tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40907792024-03-13T12:16:26.676+00:00Shiny!The Random Ramblings of Jenny BarberJenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.comBlogger457125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-47606750354330097872016-03-18T14:55:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:55:22.584+00:00We have moved!Hello my lovelies<br />
<br />
We have moved over to Wordpress so please change your links to<br />
<br />
http://www.jennybarber.co.uk<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
https://shinyjennyb.wordpress.com/<br />
<br />
Thank ye kindly!<br />
<br />
xJenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-4529464142031680662016-01-29T14:48:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:52:48.964+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Adele Wearing<div class="entry-content">
And today we welcome the genius mastermind behind <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit Books</a> – Adele Wearing, take it away!<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to read:</strong><br />
<br />
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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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>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?</strong><br />
<br />
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 <em>Tales of the Nun & Dragon</em>.
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</strong><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
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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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>What kind of apocalypse will it be and what do you have in your Go Bag?</strong><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Obviously with the various martial arts we do and well me being me,
the house is well equipped with bows, bladed weapons and axes.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<em> </em></div>
<div class="entry-content">
<em>African Monsters</em> and <em>Things in the Dark</em> have just come out and this year we are having a bit of a launch do for <em>African Monsters</em>
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 <a href="http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/special-event/edge-lit-5">Edge Lit</a> this summer with a table, so you can find all manner of wicked women and other delights. <br /><br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Adele!</strong><br />
<br />
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!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-44756238947290821282016-01-27T14:40:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:47:39.867+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Sarah Anne Langton<div class="entry-content">
Today we welcome the fabulous cover artist of <em>Wicked Women</em> – Sarah Anne Langton, take it away!<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write and draw:</strong><br />
</div>
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<div class="entry-content">
Ha,
well I was the kid who desperately wanted to be an astronaut and firmly
believed there was, indeed, ‘something nasty in the woodshed’. Finally
realising that joining NASA probably wasn’t an option I ended up at art
college, fed on a diet of William Gibson, Tim Powers, Fortean Times,
2000AD and Ray Harryhausen movies.
<br />
So any urban occult weirdness, preferably involving crazy-ass science
and I’m up for that. Even better if there’s dinosaurs! I managed to do
half an Open University Astronomy degree, so I’m pretty big on radio
telescopes… which hasn’t, erm, exactly found many artistic openings yet…
Somebody out there has a ‘Fourth Reich jacks the Arecibo radio
telescope and uses the Spear Of Destiny to summon unspeakable space
evil’ novel in them. I am just biding my time!<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been an artist and how did you get started?</strong><br />
</div>
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<div class="entry-content">
After
completing an art degree I went to work as an archaeologist for a few
years, obviously, then was employed in a comic shop – all whilst
dabbling in a little freelance illustration. So I have an ace Indiana
Jones hat and know way too much about the X-Men, ideal for a career in
illustration! I moved down to London Town about five years ago and the
lovely Anne Perry and Jared Shurin at <a href="http://www.jurassic-london.com/">Jurassic London</a>
asked if I fancied doing a book cover… I think I said “yes, if you’ll
buy me a vodka”. From there folk just kept asking me to draw stuff for
them – which is awesome!
<br />
<strong>Which authors and artists have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Ooooooooow tricky. I particularly like the work of Eduardo Paolozzi,
one of the early British Pop Art guys. His artwork mixes pop culture
references and technological imagery, man-machine stuff – I love the
décollage mix! Swiss graphic design studio <a href="http://burodestruct.net/">Büro Destruct</a>
are a favourite – super-clean, simple typography, something I always,
well, try to do. And the work of artist Bill Sienkiewicz – as somebody
who totally ignored how traditional comic book illustration ‘should’
look and brought in a healthy dose of fine art. Ignoring how something
is traditionally supposed to look is always a plan. I’m basically a pop
culture junkie – and probably shouldn’t ever have been given access to
the Internet – so anything from 1950’s advertising to pulp comics!<br />
<br />
And authors? Rudy Rucker’s crazy-ass science fiction and non-fiction,
for challenging my understanding of science and visual representation. <em>The Fourth Dimension & How To Get There</em>
made me learn how to question my perception of space, dimensions and,
well, pretty much everything. Robertson Davies for a love of myth and
magic – seeing the hidden archetypes in our dull little everyday lives –
with a healthy dose of humour! Anything from Lovecraft to Robert Anton
Wilson, I guess it all seeps into Mr Brain and influences how you
visually represent the written word.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Jeanne de Clisson, The Lioness of Brittany is a pretty damned
interesting lady. Ms de Clisson mercilessly hunted down the ships of
King Philip VI’s fleet, to avenge her husband’s death, during the
Hundred Years War. de Clisson fought as a pirate for thirteen years, not
just commanding a single ship, no she sold off her land and bought a
fleet! She had her ships painted black and dyed their sails red to
intimidate her enemy, earning them the title of “The Black Fleet”. Her
merciless sailors, under her orders, would kill entire crews, leaving
only one or two alive to carry news to the king that she had struck
again. A woman with the courage of her convictions, who didn’t do things
by half.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve illustrated for a wide array of media ranging from
comics and games to music events and publishing – are there differences
in your approach to projects in different media and do you have a
particular favourite venue your work has appeared in?</strong><br />
<br />
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The
design process for everything is usually something like… google images,
tea, google images, tea… flap out for several hours, then make tea.
Eventually I’ll find the killer image to actually use for the project
but I do quite a lot of pottering about the internets for inspiration.
Virtually all of my work is entirely digital, regardless of the medium, I
design straight into photoshop. My main problem is people writing
interesting books, hence fascinating imagery, so I then get distracted
reading about Antarctic ice flows online or something.<br />
<br />
Not a venue but it always amuses me to see Pickwick the dodo, the
Hodderscape logo which I worked on, running around on Twitter and
getting into stuff on the internet!<br />
<br />
<strong>What can you tell us about the <a href="http://fizzypopvampire.com/">Fizzy Pop Vampire</a>?</strong><br />
<br />
Ah, right… the little guy is the product of Mr Den Patrick’s peculiar
brain. A fat little vampire… erm, thing, that sneaks into you kitchen
at night to steal your lemonade! Basically a tiny book for kids about
the terrible consequences of not cleaning your teeth. Lots and lots of
fun to draw as Den’s quirky sense of humour is great to illustrate. The
one and only thing I draw by hand so there’s lots of wobbly trees and
giraffes! The Fizzy Pop Vampire’s best friend is a giraffe, named Keith.
Obviously.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</strong><br />
<br />
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Books of
short fiction are like a lovely author selection pack – there might be
the odd dodgy Orange Crème but there’s bound to be something tasty you
really love. Always a great way to discover new writers and I’m
fascinated how, given a single theme, how many wonderfully diverse tales
come out of a single idea.<br />
<br />
Apart from <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit</a>’s <em>Wicked Woman</em>, because clearly everybody should have taken a look at that…. ahem, the <a href="http://www.apexbookcompany.com/">Apex Publications</a> <em>Books Of World SF</em> are a great introduction to some authors whose work I hadn’t read before. Oh, and <em>Super Flat Times: Stories</em>
by Matthew Derby was one of my favourite short fiction reads this year –
very Franz Kafka meets Phillip K. Dick – a fascinating set of genuinely
weird tales set in a brutal future where technology has died. Well, if
that’s your thing!<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
But there’s so many! Just the one? Okay…. ‘Evil Emperor’s beautiful
daughter falls in love with the hero.’ ‘All it takes it the love of a
good man’ syndrome. YAWN – this clearly intelligent woman has unlimited
wealth, power, flying monkeys an’ probably a zombie army – she’s really
not going to be impressed just because some dumb-ass bloke has a big
sword!<br />
<br />
(Also: Mysterious taverns, FOR NO REASON. They can go as well, as I’m
here. Oh, and people inexplicably dressing in ancient costumes in the
future. There is no reason anyone would wear a Roman togas in deep
space. Really, there isn’t.)<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
</div>
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<div class="entry-content">
Ooooow, I have a set of covers coming out for Angry Robot next year, just finished the design for Jurassic London’s <em>Jews Vs Zombies</em> & <em>Jews Vs Aliens</em> Omnibus, comic book illustrations for Lavie Tidhar’s <em>New Swabia</em> are out any time now-ish. There’s a tiny short story by me in Fox Spirit’s Fox Pockets Anthology <em>Things In The Dark</em>. Erm, and I appear to be drawing a suicide rollercoaster poster for Lavie’s new book <em>Central Station</em>. Yeah, I’m just going with that…
On the random front, I’m forcing myself to go to zazen more often, looking for stardust with <a href="http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/" rel="nofollow">http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/</a> and watching Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, when I should be drawing <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-smile" title=":)">:)</span><br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Sarah!</strong><br />
<br />
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When not planning world domination Sarah Anne Langton draws things,
writes and catalogues her ever-growing shoe collection. Qualified
Astronaut. Part time archaeologist. Full time geek.<br />
<span id="goog_1359471865"></span><span id="goog_1359471866"></span>Sarah
has worked as an Illustrator for EA Games, Hodder & Stoughton,
Forbidden Planet, The Cartoon Network, Sony, Apple, Marvel Comics and a
wide variety of music events. Written and illustrated for Jurassic
London, Fox Spirit, NewCon Press, Hachette and ‘The Fizzy Pop Vampire‘
series. Hodderscape dodo creator and Kitschies Inky Tentacle judge.
Daylights as Web Mistress for the worlds largest sci-fi and fantasy
website. Scribbles a lot about the X-Men, shouts at Photoshop and drinks
an awful lot of tea. Responsible for ‘Zombie Attack Barbie‘ and ‘Joss
Whedon Is Our Leader Now‘. Her work has featured on io9, Clutter
Magazine, Forbidden Planet, Laughing Squid and Creative Review.
British Fantasy Award 2015: Best Artist Nominee.<br />
<br />
Her website can be found at <a href="http://secretarcticbase.com/" rel="nofollow">http://secretarcticbase.com</a><br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-20628536093487117852016-01-25T14:34:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:38:19.275+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Sam Stone<div class="entry-content">
Today we welcome the author of <em>Wicked Women</em> story ‘The Book of the Gods’ – Sam Stone, take it away!<br />
<br />
<strong>ell us a little about yourself and what you like to write:</strong><br />
<br />
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I’m
Sam Stone. I’m an award winning female writer. I enjoy writing Horror,
Steampunk, Fantasy and Science Fiction. But I have also turned my hand
to writing some official Sherlock Holmes stories too.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I started writing at the age of 11 and it was basically terrible fan-fiction!!<br />
<br />
As I grew older and gained more experience of life, married, had a
child, the idea of becoming a writing professional seemed like nothing
more than a pipe dream. I told myself that one day I would write a book
and get it published.<br />
<br />
The opportunity for this came when, still following my dream, I
completed my Masters Degree in Creative Writing and, for my
dissertation, wrote a novel. This was really the start of my career as
that book went on to win the Silver Award for Best Horror Novel in
ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards in the USA. This then led to
me getting my first professional deal, when The House of Murky Depths
picked up the novel, and published it as <em>Killing Kiss</em>.<br />
<br />
Since around 2009 I have been writing full time and have completed
about 14 novels, a few novellas, and many short stories as well as
audios, and a couple of screenplays.<br />
I see this as my job and work the hours accordingly!!<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
I have always been massively influenced by Tanith Lee, Stephen King,
Dean Koontz, Bram Stoker and other 19th Century Gothic writers such as
Sheridan Le Fanu and Mary Shelley. I’ve also been influenced by writers
such as Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick. Ray Bradbury’s stories used to
be read to us in science lessons when I was at high school. I loved
them!<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Aphra Behn was awesome! She was a poet, playwright, translator and
fiction writer born in 1640. She was one of the first women to earn a
living from writing and she was also rumoured to have been a spy for
Charles II. I think she was brave, unique, intelligent and a complete
role model for future generations of women who have the power of words
inside them.<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us about your radio show at SirenFM – how did that come about, what can listeners expect from a <em>Stone Tapes</em> show and where can we find it?</strong><br />
<br />
<em>The Stone Tapes</em> was conceived after I appeared as a guest on
SirenFM’s Midweek Drive show a couple of times. We proposed the idea of
a genre chat show to producer and founder of the radio station Alex
Lewczuk and he really liked it. In February/March 2015 the show was
given the green light and we launched our first episode in May 2015.<br />
<br />
<em>The Stone Tapes</em> is dedicated to all things genre, and so we
cover books, films, television, chat, music and have some great guests
joining us for the show.<br />
<br />
The team now consists of David J Howe (co-producer), Alex Lewczuk
(Producer), Patricia H Ash-Vildosolo who is the editor of Gearhearts
Steampunk Glamor Review Magazine, our regular reviewer, Robin Pierce,
who is a writer for Starburst Magazine and is our Wales correspondent,
and finally assistant director, actor and barman to Hugh Hefner, Joshua
Lou Friedman, who is our LA Correspondent. I’m the voice that brings
them, and the show, all together.<br />
<br />
The show is pre-recorded and then transmitted on SirenFM, and can be listened to on transmission from their website at <a href="http://www.sirenonline.co.uk/about/how-to-listen" rel="nofollow">http://www.sirenonline.co.uk/about/how-to-listen</a>.<br />
All the past episodes are also available to download and stream
online … and they include a Zombie Special (Episode 7) where we get
trapped in the studio, and all sorts of other mayhem. <a href="http://southsidebroadcasting.podbean.com/category/the-stone-tapes/" rel="nofollow">http://southsidebroadcasting.podbean.com/category/the-stone-tapes/</a><br />
<br />
<strong>You currently have three series in print – <em>The Jinx Chronicles</em>, <em>The Kat Lightfoot Mysteries</em> and <em>The Vampire Gene</em>
series covering a range of genres from horror to SF to portal fantasy –
do you find yourself drawn to writing series rather than stand alones,
and what’s the appeal of series fiction for you?</strong><br />
<br />
I have always loved writing series. When I devise characters and
really like them, I always want to write more about them and to spend
time with them in their universe. With the <em>Vampire Gene</em> series,
I was halfway through writing the first book when I realised that it
had to be at least a trilogy. But when I got to the end of the third
book, I knew that there was still so much more to say. I’m currently
working on the sixth book, <em>Jaded Jewel</em>, which should be out later this year.<br />
</div>
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With the <em>Jinx Chronicles</em>,
however, I always knew this was going to be a complete story in trilogy
form. I have no intention of taking the characters anywhere else after
that, and I know I’ll bring it all to a satisfactory conclusion on the
third book. The first is called <em>Jinx Town</em>, <em>Jinx Magic</em> is the second book, and <em>Jinx Bound</em> will be the third. The second volume of that should be in print this year.
<br />
The <em>Kat Lightfoot Mysteries</em> started life as one book, as I’d had the idea for <em>Zombies at Tiffany’s</em>
and knew that this would work well. But again, once I had written it, I
knew there was so much more to tell and explore about Kat and her demon
slaying companions. This series has such a wonderful following too and
I’m sure that it will go on for very many years to come.<br />
I have written a couple of standalone novels which are currently in
the hands of my agent, and I have completed an outline for a mainstream
thriller which is also with her. At the moment I’m seeing all of these
very much as stand alone projects … but who knows what could happen in
the future.<br />
So … I do prefer series, but I also enjoy writing one offs as a
change. There’s something very freeing in knowing that you have said all
you need to about a character and their universe. It’s not always that
easy to let go!<br />
<br />
<strong>Given the range of genres you write in, do you have any particular genre preference?</strong><br />
<br />
I started my writing career very much as a horror writer and I would
say that horror often spills over into the fantasy and sci-fi works when
I’m writing, but I really love dabbling in all genre fiction. Crime has
a particular appeal for me and the idea of unravelling a mystery is
quite thrilling. I’ve written two Sherlock Holmes tales for anthologies
now, and I love how you need to set the mystery without falling back
onto horror or supernatural reasons. I think I’d like to write more
crime and definitely some more thrillers. But even if I do, I think I
will always come back to my roots and dabble in some horror.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’re also the editor of the <a href="http://www.telos.co.uk/moonrise/">Telos Moonrise</a>
imprint – how are you finding life on the other side of the publishing
desk and has this changed how you approach your own fiction? </strong><br />
<br />
It is a real eye opener working as an editor and yes, I do believe my
own writing is much tighter now because of it! This is because when I’m
editing I wear a completely different hat to when I’m writing and that
editorial mindset also comes on when I edit my own work too. Also, I
find myself editing and questioning myself more as I go along. It’s
slowed my writing process down a little, but I feel I’m producing a
tighter first draft now as a result.<br />
<br />
<strong>Are there any exciting new titles coming up from the imprint?</strong><br />
<br />
I have just bought an exciting new series but can’t say more as
contracts haven’t been signed yet. We also still have a huge backlog of
previously acquired titles. We have a super YA novel coming soon from
Bryony Pearce, and a novel from Martin Owton which goes very much into
fantasy territory. But there will be more on this closer to release via
Telos’s newsfeed and on their website at <a href="http://www.telos.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://www.telos.co.uk</a>.<br />
<br />
I am also hoping that by summer we will be looking to buy more new
material, but we are also on the lookout for some classic fiction by
well established writers.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
All of them if possible! I really hate clichés. Although I wonder
sometimes if that’s to my own detriment because it does seem that some
of the most boring clichéd stuff is that which enjoys overnight
success.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
Well – I’m in some very exciting talks at moment but can’t say more on those even though I’m bursting to!!<br />
<br />
Otherwise, later this year I’ll be doing some writing workshops at
the Regis Centre in Bognor. I’m travelling to the USA in a couple of
weeks to appear at <a href="http://www.gallifreyone.com/">Gallifrey Convention</a>
as a guest with my husband David J Howe – where I will also be hosting a
writing workshop for anyone who’s keen to become a writer, improve
their work, or sell it in the future. I have the third Jinx novel to
write, <em>Jinx Bound</em>. Have to finish <em>Jaded Jewel</em> and I need to come up with a new <em>Kat Lightfoot</em> novella to launch at the <a href="http://www.asylumsteampunk.co.uk/">Asylum Steampunk Weekend</a>
in Lincoln in August. As well as all that I’m discussing new ideas with
my agent, and she is planning how to pitch these all over to new
publishers.<br />
<br />
I’ve also been asked to write a stage play – still working out the
theme for this one – but if I do it’s fairly certain to be produced so I
must find time for it!!<br />
<br />
I’d like to do some more screenwriting. And I do have a few short stories commissioned too.<br />
It’s lucky that I like being busy!<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Sam!</strong><br />
<br />
Award winning author Sam Stone began writing aged 11 after reading
her first adult fiction book, The Collector by John Fowles. Her love of
horror fiction began soon afterwards when she stayed up late one night
with her sister to watch Christopher Lee in the classic Hammer film,
Dracula. Since then she’s been a huge fan of vampire movies and novels
old and new.<br />
Sam’s writing has appeared in many anthologies for poetry and prose.
Her first novel was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. Like all good
authors she drew on her own knowledge and passions to write it. The
novel won the Silver Award for Best Horror Novel in ForeWord Magazine’s
book of the year awards in 2007.<br />
<br />
In September 2008 the novel was re-edited and republished by The
House of Murky Depths as Killing Kiss. The sequels, Futile Flame and
Demon Dance went on to become finalists in the same awards for
2009/2010. Both novels were later Shortlisted for The British Fantasy
Society Awards for Best Novel and Demon Dance won the award for Best
Novel in 2011. Sam also won Best Short Fiction for her story Fool’s Gold
which first appeared in the NewCon Press Anthology The Bitten Word.<br />
<br />
In 2011 Sam was commissioned by Reeltime Pictures to write a
monologue for their talking heads style Doctor Who spin-off, White Witch
of Devil’s End. She was also co-script editor with David J Howe. White
Witch, starring Damaris Hayman, was released on DVD in October 2014.<br />
Rights for Sam’s first novel <em>Killing Kiss</em> were bought by Verlag Bucheinband lnes Neumann in March 2013 for translation into German. The novel, <em>Todeskuss</em>, and was launched in December 2013. Since then Sam has sold an original novella, <em>The Darkness Within</em>
to AudioGo for Audio and Ebook. She was also commissioned by Telos to
write a sequel to her hugely successful Steampunk Novella <em>Zombies at Tiffany’s</em> and her much loved heroine, Kat Lightfoot, returned to the printed page in September 2013 in <em>Kat on a Hot Tin Airship</em>. The audio rights to <em>Zombies at Tiffany’s</em>
were subsequently bought by Spokenworld Audio and was made available
for download in Halloween 2013. Further sequels to this series are <em>What’s Dead Pussykat</em> (2014) and <em>Kat of Green Tentacles</em> (2015).<br />
<br />
In 2011, Sam became the commissioning editor for Telos Publishing’s new digital imprint Telos Moonrise.<br />
<br />
In May 2015, Sam launched her own monthly genre radio show, <em>The Stone Tapes</em> on Siren Fm in Lincolnshire.<br />
<br />
An eclectic and skilled prose writer Sam also has a BA (Hons) in
English and Writing for Performance and an MA in Creative Writing, which
means that she is frequently invited to talk about writing in schools,
colleges and universities in the UK. She is said to be an
‘inspirational’ speaker.<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-43938374754380994712016-01-22T14:27:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:33:35.763+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Gaie SeboldToday we’re joined by the author of the British Fantasy Award nominated <i>Wicked Women</i> story ‘A Change of Heart’ – Gaie Sebold, take it away!<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write:</b><br />
<br />
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I love walking (not hiking. Gentle, civilised walking that ends in
tea and cake, not in fighting to pitch a tent on a mountain in a howling
storm). I love gardening, I grow quite a lot of fruit and veg. I like
to cook. All very ordinary. The only out-of-the-ordinary things I’ve
done, outside fiction, have been live action role play – which is
practically mainstream these days – and learning swordfighting (well, I
say learning… I only did it for a couple of years. Up against anyone who
actually knew what they were doing, I’d be entirely hopeless). I’ve
worked in the theatre and done various office jobs, mainly for
charities, but now I write full time and run writing workshops, which I
adore.<br />
<br />
In writing, I’ve largely been concentrating on fantasy the last few
years. I still have occasional excursions into poetry, which was my
first love. I have a number of projects on the go, one of which probably
falls under historical crime – no supernatural elements in that one. I
like having fun, with characters, with language, with descriptions. But
even when I’m having the most fun, I’m usually dealing, or trying to,
with issues that I think are important, like compassion and fairness and
the responsibilities of power.<br />
<br />
<b>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</b><br />
<br />
I started writing almost as soon as I could read – at about four.
Fortunately I don’t think any of my early work has survived! I think I
started by imitating what I was reading. Looking back, some of it could
be called proto-fanfic – if I really enjoyed a story I didn’t want it to
end, so I’d carry it on in my head. I do remember one early original
effort involved unicorns, landing on the roof like Santa’s reindeer.
That may have been the entire plot – there were unicorns, what else do
you need? I wrote a lot of poetry and some short stories. I didn’t
attempt a novel until I was in college, where the First Great Fantasy
Tome started its long but inevitable progress towards the trunk.<br />
<br />
<b>Which authors have influenced you and why?</b><br />
<br />
Jane Austen and earlier Fay Weldon for scalpel sharpness and dry
humour. Stephen King for characterisation and sweaty-palmed
I-can’t-stop-reading drama. Angela Carter for brilliance and sheer
imaginative force. Terry Pratchett for being amazingly funny about stuff
that matters – and for wonderful heroines. Tolkien – for all his
problematic aspects – because Lord of the Rings swept me away. Neil
Gaiman for mythic power. And lots and lots of other writers.<br />
<br />
<b>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</b><br />
<br />
Hah! It hasn’t actually taken much for a woman to ‘misbehave’
throughout history. Do something considered unsuitable for ladies –
which at some points has been anything at all other than ‘look pretty
and produce babies’ – and you’re classed as misbehaving! More seriously –
it’s often hard to find out about the influential women of history,
there are still many whose contributions are completely ignored, they
aren’t being taught in schools, and it’s a disgrace. But yes, I have a
soft spot for Anne Bonny and Ching Shih (because who doesn’t love
pirates), the Suffragettes, of course, Rosa Parks and Aphra Behn –
because not only was she earning a living as a writer when that was
almost unknown for women, she had a huge influence on the development of
the novel, and many of her plays were considered very naughty – which
takes some doing, in the Restoration period. Fictional wicked women?
Pratchett’s Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax, definitely. Fevvers, from
Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus. Lady Joanna Constantine from
Gaiman’s Sandman. Oh, was I only supposed to mention one? Sorry…<br />
<br />
<b>Rumour has it you’re collaborating with partner David Gullen
on a project- what can you tell us about that, and how are you finding
the collaboration process?</b><br />
<br />
Dave and I tend to talk a lot about writing. Sometimes wine is
involved. Often ideas happen. Most of them are simply us going off on a
wild mental spree, but just occasionally something seems to grab both of
us as a real possibility for a project. This one did. It’s a sort of
steampunky romp, involving fine wine, nefarious doings, the Crowned
Heads of Europe, and Neanderthals.<br />
<br />
The collaboration process is something we’re still working out. Dave
is much more of a planner than I am – though I’m becoming more of one –
but this we needed to plan in quite a lot of detail. So I’ll look at the
plan and write a bit, and he’ll write a bit, and then we’ll argue about
the direction it’s going in, and then something comes up and it goes on
the back burner for a month or two because we both have to do other
things, and then we come back to it – I have no idea when we’ll get it
finished, but eventually, I hope!<br />
<br />
<b>You’ve got the second book in your Sparrow series – <i>Sparrow Falling</i> – coming out from Solaris Books in 2016, what can readers look forward to from it?</b><br />
<br />
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<div class="entry-content">
This
one involves my heroine, Evvie, finding herself in financial
difficulties yet again as she tries to keep her rather unusual school
for young ladies going. Looking for lucrative work brings her into
contact with a man who is having some dangerous and unpleasant dealings
with the Folk (my version of the Fey), and both Evvie and her fox-spirit
friend Liu find themselves caught up in the rivalry between the English
and Chinese Crepuscular Courts, while trying to prevent a war between
Great Britain and Russia. Drama! Intrigue! Magic! Strangeness! Flying
Machines! Extreme Peril!
<br />
<b>What’s the appeal of the steampunk genre for you?</b><br />
<br />
Since I have the engineering knowledge of a flea, it’s nice to write
about fun machines that don’t exist without having to explain how they
work. And the clothes are cool. And I am fascinated by the Victorian
period – it was such a combination of huge advancement and reform
alongside appalling brutality and exploitation, both at home and abroad.<br />
<br />
<b>How has being a member of the T Party Writers group helped you?</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://tpartywriters.wordpress.com/">The T Party</a> was
hugely helpful to me. I regret I haven’t been very involved the last
couple of years – but it was a great source of critique, encouragement,
and information. And I made some very good and long-term friends. I
think a well-run writing group can provide you with so much. I would
always suggest people try them out, because writing can be a very
isolating endeavour and it’s important to have people you can talk to
about it. But it’s also extremely important to find a group that suits
your particular temperament and areas of interest.<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us about your involvement with Plot Medics and has it given you new insights into your own writing? </b><br />
<br />
I started Plot Medics with Sarah Ellender (also of T Party Writers)
with the idea of providing writers with general help with their plots.
It’s morphed into the platform for the workshops, which I run with Sarah
when we can organise it or by myself otherwise. Running the workshops
has really made me think about my own process, about what inspires me
and keeps me going, and about the frameworks you can use to construct a
story, explore characters, and so on. I love the enthusiasm and energy
of the participants, and always come away from them completely knackered
but inspired.<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
How long have you got? Actually, female characters who have nothing
to do but be motivation or reward for male characters, that’s a major
one. And it applies to many genres, not just fantasy.<br />
<br />
<b>What are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
Sparrow Falling is out next year as you mentioned – I don’t have a definite date yet. I’m signed up for <a href="https://nineworlds.co.uk/">Nine Worlds Geekfest</a>, and hoping to do a workshop there. I’ll be at <a href="http://www.eurocon2016.org/">Eurocon</a>
in Barcelona, which I’m hugely looking forward to – I’m planning to
take a few days around the con for exploring. I’ve got one workshop
planned for a local writing group and I’m looking to do more. I’m
partway through a new fantasy novel, set in a different world from
either the <i>Babylon Steel</i> or <i>Gears of Empire</i> series,
and have a few short stories and other projects at various stages of
completion. Oh, and I’ll be going on a course to make my own bronze
sword, so that should be fun. And research. But mainly fun.<br />
<br />
<b>Thanks for joining us Gaie!</b><br />
<br />
Gaie Sebold was born rather longer ago than seems reasonable. She
has written several novels, a number of short stories, and has been
known to perform poetry. Her debut novel introduced brothel-owning
ex-avatar of sex and war, <i>Babylon Steel</i> (Solaris, 2012); the sequel, <i>Dangerous Gifts</i>, came out in 2013. <i>Shanghai Sparrow</i>, a steampunk fantasy, came out in 2014 and the sequel, <i>Sparrow Falling</i>,
is due in 2016. Her jobs have ranged from till-extension to
bottle-washer and theatre-tour-manager to charity administrator. She
lives with writer David Gullen and a paranoid cat in leafy suburbia,
runs writing workshops, grows vegetables, and cooks a pretty good
borscht.<br />
<br />
Her website is <a href="http://www.gaiesebold.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gaiesebold.com</a> and you can find her on twitter @GaieSebold.</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-23673022810981206192016-01-18T14:21:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:26:25.775+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Zen ChoToday we’re joined by the author of <i>Wicked Women</i> story ‘The First Witch of Damansara’ – Zen Cho, take it away!<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write</b>:<br />
<br />
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I’m a lawyer and writer who was born and raised in Malaysia. I’m
currently based in London. I write fantasy novels and short fiction,
generally with a sprinkling of romance and a dose of history.
<br />
<br />
<b>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</b><br />
<br />
I’ve been scribbling bits of stories since I was all of six years
old, but it took me a long time to figure out how to finish things! I
got into fanfic in my teens and that got me used to sharing my writing
with other people, as well as giving me an online community with whom I
could talk about reading, writing and ideas. I started writing original
short fiction for publication five years ago, and my first novel <i>Sorcerer to the Crown</i> came out in September 2015.<br />
<br />
<b>Which authors have influenced you and why?</b><br />
<br />
The authors that have left the most lasting marks on me are those I
read as a kid and teenager. Terry Pratchett, P. G. Wodehouse, Diana
Wynne Jones and L. M. Montgomery are up there. I also really admire the
work of Karen Lord, Amitav Ghosh and Geoff Ryman, who I read a bit later
on.<br />
<br />
<b>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</b><br />
<br />
Not actually wicked, but Sybil Kathigasu was a Malayan WW2 heroine
who wrote a memoir of her experiences supporting the resistance against
the Japanese occupation, <i>No Dram of Mercy</i>. I suppose she
misbehaved from the occupiers’ point of view! It’s a short book but
fascinating because you can tell what a strong character she was,
perhaps to the point of being overbearing – you get the impression she
ruled the roost in her household. She was also very much aware of
writing for the historical record – no false modesty in that regard.<br />
For a “wicked” example, I’ve always been fond of the Chinese female pirate Ching Shih.<br />
<br />
<b>Your most recent book – <i>Sorcerer to the Crown</i> – is set in Regency England, what drew you to that era and how did you put your own twist on Regency style fiction?</b><br />
<br />
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I’ve
always been fond of Regency England as a setting and several of my
favourite authors used it to great effect – Susanna Clarke, Patrick
O’Brian and Naomi Novik among them. My version has magic, of course, and
centres on England’s first African Sorcerer Royal, Zacharias Wythe, and
the incorrigible female magical prodigy Prunella Gentleman. I think of
it as Georgette Heyer with dragons and politics.
<br />
<br />
<b>You’ve also edited the Buku Fixi anthology <i>Cyberpunk: Malaysia</i> – has your experience as an editor changed how you approach your own fiction?</b><br />
<br />
Not really – I’m focusing on writing a novel at the moment, and I
find writing novels such a different beast from writing short fiction
that I can’t say I’ve been able to apply any lessons from the experience
of editing <i>Cyberpunk: Malaysia</i> to my own writing so far. That
said, it did bring home to me how much an editor is on the writer’s side
– I was really invested in the short stories I worked on – and I hope I
remember that when my next set of editorial notes come in!<br />
<br />
<b>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</b><br />
<br />
As a reader it’s nice to be able to explore a story and world without
the time commitment you need for a whole novel. A short story is
capable of making a point more efficiently and powerfully than a novel –
it’s a particularly good vehicle for science fiction for that reason.
Besides <i>Cyberpunk: Malaysia</i>, two books of short stories I’d recommend to SFF readers are the collection of James Tiptree Jr’s short fiction <i>Her Smoke Rose Up Forever</i> and <i>Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
Movies suffer from this more than books – at least the kind of books I
read – but I really hate the trope of the badass female character who
you’re set up to think might be the chosen one, but actually the chosen
one is the totally mediocre male lead.<br />
<br />
<b>What are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
I’m hard at work on the sequel to <i>Sorcerer to the Crown</i>. The only con I’ve got in the diary at the moment is <a href="https://acon8.wordpress.com/">Åcon 8</a> in Finland in May 2016 – I’m Guest of Honour and I’m really looking forward to it!<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for joining us Zen Cho!</b><br />
<br />
Zen Cho was born and raised in Malaysia. She is the author of Crawford Award-winning short story collection <i>Spirits Abroad</i>, and editor of anthology <i>Cyberpunk: Malaysia</i>,
both published by Buku Fixi. She has also been nominated for the
Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Pushcart Prize, and
honour-listed for the Carl Brandon Society Awards, for her short
fiction. Her debut novel, <i>Sorcerer to the Crown</i>, is the first
in a historical fantasy trilogy published by Ace/Roc Books (US) and Pan
Macmillan (UK). She lives in London with her partner and practises law
in her copious free time.Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-17457380105701575752016-01-15T14:15:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:20:31.644+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Jaine Fenn<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IXD7q1Ohfo4/VuwORRTBXMI/AAAAAAAABCY/Er4oq0tbsmUvYUnHXS7h60bG4pBI35kDQ/s1600/jaine%2BNovacon%2B2012%2B-%2Bcredit%2Bto%2BAl%2BJohnston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IXD7q1Ohfo4/VuwORRTBXMI/AAAAAAAABCY/Er4oq0tbsmUvYUnHXS7h60bG4pBI35kDQ/s200/jaine%2BNovacon%2B2012%2B-%2Bcredit%2Bto%2BAl%2BJohnston.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Al Johnston 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="entry-content">
Today we’re joined by the author of <i>Wicked Women</i> story ‘Down at the Lake’ – Jaine Fenn, take it away!<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write:</b><br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
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In my writing I’ve dabbled across the SFF spectrum but gravitated
towards space opera, because I love the grand scale and possibilities it
provides. When I was younger I read fantasy in preference to SF and
that’s coming back to me now, as I have a growing fondness for that most
unfashionable hybrid, science fantasy.<br />
<br />
<b>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</b><br />
<br />
I’ve been writing forever, or at least it sometimes feels like it.
I’ve wanted to write stories since my early teens, though thanks to
letting myself get distracted by other stuff (earning a living,
role-playing games, having a social life) this took a little longer than
intended. I cut my teeth on short stories while working on
the-novel-which-became-Principles-of-Angels; thanks to having had a few
stories published I was on a panel with Jo Fletcher, who accepted <i>Principles of Angels</i> for publication by Gollancz. And the rest, as they say, is history.<br />
<br />
<b>Which authors have influenced you and why?</b><br />
<br />
Ursula le Guin was my gateway to the SFF world: when I was nine I
picked up a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea by chance; up until then I’d
only read media tie-ins as my family didn’t keep books in the house so I
had no idea what was out there.<br />
<br />
I wish I could write like Geoff Ryman; he’s a real writers’ writer.<br />
<br />
Mary Gentle is a much underrated writer: she’s shown my how to cross boundaries and mix it up.<br />
Cyberpunk came along as I was getting into SF, and I can’t quite shake its influence, especially William Gibson.<br />
<br />
And Iain M Banks got me into space opera.<br />
<br />
<b>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</b><br />
<br />
Ooo, tricky question. Sadly, I think many of the real women who’ve
been labelled ‘wicked’ by history have been done so pejoratively, as a
way of belittling and disempowering them. One exception would be
Boudicca. Though the full facts are lost to time and obscured by later
myth-makers, for me she’s a great example of a woman who decided enough
was enough and fought back, big time. If we’re talking about pure myth,
it would have to be Queen Mab; she’s the essence of capricious, powerful
femininity.<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us about the Hidden Empire series and what stories we can expect to see next from it?</b><br />
<br />
The series is space opera, though with influences from other parts of
the genre too (notably fantasy and cyberpunk, as noted above). There
are five books to date, starting with <i>Principles of Angels</i>, and
each book is meant to stand alone whilst adding to the overall story.
The premise is that humanity was originally elevated to the stars by a
not-quite-alien race who wanted to control human destiny – a race of
archetypical wicked women, by the way – and though humans overthrew
their rulers their attempts to rebuild independent human culture have
been fragmentary, and the old oppressors are not entirely gone; plus,
there are greater threats lurking out there which most people have no
idea of.<br />
<br />
The most recent Hidden Empire novel, <i>Queen of Nowhere</i>, tied
up a number of loose ends, but there is more to tell. I’m currently
working on other novel-length projects, but am still playing in that
world; in fact I’ve just finished a short story set immediately after
the human rebellion, exploring what happens to a culture when it goes
from tyranny to (sort of) democracy.<br />
<br />
<b>You were recently a guest of honour at BristolCon, and have
been GoH at Novacon as well as being a long time convention goer –
what’s your favourite convention to go to, and what benefits have you
found at conventions as an author?</b><br />
<br />
I think my favourite con is <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/">BristolCon</a>
– which was why I was so delighted to be a guest. It’s only one day
long but has excellent programming and a lovely chilled and friendly
vibe. Cons are a fantastic way to connect with readers, and a chance to
talk shop with other authors.<br />
<br />
<b>As someone who has been both traditionally published and
ventured into self-publishing, what are the benefits of being a hybrid
author for you?</b><br />
<br />
It pays to diversify – these days more than ever. The big publishers
are increasingly risk-averse, and most writers will produce work which
won’t suit traditional publishing models, like novellas, which have
always been hard to place. Self-publishing lets you get work like that
out there alongside novels.<br />
<br />
<b>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</b><br />
<br />
Short fiction is great if, like me, you have a hectic lifestyle and
short attention span. More seriously, the short story is an art form
which doesn’t get as much credit and coverage as it should; creating and
develop compelling characters in a believable world whilst getting
across your central idea in, say, five thousand words is quite an art.
As for recommendations … there are some excellent short story writers
out there, too many to mention, though I think short stories
particularly suit hard SF ideas, and two recommendations for hard SF
shorts would be Alasdair Reynolds and a newer writer, Vaughan Stanger.<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
There’s a whole steaming pile of gender-related stuff we could do
without, although that is changing, slowly. I think the cliché which
annoys me most is not from SFF, but about it, and that’s the common view
of those who don’t read in our genre that those of us who do are
infantile, anti-social, incapable of functioning effectively in the real
world – and male.<br />
<br />
<b>What are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
I’m currently working on a science fantasy duology called <i>Shadowlands</i>, though I don’t have a publication date for that yet. Next May I’ll be Guest of Honour at <a href="http://www.satellite5.org.uk/">Satellite 5</a>,
up in Glasgow, and I’m looking forward to that. And one of my
intentions for next year, which your earlier question reminded me of, is
to revise some of the many not-quite-there-yet short stories I have
around.<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for joining us Jaine!</b><br />
<br />
Jaine Fenn studied Linguistics and Astronomy at college before
spending a decade and a half developing a healthy distrust of technology
whilst working in computing. She lives in Hampshire with her husband
and her books.<br />
<br />
As well as numerous short stories she is the author of the <i>Hidden Empire</i> series which started in 2008 with <i>Principles of Angels</i>. Since then, she has published a further 4 novels in the <i>Hidden Empire</i> series and a short story collection, <i>Downside Girls</i>
set in the Hidden Empire universe. In her spare time, Jaine includes
wild, green places, dancing like nobody’s watching and serious chocolate
in her list of things to ease the trials of everyday life.<br />
<br />
Her website can be found at <a href="http://www.jainefenn.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.jainefenn.com</a></div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-45949047273408845552016-01-11T14:14:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:20:16.196+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Jonathan Ward<div class="entry-content">
Today we’re joined by the author of <i>Wicked Women</i> story ‘A Change in Leadership’ – Jonathan Ward, take it away!<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write:</b><br />
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I’m
32 years old, and have been writing science fiction, fantasy and horror
for many years now. It’s not how I make a living as yet, but I aim for
it to be that some day. In my spare time I read relentlessly, battle a
long-running addiction to tea, garlic bread and Jack Daniels (in no
particular order) and occasionally throw myself off high platforms or
out of planes. Standard stuff.
<br />
<b>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</b><br />
<br />
I started when I was eight, or around that time. Back then I had a
lot of notebooks and used to fill every page, front and back, with
stories that were, I have to be honest, poorly-written and total
rip-offs of things I had seen and already read. I had a recurring
villainous wizard called Ommadon, and I’m sure many of the people
reading will know that name well! Luckily I got better, and more
original, fairly quickly!<br />
<br />
<b>Which authors have influenced you and why?</b><br />
<br />
It took me a while to trim down the list of authors so I could answer
this! Arthur C Clarke was a massive influence; I read most of his books
from my local library when I was younger and he probably got me hooked
on sci-fi. More recently: Neal Asher, Peter F Hamilton, Iain M Banks and
Stephen Baxter have been big influences. I can’t forget Ursula Le Guin;
I loved Earthsea when I was a child and really need to read her works
again. Finally, this list wouldn’t be complete without Terry Pratchett. I
own dozens of his books and love the imagination and charm in each and
every one of them.<br />
<br />
<b>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</b><br />
<br />
The first woman I thought of was Sharrow, from Iain M Banks’s <i>Against A Dark Background</i>.
She kicked arse and got things done, all with an acerbic wit and flair
that helped make up for her not being exactly the most moral or
sympathetic of characters. Writing this has made me want to read the
novel again, actually!<br />
<br />
<b>You started out a science fiction writer but moved onto
horror and fantasy – do you have a current favourite genre to work in
and why?</b><br />
<br />
It has to be science fiction I think; it was my first genre-love and
still is! I love the scope of it; there’s so much room to play with new
and interesting concepts, or put your own spin on familiar tropes. I’m
growing to love fantasy more though as time goes by, particularly as I
come across novels that aren’t all the familiar “sword and sorcery”
theme.<br />
<br />
<b>What can you tell us about the <i>Outliers</i> project?</b><br />
<br />
<i>Outliers</i> is a collaborative project between myself and four
other authors. We’re aiming for ten books of linked anthologies set in a
shared universe, divided into two five-book arcs. As to what it’s
about… well. What would you call a superhero, in a world that doesn’t
permit heroes? A world where everyone is down in the moral mud, and
those with abilities are either feared, hunted or expected to change
everything? Could that world live with people with powers, and if it
could, would they want to be part of such a place?<br />
<br />
Short stories set in the Outliers universe have already been
released, and our first novella anthology should be published early next
year. I’m extremely excited about it, and hope people will enjoy
reading it as much as I have working on it!<br />
<br />
<b>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</b><br />
<br />
As a reader I enjoy it because you can read a whole story in one
sitting, so it’s very accessible and a good introduction to new authors.
As a writer I enjoy the challenge of creating new worlds and telling
decent stories within a tight word-count.<br />
<br />
I always recommend Lovecraft: regardless of his personal views, the
man knew how to write compelling, horrifying stories. China Mieville
always finds ways to tell interesting tales; he’s one of my favourites.<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
I’d have to say the idea that AI will try and exterminate us. It’s
been done so many times that the concept has got a little old, though
there are authors out there that still manage a fresh approach to it.<br />
<br />
<b>What are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
At time of writing I’m close to finishing the first draft of a
fantasy novel set in the same world as ‘A Change of Leadership’, and
featuring some of the same characters. After that comes the holiday
period and a well-deserved rest before the writing bug gets me back to
work on something new!<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for joining us Jonathan!</b><br />
<br />
Jonathan Ward is a science-fiction, horror and fantasy writer hailing
from the sprawling urban metropolis of Bedford. He has wanted to be an
author since the age of eight, though it’s questionable whether his
writing talents have improved since then. When not writing he can be
found reading a good book, out exploring new places, or in the pub being
sarcastic to his closest friends.<br />
Jonathan’s Author Central page containing links to all of his published work: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathan-Ward/e/B002BLQ8HA/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathan-Ward/e/B002BLQ8HA/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0</a><br />
Jonathan’s Facebook writing page: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Written-Ward/339336243357" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Written-Ward/339336243357</a><br />
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/WrittenWard" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/WrittenWard</a></div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-9821205127259780042016-01-08T14:06:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:19:44.572+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Stephanie Burgis<div class="entry-content">
Today we’re joined by the author of <i>Wicked Women</i> story ‘Red Ribbons’ – Stephanie Burgis, take it away!<br />
<br />
<b>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write:</b><br />
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<div class="entry-content">
I’m
a total history geek and a former musician. I grew up in East Lansing,
Michigan, and I spent a couple of years living in Vienna, Austria, but
nowadays I live in Wales, surrounded by castles and coffee shops, with
my husband, Patrick Samphire (whom I met at the Clarion West science
fiction & fantasy writing workshop!), our two kids, and our sweet
old border collie mix. I write wildly romantic historical fantasy novels
for adults, fun, funny adventure fantasy novels for kids (my first MG
trilogy was set in Regency England, with balls, highwaymen and magic),
and short stories that leap all over the fantasy and science fiction
field.
<br />
<b>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</b><br />
<br />
I decided when I was seven years old that I wanted to be a
professional writer, because writing was the only thing that was more
fun than reading – and that’s been my career goal ever since!<br />
<br />
<b>Which authors have influenced you and why?</b><br />
<br />
So many! Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, Georgette Heyer, Robin McKinley,
Emma Bull, Judith Tarr, Patricia McKillip, Terry Pratchett, Terri
Windling…and that’s only the authors I’d really imprinted on by the end
of my teens! I love humour, I love romance, I love banter, I love
beautiful writing, I love feeling a true sense of wonder as I read, and I
love stories that are full of genuine emotion.<br />
<br />
<b>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</b><br />
<br />
Just at the moment, Agent Carter – I looooove seeing her on TV!<br />
<br />
<b>Your first adult historical fantasy novel – Masks and Shadows – will be coming out next year, what can you tell us about it? </b><br />
<br />
It’s a wildly romantic novel set at the palace of Eszterháza, in
Hungary, in the late 18th century, full of dark alchemy, forbidden love,
blackmail, and dangerous opera.<br />
<br />
<b>How useful do you find making collages and music playlists when writing your books, and do you have a playlist or collage for <i>Masks and Shadows</i>?</b><br />
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<div class="entry-content">
I
make collages and music playlists for every book! I used to make them
on paper, but nowadays I tend to make them as Pinterest boards (and you
can see my Pinterest board for <i>Masks & Shadows</i>: <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/stephanieburgis/masks-and-shadows/" rel="nofollow">https://www.pinterest.com/stephanieburgis/masks-and-shadows/</a>
<br />
In <i>Masks and Shadows</i>, a lot of the story revolves around the
opera house where Haydn worked as the court composer, so of course I
listened to a lot of Haydn’s operas as I wrote, along with the fabulous
soundtrack to the movie <i>Farinelli</i> (because the romantic hero in <i>Masks & Shadows</i> is a superstar castrato singer).<br />
<br />
<b>Are there any differences in your approach to writing middle
grade fiction versus adult fiction, and are there particular things you
can or can’t do in each?</b><br />
<br />
My MG novels are shorter, faster-paced and more streamlined than my
adult novels. My adult novels are more romantic; my MG novels are
funnier. I love writing them both!<br />
<br />
<b>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</b><br />
<br />
Going to the Clarion West science fiction & fantasy writing
workshop in 2001 taught me to love good short stories. Some of my
favorite short story writers are Sarah Monette (her collection <i>The Bone Key</i>
is my favorite short story collection ever! ), Zen Cho, and Aliette de
Bodard, and I also really adore Kij Johnson’s story ‘At the Mouth of the
River of Bees.’<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
Over-usage of sexual violence on the page (or screen) as an easy way
to establish villainy – and especially sexual violence against women
that’s used, narratively, to motivate male characters into action.<br />
<br />
<b>What are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
I have a new MG fantasy series starting in 2017 with <i>The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart</i>. It’ll be published by Bloomsbury in both the US and UK.<br />
<br />
<b>Thanks for joining us Stephanie!</b><br />
<br />
Stephanie Burgis grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, but now lives in
Wales with her husband and two sons, surrounded by mountains, castles
and coffeeshops. Her trilogy of Regency fantasy novels was published in
the UK as <i>The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson</i> and in the US as the <i>Kat, Incorrigible</i> trilogy. Her first historical fantasy novel for adults, <i>Masks and Shadows</i>, will be published by Pyr Books in 2016, and her next MG fantasy series will be published by Bloomsbury Books, beginning with <i>The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart</i> in 2017. Find out more on her website – <a href="http://www.stephanieburgis.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stephanieburgis.com/</a></div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-9700770918525868402016-01-06T13:59:00.000+00:002016-03-18T14:19:58.058+00:00Wicked Women: Jan's Fab Five<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today we’re joined by <i>Wicked Women</i> co-editor Jan Edwards who’s here to tell us about her five (ish) favourite fictional wicked women…<br />
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Finding
five wicked women that I truly admired was trickier than I first
thought. First problem is to define wicked. The OED quotes 1/ vile or
morally wrong or 2/ Playfully mischievous. It is a broad canvas but it
does cut out most of the obvious choices when it comes to famous women
of note. Sappho (c 570 BC) one of the first published female writers.
Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) mathematician widely considered to have written
the first computer programme. Lillian Bland (1878–1971) Journalist and
aviator who in 1910 built her own plane. Murasaki Shikibu said to have
written the first novel The Tale of Genji somewhere around 990.
Boudicca, (1st Century AD) famed leader of the Britons. Anne Frank,
Sojourney Truth, Cleopatra, Mary Wollstonecraft, Emmeline Pankhurst,
Marie Stopes, Apra Behn – the list goes on. Most could hardly be termed
wicked by either definition. Because of that I chose favourite fictional
characters from the many that inhabit my bookshelves and DVD racks.
<br />
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1/<b>Willow Rosenthal</b>:
Willow is perhaps the most obvious wicked woman in regard to fantasy
fiction. She is funny, quirky, geeky and eager to investigate, though
she also has a very healthy regard for her own safety; something
frequently missing with fictional fighters of evil. When Willow turned
to the dark side she ticked both boxes in the wicked definitions. She
sashays around Sunnydale safe in the knowledge that there was not a lot
out there that could beat her in a showdown. She is truly mad, bad and
very dangerous to know, yet her ‘evil’ side comes from wanting to be a
part of Buffy’s supernatural team. Vamp Willow is another matter. ‘Bored
now!’ is one of those wicked women catch phrases loaded with
connotations that comes right up there with ‘come up and see me’. The
Buffyverse is awash with strong female characters: Buffy, Faith,
Drusilla, Anya, Cordelia and Dawn to name but a few, and they went on to
spawn a million more wicked women in countless fantasy books and TV
series’ but I shall let Willow represent them all. For my money Willow
Rosenthal in her various guises will always be in the top ten wicked
women.<br />
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2/ <b>River Song</b>:
River is a very different proposition and one of my top Who girls of
all time. A character who provokes strong emotions but then she is a
very strong woman. River sails along the very edges of legality,
frequently dipping onto the wicked side with great relish and style. She
is both wicked in the sense of big bad and also wicked in her gamine
personality. To attempt to analyse all of her quirks and contradictions
would be an essay all of its own. She has many guises. Steampunk hero;
Noir gumshoe; Femme fatale spy; criminal mistress-mind. River Song is a
true wicked woman.
<br />
3/ <b>The Bene Gesserit</b>: Okay I am cheating by
including an entire political/religious order but within the confines of
Herbert’s Dune world the Bene Gesserit ruled. Defined as ‘an exclusive
sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of
physical and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman powers and
abilities that can seem magical to outsiders.’ The sisters were (to
lapse into Labyrinth-speak) the babes with the power. They use anything
at their disposal to attain their goals; sex, blackmail, fear, magic,
drugs; whatever it takes to bend people to their will. The whole of the
Dune saga revolves around them. From House Atreides to House Harkonnen;
the Fremen to the Space Guild, these woman play the long game as they
shift pawns in every major house in that world. They are about as wicked
as it comes.<br />
<br />
4/ <b>Emma Woodhouse</b>: Jane Austen’s eponymous heroine
was controversial character in her day. Her existence is limited to the
village by her monstrously selfish father, yet still does her own thing;
no mean feat for any woman negotiating the male dominated society of
Georgian England. She is young, rich, intelligent and as mind bogglingly
arrogant as her parent. Yet she IS trapped within that small pool, so
she contents herself with playing with her neighbours as a child plays
with dolls, sending ripples through every layer of society. As with
Willow and River her rise to infamy is unintentional. She arranges the
lives of people she views as her inferiors because, as she sees it, she
is superior and thus has the right. Like Willow and more especially,
River, she is just a girl who wants to have fun, and like them she truly
believes she is doing it for her victims’ good; whether they want it or
not.<br />
<br />
5/ <b>Rebecca de Winter</b>: Feisty is an overused word
these days but Rebecca de Winter was that if nothing else. She is
portrayed through various other characters as a renowned beauty, perfect
hostess and compulsive liar. She torments her husband Maxim with
non-stop affairs, and when she discovers she is dying of cancer, goads
him into killing her. The second Mrs de Winter calls her mentally
unstable and sadistic and that could be a fair assessment. We learn
about Rebecca through the memories of others, yet she is there
throughout, lurking on every page. Daphne Du Maurier’s skill in bringing
to life a gloriously wicked woman whom the reader never meets is
superb. For me at least Rebecca de Winter as one of the greatest wicked
women (in the ‘mad and bad’ sense) ever to stalk the shelves of fiction.<br />
<br />
6/ <b>Captain Nancy Blackett</b>: Yes I am going to cheat
again and add a sixth name, because this list really would not be
complete without her. Ruth Blackett, aka Captain Nancy, appeared in nine
of the twelve Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome. Like Emma
Woodhouse, Nancy is a controversial figure of her time. Unlike most
female characters of middle class roots she is a headstrong tomboy and
lacks the usual (for the time) dominant male influences beyond the
mischievous ‘Uncle (Captain Flint) Jim’. Captain Nancy defers to no one
and drags the more traditional Walker into her make-believe world of
pirates and explorers, supremely confident in her right to lead. Out of
all my wicked women of fiction, Captain Nancy is my first and favourite.
As a child I wanted to be her – as a writer I strive to create a
character with such appeal.<br />
<br />
So there they are. My (6) wicked women. Given the space I could list a top 100!<br />
<br />
<i>Thank you for joining us Jan!</i><br />
<br />
Jan Edwards was born in Sussex and now lives in the Staffs Moorlands
with 3 cats and husband Peter Coleborn. Jan is a writer of fiction,
freelance editor, Master Practitioner in both Usui and Celtic Reiki and
Meditational Healer and founder member of the <a href="http://renegadewriters.wordpress.com/">Renegade Writers</a> group. You can find her at her website <a href="https://janedwardsblog.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">https://janedwardsblog.wordpress.com</a> or on twitter at: @jancoledwards.<br />
<i>Leinster Gardens and Other</i> Subtleties can be found in paperback or ebook editions from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leinster-Gardens-Other-Subtleties-Edwards-ebook/dp/B00UK95YPC/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441695865&sr=8-1&keywords=leinster+gardens+and+other+subtleties">Amazon</a>.</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-56075332754547824842016-01-04T07:01:00.000+00:002016-01-06T07:04:36.795+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Chloe Yates<div class="entry-content">
Gooood morning funky peeps. Today we’re kicking off the new year with the author of <em>Wicked Women</em> story ‘How to be the Perfect Housewife’ – Chloë Yates, take it away!<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write</strong><br />
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This
is one of my first interviews so I should apologise in advance because
I’m made almost entirely from nonsense. I’m an English immigrant who’s
been living in the middle of Switzerland for nearly a decade (no, my
husband’s not a banker). It’s an incredible place to live, I’m very
lucky, but I miss dear old Blighty. No kids, lots of books, and one
elderly dog, Miss Maudie, who thinks she’s the Supreme Being. She’s
probably right.</div>
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What do I like to write? At the moment WORDS WOULD BE GOOD! Damn it. I
digress. My husband once called my work ‘charming anarchic oddness’, I
told him to sod off. I’ve been told it’s ‘sinister’ (hat tip to KT
Davies) but I tend to think I’m writing things that are quite jolly, a
bit grim maybe but usually jolly (perhaps it was too much Enid Blyton as
a kid). Take Kitty Darling in ‘How To Be The Perfect Housewife’, she’s
pretty upbeat… isn’t she?<br />
<br />
Frankly, I’ll have a bash at anything. Defining one’s work by genre
is only useful for marketing and libraries. The work itself shouldn’t be
constrained to fit into preconceived definitions, that’s the antithesis
of speculative fiction, surely? Possibility is everything. There’s
comfort in tradition and tropes, I can’t and won’t deny that, but I say
mix it, mash it, spin it, wear it your own way. Ain’t no party like an
interstitial party, son.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I’ve been impotently scribbling stuff for years but only really
started to send my work out about three years ago. I sent a very short
story, called ‘Don’t Do It Salvador!’ to the fabulous <a href="http://kalaity.com/2012/05/23/writer-wednesday-post-card-fiction-prizes/">Kate Laity’s inaugural Postcard Fiction Contest in 2012 and won</a>.
That gave me the confidence to enter Fox Spirit’s International Talk
Like A Pirate Day competition the same year and, along with two other
writers, I won that as well. ‘Leave the Pistol Behind’ was then
published in Fox Spirit’s Piracy Fox Pocket. Those two women – Kate and
Adele (the Prof and the Cap) – are my spark plugs. I can’t begin to
explain how supportive they’ve been of both my work and of me. I will
never be able to thank them enough. They’re phenomenal women and I’m
bloody lucky to know them. Without them, I’d likely still be fiddling
with myself in the dark. So to speak…<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
All of them! I’ve always been a reader – my mum still proudly tells
people how I read Jane Eyre when I was only five and a half. There were
always books in our house and I wasn’t censored, so I pretty much read
anything. I was obsessed with Enid Blyton books as a kid and the shelf I
kept them on got so loaded it fell down. Imagine nearly being crushed
to death by Blyton! That affects a person. As a teenager, I devoured
Stephen King and Dean Koontz, wrote a million Terry Pratchett pastiches,
read Hammett and Chandler, the Pern books (because Mum’s a fan),
Cherryh, Atwood, Ellison, Clarke, the list goes on and on. I even
remember reading a Philip José Farmer story about zombies having sex
with prostitutes and their willies breaking off or some such business…
these are the things that scar a kid, no?<br />
<br />
As an adult, Caitlin Kiernan and Poppy Z Brite have influenced me.
Not in terms of style, perhaps, but definitely in terms of telling the
story you need or want to tell in the way you want to tell it. That’s an
important lesson for any writer.<br /><br />
Art influences me a great deal too; my dad’s an artist, so I grew up
surrounded by the smell of Swarfega and ink, but it was Mr Y who really
ignited my love for it. I’m rather partial to Surrealism, especially
that by women. When I discovered Leonora Carrington’s work, I was blown
away. Then I found her written work and it changed me. It loosened my
girdle, if you will, made me more inclined to go with the pictures in my
head and not tame them into something more ‘acceptable’. Read her novel
The Hearing Trumpet or the short story ‘White Rabbits’ in the
Vandermeers’ <em>Weird</em> anthology. In fact, do both.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
The Wicked Witch of the West. I was obsessed with the 1939 <em>The Wizard of Oz</em>
as a kid, and was genuinely upset every time that little cow chucked
water on her beautiful wickedness. I don’t blame her for being pissed
off – they were her shoes! We’ve only got Glinda, the desperate ‘Wizard’
and those whiny bloody Munchkins’ word that she’s up to no good. She
wants to take control over a country currently controlled by an
information withholding, passive aggressive bubble-driver and a
snivelling impostor. More power to her. Also, I’ve always thought she
looks like my Mum. In a good way…<br />
<br />
<strong>You recently narrated a story for the <a href="http://www.castofwonders.org/">Cast of Wonders</a> podcast – how did you find the experience and is this something you would like to do more of?</strong><br />
<br />
I’ve done two or three now, and it’s fun to do something different.
It can be a little taxing, hearing myself drone on for ages, but other
people seem to like it so that’s a Brucie. Finding the right time to do
it can be a challenge because the kids in the apartment upstairs were
born with lead feet. I can go through about a million takes because of
their sudden hippopotomatic incursions. I want to get it as right as I
feel I can, so it can be more time-consuming than I originally thought,
but that’s something I need to get better at. I’d happily do more.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you? And do you have any plans for longer works?</strong><br />
<br />
For me, certainly at the moment, short stories are the exploration
level of writing. I’m trying things out, looking at different styles,
working out my kinks, finding my way, and so on. I love flash fiction,
things less than 2000 words. It’s like being a prose ninja. You run in
with an idea, smack your audience upside the head with it, and then run
off, leaving them to wonder, with any luck, what the hell happened, if
there’ll be more, and how lucky they are to be alive (maybe not that).
There are plans for longer works – I’m writing a collection for <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit</a>
at the moment, and after that I’ve got to crack on with the novel I’ve
discussed with Adele. A woman gets mixed up in some nasty business and,
after trying to go on the run, ends up in another world. It isn’t
steampunk, it isn’t high fantasy, I’m not sure what it is, but it should
be fun. I’ve also got an idea involving Primordial Gods in an unlikely
setting, as well as some thoughts about an Elizabethan adventuress. So
I’d best crack on!<br />
<br />
<strong>Much of your fiction and poetry combines the comedic and
macabre, and this seems to be a popular genre combination across
multiple storytelling mediums, from the big screen to the printed word –
why do you think these elements mesh so well?</strong><br />
<br />
The whole comedic/macabre mash up is appealing because laughing in
the face of evil gives us a sense of control or at least the semblance
of it. Evil can only truly win when you can’t turn around and laugh in
its face. It’s defiance, the good old two-finger salute, that keeps us
going in the face of so much darkness. There’s an old cliché that’s goes
along the lines of ‘wherever there’s darkness, you should shine a
light’ – or is that a Katrina and the Waves song? Anyway, for me that
light is laughter.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
Dong covers. You know the ones? High fantasy books with a big arsed penis-replacement sword on them. Puh-lease.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
It seems a long way off, but next year I should be attending <a href="http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/special-event/edge-lit-5">Edge-Lit</a> and redcloaking at <a href="http://fantasyconbythesea.com/">Fantasycon</a>
again. Maybe even another con, we’ll see. It’s invigorating to be
around likeminded souls. I’m at home alone most of the time, so I think
it’s essential to my sanity to consort with cohorts at least once a
year. Also, redcloaking at Fantasycon means that I can attend without
hanging around like a bad smell. I’m not always entirely sure what to do
with myself, so it’s a good way to go but not lurk. You know what I
mean?<br />
<br />
Workwise, I have more stories coming out in the remaining Fox Pockets
series plus, at some point, another in an anthology called <em>Eve of War</em>, which sort of follows on from their BFS award nominated <em>Tales of Eve</em>.
Next year should see my instalment in the Feral Tales series from FS
come out. Adele keeps on at me to branch out and write for other people
and to get myself an agent. I’m still learning though, still pretty
inchoate as a writer, so I’m not rushing but I do need to let fly, to
take myself seriously. I’m working on it.<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Chloë!</strong><br />
<br />
Chloë Yates is a writer of odd stories. English born, she currently
lives in the middle of Switzerland with her bearded paramour, Mr Y, and
their disapproving dog, Miss Maudie, surrounded by books, effigies of
owls and the great god Ganesh. Chloë got her first taste of success in
May 2012 with her very short prose piece ‘Don’t Do it, Salvador’, which
won the inaugural Postcard Fiction Contest, published at: <a href="http://kalaity.com/2012/05/23/writer-wednesday-post-card-fiction-prizes" rel="nofollow">http://kalaity.com/2012/05/23/writer-wednesday-post-card-fiction-prizes</a>.<br />
<br />
Her story ‘Leave the Pistol Behind’ was one of the winners of Fox
Spirit Books’ International Talk Like a Pirate Day in 2012, and her
noirish chops have slathered into the Noir series, edited by Kate Laity –
Weird Noir (2012) Noir Carnival (2013) and Drag Noir (2014). More of
her work features in several anthologies, including all but the second
volume of Fox Spirit’s Fox Pocket series.<br />
<br />
Occasional ranting occurs in her blog at <a href="http://www.chloe-yates.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.chloe-yates.blogspot.com</a>
and she wanders through twitter under the sobriquet @shloobee. She’s
currently working on a big idea or two and writing more short stories.<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-32977360913520508212015-12-23T06:58:00.000+00:002016-01-06T06:59:56.596+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Adrian Tchaikovsky<div class="entry-content">
And today, my lovelies, we’re rolling into the holidays with the author of <em>Wicked Women</em> story ‘This Blessed Union’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky, take it away!<br />
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<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write</strong><br />
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I’m
that guy who writes about spiders taking over, while rooting for the
spiders. There’s more to it as well – my interests include biological
sciences, historical combat and gaming of all kinds, but they’re going
to put the spider thing on my tombstone. Or you can substitute various
things for spiders – insects, aliens, robots, the next wave of human
evolution, but I am consistently the champion of the other.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I first started writing (terribly) around age 18 after reading the
Dragonlance books and realising that here someone had taken a RPG
campaign and turned it into a set of novels. If they could do it, I
could do it. And of course I couldn’t, but I kept on going and improved
with practice.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Probably the most important writers of my early life were Diane Wynne
Jones, Michael Moorcock and Peter S Beagle. Going forward, there are
those like Mary Gentle, China Mieville and Gene Wolfe, who I’d love to
be able to approach more in my own writing (I actually wrote this to
Wolfe once. He replied “You should be trying to write the best like
Adrian Tchaikovsky that you can.”)<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
I’m going to go way back in time to Inanna, goddess of the Sumerian
pantheon. Inanna wasn’t the god in charge, but she seemed to have been
by far the deity the people were fondest of. She was a rule-breaker, a
trickster, constantly getting into trouble, feuding with her family,
having tons of sex and generally living her own life and to hell with
the consequences – a genuine kickass fantasy heroine right back from the
dawn of recorded storytelling, doing all the things that later on
became the province of male deities and heroes.<br />
<br />
<strong>Your standalone ‘Regency-ish military fantasy romance’ <em>Guns of Dawn</em>
has a dynamic and passionate heroine in Emily Marshwic – what
influences were behind her creation as a character and what drew you to
an echo-Regency setting?</strong><br />
<em> </em></div>
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<em>Guns of the Dawn</em>
(out now in paperback!) has a huge debt to Austen. It’s not really
Pride and Extreme Prejudice but my Emily would probably have got on well
with Lisa Bennett before her call up papers came, and equally well with
Sharpe after her time in the service. The not-quite-Regency setting
seemed the perfect point in not-quite-history to set it – not just
because that’s the period where peoples’ everyday lives become so much
more fleshed out, with a boom in people reading (mostly female-written)
novels of manners, but also because of the sort of warfare involved.
Like the sergeant at Gravenfields says, a gun can make a killer out of
anyone.</div>
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<strong>You’ve said that your SF novel – <em>Children of Time</em> –
is your most ambitious work to date, what kind of challenges did you
find in writing it and are there any plans to revisit that universe in
any form?</strong><br />
<br />
I’d love to revisit the Portiids at some point. <em>Children of Time</em>
was a profoundly personal piece for me, born of nothing more than a
knowledge of the Portia labiata and an interest in exploring what she
might evolve into given a free rein. Despite a certain amount of
magicianly hand-waving behind the scenes I was determined to make the
science as real as I could (which may or may not be very real), and so I
did a lot of research and talked to a lot of scientists to try and make
it all plausible.<br />
<br />
<strong>Next year sees the release of a collection of Lovecraftian stories from <a href="https://alchemypress.wordpress.com/">Alchemy Press</a> – what can you tell us about <em>The Private Life of Elder Things</em> – how did it come about, who’s involved and what can readers expect?</strong><br />
<br />
I have always been fascinated by Lovecraft’s creatures. Whether by
intent or not they’re often more relatable than his human characters. He
was very good at walking that fine line to give something that is
alien, and yet just comprehensible enough to remain interesting. The
idea of <em>Private Life</em> is to take a few Lovecraftian staples and explore how their worlds touch human experience in new ways.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</strong><br />
<br />
I tend to go back and forth in my reading tastes – I’ll read a couple
of long works, then I’ll go back to anthologies. Short fiction is
always fresh, gets to the point quickly and then wraps up. It’s a very
economical writing form, and it can deliver enormous emotional or
intellectual payout. Some of the best short fiction I’ve read comes from
Ted Chiang, Chris Beckett, Gene Wolfe (again) and Ursula le Guin.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
The sort of plot where the hero is chosen by destiny beforehand. Only
He can save mankind. Not you, not any of you rabble, but him. Feh.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
</div>
<div class="entry-content">
My new book from Tor UK is <em>The Tiger and the Wolf</em>, which is set in a bronze-age tribal society where everyone is a shapeshifter. Also, later next year, I’ve got <em>Spiderlight</em>
coming from Tor in the US, which is best described as deconstructionist
heroic fantasy. A band of D&D-style adventurers are on a quest to
defeat a dark lord, guided by a prophesy. The problem is that the
prophesy requires them to recruit a Mirkwood-style giant spider into the
party. Hilarity ensures…
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Adrian!</strong><br />
<br />
Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of the acclaimed Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, from the first volume, <em>Empire In Black and Gold</em> in 2008 to the final book, <em>Seal of the Worm</em>,
in 2014, with a new series and a standalone science fiction novel
scheduled for 2015. He has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend
Award and a British Fantasy Society Award. In civilian life he is a
lawyer, gamer and amateur entomologist. <em>Guns of the Dawn</em>, his new fantasy novel, is out now.<br />
You can find him on at <a href="http://shadowsoftheapt.com/">his website here</a>, on Facebook, Goodreads, or as @aptshadow on Twitter.<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-86913522763568976852015-12-21T06:53:00.000+00:002016-01-06T06:55:00.785+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: A.R. Aston<div class="entry-content">
Today we welcome the author of <i>Wicked Women</i> story ‘No Place of Honour’ – A.R Aston, take it away!<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write</strong><br />
<br />
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I am 24 years old English and History graduate from the long vanquished
kingdom of Mercia (or the East Midlands of England if we must insist on
being modern). I have been writing in the speculative fiction and
fantasy genres for years, though I have yet to earn a crust with the
work I have sold; more like delicious crumbs.<br />
<br />
When not writing you can find me voraciously reading anything and
everything I can get my hands on, like some tea and bacon
sandwich-fuelled Johnny Five.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I have been writing casually for as long as I have been able to. I
began getting serious with my work when I started writing fiction on
writing forums, where I finally got an audience for my work, and even
more vitally, harsh critiquing. Those years online, having my work
dissected and flayed bare by people who had no interest in sparing my
feelings or coddling me was invaluable to me, and I think helped me when
in 2011 I first got published professionally for a small press. Luckily
enough for me, my first piece was accepted within a few months of
submission. This I later learned was spectacularly speedy in publishing
terms, and I was unwittingly fortuitous. The real work of writing is as
much learning from the many, many rejections and learning patience as it
is from actually having works go to print. Writing is not an industry
one goes in for an easy life.<br />
<br />
Over the years I have had numerous fantasy, sci-fi and horror short
stories published with various indie publishing, and have co-edited
three anthologies with old veterans of my writing forum days.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Oh too many to count. In the world of science fiction, I find the
world-building of Alastair Reynolds poetic and sublime in the
traditional sense of the word. His depiction of the Lighthuggers of
Revelation space made me think of relativistic space travel in an
entirely different manner. Stephen Baxter’s joyous excitement over his
created worlds is infectious, and the way he and Pratchett logically and
explosively extrapolate the uses and effects of the universe in the
Long Earth sequence is a particular inspiration to me.<br />
<br />
More recently, Ann Leckie’s work with gender and consciousness in the
Ancillary trilogy has given me numerous ideas to explore in one of the
novels I am currently writing<br />
<br />
JRR Tolkien is in many ways the foundation stone upon which modern
fantasy is built, so it would feel churlish of me not to also cite him
as a massive influence.<br />
<br />
I also love Joe Abercrombie, the self-proclaimed lord of grimdark.
His dialogue is witty and sharp as a rapier, and he has created some of
the most likeable assholes I have read in a long while.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction is replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
I love the story of Julie d’Aubigny, the legendary bisexual,
cross-dressing female duellist and opera singer who roamed 17th century
France fighting in illegal duels, singing opera for kings and having
numerous torrid love affairs with men and women alike. She is a figure
who defies any category imposed upon her by the society of the time.
Hers is a wild story made all the more impressive for being
predominantly non-fictional.<br />
<br />
As for fictional wicked women; I am rather partial to Thorn Bathu, the snarling, scarred heroine of Joe Abercrombie’s <em>Half the World</em>.<br />
<br />
<strong>You recently had your story ‘For a Fistful of Diamonds’ published in <em>Superhero Monster Hunter: The Good Fight</em> – how did you approach your take on the genre for it and what makes a good superhero story for you?</strong><br />
<br />
The idea of the superhero is incredibly broad and diffuse as a genre,
incorporating everything from detective noir to interstellar space
opera, political thriller to comedic heist. Thus, I felt it important to
not stray too far from the core aspect of the genre, exploring the
extraordinary powers of my protagonist, and their effect upon his psyche
and his place in society.<br />
<br />
I wanted my character to be a pyrokine, but explored in an inventive
way no one else has done before. Hopefully I have succeeded, and laid
the foundations for a far larger and more expansive world.<br />
<br />
<strong>What can you tell us about the Outliers Project?</strong><br />
<br />
<em>The Outliers Project</em> is a collaborative effort between me
and four other authors to produce a ten book series of linked novella
anthologies. It is a global tale of a world in which a minority of
entities have been endowed with powers of ancient pedigree. We wanted to
create a superhero mythology which felt plausible and allowed us to
delve into the details of how a world like ours would cope with the
revelation of gifted individuals, and how empowered people would fit
into our world. You may have already read the first forays into the
Outliers universe if you have read the final four short stories of <a href="http://embypress.com/">Emby Press</a>’ <em>The Good Fight: Superhero Monster Hunter,</em> which hints at the tone of the coming event.<br />
<br />
What excites me most about this project, and what I feel
differentiates it from other superhero settings, is its focus. It is a
series without a reset button, where the world is changed and stays
changed, and no one is safe. There is a destination; a full story in ten
parts, building relentlessly to a startling and thrilling conclusion. I
really hope readers will enjoy our stories once we release them out
into the wild world.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</strong><br />
<br />
As a reader, good short fiction is a delight that allows me to dip
into rich settings as and when I please, without the immersion and time a
good novel demands. Short stories are the tapas bar to the novel’s four
course meal with all the trimmings.<br />
<br />
Short fiction is a challenge for an author, as it demands you create
and populate a world readers can relate to and adore over the course of
but a few dozen pages. It forces you to be a prose impressionist in a
way; painting just enough to hint at a deeper premise and a world for
your readers to complete. I like the discipline of the format, as it
forces you to think about every sentence you use and to be ruthless in
self-editing; if it doesn’t serve the central premise, it is extraneous.<br />
<br />
Horror definitely suits short fiction, as good horror needs but a few
words to plant terrible seeds that allow a reader to populate with
nightmares more terrible than the author alone could conjure. I was once
involved with an anthology that collated together one hundred 100 word
pieces of micro-horror that demonstrated how few words were required to
incept some properly creepy images into the mind of a reader.<br />
<br />
My favourite piece of short fiction of all time is probably Ray
Bradbury’s ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’. It is such a beautiful and
nightmarish vision of a post-nuclear world, which is all the most
impressive for lacking any characters that are not poignantly
posthumous.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
I would do away with a cliché which often occurs when a writer wants
to show a clash between an industrial human culture and a less advanced
one, where the human/white male protagonist begins as an enemy of the
noble savage race, but eventually becomes one of them, and learns their
mystical ways, eventually leading them in a battle against his own kind.<br />
<br />
Done. To. Death.<br />
<br />
Basically, these stories always end up devolving into some variation of <em>Dances with Wolves</em> or <em>Pocahontas</em>.
I find the plot boring and predictable, and I think it is often a waste
of a fascinating premise or setting. My ur-example of this would be
Cameron’s <em>Avatar</em>. The setting he created was full of
interesting technologies, fascinating creatures and stunning imagery,
but it was all in service of a plot which seemed to have no ambition.<br />
<br />
So yeah, that can be banished to room 101.<br />
<br />
… That and zombie apocalypses. A zombie story without at least a necromancer in there somewhere is just lame.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
<em>Outliers</em> is currently looming on my horizons like the
swaying surface fins of a submerged leviathan; I shall soon enough be up
to my ears writing and plotting ten novella anthologies, culminating in
a staggering multi-author finale which I hope will blow our readers’
proverbial socks off! Fun times ahead. Look out for the first<br />
<br />
Whilst writing these novellas, I am in talks with publishers into having my debut fantasy novel, <em>The Hobgoblin’s Herald</em>,
published in the next twelve months. In addition, I am writing its
sequel and have the scaffolding up on several other novels under
construction. Saying I like to keep myself busy would at this stage feel
like an understatement…<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us A.R. Aston!</strong><br />
<br />
A. R. Aston is a speculative fiction writer from the former
industrial town of Swadlincote, located deep in the Heart of England (in
the left ventricle if you must know…). An avid student of history and
english literature, he has always had a passion for the written word.
When not writing, he can be found reading voraciously, creating a
functional time machine, and composing spurious facts about himself.<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-68403693468165225552015-12-18T06:47:00.000+00:002016-01-06T06:50:25.869+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Tom Johnstone<div class="entry-content">
Today we welcome the author of <em>Wicked Women</em> story ‘Kravolitz’ – Tom Johnstone, take it away!<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write</strong><br />
<br />
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I
like to write short fiction. I’ve never written anything over the 8-10k
word range, partly through choice, partly due to time constraints, as I
have a family and a full-time job. Also the ideas I have seem to lend
themselves to the short form, though they sometimes end up being longer
than I intended. Basically, I write what I like to read, something
writers are often advised to do; and generally what I like to read is
short horror, though I do enjoy novels / novellas too, as well as
fiction of other genres (crime, SF) and none. Having said that, I’ve
also written comedy sketches and the script for part of a mosaic graphic
novel.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I can’t claim to be one of these prodigies who started writing at the
age of two, and made their first professional fiction sale a year
later. I’m exaggerating somewhat of course, but in this as in many
things I am a late developer. I didn’t really get going on my writing
career (if you can call it that) until my mid-to-late thirties, about
ten years ago. I responded to <a href="http://www.telos.co.uk/">Telos</a>’s open call for <em>Doctor Who</em>
spin-off novella submissions, and one of the editors responded
favourably to the sample chapter I sent them, though I wasn’t
experienced enough to follow this up adequately, and there was too much
going on my life to do the project justice. I sent a few short stories
off to various publications after that with little success, as well as
comedy scripts to satirical cabaret shows like Brighton’s <em>The Treason Show</em> and London’s <em>Newsrevue</em>.
The sketches could be quite lucrative on those occasions when they used
my material, and I even got a paid credit on a BBC Scotland radio show
called <em>Watson’s Wind Up</em>, though I don’t think they actually used my one-liner and they’ve since cancelled the show…<br />
<br />
After a while, I gave up on the sketches. I began to find the
hit-and-miss nature of writing sketches that rarely got used a little
trying, and what I really wanted to do was write horror stories, mainly
of the weird and supernatural sort. I still put both humour and politics
into these, and I began to hone my craft, securing publication in
magazines and anthologies such as <em>Dark Tales</em>, <em>Supernatural Tales</em>, <em>Strange Tales</em> (Vol. 5, Tartarus Press), <em>The Black Book of Horror</em> (9-11, Mortbury Press) and your own <em>Wicked Women</em>.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
There are the obvious ones like M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, and
their bastard literary offspring Ramsey Campbell. Once he’d outgrown his
earlier reliance on Lovecraft (as the kind of wunderkind I mentioned
before with such envy!), Campbell’s also an example of the importance of
a distinctive voice in the successful author of fiction of any kind,
something I feel I’m struggling to find.<br />
Joel Lane, John Llewellyn Probert, Simon Bestwick and Anna Taborska
have all written fiction that has suggested to me different ways in
which horror could be hard-hitting and political without being didactic,
(against the assumption that its dark view of human nature is
inevitably conservative) something that has had a strong influence on my
approach to writing. Though I’d encountered Joel’s work before, I was
reintroduced to his spare and enigmatic short tales through the <em>Black Book of Horror</em>
series, which was where I also encountered John’s wonderfully sardonic
and vicious contes cruelles, as well as Anna’s powerful, harrowing
‘Little Pig’. I enjoyed the unpretentious vitality of the Black Books,
which also introduced me to horror writers, then new to me, who are now
familiar names in the horror world: Thana Niveau, Reggie Oliver, Gary
Fry and others, who have all influenced my writing in different ways.<br />
<br />
Going back to more famous, classic and best-selling writers, I’ve
also studied the work of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King, two more
excellent examples of writers in the horror field each with a strong and
unique voice. I’ve observed with interest the success of British horror
novelists like Adam Nevill, who has brought the themes of classic weird
fiction authors like Machen and Blackwood (also two major influences on
and forerunners of Lovecraft) into the modern mainstream idiom, as well
as Alison Littlewood and Sarah Pinborough, with their ingenuity in
synthesising crime fiction with supernatural horror.<br />
<br />
Then there are authors whose work is not categorised as ‘horror’ as
such, but have a ‘mainstream’ or ‘literary’ appeal as well as a strong
weird or supernatural flavour: Sarah Waters, Susan Hill, Peter Ackroyd
in novels like <em>Hawksmoor</em>, <em>The House of Doctor Dee</em> and <em>Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem</em>. Another good example of horror fiction crossing over into the mainstream is Jeremy Dyson’s <em>The Haunted Book</em>,
a creepy faux ‘true-life’ ghost story book whose clever production
design gimmickry reinforces its conceit and reasserts the value of the
physical book.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Often women misbehave simply by doing the things that are defined as
heroism or leadership in men. The science fiction writer who shows this
most strikingly is Joanna Russ. <em>The Female Man</em> asks: why do men
always get to do the fun stuff in SF? We Who Are About To… challenges
the imperialism of the ‘conquest of space’ narrative, via its homicidal,
one-woman awkward squad of a narrator. It says a lot about Russ’s
insubordinate stance that one of her novels is called <em>On Strike Against God</em>.<br />
Since Russ is sadly no longer with us, I’d also like to plug a few
contemporary female horror writers, either because their work explores
aspects of female transgression, or because their work is itself
transgressive, or both. Or maybe because they’re just awesome! Priya
Sharma’s protagonists are often flawed or damaged women, who sometimes
pay a terrible price for their mistakes. This is certainly true of ‘The
Ballad of Boomtown’ and ‘The Rising Tide’, but in neither case do you
get the impression that the author is inviting you to cast judgment on
the women for their actions even if some of the other characters in the
story might be doing so. Anna Taborska at her best writes gutsy,
no-holds-barred tales of human cruelty, but with a fierce sense of
compassion grounding them. Read her collection <em>For Those Who Dream Monsters</em> (Mortbury Press)! V.H. Leslie’s acclaimed stories, recently collected in <em>Skein and Bone</em>
(Undertow Books), are dark fairy tales of women who fall foul of
patriarchy in various unpleasant ways, yet told in beautiful prose and
with an arch sense of humour.<br />
<br />
To answer this question properly, maybe my favourite fictional wicked
woman, the ultimate female miscreant, must be Yamasaki Asami from Ryu
Murakami’s novel Audition, the basis for the notorious Takashi Miike
J-horror movie. The book’s by a man of course, which may be part of the
reason why she’s such an effective creation, a male fantasy of
desirability and sexual availability, who turns out to be the
distillation of our worst nightmares.<br />
<br />
On second thoughts, perhaps an even better wicked woman is Stevie in Kaaron Warren’s brilliant horror novel <em>Slights</em>. As an Australian study of suburban scandal and misbehaviour, it makes the much-feted mainstream hit <em>The Slap</em>
seem very coy and safe, and though Warren’s book and her heroine are
both hilariously and raucously bitchy, it has a terrifying idea of the
after-life at its heart. As an ostracised woman, Stevie’s a twenty first
century literary descendant of Merricat Blackwood from Shirley
Jackson’s <em>We Have Always Lived in the Castle</em>. It’s kind of the flipside of <em>Audition</em>
too, because we see the world through the wicked woman’s eyes rather
than seeing her through male eyes, and Stevie is brazen in her refusal
of social norms, rather than wearing a mask of fragile docility as Asami
does!<br />
<br />
<strong>You co-edited <em>Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease</em> with Joel Lane – tell us how that came about and what readers can expect from the stories within.</strong><br />
<br />
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I
met him at a Convention and got into conversation with him about his
stories ‘A Cry for Help’ and ‘For Their Own Ends’, two stories that use
horror and weird fiction to explore the implications of the threat of
privatisation in the NHS. We discussed the possibility of an anthology
of horror stories centred around the cuts and austerity measures the
government was bringing in, as I kind of follow up to the anti-racist /
anti-fascist one he co-edited with Allyson Bird: <em>Never Again</em>.<br />
<br />
We started work on it, but it was a little stop-go, as he had
long-term health problems, and these sadly contributed to his untimely
death. However, we’d already found a publisher, <a href="http://grayfriarpress.com/">Gray Friar Press</a> (who’d published <em>Never Again</em>),
and its owner Gary Fry was very enthusiastic about the project. He said
he still wanted to go ahead with it, almost as a kind of tribute to
Joel. I also wanted to see it through for the same reasons. Writers had
already sent in stories, and I chased up some of the people Joel had
approached, many of whom thought the book had been put on hold because
of his death. I also decided to reprint Joel’s ‘A Cry for Help’, again
as a tribute, but also as a clear statement of intent, to open the
volume.<br />
<br />
Readers will find stories showing the spectral implications of the
‘Bedroom Tax’, food banks where you have to queue to join the queues, a
privatised hospital that expects extreme ‘donations’ from patients who
can’t pay, a government loyalty card that rewards snoopers, a tale of
upper class, Bullingdon-type thugs that makes <em>The Riot Club</em>
look tame. Other stories take a more psychological approach, such as
stories by John Howard, Priya Sharma and Stephen Hampton, which suggest
that the credit crunch and the slump in the property market can
literally drive people mad. As I suggest in my non-fiction addendum to
the book, quoting Stephen King’s <em>Danse Macabre</em>, economic unease
is an abiding theme in horror and supernatural fiction: the fear of
losing everything is a powerful undercurrent in the genre even when it’s
hidden. Acclaimed authors showcased include Anna Taborska, Alison
Littlewood, Stephen Bacon, Thana Niveau and Gary McMahon.<br />
<br />
<strong>Has editing the anthology changed how you approach your own fiction?</strong><br />
<br />
I found myself writing quite a bit of ‘austerity horror’ myself!
Before he died, Joel and I agreed we weren’t going to publish our own
stories, to avoid accusations of favouring our own work over other,
possibly more deserving talents. In his own case, I think he was being a
little over-modest, and when he died I worried about over-ruling him by
re-printing ‘A Cry for Help’ posthumously, but a writer who knew him
better suggested I should go ahead and publish it!<br />
<br />
As for my own efforts, I still took the view that it was better not
to use my position as now sole editor to make a portion of the anthology
into my own vanity press, which sounds a little pompous, but I knew
some might see it that way. So I decided I should test my own attempts
at writing stories in this vein in the open market as it were. Well,
they can’t have been that bad, because most of them have found
publishers! ‘Masque’, tackling NHS privatisation, appeared in <em>Shroud Magazine</em>
(#15), in the States, where they already know the full implications of
private healthcare; ‘Under Occupation’ and ‘Mum and Dad and the Girl
from the Flats Over the Road and the Man in the Black Suit’, both which
feature the ‘Bedroom Tax’, the former in the anthology <em>Darkest Minds</em> (Dark Minds Press), the latter awaiting publication in <em>Supernatural Tales</em>…<br />
<br />
<strong>Is there any particular genre you’re drawn to and if so what’s the appeal of it?</strong><br />
<br />
I tend to be drawn to horror, because of its flexibility. At its
best, it’s barely a genre at all, more a state of mind. It encompasses
everything from the elusive chills of the ghost story to extreme zombie
spatterpunk, science fiction body horror, etc. It can be both intensely
physical and metaphysical, often simultaneously. Having said that, the
side of it that appeals to me more as a reader and writer is the more
supernaturally-orientated one. I also enjoy science fiction and crime,
both of which share common ground with horror, but I’ve very little
experience of writing them, or aptitude, I think, because of the
discouraging technical aspects I think necessary to achieve credible
results in both, e.g., research into, say, quantum mechanics for SF, or
forensic police procedure for crime. For this reason, I tend to stick to
my comfort zone of supernatural horror, though I have been working on a
longish short story in the spy thriller genre!<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
The space opera cliché of inter-galactic free trade: to me, it’s
infinitely depressing and rather anthropocentric to think that
neo-liberal capitalism will conquer the universe as well as Planet
Earth!<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
Well, my hit rate for getting stuff published seems to be improving,
with quite a few stories in the can and a substantial backlog of stories
awaiting publication in various anthologies and other publications. My
stories are starting to attract a bit of positive attention, with the
Best Horror of Year editor Ellen Datlow including two out of the three I
had published last year on her list of <a href="http://ellendatlow.com/full-rec-list-best-horror-of-the-year-volume-seven-a-l/">Recommended Reads (A.K.A., Honourable Mentions)</a>, one of which was my <em>Wicked Women</em>
contribution ‘Kravolitz’, so thanks for facilitating that by publishing
it! She’s also plugged a couple of my more recent published stories
(‘Under Occupation’ from <em>Darkest Minds</em> and ‘What I Found in the Shed’ from <em>Supernatural Tales</em>, #31) on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sfeditorspicks/?fref=ts">SFEditorsPicks list</a>,
so I’m pretty chuffed about that. I feel like now’s the time to build
on this, and bring out a single author collection. I know it would mean
more work, because I don’t just want to throw something together that
would rely on reprints; I’m thinking more on the lines of a sequence of
conjoined short stories, kind of a literary concept album, at least for a
major section of the volume. But it’s early days. I haven’t really
planned it, or approached any publishers yet… (Hint! Hint!)<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I’ve got two stories awaiting publication in <em>Supernatural Tales</em>,
and others elsewhere, including ‘Holywood’, my sequel to M.R. James’s
‘The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral’, which is to appear next year in
the <em>Third Ghosts and Scholars Book of Shadows</em> (Sarob Press).
I’m presently working on a very interesting project with Alchemy Press,
somewhere between a tribute anthology and a posthumous collection,
involving the unpublished and incomplete stories of the late Joel Lane. A
group of writers are going to take his handwritten story notes and
unfinished tales, and each one has to take his or her assigned piece and
complete it basically. It will be interesting to see what will happen,
as some of them are extremely detailed, while others are bafflingly
cryptic. As I was in the middle of collaborating with him on <em>Horror Uncut</em>
when he died, and was like many extremely shocked when I heard of his
death, it seemed like a lovely idea and I’m proud to be part of it.<br />
<br />
I also had my second taste of Fantasy Con this year, the first being
2012 in my home town of Brighton. This time I did a reading there for
the first time, to an audience of four, but two of them were Carole
Johnstone and Priya Sharma, so quality if not quantity… Luckily I have
done public readings before, so it wasn’t too daunting! <em>Horror Uncut</em>
was also nominated in the anthology category, which was very exciting,
as well as Laura Mauro, another emerging wicked woman of horror, in two
categories for the story she wrote for it, ‘Ptichka’. Unfortunately H.U.
didn’t win, and neither did Laura, but plaudits for those that did, and
good to see that one of them was Fox Spirit in the small publisher
category!<br />
<br />
That also covers the random fun stuff aspect of the question, as my
experience of Fantasy Con this year was both random and fun. I met a
hell of a lot of really lovely people there too!<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Tom!</strong><br />
<br />
Tom Johnstone’s fiction has appeared in various publications, including the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh <em>Black Books of Horror</em> (Mortbury Press), <em>Brighton – The Graphic Novel</em> (Queenspark Books), <em>Supernatural Tales</em>, #27 & #31, <em>Wicked Women</em> (Fox Spirit Books), <em>Shroud Magazine</em>, #15 and <em>Strange Tales V</em>
(Tartarus Press). As well as these writing credits, he co-edited the
British Fantasy Award-nominated austerity-themed anthology <em>Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease</em> with the late Joel Lane, published September 2014, by <a href="http://grayfriarpress.com/">Gray Friar Press</a>. Find out more about Tom’s fiction at: <a href="https://tomjohnstone.wordpress.com/">tomjohnstone.wordpress.com</a>.<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-77462630513631308082015-12-16T10:22:00.000+00:002015-12-16T10:22:12.034+00:00Wicked Women (Saving Ourselves)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It started with a song. Later we’d flesh out the concept to examine the wider range of definitions that make up <em>Wicked Women</em>* but first, there was a song. Specifically, ‘Wicked Girls’ by <a href="http://seananmcguire.com/">Seanan McGuire</a>. Now I’ve never actually heard it sung, but the <a href="http://seananmcguire.com/songbook.php?id=238">lyrics</a>
have always struck me. They tell of the girls who returned home at the
end of the stories, those brave adventurers who had to settle back into
a life less colourful, and be good and conform to their expected roles.
Except… maybe not.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em>‘Dorothy, Alice and Wendy and Jane,</em><br />
<em> Susan and Lucy, we’re calling your names,</em><br />
<em> All the Lost Girls who came out of the rain</em><br />
<em> And chose to go back on the shelf.</em><br />
<em> Tinker Bell says, and I find I agree</em><br />
<em> You have to break rules if you want to break free.</em><br />
<em> So do as you like — we’re determined to be</em><br />
<em> Wicked girls saving ourselves.’</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It’s the stories after the stories that have
always interested me – how exposure to those wild lands of magic and
danger could change the plucky hero, and how those changes alter their
experiences with the world they’re returned to. And I’m far from alone
in this.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Much has been written on Susan Pevensie: the
good queen who ruled wisely and well, then had to return to be a child
in England; Susan who had to live on once the rest of her family were
brutally snatched back to Narnia. A punishment for not towing the party
line, or so it was once said. But Susan was never forgotten and the
stories of how this wicked girl saved herself are many – <a href="http://www.neilgaiman.com/">Neil Gaiman</a> has written on ‘The Problem of Susan’ in <em>Fragile Things</em>, and many others have taken up the baton of Susan’s fate, showing how a queen bereft of her queendom can make a new one. <a href="http://ink-splotch.tumblr.com/post/79664265175/ifallelseperished-i-was-so-tall-you-were">Susan lived</a> and went on to inspire,<a href="http://ink-splotch.tumblr.com/post/69470941562/there-comes-a-point-where-susan-who-was-the"> she had new adventures</a>,
surviving wars and a society that she wasn’t quite the right fit for.
Taking everything she’d learnt in Narnia and building something
magnificent.</div>
<br />
But that’s Susan. There are other wicked girls saving themselves.
Girls who became women who refused to be bound by constricting social
conventions, women who rebelled, women who forged the life they wanted
in defiance of the life that others wanted to force on them. Women who
aim to misbehave. And that’s the core of <em>Wicked Women</em>. Some
of our stories have women who are unapologetically evil, some have
those who are simply perceived as such due to the society they’re living
in, but all our women are most definitely saving themselves.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em>‘For we will be wicked and we will be fair</em><br />
<em>And they’ll call us such names, and we really won’t care,</em><br />
<em>So go, tell your Wendys, your Susans, your Janes,</em><br />
<em>There’s a place they can go if they’re tired of chains,</em><br />
<em>And our roads may be golden, or broken, or lost,</em><br />
<em>But we’ll walk on them willingly, knowing the cost —</em><br />
<em>We won’t take our place on the shelves.</em><br />
<em>It’s better to fly and it’s better to die</em><br />
<em>Say the wicked girls saving ourselves.’</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
–</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
*on which, more will be said on the <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit</a> blog in January…</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
‘Wicked Girls’ lyrics © <a href="http://seananmcguire.com/">Seanan McGuire</a></div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-68644692585429604482015-12-14T10:16:00.000+00:002015-12-16T10:16:59.725+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Christine Morgan<div class="entry-content">
Today we welcome the multi-talented Christine Morgan – author of the <em>Wicked Women</em> story ‘The Shabti-Maker.’<br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write</strong><br />
<br />
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I like to write fun stuff, where fun can be anything from
outrageously over the top purple prose to humor to extreme horror to
silliness to smut. I like to play with language, to experiment with it
and goof around. I enjoy the challenges of doing mash-ups, crossovers,
and pastiches, particularly if I can meld things that might not
normally, in a sane world, go together.<br />
<br />
I also have a lifelong love of mythology, history, sociology,
anthropology, psychology and folklore. A lot of my stories involve
historical settings, mythological elements. Ancient cultures fascinate
me, as does the idea of writing from perspectives greatly different from
my own. Whether that means child POV characters, animals, aliens,
elves, inanimate objects … each is its own interesting puzzle.<br />
<br />
On a personal level, I’m in the middle of the whole classic
life-upheaval just now, having recently divorced, moved to a new state,
started over in a new job, only child’s all grown up and off to college,
etc. In one sense, it’s terrifying. In another, liberating; this is the
first time since my sister and I started sharing a room that I’ve had a
space entirely of my own. Well, my own and the four cats; I’m training
to become a crazy cat lady in later years.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
Even as a kid, I was a big reader, a big maker-upper of intricate
stories for my toys (my Barbies had some soap-opera stuff going on, let
me tell you), and the one among my circle of friends who’d more often
than not be the idea person for what we should play next. I remember
writing assignments in grade school, and doing one piece about a brave
daddy fox trying to lead the hunters away from his family.<br />
<br />
I got into roleplaying games as a teen, and drama club in high
school. There may have been some painfully Mary Sue bits of Lord of the
Rings fanfic way back when; I’m glad I haven’t found any of those in the
archives. Writing down the gaming adventures was the next logical step,
which eventually became a series of fantasy novels.<br />
<br />
Always sort of figured I’d do the classic career path of becoming a
teacher while writing on the side. A change of major later, I went into
residential psych, but the writing on the side part has stayed much the
same.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Every single one I’ve read and some I haven’t … one way or the other.<br />
Though I got officially ‘started’ writing fantasy, I knew even then
my true calling tended more toward the horrific. I’d been reading
Stephen King since age 10, and would go to fantasy conventions only to
find myself the odd duck out when people were listing their favorite
authors.<br />
<br />
But then, a few years ago, it all came back around full-circle again …
I’d been tinkering with historical fic, with the pirate era, tall
ships, and so on … but then I discovered Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon
series, and the lectures of Professor Michael D.C. Drout, and everything
clicked … it was Viking time. Vikings hit everything I liked best.<br />
<br />
I’ve also spent a lot of time trying to catch up on some of the
literary classics I missed with that change of major, and experiencing
the variety of genres, voices, and styles. Wodehouse is a kick; I’ve
done a few stories aiming for that kind of tone. I’ve mashed up Austen
and Lovecraft. I hugely enjoy Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books,
and Sharyn McCrumb’s Appalachian series, Robert McCammon’s everything
but especially his Matthew Corbett books … variety, whatever, bring it, I
will give about anything a chance.<br />
<br />
These days, I’m reading and loving a lot of extreme horror and
bizarro. I’m phobic about nearly everything, I’m a total wuss, I can’t
even put in eyedrops or pull out a giblet packet without squicking, but I
cannot get enough gross, weird, sick, twisted fiction.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Well, I’m not sure for misbehaving, but Aud the Deep-Minded is one of
my favorite ladies of history; she was an early Icelandic settler,
commander of her own ships and men, politically savvy, powerful, scored
good influential marriages for her children and grandchildren. To earn a
moniker like that – Deep-Minded – proves that she was known and
respected for her wits and her wisdom.<br />
There’s also Freydis Eriksdottir, sister of Leif Eriksson … now, SHE
was wicked … in the sagas, she manipulates men into feuds, kills a bunch
of people with an axe, and may be most famous for the anecdote of how
she, while pregnant, charges out of her hut during an attack by
skraelings (Native Americans), rips open her top, smacks herself in the
breast with a sword, scares the attackers away, and shames all the men
for their cowardice.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve recently had <em>Murder Girls</em> published by <a href="http://www.evilgirlfriendmedia.com/">Evil Girlfriend Media</a> – how did that come about and what can readers expect?</strong><br />
<em> </em></div>
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<div class="entry-content">
<em>Murder Girls</em>
had originally been released in ebook by KHP Publishers, but Katie at
Evil Girlfriend just loved the premise and approached me about doing a
revised print edition.
It’s the story of five college housemates – brainy Rachel, sporty
Jessie, angry Darlene, shy Gwen, and mysterious Annamaria – who are just
each doing their own things one evening when Rachel, watching a program
about profiling serial killers, remarks, “I bet we could get away with
it.” <br />
And why not? They’re sure not the profile. Add in a pervy peeping tom
with the world’s worst timing … next thing you know, the girls are
standing around a body, with a mess to clean up … and a new hobby that
quickly becomes an obsession.<br />
<br />
With this one, I wanted to examine some gender-role issues, to put
the shoe on the other foot as it were. You see those studies or
classroom questionnaires about safety, about rape-prevention, about all
the million-and-one ways women are conditioned to be on their guard or
else, and how rarely men have to think about any of that instead of
living it every single moment of every single day.<br />
So, there’s some social commentary, and some looks at the ways we’ve
become desensitized to violence and screwed up about sex … but hey,
let’s be honest: it was also a chance to have a bunch of college girls
carving up dudebros. Some of the scenes were disturbing and
uncomfortable to write; I hope they’re that way to read as well.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve written across many genres ranging from traditional
fantasy to historical horror – do you have a current favourite genre to
work in and if so, why?</strong><br />
<br />
Think I already covered this, but, to say again, gimme those Vikings!
Historical horror and dark fantasy, with over-the-top descriptions,
purple prose, adjectives, blood and gore and slaughter! Or those weird
combinations. Myth-meets-Mythos; I’ve done Lovecraftian stuff mixed with
ancient Greece and Rome. Ancient cultures; I’ve written Egyptian themed
stories, and Aztec/Maya, and even all the way back to caveman days.<br />
<br />
But yeah, the Vikings is what I keep coming back to. The cadence and
rhythm of it, the language, alliteration, kennings. Besides, no other
stories are quite as much pure fun to read aloud. I get to use my Viking
voice. I write with that original oral tradition in mind; they have to
sound right in my head, they have to read right, it’s awesome. Listeners
seem to really respond to it, too. The Viking readings always go over
well.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve also edited several anthologies – has this changed how you approach your own fiction? </strong><br />
<br />
It certainly has made me all the more conscious of proofreading and
polishing and following the guidelines … as an editor, I admit, I’m
looking for good stories, yes … but I’m also looking to not take on too
much extra work for myself. Maybe that’s lazy of me; I don’t know.<br />
It also makes me appreciate everything editors do even more. That’s
hard work. The selection, the balance, the dealing with however-many
individuals, the juggling. And the rejections! Augh! Rejection letters
are no fun from either end.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</strong><br />
<br />
I used to think I couldn’t write it. I used to think – being wordy by
nature, as this interview no doubt demonstrates – that I was just
geared toward writing longer works. Novels, but not only novels; each
novel wanted to be a trilogy. When I was doing fan-fiction, it was the
same way, except as installments in an ongoing series.<br />
<br />
I suspect my roleplaying game background had something to do with
that; I’d trained myself to be in campaign mode, so there always had to
be more adventures lined up, more plot hooks to explore, new characters
to introduce and follow up on. There was always a NEXT waiting in the
wings.<br />
<br />
I won’t say I’ve unlearned that, or trained myself back out of it,
because I haven’t. I’ve just also worked on narrowing my focus,
condensing and containing ideas which might otherwise sprawl. It’s most
important in horror fiction, since horror is more emotion than setting,
and horror seems somehow to be more effective in shorter doses. Easier
to sustain.<br />
<br />
As for recommendations, I love anthologies because you can sample,
you can try a little bit of one story and then another, see what suits
you, try things out from a variety of authors. Themed anthologies are
always a favorite of mine, to write for as well as to read. I like
seeing how different people approach similar subjects or challenges, and
how creative they can get.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
The epic prophecy. Any time something opens with the whole voice-over
info dump about how, long ago, the wise foretold blah-de-blah and then
it’s some doofus destined to save the world no matter how reluctant,
foot-draggy, or inept … and they DO.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
I’m currently working on final edits and layout for the third <a href="https://fossillake.wordpress.com/">Fossil Lake</a>
anthology, UNICORNADO! The contributors really hit it out of the park
on this one; I wanted weird unicorn and/or natural disaster tales,
preferably both, and they delivered bigtime. Looking at a February 2016
release date, after which it’ll be time to decide on a theme for the
fourth Fossil Lake!<br />
<br />
I also have about four unpublished novels to revise, two novels and a
novella to finish, a few short stories I promised to submit to
anthologies, and I recently had an idea for a sort of bizarro
not-quite-kids-book kids book.<br />
<br />
And my first Viking collection will be coming out in 2017 from Word
Horde! Reprinting many of my earlier Viking stories, plus some original …
it’ll be called The Raven’s Table, and I am very thrilled and excited
to see this happen.<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Christine Morgan!</strong><br />
<br />
Christine Morgan spent many years working the overnight shift in a
psychiatric facility, which played havoc with her sleep schedule but
allowed her a lot of writing time. A lifelong reader, she also reviews,
beta-reads, occasionally edits and dabbles in self-publishing. Her other
interests include gaming, history, superheroes, crafts, cheesy disaster
movies and training to be a crazy cat lady. She can be found online at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/christinemorganauthor" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/christinemorganauthor</a> and <a href="https://christinemariemorgan.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">https://christinemariemorgan.wordpress.com/</a><br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-59019798559154691792015-12-11T10:09:00.000+00:002015-12-16T10:11:57.160+00:00Zen And The Art Of Rebellion: Blake’s 7 and the Awesomeness that was Avon<div class="entry-content">
Today we take a break from the <i>Wicked Women</i> Blogfest to welcome the fabulous Simon Bestwick and celebrate the launch of <i>Hell’s Ditch.</i> (Buy it! Buy it now!)<br />
</div>
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<div class="entry-content">
When I was a boy, science fiction and horror on TV were pretty much the same thing to me. <i>Star Trek</i> was fun, but the British stuff was the best. There was <i>Dr Who</i>
– then in the classic Tom Baker era and heavily tinged with dark, scary
Gothic horror – and another of the shows that shaped my childhood and
imbued me with a love of SF, fantasy and horror. <i>Blake’s 7</i>.
<br />
<i>Blake’s 7</i> was set thousands of years in the future, with a
galaxy ruled by the evil, fascistic Federation. The hero, Blake (Gareth
Thomas), a former freedom fighter framed for molesting children, is
sentenced to exile on a prison planet. En route he and several other
prisoners break out and gain control of an alien spaceship, the <i>Liberator</i>.
Controlled by its sentient computer, Zen, it can outfly and outgun any
Federation ship. With this, Blake wages war against the Federation.<br />
<br />
Although often derided for low-budget special effects and supernaturally camp costume design, <i>Blake’s 7</i>
was also notable for its darkness and pessimism. That, and its premise
of a group of gutsy rebels pitted against a despotic authority,
influenced a lot of things I’ve written since – including my current
novel, <i>Hell’s Ditch</i>.<br />
<br />
Black and white goodies and baddies stuff tends to get old pretty
quickly – especially on TV, where the story stretches out across hours
of drama. <i>Blake’s 7</i> avoided that pitfall by giving the
characters’ mixed and sometimes conflicting motivations: Cally (Jan
Chappell) was a telepathic alien with her own personal vendetta against
the Federation. The gentle giant Gan followed out of loyalty to Blake.
Ex-space pirate Jenna’s motives were more complex, a blend of
fascination with Blake’s idealism and (implicitly) attraction to him.
Timid thief Vila (Michael Keating), didn’t really have anywhere else to
go. And then, of course, there was the coolest, most complicated
character of the lot.<br />
<br />
Kerr Avon (played brilliantly by Paul Darrow) is, ironically, the
character people tend to remember most from the show. When Gareth Thomas
left after the second series, Avon assumed control of the <i>Liberator</i> – although without the complex rivalry-cum-friendship between him and Blake, the series was never quite the same.<br />
<br />
Avon was Blake’s apparent antithesis: a cold, brilliant computer
expert who’d nearly stolen a fortune from the Federation’s Central Bank.
He had no time for idealistic politics, and still less for idealists.<br />
Cynical, ruthless and above all a realist, Avon’s principal goal in
life was to acquire plenty of wealth and evade capture. Blake’s crusade
was diametrically opposed to that aim, and Avon showed every sign, at
times, of actively hating Blake and wanting him dead. Except…<br />
<br />
Avon had multiple opportunities to get rid of Blake, but never did.
In fact, in one episode, every other crew member has been captured; Avon
can operate the ship alone and stands an excellent chance of getting
exactly what he’s always wanted. The only thing the <i>Liberator</i>
can’t fight off is three Federation ships attacking together. When Zen
informs him that three such ships are en route to their position, Avon
roars with laughter… and sets off to rescue Blake.<br />
<br />
In their last scene together of the second series, Avon snaps at an
injured Blake: “Why didn’t you stay in the medical section? Couldn’t you
have trusted me just this once?” Blake’s response? “Avon, for what it
is worth, I have always trusted you – from the very beginning.”<br />
<br />
He’d die before admitting it, but Blake is his friend – the one
person he’d ever put himself in danger for. One of the beautiful things
about the show is that it’s never stated – there are no big declamatory
speeches – but it’s always there. There’s something very British about
that.<br />
<br />
None of which stopped Avon being ruthless: as Darrow later pointed
out, the man in the white hat can’t shoot people in the back, slap women
around or perform other morally grimy actions, but the man who walks <i>behind</i> him can. He also had all the best lines:<br />
<span class="embed-youtube" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="312" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SWHLU8fwi80" width="500"></iframe>
Avon was a key element in making the <i>Liberator’s</i> crew a hive of conflicting aims and agendas, the polar opposite of <i>Star Trek’s</i>
moral certainty and unity of purpose. And he was always there to
undercut Blake and ensure he was never an infallible hero in the Captain
Kirk mould.<br />
<br />
Avon was the best thing about <i>Blake’s 7</i> for me; there’s a dash of him in the dry, sardonic character of Gevaudan Shoal in <i>Hell’s Ditch</i>.
And yes, Helen’s grey-haired, cynical mentor is called Darrow, in a nod
to an actor I hugely admire – and the character he created.<br />
<br />
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<div class="entry-content">
Simon Bestwick is the author of <i>Tide Of Souls</i>, <i>The Faceless</i> and <i>Black Mountain</i>. His short fiction has appeared in <i>Black Static</i> and <i>Best Horror Of The Year</i>, and been collected in <i>A Hazy Shade Of Winter</i>, <i>Pictures Of The Dark</i>, <i>Let’s Drink To The Dead</i> and <i>The Condemned</i>. His new novel, <i>Hell’s Ditch</i>, is out now.
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-22847507862249865322015-12-09T10:04:00.000+00:002015-12-16T10:05:51.656+00:00Wicked Women Anniversary Interview: Juliet E. McKenna<div class="entry-content">
Kicking off the <em>Wicked Women</em> Anniversary Blogfest, we’re
very pleased to welcome Juliet E. McKenna – one of the legends of
British fantasy and author of the <em>Wicked Women</em> story ‘Win Some, Lose Some.’<strong> </strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write:</strong>
<br />
<br />
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I’m a middle-aged British woman whose hobbies range from knitting and
embroidery to wargaming and the martial art of aikido. I’ve been
reading history, fantasy and myth for as long as I can remember, which
is well over four decades now. I read all sorts of other things as well
but speculative fiction is what I like to write, primarily epic fantasy.
But not necessarily dealing with the affairs of kings and wizards. I
like to look at the ways these stories can involve more ordinary people.
People more like me. As well as mages and dragons.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I always enjoyed writing fiction at school and wrote a few horribly
derivative stories in my teens and twenties in a vague, unfocused way.
What really got me started on the road to publication was working part
time in our local bookshop and learning how the book trade actually
works, at the same time as getting back some mercilessly caustic
assessments when I submitted my first attempt at a novel, aka The
Definitive Fantasy Blockbuster Masterwork, to various agents and
editors. I’m so grateful they took the time to tell me why they were
rejecting it. Once I understood what I was doing wrong, I could work out
what I needed to do right and go looking for advice on how to do it.
That was in 1995/1996 and I sold <em>The Thief’s Gamble</em> at the end of 1997.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have influenced you and why?</strong><br />
<br />
I always find this an impossible question to answer, in that I’m
regularly surprised when I realise something I may have read decades ago
has turned up to help shape what I’m working on at the moment. Not to
mention films, TV, plays and any other ways I’ve engaged with narrative
over the years. In terms of epic fantasy? I’d say Elizabeth Moon, David
Gemmell, Katherine Kerr, Melanie Rawn, Robin Hobb … and as soon as I hit
send on this piece, I just know I’ll think of more.<br />
<br />
<strong>Both history and fiction are replete with women who aim to misbehave – do you have a favourite wicked woman and why?</strong><br />
<br />
Oh, so many to choose from! And who says they’re wicked, anyway? Just
the men they run rings round… Glancing at the bookcase for inspiration,
I’d say it’s a toss up between Bess of Hardwick and Grainne O’Malley.
They were near-contemporaries with each other and with Elizabeth I. Both
took control of their family’s lands and businesses in England and in
Ireland respectively, becoming wealthy and successful. By all accounts,
they were firmly in charge of their various husbands and sons too. So
naturally they were both accused of all sorts of disgraceful behaviour.
Some of which they may actually have got up to.<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://wizardstowerpress.com/">Wizard’s Tower Press</a> have published your collection of Victorian monster hunter stories – <em>Challoner, Murray & Balfour: Monster Hunters at Law</em>, what can readers expect from the collection and are there any plans for more such stories.</strong><br />
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<div class="entry-content">
Those
stories grew out of my teenage love of classic Victorian popular
fiction written by the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis
Stevenson, H Rider Haggard, Bram Stoker, blended with my later enjoyment
of the TV shows, <em>Buffy</em> and <em>Supernatural</em>. Because if
those Victorian monsters were real, surely there’d be the equivalent of
the Winchesters or the Sunnydale Scooby Gang hunting them? Writing these
adventures with the benefit of hindsight enabled me to look at those
original stories and the unthinking social attitudes of the day with an
informed, contemporary eye – not least by referencing the ways the
patriarchy was actually being challenged at the time when they were
written. I’d certainly like to return to those characters when the right
idea coincides with me having the time to write it up.
<br />
<strong>You’ve contributed to many anthologies, and are due to be published in the upcoming <em>Fight Like a Girl</em> and <em>Eve of War</em> (among others) – what’s the appeal of short fiction for you and do you have any short fiction recommendations?</strong><br />
<br />
Like every other writer I know, I have far more ideas for stories
than I can possibly use for novels, and in any case, not every idea is a
novel-length inspiration. Short fiction gives me a way to explore the
one-shot notions, to challenge myself with something new creatively,
whether that’s in terms of structure, style or genre. I invariably learn
something new and useful about the art and craft of writing as I do so,
which sees me return to novel writing both enlightened and refreshed.<br />
Recommendations? As well as <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit’s</a> output, short story lovers should go and browse the fabulous range of anthologies published by <a href="http://newconpress.co.uk/">Newcon Press</a> as well as those edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray; <em>After Hours</em>, <em>The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity</em> and <em>Clockwork Universe</em>; <em>Steampunk vs Aliens</em>.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’re also one of the leading voices in the <a href="http://euvataction.org/">VATMOSS campaign</a> – can you explain what it’s about and how people can help?</strong><br />
<br />
In brief, EU governments decided to make Amazon, Google, Apple (and
others) pay their fair share of taxes by insisting that digital
downloads were taxed at the rate charged where the customer lives,
rather than in whatever tax haven their corporate HQ was now based.
Since these governments had no clue how much small-scale, direct
creator-to-customer ecommerce goes on now, or really, any idea how the
Internet works, they said these new rules would apply to everyone, no
exceptions. Unfortunately, no one bothered to check the practicalities,
like for example, confirming that PayPal actually tells the sellers
using its Buy Now Button where their customers are. Since they don’t,
it’s now either outright impossible or ludicrously expensive for small
scale etraders to comply with the new rules.<br />
<br />
After a year’s dedicated campaigning, the EU VAT Action Team have
convinced the authorities in Westminster, Whitehall and in Brussels,
that this legislation needs rewriting, most crucially to include a
turnover threshold exempting the smallest businesses. That’s now in hand
but it’ll take at least two years, maybe longer, to enact. So meantime,
the most useful thing everyone can do is write to their MP, their MEP
and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (or local equivalent Finance
Ministry) demanding interim emergency relief by means of as a temporary
threshold, until the fine detail has been sorted out.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
Grimdark. By which I mean stories that are only about unpleasant
people doing unpleasant things to other nasty folk, where nothing ever
goes right and everyone ends up miserable. Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but
not by much. I’m not calling for twee consolation fantasy full of
rainbows and kittens, but a good story needs light and shade, not just
unrelieved gloom. There’s enough nihilism in the world around us. Let’s
see some visions of better possibilities.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
Honestly, it’s hard to say. The VATMOSS campaigning has eaten my time
and energy through 2015 in a way I never imagined. This is the first
year since 1997 that I haven’t written a full length work of fiction. So
that’s another reason for me to love anthologies. Short fiction has
been a vital escape for me this past year, getting back to being a
writer if only for a short while.<br />
<br />
I’ve now got a quite a collection of short stories in a new fantasy
setting, the River Kingdom, as well as a novella set in the same world,
so I’d like to get those out as ebooks. Once we’ve got the <em>Aldabreshin Compass</em>
ebooks out, obviously; that’s been 2015’s other major project. I have a
couple of ideas I’d like to pitch to agents and editors; a novel or
novels set in the River Kingdom as well as some other things. Hopefully
2016 will see me able to focus on life as a writer again rather than
political lobbying.<br />
<br />
Diary plans for 2016 are currently fluid – apart from November 11th-13th when I’ll be Guest of Honour at <a href="http://www.novacon.org.uk/n46/">Novacon</a>
in Nottingham, and December 5th-10th when I’ll be tutoring a week long,
residential SF&F creative writing course up in Scotland at Moniack
Mhor, alongside Pippa Goldschmidt, with Ken MacLeod as Guest Reader.
Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to all of that. Unless
something intervenes, I hope to make the trip to <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/">Bristolcon</a>
on October 29th, so that’s the end of next year fairly well sorted. I
wonder what’ll crop up between now and then for the other nine months!<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Juliet!</strong><br />
<br />
Juliet E McKenna is a British fantasy author living in the Cotswolds.
Loving history, myth and other worlds since she first learned to read,
she has written fifteen epic fantasy novels, from <em>The Thief’s Gamble</em> which began The Tales of Einarinn in 1999, to <em>Defiant Peaks</em>
concluding The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy. Exploring new opportunities in
digital publishing, she’s re-issuing her backlist as well as bringing
out original fiction. She also writes diverse shorter fiction, reviews
for web and print magazines and promotes SF&Fantasy by blogging,
attending conventions, teaching creative writing and commenting on book
trade issues online. Most recently she’s been campaigning for the reform
of EU taxation on digital sales causing serious problems for small
press and independent publishing. Learn more about all of this at <a href="http://www.julietemckenna.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.julietemckenna.com</a><br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-36756823467576216922015-12-07T08:30:00.000+00:002015-12-07T08:30:02.508+00:00Wicked Women Blogfest incoming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the one year book birthday of <em>Wicked Women</em> upon us, we
thought we’d take this opportunity to have a whole month (or so) of
wicked women. From now until end of January hang tight for interviews
with the authors, artist and publisher; a look at wicked women we have a
fondness for; and to finish off there’ll be a fabulous Fox Spirit <em>Wicked Women</em> giveaway! (Swag, darlings, swag!)<br />
<br />
Up until Xmas you can expect to see:<br />
<br />
9th December – <strong>Interview with Juliet E. McKenna</strong><br />
<br />
14th December – <strong>Interview with Christine Morgan</strong><br />
<br />
16th December – <strong>Name of the Beast</strong><br />
<br />
18th December –<strong> Interview with Tom Johnstone</strong><br />
<br />
21st December – <strong>Interview with A. R. Aston</strong><br />
<br />
23rd December – <strong>Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky</strong><br />
<br />
With much more to follow, so keep tuned and stay wicked!Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-25106582933062543942015-10-27T08:00:00.000+00:002015-10-27T08:07:30.823+00:00Fantasycon 2015: Aftermath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ah, Fantasycon, how do I love thee. Fantasycon was my first con, and
thus the con that raised wee!Jen! in the genre. It’s also the
convention that introduced me to a wild and spendid bunch of <strike>utter nutters</strike> folks who have become my extended family and like this year’s GoH Jo
Fletcher (and many others) are frequently heard to say, I wouldn’t be
where I am now without Fantasycon and the BFS. So Fantasycon has always
been my home con. There’s been ups and downs over the years, great
venues, seriously crappy venues, shenanigans and hijinx aplenty, but
after a rather excellent time in York last year, I was looking forward
to more of the same. In that I was not disappointed as this year by far
exceeded it.<br />
<br />
So the hotel – from an accommodation standpoint, the De Vere Orchard
is one of the better Fcon hotels. Plentiful free parking, comfy chairs
and actual stable free wifi y’all! (What? This is a vital part of any
con!) And yes, many hated the limited menu the hotel decided to shove
in the restaurant especially for us, but hey, it was cheap and suited my
(admittedly unsophisticated) palate perfectly so I had no problem with
it. Everything with cheese? So in! (The epically slow service was a
whole ‘nother thing though.)<br />
<br />
The con itself had an excellent vibe to it – with tons of new people,
a generally relaxed and friendly feel and plenty of light spacious
rooms to hang about in between things. And oh so many panels. In an
alternate universe, where hive mind clone systems have been invented,
Jen #1 did alllll the panels, Jen #2 did allll the other panels, Jen #3
scooped up the random panels, launches and miscellanea missed by #1 and
#2, Jen #4 lurked in the readings and hung around gossiping all day
before storming the karaoke and disco, while Jen #5 got on the tram to
Nottingham and hasn’t been seen since. At some point later the multi Jen
collective merged brains and the full con experience was had by all.<br />
<br />
Alas, no hive mind clone club in this universe, so while many panels
were seen, many panels were not and conversations were fleeting things
that happened as people passed on the way to other stuff. But the
people I did get to see, albeit briefly, were fantastic. (Cheers folks!
Big hugs!) Shout outs to Adrian, Ruth, Alasdair, Marguerite, Pete, Jan,
Debs, Mike, Paul, Marie, Steve, Jo, Amanda, Simon, other Simon, other
other Simon, Cate, Liz, Gary, Karen, Heidi, Adele, Mr Fox and all those
peeps whose names are currently on the edge of m’wossname but who also
increased the general loveliness of the con.<br />
<br />
The editing panel I was on went well (despite the fact I was on
it!). James Barclay is a stunning moderator, and m’fellow panellists –
Pete Crowther, Nicola Budd and Simon Marshall Jones – were both erudite
and excellent! (I said not much, and possibly answered questions that
hadn’t even been asked. Er. Whoops? Mooooving on.) The other panels
were a wonderfully varied selection including the fun and very
educational writing in a franchise panel, the excellent present and
future of horror panel, the equally excellent epic fantasy panel, the
panel interupptus that was the marketing panel (cut short by fire alarm
and ensuing congregation in the car park), and the fascinating future of
publishing panel (phone fic, yo!). The Jo Fletcher interview was also
brilliant. (Jo F. = actual goddess. No question.)<br />
<br />
We had to leave early Sunday so missed the last day of fun, but
<a href="http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/british-fantasy-awards/winners-of-the-british-fantasy-awards-2015/">awards can be found here</a> – and are they not a fantastic bunch of
winners? <a href="https://alchemypress.wordpress.com/">Alchemy</a> picked up Best Collection for Adrian Cole’s <i>Nick Nightmare Investigates</i> (co-published with Airgedlámh Publications), <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit</a> picked up Best Independent Press, and with <a href="http://www.holdfastmagazine.com/">Holdfast</a> and <a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/special-issues/women-destroy-sf/table-of-contents/">Women Destroy SF</a> among the other winners, happy Jen is very happy. <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-smile" title=":-)">:-)</span><br />
<br />
Massive kudos to the redcoats who kept things running smoothly and
huge thanks to Lee and the committee for organising such an amazing con.
I had a blast! (Now go get some sleep, peeps!)<br />
And so onto next year… early news in says that next year <a href="http://fantasyconbythesea.com/">Fantasycon will be in Scarborough</a>
(23rd – 25th September), organised by Alex Davis of Edge Lit fame, with
the lovely Adam Nevill as first guest – so naturally I’ve already
booked. (Well, it has to be done!) Should be fun, so get yourselves
signed up already!Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-46196368695875618872015-10-20T08:17:00.000+00:002015-10-20T08:17:34.315+00:00Fantasycon 2015: Where's Jen?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Wheee! <a href="http://fantasycon2015.org/">Fantasycon</a> approacheth, and I’m on a panel! And a rather fabulously titled one at that. Behold the glory of the Hack ‘n’ Slash panel!
<br />
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
On the Saturday, 11am, in Suite 2: <em><br />
</em><b>Hack ‘n’ Slash: Editing Dreams and Editor Nightmares<br />
</b>Editing is a form of surgery: we may not want to go through with it,
but we are almost certainly better off for it. But how do you learn
this vital skill, and work collaboratively with others in the editing
process? A panel of editors, writers, agents & publishers share
their experiences.</div>
<ul>
<li class="p2">what to look for: how to polish a manuscript</li>
<li class="p2">working with editors</li>
<li class="p2">the editing process for self-publishing writers</li>
<li class="p2">the value of copy-editing</li>
</ul>
<div class="p2">
Moderator: James Barclay<br />
Panellists: Jenny Barber, Nicola Budd, Peter Crowther, John Houlihan, Simon Marshall-Jones</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Soooo, yes, I’m on a panel with professional type people then! Not at all nervous. Ohhhh no.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Elsewhen, I’ll be lurking at the Alchemy/Shadow Publishing
joint launch thingy – 10am on the Saturday – Alchemy’s launching Marion
Pitman’s collection <em>Music in the Bone; </em>Shadow’s launching Allen Ashley’s latest anthology<em> Creeping Crawlers<strong>. </strong></em>It’ll be awesome, y’all should pop along.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Other than that, I’ll be fervently wishing I could manage
some sort of hive mind clone thing as there’s So! Many! Things! I want
to go see. All at the same time! Also, karaoke!</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Oh, and, also, not forgetting that <a href="https://alchemypress.wordpress.com/">Alchemy Press</a> and <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit Books</a> are up for allll the awards this year. Well, most of them. Which they will win because my publishers are amazeballs.</div>
<div class="p2">
</div>
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</div>
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*<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://cliparts.co/">Clip art image by Cliparts.co</a></span></div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-89621547442381105802015-10-16T08:31:00.000+00:002015-10-16T08:31:50.050+00:00Interview with Steve Lockley<div class="entry-content">
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Today we talk to the multi-talented Steve Lockley – author and
editor in a range of genres, ghostwriter and collaborator
extraordinaire. His debut solo collection <em>Always a Dancer and Other Stories</em> has recently been published by <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit Books</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="https://shinyjennyb.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/steve-lockley-pic.jpg"></a>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write.</strong><br />
<br />
Hah start with the easy one!<br />
<br />
Derbyshire born but have now been living for more than half my life
in Swansea – from the furthest point from the sea to just a few miles
from it. After spending far too long working in financial services in
one form or another, I took the plunge 5 or 6 years ago to try my hand
at writing full time.<br />
I like to be able to write whatever comes into my head. Some of those
ideas may clearly be ghost stories, some may be horror or a thriller
but it may not be clear which. I’ve written a few SF stories but I’ll be
honest and admit that you won’t find very much science in them.<br />
<br />
I’m now as much an editor for other people as I am a writer myself but it’s still so much better than having a proper job.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I’m one of those who started writing as a child and never really
stopped. For a long time I had this yearning ambition to be a song
writer, or more accurately a lyricist. I wanted to be Bernie Taupin, not
Elton John. I had one very minor sniff of success after years of trying
but then decided to try something else. I flirted with poetry for a
while and even managed to get a few published in small press magazines
but soon realised that I wasn’t really any good at it. There are more
than enough mediocre poets out there for me to add to the list.<br />
<br />
Somewhere along the line I stumbled across Nik Morton’s excellent SF ‘zine <em>Auguries</em>
and thought ‘I could do that’. I tried my hand at a writing a short
story on a borrowed manual typewriter and sent it off without really
having any idea of the right way to lay out a manuscript – this was long
before the days of the internet remember – and waited. Eventually the
manuscript came back in the stamped addressed envelope I had included
with my submission, covered in red comments. I assumed that this was a
rejection, shoved it back into the envelope, and forgot about it for the
rest of the day. It was only when I read the covering letter that
evening that I realised that Nik actually wanted to use the story if I
was prepared to make the changes he was suggesting. Somehow I managed to
feel the deflation of rejection and the elation of acceptance in the
same day, from the same story. I learned a lot from Nik’s notes and I
will remain forever grateful to him for taking the time to encourage a
new writer.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have been an influence to you?</strong><br />
<br />
Ray Bradbury, John Wyndham, Ramsey Campbell, M R James, Arthur Conan
Doyle, Lord Dunsany, the list could go on forever. I suspect that I owe
as much to libraries and librarians as I do to any individual author. My
mum used to take me to the local library almost every week and by the
time I was nine or ten I had read or at least tried most of the SF and
Fantasy novels in the children’s section. Thankfully one of the
librarians showed an interest and took me into the adult section. It was
only then that I realised that the same authors; Heinlein, Bradbury,
Asimov, Wyndham and the like had books published for adults as well as
for younger readers<br />
<br />
It was also thanks to that librarian that I made a terrible
discovery. I discovered that John Wyndham had died recently (this would
have been 1969) and that once I had read all of his books on the shelves
that would be it. No more. Until that moment I hadn’t made the
connection between the name on a book jacket and a real person.<br />
<br />
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<strong>After thirty years of publishing short fiction, <em>Always a Dancer</em>
is your debut solo short story collection – how did you choose which
stories to include and are there are any stories you regret not being
able to include?</strong><br />
<br />
This is the problem with being a Jack of all trades. It was always
intended that this would be a collection of my solo stories rather than
those I had written with Paul Lewis or Steve Savile (and there’s
probably a collections worth of stories in each of those partnerships),
it became clear that the majority of what I thought of as my best
stories fell into the horror/supernatural genres. Selecting the pieces
that sat together proved to be reasonably easy.<br />
<br />
There are a number of other tales that would not have sat as
comfortably with this selection though and while I’d love to see them
aired again they would not have worked in this book. I probably have
enough stories to put together a crime and mystery collection of a
similar length to this one if my historical whodunits and Sherlock
Holmes stories were included. Maybe I’ll get someone interested in that
one day.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the appeal of short fiction for you?</strong><br />
<br />
Fear. When I started writing I thought about trying my hand at a
novel but was afraid that I could spend a year working on something for
it to never find a home. In the same time I could write 20 short stories
and even if only one of those reached publication I would have achieved
something. I don’t think I’ve ever really got out of that mentality but
for the last couple of years I’ve pushed myself to trying longer stuff.
Once I get past 50,000 words though I start to get a nosebleed.<br />
There are also some ideas which are only big enough for a short
story. It may be that if I held on to them long enough they might work
their way into part of a novel but I always find that ideas come out
best if you work with them while they are fresh and I’m excited about
them.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve written across multiple genres including horror,
fantasy, crime, SF and media tie-ins. Is there a genre that you feel
particularly drawn to? And if so, why? </strong><br />
<br />
I’ve always thought of myself as a writer of supernatural fiction
even though I’ve been drawn to different genres. Often it’s the case
that an idea for a story drops into my head and I want to find a way of
telling it.<br />
<br />
The media tie-in stuff I’ve done has been for shows I’ve loved. I was
thrilled to get the opportunity to write a novel based on the TV series
<em>The Ghost Whisperer</em>. The novel is called <em>The Empty Desk</em>
and is due out from Harper Collins later this month. If I had to make a
call I’d say that I’m most at home with the supernatural stuff.<br />
<br />
<strong>Having edited anthologies – did the experience change how you approached short fiction writing?</strong><br />
<br />
It’s amazing how much you can learn by reading stories that clearly
don’t work. Sometimes you can see what the problem is and you can help
put it right but at others you can see that it would be much better told
in a completely different way. It certainly helped me see some of the
problems in my own work.<br />
<br />
Having edited things like the <em>Cold Cuts</em> series of
anthologies I’ve been able to pick up editing work for a number of self
published novelists. I never dreamt when I set off on this long strange
trip that I’d end up editing Paranormal Romance!<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve accomplished a great deal in your writing career –
with multiple novels, collaborative works and shorts – which of your
previous works are you most proud of?</strong><br />
<br />
Thank you, though I have to admit that I don’t see it as
accomplishing a great deal, it’s more a case of sticking around long
enough to get the chance to do things. Asking me which I’m most proud of
is like asking me which of my children is my favourite!<br />
<br />
I have a soft spot for <em>The Ragchild</em>, largely because it was
the first novel to have my name on it but I’m thrilled with the new
collection. There are a number of stories in there that I think
represent leaps forward in what I felt capable of doing but I don’t
think I could even pick just one of them out for special mention. It
wouldn’t be fair.<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve collaborated with Steven Savile, Paul Lewis and Mike
O’Driscoll – what’s the appeal of a writing a collaborated work? And
how is the collaborative process different with each of your co-authors?
</strong><br />
<br />
I learned a lot working with Mike though all we have to show for it
is the first draft of a YA novel that may never see the light of day. We
have very different styles and the only way we could make it work was
by one of us writing in the real world and the other in the ‘other
world’. We also worked together in putting on a horror convention called
‘Welcome to my Nightmare’ when Swansea hosted the Year of Literature.<br />
<br />
Writing with Paul has been much easier in that our styles are closer.
Paul likes to have much of the story mapped put before we write the
first few words. Sometimes that can be a little constricting but we get
there ion the end. Neither of us was confident about tackling a novel
until we came up with the basic idea for our novel, <em>The Ragchild</em>,
and getting that accepted by Razorblade Press gave us much more
confidence in what we were doing. It also opened up the doors to quite a
few things including contributions to a couple of Doctor Who
anthologies.<br />
<br />
Steve is a joy to work with. Most of the time all we need is a
general idea of where we need to be going then he winds me up and lets
me go. I usually run with the first draft then hand it on to him
complete with typos. Eventually he turns my very rough stuff into
something shiny. I’d like to think that we end up with something that is
still different from anything either of us would do on our own<br />
<br />
<strong>You’ve also been working on a collaborative novella with Tim
Lebbon, how’s that going and do you have plans to collaborate with
anyone else in the future?</strong><br />
<br />
Ah, you really have been doing your research! Tim and I have had this
idea for a novella that every now and then we bat backwards and
forwards. It keeps stalling as we get caught up with other stuff and
find it hard to find the time. I’m sure that we’ll get back to it before
too long.<br />
<br />
There are the embryos of a few other collaborations with the likes of
Sam Stone, Gary McMahon and Colin Parsons sitting in Dropbox which may
also be completed at some point. As you can imagine, they are all very
different.<br />
<br />
<strong>Rumour has it you also do some ghost writing – how did you
get into that and are there any differences in your writing process for
ghost work? </strong><br />
<br />
When I decided to take the plunge to become a full time writer I
wanted to make sure that I gave myself the best chance of being able to
earn a living. I was introduced to an agency in the US and they gave me a
couple of projects to work on just when I needed it. It can be soul
destroying but the money made sure that I could keep going.<br />
<br />
The major difference, particularly on the jobs I’ve done through the
agency is the amount of preparation needed up front. They ask for a very
detailed outline which needs to be stuck to pretty rigidly. It takes
away some of the element of surprise for me.<br />
<br />
I‘d guess that I’ve ghosted 10 or 11 novels now and I’ve learned a
lot by doing it. It’s certainly made me a faster writer. A lot of the
lessons I learned I’ve also been able to apply to the editorial work.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
Six friends go on a road trip and take a wrong turn/get lost/break down in the middle of nowhere…<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
As I’ve already said, <em>The Empty Desk</em> is due out later this
month. I’m really happy with that and can’t wait to see what other
people think about it. There are a couple of other short stories
appearing in the next few months. One of them has been waiting for
several years to see the light of day.<br />
<br />
<em>The Ragchild</em> has been out of print for far too long so I’m
working on revising that at the moment to get it back out there. At the
moment I’m tempted to re-release it myself and see how it goes.<br />
<br />
I’ve just signed a contract to write a Steampunk novel for <a href="http://www.telos.co.uk/">Telos</a>
but I don’t want to give too much away about that until all the ideas
have solidified in my mind. I’ll spill the beans on this in my
newsletter once I’m confident enough to talk about it. There are a
couple of other things bubbling under which I’m hoping to finalise in
the next few weeks<br />
<br />
I’m also going to be editing a series of Paranormal Romance novellas
to be released month by month next year. I’m still looking to fill a
couple of slots and would be more than happy to hear from authors
already writing this kind of material<br />
<br />
I’ll be at Bristol Horror Con tomorrow and <a href="http://fantasycon2015.org/">Fantasycon</a>
next weekend. I haven’t been to Fantasycon for a couple of years but
I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends that I have
neglected for far too long. With a little luck I should also make it to <a href="http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/special-event/sledge-lit-edge-lits-christmas-vacation">Sledge-Lit</a>
in Derby. I love going to these kinds of events but living in Swansea
means that I have to travel an hour just to get out of Wales let alone
get to wherever the event is. If anyone tells me they’d like me to be
somewhere though I’ll do my best to get there.<br />
<br />
If people want to keep track of what I’m up to they can sign up for my newsletter <a href="http://eepurl.com/bwGayz" rel="nofollow">http://eepurl.com/bwGayz</a><br />
<br />
<strong>Steve Lockley, thank you for joining us!</strong><br />
<br />
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<em>Always a Dancer and Other Stories</em>
is “a collection of tall tales…that ranges from the whimsical to the
horrifying, from wistful to chilling. There are dark tales of old rites
and all manner of men and beasts to encounter. Featuring some
established favourites and some never before released stories collected
together for the first time”, available in paperback and ebook editions
from your local Amazon.<br />
You can find Steve Lockley on twitter as @Ragchild<br />
</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-67538123772255843202015-09-18T08:32:00.000+00:002015-10-16T08:38:09.526+00:00Interview with Joyce Chng<div class="entry-content">
Today we’re joined by another fabulous <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit Books</a> author – Joyce Chng…<br />
<br />
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<b>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write.</b><br />
<br />
I am Joyce Chng and I was born (and now live) in Singapore. I write science fiction and fantasy, YA and things in between.<br />
<br />
<b>How long have you been writing and how did you get started? And what authors have influenced you?</b><br />
<br />
Professionally and semi-professionally, I have been writing since
2006-2007. Had my first short story published in Crossed Genres’s
Alternate History issue (2009?). But I first started creating worlds
since I was a child – mostly fan fiction (and I didn’t even know that I
was writing fan fiction. That was before the Internet came about!). I
wrote a Pern fan fiction novella in my late teens!<br />
<br />
Authors? Frank Herbert, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, to name a few. (The list just kept on expanding).<br />
<br />
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<b>Fox Spirit has just re-released your <i>Jan Xu</i> urban fantasy series – what can new readers expect to find in the trilogy?</b><br />
<br />
Well,
expect to find Chinese werewolves in Singapore, strong family/clan
bonds and a MC who is a mother to three kids. Not only that you will get
to read about the (usual) politics amongst the supernatural/non-human
groups – and oh yes, there is sibling rivalry and the things you get in
return when you were an ex-teen vigilante…<br />
<br />
Just read the series!<br />
<br />
<b>Your space opera, <i>Star Fang,</i> is also due to be re-released soon from Fox Spirit – please tell us what it’s about. </b><br />
<br />
Oh yes, <i>Starfang</i>. It is a space opera with werewolves!
Werewolf clans dominate space travel and war in the far flung future.
Lesbian MC who is captain of the ship Starfang and daughter of powerful
clan leaders. Expect to see war, intrigue, metaphorical carpets being
pulled under the MC’s feet etc. How do you feel when you are sent to
kill your rival?<br />
<br />
<b>With werewolves appearing in both your urban fantasy and
space opera work, what’s the appeal of the werewolf for you? And are
there any other themes or story elements you find yourself returning to
in your fiction?</b><br />
<br />
I have loved the idea of lycanthropy since I was a kid. Werewolves
appeal to me because they literally straddle between human and wolf – a
liminal (and limbo) state where the werewolf is neither or.
Transformation, transmutation – these are underlying themes and motifs
that constantly fascinate. In my stories, the wolves are never the evil
monsters portrayed in horror movies.<br />
<br />
Besides these themes, I often look at the motif of flight. My YA MCs
are often young women who want to break free of societal bonds,
sometimes literally (they fly or they change into phoenixes).<br />
Oh yes, I also talk a fair bit about food. Food to me is the glue
that binds a family, society and the universe together. Then again, the
Chinese are often food-mad. <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-smile" title=":-)">:-)</span><br />
<br />
<b>You’re currently releasing chapters of <i>Ming Zhu and the Pearl That Shines</i>
on Wattpad, and have previously released other works in this way –
what’s the appeal of Wattpad as a platform? And do you have plans to
release any future stories on it?</b><br />
<br />
Wattpad is a free platform where readers can read for free. Authors
can post instalments on Wattpad for that instant gratification fix,
because readers can commend and vote on your story. Some stories, as you
can see, garner large audiences. But you are also up against hundred
more stories like yours.<br />
<br />
So it’s a battle for eye-balls.<br />
<br />
I do have plans to release future stories, but that’s the future.<br />
<br />
<b>What drew you to using Patreon and have you found it a useful tool?</b><br />
<br />
I was – and still am – battling with chronic health issues and
crowdfunding appeals to me as an alternative route to funding/pay for
expensive medical fees.<br />
</div>
<div class="entry-content">
It is useful to an extent, because 1) I am doing what I like –
posting stories and pictures and 2) I have my readers and supporters.
But like Wattpad, it helps a lot if you have a big fan base.<br />
<br />
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<b>You’ve also edited <i>The SEA is Ours</i> anthology with Jaymee Goh – what was the underlying idea behind it and what kind of stories can we find in it? </b><br />
<br />
Basically
steampunk stories that do not center around white steampunk
experiences. And you can find stories that reimagine the histories,
peoples, and myths of Southeast Asia through a steampunk lens—or
perhaps, stories that reimagine the fantastic technology and potential
histories of steampunk through a Southeast Asian lens. These are tales
of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, written
by writers all over the world.<br />
And we wanted stories that were written by people of Southeast Asian descent or live in Southeast Asia. <span class="wp-smiley wp-emoji wp-emoji-smile" title=":-)">:-)</span><br />
<br />
<b>Has being an editor changed how you approach your own writing? And do you have any plans to edit any future anthologies?</b><br />
<br />
I think I have become more particular and direct. Definitely more
focused and attentive when it comes to perennial issues like grammar (!)
and info-dumping. I hasten to add that it’s all a matter of preferences
too. Again, it is my POV.<br />
<br />
No plans yet to edit any future anthologies…<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
The strong warrior woman.<br />
<br />
Don’t gasp at me. Women do not need to be warriors or wield a weapon
to be strong. Even I write about warrior women, I also write about women
and girls who do not fit in the “warrior woman” stereotype. Do you need
a sword to be strong?<br />
<br />
<b>What are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://shinyjennyb.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/dragon-dancer.jpg"></a>My picturebook, <i>Dragon Dancer</i>, under <a href="https://www.lantanapublishing.com/">Lantana Publishing</a>, is out soon on the 12th of October. Some stuff still in the works – but I can’t wait to share them with you all!<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for joining us Joyce Chng!</b><br />
<br />
Born in Singapore but a global citizen, Joyce Chng writes mainly
science fiction and YA. She likes steampunk and tales of
transformation/transfiguration. Her fiction has appeared in <i>Crossed Genres</i>, <i>The Apex Book of World SF II</i>, <i>We See A Different Frontier</i>, <i>Cranky Ladies of History</i>, and <i>Accessing The Future</i>. Her YA science fiction trilogy is published by Singapore publisher, Math Paper Press. She can be found at A Wolf’s Tale (<a href="http://awolfstale.wordpress.com/">awolfstale.wordpress.com</a>);</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-229304424845705902015-09-15T06:59:00.000+00:002015-09-15T06:59:27.379+00:00Interview with Paul Kane<div class="entry-content">
Today we’re joined by Paul Kane – author of the recently published <i>Monsters</i> collection (<a href="https://alchemypress.wordpress.com/">Alchemy Press</a>), the novella <i>Flaming Arrow</i> (<a href="http://www.abaddonbooks.com/">Abaddon Books</a>), and the upcoming <i>Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell</i> (<a href="http://www.solarisbooks.com/post/796%29">Solaris Books)</a> –<br />
</div>
<div class="entry-content">
<b><a href="https://shinyjennyb.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/paul-kane-pic.jpg"></a>Tell us a little about yourself and what you like to write.</b><br />
<br />
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My name’s Paul Kane and incredible as it might seem, especially to
me, I’ve been writing professionally now for almost twenty years. In
fact, <a href="https://www.sstpublications.co.uk/">SST publications</a>
are bringing out a ‘Best of’ collection next year to mark the event
called Shadow Casting, which will feature stories that have won awards,
been in ‘best of’ anthologies and made into film/TV. I’ve written
everything from genre journalism, which is where I cut my teeth, to
Comedy, Crime and Science Fiction – technically, my best known books are
SF as they’re post-apocalyptic reworkings of the Robin Hood mythos. But
at heart I’m a horror writer, I guess. In terms of the formats I like
to write in, as well as shorts and novelettes, novellas and novels, I
absolutely love scriptwriting – TV and movies, but also more recently
graphic novels. I wrote a 100 page one of those over the summer and had a
blast.<br />
<br />
<b>What was the first horror story you read and what kind of impact did it make on you?</b><br />
<br />
I don’t know if you could call it horror, and it was read to me at an
early age before I started reading it over and over myself, but the
story was Enid Blyton’s ‘The House in the Fog’. It’s a weird little tale
where this boy gets lost in – surprise, surprise – some fog and wanders
into this mysterious house where strange things happen. I remember him
growing a furry tail at one point, which I suppose was my first exposure
at a tender age to Body Horror. I just couldn’t get enough of that
story, and kept pestering my granddad to read it to me again and again.
I’d say that was largely responsible for putting me on this path towards
writing imaginative stories myself.<br />
<br />
<b>Which authors have influenced you?</b><br />
<br />
Oh, all kinds – way too many to list here. I went through a period
growing up of reading everything SF, Fantasy, Crime and Horror related –
which I call my ‘real’ education. I absolutely adore the Dune books by
Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury’s writing and Arthur C. Clarke. Colin Dexter
was my go-to guy for crime growing up – the Morse mysteries were
superb. And of course people like Tolkien for fantasy… In terms of
horror, the authors who had the most impact on me during this period
were James Herbert, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Ramsey Campbell, Shirley
Jackson, Richard Matheson, Graham Masterton – the usual suspects in
other words. Then later, people like Neil Gaiman, Christopher Fowler,
Poppy Z. Brite, Simon Clark, Michael Marshall Smith – I could go on all
day.<br />
<br />
But the author who has influenced more than any other and continues
to do so is Clive Barker. Anyone who knows me and my work will
understand the importance of him and his fiction, his plays, his films
and artwork. Clive’s <i>Books of Blood</i> came along at just the
right time for me, and were a revelation – if you’ll pardon the
expression. They blew me away! Their range and scope, and just the
beauty of the writing. Then I read ‘The Hellbound Heart’ and saw <i>Hellraiser</i>,
and the die was pretty much cast. I’m very lucky in that over the years
Clive has become a friend and I’ve worked with and for him on a number
of projects – just last year I had the pleasure of adapting ‘In the
Hills, The Cities’ into a motion comic script – and not many people get
to say that about the people they read and loved during their formative
years.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Monsters</i>
from Alchemy Press is your 10th print collection and contains stories
that cover a career of almost twenty years of publishing. What is it
about the short fiction form that appeals to you? </b><br />
<br />
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I started off writing shorts when I first seriously started to think
about sending out fiction to markets, because I think it was that old
chestnut of not having enough confidence in a longer piece. The novels I
had tried to write when I was about fifteen, sixteen were absolutely
terrible; I still have some of them and they’re a source of constant
amusement. So I suppose I was taking baby steps with the shorts, using
them to find my feet and my voice, which I eventually did. It’s funny,
because they’re a completely different beast to novels, and yet a lot of
writers use them as a stepping stone to longer fiction…<br />
<br />
But anyway, they’ll always have a special place in my heart because
they’re what got me the attention initially, and I do still love to
write them, especially in-between novels or novellas. I think one author
once said – it might even have been Stephen King – it’s like the
difference between a kiss and a full blown relationship, and that’s true
for a reader and a writer. Shorts also allow you to experiment a little
more without worrying too much if it doesn’t work out; you haven’t
wasted too much of your time if they don’t. They also let you explore
lots of different aspects of life in various ways, using an assortment
of techniques, which you might not be able to do in a novel because
you’re trying to keep this whole juggernaut going and on track.<br />
<br />
<b>Which of your short fiction are you most proud of?</b><br />
<br />
That’s a tough one, because it’s like asking you to choose between
your children. I suppose I’ll go with the ones that other people liked
the most: the award-winning ‘A Chaos Demon is for Life’; ‘Rag and Bone’
which appeared in <i>The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror</i>; ‘The
Weeping Woman’, which was turned into a short film… All three are in
Monsters coincidentally, and the limited edition hardback comes with a
free DVD of that movie, directed by award-winner Mark Steensland,
starring Fright Night’s Stephen Geoffreys and with music from legendary
Fulci-collaborator Fabio Frizzi.<br />
<br />
<b>And are there shorts by other writers that have stuck with you?</b><br />
<br />
Definitely, but again too many to list. However, I will mention ones like: Chris Fowler’s ‘Hated’ from the collection <i>Flesh Wounds</i>,
about a man who is on the receiving end of a hate curse; Simon Clark’s
‘The Burning Doorway’ in which a crematory attendant sees figures get up
and create a door to paradise inside a furnace; Robert Shearman’s
‘Mortal Coil’ where everyone is told when and how they will die; Ray
Bradbury’s ‘The Homecoming’ about monsters at Halloween, which
influenced my recent short ‘Michael the Monster’ from A Darke
Phantastique; Neil Gaiman’s retelling of The Three Billy Goats Gruff
‘Troll Bridge’; a bit of cheat as it was in the anthology we edited, <i>Hellbound Hearts</i>,
but Sarah Pinborough’s ‘The Confessor’s Tale’; and then of course a
Clive one – and I’ll go with ‘Human Remains’ here, as that’s always
stayed with me since I first read it. The perfect meditation on what it
means to be human and how we should be grateful to be alive in the first
place. As I say, there are tons of others, but we’d be here all year.<br />
<br />
<b>You’ve also recently published <i>Flaming Arrow</i>,
the fourth contribution to your Arrowhead series in Abaddon’s
Afterblight world – what was it like returning to the series and what
can we expect from this new instalment? </b><br />
<br />
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That came about after the omnibus edition of the three Arrowhead
novels – Hooded Man – sold out of its first print run incredibly
quickly. It coincided with me thinking about what might have happened to
the characters I wrote about a few years down the line, and so when new
Abaddon editor David Thomas Moore dropped me a line and said did I want
to pen a new novella in that universe, I already had a story
half-forming in my mind and jumped at the chance. It was actually a
little like slipping on a pair of comfortable slippers again, because
I’d already written close to a third of a million words about these
people and their lives. Anyone who’s seen Hooded Man knows it’s a
doorstopper of a book!<br />
<br />
Picking up the tale several years after Arrowland gave me the chance
to examine things like the generation gap in a way I hadn’t before, with
Robert now an older more grizzled Hood, thinking about handing over
control of his Rangers to his adopted son, Mark. But, of course, things
don’t go anywhere near according to plan and we see chaos erupting at
home in Britain. At the same time, Robert is on a tour of Ranger
stations abroad and finds himself facing a new kind of foe; genetically
engineered monsters this time, which allowed me to do a tighter,
siege-like story, in contrast to all the huge battles I’d tackled
before. All in all I had a whale of a time writing it, and from the
reviews so far people seem to be having just as much fun reading it.<br />
<br />
<b>Clive Barker calls you the resident expert on <i>Hellraiser</i> and Peter Atkins goes further and calls you the world’s leading expert on this iconic series – how did you discover <i>Hellraiser</i> and what’s the appeal of it for you? </b><br />
<br />
As mentioned, I came across Clive’s fiction first, reading ‘The Hellbound Heart’ in the anthology <i>Dark Visions</i>,
edited by George R.R. Martin. Then I remember seeing this video in
local stores which had a picture of a guy with all these nails banged
into his head on the cover, stupidly not connecting the two until I
started to read the blurb. I wasn’t old enough to see <i>Hellraiser</i>
at the cinema and couldn’t even buy the video myself – I think I
borrowed it from a friend’s brother initially – but I recall being
desperate to see it! When I did, it scared the crap out of me,
naturally, but at the same time I could see that something else was
going on. The story was layered, the effects were excellent – I mean
just look at Bob Keen’s Frank; it’s amazing and still holds up today –
and you had this new way of summoning demons through a kind of Pandora’s
Box.<br />
<br />
The Cenobites themselves were a particular highlight for me, they
were just so unique. Nobody had ever done them as these ‘magnificent
superbutchers’ – as Clive describes them – before. In the past they’d
been all horns and scales, or demon babies. Basically, it just had the
whole package and I fell in love with the film and the mythology
instantly. It’s also one of those mythos that can just expand and
expand, as the sequels and comics and our anthology have shown. There’s a
reason it’s still as popular as ever almost thirty years after the
original.<br />
<br />
<b>You’ve also edited anthologies – do you find the experience has sharpened or changed your approach to writing? </b><br />
<br />
Editing anthologies, like teaching creative writing classes – which I
used to do up until a few years ago – definitely help with your own
writing. They help you to spot mistakes and on the flip side see how
good stories are constructed. You have a distance there with other
people’s stories that you don’t have with your own, so it kind of trains
you to do that when it comes to editing your own stuff. You end up
approaching it objectively, especially if you put it to one side for a
little while before coming back to it. Both help to sharpen your own
writing, forcing you to look harder at stories, to spot what’s good and
what’s bad – but also to help with your own judgement about such
things. I’ve loved editing anthologies, from the very first in the
small press to mass market ones later on such as <i>The Mammoth Book of Body Horror</i> and <i>Beyond Rue Morgue</i>. It’s a real treat for me and a change of pace from working on my own material, which keeps everything fresh.<br />
<br />
<b>Do you have a dream anthology you’d like to do but haven’t yet?</b><br />
<br />
I do, and funnily enough I got very close to doing it last year.
There were lots of phone calls backwards and forwards to the US, but in
the end it didn’t happen. I never say never, though, so I don’t want to
mention what it is in case it ever comes around again. For a little
while back there, though, things were incredibly exciting.<br />
<br />
<b>And how have you found the process of co-editing with Marie?</b><br />
<br />
Oh, I thoroughly enjoy it. Marie and I have very similar tastes in
fiction, as in everything else. I can’t think of anything better than
working with your best friend, apart from – of course – being married to
her, so I count myself incredibly lucky in every respect there. I’ve
edited anthologies on my own, but do prefer to have another set of eyes
on the case, whether it’s Marie or someone else, as you can go a bit
wordblind. Plus which, other people bring different things to the table.
Charles Prepolec, for instance, was perfect for a project like <i>Beyond Rue Morgue</i> and I knew this because he’d edited my story ‘The Greatest Mystery’ for his Holmes anthology <i>Gaslight Arcanum</i>.
Having said all that, I’ve just put an anthology to bed that I worked
on by myself, but that’s a rather unusual case… and I can’t say too much
about it at this time.<br />
<br />
<b>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</b><br />
<br />
Blimey, I’m probably the wrong person to ask that as I love all the
clichés, good and bad. Vampires that turn into bats, werewolves howling
at the moon, cobweb-filled castles, mad scientists, shambling zombies.
I’m a sucker for all of that stuff. Maybe cats jumping out at people who
are going down dark corridors – that’s probably had its day. I’d like
to see a badger jump out at someone or something, that would make it a
bit different.<br />
<br />
<b>And finally, what are you up to next?</b><br />
<br />
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It’s
been one of the busiest times I can remember actually. You catch me as
I’ve just finished writing the first draft of a mass market novel (the
only just announced <i>Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell</i> for <a href="http://www.solarisbooks.com/post/796%29">Solaris</a>
. So it’s been writing that and the graphic novel over the summer, as
well as going to various conventions, like Edge-Lit and Derby Literary
Festival.<br />
<br />
I was a guest at three events, the BSFA/BFS SSF Social with Jacey
Bedford in June, HorrorCon in July and Liverpool HorrorFest in August. I
had a great time at all three. I also attended the launch of the
Leviathan documentary at the Cinema Museum in London, as I have a 30
minute featurette on the DVD talking about the Hellraiser sequels. I’ve
been doing quite a bit of PR work to promote <i>Flaming Arrow</i> and <i>Monsters</i>, as well, including interviews like this one, blog posts, podcasts, TV appearances…<br />
<br />
Other releases out or due out include: the latest Dalton Quayle from <a href="http://www.pendragonpress.net/">Pendragon</a>, <i>The Bric-a-brac Man</i>,
which contains two new comedy horror novellas; Hellraisers, which is an
interview book from Avalard featuring brand new chats with all the
major players in the franchise; the sequel to <i>RED</i>, <i>Blood RED</i> – also from <a href="https://www.sstpublications.co.uk/">SST</a>
– which contains both the original novella, the brand new short novel
and a host of extras, such as an extract from the award-winning
screenplay based on <i>RED</i>, character sketches and so on… that
comes with a Dave McKean cover and an introduction by Alison Littlewood;
the graphic novel of <i>Lunar</i> – which is also being turned into a
feature film by The 7th Dimension director Brad Watson, based on my
script; plus a new collection called <i>Disexistence</i> which gathers
together a lot of my new shorts from the last few years, introduced by
Nancy Holder… There’s more, but that’ll do for now!<br />
<br />
As for upcoming appearances, I’ll be at FantasyCon in October doing
stuff and plugging stuff, and one of the guest speakers in November on a
course in Derby called ‘The World of Writing and Publishing’, where
I’ll be talking about how to make your living as a writer.<br />
<br />
<b>Thank you for joining us Paul!</b><br />
<br />
Paul Kane is the award-winning, bestselling author and editor of over
fifty books – including the Arrowhead trilogy (gathered together in the
sellout <i>Hooded Man</i> omnibus, revolving around a post-apocalyptic version of Robin Hood), <i>The Butterfly Man and Other Stories</i>, <i>Hellbound Hearts</i> and <i>The Mammoth Book of Body Horror</i>. His non-fiction books include <i>The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy</i> and <i>Voices in the Dark</i>, and his genre journalism has appeared in the likes of <i>SFX</i>, <i>Rue Morgue</i> and <i>DeathRay</i>.
He has been a Guest at Alt.Fiction five times, was a Guest at the first
SFX Weekender, at Thought Bubble in 2011, Derbyshire Literary Festival
and Off the Shelf in 2012, Monster Mash and Event Horizon in 2013,
Edge-Lit in 2014, plus HorrorCon and HorrorFest in 2015, as well as
being a panellist at FantasyCon and the World Fantasy Convention. His
work has been optioned and adapted for the big and small screen,
including for US network television, plus his latest novels are <i>Lunar</i> (set to be turned into a feature film) and the Y.A. story <i>The Rainbow Man</i> (as P.B. Kane), with the sequel to <i>RED</i> – <i>Blood RED</i>
– forthcoming from SST Publications. He lives in Derbyshire, UK, with
his wife Marie O’Regan, his family and a black cat called Mina. Find out
more at his site <a href="http://www.shadow-writer.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://www.shadow-writer.co.uk</a> which has featured Guest Writers such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Dean Koontz and Guillermo del Toro.<br />
<br />
You can buy <i>Monsters</i> from Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monsters-Paul-Kane/dp/0992980976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434630189&sr=8-1&keywords=paul+kane+monsters">here</a> and <i>Flaming Arrow</i> from Amazon <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flaming-Arrow-Afterblight-Chronicles-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00XPIBTCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433166685&sr=8-1&keywords=flaming+arrow">here</a> or direct from Rebellion <a href="http://and%20http//rebellionstore.com/products/flaming_arrow">here</a>.</div>
Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4090779.post-76483426307281475972015-09-11T10:28:00.000+00:002015-09-11T10:28:05.102+00:00Interview with Alec McQuay<div class="entry-content">
Today we welcome the author of the kick-ass <em>Emily Nation</em> (<a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit Books</a>) to answer a few questions – Alec McQuay, take it away….<br />
<br />
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<strong>Who is Alec McQuay and what do you write?</strong><br />
<br />
Hi! Alec is a… Wait, I’m not famous enough to get away with 3rd
person. I’m a genre fiction writer from West Cornwall and I like to
write across different genres. Fun for me, a nightmare for those who
have to allocate it a place on Amazon / a bookshelf. At the moment my
work is centred around the western and steam / cyber-punk world of Emily
Nation.<br />
<br />
<strong>How long have you been writing and how did you get started?</strong><br />
<br />
I’ve been writing odd bits of fan-fiction since I was about ten but
I’ve been putting in serious time on it for probably the last six years
or so, since I became a dad. I ended up writing my first novella because
I was awake at all hours and needed something to occupy my time and
when that got picked up by Fox Spirit, I just kept at it.<br />
<br />
<strong>Which authors have been an influence to you?</strong><br />
<br />
I’m a big fan of Terry Pratchett most of all – he was a phenomenal
writer, world builder and character creator and also a wonderful human
being. I had the privilege of meeting him at a book signing and he was
so warm and friendly, in spite of my awkwardness. I also love Brian
Jacques and his Redwall series, along with Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin
(Tank girl creators) Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta etc) and
Gerry Duggan, who was head writer on the most recent Marvel Now!
Deadpool series. I love their humour and the darkness of their writing.<br />
<br />
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<strong>Let’s talk <em>Emily Nation</em> – what’s it all about and what led you to writing about post-apocalyptic assassins?</strong><br />
<br />
The book is about the titular character making a complete balls-up of
a job and having to deal with the consequences. She was young, over
confident and armed to the teeth and instead of nipping a problem in the
bud, she created a power vacuum that lead to the destruction of the
things she cared most about. Long afterwards she is sought out to return
to the scene of her mistake and help deal with the chaos she helped to
create.<br />
<br />
I’m drawn to assassins because they’re quite frightening. They can be
anything from an exceptional fighter who can outdo much larger,
stronger opponents toe-to-toe, right up to a killer in the distance who
you never even know are there. If you upset the wrong person, a woman
with a rifle could be taking aim at you right now, from a rooftop a mile
away. Nothing you could do to stop them and you’d never even be able to
raise the alarm. Much scarier to me than a monster under the bed. The
setting I love because you can do anything with it – you can take
anywhere you like and warp it in the wake of a natural, man-made or even
magical disaster. There’s just so much potential!<br />
<br />
<strong>Who is your favourite character from Emily Nation and why?
And how about your least favourite character? What makes them less
appealing to you?</strong><br />
<br />
Naturally I love Emily, but Jemima is my favourite. She is absolutely
lethal and you get the sense that she has been through a hell of a lot
that she doesn’t talk about, but she doesn’t let it define her. She’s
violent, she swears (a lot) and while she has a sexualised aspect, she
has complete agency over how she presents herself. If you’re daft enough
to ogle her and she breaks your nose for it, that would be your fault.<br />
<br />
My least favourite character is Mr King. Everyone has to have some
depth to them and a motivation for what they do, but beneath his hard
exterior he’s just a callous, nasty little shit of a man. I’ve known
quite a few people who go out of their way just to be unpleasant and
he’s pretty much a patch-work quilt made from thirty years-worth of
gits.<br />
<br />
<strong>You also went post-apocalyptic in your novella <em>Spares</em> – what’s the appeal of the post-apocalyptic scenario and how does it influence the story in <em>Spares</em>?</strong><br />
<br />
I’ve grown up either surrounded by stories in those settings (Mad Max
etc) or surrounded by people going on about this, that or the other
being poised to bugger the world up beyond repair. Climate change, war
with any one of so many other cultures, aliens, meteors, the Sun
spontaneously turning into a huge ball of peanuts and sending us all
into anaphylactic shock. If it’s not the environment then we’re all
eating too much / little protein, too much / little carbs, everything is
going to give you cancer, we’re going to create robots and those robots
are going to call us names and beat us up… It just never ended. Mind
you… ask a Native American or an Australian Aboriginal person about what
it would be like to live in a post-apocalyptic setting and they might
just laugh and tell you to take a look around.<br />
<br />
The love of the post-apoc setting spun out of all that really, and <em>Spares</em>
in particular with our obsession for living longer rather than better.
The more time we have to do a thing, the less urgently we approach it.
That’s natural to a degree so that we don’t exist in a constant state of
panic, but if something happened and suddenly we’d never die, but
everything still wore out? How would we cope? How would immortality
change us? I had fun with it but one day I want to come back to that
setting and give it a lot more time and a lot more thought. Some people
barely have enough humanity to last them a lifetime. What the hell would
they do with eternity?<br />
<br />
<strong>What are your recommendations for other post-apocalyptic adventures?</strong><br />
<br />
In terms of movies, the four <em>Mad Max</em> movies to date with a particular love for Fury Road. Richard Matheson’s <em>I am Legend</em> is a wonderful book (albeit a sub-par movie) if you’re a fan of zombie-apocalypse settings and games wise, give <em>Borderlands</em>
a go. It’s part post-apoc, part western, funny as hell and a really
great ride. One of the downloadable content packs is called <em>Island of Doctor Ned</em> and is a zombie-outbreak type area that is at least seventeen different kinds of fun. Ticks multiple boxes.<br />
<br />
<strong>Room 101 time: what one genre cliché would you get rid of?</strong><br />
<br />
I’d be in deep trouble if I said post-apoc, right…?<br />
<br />
One of my major gripes in genre fiction, movies, television and
allsorts is the idea that violence is absolutely fine so long as no-one
is swearing. I’ve played games where people are killed by having giant
chainsaws rammed through their torsos, they’re held aloft and the
chainsaw’s motor is revved hard until blood spills out everywhere and
the victim is dead, but no-one said anything naughty. I’ve seen shows
where people have bamboo rammed under their fingernails and their
response sounded like AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. I’ve seen movies where people are
torn apart by horses tied to each of their limbs and they didn’t curse
once. I’m not saying everything adult in nature has to be saturated with
bad language but if you feel that the depiction of horrific violence is
less offensive or “adult” than seeing a human being tortured, killed or
eviscerated, well then I think you should jump into Room 101 along with
the cliché.<br />
<br />
<strong>If you could kill off any character from any other book, who would you choose and how would they die?</strong><br />
<br />
I want two but they’re from the same book(s)! I would take Vernon
Dursley and Delores Umbridge (of Harry Potter infamy), have them grabbed
by the lapels by a swarm of disgruntled Hogwarts owls, hoisted to about
20,000 feet and dropped into an industrial wood chipper. I have an
absolutely pathological hatred of cruel people and bullies who abuse
what little power they have to just be foul to other people. Reading
those two made me very cross.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are you up to next?</strong><br />
<br />
Currently I’ve got a lot on my plate – I’m writing <em>Emily Nation 2</em>, working my way through a novella series with a group of writers producing a superhero series by the name of <em>Outliers</em>, I have some short fiction in the works for <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit</a> and I’m training for my first powerlifting competition in November. Never enough hours in the day, but I love it.<br />
<br />
<strong>Thank you for joining us Alec!</strong><br />
<br />
Alec McQuay is a horror, fantasy and science fiction writer hailing
from Cornwall in the south-west of England; an area renowned for natural
outstanding beauty and the worst internet connections in the country.
Capable of going off at odd tangents, bizarre flights of fantasy and
generally being incapable of taking things like bio-writing seriously,
Alec spends most of his time scribbling notes and ideas on his phone and
talking the ears off his wife and friends about whatever mad-cap scheme
he intends to write next. You can find him at his website <a href="https://alecmcquay.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">https://alecmcquay.wordpress.com</a> or on twitter as @VampiricChicken<br />
<br />
Emily Nation is published by <a href="http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/">Fox Spirit Books</a> and is available from Amazon.<br />
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Jenny Barberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10285846941184945840noreply@blogger.com0