Interview with Abby Luby, author of "Nuclear Romance"
About Abby Luby
Abby Luby is a freelance journalist who, for over ten years, has covered nuclear power, particularly issues surrounding the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. Her articles have appeared in The New York Daily News, The Villager, The Westchester Guardian, The Real Deal, SolveClimateNews, The North County News and the Record Review. She also writes for the Poughkeepsie Journal, The Stamford Advocate/Greenwich Time, Valley Table Magazine, Roll Magazine, Hearst publications HealthyLivingCT, Living@HomeCT covering news, art, food and health. She teaches writing and literature at Marist College.
To find out more about Abby visit http://www.abbylu.com
To find out more about Nuclear Romance visit http://nuclearromance.wordpress.com
Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life, Abby Luby.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?
A: I am a single parent with a 20 year old
son in college. I am an active journalist for publications in Westchester
County , New York , an area
immediately north of New York City
Q: Can you please tell us about your book and why
you wrote it?
A: Nuclear Romance is a
story about how the tragic death of a 7-year old girl after swimming at a beach
across from a nuclear power plant sets off a chain of events that involve a
sports journalist, an anti-nuclear activist, a grieving mother and her son. A
young woman reporter falls prey to a callous plant executive whose job depends
on keeping the multi-billion dollar nuclear company viable. Set in the
Northeast, unraveling the cause of the girl’s death coincides with growing
anti-nuclear sentiment which escalates after highly radioactive steam escapes
from the plant, forcing a mass evacuation. I wrote this book because I wanted
to create a story that would be both intriguing about real people the reader
could identify with while presenting the complicated, often hard to understand
technology of nuclear reactors and the culture of the nuclear industry. As a
journalist I reported on the aging nuclear power plant located 5 miles from my
home. Since the plant had (and has) a history of accidents, as a parent I
worried about what safety measures, and how the evacuation plan would work. My
professional and personal involvement planted the seeds for the novel, Nuclear Romance.
Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you
faced writing it?
A: Nuclear Romance is my first novel and writing it took me about four years. I was
regularly reporting on the Indian Point nuclear power plant for the New York
Daily News when I started to write the novel. The challenge was the story line
in Nuclear Romance would boomeranging
off the latest news and swing like an energized pendulum, constantly changing
and evolving. With every turn of the
creative imagination, the characters were forming and re-forming until finally,
they became distinct voices, moved with their own body language, fell in love
when they weren’t supposed to, got angry, sad, cried and laughed. As news
stories broke about the nuclear disaster in Fukushima
Q: Do you have a press kit and what do you include
in it? Does this press kit appear online
and, if so, can you provide a link to where we can see it?
A: I do not have a formal press kit just yet. I have made use of the many
online social media sites. My blog, www.nuclearromance.wordpress.com,
tells where you can buy the book, gives chapter excerpts and
directs you to my relevant news articles, opinion pieces and other blog sites
that feature my articles.
Q: Have you either spoken to groups of people about
your book or appeared on radio or TV?
What are your upcoming plans for doing so?
A: Shortly after my book was published, I was interviewed by a few local
radio stations. One such interview is on my web site: http://www.abbylu.com/media/show_2472721.mp3
An outreach to local libraries for me to present
readings from Nuclear Romance are being
arranged as well as to book reviewers and groups interested in the dangers of
nuclear power.
Q: Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind
sharing who he/is is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even
feel it’s necessary to have one?
A: I do not have a
literary agent, but I do have a publicist/agent: Steve Kent of Kent
Communications. The age old model of using literary agents as an avenue to get
published is dramatically disappearing because of the eBook revolution. For
centuries some of the best writers have had to endure constant rejections by
agents who claimed to know what would “sell.” JK Rowling is a good example. Although
there are wonderful agents, writers wait six months to ayear just to get a
standard reply without knowing if they are accepted, leading to deep
frustration which, sadly, could squelch a writer’s spirit and a confidence to
keep creating. Also, having an agent does not ensure getting published.
As a writer today you
can self promote your book with a good amount of success via social networking,
but it is considerably time consuming. I do a fair amount on my own to get the word
out and understand that publicizing a book can be a full time job.
Q: Did you, your agent or publisher prepare a media
blitz before the book came out and would you like to tell us about it?
A: A media blitz was prepared before Nuclear
Romance was published and was a
campaign that included outreach to radio and TV talk show hosts who were concerned
with nuclear power issues, book reviewers and environmental groups that might
be interested in posting information about the book on their websites. My
already existing web site, www.abbylu.com was
updated with information about Nuclear
Romance, and there was considerable outreach to listserves, Facebook and Twitter
which listed links to information about the book and where it could be
purchased.
Q: Do you plan subsequent books?
A: Yes. One has already started that, so far, seems to be headed in the
Magic Realism and message genre.
Q: Thank you for your interview, Abby Luby. Would
you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone
can buy your book?
A:
Certainly and thanks for this opportunity to be interviewed. Readers can find
me at:
They can
purchase the book at:
About Nuclear Romance
In Nuclear Romance, a debut novel by New York journalist and writer Abby Luby, the tragic death of a 7-year old girl – after swimming at a beach across from a nuclear power plant – sets off a chain of events that involve a sports journalist, an anti-nuclear activist, a grieving mother and her son.A young woman reporter falls prey to a callous plant executive whose job depends on keeping the multi-billion dollar nuclear corporation viable. Set in the US Northeast, the terrifying story that unravels the cause of the girl’s death coincides with growing local anti-nuclear sentiment. The tension escalates after highly radioactive steam escapes from the plant, forcing a mass evacuation.
This novel grips readers’ imaginations with the tension and fear that surround many of today’s nuclear power plants, especially powerful in the aftermath ofJapan’s recent and still unfolding nuclear disaster.
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