CLAUDIA BREVIS is an author, songwriter, playwright, genealogist and New Yorker living with her husband, Skip Brevis, on Manhattan’s upper east side.
Claudia’s music and lyrics have been featured on stage, television, film and recordings.
She vocal-arranged and composed original music for the off-Broadway hit Beehive, the 60′s Musical, and she and her husband co-wrote the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival hit, Winner Take All (A Rock Opera).
Other works include Norwegian Cruise Line’s Showdown, an interactive American Idol spoof now in its sixth year on the high seas.
When she isn’t writing music or working on her next novel, Claudia can be found exploring NYC, researching genealogy, cooking, or, most often, just hanging with her family!
The post-apocalyptic A GAZILLION LITTLE BITS is Claudia’s debut novel.
Favorite reads?
I’m always
working on something, so my reading tends to follow my
various projects. Right now I’m reading about the
Essenes for one project and going through the letters of Robert
and Clara Schumann for another, but if I had my druthers
I’d read historical fiction all day long with some easy
mysteries thrown in! I find reading fiction that
takes place in small towns very relaxing. A good
dystopian novel is always up my alley, and I like to read
Stuart Woods and Harlan Coben novels when I have time to
decompress. That’s not often enough, though.
Inspirations for
the book?
My decades-long
love affair with New York City was my inspiration for A
Gazillion Little Bits.
Did you
know you wanted to be an author when you were little?
I don’t think
so. I’ve always been a writer, writing plays and poems and songs as
a kid, and then, as an adult making a living writing music
and lyrics and musicals and that sort of thing, but becoming an
author of fiction is a new hat I’m wearing!
Any Pet
Peeves?
Being manipulated. Don’t
try to play me.
Chocolate or
Peanut Butter?
Chocolate. And
never mind those fancy schmancy ones. I’m a Hershey’s
Kisses kinda gal!
The weirdest
thing you've ever done?
Hmm. I
think I’ll have to plead the 5th on this one.
Is there a
soundtrack to the book/Favorite music?
Good question.
Because A Gazillion Little Bits takes place in a far away and
changed future, I found almost all contemporary music to be
distracting while I was writing. I did refer
occasionally to mixed voices or Gregorian chants, or
drums. Once in a while Led Zeppelin was helpful. When
my husband was creating the music for my book trailer, he
created a dark, moody mélange of cello, drum, bird calls
and vocal sounds. His underscoring is really
beautiful. (you can view the 60 second trailer and hear his
music here: https://vimeo.com/96000265 ) My
own personal favorite music is anything I can sing harmony
with, which means, all music, because that’s what I do. Sing
harmony on everything! I also have a particular soft
spot for 70’s rock.
Do you need
anything to write?
Just my reading
glasses.
How long do
you write on any average day?
I multi-task all
day long, so actual words on paper is probably not that much at all.
I’m a slow writer. But I spend lots of time
researching, puttering about and mulling things over.
Give us the
number one reason to read your book.
That’s a hard
one as I think we’re drawn to different works for different
reasons. I can say that my own reason for reading
speculative fiction or post-apocalyptic stories is one of
imagination. We live in the present and have
facts that support our past. In order to visit the
future, we have to open ourselves to all sorts of
possibilities. And that’s just plain,
mind-expanding fun!
Author Info:
New York City. 2256.
Isolated by shifting lands, fire and beasts, fewer than thirteen thousand people live in the ruins and rubble of Manhattan without technology, government or any connection to the world from which they've descended...
Until the mysterious whispers arrive, followed by a stranger who holds what may be the key to the city's ultimate survival.
Isolated by shifting lands, fire and beasts, fewer than thirteen thousand people live in the ruins and rubble of Manhattan without technology, government or any connection to the world from which they've descended...
Until the mysterious whispers arrive, followed by a stranger who holds what may be the key to the city's ultimate survival.
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