Interview

An Interview with TOBY VENABLES

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Today, an interview with horror author Toby Venables, whose latest novel Knight of Shadows was recently published by Abaddon Books. We chatted about the changing nature of genre fiction, writing, undead vikings, and a 12th Century James Bond…

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Toby Venables?

He’s a fictional construct I’ve been working on for several decades, with mixed success. I just couldn’t nail who or what this character was. He worked as an artist (badly), busked a bit, then worked at a press agency, then got a job in the library of a Cambridge College (alongside Simon Blackwell, who went on to create Armstrong and Miller’s street-talking airmen, and writer of The Thick Of It – it was basically a waiting room for aspiring writers). Finally he got involved in magazine journalism and became an editor, and things seemed to be getting somewhere. He launched magazines in Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol, doing interviews with all manner of celebs. He chatted with Bill Bailey and Eddie Izzard. He met one of his childhood heroes, Ray Harryhausen. He even turned down dinner with Cate Blanchett. It was all starting to come together, in a rather name-droppy kind of a way. Then it all changed again. He went freelance, working as a copywriter, started teaching film stuff at Anglia Ruskin University, and began writing film scripts – one of which went through a long period of development and is even now awaiting the green light. Then suddenly novels happened when he pitched an apparently daft idea – Vikings and zombies – to Abaddon, and they said “yes”. Because it was four fifths historical novel, that led to Knight of Shadows. But also a kind of semi-career in academia as “the zombie guy”. (Are you still following this? Not that these things aren’t interesting, but it’s all a bit chaotic, story-wise.)

I think I’m finally getting somewhere with him, but it’s been a long haul – I wouldn’t blame someone for having got fed up with it around 1992.

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Your latest novel, Hunter of Sherwood: Knight of Shadows, was published by Abaddon in October. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s set during the Third Crusade, when Richard the Lionheart is off fighting – possibly never to return – and Robin Hood is having his merry way with England. But it’s not primarily about Hood. Our hero is Guy of Gisburne – the man traditionally cast as the villain in the Hood legends. And it is not merely the same old tale told from Gisburne’s perspective. He is an agent for Prince John and a true hero, and Hood is far from the great saviour we have come to know. In fact, he is a psychopath. The trouble is, half of England seems to think he’s wonderful… Originally, it was to be a series, much like Abaddon’s Pax Britannia (steampunk), or Malory’s Knights of Albion (Arthurian, obvs), but after discussions we decided to make it a trilogy – which was fine by me, as it meant I got to write them all, and also had the opportunity to develop a more distinct story arc that would unfold through the three books. There are gaps in the timeline, though, so there is potential to go back and see what Gisburne got up to in the summer of 1192, for example. I think some short stories about his lesser missions would be great. But first things first…

What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

VenablesT-VikingDeadThe “inspiration” was, initially, very journalistic. It was a brief, in effect, brought to me by Abaddon’s Commissioning Editor David Moore, who had the idea to do a series which featured Guy of Gisburne as a kind of 12th century James Bond. Who could resist that..? Because I’d written The Viking Dead for Abaddon, which had a historical setting, he thought I might be a good candidate to take this on, then I fleshed it out and built the story, the characters and the motivations that made the cogs mesh. So, it was kind of a gauntlet thrown down – the sort of challenge that I absolutely love – and I’m immensely grateful to David and Abaddon for the opportunity to do it. Such challenges don’t suit every writer, but they are a spur for me.

In general, though, what inspires me most is cinema. Although I’m working primarily in prose, overall I’m more influenced by films than by other prose fiction, and I think anyone reading the books will spot that. I try to write in a cinematic way, but also I do make direct – or, sometimes, rather obtuse – references to films I love. In Knight of Shadows there’s a Fistful of Dollars bit, a Raiders of the Lost Ark bit, a First Blood bit… I even crowbarred a reference to The Italian Job. And there are some obvious thematic connections with The Dark Knight. But all those things have a place in the story that is completely logical (let’s face it, many of those films already owe a huge debt to classic stories, legends and folklore). It’s important that it’s not just gratuitous – but also I want to relate the action to things that people will know. That’s partly to give it a relevance and immediacy, but also to bring home the fact that those people were, in many ways, just as bold, resourceful, fallible or funny as we are now. Often I find I want to emphasise the familiar, rather than the exotic, which is perhaps an unusual approach for what is loosely termed “fantasy”. It’s easy to see the past as some kind of foreign land. Maybe it is that, to some extent – but it’s a foreign land from which we all came. For me, part of the excitement of history is seeing its direct relevance to today, and finding those points of connection. Maybe that’s why “a 12th century James Bond” struck such a chord.

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How were you introduced to genre fiction?

Crikey. When was it ever not there..? There’s an example I often cite, which is the Beowulf and Grendel story. It was read out to us at school, and the whole bit with the wrenching off of the arm left a strong impression. I think it was the first time I was conscious of something being “horror” – of being simultaneously repelled and excited. I still love that story, and intend to write a version of it some day. A big, dark, monstrous novel. Then as I grew up I started to read a lot of science fiction. I kind of worked backwards, starting with 2000AD, then Ray Bradbury and classic hard SF writers like Asimov, Clarke and A.E. Van Vogt, then H.G. Wells, then Frankenstein. Kind of an archaeological excavation of SF. I also had a very nerdy Tolkien period when I was about 14. I made up totally impractical alphabets and watched the whole of Wagner’s Ring Cycle on TV. I still love that. It’s like proto-cinema.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

My background is in journalism, and much of what I’ve learned, and my approach to writing, is coloured by that. I was a very undisciplined writer before that, hardly ever finishing anything. Working in journalism taught me about deadlines, and that sometimes getting something done is better than getting it perfect. We’d all love more time to hone what we do, I think, but striving for perfection can become a bottomless pit from which the finished work never emerges. It’s good for the ego to make occasional mistakes and to learn to live with them. The books for Abaddon were written very quickly, with little opportunity to fuss over them. I still did, but at least there was an editor telling me to stop. Otherwise I’d still be faffing about with the twentieth draft of The Viking Dead, and have nothing in print.

Research is something I adore, but if you’re not careful it can become all-consuming – a pleasant diversion from the actual work of writing. It is important to me that things are feasible within their period. I have also woven a lot of actual history (and quite a few historical characters) into the mix, and have tried to ensure that it all fits. But there comes a point where you have to put the research aside – having, hopefully, absorbed enough of it – and just let the characters do their thing. I do sometimes obsess over small details – I’d rather include something real than make it up, if there is indeed something real to be drawn upon – but overall I try not to be pedantic. Some hard-line historical reenacters will not do a thing unless they can find a specific precedent for it in the historical record. I’m not like that. As long as it is possible – and logical, and interesting – I’m happy. People then were not so different from us – just as intelligent, creative and eccentric – and so would have used their ingenuity just as much as we do. Probably more so, through sheer necessity. That’s my fundamental approach. Basically, if a thing was possible, someone probably did it, which opens up some interesting possibilities – such as dreaming up 12th century gadgets for this 12th century James Bond.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

Venables-AuthorPicHa ha – kind of… I’ve always been a writer. I just didn’t realise it. At university I studied English Literature and Art History, but also did studio work (painting, sculpting, etc.). At one point it looked like I might be an artist – and, in fact, I worked as a printmaker for a year after uni (making angst-ridden, Munch-style views of Cambridge that no one actually wanted to buy) – but nearly all of the artwork I did during the three years of my degree involved words. I should have caught the clue, really.

The first writing I remember doing was a ghost story in primary school. Our English teacher read it out, and said nice things about the description. Grown-up kind of things really. He was a wonderful teacher – not at all patronising, which was a rare thing. Looking back, the fact that he treated it as a piece of writing and not something by a kid made a huge difference. It was incredibly encouraging. Naturally, given this early success, I wrote several sequels, and even developed a recurring character. Later, when I was a teenager, I wrote a totally unpublishable “novel” – part SF, part comedy, part psychedelic concept album. If that sounds bad, it was, it really was… It was actually written in a series of episodes, Dickens-style, and several school friends became devoted readers. But Dickens it ain’t. Some bits of it were quite good, but mostly it was just a bit embarrassing, pandering to my captive audience. And I blatantly nicked elements from everywhere: The Hitchhikers’ Guide, TV programmes, films and anything else that we were into. It was full of in-jokes. I just made it up as I went along, which was how I thought novels were written at the time. Consequently, it had a really crappy, cobbled together soap-style ending. I still have it somewhere. Hopefully it’ll never see the light of day, though it probably taught me more than I realise.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

It’s incredibly rich and diverse at the moment, with lots of crossovers from one genre to another, and also one medium to another. Harry Potter, swiftly followed by Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, have changed the entire landscape – so much so, it’s hard to remember what it was like before. My wife is also a writer, and when we were first touting TV scripts around about ten years ago, the big frustration was that no one here wanted genre. They thought it wasn’t viable on British TV and repeatedly said “We’d love to make this, but we just can’t…” Then Dr. Who came back, and it all went bananas – genre everywhere. The massive growth of the internet has meant that fan fiction has kind of gone crazy, too. That’s inspired and revealed a lot of new talent. There’s a down side to all this, though – and I don’t just mean 50 Shades of Grey. Spurred by this appetite for genre, publishers and writers have started tapping completely new markets – essentially the people who were never really into genre before, but who seem like they might respond a “lite” version. So, we now have some very undemanding, rather wishy-washy stuff out there. I’ve nothing against Twilight and others in themselves – there’s room for it all – but they’re just not my thing. Some of these are the literary equivalent of alcopops – hard stuff made into brightly coloured, fizzy drinks so they’re palatable for teenagers who don’t want their tastes challenged. Mostly I feel it’s a lost opportunity, because cinema shows us that it’s possible to do user-friendly stuff and still say something worthwhile, as with all those great films of the ’80s – ET, Back to the Future, Gremlins, and so on. The key difference is that those were made by people who were really into it, and who knew their genre inside-out. Now we have examples of genre by people who apparently aren’t really into genre, for an audience that isn’t really into genre. That’s never gonna set the world on fire – though some people will hate me for saying so.

Where I fit into all this, I have no idea! I think the direction I would like to go is historical fiction, with the occasional horror/SF mash-up. I like unexpected combinations. I just want it to surprise me, and I think most readers want that too. The wizards/dwarves/dragons variety of fantasy isn’t really my thing – at least in terms of what I want to write. The Beowulf novel, when I get around to it, will feature a big dragon, however. It’s old skool – not a noble creature that someone with a funny name has to bond with so he/she can ride it like a big scaly horse, but a ravening monster. Something that has to be destroyed.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

The current thing is the second book of the Gisburne series, whose working title is The Red Hand. It’s about a crazed killer who Gisburne is tasked with stopping and the action takes place mostly in and around medieval London. Think Silence of the Lambs meets Sherlock Holmes – with swords. I’m also planning something rather different, albeit using similar geography – a steampunkish zombie extravaganza set in Victorian London. It’s called Zombie & Son, and is kind of all my favourite 19th century novels put into a blender. With zombies. It begins in a very real, gritty world – no fantasy elements at all – but gradually spirals out of control until London has become a kind of surreal hell on earth (insert joke poking fun at the state of modern London here…). There’s also a screenplay which is waiting to get made. It’s completely different – a contemporary heist/action movie with kind of a western feel to it.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

Fiction: Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula. I’ve been meaning to read it for years, but also Zombie & Son (see above) is also set in late Victorian London with some steampunkish elements. Best to make sure I’m not just rewriting what Kim wrote 20 years ago. That would be silly. I don’t think it’s likely – they’re actually very different worlds – but it’s nice to have an excuse to call this “research”. Also, I just got Dan Simmons’ Song of Kali, which I am very much looking forward to. I absolutely loved The Terror – nine parts amazing historical novel, and one part mind-bending horror. Fabulous book. Song of Kali has been described as one of the most terrifying novels ever written. Who can resist that?

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Non-fiction: lots of books about things medieval – especially 12th century London (for book two). It’s a tricky period in some respects; the next century is when things really take off and the city undergoes massive expansion, so most of the studies of medieval London tend to focus on the 13th-14th centuries (unlike Paris, for which there’s masses of detailed information about the year 1200). But that in itself makes the earlier period of the place interesting to me. Lots of things just beginning, lots of unrealised potential.

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

I won the Keats-Shelley Memorial Prize in 2001, for an essay on Shelley’s “Ozymandias”. The (rather modest) prize was £1,000 and I spent it on a cherry red Fender Telecaster. Very rock ‘n’ roll – or it would be if I was actually any good on it.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

52 weekends! I might even get away with idling on some of them… But also, the second Guy of Gisburne book will be finished (I hope) and out. Then I’ll be on to book three, and embarking on Zombie & Son in between. That takes me back to my zombie roots, but steampunk style – and I get to destroy Victorian London along the way. Can’t wait.

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Both Knight of Shadows and Viking Dead are out now in paperback and eBook!

Q&A with Meg Howrey, one half of MAGNUS FLYTE

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Meg Howrey is one half of the writing team that goes by the name “Magnus Flyte” – Christina Lynch forms the other half. Their second novel, City of Lost Dreams, was released in the US yesterday by Penguin (it is also available in the UK). Penguin US organised a Q&A, which is reproduced below, in which Howrey discusses writing as a partnership, cake (such good cake…), and the two novels (of course).

FlyteM-1-CityOfDarkMagicHow did your collaboration under the name Magnus Flyte come about?

We met at a writers’ retreat on an island off Cape Cod and became fans of each other’s work. When we got back to California, we started getting together for mini writers’ retreats at Chris’s house near Sequoia National Park. The plot for our first novel, City of Dark Magic was hatched on a walk with Chris’s dog Max. The name “Magnus Flyte” is a hybrid (much like our novel). “Magnus” was a usurping Roman senator (not so different from City of Dark Magic’s villain, Charlotte Yates) and “Flyte” is for Sebastian Flyte, Evelyn Waugh’s wonderful lush who, like Max in our novel, has a difficult relationship with his highborn family and the house they live in.

There have been a lot of news stories lately about women who use male pen names, especially when writing genre fiction. Do you think it’s helpful?

Possibly helpful to the author, who may have any number of reasons to use a pen name – a desire to escape gender stereotyping, anonymity, sheer whimsy. One can only imagine how delighted J.K. Rowling was to watch her book get wonderful reviews without any references to Voldemort! Since we had heard that men avoid books by women, we decided to choose a male pseudonym to reach both genders. But then our identities were made public from the beginning, so we didn’t get a chance to see if “Magnus Flyte” would fool anyone. No matter, we love him anyway.

In City of Dark Magic, Prague was very much its own character as well as the setting for the novel. Why did you choose Vienna to be the setting of City of Lost Dreams?

Vienna was the adopted home of Beethoven and we had grown so fond of old LVB in the first novel that we were curious about visiting at least one of the 60 apartments he lived in there as, reportedly, the worst tenant ever. Also, neither of us had ever been to Vienna. And finally, we highly recommend all writers setting a novel in a beautiful European city so that one is forced to travel there and do research (eat sachertorte, visit castles) in a manner that is tax deductible. (Note to I.R.S: don’t even think about it, we have all our receipts.)

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You did quite a lot of research for City of Dark Magic – visited Prague, had a great deal of notes and researched music as well. How much research did you do for City of Lost Dreams?

Binders! Color-coded binders! In the first novel we had briefly touched upon the life of poet Elizabeth Weston, her stepfather Edward Kelley, and Kelley’s partner in magic, Dr. John Dee. These were all characters we wanted to explore a bit more, particularly Elizabeth, about whom not very much is known. (A fact that we believe she would find completely unacceptable – the woman was more famous than Shakespeare in her time.) Along the way we got interested in Franz Anton Mesmer (who gave us the word “mesmerized” and the phrase “animal magnetism”). Not everything makes it in. Well, everything makes it in on the first draft, because Magnus is a terrible pack rat for obscure history, but then we prune him down a bit.

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As a heroine, Sarah Weston is particularly memorable. How did her character evolve in your second novel?

Sarah still isn’t terribly interested in winning prizes for decorum, though perhaps in the second book she is not quite as guided by certain… compulsions. In the sequel she is fighting to save the life of someone she loves, so she’s more focused. The challenges she faces are personal, and she’s questioning herself a lot more: what she believes, what she wants. But as Sarah herself says, she’s no princess. And she’s not one to look a gifted horseman in the mouth.

In City of Dark Magic, the science angle had a lot to do with perception and time travel. You continue those themes in the sequel, and also mix in some ideas about healing and medicine.

We’ve both been interested in the brain’s influence on disease for a while, but in August 2012 when we returned from our research trip to Vienna, Chris’s dog Max was deathly ill. It turned out to be an autoimmune disease with no known cause. With great treatment at U.C. Davis Max went into remission and is now very healthy, but the episode raised a lot of interesting questions about what medicine is and isn’t able to do, and how ultimately mysterious our immune systems are. Why does a healthy body turn on itself? How can that process be reversed? What power does the mind have? And is Chris’s dog Max really – as we suspect – the reincarnation of the 6th Duke of Devonshire?

Your writing is loaded with references from the arts, history and politics. What sort of reader did you envision for this series?

Perhaps we think more of where our potential readers might be when they read rather than what their expectations might be. We think of what we would ourselves enjoy reading on a long plane flight, a weekend with challenging relatives, just after a bout of concentrated study, or feeling mentally frisky. We’re eccentric readers and lovers of long dinner parties where the talk ranges from travel to science to gossip to art, to dreams and dogs and music and philosophy and sex. Our ideal reader takes something away from the books that starts a conversation or a burst of laughter among friends. We’ve loved hearing from readers that were inspired to check out Prague, or listen to Beethoven, or find out more about certain historical characters. And of course we’re deeply indebted to booksellers for knowing whose hands to put the book in. Booksellers are the real celebrities.

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Prague Castle at night

What is your process for co-writing? What are some of the challenges and benefits of writing with a partner? How has that process come to change now that you have completed two novels?

Both books were written in the same way, according to the rules laid down by Magnus Flyte. We alternate chapters, relay style, responding to whatever you were just sent. No rewriting until we get to the end. Trying our best to inspire, amuse, and surprise each other.

Some chapters get sent to the other person with the heading: “You might want to kill me for this one.” (Inevitably, this chapter will be received rapturously.) In the revision process there is a lot more discussion but we give each other a free hand, no “this is my chapter and you can’t touch it.” The best sentence wins, the egos are parked outside. By the end we have trouble remembering who wrote what, and in fact a great many paragraphs and even single sentences are a combination of both writers. People always ask us “what happens when you disagree?” and we have only the dull answer that when we disagree we just talk and listen until we come up with something that we both can live with.

You have developed quite a backstory for Magnus Flyte, who “may have ties to one or more intelligence organizations, including a radical group of Antarctic separatists” and “may be the author of a monograph on carnivorous butterflies.” How did Magnus Flyte, the author, become such a colorful character?

Constructing Magnus’s biography (and extensive bibliography) is actually the only time we have ever written together in the same room. It was a bit like improv…or an accelerated version of our writing process.

Author A: I think Magnus wrote a bibliography of a 14th century warrior…

Author B: A warrior priest. A warrior priest named Clement. Clement something…

Author A: Clement the Bald.

Author B: Perfect.

The legend of Magnus continues to grow. He just accidentally became king of an island nation. He’s taken up smelting. He’s writing a treatise on the best way to make love in the outdoors.

These books sit in an unusual space, crossing multiple genres. What are some of your individual and collective literary influences?

We both emerged from the womb with books in our hands and haven’t stopped reading since then, omnivorously and eccentrically. We have a lot of shared enthusiasms – from Nancy Mitford to neuroscience. Chris has always had a twisted passion for Nabokov and S.J. Perelman, Meg loves Evelyn Waugh and Aldous Huxley. We both love mysteries: Simenon, Sayers, Marsh. The list is long and genres be damned.

Can you give us any hints about your next novel or where the series is going?

Only Magnus knows…

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Magnus Flyte’s City of Dark Magic and City of Lost Dreams are both out now in the US and UK, published by Penguin. Be sure to follow the author(s) on Facebook and Twitter for more news and updates.

Catching up with TOM LLOYD

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Tom Lloyd is the author of the Twilight Reign epic fantasy series, which was completed earlier this year. Today, Gollancz publish the first in his new series, Moon’s Artifice. To mark the occasion, I caught up with Tom to get an update since my first interview with the author…

Your first fantasy series, The Twilight Reign, came to an end this year. How does it feel to have it finished?

Weird – damn good, but still weird. I started on the project when I was 18, so it’s been the major constant of 12-14 years of my life! Even when I was signed up by Gollancz I don’t think I appreciated just how much of my life was going to be devoted to one set of characters, one plot. It was just always there, so to suddenly realise you’ve written the last words puts you into mourning.

Of course, the very last words of Dusk Watchman are the inscription on a memorial stone – I can’t remember if I’d finished all the stories of God Tattoo by then, but most of them. Certainly in my mind, that final part of the epilogue was what really brought it home to me. When I wrote the last words and typed the inscription, I think I might have needed a few moments to myself… And again when I did the second draft of it and finally got the tone of those last couple pages as I really wanted it.

So yeah, years of my life and the voices in my head that had become my friends, all gone. I think that’s one reason why I didn’t want to go straight into an epic again. I didn’t want to have a project that I’d compare so directly with Twilight Reign. Plus I was knackered and the idea of planning a series-spanning plot was exhausting. I wanted a stand-alone book and handily had the bones of one already sketched out. I have an epic (or maybe two) idea at the back of my mind, but there’s the Empire of a Hundred Houses series and then another both ahead of them in the queue.

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Anything you might have done differently?

No book is ever finished, you know that! But at the same time, I’m really happy with it. I know it’s not a simply plot and not a book you can idly flick through – while no-one describes me as a grimdark writer (because of less of an emphasis on cynicism by characters I believe), it’s pretty dark. The tone is grim for large chunks of it, a lot of people die and a lot of people get screwed up by all that happens to them. If you’re writing about war and nations-spanning conflicts, you have to acknowledge the casualties of that – the people who get crushed under the wheels of it all.

So yeah, some people will always have criticisms of any book and I’ve seen reviews that didn’t like how I’d done certain things, but it’s the story I wanted to tell – grim and dark as it may be. I’d happily to do a quick brush-up job on Stormcaller as reading it back I think I over-complicated some passages and interrupted the flow, but aside from making bits easier and quicker to read I wouldn’t want to change it. The plot’s hardwired into my brain for a start, unpicking it would probably cause an aneurism.

Lloyd-MoonsArtificeNow. Moon’s Artifice. The first in a new series. What’s it about?

Dragons! No, not really… But I hear those sell so… ;0)

Ahem, well it’s a secondary world fantasy, but not an epic. It’s being described as swords and sorcery, but that conjures images of bearded wizards and over-muscled barbarian warriors in my mind so I’m trying to coin the term “hood and dagger” to describe an urban-set fantasy action/thriller, albeit to minimal effect!

Anyway – we have a policeman who, at the same time as he finds out his married high-born lover is pregnant, stumbles over a mystery. With no idea what he’s involved in, he’s tasked by an interfering god to find out what’s going on – his only clues being an unconscious thug dressed like an assassin and the accidental poisoning of a little girl. Quickly matters blossom into a conspiracy that threatens to overturn the rigid rules of the Empire and lead to the deaths of thousands at best – and it quickly starts to look like Narin and his new friends need to step up and stop them. Everything is set in the capital city of a fractured Empire – the meeting place of the great nations-hegemonies who have ensured the Emperor’s position is more spiritual than temporal – and takes place in something close to one week.

What was it like starting a new series from scratch again?

Strange – partly because it wasn’t from scratch. When I was looking for an agent for Stormcaller, I realised I might have to just write it off as the book I learned to write with. So I started a new one with very little idea about what I wanted from it. I knew it had to be a different sort of book as I was still learning this writing thing, and it was going to indulge the samurai obsession I had back then. Plus I had a title – Moon’s Artifice – even if I didn’t know how or why that poison fitted in the plot exactly. I knew it did in some nebulous way and just had to wait until the voices whispered exactly how.

You’ll be shocked to hear those chapters weren’t very good, but eight-odd years later, I had a much better idea of what I wanted! All those ghostly half-formed ideas at the back of my mind had had a chance to mulch around and create the bones of a plot. From there, you actually get a chance to pick what you want to do, which was quite fun. I don’t write with a specific message or agenda in mind, I just want to tell the story in my head in a way people will enjoy.

What lessons did you learn from writing Twilight Reign, and how did your experiences with that series translate into your approach to Moon’s Artifice?

I learned to write while doing the Twilight Reign and because I was doing a shorter, less complicated and faster-paced book, I had to actively consider how to adapt for that. A lot of it was simply deciding what was appropriate to the sort of book I was writing. With the experience of a classical European medieval epic fantasy, I had a number of things I didn’t want to do – not that I was rejecting them, I just wanted to do something new and different. Fortunately the Empire setting was halfway there already and just needed some tweaking plus internal consistency which ironed out the creases. Some of which, I must admit, was added by my agent who took me out for drinks and brutalised the setting and idea until he was satisfied with it. Given he’s only making money on how good my books are, that’s the mark of a good agent even if it wasn’t a fun hour or two. However successful you get, you always need to be challenged or you’ll end up phoning novels in.

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Moon’s Artifice is out TODAY! Go on. Go buy it. Here’s the synopsis

In a quiet corner of the Imperial City, Investigator Narin discovers the result of his first potentially lethal mistake. Minutes later he makes a second.

After an unremarkable career Narin finally has the chance of promotion to the hallowed ranks of the Lawbringers – guardians of the Emperor’s laws and bastions for justice in a world of brutal expediency. Joining that honoured body would be the culmination of a lifelong dream, but it couldn’t possibly have come at a worse time. A chance encounter drags Narin into a plot of gods and monsters, spies and assassins, accompanied by a grief-stricken young woman, an old man haunted by the ghosts of his past and an assassin with no past.

On the cusp of an industrial age that threatens the warrior caste’s rule, the Empire of a Hundred Houses awaits civil war between noble factions. Centuries of conquest has made the empire a brittle and bloated monster; constrained by tradition and crying out for change. To save his own life and those of untold thousands Narin must understand the key to it all – Moon’s Artifice, the poison that could destroy an empire.

Also, while you’re at it, The Twilight Reign novels are all now available, published by Gollancz in the UK, and Pyr in the US.

An interview with DAN NEWMAN

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Today’s interview is with Dan Newman, the author of The Clearing (published today by Exhibit A, the crime/thriller imprint of Angry Robot Books). To mark the release of his book, he was kind enough to answer a few questions…

NewmanD-TheClearingLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Dan Newman?

Stefan, thank you for the opportunity to stop by… with a new novel in the market I really do appreciate the chance to be part of your blog.

As for who I am, that’s probably best defined through my experiences growing up in-transit around the globe. My father worked in international development, so we moved a lot, and lived in some wonderful places. I was born in England, and currently live in Canada, but in between there’s been a tidy little list of places in Africa and the Caribbean. I was at a friend’s party a few days ago and a childhood pal of his spoke about how they had known each other and remained friends since they were four or five years old. That seems incredible to me, and something I can’t say of anyone, given how I grew up. Still, life’s a constant trade-off, and I what I missed in long-held childhood friends, I made up for in places around the world where I can stop in for a free meal and a night on the couch.

I thought we’d start with your fiction: Your latest novel, The Clearing, was published by Exhibit A in October 2013. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

The Clearing is really a book about our past, and how, if left unaddressed, it can inform every part of our future lives. It’s about being a parent, about being an adult, and about recognising youth as a root system that feeds the lives we grow into.

The Clearing was written such that it could stand alone as a complete story, but there are a number of things I’ve set in there for a sequel – which I’m just completing now. It follows Nate Mason at three key periods in his life, and traces the path he’s compelled to take back to his childhood to deal with a formative tragedy that happened there. It dabbles a little in the occult, a little in psychological thriller territory, and a little in crime.

What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general? Also, what made you set it in the 1970s, as opposed to a contemporary setting?

This particular novel leans heavily on personal experience, and certainly the setting and mood were dictated by real life events. The plot is largely fiction, but the backbone of the story comes from an experience I had as a kid growing up on the island of St. Lucia in the 70s – hence the time setting. As an eleven or twelve year old boy, I spent a week-end at this very creepy old plantation estate house set deep in the St. Lucian rainforest. The local lore held it that the estate, like all the great plantations, was protected by a small and devilish creature called a Bolom – something we all had heard about as kids. It was kind of a Caribbean boogeyman. But that weekend, something came into the old house in the middle of the night, and ran through the place with these short, sharp footfalls. I was just plain terrified, and it stuck with me. Was it real? Was it a Bolom? The kid that was there absolutely believes it was. Years later that experience came through in The Clearing. It’s at the heart of what the story’s about.

How were you introduced to genre fiction?

SmithW-WhenTheLionFeedsIf I go back to what really got me reading, it’s all down to Wilbur Smith. Among the places where I grew up was Southern Africa – the Kingdom of Lesotho specifically. Wilbur Smith’s early work was all set in that area, and dealt with action and adventure on the African velt – which was right outside my door. His books are a fabulous introduction to genre fiction, and I still love to go back and rip through some of his novels. If you’ve not read his early stuff, I can guarantee it’ll be time well spent.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

This may sound strange, but the whole idea of being a writer is a concept I have great difficulty with. I see it as a lofty title, and one that people have to work damn hard to acquire. I’ve been writing seriously for sixteen years, and I’ve yet to call myself a writer. I think with the publication of The Clearing and a second book in the offing I’m a little closer, but I still feel like I have some earning to do. When I think of writers, I see a very exclusive group of people who I greatly admire. I’d love to be among them, but I still have a lot of work ahead of me.

As for the practicalities of writing, I find regularity quite important. That’s not to say I eat a lot of bran – but rather I try to write every single day and move the story forward. I’m also really bad at falling asleep, so when I go to bed it’s an hour of plot revisions in my head. And, almost without fail, I manage to untangle the knots I tie myself into plot-wise while staring at a darkened ceiling.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

Growing up we travelled a lot. My father was in international development, so we moved from country to country and I changed schools – and friends – frequently. Writing was a constant from place to place, and something I always felt came easily. That’s not to say I did it well, but I enjoyed it. And probably because of that I kept at it.

My first crack at a full novel was about sixteen years ago. I wrote a novel called The Cull – a very Wilbur Smith-ian effort set in Africa where I had lived for about ten years or so. I really loved writing it, and the satisfaction of having a full blown manuscript in my hand was just plain magical. I still love the story, the characters in it and the setting. It is a deeply flawed manuscript, filled with all kinds of issues and problems, but there’s purity to your first full-tilt effort that’s hard to explain. I plan to re-write it one day, but I’ll keep the original version close forever.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

This is a really interesting question and one that’s a little problematic for me. Strictly speaking my publisher is a crime imprint, and I think I do fit into it, but right at the very edge of the genre. When I read some of the other authors published by Exhibit A, (and there are some fantastic titles in the line up), I realize that I am definitely over to one side of the genre bucket. I suspect that’s by design by the publisher, so as to broaden the appeal. One thing I will say about genre fiction, is that I think a lot of the authors I read get a bum-rap because of the word “genre”. There’s some really technically and creatively excellent writing in a lot of the novels that populate genre fiction, and because of that handle I think they get glossed over in terms of the quality of the writing itself. Genre fiction produces some first rate literature… along with outstanding story tellers.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

Right now I’m finishing up the sequel to The Clearing. It’s the first time I’ve tackled a sequel, and it’s going very well in terms of progress. I’m discovering that the investment I’ve already made in really knowing the characters is incredibly helpful as I push them onto something new; I innately know how they would react to a given situation, rather than having to sit and ponder their actions. I was also surprised at how apparent the storyline was; it was all kind of there staring me in the face when I started – although I will admit to having left a few important hooks in the first book to help me along.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I just finished Steven King’s 11/22/63. I’m a big fan of Mr. King (but really, who isn’t?). I’m about to get into Richard Parker’s Scare Me, which has been sitting on my bedside table for quite a while now. I’m also half way through Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, but with the recent book launch and my efforts to finish off the sequel, I’ve not read nearly as much as I’d like to lately.

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What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

Well, as a youngster I played semi-professional football in Swaziland, Southern Africa – which is kind of interesting in itself… but more than that was the fact that the team had its own witch doctor. It was fascinating, and before every game there were numerous incantations, practices and potions that had to be honoured before we could suit up for the match. When we won, he was there standing tall, nodding and pounding his chest. When we lost, well, he apparently had somewhere else to be at the final whistle…

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

With The Clearing having just come out, I’m on a steep and wonder-filled learning curve. There’s so much more to learn than you realize while standing on the outside looking in, and listening to those who have been there before me is a large part of my game plan for the next twelve months – that and putting together the next book for the publisher. As a rookie I have to say that my first publishing experience has been super – thanks in no small part to the outstanding people at Exhibit A.

I’ve also been advised to enjoy the experience of having my first book published – which at first seems patently self-evident. But once you hop on the ride and get stuck into the practicalities of book launches, marketing plans and the minutia of publishing as a business, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that you hit a major personal milestone. So that simple sounding advice is actually pretty sage; I plan to heed it, and see what those roses actually smell like.

Thanks for letting me stop by.

An Interview with FREYA ROBERTSON

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Freya Robertson is the author of Heartstone, the first in the Elemental Wars series. It is her debut novel, and has already started to create some good buzz. After reading this interview, be sure to check out the excerpt from the novel, which I shared yesterday.

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Freya Robertson?

Hi! I’m Freya, and I’m a Kiwi! That’s what New Zealanders call themselves — because this is the homeland of the flightless kiwi bird, and also we grow a lot of kiwi fruit here. I’m 44, married with one son, and a bit of a geek. Okay, a lot of a geek. 🙂

I thought we’d start with your fiction: Your debut novel, Heartwood, will be published by Angry Robot in October. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Yes, it’s the first in The Elemental Wars series, and the second, Sunstone, comes out in March/April. In one way, it’s very traditional epic fantasy and will hopefully appeal to readers who love that genre, with its quasi-medieval European setting, its high stakes (the end of the world is nigh!), its cast of characters and its length — it’s the biggest book Angry Robot has produced so far, and will be useful for holding up the table once you’ve finished reading it!

But for those who feel the genre has been done to death, I also hope Heartwood provides a modern twist. There are no elves or dwarfs, no magic rings or swords. The hero, Chonrad, is an ordinary knight without magical powers, but whose strength of character, honesty and integrity lift him above the crowd. It’s about the elements (in this case, earth and water), and about the people’s connection to the land, and what happens when that connection is lost. It’s about how history fades to myth, and how the true meaning of their religion has become lost over time. Also, gender is irrelevant to the Heartwood knights and the leader of the army is a woman, and it was fun to write about battles involving both sexes and from female characters’ point of view.

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What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

I was inspired by the Templar holy knights, by the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood, and by writers such as Charles de Lint, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Terry Brooks. By epic movies like The Lord of the Rings, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. By screenwriters like Joss Whedon and Aaron Sorkin, who write shows featuring grand events and yet still manage to include strong and loveable characters.

How were you introduced to genre fiction?

The first fantasy novel I ever read as a teen was Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom for Sale, and it still sits on my shelf today. I went on to read his Shannara series, then Katharine Kerr’s Deverry series, and from there to a wide variety of F&SF books. I also read romance, thrillers, crime and bits and pieces of most other genres. I love genre fiction, love its passion and its scope, love its big authors like Stephen King and John Grisham and Nora Roberts, as well as the fact that it has room for all us up-and-coming authors.

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How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

I love writing. There’s nothing more magical than creating a world and letting it blossom onto the page. Being an author…that’s a whole other matter! I’m a shy introvert and launching myself into the big wide world with the beauty and the madness of the internet is scary. It’s very difficult for most writers to offer their creations — which involve a large portion of their heart and soul — to other people for criticism, and whereas in the old days your book came out and then you might be lucky if you got one review in a newspaper, nowadays everyone can pass judgment on your work via book blogs and Goodreads and Amazon, etc., and it’s incredibly daunting. But the internet is also a great place to meet like-minded souls, especially through projects like NaNoWriMo, which I think is great at helping authors to actually finish novels. I’ve done it for three years, and I highly recommend it.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I still have my first short story, written when I was fifteen. I wrote it for the teenage magazine Jackie (which, incidentally, was named after the children’s author Jacqueline Wilson who worked for the publishing company) although I never submitted it. I wrote it on a typewriter and it’s full of spelling and grammatical errors, but it’s not terrible! Maybe one day it will find a home.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

I sense that the epic fantasy genre is making a comeback. I think we all grew tired of elves and dwarves and magic in the nineties, but authors are now finding ways to explore the genre without including every element of what we see as “traditional”, and it’s exciting to see old authors selling well and new authors exploding into the genre. The success of Game of Thrones and the recent Hobbit movies hasn’t done it any harm either! I hope my work adds something to the genre and inspires others to write new and exciting epic fantasy stories.

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What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

I’ve finished the second in the Elemental Wars series, called Sunstone, and that’s currently with my editor, due for release in March/April 2014 (providing he likes it!). I have ideas for the third, so I’m jotting those down in the hope that they are required. I also have several ideas for further sci-fi and fantasy series, but they’re all in the planning stages at the moment. I do write fortnightly fanfic for the Guild Wars 2 site, Chronicles of Tyria, though, so you can always check me out over there!

BakerJ-LongbournWhat are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I’m reading a literary novel called Longbourn by Jo Baker. It’s said to be “Jane Austen meets Downton Abbey”, and it’s Pride and Prejudice told from the servants’ perspective. A lovely story.

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

Um… I have a degree in archaeology and history. I can juggle. And I can do the Rubik’s Cube in under a minute!

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

Obviously the release of Heartwood and then Sunstone. But apart from the books… Watching The Hobbit and Ender’s Game when they come out. A holiday to Wellington in January. And my son turning sixteen next year!

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Be sure to visit Freya’s website for more updates, and follow her on Twitter. Heartwood is published by Angry Robot Books October 29th 2013 in the US, and November 7th 2013 in the UK. Sunstone follows in early 2014.

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An Interview with REBECCA ALEXANDER

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Rebecca Alexander is the author of the much-anticipated The Secrets of Life and Death, which was published today by Del Rey UK. I caught up with the author, and asked her about her novel, her writing practices, and more…

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Rebecca Alexander?

I’m a writer with one foot in the occult and the other in crime. This is perfectly normal for a psychologist, I used to meet the most interesting people in my job. I’ve worked with people in all categories of prison; with people in the community who ought to be in prison; and some very intriguing people who explore the occult. I’m also fascinated by folk beliefs and magical thinking – the belief ordinary people have in magic that they are not always aware of. Once you’ve literally had tea and biscuits with a pair of heathens, a few druids and a chaos magician the lines between real life and fantasy get blurred.

Your latest novel, The Secrets of Life and Death, is published by Del Rey UK. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Secrets is the first book in a three book series about sixteenth century sorcery used to keep people alive (who should be dead). I’m a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong, and I loved her world of inter-related characters. Her first books were about werewolves, then the next about witches, and so on. I’ve written the first two books of the Secrets trilogy for Del Rey UK, and hope to complete book 3 this year. But I also have a prequel called A Baby’s Bones about the archaeological discovery of a dead baby in a well, and a plan of book 4 which focuses on one of the smaller characters, Pierce, who may or not be quite human.

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What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

I was partly inspired by working with dying people who had outlived their expected life span, and would describe it as “living on borrowed time”. I also cared for my own daughter through a terminal illness and remembered that desperation to try something, anything that would save her. If someone had proposed a spell I would have tried it. At that point I probably would have sold my soul to save her, it’s what parents do. 

How were you introduced to genre fiction?

I fell in love with science fiction (H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs) before my teens. I progressed through historical romance (Georgette Heyer), fantasy (Bram Stoker, Ursula Le Guin), and horror (Dennis Wheatley) before my brain really processed that it wasn’t all real. I have carried on reading across all sorts of genres, and find some of the best crossovers in children’s fiction (like Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Patrick Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go). It’s not surprising that I write across a couple of genres at a time.

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How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

I found transferring from a ‘hobby’ writer, to a professional writer quite easy, as far as the writing went. I had developed a writing habit of a minimum of 500 words a day when I started doing an Open University course a few years ago, and that built up to 1000 words a day during my MA.

But the publishing industry was completely different to any I’ve ever worked within. It turned out to be a very small world of people, many of whom have a lot of influence, and seem to know lots of other agents, editors, publicists etc. That’s not a bad thing, just strange to me. If I started a new job as a psychologist I would be employed, have a line manager, supervisor and strict hours and conditions, clinics and appointments. I have to be proactive and disciplined to write and edit the books, but I also have to be reactive to suggestions from the publisher. It’s all good, but it seems strange at first not to hear from people for weeks or even a month or two, then suddenly there’s a flurry of emails or calls about editing a book or the launch. It keeps the excitement levels up.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I can’t remember not wanting to be an author. Living within a world like Narnia or down the rabbit hole with Alice for hours at a time develops the imagination. I started writing books as soon as I could write (sadly, not legibly, so I don’t have any of my first stories).  I started writing seriously in my teens. I was also an insomniac, I still am, and started telling myself stories to get to sleep. I still do, I’m presently ‘working’ on a retelling of a legend of a ghostly hunt by bronze age people on Dartmoor. It may end up in book 4. Or I may get some sleep.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

WintersonJ-TheDaylightGateFantasy is a huge genre. I’m at the urban, realism end but it can go so far I wouldn’t know how to describe the breadth of it. I recently read The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson – beautiful writing with a vein of poetry, but also a fantastical story (even more overt fantasy that mine) so even “literary” writers invest time in fantasy. I aspire to write something as imaginative and vivid as that. I love fairy tales, at the back of a lot of fiction are the stories we were told as children by authority figures. There’s a healthy dose of crime and historical fiction in my books – fantasy lends itself to many crossovers. I think fantasy is in a very exciting phase of development, and women writers are very prominent in it.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

I have books 4 and 5 planned and because I can’t plot properly, I create scenes that are islands that I aim for as I write. I’m also writing a ghost story about the strange over-dependant relationship between twins. I write two books a year, and create odd characters and scenes for possible future books as I go along. I’m also writing a musical with my songwriter husband, just for kids, based on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. ‘Satan’s Song’ is coming along nicely.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I’m reading lots of non-fiction research into Dartmoor’s legends and about Barbary Coast corsairs for book 3. Who knew that pirates raided the Devon and Cornwall for thousands of slaves in the 1600’s, as well as capturing hundreds of ships? How can you read that kind of research and not want to create a story about it? Or at least dress up and buy a cutlass. The fiction I’m enjoying is partly crime by Lisa Gardner and also fantasy by David Wellington: 23 Hours. And Terry Pratchett’s The Long War is next.

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What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

People think of me as a chatty, gregarious wife and mother of six, who teaches, participates in groups etc. but I have a streak of curmudgeon that means I love to be left alone – for weeks at a time. I used to sneak off to our caravan by the sea, just write, and not speak to anyone for days. Eating, sleeping, hygiene optional. Then I come back to full on family life, refreshed. I’ve also, except for the anomaly of being born in Malta, never used my passport.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

More than anything, finishing the trilogy. Having created (or found) my characters, their story is so vivid and real I feel I may have just left them around the house. Sadie in front of the telly, Jack hiding in the study watching the crows, Kelley bigging up his adventures to the kids by the woodburner. I hate the idea of not completing strands I started way back in early drafts of book 1. I’d also like to do some research somewhere that requires a passport!

Q&A with Andy Serkis on adapting Samantha Shannon’s THE BONE SEASON & George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM

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AndySerkisIn a Q&A organised by Samantha Shannon’s publicists in the UK, Andy Serkis discussed the acquisition of movie rights for Shannon’s debut novel, The Bone Season. Serkis, best-known perhaps as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies, has set up his own film studio, Imaginarium Studio. The Bone Season will be one of their first projects, alongside an adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, both of which will be directed by Serkis.

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What is it about The Bone Season that compelled you to include it in The Imaginarium Studio’s very first slate of films?

We first came across the manuscript at the London Book Fair and immediately fell in love with the scope, the scale and the exceptional detail of the world Samantha had created. It’s a really compelling story with such a great central character – we all immediately saw its potential as a fantastic feature film.

Have you met Samantha Shannon, and how involved will she be in the film’s production?

Yes of course – she’s a delightful, incredibly intelligent person. She’s very warm and a passionate storyteller- dedicated beyond belief. We’re working very closely with her on all aspects of bringing the world of the book to the screen. We’ve been involving her with all the early concept artwork that we’re beginning to put together. Obviously it’s her world so we want to make sure we bring it to life in the way that she wants.

ShannonS-BoneSeasonCan you tell us about how the creative process for adapting a story like The Bone Season begins?

It begins with knowing the story you want to tell. There are thousands of stories contained within the world that Samantha has created – we have to be very disciplined about opening up the world in a way that will lead us on to further investigation in the rest of the series. We need to find the emotional heart of the story; the relationships; the tension; the suspense and the drive, and of course working closely with Samantha is going to make it much easier.

At this very early stage it’s about finding the right writer and the right approach to telling the story. Hand in hand with developing the screenplay it’s also about developing the visual world and bringing that to life, finding the right visual effects team who understand Samantha’s concepts.

You have been part of bringing some of the world’s most famous and well-loved fantasy worlds to contemporary audiences. Which of your experiences across film, TV, stage and video games would you say has been most helpful in preparing you to produce The Bone Season?

It would be impossible to single out any one single experience, it’s an accumulation of all my experiences to date, but obviously having worked on The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s extraordinary world with Peter Jackson is incredibly useful. Peter basically gave me the opportunity to work on a lot of extraordinary characters in a lot of extraordinary worlds and has opened up my eyes to a genre that I knew very little about before.

Will performance capture will come mostly into play when portraying Shannon’s Rephaim race on screen in The Bone Season? Can you give us any insight into how you’d like these characters to appear?

We’re in very early stages of designing how we want to portray these characters, and are exploring a variety of avenues to bring these characters to life. We’re certainly not tied to any one production technique at this early stage.

Animal Farm is the other film on your inaugural slate. What can you tell us about this project?

OrwellG-AnimalFarmWe’re extraordinarily excited about Animal Farm. We have been working on the methodology this year, the development of the characters and the story. We’re working with a wonderful character designer and very pleased with how the animals are developing as visual characters.

In terms of story, we’re remaining very truthful to the original book however we are relocating the setting as if Orwell were writing in the present day – we’ve been working very closely with the Orwell estate on this.

You’re talents are very varied! If you could only do one thing for the rest of your career, which would you choose (stage/TV/film/video game roles, voice roles, director or producer)?

Mountain Climber.

An Interview with TONY BALLANTYNE

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I’ve been aware of Tony Ballantyne’s novels for quite some time, now. I read some of his Penrose novels when they first came out, and have been eagerly awaiting something new. Next month, Solaris will be publishing Dream London, which I will be reading very soon. Graced with a stunning cover by the ever-excellent Joey Hi-Fi, the novel promises to be rather excellent. I had the opportunity to interview Ballantyne, about his work past and present…

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Tony Ballantyne?

Tony Ballantyne is an SFF writer. His short stories have been published around the world and translated into many languages. The first three were the Recursion Series, the next two part of the robopunk Penrose series. Dream London is his sixth novel.

Your latest novel, Dream London, is published by Solaris in October. How would you introduce the novel to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Dream London is a standalone novel, although I do have plans for Dream Paris, a loose sequel. Dream London is rooted in our London, but a London which has been sold to someone or something who is slowly changing the city to suit themselves. Streets change course overnight, buildings grow and shrink and personalities gradually change over time. Captain Jim Wedderburn, the anti hero, is trying to find out who caused these changes.   

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What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

The novel was inspired by ten years living in London. I had notebooks filled with scenes and ideas, but I had no overall story until a chance conversation provided the spark that pulled the whole thing together. That conversation is basically the opening page of the book – something that happened to my friend whilst on holiday in India. The longer I’ve been writing, the more I’m coming to realise just how much I am inspired by random conversations.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry?

Being a writer is something that I am: I think most writers would say the same. My wife says that I get naggy when I don’t get to write. I have a very tangential relationship with the publishing industry. I send them stories, they send me rejection slips or cheques. Occasionally we meet in a pub and chat about beer, TV shows and computer games.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I think I wanted to be an author about the same time as I started to read. My first foray into writing was writing jokes for Private Eye and romantic fiction for women’s magazines. I still recommend trying romantic fiction to all aspiring writers. It teaches you everything you need to now about the structure of a good story.

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Penrose 1 & 2 (Published by Tor)

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

I am very excited by the genre today. I believe SFF has a wider scope than ever before. I also think that the most exciting and cutting edge work in writing is being produced here. If you look at mainstream literature, it’s about twenty years behind what we’re doing now.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

I’m currently working on Cosmopolitan Predators! for Aethernet Magazine. Cosmopolitan Predators! is being written as a piece of serial fiction, as have all the stories in Aethernet. It’s been a fascinating experience, exploring a way of writing that had practically died out. It’s definitely changed me as a writer: you can read more about that here.

After that, it’s back to the long-delayed Penrose 3 novel, some short stories set in the Recursion Universe and, just maybe, Dream Paris.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

Fiction: I’ve just finished the excellent Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Non-Fiction: The fascinating Perfect Rigour by Masha Gessen – the story of Grigori Perelman’s contribution to the solution of the Poincaré conjecture.

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What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

I’m rather good at Ballroom and Latin dancing.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months? 

Worldcon. It’ll be great seeing old friends again.

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To find out more about Tony Ballantyne’s writing and novels, be sure to visit his website, and be sure to follow him on Twitter. Dream London is published by Solaris Books in the UK and US on October 10th, 2013.

An Interview with PAULA BRACKSTON

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Brackston-Author

Paula Brackston lives in a wild, mountainous part of Wales. She is an author and Visiting Lecturer. Before becoming a writer, Paula tried her hand at various career paths, with mixed success. These included working as a groom on a racing yard, as a travel agent, a secretary, an English teacher, and a goat herd. Everyone involved (particularly the goats) is very relieved that she has now found a job she is actually able to do properly – and that is, write fiction. Her latest ‘series’ is The Shadow Chronicles, the second book of which – The Winter Witch – is published tomorrow in the UK.

Who is Paula Brackston?

A descendent of the Witches of the Blue Well, possessed of dangerous magic and ancient knowledge, cunningly disguised as an ordinary mortal, mother of two, walker of the dog, maker of meals, who also writes a bit.

The Winter Witch, the sequel to The Witch’s Daughter, will be published tomorrow by Constable & Robinson. How would you introduce the series to a potential reader, and what can fans of the first expect in the second?

BrackstonP-2-WinterWitchAh, well, you see, there are no sequels, as yet. Each book in The Shadow Chronicles is a stand alone. They have in common an exploration of witches through the ages, following the experiences of a witch as the main character. All kinds of witches, in different eras and settings, each with their own distinct magic and story.

What inspired you to write the novel? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

I live in the Brecon Beacons National Park, so I wake up each day to the most inspirational landscape you could imagine. That certainly formed the basis of not just the setting for The Winter Witch, but the characters such a place produces too. More generally, I am inspired by wilderness and wildness, by individuals who make their own way in the world, and by courage. Particularly courage, I think, as I am such a timid creature. I love inhabiting brave characters who overcome adversity. It makes me feel stronger, and I hope that works for my readers as well.

How were you introduced to genre fiction?

As a reader I have never made a distinction between categories of fiction. I struggle with the whole idea of literary and commercial being two different things – surely a good book is a good book? That books will be written about different things, in various styles, traditions and settings, is what makes reading such an exciting experience.

Which is how I feel about writing, too. When I’m working on a story I don’t think about how it will sit in a certain genre, or how it will be seen. I am interested only in the story, and I strive to find the best way I can to tell it. The placing, categorising, and marketing of the finished thing I leave up to people who understand such things far better than I do.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry? Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

BrackstonP-1-WitchsDaughterI have the best job in the world! Maybe not the most important, prestigious, or well paid, but still the best. I get to spend all day dreaming things up and then writing them down, creating my own little world and peopling it with characters that move me, having them dash about doing all manner of stuff I’d never dare do. All this and shortbread – what’s not to like?

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I’ve always written, but it took me years to believe I could actually Be A Writer. Still feels strange when I tell people how it is I make my living and what it is I do. The turning point came when I was living and working in London and missing the mountains very much. I came up with a plan to ride a horse around Wales for a month or so and write about it. I pitched the idea to some publishers and one commissioned it. I had to breathe into a paper bag for a bit when I realised this meant I had to give up my job and my home, leave the city, find a horse, do the actual trekking and then write a Proper-Book-Someone-Might-Actually-Want-To-Buy. It all turned out rather well. The trek was a blast, the book found a small but appreciative readership, I relocated permanently to Wales, and somehow I had become a writer. There seemed no going back after that.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

See above.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

If I listed them all you’d mark me down as some sort of butterfly-brained lunatic, so I’ll cherry pick. I’ve just started another Shadow Chronicles book. I love this stage of the process, as it’s all hope and expectation and excitement and hasn’t yet had a chance to be nibbled at by doubt and uncertainty.

I’m also putting together ideas for books three and four in my fantasy-crime series, but that’s another interview entirely!

And I’ve just had one of my screenplays short-listed for some production funding, so there will be work to be done there, too.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I’m currently half way through The Luminaries (by Eleanor Catton) and loving it, though I am having to pay very close attention to keep up. It thoroughly deserves its place as a Booker Prize contender. Last month I read and enjoyed The Potter’s Hand (gorgeous) by A.N. Wilson, May We Be Forgiven (deceptively deep) by A.M. Homes, and An Evening of Long Goodbyes (brilliantly funny) by Paul Murray.

Brackston-Reading

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

In my twenties, I spent a year at an agricultural college learning how to drive tractors and train racehorses. Neither skill seems particularly useful at the moment, but I don’t like to think of time being wasted, so you can reliably expect both activities to pop up in my books at some point.

What are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months?

Ooh, what to pick? What to pick? There’s the publication of The Winter Witch in the UK right about now; The Witch’s Daughter coming out in paperback here in December; the German edition of the first in my fantasy-crime series due out just before Christmas; my next witchy book, The Midnight Witch, is out in hardback in the USA in March; I’m thoroughly enjoying writing the fourth book of The Shadow Chronicles at the moment…. I should imagine a little lie down sometime next summer would be very nice indeed.

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The Winter Witch is published by Corsair in the UK and Thomas Dunne Books in the US. To find out more about Paula Brackston and her novels, be sure to visit her website.

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