The EA Friday Feature is a circle of five writers who write 1,000 word flash fiction stories every Friday and post them on their blogs. This week, we feature these authors, as we get to know them better, and learn what inspires them to write their stories.
Vincent from Flashes of Vice
He writes stories of crime and vice, meant to leave you sleeping with the lights on, or just wondering at human nature and the decisions we make. Vincent has written several books of poetry, and has recently published a book named TWISTED TIMES: Son of Man. Here’s a short excerpt:
The fallen children of darkness, that’s what we were. Vampires. Ghosts only heard in the darkness of the night whistling by the unlucky few.
At night we would go to rob the dead of their last signs of love and affection from their families, their last possessions in their transience. It was almost a year now since I joined the Mavis gang and I was changed. The inborn human fear of the places we visited at night to steal coffins was long gone. To us it was a waste of resources for caskets costing hundreds of thousands going to waste in the polluted soils of this world…
It is much harder for a poor coward fool to enter the kingdom of money and riches than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…
Author Bio:
Vincent de Paul is a freelance writer, blogger, poet & author. He studied Comprehensive Creative Writing at the Writers Bureau, Manchester, UK. He is an Indie author with collections of poetry and short stories. In his words:
Thirty years ago I was born. I had a life I can’t talk about, yet. Went to school barefoot like any other ‘90s village kid. Had all the mischief. Made it through what life presented. And then became a writer.
Elly in Nairobi: You have recently published a book: Twisted Times. Tell us what the book is about.
Vincent: The book is about self-independence from parental control, choices and consequences of the decisions we make. A story of love, betrayal, and vengeance. A twisted society where corruption is the order of the day, murder is like a ritual, and religion is the haven for the devil incarnate. In the end, victim or perpetrator life is a twisty bastard.
Elly in Nairobi: You write both poetry and fiction. What is your favorite to write? Short stories or fiction?
Vincent: Both are my favourite, but poetry carries the day. Poetry evokes emotions, feelings, that fiction doesn’t, and I connect more with my poems than fiction.
Elly in Nairobi: Have you always written? If so, do you remember what first inspired you to put pen to paper and write?
Vincent: In primary school I hated writing compositions. Things changed in high school. It was a national competition that made me write and let my work out there.
Elly in Nairobi: How do you juggle your day job, and writing? Does it affect your writing process, and how do you handle it?
Vincent: Mostly during the day I work, unless I’m having some me time when I write. Writing is at the witch hours of the night.
Elly in Nairobi: You have Mystery Publishers running, tell us a bit about this company, and what your vision is for fiction in Kenya.
Vincent: Mystery Publishers is an online Indie author-focused self-publishing company devoted to publishing genre fiction with contemporary settings, story lines and characters; thrilling, fast-paced African stories about everyday life purely for entertainment. We publish eBooks via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Print-on-Demand paperbacks on CreateSpace for those who don’t have the time to do it for themselves, don’t know how to, or they want a company that will publish their stories. My vision is to introduce pop literature books in the Kenyan book market which is populated with educational and school text materials. Not that pop literature books are not there, they are, but the readership is low compared to literary works which are mostly done in school. The students leave the books immediately they are done with the exams. They prefer to watch movies, play video games, read western novels, or engage in idle talk and gossip. I want to produce books that read like a movie, a video game, like the western novels, and bring the idle talk and gossip to the reader; books the examination council won’t recommend for schools but would be unputdownable. I am looking for the writers who would write that kind of stories.
Elly in Nairobi: Do you have another hobby other than writing?
Vincent: Yes. Swimming, cycling, hiking.
Elly in Nairobi: A short statement on what you’d like the readers to know about your writing and your stories.
Vincent: I will not always write what everyone likes, but I will try as much as possible not to bore. My stories are not parables, or sermons, so cut me some slack.
Thank you Vincent for answering my questions. Tomorrow this blog features Awesome Dora from Nilichoandika
Book Reviews | Fiction | 
Thank you so, Elly. For this.
Vincent, your writing is bold and eye opening. I think every writer is a society’s change agent and they need that kind of boldness.
Thank you Njeri. You encourage me.
vincent your works are full of moral lessons….