Character Interview with Taras
Interviewer: Taras, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. Especially at such short notice.
Taras: I didn’t really have much choice! As soon as you mentioned the interview to my wife, she was most insistent I spoke to you. She knows how busy I am, but such things don’t mean a thing to her…
Interviewer: I am very grateful, and promise not to take up too much of your time.
Taras: You’d better not!
Interviewer: First of all, I’d like to ask you about ballet –
Taras: What about it?
Interviewer: Please allow me to finish asking the question…
Taras: Very well. Continue.
Interviewer: I was going to ask, what made you interested in ballet in the first place?
Taras: I don’t have time to answer such boring questions. I’m a busy man.
Interviewer: But people are interested in knowing more about you –
Taras: Very well… Ballet is what I do! My father owned a theatre, and I have been dancing ballet since before I could walk. I have always been good at it, and my father told me that to succeed in life, you have to do what you are good at, understand?
Interviewer: Yes, I understand. Did your father dance?
Taras: He was the boss, and didn’t have time. But he could see the potential in my four brothers and me, so sent us to the ballet school in St Petersburg. I graduated top of my class, and was destined for the Bolshoi… But it was very difficult being a Ukrainian in the Soviet Union of 1930… my success was short-lived.
Interviewer: Are your father and brothers still in the theatre business?
Taras: As I said, it was bad in 1930, and by 1933 it became much worse. I really don’t want to talk about it. If you’ll excuse me…
Interviewer: Taras, where are you going?
Taras: To the studio. We have a dress rehearsal for The Nutcracker this afternoon, and the Wiggins woman is driving me mad with her demands for a new piano. We shall have to reschedule the interview for another day: make an appointment with my wife.
Taras: I didn’t really have much choice! As soon as you mentioned the interview to my wife, she was most insistent I spoke to you. She knows how busy I am, but such things don’t mean a thing to her…
Interviewer: I am very grateful, and promise not to take up too much of your time.
Taras: You’d better not!
Interviewer: First of all, I’d like to ask you about ballet –
Taras: What about it?
Interviewer: Please allow me to finish asking the question…
Taras: Very well. Continue.
Interviewer: I was going to ask, what made you interested in ballet in the first place?
Taras: I don’t have time to answer such boring questions. I’m a busy man.
Interviewer: But people are interested in knowing more about you –
Taras: Very well… Ballet is what I do! My father owned a theatre, and I have been dancing ballet since before I could walk. I have always been good at it, and my father told me that to succeed in life, you have to do what you are good at, understand?
Interviewer: Yes, I understand. Did your father dance?
Taras: He was the boss, and didn’t have time. But he could see the potential in my four brothers and me, so sent us to the ballet school in St Petersburg. I graduated top of my class, and was destined for the Bolshoi… But it was very difficult being a Ukrainian in the Soviet Union of 1930… my success was short-lived.
Interviewer: Are your father and brothers still in the theatre business?
Taras: As I said, it was bad in 1930, and by 1933 it became much worse. I really don’t want to talk about it. If you’ll excuse me…
Interviewer: Taras, where are you going?
Taras: To the studio. We have a dress rehearsal for The Nutcracker this afternoon, and the Wiggins woman is driving me mad with her demands for a new piano. We shall have to reschedule the interview for another day: make an appointment with my wife.
About the Book
TITLE: The Dancing Barber
RELEASE DATE: November 1, 2015
AUTHOR: AC Michael
CATEGORIES: Historical Thriller
PAGE COUNT: 646
ISBN: 978-1517473648
IMPRINT: White Stag
SYNOPSIS: Being a Ukrainian in Stalin’s Soviet Union was a dangerous occupation. Millions perished in the famine of 1933, and millions more were sent to the gulags, never to return.
Taras was one of the lucky ones. He may have survived, but his life was changed forever.
Thirty years later, Taras and his family were living contentedly in England. And after a lifetime of suffering and toil, he was finally on the verge of the fame and fortune he deserved.
The last thing Taras needed was for Klem, and his alter ego Voloshin to move into his attic, and begin raking over the past he had tried so desperately to forget…
Taras’ past untruths unexpectedly come back to haunt him, and events soon take a sinister turn, when an angry Soviet Colonel arrives, determined to silence the truth whatever the cost…
BOOK PAGE: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/thedancingbarber.html
RELEASE DATE: November 1, 2015
AUTHOR: AC Michael
CATEGORIES: Historical Thriller
PAGE COUNT: 646
ISBN: 978-1517473648
IMPRINT: White Stag
SYNOPSIS: Being a Ukrainian in Stalin’s Soviet Union was a dangerous occupation. Millions perished in the famine of 1933, and millions more were sent to the gulags, never to return.
Taras was one of the lucky ones. He may have survived, but his life was changed forever.
Thirty years later, Taras and his family were living contentedly in England. And after a lifetime of suffering and toil, he was finally on the verge of the fame and fortune he deserved.
The last thing Taras needed was for Klem, and his alter ego Voloshin to move into his attic, and begin raking over the past he had tried so desperately to forget…
Taras’ past untruths unexpectedly come back to haunt him, and events soon take a sinister turn, when an angry Soviet Colonel arrives, determined to silence the truth whatever the cost…
BOOK PAGE: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/thedancingbarber.html
About the Author
AC Michael was born in Yorkshire, England and enjoyed writing stories and drawing cartoons from a young age.
When not writing, his diverse interests range from hill-walking to gardening, and from watercolour painting to quantum physics.
His favorite authors are Roald Dahl, Leslie Charteris and Ian Fleming.
AC Michael has also written and illustrated three picture books, which will be completed later this year.
See http://www.acmichaelbooks.co.uk for details.
EMAIL: acmichaelbooks@yahoo.co.uk
AUTHOR LINKS: http://www.acmichaelbooks.co.uk
AMAZON US: http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Barber-AC-Michael-ebook/dp/B017AUT184
AMAZON UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dancing-Barber-AC-Michael-ebook/dp/B017AUT184
BARNES & NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dancing-barber-ac-michael/1122869586?ean=2940150988668
KOBO: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-dancing-barber
GOOGLE PLAY: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/AC_Michael_The_Dancing_Barber?id=VaHSCgAAQBAJ&hl=en
iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1054043924
CREATESPACE: https://www.createspace.com/5755910
PAPERBACK: http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Barber-AC-Michael/dp/1517473640/ref=sr_1_2_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446268198&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Dancing+Barber+paperback
When not writing, his diverse interests range from hill-walking to gardening, and from watercolour painting to quantum physics.
His favorite authors are Roald Dahl, Leslie Charteris and Ian Fleming.
AC Michael has also written and illustrated three picture books, which will be completed later this year.
See http://www.acmichaelbooks.co.uk for details.
EMAIL: acmichaelbooks@yahoo.co.uk
AUTHOR LINKS: http://www.acmichaelbooks.co.uk
AMAZON US: http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Barber-AC-Michael-ebook/dp/B017AUT184
AMAZON UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dancing-Barber-AC-Michael-ebook/dp/B017AUT184
BARNES & NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dancing-barber-ac-michael/1122869586?ean=2940150988668
KOBO: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-dancing-barber
GOOGLE PLAY: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/AC_Michael_The_Dancing_Barber?id=VaHSCgAAQBAJ&hl=en
iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1054043924
CREATESPACE: https://www.createspace.com/5755910
PAPERBACK: http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Barber-AC-Michael/dp/1517473640/ref=sr_1_2_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446268198&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Dancing+Barber+paperback
