I am an avid kickboxer and train five times a week. My
trainer is Carlos Andrade, former WKA European
Light-Heavyweight Kick Boxing champion and every Friday
morning at eight he gets to kick me around in a full-on
sparring session. Sadly, I broke my ankle a few months ago when I managed -- much to my surprise -- to kick his leg out from underneath him. For details of this heroic battle, please check out my blog entry: 'Broken Bones'.
My other great love is music. Without
it, I would not be able to write.
Music
I am passionate about music, so much so that I wrote a novel about it. Titled The Other Side of Silence, it tells the story of three friends trying to solve the riddle of The Pythagorean Comma – one of the oldest mysteries in the science of sound. But this is a mystery not meant to be solved...Read more about it on my website: www.natashamostert.com.
Who do I like? A few favourites:
Nina Simone: voluptuous sophistication and crystalline purity. Leonard Cohen: Super sexy poet. Shahin and Sepehr: My favourite background music when writing. David Hykes and The Harmonic Choir: They do things with their voices that is not humanly possible - every time I listen to Hearing Solar Winds it takes my breath away. Opera: My mother is a voice coach for opera singers and I was fed baby food while Casta Diva was playing in the background. That kind of indoctrination is hard to shake. I've fallen hard for Jonas Kaufmann but what girl wouldn't :) Loreena McKennit: She sings the way I wish I could write. Tori Amos: Strange (wonderful) little girl. Bruce Springsteen: He's the boss. Dragonforce = Metal poets. Borodin's second string quartet. Pachelbel's Canon – the Leppard/English Chamber Orchestra rendition. I'll take any Bach I can get. And any Mozart. Vanessa Mae playing Classical Gas. Ottmar Liebert Francis Cabrel The Killing Floor Seal'sKiss of a Rose.
Any Hans Zimmer soundtrack.
The soundtrack to the Inspector Morse series New Order. Crystal is best. Razorlight Incubus R.E.M Cengiz A personal friend. A cool guy making great music. Check out his new album Everwished.
When I'm homesick I listen to Splash, Patricia Majalisa and the Dalom Kids - all great performers of South African Mpantsula jive.
Movies
Too many to mention. Old favourites that relax me: Gattaca, Lawrence of Arabia, Stakeout, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, Tootsie, Manon des Sources, When Harry met Sally, Children of a Lesser God, 84 Charing Cross Road, What's eating Gilbert Grape, Pride and Prejudice (with Keira Knightly). John Sayles movies. Alan Parker movies. Michael Mann movies. Kathryn Bigelow movies. Jackie Chan movies!
Television
Inspector Morse, Battlestar Galactica, Ultimate Fighting Championship (I'm a huge Randy Couture fan – his first fight with Lidell is one for the ages – and the fight against Sylvia - Randy, you beauty!), Simon Schama on Power of Art, Firefly, Numb3rs, Shark - if only for James Woods. Best timing of any actor around.
Books
Too many to list. A few favourites: Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. Donna Tart's The Secret History (but not The Little Friend). I am fascinated by Cormac McCarthy's use of language, if sometimes perplexed by his narrative. Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris – how is it possible for any one to be this clever and erudite without being irritating? Neil Gaiman: imagination to the square Anything by Jorge Luis Borges. William Gibson's Neuromancer. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje. The Apothecary's Daughter by Patricia Schonstein. Sports books: Robert Twigger's Angry White Pyjamas. Dark Trade by Donald McRae. Suspense writers: Barry Eisler, PD James.
Horror: Stephen King.
Heroes
People who manage to face up to everyday drudgery and routine with humour and determination. The nine-to-fivers whose lives may not have much heroic content but who stick it out for the sake of their families and still manage to see the funny side. The ones who, as the Neil Young song says, "never get to fall in love, never get to be cool," but who keep the faith.
Likes to take midnight rides on horseback and practices levitation twice a day
OK, the part about the levitation and the horses is made up. The 'raven-haired psychic'
description might be slightly over the top as well. And I haven’t seen a ghost yet, but I
plan to. The bit about the suspense novels is true.
I live in London and I write dark, psychological thrillers with a strong dash of mysticism and
the paranormal.
My fourth book, Season of the Witch, is a modern gothic
thriller about techgnosis and the Art of Memory and is
now available in the UK and the US.
It received a starred review in Kirkus, which describes it as a 'brain-
squeezing thriller' and another starred review in Publishers Weekly, which
calls it 'goth SF at its finest'. The novel has also garnered praise from
writers such as Mo Hayder who describes it as 'a mesmerising blend of alchemy and
sexuality'.
I have lived in South Africa, New York City and London. Previous jobs include selling shoes,
teaching Afrikaans at a South African university and moonlighting as a project coordinator in
the publishing department of a public television station in New York City. I now write full-
time.
To read an excerpt from Season of the Witch,
click here
.
Season of the Witch has been longlisted for the "Spread the Word: Books to Talk
About" Award as part of the World Book Day campaign. If you'd like to cast a vote
for yours truly, please click below:
Note for book clubs: Please visit my website at www.natashamostert
.com for discussion questions on Season of the Witch.
Season of the Witch launch party in NYC. The lovely lady in blue is my editor, Julie Doughty.
I have added a discussion board on my website and would love to
hear your ideas. This is a free-wheeling discussion board, which is not just about my books
but is open to anything that excites your imagination. You are welcome to start your own topic
or add your voice to some of the other threads. Please joi
n us!
More praise for Season of the Witch:
'Renders suspense, an atmosphere fraught with eroticism, and compelling characters. Fans
of Anne Rice and Joyce Carol Oates should appreciate Mostert's take on mysticism, magic and
the ancient art of memory.' Booklist
'saturated in beauty, with wonderful observations, insights and eroticism...a
bewitching book.' Ian Watson, author of The Jonah Kit and the
screen story for AI.
If you'd like to know more about me and my work, please visit my website:
www.natashamostert
.com
Memory game: Try it out!
To promote my new novel Season of the Witch, my website includes an interactive memory
game with prizes to be won. The game is now live, so please visit my
site and check it out. It won't work on your Playstation 3 or X Box and there is no fake
blood or things that blow up but it's a pretty cool game anyway...:)
The site also features a synopsis of the novel and I have posted notes that will give you a
behind-the-scenes peek at how I plotted this book. Click here to visit the site: www.seasonofthewit
ch.com.
Why mysticism?
My interest in mysticism started in early childhood when I was growing up in South Africa. My
aia (nanny) was a Zulu woman who introduced me to African legends and the world of the
insangoma (witch doctors). For many years I thought she was the coolest person on the
planet and tried to emulate her in every way. I remember exasperating my mother by insisting
on stacking several bricks below each corner of the bed to keep out of reach of the
tokkelosh – an evil gnome with an enormous head but very short legs! Years later I
would write about this in The Midnight Side. The concept of witches and witchcraft
would surface again in Season of the Witch.
A different kind of woo woo
Even though I write about subjects, which many people consider far-fetched and fey, I always
embed them firmly within a realistic, every-day framework. The ghost in The Midnight
Side does not drag chains or howl outside windows - she finds it more amusing to
manipulate the stock exchange. My witches in Season of the Witch do not use boiling
cauldrons as their tools, but computers and code. By carefully blending hard fact with
paranormal conjecture, I hope to seduce my reader not into a 'willing suspension of disbelief'
but into accepting unquestionably the veracity of the world I build in my books. My research
for my novels is intensive and rigorous.
Praise for Natasha Mostert's novels
'Bedtime reading for the brave' The Times (London)
'A unique, wild imagination' Bangor Chronicle
'Classy psychic thriller...original, unsettling...
kicks the usual preconceptions into shape' The Literary Review
'absorbing psychological detail...
climactic surprise, a humdinger' Kirkus Reviews
'hauntingly elegant' Booklist
'a brilliant tale in the thriller genre
with little dots of spirituality here and there' Cape Times
'Highly accomplished' Toronto Globe and Mail
Who I'd like to meet:
Oscar Pistorius: fastest man on no legs
Aung San Suu Kiy
Thomas Friedman
Neil Gaiman
Joyce Carol Oates
Archie Moore if he were still alive (imagine still being the world light heavy weight boxing champion at age 49.)
Please visit www.bookrix.com The new community for authors and readers.
Create your books online using your own design and make your novels, poems, comics etc available to the public. You can even embed it on your MySpace profile or website!!!
Marci Baun Publisher Wild Child Publishing -- http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/ Break free...read wild! Halloween is over, but you can still be scared. Read our horror. http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=71
Brittle leaves crackle under your feet as you slip through the crooked gate. The gnarled branches of naked trees glare down at you as you make your way up the path, surrounded by the brown remnants of what was once grass. You look up at the derelict house and wonder if any treat could make a knock on this foreboding door worthwhile.
Swallowing your fear, you make your way up the three dry-rotted stairs to the sun bleached porch. The screen door hangs listlessly by one remaining hinge with huge tears through the material exposing the peeling front door standing ominously behind it.
With one last peek over your shoulder, you turn back to the dark house, muster your courage, and lift your hand to knock, but before you make a sound the door creaks open to reveal......
As we approach the midnight hour May your witches wield ancestral power And entrance the judges hearts with desire For Minnaloushe and Morrighan and so inspire A gargoyle of honour for one femme fatale fair To put in the space where the magic and flare Are scribed by the author with such love and care
howdy ..oh, little one..hope all is going well...i was reading so much people thought i had gone koo koo...taking a little rest now ...and you??.....wally
hi natasha....i dont read a lot of novels but when i do its usually an english mystery. i find the authors much preferable to their american counterparts. some of my favorites are; elizabeth george, martha grimes, (i know, i know theyre americans) p.d. james and reginald hill. of course one cant be without the latest john le carre spy thriller. :) for some reason myspace wont allow me to send apostrophies. have a great weekend!
Hello thanks for the kind words but as far as i know this isn't the library in munich buy i just loved that picture so I put it on my page also thanks for the add a reader and owner of a smal 2nd handbookstore in Haaksbergen, the Netherlands
Hi! It's so nice to hear from you. I have been real busy. And yes chocolate does help. We're best friends. I'm better, but everyone around me seems to be sick. The house is coming along. Seems like it never ends though. I thought it wouldn't take me this long. Living out of boxes still. AND grandaughter left my laptop on the floor and someone stepped on the screen :( Apparently it was stepped on by some unknown entity. Nobody did it... I miss chatting. Be well
