C.J. Sutton's Blog, page 2
July 4, 2018
Book Wars: Fact or Fiction?
(image by NoiZe-B)
Don’t lose your fiction.
A week ago I was watching the live book bestsellers chart on Amazon Australia. My debut novel had just released in paperback and I was interested to see the initial response. At first my attention was on the position of my own book, but then I started to notice the themes of the other books on the list. When Dortmund Hibernate peaked at #6 the top five books were either self-help, cooking or investing titles. But it didn’t end there. Books #7 to #15 were also non-fiction titles based on making a reader happier, more likeable to others or creating the perfect gut health. Despite their importance, the lack of bestselling fiction on the charts was a concern. Does this represent the focus of contemporary readers, or was it the Australian trend of the week?
I ventured into a bookstore to compare these findings to a physical seller. Fiction remained prominent. But on the wall in the bestselling section were the same books that featured so heavily on Amazon’s chart. People were browsing fiction and then they were buying non-fiction. The Barefoot Investor and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck sold three copies each while I was scouting. There was no current fictional phenomenon in the mould of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones or The Hunger Games flying off the shelves, and it made me ponder the importance of fiction.
Fiction provides a new reality. Anyone can escape their present state by opening to a page and diving into the narrative. Self-help books can improve your life, but fiction provides insight into a different life. We read to escape. Hogwarts and Middle Earth and Westeros are locations that feel real because we’ve spent so much time there as readers. If self-help books continue to dominate the charts, would writers and authors seek a way to enter that market as opposed to the creativity of fiction?
As I researched other countries and other bestselling lists I soon noticed that fiction continued to dominate, especially on the Kindle. Buyers may grab the latest investing title as a computer buddy or the brightest recipe book as a companion in the kitchen, but fiction sleeps beside the bed. Fiction goes on holidays and fiction rests on the coffee table. As much as I love the physical book, it doesn’t matter whether fiction is in the paperback or eBook format. It sits with importance and memory.
Fiction helps you understand communication, motive, emotions, consequence and the views of others. Non-fiction gives you fact, but fiction shows you how. In fiction you can see through the eyes of a man, a woman, a child, the elderly or an animal. You can see the reasoning of evil and the pain of heroics. Fiction sharpens your decision-making skills like a stone to the sword. Non-fiction describes point A and point B, but fiction takes you on a journey between the two points and makes you understand why.
Modern society is based on speed, technology and self-gain. The book can often get lost in the fast-paced lifestyle that generates entertainment from a social media feed and a Netflix account. Non-fiction titles can be read in snippets when a spare moment arises. But fiction forces you to pay attention. It asks you to look and it rewards you for longevity. Non-fiction will offer tips and truth and history, but does it change your reality?
Fiction transcends time. An example such as Alice in Wonderland demonstrates the power of a new reality, both in its own form and in the story it presents. Choosing to follow that rabbit down the rabbit hole is exactly what you’re doing with a fiction novel. To read a non-fiction novel is like checking your letterbox; items you’ll have to pay for, and information that everyone else is receiving. Fiction is about interpretation. It isn’t fact. The world is yours.
Next time you’re browsing titles on Amazon or filtering through your local bookstore, take a moment to think about why you read. If you’re wanting facts and tips and a good anecdote, non-fiction is your domain. But if you want to access a new world and escape the confines of everyday life, don’t forget fiction. Because your next life is mere pages away, and in this fast-paced society there is every chance you’ll miss it.
June 27, 2018
Writing Fear – Carol Maginn
My Fears by Carol Maginn
I grew up in a warm, secure house in the suburbs of Liverpool, terrified of a big old wardrobe. The attic was also scary, as was the whole house in darkness. It didn’t help childhood fears to grow up Catholic, at least in those days. We knew about eternal damnation, the torments of hell, and the evil cunning of Satan, all by the age of about seven.
Fortunately there were things that could be done. Prayer, mostly. Our Lady was on our side, and sympathetic if prayed to. As was Jesus. And it was worth bearing in mind that, as a Catholic child, we were lucky enough to each have a personal guardian angel. They were invisible, but helpful. I recall a poster on our classroom wall which showed two children approaching a fork in the road and two diverging paths. On one path there is a car accident. A guardian angel is steering the children towards the other, safe path. Which is good, obviously.
There are many things to fear in the real world, of course, and not much we can do about most of them. The attraction of fiction is that we’re able to create our own reality and project our own world and inhabitants. The problems we need to solve are ones we’ve set ourselves. There’s something wonderful, as both a writer and a reader, about being able to enter an alternative, interior reality.
But I’ve never been very keen on creepy. When I wrote my third novel, The Case of the Adelphi (not yet published) it was originally planned as a straightforward historical ghost story, in the tradition of Wilkie Collins’ Haunted Hotel. The nineteenth century was fascinated by the supernatural. The Ouiji board, intended to allow spirits to communicate with the living, was invented then, and mediums of every sort flourished. The Ghost Club was a respectable, research-based society of which Charles Dickens was a member. But Adelphi ended up as something rather different – more character-driven and speculative.
My second novel, Daniel Taylor, is based on the premise that two men arrive in Rome on the same day with the same name. One is an expert in finding lost objects, hired by a Russian oligarch to find the ring of Diocetian. The other is a burnt-out advice worker in Rome for a two week holiday. Their identities become entangled in dangerous ways. The advice worker, who is confused and scared quite a lot of the time, is the character I most identify with. I was living in Rome while I wrote this book, and I transferred a lot of my own fears and uncertainties onto him.
And in the world of the novel, if not in the real world, we can open the wardrobe, peer into the attic, and wander round the house at dead of night…can’t we…?
About the author
Born in the Gothic city of Liverpool, brought up in the seaside resort of New Brighton, Carol has lived in Manchester, Sheffield, Rome, and Edinburgh.
She’s worked as a waitress, auctioneer’s clerk, bookseller, lawyer and teacher, and has always read and written.
Her favourite writers are too numerous to list, but include Hilary Mantel, JM Coetzee, Raymond Carver and John Banville.
She walks, swims, dances occasional salsa, and enjoys both cooking and eating.
For more from Carol
June 14, 2018
Writing Fear – Heidi Catherine
A Fear of Nothing by Heidi Catherine
When I first heard about CJ Sutton’s series of articles on how writers’ fears impact their work, my first thought was of snakes. But it was my second thought that I’ll write about today, because it was a fear I didn’t even realise I have until CJ posed the question, and it’s impacted my writing enormously.
The fear of dying and … there’s nothing else out there.
In other words, the fear that this is it. This is all we get. And that really does frighten me more than anything else I can think of. I like the idea of hanging out in the clouds with my kids or being able to nag my husband for the rest of time. Or even better, I’d like to believe that we’re re-born and get to do it all over again.
Which brings me to how this fear has affected my writing. I’ve just had a romantic fantasy series published called The Soulweaver. Three books all about loving the same souls over many different lifetimes. So, I suppose what I’ve actually done in these books is take my greatest fear and make it not exist. Although characters die in my books, they’re all re-born. They find souls they’ve loved before, recognising something in them that they don’t quite understand, and they get another chance. I like this idea because I’m not ready to say goodbye to anyone I love; not today, tomorrow, in fifty years or ever.
Last year my grandmother died. She was 93 and had lived a long and good life. I was privileged enough to be holding her hand when she left this earth and it was heartbreaking. The only thing that helped me keep myself together was the belief that one day I’d see her again. Because even though I don’t know what happens to us after we die, I’m sure there’s something else out there. I believe this so much that I even had the word ‘believe’ tattooed on my wrist (not something my grandmother would have approved of!).
It’s my hope that when someone reads The Soulweaver that they take a moment to stop and think about what might be possible after we die. Too many people today are choosing to believe in nothing, when it can bring so much comfort to believe in something. Anything! Because when you do believe in something, there’s so much less to fear about life and indeed death. Hopefully one day (in the far distant future!) I’ll find out that I’m right about this. But in the meantime, I’ll continue to try to live my life to the fullest. Just in case.
Heidi Catherine’s The Soulweaver series is available on Amazon as a Kindle version or paperback. Click here to buy now
She’s loved and lost him a hundred times across a thousand years. She can’t bear to lose him again.
Lin’s dreams are haunted by faces of people she’s never met. Unable to shake the feeling she’s lived before, she’s drawn to Reinier—a stranger whose soul is heartbreakingly familiar from a time gone by.
Reinier helps Lin unravel the mystery of her past life as Hannah, a girl who sacrificed herself for her true love, Matthew. As Lin falls hopelessly in love with Reinier, her memories of her life as Hannah sharpen and she finds herself unable to let go of Matthew.
With her heart torn in two, Lin must decide whether she should stand by Reinier’s side or track down Matthew and fight for his love.
What she doesn’t know is that her decision will ripple across our troubled planet, affecting far more lives than just her own.
Winner of Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Pro award, The Soulweaver is a story that will change the way you see the world.
To find out more about Heidi Catherine, visit her website http://www.heidicatherine.com
June 7, 2018
Writing Fear – Jennifer C Wilson
The Role of Fear by Jennifer C Wilson
Fear plays a big part in the Kindred Spirits series, but I suppose that’s inevitable when you’re writing a story about ghosts (not a ghost story, you’ll see why). For many of the characters, the fear of the general public is entertainment for them, seeing who can generate the most blood-curdling scream, or most terrify the cocky, brave little boy who claims he isn’t afraid of anything. Or at least, that’s how things were in the Tower of London and the Royal Mile, the first two in the series. In Westminster Abbey, a full-on, chain-rattling and scream-inducing haunting just wouldn’t be appropriate, so our spirits need to go further afield, or be more creative, to get their fear fix.
This need to be a little more cunning in their desire to haunt the living leads some of our resident ghosts to look at a different option: haunting the dead. What better way to use your powers of controlled visibility and tangibility than to harass somebody who put you through hell in life (or in death). We have centuries’ old feuds within the walls of Westminster, the worst of which has to be that between the Tudor half-sisters, Mary I and Elizabeth I, who had plenty to disagree about in life, and thanks to the presence of their cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, there’s plenty to cause hassle in death as well. And even for ghosts, being surrounded by tombstones and graves can have an element of discomfort to it. You literally cannot move in Westminster Abbey without treading on somebody’s graves; think of the constant shivers our poor residents will have to be dealing with…
Some of our spirits have more deep-seated fears too; the biggest of which is the fear of being misunderstood, misinterpreted, or even forgotten entirely. In Kindred Spirits: Tower of London, we’re told that although he lost at Bosworth, Richard III is the ultimate winner of the Wars of the Roses, as he is the one we all remember, albeit in a mangled form thanks to Shakespeare and his ‘artistic licence’ with historical fact. And Anne Boleyn tells us how she won the battle of Henry’s brides, by giving the country Gloriana herself, Elizabeth I, who has gone down in history as one of our greatest monarchs.
As for my own fears, well, this is why I write stories about ghosts, NOT ghost stories. I am the biggest coward you are likely to meet, and the notion of all these ghosts hanging around the place terrifies me, even if I am nominally in control of them! It’s always been a strange fascination for me; despite knowing I’ll be terrified, I still read stories of castles and their ghosts, or watch documentaries on the same. Always nice and historic though; never any of these “my child is reincarnated” or “the worst night of my life” – I like a nice, safe distance between me and the dead… It’s an interesting way for me to start confronting my own fears though, and these days, whenever I visit any historical site, as well as wondering about who might have lived there, I’m thinking about whether they’re still around, and how they might be getting along with others who followed in their footsteps. It takes the fear away from moments when you find yourself entirely alone in part of a castle, that’s for sure, as well as keeping the ideas pot nicely full. And that is never something to fear!
About Kindred Spirits: Westminster Abbey – Click here to buy now
On hallowed ground…
With over three thousand burials and memorials, including seventeen monarchs, life for the ghostly community of Westminster Abbey was never going to be a quiet one. Add in some fiery Tudor tempers, and several centuries-old feuds, and things can only go one way: chaotic.
Against the backdrop of England’s most important church, though, it isn’t all tempers and tantrums. Poets’ Corner hosts poetry battles and writing workshops, and close friendships form across the ages.
With the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots, however, battle ensues. Will Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I ever find their common ground, and lasting peace?
The bestselling Kindred Spirits series continues within the ancient walls of Westminster Abbey.
About Jennifer C Wilson
Jennifer is a marine biologist by training, who developed an equal passion for history whilst stalking Mary, Queen of Scots of childhood holidays (she since moved on to Richard III). She completed her BSc and MSc at the University of Hull, and has worked as a marine environmental consultant since graduating.
Enrolling on an adult education workshop on her return to the north-east reignited Jennifer’s pastime of creative writing, and she has been filling notebooks ever since. In 2014, Jennifer won the Story Tyne short story competition, and also continues to work on developing her poetic voice, reading at a number of events, and with several pieces available online. Her Kindred Spirits novels are published by Crooked Cat Books and available via Amazon, along with her self-published time slip novella, The Last Plantagenet?
She can be found online at her blog, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
June 4, 2018
Writing Fear – Anne-Marie Ormsby
The Fears we Feel by Anne-Marie Ormsby
Everyone is afraid of something. Sometimes it’s little things like spiders or mice, other times it’s the big stuff, the stuff we don’t talk about every day; for some people it’s something they never talk about.
When I was writing Purgatory Hotel, I was in a difficult place emotionally – I was in an abusive relationship and the main element of every day was fear. I was controlled through fear on a daily basis and I think writing helped me process some of that.
The fear factors introduced in the story are the big ones – fear of dying, fear of what sort of afterlife we might face; but also for main character Dakota there was at the root of all the problems that followed, her fear of being alone. In one scene as a child she is staring at a photo on the wall in her house, it is of the Dakota Badlands, the place she was named after, and she is overcome with fear, a feeling that she would be scared to be out there in that place.
“Tears began to roll down Dakota’s cheeks, as her heart filled with loneliness and despair thinking of being alone there, in the dark rippling rocks and canyons, not another soul for miles of dark road and night. Alone with the wild animals and crying winds, calling out over and over that she was lost and alone.”
“What’s wrong, darling? Why are you crying?” asked Hannah desperately, kneeling down beside her quietly weeping daughter.
“I’d be scared to be there, Mummy, on my own,” replied Dakota sadly, unsure of why the image in the photograph had filled her with such loneliness and fear. Deep in her heart somewhere she feared that one day she would feel that way again, the way that photo had made her feel. She felt that her parents had cursed her somehow by naming her after such a desolate and mournful place.
At the point when she loses her parents in an accident she finds herself alone with only her sister for company, and fear of loneliness drives her to a relationship that is as destructive as it is dangerous.
As it is a Paranormal Thriller, there are plenty of other elements that are intended to induce fear in the reader – ghosts, murder, stalking, but for me it’s the underlying fears that linger the most.
And as a writer you come to accept how much of yourself you put into your writing, and I included some of my own, sometimes irrational fears in the narrative. The largest and most prominent one being hotels. I have always found hotels creepy, long stretching hallways, hundreds of rooms whose occupants change night after night, there is a sense of secrecy – of not knowing what goes on behind the closed doors. I have had an irrational fear of long corridors since I was little, which was compounded by an episode of Twin Peaks that I watched when I was a teenager.
Fear is a major theme in nearly everything I write, and I think it might be that I have always been afraid of something, and reading scary books and watching scary movies has just been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Our fears say a lot about us, the question is are we too afraid to look deeper into that?
Purgatory Hotel by Anne-Marie Ormsby
Dakota Crow has been murdered, her body dumped in a lonely part of the woods, and nobody knows but her and her killer.
Stranded in Purgatory, a rotting hotel on the edge of forever, with no memory of her death, Dakota knows she must have done something bad to be stranded among murderers and rapists. To get to somewhere safer, she must hide from the shadowy stranger stalking her through the corridors of the hotel, and find out how to repent for her sins.
But first she must re-live her life.
Soon she will learn about her double life, a damaging love affair, terrible secrets, and lies that led to her violent death.
Dakota must face her own demons, and make amends for her own crimes before she can solve her murder and move on.
But when she finds out what she did wrong, will she be truly sorry?
May 31, 2018
Crafting the Criminally Insane
Am I mad? Probably, but a writer needs to be able to distance themselves from characters to ensure they are well-rounded, motivated and believable. A writer must know what a character wants without wanting it themselves. In creating the nine criminally insane inmates of Dortmund Asylum (the facility in my novel Dortmund Hibernate) I had to ask myself:
1. What would get you locked up in a facility such as this?
2. Why would a person commit these horrific acts?
3. How would you present to a psychologist after years in solitary confinement?
Murder was the obvious answer to question one, but prison holds murderers. These acts needed to be unique and have a basis in psychological imbalance. It’s not so much that they did it, but how and why they did it, and their current response to the act when raised professionally (questions two and three). You’ve got to be creative and just let the mind go dark.
The first inmate readers will be introduced to is Claude Simmonds, dubbed ‘Slippery Simmonds’ by the guards due to the pet anaconda he kept in his house while free. Claude’s world revolved around animals. A zookeeper as a career path and in study, he cared not for humans. This meant he remained either in his workplace or in his home at all times, for within both of these sanctuaries were breeds of deadly animals. This allowed him to be himself. Claude had not hurt anyone until one night when a group of teenagers attempted to steal his car. This action would set him on a path that saw teenagers and cops tortured by the pets kept within his home. The gruesome details are explained in the novel.
In presenting to the psychologist, he retells the story as though he has done no wrong. His lack of empathy with humans detaches his care for their deaths. He laughs while recounting the tale of his downfall. Claude holds it with pride and shows no remorse. He even clutches to the hope of seeing his anaconda again, to which he has developed sexual feelings for. Hope in a place such as Dortmund Asylum should be impossible, but Claude’s mind uses it as a coping mechanism for incarceration. Is he a danger? Yes. Is his condition incurable? Well, you’ll have to read to find out.
But Claude Simmonds was but one soul in a nest of nine. Unique creations were essential to make each person a living, breathing character separate from the last. Different age brackets, professions, passions, body types, backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and targets. Research plays a large role in this. To enter the mind of someone classified as criminally insane you’ve got to read about past cases and understand the subject area. I can sleep at night knowing these people aren’t real, but if I can construct these traits and behavioural patterns, perhaps people not dissimilar to Claude are out there. And he’s not even close to the worst patient in the book…
So, am I mad? Probably. But that makes it all the more interesting, wouldn’t you agree?
Click here to pre-order Dortmund Hibernate on Kindle.
If you pre-order now and send your receipt to c_j_sutton@outlook.com you will go into the running to win a signed paperback copy and a $50 Amazon gift voucher! Live draw to be held over Facebook on July 18
May 26, 2018
Writing Fear – Katharine Johnson
Ordinary People Driven by Fear – Katharine Johnson
In Lies, Mistakes and Misunderstandings when Jack first meets Giselle he’s afraid she’ll see him for what he really is.
“All the time I was fighting back thoughts: What are you doing here with me? Can’t you see I’m different from you? Can’t you see there’s something in me, some fatal flaw that always ends up spoiling things?”
When Giselle asks him what his biggest fear is he finally admits:
“All right, it’s fear of myself. Of what I might do. I have this dread that one day I’ll make a terrible mistake and do something I’ll never be able to get back from.”
Later in the story when this fear turns out to have been justified he lives in dread of being caught.
“For weeks, months afterwards I waited for the knock on the door, a voice behind me, a hand on my shoulder. I jumped every time the doorbell rang and scanned the newspaper feverishly before Janet had the chance to look at it.
“I didn’t sleep until exhausted, and appalled myself with thoughts about how the only way to be sure I was safe would be to find Gilbert’s employee and kill him to keep him quiet. But then of course I’d have to kill Gilbert too. Both these things were unthinkable and would surely lead to other, even worse dilemmas.”
In The Silence Abby’s most afraid of losing the people closest to her.
She’s stifled the recollection of what took place during her childhood stay in Tuscany in 1992 so well that she’s almost convinced herself it never happened. But 25 years later reading in the newspaper about the grisly discovery at an idyllic Tuscan holiday home she knows the comfortable life she’s made for herself and the love and respect her family have for her could disappear in an instant.
“Everything slowed as her eyes slid across the page. Her head pulsed. Fear coiled through her as she read it, then read it again. The news she’d been dreading all these years and here she was reading it in James’s parents’ garden with his family all around her. And yet a little voice whispered: why not now? Why not here? It wasn’t as if there would ever be a good time or place.”
From that moment she struggles to keep the past separate from the present.
“She’d become so adept at compartmentalising her life but now boxes were opening. Contents spilling out. Contents that must never get mixed up.”
And in my new book The Secret which is published this Friday 1st June Sonia lives in terror of a young mother coming to reclaim her child.
“It was always there, that thought, that the girl would come back like the avenging Madonna in the church. She’d want what was hers. She’d expose Sonia for what she’d done. The girl hadn’t let herself be forgotten. In dreams she was always in that calm, trance-like state. Sonia would open the front door and find her standing there. Never spoke, just held out her arms. So frail-looking and yet so strong.
“Sonia would battle against the door but the girl would push her way through with apparent ease. Or if Sonia succeeded in shutting the door she’d look round to find the girl had slipped round the back of the house and was standing behind her in the room. She’d see the girl lifting Lorenzo out of his cot or leading him away through the olive grove, boarding a bus with him or wading into the river, deeper and deeper until the water came over their heads. In those dreams the girl would always whip round with that startled, light-filled look in her eyes. But she’d always succeed.”
And back in Sonia’s mother’s time in WW2 tension increases daily as the Nazis retreat up through Tuscany towards the village.
“The sense of euphoria they felt when the Allies recaptured Rome gave way to an even greater fear as news spread of atrocities closer to home. At the end of June German soldiers stormed the village of San Pancrazio. They rounded up the men and boys and took them to a farmhouse cellar. The local priest pleaded for their lives. He was the first to be shot.
“That same day 173 people in nearby villages were killed. In Santa Zita the atmosphere was charged. People were on edge the whole time. It was unthinkable and yet it would only take one moment of madness to trigger something like that.”
So my characters are tortured souls! I go with them as low as I can go and try and find a way through.
For me that’s the point of writing.
The Secret is released on the 1st of June 2018. Click here for the order link.
Click here to come along to the Online Launch Party – the theme is Secrets so there will be lots of revelations as well as awesome author visits and prizes to be won! Click this link and select Going. The posts and competitions will be up for 24 hours so you can drop in or out at any time and you don’t have to be in the UK to take part.
May 22, 2018
Writing Fear – Nancy Jardine
Fear of Fear by Nancy Jardine
Fear is something I think all authors experience at some point during their writing journey, but it can manifest itself in varied ways. I don’t write scary horror stories where the best authors of this genre scare the living daylights out of their readers. I’m a ‘feertie’ when it comes to reading, or watching, scary – you know that person who has a cushion ready to cover up the pages, or hide from the TV screen if it’s a film? That fear means I’m disinclined to write bloodcurdling scenes.
However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t read some novels that fit the Fear/Horror genre. I have, because I try to approach all books I read with an open mind and review according to how they are crafted, rather than the actual niche, or sub-genre a novel fits into. I may write something like ‘This book wasn’t a comfortable read’ (euphemism for it scared the proverbial **** out of me) but I’d go on to say how the clever, and well-executed, writing meant I was able to finish reading the story during daylight hours, because I couldn’t read it when it was dark outside.
As an author of contemporary mystery and historical fiction, my personal fears are more of the nature of how do my interpretations of history, or mystery, fit in with the reader’s concept of what went on. I constantly want to make a highly credible setting for my characters and often fear I’m either overdoing it, or skimming over some essential detail to ensure a smaller word count.
When I was writing Topaz Eyes (Crooked Cat Books), the plot took a slight detour from my original planning. Originally a romantic mystery based around a few generations of a fictitious European family, it morphed into a thriller when the third generation members became more and more deadly. At the beginning of the story, my main female character – Keira Drummond – finds herself in a weird situation in Heidelberg, one that’s not comfortable, and even less so when she suspects that someone is following her. But fear doesn’t really play a part at this point of the story, even when the surroundings are leafy woods with plenty of shadows. By the time Keira visits Vienna, she definitely knows she’s got a persistent stalker but it’s sheer anger that overrules her fears. Replacing one strong emotion with another is often a way to cope with a fearful situation.
For this part of the novel I wanted to avoid any shadowy surroundings (maybe due to my own ‘feartie’ instincts). I, instead, chose to set the scene in one of the busiest, wide-open boulevard areas of Vienna where the bright-yellow Ring Tram operates near the grand Kunsthistorisches Museum and multiple other important tourist buildings. How Keira shakes off her stalker (for a while) will remain a mystery in this post, though a read of the story will solve that problem.
The audience for my romantic thriller Topaz Eyes are not expecting a deep psychological horror story but the feedback has been positive, so I’m constantly hopeful that readers enjoy its hint of intrigue and danger, and even the deaths that occur. Is it a crime thriller? Not really – it’s a mystery!
Nancy Jardine writes contemporary mysteries; historical adventure fiction and time travel historical adventure. She regularly looks after her grandchildren so her garden can sometimes look quite creative. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the Scottish Association of Writers, the Federation of Writers Scotland and the Historical Novel Society. She’s published by Crooked Cat Books and has delved into self publishing.
You can find her at these places:
May 19, 2018
An Interview with Seamus Heffernan
Who is Seamus Heffernan?
Well, I’ve been a lot of things in a lot of different places—high school teacher, policy wonk, freelance journalist, marketing/communications mercenary, speechwriter— but right now I work in politics and live in British Columbia, Canada, where I split my time between Abbotsford, Mission and Vancouver.
Can you describe your path to publication?
Long and winding. I wrote the book’s first 1,000 words or so at my kitchen table one groggy Saturday morning after hosting a party at my old house in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and finished the first draft some seven years later at another kitchen table all across Canada, in British Columbia. I only have myself to blame—I wasted too much time and let life get in the way more than once. In the last couple of years I got much more serious about finishing it, and after I completed my master’s degree last spring I had just enough gas in the tank to blow through the last 8,000 words or so.
After that, I shared it with some friends whose opinions I trusted for feedback, polished it up and started submitting to publishers who would take manuscripts from new writers (i.e. un-agented starry-eyed dreamers). Crooked Cat got in touch and the rest is the proverbial history.
Napalm Hearts is out now. Why should we buy this book?
If you enjoy a lightning-paced thriller with more than a few twists, plus a story with a bit of heart, I’m confident it would be a good fit for your book shelf. NAPALM HEARTS, my debut novel, is a detective story about a successful but lonely American PI working in London, England. He works infidelity cases and while he’s making a good living, he’s bored as hell. He accepts a case from a wealthy client who wants him to find his much-younger and missing trophy wife. It’s set to be the first in an ongoing series.
What got you into writing?
When I was a kid, my dad used to bring me to this used bookshop in my hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland, where I became an obsessive reader of comic books and cheap paperbacks. That got me writing a lot, both in school and on my own, but so much of it was just dreck. In the back of my head, though, even as I got older, I always knew that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to write cool stories and create characters people cared about. I wanted my book to someday be on that book shop’s shelf.
Seven years is a long time. Why’d you stick with it?
This should be where I say something like “Oh, I write because I must” or “I simply have no choice, I’m an artist” but none of that’s true. I love the craft of writing, I love the world-building it demands, and I love the satisfaction of creating a story that just hums along while it draws people in. But I never really feel like I have to do this. I’m envious of those who have that kind of discipline and devotion, frankly. I do it because I enjoy it. Bottom line: It’s fun—but it’s also important.
It’s probably the most human thing about us, to share stories. We all do it, all the time. “Oh man, my boss reamed me out today.” “Hey, did I ever tell you I was in a band in college?” “Listen, I’m doing this cleanse and I’m literally gonna die if I don’t get a burger.” Watch anybody at a party, mingling. We swap tales to get to know each other.
Fiction is the natural extension of our need to share stories. That’s why I write. This thing where we make up stories and throw them out into the world is just this wonderful, precious thing we get to do. I’ve personally decided to use that gift to write pulpy detective novels, but what the hell. We don’t all get to win a Nobel for Literature.
Can you tell readers about your next project?
Well, I’m working on the follow up to NAPALM HEARTS. It was never intended to be a series about these characters but when I got to the end I found it surprisingly open-ended. There’s a lot of room for these people to grow, and I’m intrigued to see where they’ll end up.
I’m also writing a TV pilot script about public servants and the politicians they work for. It’s more of a dramedy than straight-up satire—not quite Parks & Rec but perhaps a little gentler than Veep.
Can we have a brief description of your book, where it is available to buy and how people can get in touch with you?
Thaddeus Grayle is a successful but bored American private investigator who has grown weary of snooping after the cheating spouses of his adopted city of London, England. Recently divorced and even more recently sober, he fills what little free time he has with movies, baseball and his own torrid affairs. He wants a change, and it finally arrives thanks to a wealthy businessman desperate to find his hard-partying wife—a young woman who might be in the biggest trouble of her life.
NAPALM HEARTS may be ordered here, on any Amazon site and Barnes & Noble.
A cinematic neo-noir told with breakneck urgency, NAPALM HEARTS is the debut novel from an exciting new voice in crime fiction.
More from Seamus Heffernan:
info@seamusheffernan.com
May 18, 2018
The Great Giveaway
The Great Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Dortmund Hibernate on July 18, you can go into the draw to win a signed paperback copy of the psychological thriller as well as a $50 Amazon voucher.
To enter, simply pre-order the coffee-priced Kindle version of Dortmund Hibernate now and screenshot your receipt. Then send the receipt to c_j_sutton@outlook.com and you’re in the running; your receipt will go straight into the hat.
Pre-order here – mybook.to/dortmundhibernate
The first 10 entrants will get 2 copies of their receipt in the hat. Double your chance to win!
The live draw will be held on July 18 during release day over Facebook. If your name gets pulled out of the hat you will be sent the prizes that same day. There will also be a second prize…but that will be revealed one month before release.
All entrants will receive details of the draw, and this will also be communicated across Twitter and Facebook regularly in the lead up to the event. You don’t want to miss this.
