Today we welcome Lisa King to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Lisa is the author of the adult science fiction novel, Blue Haven. This interview is part of her Blue Haven Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

Lisa King is a Canadian fiction author and researcher whose work on veteran mental health has been published in numerous academic journals. She holds degrees in psychology and neuroscience, both from Western University. Aside from writing, she enjoys family outings, ample coffee, and unapologetic napping. She lives in London, Ontario with her husband, daughter, and wonky-eyed cat.

Her latest book is the adult science fiction/psychological thriller, Blue Haven.

You can vist her website at www.AuthorLisaKing.com or connect with her on Twitter and Instagram.

TWL: Welcome to The Writer's Life! How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Lisa: Thank you for the warm welcome. It’s such a privilege to be featured on The Writer’s Life, so many thanks!

I actually came up with the idea for Blue Haven a whopping thirteen-years ago. It was a pretty barebones storyline at the time: a young woman living in a veiled utopia that quickly starts to unravel, and a big-ticket plot twist. That was it (which is probably why my first attempt at writing the actual book was a total flop).

As time passed though, and I shifted my attention to other projects, the initial idea for Blue Haven not only stuck with me, but evolved. In the end, the completed draft was less one idea than a bunch of ideas, finally coming together over a decade later.

TWL: Can you give us a short excerpt?

Lisa: Absolutely. Here’s page one from Blue Haven.

Less than twenty-four hours earlier, Aloe Malone was sitting on a tattered couch, a distinct eagerness coursing through her veins. She shivered; her radiator was on the fritz again, sputtering from one side, cackling, rendering her tiny bachelor apartment bone-cold uncomfortable. She curled into a sweater, still freezing, slowly succumbing to the chronic, aggravating chill.

And then she laughed, her breath puffy with condensation. She’d worked her last shift at the diner, and said her meager and limited goodbyes—except the one owed to her crummy apartment. “Sayonara, shithole,” she whispered under her breath.

Now, she squinted into the radiant sun: hot but not fierce, a tempered warmth that was perfect and satisfying. She pressed her feet into the fairy dust sand and gave her toes a wiggle. She’d never felt sand like this before: white, delicate, possibly otherworldly, like it’d been manufactured in a laboratory or harvested from another universe. Like someone had broken one million hourglasses to populate this beach.

She turned to her personal concierge, Amir. “Is this ... real sand?”

Surely, it couldn’t be.

He nodded. “Real indeed. One of the many reasons we chose this location.”

This location: a mysterious venue somewhere on planet Earth.

She’d love to know the actual coordinates and considered asking (for the third time) but confidentiality was part of the deal. If you wanted to live in the world’s most lucrative beachfront community, secrecy was paramount.

TWL: What part of the book was the most fun to write?

Lisa: I really loved the worldbuilding experience; specifically, making the tropical and larger-than-life aspects of Blue Haven come to life. The atmospheric elements (think Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream meets Survivor with a slight, techy edge) also fostered a lovely mental vacation during the pandemic.

Oh yes, and my inner nerd wants you to know that I also had a blast creating some of the neuropsychology content in the latter half of the novel, too.

TWL: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

Lisa: Probably that it took thirteen-years to publish! That said, thirteen is my favorite number, so who knows, maybe it’s fate.

TWL: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Lisa: I’ve recently been dabbling in the middle-grade genre, working on a manuscript that explores the fantastical world of veterinary sorcery. I have a four-year-old daughter, so my headspace is very talking cats and magical potions these days. I’m also plugging away at a speculative adult fiction with a lot of humor and a lot of heart, that follows the up rise of four nobodies-turned-somebodies. Publication dates for both of these projects are to-be determined.

TWL: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

Lisa: It’s taken me a long time to realize that happiness isn’t a destination. That said, Blue Haven asks, what if it could be?

It sounds like a great idea at first—and maybe so, if we were a different species entirely, and human beings didn’t suck so terribly at foresight. I believe this combo (human nature, crappy foresight) is particularly disastrous when it comes to technology, the implications of which we’re only starting to experience on a global scale. So, one message here is to be cautious, especially as consumers.

TWL: Do you have any final words?

Lisa: Just thank you, to everyone involved in my writing journey—especially my readers. I’m beyond grateful to be given an opportunity to do what I truly love.

Title: BLUE HAVEN
Author: Lisa King
Publisher: The Story Plant
Pages: 336
Genre: Adult Science Fiction/Psychological Thriller

Book Blurb:

Welcome to Blue Haven, the world’s most lucrative condo corporation—so exclusive that only five lucky residents live in this lush, tropical paradise, housed in a top-secret location.

Among them is twenty-five-year-old Aloe Malone, an introvert and former waitress who traded bussing tables for lengthy sleep-ins, ocean dips, Michelin-star restaurants, spectacular sunsets, and unlikely new friends—all thanks to a spurious lottery win.

Life’s good.

Damn good.

That is, until Aloe discovers a journal.

Seemingly left by a past resident named Eloise whose entries are both sad and evoking, Aloe quickly suspects there’s more to Blue Haven than meets the eye.

Her suspicions are confirmed when visions arise, gruesome hallucinations she can’t understand, followed by a strange yet familiar man lurking in places he shouldn’t. Something’s wrong. Or maybe it’s all in her head. Regardless, she vows to uncover the truth.

Except someone wants to keep her quiet, and it’s the last person she ever suspected.

Blue Haven is a science-fiction thriller that explores what innovation can achieve—and destroy—despite the best intentions. King’s imaginative world building and use of moral ambiguity make this page-turning novel a thought-provoking thrill that’s impossible to put down.

Book Information

Release Date: May 31, 2022

Publisher: The Story Plant

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1611883206; 336 pages; $26.95; E-Book, $7.49

Book Trailer https://youtu.be/DgnqxcZLRcg

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LVsZB0

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3waPpHv

Indigo: https://bit.ly/3MWRayO

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781611883206

Book Depository: https://bit.ly/3kNK4kk