Bestselling author Ashley Kalagian Blunt will meet local readers this month and take them beyond the pages of her latest tech noir thriller.
Ashley will visit Chermside Library as part of the Lord Mayor’s Writers in Residence series to discuss Cold Truth, a story about a Winnipeg influencer whose father goes missing, prompting her and her sister to start their own investigation.
“Cold Truth features the line, ‘Readers are the best people.’ And I really believe it!” Ashley said. “I love meeting fellow crime fiction fans and talking plot twists and behind-the-scenes inspiration, and hearing about any book they’ve enjoyed, regardless of genre.”
She added that it was fun discussing the extreme winter climate where she grew up with sun-loving Aussies.
“Cold Truth is set in Canada during a minus-30-degree winter, which is both where I’m from and why I no longer live there,” she said.
Now based in Sydney, she said she had been surprised to hear readers say they wanted to visit Winnipeg after reading her novel.
“Readers also love how the story kicks off at high speed right from the first page, the complicated relationship between the two sisters at the heart of the book, and all the details about life in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city that once faked a full-scale Nazi invasion of itself (seriously!)” she said.
The Inspiration Behind Her Novels
Ashley will also talk about her other crime thrillers, Dark Mode and Like, Follow, Die.
“All my novels explore how our everyday technology makes us vulnerable, but they’re not ‘techy’,” she said.
She said her books were inspired by a real-life experience when she lost her driver’s license, and the following morning, her author website saw a surge of traffic from China, Russia, and Ukraine.
“When I researched this unusual occurrence, I learned that within less than 24 hours, someone would have found my lost license and uploaded the information onto a dark web forum where people can buy your personal information, leading criminals to seek out more of my personal details,” she said. “This was the first time I realised how vulnerable all of us really are to identity theft and other internet-based crime.
“This causes me daily anxiety, but it also sparks my creativity in devising twisty, fast-paced thriller plots with cybercrime elements.
“Readers often tell me that my novels make them want to throw their phone in a lake.”
Learn more about Ashley’s dark web research by registering for the free event here.
Meet Ashley Kalagian Blunt
- Tuesday, 7 October, 6pm-7pm
- Chermside Library
- 375 Hamilton Road, Chermside
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