G.R. Yeates's Blog, page 5
July 23, 2012
Summer Splash Blog Hop: 23rd – 31st July
What is a Blog Hop?
The Blog Hop is a way for readers to discover over EIGHTY authors who write across a slew of genres. Every author is running a contest on their blog/website that you can enter with a variety of prizes and there are also grand prizes up for grabs.
How long do I have to enter?
You will have from 23rd to 31st July to enter any or all of the contests. Just click on the logo above to visit the Summer Splash hub – after you’ve entered my content, of course 
What’s the contest on the G.R. Yeates Website?
I have published a series called The Vetala Cycle, so I want you to answer the following question:
Which of the military campaigns from World War One is the setting for The Eyes of the Dead ?
a) The Somme
b) Passchendaele
c) Gallipoli
If you think you know the answer then e-mail me at: gryeates666@gmail.com
First prize – a copy of Horror for Good signed by myself- an acclaimed anthology of short horror stories by Ramsey Campbell, F. Paul Wilson, Shaun Hutson, Wrath Jame White, Monica O’Rourke, Lisa Morton, Gary McMahon, Tracie McBride, Rena Mason & G.R. Yeates amongst many others.
Second prize - you get the chance to give me a title to write a story around. This will then be published as a free title onto Smashwords and their distribution channels with due acknowledgement and dedication in the text to the winner.
Third prize – you get the chance to have a character named after you in a forthcoming Vetala Cycle novel.
All three winners will also be entered into the grand prize draw for two Kindle Fires, Amazon Gift Cards, Kindle Covers and a bunch of great books!
Don’t forget to visit the Summer Splash Blog Hop hub and check out my fellow authors, their contests and prizes!
http://kindlesplash.blogspot.com
Tweet
July 15, 2012
Coming soon: The Summer Splash Blog Hop
What is a Blog Hop?
The Blog Hop is a way for readers to discover over EIGHTY authors who write across a slew of genres. Every author is running a contest on their blog/website that you can enter with a variety of prizes and there are also grand prizes up for grabs through the main Blog Hop hub.
How long do I have to enter?
You will have from 23rd to 31st July to enter any or all of the contests.
What’s the contest on the G.R. Yeates Website?
There will be a contest here to win some great prizes including a copy of the acclaimed Horror for Good anthology from Cutting Block Press and the chance to feature in a future Vetala Cycle novel as a character.
All winners will also be entered into the grand prize draw for two Kindle Fires, Amazon Gift Cards, Kindle Covers and a bunch of great books!
Check back here for more details nearer the time!
Tweet
July 6, 2012
Phobia Friday welcomes Autumn Christian
In the last interview I will be hosting on my website for a while, please join me in welcoming Autumn Christian – the incredibly talented author of The Crooked God Machine and A Gentle Hell.
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer?
I don’t even remember. It must’ve gotten in my blood. Someone punched me in the stomach and the only response I could think of was to write. I don’t know how to stop, much as I’d like to sometimes.
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
I think my life has been defined by fear. One of my first memories is of being at the Oklahoma City zoo looking down at the hippo tank. My mother told me, “Be careful, one time a kid fell in there, right into the hippo’s mouth, and they ate him.”
I grew up with extreme social anxiety disorder. The thought of having to answer a phone or a door left me in tears. I used to lurk on the social anxiety disorders forums and hear stories of 60 year old virgins and women who hadn’t left their homes in twenty years. That wasn’t going to be me. It took me years and years, but I decided to run towards everything I was afraid of. It’s why I dropped out of college and ended up working at an Oklahoman dairy farm. It’s why I ended up in Austin, Texas by myself with almost no work experience and became a game designer at one of the top game companies in the country a year later.
I’m not at all any less afraid. There are moments when I can’t even get out of bed because I’m paralyzed with it. But I’ve learned to run towards it and not away more often than not.
3. In A Gentle Hell, one of your stories, They Promised Dreamless Death, evoked Philip K. Dick in title and in its description of a world where reality and our perception of it is skewed – can you tell me some more about how you discovered Dick and his influence on your work?
I first discovered Philip K. Dick when I was in 2nd grade, around 8 or 9 years old, when I read UBIK. Though I was young and didn’t understand many of its overarching themes the power of that book lingered with me. I later rediscovered my love of PKD in college when I read A Scanner Darkly and then sought to read his entire collection. I’ve always been interested in alternate realities and the concept of ‘the real’. These aren’t new concepts, but Philip K. Dick did bring it back into pop culture.
He’s been strongly influencing my work ever since. I’m not usually a science fiction writer – The Crooked God Machine is the only science fiction novel I’ve written to date – but Dickian concepts go deeper than science fiction. They’re embedded deep in our consciousness. We’ve all woken up from a dream unsure of if we’re still dreaming.
First you begin to ask, “Am I dreaming? Am I awake?” Then you get to a point where you realize it doesn’t matter, so you start to ask, “What are my powers? What can I do here?” I want to move past those basic concepts into the place where we learn to cope in a universe where our reality or unreality is unknown.
4. Your Demiurge is Dead is another skewed story where the police procedural collides with a Burroughsian lampooning of vulgar spirituality – what is your take on how spirituality influences American life and culture? Do you think it can be as uplifting and healing as it can be wounding and degenerate?
No. Am I allowed to say that? No.
There are good spiritual people but this is in despite of spirituality. Your Demiurge is Dead is very much about the isolation I experienced as a child growing up in a religious country. You’re supposed to love your fictive father more than your real father. You exist in a murk, a ghost planet. A ghost isn’t going to love you like a living person loves you, no matter how much you pray to it.
Religion is destructive because its morality exists outside of actions. The prophet in Your Demiurge is Dead is a product of this. He’s not a leader of the people, he’s a murderer. The Triple Goddess isn’t a spiritual figure, she’s a tabloid star. We superimpose our own desires for direction and morality onto monsters. It’s easy to do when you’re supposed to follow directions from a god that lives in your head.
5. The Dog that Bit Her has a very unique take on a classic monster – what made you decide to reinterpret the werewolf?
I was squatting in my boss’s old apartment when I wrote that one. I’d been kicked out of the warehouse where I lived because of a breakup. I was full of manic energy – I hadn’t ate or slept in days. I started panicking; the thought of destroying myself seemed appealing, so I sat down at the keyboard and pounded out about 8,000 words.
I don’t think anyone gives a good goddamn about zombies and werewolves, not really. What they care about is the human reaction to these monsters. So I ended up creating a sort of “The Awakening”, for werewolves. And as you read it’s really not about werewolves at all, it’s about the girl regaining her independence. About a husband coping with his sick wife becoming stronger than he will ever be.
6. The Singing Grass struck me as being an autobiographical piece in some respects – would that be an accurate analysis? What is your opinion on art as autobiography? Does it gain more power when we put more of ourselves into it, even to the point where we become maybe too exposed and vulnerable before the audience?
Yes, every part of that story is autobiographical, even the impossible parts. I wrote that story to try and understand my relationship with the artist but it became twisted in the process. Several people have told me it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever written – and I think it’s because I’ve infused it with myself – my experiences and my feelings and my energy, even in the parts that come across as strikingly surreal.
Yes, throw yourself into your story. Your vulnerability will gain you great and awesome powers. There’s a freedom in exposure. Not that it isn’t hard to achieve that level of self-expression. Most people can’t be that honest with themselves, because it hurts. It bites. You’re going to have to dig deeper than “it’d be really cool to write a vampire story!” You’ll have to think about what’s hurting you and unearth it.
I don’t know any other writer who cries and scratches themselves as they write, though maybe it’s for the best. I never did learn how to cope with my feelings except by writing them down.
7. One of the aspects of your work that I greatly admire is your knack for truly unique imagery that rarely, if ever, draws on traditional horror clichés – could you talk a little about which writers have influenced you in terms of imagery and how to construct and present it so as to arrest the reader’s attention?
My greatest influences in terms of my voice: Ray Bradbury (of course, and RIP), Poppy Z. Brite, Tom Piccirilli, Anais Nin, Kathy Acker. I write from the body. I write what feels good in my stomach, what makes me nauseous. I write like a bad headache.
Developing a voice is one of the most difficult things a writer can do. You will probably start out emulating someone (Ray Bradbury) and becoming a pale spectre until something clicks in your head one day and you begin to become your own writer. You have to religiously toss out overused phrases and plot points until you find what you really want to say underneath it all.
8. Can you tell me some more about your novel, The Crooked God Machine? And tell me why you think we have such a fascination with dystopias rather than utopias?
The Crooked God Machine is my debut novel. It’s a dystopian horror novel about a man named Charles living in a world where plague machines terrorize citizens with swarms of locusts and rivers of blood, salesmen sell sleep in the form of brain implants, and God appears on the television every night to warn of the upcoming apocalypse.
I started writing it when I was 19 years old. It was my gut punch reaction to living in this uncomfortable universe. It contains all my rage. As you can tell from some of my reviews on Amazon, this book has made others very uncomfortable as well.
We’re fascinated with dystopias because we’re fascinated by everything that can – and does – go wrong. It’s the little black cloud on the horizon syndrome. What we find dangerous excites us, because it can maim, crush and kill us. Conversely, a utopia contains no new possibilities. A perfect world is an unmoveable world, and in that world there can be no stories.
9. So what is a typical writing day for Autumn Christian?
There isn’t one. I currently work as a game designer, which can be extremely demanding. I write whenever I have an opportunity. In the morning, after work, in the middle of the night, during my lunch breaks. Most of my novels have been written in-between moments, because I rarely have huge stretches of time to devote to writing.
When I’m writing I like to listen to music, drink copious amounts of coffee, curse, and bite. In that sense I’m your typical writer.
10. So what does 2012 hold for Autumn Christian? Any last words?
2012 will most likely see me washed up on a distant shore somewhere after I succumb to some sickness of the spirit. Besides that, I’m going to be finishing up my book We are Wormwood and most likely seeking a publisher. I’ve had it described as my A Scanner Darkly, though I often refer to it as my ‘my lesbian demon romance drug novel’.
Here’s the preliminary summary:
Ever since she was a child, Lily has been pursued by the girl with the Wormwood eyes, the girl she once found hiding in the burnt out husk of a dead tree. It is Lily’s connection to this girl that will lead her through a psychotropic underworld of reincarnated saints and bondage queens. Of poison gods and spiders with women’s faces. And ultimately, the girl with the Wormwood eyes will take Lily down into the Hush Place, to a final confrontation with the ubiquitous nightcatcher, the creature that’s followed Lily’s Messianic-complexed mother since her birth.
A darkly surreal, drug-coated romance, We are Wormwood tells an inhuman love story, and the transformation that results.
After that, I’ll be finishing up Sunblood, a science fiction novel of anorexia and transforming into a bird through nanite technology.
I hope my last words won’t be here for a few years at least.
Thank you, Autumn!
A Gentle Hell is available from the following links:
The Crooked God Machine is available from the following links:
If you want to find out more about what Autumn’s up to, please visit her website here.
Tweet
June 29, 2012
Phobia Friday welcomes Rena Mason
Today, I would like to welcome Rena Mason, an up and coming horror author soon to have her debut novel, The Evolutionist, released through Nightscape Press.
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and who some of your literary inspirations have been?
When I was younger I wrote poetry and kept journals, but it wasn’t until several years ago that I actually got serious about writing stories. My mom had asked me a question about loss, and it really got me thinking. The only way I felt I could answer her question was through a story. As far as literary inspirations I’d have to say Poe, the Bronte sisters, Shirley Jackson, King, and Steinbeck.
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
I’m constantly changing, and so are my fears. I don’t tend to have very many, and moreover, I would call them things I dislike or are annoying rather than actual fears. Whenever I think I’m afraid of something, I expose myself to it in an attempt to overcome it. Like my issue with heights I resolved by bungee jumping out of a hot air balloon. It took a lot of peer pressure, but I finally did it, and learned the trick is not to look down, but straight out.
3. Tell me more about how you came to submit to Horror for Good – I understand that The Eyes Have It is your first published work?
Yes, The Eyes Have It is my first ever published work, and I’ll never get over the excitement of it being in the first volume of Horror for Good, and especially among the other phenomenal authors in the Table of Contents, which is probably why I hadn’t submitted it earlier on—I was intimidated. So, I decided to submit the story elsewhere, but a good friend encouraged me to send it to Horror for Good, and the rest is history. Nothing can describe the elation I felt when the story was accepted, and the nice comments the editors had to say about it.
4. Your story involves shadows that play a role in the proceedings – what is it about the shadow, both symbolic and literal, that makes us fear it?
Shadows are a constant part of our lives, the darker side of us we can visibly see that follows us everywhere, day and night. But what happens when they’re not there? I think that’s the mystique behind shadows. We wonder what dark things they do when they’re not following their objects. The options are endless.
5. Tales of revenge often feature in the horror genre – why do you think that is?
I think all people like to read about/see bad people get their comeuppance. It makes us feel there is some justice in the world.
6. Death, its meaning and what is waiting beyond the veil is also a subject frequently returned to by horror writers – why do you think is and do you have any firm opinions about what is there in the undiscovered country?
People love to wonder about the unknown, and it lends itself to being a wide open topic for interpretation. I have no idea what lies beyond the great expanse, but I honestly hope it involves a whole lot of doing nothing.
7. Your story begins in a corporate office setting – why do you think the sub-genre of corporate horror has become so popular in recent years?
The real scare for many people is being stuck in an office cubicle day in and day out for the rest of their lives. And with the economy the way it is, many people have had to return to this type of workplace which is such a microcosm of diverse employees, almost anything can happen, and usually does.
8. Can you tell me some about your novel, The Evolutionist?
It’s a suburban sci-fi/horror story about a Las Vegas woman plagued by gruesome nightmares she must decipher before they become reality.
It was also recently announced by Nightscape Press that they will be publishing it, and I can’t talk enough about how excited I am that my first novel has been accepted for publication.
9. So what is a typical writing day for Rena Mason?
Some days, I’ll rework three sentences over and over all day. Other times, I’ll knock out a chapter or two, then maybe outline a story that’s been making my brain itch, and set it aside to finish later. There are the rare days I do absolutely no writing, and instead take the time to read over other people’s work, but I’m always constantly thinking of where my latest characters are taking me.
10. So what does 2012 hold for Rena Mason? Any last words?
This year has been one of the greatest years of my life, so if the Mayans were right and our time is up in December, I’m good with it. I’ve been working on my next novel, and a few other short stories. I also plan on attending KillerCon in Las Vegas in September.
New writers shouldn’t be intimidated submitting to markets they think might be out of their league. Like I said before, I learned to keep my head up, and look straight out rather than down. Besides, what’s the worst thing they can say? “No.” And as new writers, we get used to rejection. It’s a part of the nature of the beast that is writing. It’s important to read a lot, write a lot, have your work looked over several times, rework it, and then when you think it’s ready to submit, hire an editor. It made all the difference in my recent success.
Thank you, Rena!
Horror for Good is available from the following links:
If you would like to find out more about Rena Mason, please visit her website here.
Tweet
June 27, 2012
“What do you fear?” Wednesday welcomes Tony Rabig
Today, I would like to introduce you all to Tony Rabig, indie author of supernatural horror fiction.
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and who some of your literary inspirations have been?
I started trying to write short stories in high school and college, and tried a few novels after college. God must truly love mankind because none of it was published. While working in libraries, a bookstore, and later as a computer programmer, I wrote but not often enough. Now that I’m semi-retired, I’m trying to get back at it — about the time I was leaving full-time work, Amazon and Smashwords were making it possible for indie writers to put their work out there. So…
As to literary inspirations, the writers I admired early on were mostly science fiction and fantasy writers: Heinlein, Bradbury, Ellison, Zelazny, Sturgeon, Leiber, Matheson, Jack Finney. Other writers went on that list later, including John D. MacDonald, Stephen King, William Goldman, Evan Hunter/Ed McBain, and Jorge Luis Borges. That list isn’t complete and it still changes from time to time (at the moment, Joseph Epstein and Don Robertson are up there too, and if I could write a novel as good as Robertson’s Mystical Union, I’d die a happy man).
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
Wasps and other stinging insects — don’t know why, because I’ve never been stung. But I react to the sight of a wasp the way a swimmer reacts when he sees that fin in the water coming toward him. I’m not too crazy about high places either. That’s the physical side. Then there’s the feeling that I’ve been faking my way through life, that I’m not really much good at anything, and that everyone is about to catch on — that fear applies to the day job, the personal life, the writing; there’s nothing it doesn’t touch.
3. A number of your stories, such as The Other Iron River, The Point and They’re Waiting, explore the notions of revisiting the past and regrets over roads not taken in life to very potent effect – can you tell me more about why these particular themes interest you?
Those ideas appeal to me in part because of the time I spent just earning a living and not writing more, but also because I think they’re universal. Is there anybody who’s never wondered how life would have gone if only? Anybody who never wonders what might have been? Anybody who doesn’t think occasionally that he’s not a good fit for the world and time he lives in, that he should have been born somewhere or somewhen else? And you find those notions used by a lot of writers. The phrasing of your question alludes to Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” There’s a line from Whittier: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’” Plenty of modern fantasy stories let their characters escape to times and places they think would be better — quite a few Twilight Zone episodes played with the idea, and I’m not sure anyone’s ever topped Jack Finney’s short fiction in the use of the theme. Phrases like “If I knew then what I know now” and “If I had it to do over again” are heard so often that you can’t help thinking that everybody would like another chance at something. Of course, we don’t have it to do over again, and we didn’t know then what we know now, so at best we’re left with questions we can never answer and at worst we’re left with regrets that we can’t ease and that poison everything for us in the here and now. I’ve always been a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy, and I love a good downer of a story, and the contemplation of roads not taken is a rich source of material.
And an afterthought on this — check out the web site of the poet and critic Dana Gioia, and look for his poem “Summer Storm;” it works this ground nicely, and the rest of his poetry’s well worth a look too.
4. Acts of Faith is a zombie apocalypse story with a quieter, more sombre tone and a different focus to the usual action and splatter we have come to expect – did you consciously write this story intending to fit into the current trend for zombie horror fiction, or did the idea emerge organically?
I’m not sure why it occurred to me to try a zombie story, but when it did, “Acts of Faith” came pretty quickly. Usually the movies follow groups of survivors, but it’s scarier if the protagonist is alone as in Matheson’s I Am Legend. The movie survivors may be holed up in an isolated farmhouse or village or a locked down shopping mall; I thought of a small college campus and of some libraries I’ve seen with windowless behind-the-counter work areas. Then the last scene of George Pal’s film of The Time Machine came to mind, with the question of what three books the time traveler would have brought with him to help the Eloi rebuild civilization, and the story was there. The questions of what you keep, what you try to preserve and pass on, aren’t just for science fiction or horror stories — every librarian and every teacher and every parent is engaged with those questions.
5. In Acts of Faith and They’re Waiting, some pretty grim conclusions are drawn about faith and the afterlife – do these represent your own thoughts and feelings or are they purely invented for the stories?
Largely invented for the stories. In the case of “They’re Waiting,” it was a simple twist on the idea of the ghost — the notion of being haunted not by the spirit of someone dead but by the self that never had a chance to be. (Come to think of it, did Henry James have a character haunted by the self that might have been in “The Jolly Corner”? Need to look at that one again…) You’d think at my age (early 60s) I’d have some definite ideas about faith and the afterlife, but no.
6. The comfort and import of the past is another theme that runs through your work – do you think bygone times were better than what we have now, or is it more the dreams we have and the good memories of such times you think we should hold onto and preserve?
In some ways the past was better. In part, that’s memory working – when you’re young you’re discovering the books and films you’ll love for the rest of your life, you’re finding the people and the places and the work that matter to you, and all of it is new. For some people, things are never so intense and real again as they were during their younger days. Think of how long it’s been since you read a book that kept you up all night. How long has it been since a movie did it for you the way that first viewing of the 1963 version of The Haunting did? I think it was Damon Knight who said, “The golden age of science fiction is twelve.” But again, in some ways the past really was better. If you see the 1949 movie The Window (from a pretty good short story by Cornell Woolrich), you may marvel at the idea of the child taking his pillow and blanket up a few flights on the fire escape to sleep outside on a hot night New York City; the parents think nothing of it, and I’ve heard older folks than I talk about being able to do this — could you let a child do that now? I can remember days when you could leave your house unlocked if you went out for a while; these days you’re taking a chance if you do that. But whether or not it was better, your past shapes you, and your memories — of the people and places you knew, of what you saw and felt and did or didn’t do — stay with you. Those memories are our personal ghosts and some are comforting and some aren’t.
7. How do you feel your career as a librarian has informed your writing?
Sometimes I wonder that myself. A little over half my working life was spent in libraries and bookstores: fourteen years, not consecutive, in libraries and nine years at Kroch’s & Brentano’s bookstore in downtown Chicago. Seeing so many books all around, following so many review magazines for the job, lets you hear about writers you’d have missed otherwise, and learn some things from them that you can use in your own work. The to-be-read pile becomes huge. I don’t know who said regarding books that you can read ‘em or you can write ‘em but you can’t do both; he may have a point, at least in my case. When you read a lot, you think about comments like Robert Heinlein’s statement that there are only three basic plots, or titles like Polti’s The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, or Scott Meredith’s plot skeleton, and it’s easy to start thinking that you don’t really have anything to add to all the books already out there. As I said earlier, I’m a glass-is-half-empty kind of guy, so thoughts like that come readily to me. You walk through any decent-size library or bookstore and you realize that there’s so much more there than anyone can read in a lifetime and wonder if the world really needs another book or story or essay. In his essay “Bookshop Memories,” George Orwell said that while working in a bookshop he lost his love of books, that seen in the thousands, they were boring and even sickening; I never lost my love of them, and never found them boring or sickening, but I sometimes found myself thinking that the last thing I needed to do was add to that mountain of print. Did working in libraries and bookstores help or hinder my writing? A little of both, I think. And a few of the concerns of the librarian — what should be preserved and remembered — have certainly found their way into some of my stories.
8. In Ghost Writer, you posit the idea of ghosts of dead writers dictating their lost works to the living – if you had the choice to take dictation from a writer who is no longer with us, who would it be?
I couldn’t possibly narrow it down to one writer. Passing over the taught-in-every-classroom names and looking mostly at the genres, here are some that come immediately to mind. Mystery and suspense: Stanley Ellin, Fredric Brown, Cornell Woolrich, and John D. MacDonald. Fantasy and science fiction: Theodore Sturgeon, Roger Zelazny, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury (now eligible for such a list, unfortunately), and Jack Finney. General fiction: Jon Hassler and Don Robertson.
9. So what is a typical writing day for Tony Rabig?
Not sure there is a typical writing day. I’m semi-retired now, so some days I’m working on the part-time job that actually pays bills; when I’m not, and not dealing with day-to-day chores, I’ll walk a mile to the Subway sandwich shop, guzzle coffee, and scribble in the notebook for a while. When I’ve got a story draft finished in longhand, I’ll type it up on the computer and make changes as I do. I like working in longhand because a) I like fountain pens and b) having to type it up later forces an edit. I like to think I do a fairly clean first draft — don’t we all? — but having to type it lets me tweak it a bit and catch the idiocies that need to be fixed. Having let writing take a back seat for so long had a bad effect on my speed and focus; if I can get about 500 words down in a session I’m happy, and I hope to stretch that to the point where I can consistently do 750 to 1000 words a session. But that’s the writing day — the walk there and back, 500 words or thereabouts, and editing after the first draft’s done in longhand.
10. So what does 2012 hold for Tony Rabig? Any last words?
I hope to wrap up a novel that’s been laughing at me for years; it follows a small group of baby boomers over a long period. I’ve been messing with it for quite a while — too long, probably — and it may be about time to kick it out the door and focus on other material. I’m also working on a horror novel. Maybe a few new short pieces as well, but nothing definite there yet. I’m afraid I still work too slowly to say for sure what I’ll get done in any given period. As to last words…my paternal grandfather died at 83, my father’s older brother cashed in when he was 83, and my father passed away when he was 83. I sense a pattern there — who can say why? I’ll probably have some last words to say in twenty years, or at my hanging, whichever comes first.
Thank you, Tony!
The Other Iron River is available from the following links:
The Point is available from the following links:
They’re Waiting is available from the following links:
Saturdays That Might Have Been is available from the following links:
If you would like to find out more about Tony Rabig, please visit his blog here.
Tweet
June 22, 2012
Phobia Friday welcomes P.J. Jones!
Today, I would like to welcome P.J. Jones – queen of the fairytale zombies! Intrigued? Read on!
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and why you decided on parody and comedy as your genres of choice?
I started writing about 20 years ago when I was an English major in college. Back then, it was mostly for fun. As I grew older, my writing evolved. I eventually published a few YA paranormals with a small press. Then I became seriously ill and I needed a bit of comic relief. That’s when I wrote my first parody, Romance Novel.
I fell out of the publishing business while I recovered, and when I was ready to try publishing again, I found nobody wanted to publish my crude parody. I took the advice of a few other writers and put my books on Kindle and other ebook venues. I had so much fun that I wrote a few more paranormal parodies and a dark comedy and put them all on Kindle. Then, I got my rights back for my YAs and indie published those, too. It’s been a blast. I love being an indie writer and having creative control over my books. Plus, I’m actually selling more books than I sold with my publisher.
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
Fly swatters. I hate them. Ever look closely at one? Sticky bug guts and leg and wing pieces. And most people keep them in their kitchens. Gross.
I do not fear failure as an author. Frankly, because I’ve failed enough times to know failure is an eventuality in this business. So is success if you try hard enough.
3. Romance Novel is a parody of a certain well-known sparkly franchise – what do you think it is about T******* that makes it such a popular subject for comedy and satire at the moment?
It’s okay, you can say Twilight. Or are you afraid millions of Twi-hards will lynch your website? Back, Twi-hards, back! Ack! I’m choking on glitter!
Why is it a popular subject for comedy? Hmmm, whiny teen girl meets sexy undead, sparkly stalker. What’s to poke fun of?
4. The Vampire Handbook is an essential guide for those adjusting to the undead lifestyle – what is the worst mistake a newbie vamp can make?
USING YOUR IMMORTALITY TO GET LAID: Do not tell a mortal you are a vampire, just to get laid. This plan, though it works in most paranormal romance novels, will most likely cause a human to run screaming in the opposite direction, leaving you with no other alternative than to silence your mortal crush by draining his/her blood. This, in turn, will leave you heartbroken and sad, causing you to go on an eating and shopping binge, leaving a trail of carcasses and non-biodegradable impulse purchases of handbags, fishing poles and crystal vases.
5. In addition to dry cleaning, what other service industries do you think could benefit from a living corpse workforce? Or have they already been hired and we’ve not been told?
Oh, I have another free short story out called Melvin the Vacuum Salesman Zombie over at www.curiosityquills.com . Selling vacuums is a great new job for Melvin because the victims’ neighbours can’t hear the screams over the loud vacuum motor.
6. Are there any other monsters in the bestiary that you think could benefit from the P.J. Jones treatment?
I have already parodied sasquatch, aliens, Hannibal Lecter, Santa, leprechauns, genies, The Hunger Games…All of these stories are free at Curiosity Quills: http://curiosityquills.com/category/special-columns/paranormalady/
And I recently published a fairytale zombie parody, Attack of the Fairytale Zombies! It’s got hobbits, knights, witches, wizards, dragons… If you are a LOTR fan, you’ll either love or hate my book.
7. Tell me who are amongst your favourites when it comes to comedians?
Daniel Tosh, Seth Green and Seth MacFarlane.
8. Can you tell me some more about what you are working on at the moment?
I am working on a YA fantasy, a YA paranormal, a YA ghost story, and a paranormal parody.
9. What is a typical writing day for P.J. Jones?
Not enough writing. Too much goofing off on FB. I try to get in at least 1-2K words a day.
10. So what does 2012 hold for P.J. Jones? Any last words?
Curiosity Quills Press is going to combine all of my short stories into a novel titled, Paranormalady. I’m also trying to squeeze in Pride and Prejudice and Vampires. But with all these other books I have to write, I hope I can finish them all before the December apocalypse.
Thank you, P.J. Jones!
As the official Royal Dragon Slayer of Fairytale Kingdom, Barth descends from a long line of monster-killing knights. There’s only one problem: Drag, the kingdom’s resident cross-dressing dragon, is also Barth’s best friend.
When the King orders Barth to kill Drag, Barth knows they have to flee the kingdom or else another knight will do the job. But after a beautiful witch begs Barth to stay and help rid the kingdom of a dreadful zombie curse, Barth discovers he may have found his true calling. Is he knight enough to stop the zombie outbreak, save his best friend and get the girl?
Attack of the Fairytale Zombies is available from the following links:
If you want to find out more about P.J. Jones, please visit the following links:
Tweet
June 20, 2012
“What do you fear?” Wednesday welcomes Sarah Woodbury
Today I would like to welcome Sarah Woodbury, indie author of historical and fantasy fiction.
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and why you decided to write historical and fantasy fiction?
I have written all my life. Until I was twelve, my parents thought I was going to be a hippy because my head was in the clouds. I wandered the woods around my house, singing and making up poetry. School got in the way of that creative side of me, however, and I wrote only non-fiction (up to and including a Ph.D. dissertation in anthropology) for the next twenty years. I began writing fiction again 6 ½ years ago, mostly on a whim, just to see if I could. My first book was straightforward fantasy (with elves, no less), and will never see the light of day.
I write historical and fantasy fiction because I love history, but if I was interested in writing about the ‘real’ history, I would be writing non-fiction! Thus, time travel, mythology, and King Arthur all play a role in my books.
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
When I was a little girl, I had an army of stuffed animals to protect me at night. Cuddly the bear, because he was the biggest, would nestle next to my right shoulder. Yellow-hopper (the yellow bunny) would buttress my left shoulder, and Mr. Octopus and Raggedy Andy would sit sentry on the pillow. I stationed all the rest—bears, bunnies, horses—facing the window.
I had a big bed too—a double—with a wooden headboard and a gaping foot-high empty space underneath the bed.
That’s where the monsters hung out.
Every night, I would lie flat on my back, perfectly still, so that I wouldn’t make any noise and my movements wouldn’t bring them out. I also had a big closet that loomed along the inner wall. I always kept the doors closed, lest the monsters in there sneak out through the cracks.
My Mary-had-a-little-lamb night light did its best to cut through the darkness and I would stare at it, narrowing my eyes against the light, praying its little light bulb would last another night.
I don’t remember when I grew out of those fears (though I slept with Cuddly through college). But I think part of the reason stories with monsters and demons, vampires, zombies, and undead of every stripe and hue have stuck with us through the millennia is that they call upon these deeper fears—of the unknown, of powers that are beyond us—that manifest in children as fear of monsters.
As adults, our fears are far more specific: unemployment, thieves, death and taxes. Loss in all the ways we fear to lose. I’m a mom, so my biggest fear is something happening to my children. That’s not a phobia, as much as a full-blown terror.
3. The focus of your novels is medieval Wales – what is about this particular place and period that keeps drawing you back to it?
I just spent the last two weeks in Wales, and fell in love with the country all over again. It’s a beautiful place, but what draws me back to it is the history of it—the idea that for thousands of years people have loved and fought and died over this small spot on the planet. I have ancestors from Wales, and I think that is part of it too, piecing together my history as much as theirs.
4. Time travel features in your novels, often with a contemporary character being thrust back into the past – is the present a place you would like to escape from into, what might be considered, a simpler and earlier time?
Well … no. I mean, as a woman, living in any other time but ours would (quite frankly) suck. And not just because so many women died in childbirth (I have 4 kids). It’s more that I’m curious about people and always have been. As an anthropologist, I’m professionally nosy anyway, and the idea of going back in time and really understanding how other people lived is fascinating to me. Trekking all over Wales, you realize the distance between them and us. Yes, they loved and laughed and lived, much as we did, but also very differently from the way we do, and it’s hard—if not ultimately impossible—to get a handle on what they were really like sitting 800 years in the future. So that’s how the time travel books came about: by asking the question … what would it be like for a modern woman to live in medieval Wales?
5. What do you find to be the benefits and drawbacks of writing with and without speculative elements in a novel?
I love history and reading about history, but real history often ends badly for the heroes. Consequently, when a story involves a main character who dies an unpleasant and premature death, it can be difficult to craft a tale that is an enjoyable read. This is particularly true of books set in medieval Wales.
One of the most compelling stories ever told is the tale of King Arthur, in all of its permutations and manifestations. Arthur, whether a real person or not, was conceived in Wales, and played a key role in holding back the Saxon conquest of Britain.
My novel of King Arthur, Cold My Heart, begins with a vision of Arthur’s death at the hands of Modred and asks—what if? What if King Arthur survived to rule and pass his kingdom onto a worthy successor? That sounds like a more fun story to me than the typical French version where everyone dies in the end. It also is more in keeping with the genuinely Welsh tales in which Arthur survives Camlann. And who should know that better than the Welsh?
6. I also noticed that changing the past for the better is something that turns up in the After Climeri series – is there a particular incident in the history of Wales that you would change if you could?
As with the death of Arthur, few endings have had a greater impact on the progress—or lack thereof—of a country than the death in 1282 of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of Wales.
With his death, King Edward I of England set about eliminating Welsh language, culture, and history to the best of his ability, even to the point of expunging any mention of the Welsh royal court from public documents. He took the crown, the piece of the true cross, the sceptre, and even the title, Prince of Wales, which from then on would be bestowed on the eldest son of the King of England.
My After Cilmeri series takes the ambush and murder of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, throws in some time travel, and also asks what if? What if he survived? And what might happen to the two teenagers who save him?
Orson Welles once said, “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
My problem is that I don’t want the story to stop where it does—with the death of the hero. The history and death of these great Welsh heroes are tales that desperately needed someone to rewrite them.
And so I did.
7. Cold My Heart features King Arthur – what do you think is the continuing attraction of his myth and legend to writers? And did he truly exist?
That’s an entire post in and of itself – see my blog here! The short answer is that I don’t know, but that I choose to believe he was real. The Welsh believe he was real, and their stories of him date back to the 6th century or before. My feeling is that King Arthur continues to appeal after all these years because he is both mythic hero and flawed human, and the tension between the two provides endless fodder for story telling.
8. Can you tell me some more about what you are working on at the moment?
I am simultaneously finishing a novella which is a prequel to The Good Knight, the first of my medieval mysteries, working on the third book in that series, and making notes for the fourth book in my After Cilmeri series. I like having a lot of irons in the fire 
9. What is a typical writing day for Sarah Woodbury?
That’s really hard to say, since I am also a full time mom and every day is different. When I’m actively working on a book, I aim to write 1000 words a day, and that can take as little as an hour, or as long as four, depending on the distractions. I can get it done before ten in the morning, some days, or I could be working on it after my kids go to bed. My youngest child is eight years old now, and when he’s immersed in a book, I can spend all day working. Other days, not so much.
10. So what does 2012 hold for Sarah Woodbury? Any last words?
For me, 2012 has already been fabulous, between releasing two novels and a novella, plus a two week trip to Wales … and there’s more to come. As I said, I have a novella that’s part of the Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mysteries to be released before the end of June, and at least one other novel this fall.
I’ve been an indie author for almost exactly eighteen months now. I think about all those years I spend writing essentially in a vacuum, and can’t express enough how grateful I am every day for my ability to connect with readers.
Thank you, Sarah!
Daughter of Time is available from the following links:
Cold My Heart is available from the following links:
If you would like to find out more about Sarah, please visit the following links:
Tweet
June 15, 2012
Phobia Friday welcomes Lisa McCarthy
Today I would like to welcome Lisa McCarthy, writer of the erotic and the dark.
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and the inspiration behind your novel, The Butterfly Waltz?
I could start by saying that I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but that’s not true. To be honest, I hadn’t even thought about it until a few years back. I was studying for a degree in literature with the Open University and after three years of non-stop academic reading I was bored. Taking a year off wasn’t an option due to their grant system so I decided that a creative writing course would be as good as a break. I assumed that, because I had liked writing stories in school, I’d be good at it. I was wrong. I received low marks for every assignment and my tutor even told me I wasn’t cut out to be a writer. Luckily I have a stubborn streak and I was determined to prove her wrong so I got hold of as many books on writing as I could, sought advice from other writers, and six months later I sold my first story.
The Butterfly Waltz started off as an exercise in descriptive writing, and the more I wrote, the more I realised I had something that was actually pretty good. By starting with a couple on the verge of divorce, I’d already given myself a huge range of emotions and conflict to work with, and I really wanted the erotic scenes to portray non-verbal communication rather than just being descriptions of sexual acts. Was it written from experience? Yes, to a point. I have been in a relationship where we lost the ability to communicate with each other. Did I put up a fight to save the relationship like Amy does? I’m single. That should be enough of an answer!
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
Feet! I hate feet! If they weren’t so essential for walking I’d have them amputated. A friend sent me an erotic short story to read and within the first line or two it became apparent that the main character had a foot fetish. I carried on out of respect for the writer but it was the most horrific, disgusting story I’ve ever read. Even writing this now is turning my stomach.
3. You have written dark psychological fiction as well as erotica – I have heard a number of people suggest that horror and erotica actually make more comfortable bedfellows rather than horror with fantasy and science fiction – what’s your take on this and what do you think the two genres have in common?
I do think the two genres are well matched because they both deal with subjects that tend to be taboo in modern society and they also deal with very intense emotions; fear and sexuality. Maybe their similarity has to with the linking of those two emotions throughout history; sexual violence has been used as a form of control, and when placed in fearful situations people are more likely to be drawn together sexually. Sexuality promoted fear which in turn promotes sexuality.
4. Like horror, erotica also suffers from criticism for not being a ‘worthy’ literary genre – what would you say to its detractors?
Strangely enough, I do agree with them as far as erotica is concerned. As the genre is designed to produce a strong emotional reaction, it usually avoids the complicated plots or characters preferred by the academia. Of course, a novel can contain elements of erotica and still be literary, but I think the genre as a whole is designed to be a form of escape rather than debate.
5. In Lost Girls, Alan Moore wrote that ‘pornographies are the enchanted parklands where the most secret and vulnerable of all our many selves can safely play’ – what are your thoughts on this as a working definition for the genre?
I do think it’s a fitting definition. Most of us at some point or other have had sexual fantasies, whether they involve more than one partner, bondage, violence or any other you can think of, but it doesn’t mean that we want to play them out in reality. Erotica brings those fantasies to life in the safety of your own home without the physical repercussions.
6. Following on from the last question, do you think there is a difference between pornography and erotica, or are we just playing with words?
Pornography is about sex. It is created for the sole purpose of sexual gratification. Erotica is slightly more complex. It tends to deal more with the idea of sensuality, with the emotions and sensations connected with sex. Of course, as I have found, a lot depends on whether you are reading erotica written for women or for men. Women’s erotica usually involves some sort of romantic storyline whereas men’s erotica is much more based on the sexual act, so I think it all depends on which form of erotica you read.
7. Your stories With Deepest Sympathy and A Gift from God have particularly grim endings – what is it about the bleak and downbeat climax that so suits the short story in the darker genres?
You wake up in the middle of the night, your body cold with sweat, your ears trying to make sense of the screaming sound that fills the room. Finally, you realise the sound is you and you start laughing in the darkness in an attempt to control your fear. Nightmares are short sharp shocks to the system and the short story form can mimic that feeling. They tend to be a situation, a single moment in time that in a larger context would find a resolution, but is magnified instead by the sudden ending. This is why the short story form fit so well with darker fiction. It allows the writer to recreate the intensity of nightmares which, by their very nature, never have a happy ending.
8. I noticed that you credit Edgar Allan Poe as an inspiration – could you tell me which is your favourite tale and why?
I would have to say The Tell-Tale Heart. I was around ten years old when I first read it and it really captured my imagination. Back then I had no clue why but reading it again now I think it has a lot to do with Poe’s use of repetition to build suspense. I loved that very little happened for most of the story, just a head slowly poking through the doorway with the odd sliver of light, but it really made me shiver. It was the story that started my love of descriptive writing and also my love of horror.
9. So what is a typical writing day for Lisa McCarthy?
My writing day involves getting up in the morning, writing the outline for a story, going back to bed to research the finer points of the erotic scenes, writing the first draft, opening the new sex toy the postman delivered, inviting him in to test it, and after getting my breath back, finishing the story. Or this is what people think happens. In reality, I just sit, bleary eyed, at the computer, willing the words to appear. After too many mugs of coffee and a lunch that consists of chewed up fingernails, maybe the words will flow, or I’ll just log into to Facebook instead.
10. So what does 2012 hold for Lisa McCarthy? Any last words?
Lots and lots of writing! I’m currently working on my first horror novella, and I have plans for an erotic novel. I’d also like to continue with short stories and hopefully get a collection together. And maybe, just maybe, I will buy some new toys and invite the postman in to play. Who knows!
Thank you, Lisa!
The Butterfly Waltz is available from the following links:
If you want to find out more about Lisa, please visit her website.
Tweet
June 13, 2012
“What do you fear?” Wednesday welcomes Paul Montgomery
Today, I would like to welcome Paul Montgomery, an up and coming self-published author who has recently released his first novel, Clown.
Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and the inspiration behind Clown?
I’ve always enjoyed reading. As a child, I was the one always in the libraries (even on holiday) and buried in a book at every opportunity. Growing up, I enjoyed any creative writing exercises from school, and naturally, found myself carrying on at home.
I kind of credit an old, old 2000AD comic strip about a clown for this book. Although the clown in the 2000AD story was a sad old circus performer, who saw his wife killed by the mob, and his best friend (a horse) decapitated and it sent him off the deep end. So, really, the only thing I took away from it was the image of a clown. Not sure why that one stayed with me more than any other.
Once I’d decided on a clown as the main character, I think what defined the story early on was the fact that he could never remove his face paint. Every day, he woke up with a new design. That he could never see his own face, and would never fit in with the world… I think that shaped an awful lot of the character, and what had to happen to him.
What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
Fears change as life goes on. The things I fear now are things I never really had to give much thought to when I was a child. Fear of losing loved ones, letting them down. After being stabbed during a mugging some years back, I still fear hearing the sound of footsteps suddenly behind me on an empty street.
As for phobias, nothing much springs to mind. I managed to get over my arachnophobia, but only just. Is there a fear of Justin Bieber taking over the world? Does that count?
What do you think makes Clown unique and distinctive as a fantasy novel?
There’s a lot of base standards in every story, and these have been previously discussed at length. The classic story types, the classic character types, the situations, etc. Ultimately, every story nowadays is a spin on something which came before. Usually it boils down to “Hero overcomes adversity and wins” or “Hero fails to overcome adversity and loses”. The nature of the hero or heroine, the nature of the adversity (people, circumstance, personal challenge, etc) is decided by the author. And every author has their own voice, as does every story. I’ve made a conscious effort with traditional fantasy clichés that if they’re going to be used, they’re going to be turned around enough that they’re not clichés any more. I think that’s true of everything that’s in there. I have ghosts, dragons, monsters, demons, old gods, orphans, love and romance, heroes, queens, and all manner of things that are found in other books. But none in quite the normal, expected way.
I think the only thing that’s kept fairly traditional is the boatman of the underworld, but even he gets a spin out of tradition.
The style of the story, as well, I can’t remember reading before.
Maybe there’s the answer. The story, the telling, the structure, the characters, the situations. These particular takes are all different in Clown. And, at the centre, the idea of what it means to be a hero has enough surprises along the way that the end brings reward.
Clown is a work of epic length – why do you think epic and large scale storylines fit together so well with the Fantasy genre?
Of all the questions you’ve asked, this is actually the one I’m having to give the most thought to. Epic and large scale stories fit well in a number of genres, but seem most comfortable with the fantasy genre. Although, there are some wonderful regular length stories, novellas, short stories, etc, within fantasy.
Perhaps, it’s because epic stories take more time to delve into. Fantasy (and sci-fi, for that matter) allow the creation of a whole new world in which to get immersed. Looking at the success of movies, books and games like Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Skyrim, Mass Effect etc, there’s a definite vogue for audiences to enjoy those worlds. It’s an investment which ultimately (hopefully) pays off.
With Clown, there’s a similar investment, which leads to a wonderful (from the feedback) payoff at the end.
There is a saying that the first novel you write is autobiographical – would you say that is true to Clown?
When I started writing about Clown, I wanted to do something about a legend. About someone leaving myths and legends in their wake, without even realising it. I deliberately wanted most of those to be untrue, just stories which had built up in the telling. I played around with this idea, twisting it into various formats, and ultimately introduced a new character. He’s never fully named (although at one point I planned on using his name as a pen name for the book), but he’s the one who follows in Clown’s footsteps, recording his life and sifting through the tales for the truth.
Every now and then, he pops in an interlude of sorts, with his own comments. He’s the one that’s most representative of me, with some of his tales coming from my own life.
So, yes, there’s some snippets there. But as yet, I haven’t gone hunting for a dragon.
What is the appeal for you of speculative and weird fiction genres like Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror?
The only limits are the ones you set for yourself. In the real world, we’re limited to what actually exists. Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror allow your imagination full stretch without limits – you’re able to fully create a world to match whatever you want it to. There’s an old saying that people will swallow a huge lie, but choke on a small one – or something like that. With fantasy, you automatically set it in a universe where people will accept that anything is made possible.
With Clown’s journey, I could take any idea that popped into my head and flesh it out, lending it credibility. Someone like Hallowe’en Jack is one of my favourite creations. However, he’d look utterly out of place in an Andy McNabb book. (Now there’s an idea…)
Just to add that there’s nothing wrong with writing in other genres. It’s at least as challenging to work with defined parameters to resolve a situation.
Could you see yourself writing work in a genre without speculative elements?
Absolutely. One of the things I enjoy doing most when writing is setting myself additional little challenges as I go along – such as having the first words of subsequent paragraphs spell out a little message. Clown is Fantasy, with a world which exists alongside our own. At some point I’d like to do a full on Fantasy piece. I have a historical fantasy piece planned, a number of horror pieces which I’m working on, and I’d love to get back to sci-fi.
However, I’m also looking to do a romantic comedy piece somewhere along the line, and see how that takes me. It’ll be a challenge keeping it normal, but I’ll see how it goes. If it works well, then it’s a new line.
What are your thoughts on the current self-publishing boom that has followed on from the launch of e-book?
Much like anything, it has good and bad elements, for authors and readers alike. Everyone who ever suffered wave after wave of rejection letters, or who saw that it was just too daunting a prospect, suddenly has this great new opportunity to share their works with the world. Self-publishing has allowed every voice that wants to be heard to be heard.
Unfortunately, that can bring problems. Things that should never be published. An abundance of works which need an awful lot more polishing, but have never passed impartial readers or editors. I’ve seen a number of backlashes against these pieces and their authors.
I guess self-publishing removes the technical need for an editor, a formatter, a publisher, a proof-reader, and leaves it all in the hands of the author. The expertise that comes with those positions is, sadly, lost at times when it is most needed.
Whether self-published or traditionally published, there are advantages and disadvantages. I’ve read some phenomenal self-published books, and some downright awful traditionally-published books, and vice versa.
What it comes down to is that e-books are the future, right now. Vinyl was replaced by CD, CD replaced by download. Videos replaced by DVD. Space Invaders has evolved to Mass Effect. Traditional books have not died out yet, thankfully, and I hope they never will. But the technology is here, and freely available. What happens with it is up to us.
What is a typical writing day for Paul Montgomery?
No such thing, I’m afraid.
If I’m lucky, I can usually manage 3 hours in the evenings to cram everything in before I need to sleep. Those three hours need to include dinner, housework, looking after a chirpy little six year old, and so on. I tend to grab little bursts of writing wherever and whenever I can.
Unlike a lot of people, I don’t need silence to work. What I do need, though, is background noise of my own choosing. I find that having something very familiar in the same genre as I’m working on in the background helps immensely. Writing Clown, that tended to be the likes of The Princess Bride and Studio Ghibli work.
So what does 2012 hold for Paul Montgomery? Any last words?
2012 marked a beginning of an experiment and an opportunity. After it had sat gathering dust for far too long, I published Clown through Amazon. I looked at a number of options when it came to the method of publishing, and decided to run a couple of experiments as I got to grips with how the system worked. Those experiments are still going on, and now that I’ve actually got something published, I can look at developing, finishing and publishing other works using the lessons learned from Clown to produce bigger and better pieces. I’m hoping that my next piece (very tentatively entitled Survivors), a tribute of sorts to slasher movies, is out this year.
Thank you, Paul!
Clown is available to purchase from the following links:
To find out more about Paul Montgomery, please use the following links:
Tweet
June 1, 2012
Phobia Friday welcomes H.C. Elliston
Today I would like welcome Romantic Suspense & Thriller author, H.C. Elliston.
1. Tell me more about how you got started as a writer and the inspiration behind your novels, Tick Tock Run, and, Think Fast Die Last?
My income took a bit of a dive during the credit crunch. I was grateful to still be working when so many others had lost their jobs, including friends, but I was working less hours, so this gave me more time to read and write.
Ideas tend to come to me when I am not even thinking about writing. A ‘what if this happened?’ or ‘how would people cope with this?’ idea pops into my head and I rummage around for a pen and paper. I write down my ideas in the car, the supermarket, and even jump out of bed in the early hours to scribble notes.
2. What do you fear? Tell me about your own phobias.
Trap me in a 40th floor balcony with a large spider and you have a few rolled into one. (But please don’t do that!)
3. Thrillers often deal with ordinary people coping with extraordinary situations – why do you think this is the case and what attracts you to this kind of storyline as a reader and a writer?
I enjoy the excitement of following fairly everyday people who have to use their limited skillsets to get out of a sticky situation as unscathed as possible. I suppose I enjoy the thrills, twists and the fighting spirit of characters.
4. There is the ongoing debate about whether genre fiction is as valuable as literary fiction – I’d be interested to hear your opinion on this and where you stand?
Both have value in their own way. Whether one is more valuable than the other depends on the content of each individual book, and what the person who is judging them is looking for from the book.
5. A lot of genres seem to be blending together these days so, as a writer of Romantic Suspense, why do you think this is? And what do you think the benefits are of genres cross-fertilising in this way?
I see nothing wrong with crossing the lines. Readers get a dose of more genres they enjoy rolled into one, and writers who are passionate about several genres, can bring those together in one book. I don’t think genre is a box that writers should have to stay inside, it’s more of a way to frame a book so readers have a better understanding of what they are getting.
6. You have used the a single first-person narrative in Tick Tock Run and then a narrative told using three first-person perspectives in Think Fast Die Last? How did you find working with these different approaches? What appeals to you about writing in first-person rather than third-person?
I write in both first and third-person narrative, but it feels more natural for me to write in first. I tend to use first for the main character, and third for chapters written from secondary points of view – just another way to distinguish the different characters.
7. Your first two novels have quite cinematic plots – would you say film has been as much of an influence as literature on your writing? If so, any particular examples you would recommend the budding thriller writer go out and see?
When not working on either my job or books, I tend to read in the daytime and watch films at night, curled up with my dogs. Films help me to unwind and I love getting lost in a movie – it empties my mind of the day. There are so many films that I love, the list would be too long! But yes, film does have an influence on my writing.
8. Are there other genres you would like to write for in the future?
My first book is romantic suspense, my second is an action thriller – so I have already switched a little, but they still both fall under thriller and suspense. At the moment I have no plans to switch to an entirely different genre, but if an idea came to me then I wouldn’t rule it out.
9. Can you tell me some more about your top secret work-in-progress? And when will it be hitting the digital shelves?
LOL – top secret! It is another thriller with murder, romance, deception, a gang who make money exploiting people on the internet, and plenty of suspense. It is based around a single mother who is going through a divorce. She shares the home she is trying to keep through the divorce settlement with her best friend, and these are the two main characters. Hopefully it will be ready for release by early autumn.
10. So what does 2012 hold for H.C. Elliston? Any last words?
I will continue to work as hard as ever at everything I do. I’m sure I am no different to many others who hope that each year will be an improvement on the last, but we’ll see.
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who took a chance on reading my books, and also those who considered them. Thanks for the interview, Greg. I hope you have a great year too!
Thank you, H.C.!
Tick Tock Run is available from the following links:
If you want to find out more about H.C. Elliston, please visit the following links:
Tweet
