7 Deadly Questions with Author Steve Emmett

1. I recently described your debut novel Diavolino as what would happen if Dan Brown and Stephen King collaborated on a project. Talk to me about your inspiration and how you would classify Diavolino.

I call Diavolino a horror thriller. Some call it a supernatural thriller. I'm comfortable with either. It combines a big adventure with the occult, rather like Dennis Wheatley used to do in his highly successful novels such as The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter. Wheatley comes in for a bit of stick these days but let's not forget that he was writing in a different time. I wanted to write something like that but bring it up to date. As I was living in Italy at the time and had my own take on the xenophobic tendencies of the Berlusconi government, my everyday environment proved the inspiration for the story. Lake Trasimeno was at the center of my life for almost 25 years. Religious fundamentalism formed part of the story as it generally does when the author was forced to attend Catholic school.

2. Foreign locales provide ample opportunities to ratchet up the thrills and chills and you've found the ideal setting with the Italian island of Diavolino. Talk to me about how you settled on this location.

As I've said, I know Lake Trasimeno intimately. The whole area is steeped in history and superstition; one of my neighbors sported a red ribbon around the wing mirror of his three-wheeler truck to ward off the Evil Eye. My own house stood on the remains of a medieval convent which had tunnels leading to the village church a mile away. Why look any further with all that on my doorstep and with years of memories still fresh in my head? The existing islands in the lake I felt were not suitable as they are too well known, and one is even privately owned. So I decided to invent a fourth. All I had to do was make the readers believe in it – from what is being said I succeeded. An English friend who still lives there told me recently that he'd heard an American or Canadian tourist reading the ferry timetable and wondering why there were no trips to Diavolino.

3. You do a great job with foreshadowing in Diavolino and just when I thought I had things figured out you pulled the rug right out from under me. Was that intentional – the use of foreshadowing as a way to move the story along?

Absolutely. You have to be careful or you end up doing what's called 'telegraphing' and giving too much away but for me, dropping clues and hints along the way is vital to keeping the story simmering. I believe that even commercial fiction, which is what I write, can be – should be – intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining. I get bored with stories that don't make me think.

4. Religion plays a central role in Diavolino. Talk to me about your own religious views and how they influenced your writing?

My grandfather was a devout Catholic. He was a great man, rising from the shame of the workhouse to director of a successful linen mill in Yorkshire. He was good in the real sense of the word and dedicated all, and I mean all, his spare time to helping the sick and the poor. His generosity was taken advantage of by The Church. He served as the Mayor of the town for almost thirty years. A visit to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace and a medal from the Pope were proud moments for him. So, although my own father was not devout, you can understand why I was sent to the primary school run by the Catholic Church.

My grandfather was a governor, of course! During those early years, as I was exposed more and more to the dogma, I had to ask myself whatever an eight year-old could possibly have done that was so bad it needed to be confessed and forgiven. And I had many a sleepless night worrying about going to Purgatory or burning eternally in Hell. I mean, horror films were classified 18 back then yet these people were actually filling our heads with far worse in the name of education.

And there was one other thing that affected me deeply. I must have been about ten, I suppose, when I changed class and got seated next to a mixed- race girl called Rita. Rita was from the children's home run by the nuns. As we got to know each other she would tell me about the bruises on her face and neck, how the kids were regularly beaten and even locked in the cellar. I remember she would stick drawing pins into her wrists during class. By the time I left and went to grammar school, I'd pretty much made up my mind that Catholicism was not for me. When my grandfather was ill- he succumbed to Alzheimer's- his church abandoned him. Knowing that he would show up to pray at almost any hour, the priest ended the open door policy and locked up when there was no Mass. Even in the freezing winter weather the priest would ignore the doorbell. And as for Rita, she was murdered many years later by the serial killer known as The Yorkshire Ripper.

So, like many a kid forced to swallow religious dogma, I am an atheist – yet always a lapsed Catholic, lugging that bloody great trunk of guilt and feelings of worthlessness around on my back. It's all of this that you see in my writing.

5. Research is crucial to creating a believable story. What was the research for Diavolino like? What did you get right? What did you get wrong?

I can't lie. I didn't do heaps of research. I was, for the large part, writing what I knew and what I had always dreamed of writing. I really didn't need to research the locations or characters. I did investigate mythology, history and some ancient religions. I suppose I got it mostly right as no one has yet pointed out any glaring holes.

6. What's next for you, Steve?

More big horror adventures. I will complete the sequel to Diavolino but am taking my time as it has to be even better. The next horror I will finish is already about a third done and, again, takes us to various locations as we battle with evil. I've also found that I enjoy writing short stories and novellas; one is being considered now and I hope to have news soon.

7. Where can people go to learn more about your work?

My blog is a good place: http://chukkienator.blogspot.com/

And I can be followed on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/chukkie58

About Steve

Steve Emmett is a British author and actor born in Harrogate, the genteel Yorkshire spa town where Agatha Christie hid away from the world thirty-two years earlier. He studied at the prestigious Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and built a few houses before going off the rails. He spent time in New York then returned to Yorkshire where, amongst other things, he served as an elected councillor. He then moved back to London and worked in the real estate sector. For over twenty years he ran his own agency specializing in Italian country homes and, for almost ten years, lived by Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, the setting for Diavolino. Born at the end of the 1950s, Steve grew up on Dennis Wheatley novels and Hammer Horror films, and on many occasions started to put pen to paper. Completely dissatisfied and unfulfilled with his career, Steve decided in 2009 that he wanted to write and began Diavolino. He has also recently launched an acting career with the help of Northern Spirit Creative in Leeds. He currently lives with his partner and some rather large spiders in the Yorkshire Wolds, close to the ancient City of York. Diavolino, his first novel, is published by Etopia Press and available as an e-book from Etopia Press, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes and Noble  and other online sellers. A paperback edition will be out later in summer 2011.