Sibel Hodge, north Cyprus author of ‘The Fashion Police’

fashion-policeThere are very few Turkish Cypriot writers, if any, who write commercial fiction for the women’s market. I am taking a leaf out of Stephen King’s books and selling my comedy novels online as ebooks.

Sales of ebooks are rapidly increasing. With the demand for new technology we have the Blackberrys, iPhones, iPods, laptops and ereaders, which all support ebook download technology. We even have big companies like Amazon introducing a whole new website for their Kindle ereader range. Now you don’t just have to be tied to your PC to read an ebook, with our busy lifestyles you can read them on the run. They are also environmentally friendly, saving tonnes of paper. In fact, Stephen King is only selling his new novels online as ebooks.

I’ve always wanted to write women’s fiction. As a little kid, I was always scribbling stories. In the UK I was too busy in the rat race, paying the mortgage, to have enough time to actually concentrate on writing. But when I moved to North Cyprus three years ago, I finally had the time, peace, and the beautiful scenery to give me the inspiration I needed.

14-daysMy first novel, Fourteen Days Later, is a romantic comedy with a unique infusion of British and Turkish Cypriot culture. I wanted to have Turkish Cypriot characters so I could bring awareness to North Cyprus and let the world know that Turkish Cypriots do actually exist. Unfortunately, there are not enough Turkish Cypriots with the medium and opportunity to do that. Hopefully, this is a way to get the message out to a global audience. And if my novels were picked up by a mainstream publisher to produce in paperback, the potential would be much higher.

Written in a similar style to Catherine Alliott and Marian Keyes, Fourteen Days Later is My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets P.S. I Love You. Everyone is aware of Greek characters from the successful film MBFGW, so why not promote Turkish Cypriots in the same way? I am planning to write a sequel set in North Cyprus. Fourteen Days Later was short listed for the Harry Bowling Prize 2008 and received a Highly Commended by the Yeovil Literary Prize 2009.

The Fashion Police is my second novel, and the ending is set up for a series of novels featuring insurance investigator, Amber Fox. I wanted a female character who was feisty and larger than life, yet, like many of us, was aware of her flaws. It is a screwball comedy-mystery, combining murder and mayhem with romance and chick-lit. Written in a similar style to Janet Evanovich, it is Myron Bolitar meets Bridget Jones.

My novels can be downloaded from: http://stores.lulu.com/sibelhodge

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