Before The Gates of Redemption open their pages and go their own way \u2014 and they\u2019re coming out already in June 2026 \u2014 I want to tell you how and why the name, my pseudonym, Eva Lucas, even came to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me take you briefly to a rather curious beginning. Into my dark room, where a red lightbulb glowed all night long. A guitar leaning against the bed, the imprint of a large hand taped to the wall, and an old typewriter on the desk. Silence humming in my ears, and me \u2014 barely eleven \u2014 writing \u201cMemoirs of a Failed Man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every night the same: my mother protesting from her room and knocking on my door, my sister orchestrating noise from hers, and me building a fateful book and a novel that would change my life\u2026 even though I was neither failed nor anywhere close to being a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But writing \u2014 that I already knew I had to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And of course, even then, I wrote at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes (almost never) things don\u2019t change, do they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Years later, during a time when I desperately needed a quick way to earn some cash, I made a list: what do I actually know how to do? And how could I turn that into something useful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had always written. I already had a novel in progress \u2014 Pan American Highway \u2014 and a children\u2019s story. I was living in Rijeka then, I called the first publisher whose number I found, and arranged a meeting in the following days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything happened very fast \u2014 and as always, with \u201cEva Lucas\u201d, very successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s how I met Emil and Zdravko from the Du\u0161evi\u0107 & Kr\u0161ovnik publishing house. We sat down, looked at each other and \u2014 clicked. Wonderful people, both of them. They asked me if I could finish the novel I had sent them, and prepare two more of similar style\u2026 in three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three months. Three titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said: \u201cOf course. Where\u2019s the contract?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so my first novels were born:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each deeply inspired by my life, but in a different way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Placida, a rising singing star \u2014 growing under the spotlight of showbiz\u2026 and the shadow of the mafia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henry Toole\u2019s \u2014 directing his own kidnapping to pay off tax debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Pan American Highway, the road that connects America and Mexico, also connected characters who were very important to me at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These novels are still in public libraries \u2014 borrow them if you\u2019re curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once, I gave one of the books (I don\u2019t even remember which) to my friend Boris. His sister took it on holiday \u201cjust to have something to read\u201d \u2014 and then went searching for me in libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho is this author? Where can I find more of her books?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, it can\u2019t be Katja\u2026 no way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the cover didn\u2019t say my name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said \u2014 Eva Lucas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had to call her to convince her it was me, and I sent her two more of my novels as a gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only a small number of people knew it was me. And I loved that secrecy, that mystery\u2026 the possibility to work without expectations or prejudice. I enjoyed those moments \u2014 being invisibly visible. \u201cRecognized as readable,\u201d but not known. Quiet, mysterious, content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It felt really good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, I needed that background. A place just mine \u2014 without people. The freedom to be invisible. To not be pushed into a drawer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe shoots music videos\u2026 directs\u2026 writes for theatre\u2026 and also writes novels?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of that was too much for me back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then a film happened in my life \u2014 a film that was never shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A screenplay that became a novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A novel that became a trilogy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then my publisher, my sister, and some dear friends said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time your real name stands on your novels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I listened. Because today \u2014 I no longer hide. Finally \u2014 I have nothing left to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s all part of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the international market I will still be Eva Lucas \u2014 negotiations are ongoing and that name has its own path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe one day I\u2019ll even add a third pseudonym. Why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example Bismarc \u2014 that\u2019s the name I used in my younger days when writing for a magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because \u2014 life is a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I\u2019m becoming a better player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I want to say is this: writing is a journey. Sometimes steep, full of curves, but always unbelievably rewarding. Being a writer is a demanding path \u2014 only now do I see how many challenges exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our next Coffee2Go chat, I\u2019ll tell you about how to send manuscripts to foreign publishers and what to pay attention to. I\u2019ll also share the answers I received \u2014 the rejections, but also the encouraging ones, the gentle ones with concrete advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And \u2014 yes \u2014 I\u2019ll tell you how the trailer for The Gates of Redemption was made more than ten years ago. How much love, passion, and energy were in play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because that is one of those stories you never forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actually \u2014 I have so much to tell you, I don\u2019t even know where to start\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for today \u2014 our coffee time is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open the window, breathe deeply, and remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A writer is not born \u2014 a writer is revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See you soon, in the next grain of coffee that smells so beautifully and starts the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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