Interview with Petru Popescu

www.petrupopescu.com

Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

At fifteen. I lost a twin brother, during a polio epidemic, in Communist Romania. I started to write short stories so as not to think about losing my brother – stories in which he and I met in extra-terrestrial dimensions. I never stopped writing since.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

First, I published in Communist Romania, which was no mean feat, because the censorship was fierce. In my 20's, I managed to write in a kind of code, stories that contained anti-Communist themes. The young readers liked them.

This lasted for about ten years. In my thirties, I'd had too many fights with the censorship, and decided to defect to the US. My next battle was how to make my English good enough to write literature in it. It took until 1990, when I published my first big American book, Amazon Beaming, an adventure about discovering the source of the Amazon river.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

GIRL MARY is a historic novel. It is also a fabulous adventure story, in which the fate of the mighty empire of Rome comes to rest in the hands of a humble girl from Nazareth, Judea. That girl is the mother of Jesus, and her story is the beginning of Christianity.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

History, and the strife and hardship that my family had to endure, to escape Communism and gain freedom.

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

Alas, my parents passed on. I am one of the few born Romanians who write novels in English, I wish my father had witnessed that, because he too was a writer. As for my relatives still alive, cousins, nephews, nieces, they are very excited that I write in English, a language spoken in the whole world. The Romanian language is known about to twenty million people only.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Steak and French fries.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Shower, make my bed, turn on my computer.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

How many computer frames and other computer parts you'd find. I write my books entirely on the computer.

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

Red, because it is the warmest color in the spectrum, and is synonymous in many cultures with life.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Snoopy.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

I'd say Snoopy. He is very candid and innocent.

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

Ancient Rome, for sure. Also, the earth three thousand years from now.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists?

Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

Yes, many, mostly the smart adventure stuff, like "Lost." A movie I saw over and over was Terminator. I myself wrote one of the Friday the 13th, the third one, which was shot in 3D.

The last movie I saw in a theater and liked most of it, though not all, was Superbad.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Keep reading, anything that's good enough to read should be worth your time. It will serve you well in life.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I will definitely continue the historic cycle about the Roman Empire.

I have published one Y.A. book, called Weregirls (published by Tor/Forge), about four teenage girls from Pasadena who discover that they have magical (meaning supernatural) powers. I love stories of underprivileged kids who get into the supernatural, I wanted to be such a kid myself.

I also wrote an adventure book called Footprints in Time, about an American boy lost in the African savanna. I hope I'll get to continue the Weregirls and the Footprints in Time series.

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!

My pleasure. If any readers want to get in touch, I await them at Petrupopescu.com.