29 January 2016

Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Adele Wearing

And today we welcome the genius mastermind behind Fox Spirit Books – Adele Wearing, take it away!

Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to read:

Ok, about me, by day I’m a mild mannered (or slightly grumpy) local authority employee, by night Aunty Fox. Ok it’s not quite such a clear divide, but key things are I hate to be bored and I always feel I’m at my best in that sweet spot between waving and drowning.

My reading tastes go in phases, I used to read a lot of horror, these days I lean more to fantasy. I particularly devour urban fantasy, it brings together the sort of noir crime tropes I love in a fantasy setting. That said I’ve always just loved a good yarn, I want characters that engage me (even if I don’t like them) and storytelling. I engage less with the complex world building and politics of some of the big doorstop epic fantasy and sci fi series.

What’s the story behind Fox Spirit – how did you get started, what are you looking for and what are your hopes for the future?

I was conned! Ok not exactly, but it makes for a better story. I ran Alt.Fiction in 2012 and had a houseful of awesome creatives. By the end of the weekend, with a soundtrack of Buffy and the English countryside to inspire us, we had decided to do an anthology Tales of the Nun & Dragon. It was going to be a one off on profit share, just for fun. By the time it came out Fox Spirit was born. If any of us there that weekend had owned a pub it might never have happened.

What we look for is always the story first. It’s much easier to fix the writing (or so I assure my editor, the tireless Daz, who actually has to do it) with the author than it is to fix the idea or lack of. We like things that pull from whatever genre the story wants, ignoring traditional boundaries. We have a lot of fun and put out stories we think deserve a readership.

Hopes for the future are of course world domination. We have another Vulpes (HEMA) title coming up and this year we start our FoxGloves (martial arts) range. We have another announcement coming this summer and I’d love for us to grow our income enough to pursue all the different angles in our heads. There are some audio and film project ideas that are going to take time to develop and get out, but we are determined to do.

What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?

I love quick reads. There is a sense of guilt for many of us in taking the time to read a book, which is ridiculous, but it’s still there. Stories you can fit into a coffee or lunch break are a wonderful guilt free treat. Also I think there is a freedom with short stories to play about, to not tell the whole story. A novel, even a novella, really needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. A short story can pick up at a peculiar point in the plot and exit without explanation. I don’t feel the same need for a satisfying conclusion. If a novel is a journey a short story is an interlude, it’s the motorway services, a look through a window without the benefit of the full view. I love that.

Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?

In fiction I have an enduring soft spot for Kaylee in Firefly, she is such a charming balance of girly ruffles and tough resilience. She’s more afraid and has fewer resources than the other women in the series, for physical conflict, but she still stands up for herself and her friends. To me she is the closest representative for most of us. I realise she doesn’t at first seem wicked, but she is the mechanic on a pirate ship, that’s pretty wicked really.

In real life I suppose I am a little charmed by Bonnie Parker (Bonnie and Clyde). She’s not exactly a great role model, but she’s fascinating. Also the women who lived secret lives to work at Bletchley or as spies, the real life Agent Carter’s of the UK, smart, capable and living outside of cultural expectation. It’s a reoccurring theme with me. I get a bit Moley (hang whitewash) about expectations. I think society puts so many behavioural and physical expectations on everyone and it’s hard to learn to block them out, but it’s the best way to be happy.

What kind of apocalypse will it be and what do you have in your Go Bag?

I actually have started putting together a go bag, it has windproof matches and water purifying tablets, a compass and a collapsible water bottle along with a few other bits and pieces. It’s useful during power cuts.

Obviously with the various martial arts we do and well me being me, the house is well equipped with bows, bladed weapons and axes.

Sadly I think the apocalypse will be the slow inevitable destruction of our world at our own hands. I still hold out hope for zombies, I live in the country and as long as we are all home I feel fairly well equipped to deal with zombies. Capitalism I can do less about.

Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?

Oh, now that’s tricky. It’s easy to say ‘zombies have been done to death’ or something but in the right hands even the oldest clichés and tropes can be fresh and brilliant. So I would like to 101 the faux medievalism and laziness of women being raped/abused etc in fantasy as a standard motivation or plot device. I think we are ready for something a bit more subtle and intelligent and ‘it’s historical’ is neither accurate nor a good excuse in fantasy. You are building the world, you get to make the rules, make them better. Violence and abuse happens, but writers should ask themselves if it’s balanced, nuanced and necessary or whether rape is just a short cut.

What are you up to next?
 
African Monsters and Things in the Dark have just come out and this year we are having a bit of a launch do for African Monsters at Forbidden Planet London at the beginning of March. That will pretty much kick off the year in terms of appearances. We will be at Edge Lit this summer with a table, so you can find all manner of wicked women and other delights.

Thank you for joining us Adele!

Adele Wearing, know to the skulk as ‘Aunty Fox’ is a lifelong genre fan, was for some time a book blogger and then set up Fox Spirit in response to, well trickery and cunning on the part of her friends. Seriously, it was set up!

Aunty Fox takes care of a skulk of writers, artists, editors and other foxy folk, while trying to keep everything in place to get the books out. In addition she has a full time day job (which we do not discuss). Since she lacks the swiftness and cunning that typifies her species, Aunty Fox trains in mixed martial arts, in order to ensure her grinning muzzle and infamous brush tail don’t end up on a huntsman’s wall.