feels unwieldy and unnatural. I don’t like those pauses or that mental
translation.
-
How easy or difficult is it for you to switch from one language to
the other?
I find it fairly difficult—I just want
to communicate, and the language shouldn’t get in the way. And getting
self-conscious about my usage is part of getting in the way. I constantly check
with myself if I’m saying things right or how I sound. Much less of that in
English, where it’s clear I’m a foreigner so I get cut some slack.
-
Does it affect you when you’re in a group where both languages are
being spoken?
Least favourite thing. For some reason,
German still overrides English – I might be talking to somebody in English and
when somebody speaks German, it overrides everything else and focuses my
attention that way. I find it near impossible to speak English when I hear a
simultaneous German conversation going on.
-
Do you ever speak the ‘wrong’ language to someone?
Yes. I’ve translated a menu and ended up
explaining the food to my American friend in German and order from the German
waiter in English. Well, I call it stand-up comedy. But yeah, having to
mentally check which language I’m speaking in mixed company is just one of
those frustrating things that get in the way.
-
Would you translate yourself from one language into the other or
ask someone else (professional) to do it?
I prefer to have somebody else do
it—less second-guessing, less struggling for the right word. For them, German
is natural. That said, I’m currently translation a German story into English,
and that’s comparatively easier, since English is natural for me now, but I
still understand German, obviously.
-
If size of (potential) market wasn’t an issue what language would
you be writing in?
English. Germany is way behind in terms
of e-books and queer fiction, so I prefer to be part of the international
writing and ebook community, because that’s where new developments happen, and
that’s where my friends are. I miss Germany and Germans sometimes, but I’m a proper
expat now. I can’t imagine to ever switch back.
That said, it’s fun to have Germans in
my stories and play with stereotypes and clichés, because I can see Germans and
Germany both from the inside and outside. I really did enjoy putting my British
characters into Germany in Return on Investment, and the German lawyer Carsten is one of my
favourite side characters.
Aleksandr’s
latest release
Martin
David, an eager but inexperienced financial analyst, is the newest member of
the investment team at Skeiron Capital Partners in London. His boss is an
avowed financial genius, but he’s also overbearing and intense. Despite his
erratic behaviour, Martin can’t help being drawn to him both professionally and
personally.
Too
bad his boss doesn’t seem to feel the same. In a firm where pedigree and
connections mean far more than Martin’s newly-minted business degree, Martin
feels desperately inadequate—at least until he meets the enigmatic investment
manager Alec Berger, who promises to help Martin establish himself in the
financial community. Martin is so charmed by Alec’s sophistication and wit that
he gives him data that should have stayed confidential.
Then
the financial crisis hits. Banks burn, companies teeter on the brink, and
Skeiron’s survival is at stake. Martin is pushed into the middle of the fight
for Skeiron—against both the tanking economy and a ruthless enemy who’s stepped
out of the shadows to collect the spoils.
Buy
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