Title: Isadora Daystar
Author: P.I. Barrington
Goodreads Synopsis:
When drug addled assassin Isadora DayStar finally snags a major interplanetary killing job, she thinks it will both support her habit and revise her status as the laughingstock of her profession. Instead, she embarks on a journey that brings her face to face with her tortured past.After botching yet another assassination job, ex-military gunner Isadora steals a highly desired new type of weapon as payment. To escape her infuriated employer she stows away on a plague infested ship that spirals downward toward the nearest planet. In an attempt to escape the crashing craft, Isadora finds both an escape pod and the only other survivor, a teenage girl, Iphedeiah. They take flight on a series of encounters from murderous monks to interplanetary pirates while Isadora tries to hide her addiction along the way. They slowly form a grudging bond that grows into friendship and trust. When Isadora kills an old contact to save the girl, they are separated only to be captured individually and then tortured by Caine Dureaux, Isadora's employer to extract the location of the weapon. Who will blink first?
Interview with P.I . Barrington
BLOG TOUR ANNA INTERVIEW:
Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
I come from an entertainment background. It was my goal in life, LOL! I worked in Hollywood at a major music company and before that I was a journalist. I've always lived in Southern California so working in the industry was almost a given. I never really took my writing seriously, at least the fiction side of it and put it all away for decades until I thought I'd give it another shot—hopefully no other journalists will read this but I never considered journalism as "real" writing—it was fiction I always felt was real. As a journalist you report the facts so it's not creative even if you're writing a feature article. So, in my mind, fiction writing was always the real writing because you're creating an entire world from nothing other than an idea.
Where did the idea of Isadora DayStar come from?
Actually she sprouted from two things: I used to watch a show called CreationScapes on the DayStar religious channel and they would show incredibly beautiful landscapes with music and Bible quotes—I was hooked on it! One night—late I used to start watching at 1:00 a.m. lol—the show was over and the DayStar channel logo came up. It was literally a light going off! I thought "What a great name for a character, especially a sci-fi character!" Right before I fell asleep, the name Isadora (not my favorite at that time) popped into my head: Isadora DayStar!
The second part of her character came from an interview of another author…can't remember the name…and the interviewer asked the author how she came up with tremendously difficult obstacles for her main character to overcome. The author replied that she hated the character so badly that she thought up the most horrible things to happen to her. The interviewer said that the character overcoming those obstacles was what made her love the character. My response was a little different. I wondered if I could consciously create a character that I hated. At first I made Isadora rude and crude but it just wasn't working. So I made her a drug addict and voila! Isadora DayStar was born!
And I'll tell you another amazing thing: I was looking online at hairstyles and haircuts that I might try. All these hundreds of headshots came up and the models, men and women, were all immaculately styled and made up. Suddenly, in the middle of a page that had like six columns of headshots, there was this odd picture of a woman with a soft, longish Mohawk cut, thin beyond skinny, wearing a tank top and pants no shoes crouched upon the top of a small pillar. She had no make-up and her face was thin and angular and she wasn't even looking at the camera! It was her profile. She was Isadora come to life!
Have you written a book that you love but have not been able to get published yet?
I have several but they're not finished yet. Both are sci-fi with major romantic lines running through them, one is dark-ish like Isadora and the other is…well, complicated. They still have quite a way to go to be ready for submission but when I love a story or stories I get obsessed with them so soon…very soon…
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
It has to be when the worm turns so to speak. Isadora finally takes on the worst prostitution job ever and it's her limit. She can't take it anymore and yet she sacrifices herself for someone else rather than the Ingentin. At that point she snaps and though she's almost dying herself, saves another person, she thinks. I think the scene when she returns and uses the Bio-Eraser for violence and revenge, knowing she has nothing left to lose. When she recounts what happened to her, I think it depicts just how far she will go to save someone else, just how horrible it was—it's both her lowest point and highest point—she kills only for revenge for once but she also is willing to die to save an innocent person. And in both situations, she never uses Ingentin. It wasn't the easiest scene to write but for me the most rewarding.
Did you have a playlist while writing Isadora DayStar like many authors have?
No! I never have anything other than my mom watching TV in the background. I have to either focus on the music or the writing, I can't do both. Music is my first love and always distracts me and I have to stop writing and listen to it. There's no multi-creative tasking here, lol! The television is just white noise and I can ignore it for the most part. It does have annoying moments like when she cranks it up because she's not wearing her hearing aids and the voices kill a great line or point I'm trying to write lol. A lot of authors say they write better to music but it's not for me. When I'm in the story I'm in the story—again, it's that movie in my head and I have to concentrate solely on it.
Do you have any rituals or writing quirks?
Again no and that's something I really want. I've been trying to develop one but nothing sticks or gets me in the mood to write. Some of the things I've tried were using a special coffee cup, sitting and staring at the birds in my yard and listening to them in the early a.m., and turning off the morning news. None of it helps. I wish I could find something like other authors, some of them meditate (don't have the patience anymore), burn incense or candles—it just sounds so cool but nothing works for me other than sitting down and firing up the desktop.
If you could ask yourself any interview question, what would you ask, and how would you answer it?
I LOVE it when I get asked about casting my characters! You know, it's funny but I was actually around before the Internet, lol, and back then you didn't have instant access to pictures of actors or models or just average people. You had to rely on memory or literally imagination to create the characters' looks! And while that was great, I don't think the Internet has had any negative effect. I think it's even better to have pictures because for me, I can literally give characteristics and quirks and voices, pretty much every physical aspect that for me at least, really completes a character. I've used everyone from Jared Leto to Vin Diesel (surprised the heck out of me!) for my characters. One day I dream of splashing Isadora's picture over all my social media at once! But for right now, she's under wraps!
JUST FOR FUN:
Favorite Candy?
Wow, so many! Mars Bar or Big Hunk
Beaches or Mountains?
Both! I'm from the desert so either one is fine with me!
Twitter or Facebook?
Twitter, definitely!
Spontaneity or Planning Ahead?
Spontaneity! My sister & co-author is OCD about pre-planning everything! I'm the opposite.
PC or MAC?
I used to swear by PC's but then I bought an MSI and adore it and everyone tells me it's just like a MAC. So I may be changing over to MAC!
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