Author
Info
Soon after finishing her graduate studies
in history, Luba Lesychyn (le-si-shin) landed
on the doorstep of Canada’s largest museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, where she
worked for more than twenty years as an educator and consultant. Theft By Chocolate is
Luba’s debut novel, though she has been amusing people with her writing since
the age of eight. Her love of chocolate precedes this age and she has been in
and out of chocolate rehab for most of her adult life. She currently works in
the educational sector and teaches yoga in her home town of Toronto. When not
writing or looking for her next chocolate fix, Luba can be found in dance
classes, trekking to remote waterfalls in the mountain rain forest in Puerto
Rico, running through the streets of Paris or doing any other number of
calorie-burning activities that help offset the calories consumed in her
chocolate intake.
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Q & A
Q. What inspires your writing?
A. In the case of Theft By Chocolate, chocolate. But on a
more general level, the biggest influences are culture and the arts,
particularly film and music. And often the humorously mundane things I
encounter in my day-to-day life inform my work.
Q. What is your favorite thing about being an
author?
A. I love living in my
head. We are so over-stimulated in our society, and writing, creating and
imagining block out all that unnecessary noise and it brings such a sense of
calm to my spirit.
Q. What is the toughest part of being an
author?
A. It’s the same dilemma
writers have struggled with for centuries – trying to make a living from your
writing. I have two survivor jobs, those jobs that pay the bills, and it’s
tough to schedule time for my writing.
Q. If you could not be author, what would you
do/be?
A. Well, I actually work as an
executive assistant at a city college and I also teach yoga. But if I were to
change careers and not have writing as an option, I would be doing something in
the film business. I did have a short stint at a film production company, and
though it involved insane hours, I loved the work.
Q. What would the story of your life be
entitled?
A. Unbroken. I know that title was recently scooped for a book, but it
has been at the back of my mind for a very long time as a title for a memoir.
It’s taken a long time, but I am at a wonderful point in my life where I feel
like a whole person, have such peace of mind, and absolutely love my life.
Q. What is your favorite book of all
time?
A. Oh that’s so not fair.
That’s like asking what my favorite chocolate of all time is!
Okay, I’m going to be
really boring because I simply can’t choose one fiction book, so I am going to
chose a non-fiction work that made a great impact on my life – Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth. Although I had been reading
books with similar messages for years, for some reason when I read this book,
everything finally seemed to make sense. Suddenly, the light switch had been
turned on.
Q. Which character from ANY book are you most
like?
A. You really know how to
stump someone. But I would say an older version of Rebecca Bloomwood in Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic. The character is really a pretty bright and
strong woman, but has moments where the ditz in her comes out full force.
Q. What character from all of your
books are you most like?
A. This question is much easier
to answer: Kalena Boyko in Theft By
Chocolate.
Q. What is your favorite season?
A. The one thing I have always
loved about living in a location like Toronto is the fact that we do have four
distinct seasons. But I thrive and love to languish in the heat, so I would
have to say summer. Of course, I might have a different answer once we hit
another record high this summer.
Q. What inspired your book cover(s)? Or
what is your favorite book cover and why?
A. My publishers and I were
looking for something that was a bit playful, but at the same time hinted at
the museum/ Mayan connection which is at the heart of Theft By Chocolate. As a group, we went through a lot of cover
designs and we unanimously chose the cover you all see.
The one detail I suggested
was to add purple-hued nail polish to the nails on the hands in the cover as in
one of the first scenes in the book, lead character Kalena Boyko unearths a
bottle of dark plum nail polish. And it’s later revealed that she has a bit of
Justin-Bieber- like obsession with purple.
Q. Tell me something funny that happened
while on a book tour or while promoting your book.
A. Well in this digital age,
touring has taken on a new format - that of blog tours, so it’s a different
experience.
It wasn’t funny at the
time, but now it’s a bit amusing, but very recently, a number of emails from my
publicist extraordinaire landed in my spam box. And because this happened over
a weekend, it was a couple of days before I realized what had happened. And, of
course, included in the junk email box was a critical email about imminent
deadlines for the blog tour. Suddenly I had to crank out a series of blog posts
like there was no tomorrow. Not very funny, I know, but as a new author, it’s
all I have. J
Q. Are you working on something new?
A. Theft By Chocolate was always written with the intention of being
followed by at least one more installment. I’ve started mapping out the next
work and I can’t wait to get back to that world and its sometimes nutty
characters. This time, however, Kalena will be doing some serious globetrotting
with her adventures taking her to London, Paris (to the Salon du Chocolat, of course), Geneva (an important chocolate
capital), Hong Kong (for a most interesting twist to the tale) and back to her
beloved Toronto. I plan to take the readers on an unforgettable and delicious
journey around the planet.
Q. Anything you want to say to followers of
this blog or those that are just stopping by?
A. I once heard a statistic that babies laugh
400 times a day and most adults laugh a handful of times. When I was
workshopping Theft By Chocolate in a
summer writing program some years back, I took a huge risk and volunteered to
do a reading to the 200 some odd students attending.
The piece I read got such a
laugh that my mentor came up to me after the reading and advised me “to pause
next time and to wait after the laughter dies down before continuing.” “Oh, yeah,” I thought. “Good advice.”
Anyways, my suggestion is
to all those adults who simply don’t laugh enough in a day to pick up Theft By Chocolate. I can guarantee it will
increase their laughter quotient and they’ll also get some insider scoop on
what it’s really like to work in a world class museum.
Thanks for hosting me and
giving me some space. I am most grateful.
Chocolate addict Kalena
Boyko wasn’t prepared for this. Heading to work at Canada’s largest museum
as an administrator, she hopes for quiet and uninterrupted access to her
secret chocolate stash. Instead she’s assigned to manage the high-profile Treasures of the Maya
exhibition with her loathed former boss, Richard Pritchard.
With no warning, her life is capsized and propelled into warp speed as she stumbles across an insider plot that could jeopardize the exhibit and the reputation of the museum.
After hearing about a recent botched theft at the museum and an unsolved jewel heist in the past from security guard and amateur sleuth Marco Zeffirelli, Kalena becomes suspicious of Richard and is convinced he’s planning to sabotage the Treasures of the Maya exhibition.
Her suspicions, and the appearance of the mysterious but charming Geoffrey Ogden from the London office, don’t help her concentration. The Treasures of the Maya seems cursed as problem after problem arises, including the disappearance of the world’s oldest piece of chocolate, the signature object in the exhibit.
Theft By Chocolate is inspired by a real-life and never-solved heist at a Canadian museum in the 1980s.
Giveaways:
copy of Theft By Chocolate and $150 Certificate
There are two chances to win!
1. Copy
of Theft
By Chocolate as ebook or print copy (winner’s choice). Answer this
question in the comments section (be sure to provide your email): Who is your favorite mystery writer? In five days, a lucky winner from this
blog will win a free copy of Theft By Chocolate!
2. $150
Gift Certificate Giveaway
Do
you love chocolate as much as Kalena, the heroine in Theft By Chocolate?
Here’s your chance to indulge in $150 US worth! The Giveaway Grand Prize is a
gift certificate to a delectable chocolate online retailer. Winner chooses from
one of three sites: http://www.chocosphere.com/, http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/ , or http://www.dlea.com.au/ . To be eligible for the Grand Prize,
enter the Rafflecopter below. Remember to sign up for Luba’s email
announcements (worth five entries). On occasion she’ll send out exclusive
announcements for special events, blog posts, giveaways and free swag! On July
31st, the winner will be chosen at random and notified via email.
Rafflecopter link:
Additional Links:
When I was younger I loved the Trixie Belden series (I think there were a few authors) and the Hardy Boys (I think the TV show had something to do with that). Never did get into Nancy Drew. . .
ReplyDeleteOops, I forgot my email: karysafaire at gmail dot com
DeleteI'd forgotten all about those Trixie Belden books. Loved them too. But was also a Hardy Boys reader (grew up before the TV show, ha, ha). I think I read the entire Nancy Drew series!
DeleteLoved the interview! Thanks for the great giveaway! :)
ReplyDeleteA good interview is always a reflection of some original questions. My brain hurt a few times, but it was great fun. Hope you'll give "Theft By Chocolate" a read.
DeleteHey Lovely, I have nominated you for the "Versatile Blogger" award....come on over to my blog to collect!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love a lot of mystery writers but my favorite is the Midnight Louie books by Carole Nelson Douglas! They are so much fun to read! Thanks for this amazing giveaway - I would love to win!
ReplyDeletesusanw28 (at) mindspring (dot) com
Maybe "Theft By Chocolate" and future installments will become a favorite of yours as well!
ReplyDeleteI have to say the Nancy Drew series has always been one of my favorite mystery series. I am looking forward to reading Theft By Chocolate.
ReplyDeletelaumer@hotmail.com
I loved the Nancy Drew series when I was a younger, later I really liked Victoria Holt's books. I haven't read many lately, but I probably should because I used to really enjoy them :) I'll have to add yours to my TBR list.
ReplyDeletebookliaison(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Readers of "Theft By Chocolate" have commented on the page-turning suspense, but what I think may surprise new readers is the humor and sass-factor in the story. It's a modern take on a classic genre. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteHope it gets moved up to the top of your pile. :)
DeleteBOOK WINNER CHOSEN GIVEAWAY SPONSOR:
ReplyDeleteSara-Jason!!!! Congrats!!!
I meant the winner was chosen by the sponsor of the giveaway!! Yikes...my fingers do not work with my head today!!
Delete