[Interview] Eric S. Brown

North Carolina resident, Eric S. Brown writes horror short stories and novels.

His work has been featured in a number of anthologies, among them, Dead Worlds I, II, III, and V; The Blackest Death I and II; The Undead I and II; Dead History (Permuted Press, 2007) as well as Zombology I and II.

His books include Space Stations and Graveyards (Double Dragon, 2003); Madmen’s Dreams (Permuted Press, 2005); Zombies: Inhuman (Naked Snake Books, 2007) and Tandem of Terror (Library of Horror, 2010).

Brown is also part of the collaborative zombie novel effort from Pill Hill Press, Undead, Kansas and contributes an ongoing column on the world of comic books for Abandoned Towers magazine.

In this interview, Eric S. Brown talks about his writing:

When did you start writing?

I started writing when I was just a little kid. Even when I was tiny, I loved horror. The first thing I remember doing is a rewrite of Halloween 3 because I couldn't live with the fact that it had no Mike Myers.

I decided I want to be a writer in second grade but didn't start trying to get published until I was 26. I started out like most folks I would think. I bought a copy of the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market guide and went about sending out tales.

How would you describe your writing?

My writing is pretty much the love of a fan of horror, science fiction and comic books trying to give back to those genres and write the stuff folks want to see.

I am known for zombies and have written a lot in that genre from Season of Rot (Permuted Press, nominated for a Dead Letter Award) to War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies (picked up by Simon and Schuster and set for a new release later this year).

But I write a lot of other stuff too ... from things like Bigfoot War (which plays off my own childhood fears of Bigfoot) to How the West Went to Hell (which is a demon-plague end-of-the-world story set in the Old West).

My target audience is anyone who loves horror, zombies and such and is looking for a fun and good read.

Like I said, I think of myself as a fan more than a writer and am just trying to write the things I think fans want to see that I know I do.

Which authors influenced you most?

Jon Maberry (Doomwar from Marvel Comics) is a hero of mine and has helped me a lot. David Dunwoody (Empire) is a dear friend as well.

I would say my influences though are H. P. Lovecraft, George Romero, and David Drake.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concern is that my work is entertaining and fun to read.

I don't try to be all literary and highbrow. I just want my readers to enjoy a good story and hopefully be scared by it.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

I did a book called World War of the Dead (Coscom Entertainment) that is a Christian zombie novel because I myself am a Christian and Bigfoot War is literally the Bigfoot movie I also wanted to see as a fan.

As a writer, what are the biggest challenges that you face?

I tend to take on too many projects.

I had eight books published last year, will have nine this year, and already have a new one (The Brethren of the Dead) from Sonar 4 Publications due out in 2011.

In addition to this, I do numerous tales for anthologies and such as well as juggle columns, a four-year-old son, and real world life.

I am still learning to juggle everything as I go.

How many books have you written so far?

I will not be listing anything written by my pen names but Eric S. Brown has written the books that include:

• Space Stations and Graveyards (Double Dragon, 2003)
• Dying Days (Silver Lake, 2003)
• Portals of Terror (Publish America, 2004)
• Madmen's Dreams (Permuted Press, 2005)
• Cobble (Mundania, 2005)
• The Queen (Naked Snake Books, 2005)
• The Wave (Naked Snake Books, 2006)
• Waking Nightmares (Silver Lake, 2006)
• Zombies: Inhuman (Naked Snake Books, 2007)
• Zombies: Inhuman - the expanded edition (Black River, 2009)
• Unabridged, Unabashed, and Undead: The Best of Eric S. Brown (Library of the Living Dead, 2009)
• War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies (Coscom Entertainment, 2009)
• Season of Rot (Permuted Press, 2009)
• Barren Earth (Library of the Living Dead, 2009)
• World War of the Dead (Coscom, 2009)
• Tandem of Terror (Library of Horror, 2010)
• How the West Went to Hell (Pill Hill Press, 2010)
• Bigfoot War (Coscom, 2010), and

I also edited the anthology The Wolves of War for Library of Horror Press in 2009.

My pending titles include:

• Kinberra Down (Pill Hill Press),
• Undead Down Under (Pill Hill Press),
• Anti-Heroes (Library of the Living Dead Press's SF imprint),
• War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies- the mass market edition (Simon and Schuster),
• The Weaponer (Coscom),
• The Human Experiment (Sonar 4 Publications), and
• Brethren of the Dead (Sonar 4 Publications).

And in the very beginning of my career I had eight small press chapbooks published including titles Zombies: The War Stories, Flashes of Death, Blood Rain, Still Dead, etc.

Do you write everyday?

I do write everyday. I have so many deadlines I have to. It's all pretty much random. I always do at least 1,000 words a day.

How long did you choose a publisher for Bigfoot War?

My last book to be released was Bigfoot War. I already had a multi-book deal in place with Coscom and they agreed to let me bring my vision of Sasquatch terror to print.

The book I am currently working on is The Brethren of the Dead for Sonar 4 Publications and is a direct sequel to my tale, "The Queen" which was reprinted in Season of Rot.

Which aspects of this work do you enjoy most?

I love being a writer because it's been a lifelong dream of mine. It's awesome to make up tales of the end of the world and get paid for it.

What will your next book be about?

My next book that I am writing, The Brethren of the Dead, is a mix of pirates and zombies on the waves of the ocean dueling it out in a post apocalyptic world.

This world was established in my novella "The Queen" from Season of Rot and is a fan favorite among my work. I am excited about revisiting this world and playing up the pirate element that fits so naturally into it.

Sonar 4 Publications is also releasing my superhero novel, The Human Experiment which is the origin story of my character Agent Death who is also featured in the book Anti-Heroes both due out later this year.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Just being a writer.

Possibly related books:

,,

Related articles:

• Author gives fangs to a rich vein of prose, By Michelle Griffin, Sydney Morning Herald, June 26, 2010
• Interview with Eric S. Brown on Bigfoot War, By M. S. Gardner, Living Dead Corner, June 9, 2010
• M. A. Walters [Interview], Conversations with Writers, June 10, 2010

[Interview] Danie Nel

South African commercial photographer and a writer, Danie Nel has some poems that have been featured in the poetry anthology, The Colors of Life (Watermark Press, 2003).

Currently he is working on Notsoreallifestory, a blog novel he describes as "a take on the alter ego interaction storyline, but with a different slant and angle on it."

In this interview, Danie Nel talks about his writing:

When did you start writing?

I realized I enjoy writing in primary school as part of our creative writing assignments and, having been an avid reader since I could read, I suppose that has always fuelled the fires of creativity for me.

I’ve been writing songs, and lyrics, since I was 18, and have penned a few poems. However, working as a professional photographer has put me in contact with writers, journalists and novelists, and their enthusiasm for their craft has rubbed off on me.

Only my poems have been published in a collection of works called The Colors of Life, and was included after I entered a competition.

As for my creative writing, I only recently really started writing again, and decided that the blog-model works for me, and I’d rather earn my money through advertising programs, and focus on writing what I want, how I want to, and when I want to, without publisher’s demands. I also use the comments section to get readers to interact with me, and rather have the end-user influence my writing, and not the money man!

How would you describe your writing?

Free, quirky, strong storyline, suspense and humour is a must. It would probably fall into the category of humorous drama.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone with a sense of irony, who loves reading easily and loves to chuckle at life. I’m like that.

Which authors influenced you most?

Stephen King’s humour and limitless imagination. Also, he has amazing flow.

Michael Cunningham is just poetic and has the most beautiful writing style.

Bryce Courtenay for sheer story. Koos A Kombuis for his humour, descriptive ability and flow. Bill Bryson, for knowing how to communicate the oddities that we all notice, just don’t seem to remember.

Have your personal experiences influenced your writing in any way?

Probably. We can only put out versions of information we ourselves have gathered and processed.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

That I will bore the reader with obvious plots, obvious humour and no surprises. I try and surprise myself.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

Time to write.

Do you write everyday?

I write weekly. I normally write late at night, after the family’s gone to bed. It ends when I fall asleep!

How many books have you written so far?

None.

I’m writing a story called Notsoreallifestory, in the blog format. It’s about a man who wakes up to a voice in his head one day. It’s a take on the alter ego interaction storyline, but with a different slant and angle on it.

Which aspects of the work do you find most difficult?

Dialogue.

Dialogue is a spontaneous process, and recreating proper and good dialogue is difficult.

I repeat the dialogue aloud to myself, and if it seems fake, or makes me cringe, I change it.

Which do you enjoy most?

Reading my story.

When writing flows, and I re-read my efforts, it’s amazing to see that I’ve opened up doors in my imagination that I haven’t noticed before. Or I realize I think differently about things than I thought I do.

What sets Notsoreallifestory apart from other things you've written?

I’ve never attempted a series blog before, and all my pieces have been short, concise and normally limited to a couple of pages.

In what way is Notsoreallifestory similar to the other things you've written?

My sense of irony is deeply embedded in how I communicate, also, I veer from cliché’s.

What will your next piece of writing be about?

Probably a musician. Not sure what he’s going to do yet. I just love music and would like to explore that possibility.

Possibly related books:

,,

Related articles:

• Blog Novels [Lists], Conversations with Writers, November 27,2008
• Ezekiel Es’kia Mphahlele [Obituary], by Shola Adenekan, The New Black Magazine, November 8-9, 2008
• Writer: Niq Mhlongo [Interview], by Laura Arenschield, a.magazine, May 8, 2008

[Interview] Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor has written and published eight poetry collections, among them, Turn For Home (The Brodie Press, 2003); Temporary Residence (erbacce Press, 2007) and The Sound of Light Aircraft (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press, 2010).

He has a PhD in Poetry and Poetics and is a founder member of the Edge Hill University Poetry and Poetics Research Group. In addition to that, Taylor also co-edits erbacce and erbacce-press.

In this interview, Andrew Taylor talks about his writing:

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

Poetry.

Some have describe it as innovative, some realist, some post-realist.

I think it’s for others to describe it though rather than me.

Who is your target audience?

Whoever is publishing the poems I guess.

I never have thought of a target audience really. I just hope that those who buy the books do so for the purposes of enjoying the poems and in supporting the small presses who kindly publish the work.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

That’s an interesting question.

I often think that the personal can distract from the writing process. However, that said, others often say that my greatest work to-date is the collection Poetry and Skin Cream which stemmed from a personal experience that I’d rather not go into as it involved someone’s death and was incredibly upsetting for me.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

I’m not sure that I have concerns as such.

Of course, there are personal concerns and concerns for the wider world, such as the environment and that stupid war in Afghanistan and Iraq. But seldom do these things get into the poetry.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

I guess the challenges I face are the opportunities to write and to make the most of them mixed with my editorial roles at erbacce and erbacce-press, which takes a lot of time.

Do you write everyday?

I try.

My most recent project has been utilizing photographs so this has been a starting point.

I sometimes write into a notebook at home, then type the notes up at the office the following day. That’s quite productive! End points usually stem from when work calls …

How many books have you written so far?

Six, one has been published twice.

• Turn For Home, The Brodie Press, August 2003. Debut collection that appeared from a press that originated from Liverpool University. Poems in this collection came from a residency at Liverpool Architecture and Design Trust (LADT) that ran 2000-2003.
• Poetry & Skin Cream, erbacce Press, December 2004. This collection was written after the death of a friend and is extremely personal in content. A hard collection to read from my perspective!
• Cathedral Poems, Paula Brown Publishing, August 2005. Collection of fourteen poems written during a residency at Liverpool Cathedral. Contains a piece of poetics that appeared in my Doctoral thesis.
• Poetry & Skin Cream [2nd Edition] erbacce Press, October 2007 Republished as the original edition sold out.
• Temporary Residence, erbacce Press, October 2007 Written during a residency at Liverpool Art project called the Loft Space which was an artist led project.
• And the Weary Are at Rest, Sunnyoutside Press, June 2008. Collection submitted to one of my favourite presses. Extremely proud to have worked with David at Sunnyoutside. He’s a talented guy.
• Make Some Noise, Original Press, August 2009 A manuscript of poems written during Doctoral research in Woking, Surrey, that was rejected by one press as being too oblique. Sent it to Sam at Original Plus, who kindly understood what I was trying to do.
• The Metaphysics of a Vegetarian Supper, Differentia Press, December 2009. A collection of recent work that Felino was kind enough to accept having published me in his Counterexample Poetics site.

Which authors influenced you most?

Firstly, the Liverpool Poets: Adrian Henri, Brian Patten and Roger McGough. I came to these after secondary education and studying the likes of Keats. They were a breath of fresh air. This ignited my interest in poetry.

During university I became aware of the work of Tom Raworth, Lee Harwood, Robert Sheppard (who became my PhD supervisor) and Scott Thurston. These writers showed me the more experimental side of things that occasionally sneaks into my work. The range I think is what influenced me most.

Also, I have to mention Bukowski who was there from early doors. Of course, Ginsberg and Kerouac, (in the case of Kerouac whose poetry is to many, unknown, is a delight).

Recently, I have returned to some of the masters – Wordsworth, Keats and Rimbaud. I always return to Henri though. He was one of the subjects in my PhD thesis and I can dip into the collected poems at any time and get something new every time. Brilliant and under-rated poet.

How did you chose a publisher for The Metaphysics of a Vegetarian Supper?

I sent Felino Soriano the manuscript of recent work that I had gathered together to see if it worked as a complete text.

I felt that the collection worked and was keen for a publisher/editor I admire, to clarify. Thankfully, Felino did and he has been a fantastic editor to work with. There have been no disadvantages at all. Well, perhaps the fact that Felino lives so far away and I would like to meet him and buy him a drink!

Which were the most difficult aspects of the work you put into the book?

Perhaps the most difficult aspect was the belief in oneself in that I gathered the collection together myself and then passed it on. So perhaps the confidence in one’s own ability was the most difficult thing. I dealt with it by sending it to Felino!

I think the aspect I enjoyed the most was the fact that this collection didn’t stem from a residency, was a collection fully formed and presented to a publisher pretty intact

What sets The Metaphysics of a Vegetarian Supper apart from other things you've written?

I think it is different in that it was a more uncontained collection stemming from my own ideas of a collection.

Also, it is the first e-book that I have been involved in!

It is similar to the others in that it has poems about loss, love and cities in it.

What will your next book be about?

My next book is almost complete. I have yet to approach publishers. It is similar to The Metaphysics of a Vegetarian Supper in the process of writing and the voice that I have tried to achieve. It is a collection of 36 or 37 poems inspired by photographs.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

To be published. Full stop.

For other editors to print and publish the poems is a massive achievement I feel. I am humbled every time my work appears somewhere.

When did you start writing?

I was in a band in Liverpool in the 1980s and by default became the band’s lyricist. From then, whilst studying for my undergraduate degree, I started writing short stories, which in turn led to a Masters degree in writing. The difference though by now was that I started writing poetry.

Related articles:

• Interview with Andrew Taylor, By Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, Liverpool Art and Culture Blog, April 9, 2007
• Richard Wink [Interview], Conversations with Writers, April 19, 2010

[Interview] Annette Wellings

Annette Wellings is a Pilates instructor who suffers from major scoliosis.

She began exploring different ways of keeping her body flexible and healthy whilst working as a linguist and artist in Australia and subsequently, she retrained in rehabilitation Pilates.

Her book, Curves, Twists and Bends: A Practical Guide to Pilates for Scoliosis (Singing Dragon, 2009), looks at how scoliosis sufferers can benefit from the practice of Pilates.

How did you first find out about Pilates?

While working as a linguist and an artist in Australia and Fiji, I became increasingly aware of my body becoming more hunched and painful with scoliosis.

By the time I was about 35, my spine was rigid and my torso was becoming increasingly twisted.

I realised that I needed to do something and explore options, instead of passively sitting by and lamenting the ‘degeneration’ of the spine.

I began exploring different ways of keeping my body flexible and healthy, and I discovered Pilates.

How easy is Pilates to learn for the complete beginner?

The beauty of Pilates is its simplicity and versatility.

Essentially it is a gentle form of exercise that is constantly adjusted and moulded to suit the particular needs of the individual.

For the complete beginner, it is important to go to a good qualified teacher who understands your condition.

Pilates is a subtle process and, like many effective exercise programmes, it requires time and focus in developing a mind-body awareness. Rather than instant gratification or a quick-fix, it bears gradual profound benefits over time.

Your new book Curves, Twists and Bends looks at how scoliosis sufferers can benefit from the practice of Pilates. How can Pilates complement traditional rehabilitation medicine?

Whether individuals have opted for surgery or not, it is vital that people with scoliosis (particularly severe curvatures) keep the spine and body as healthy, supple and lengthened as possible.

Pilates provides gentle exercises that can help improve flexibility, posture and alignment, and lengthening.

Pilates can be particularly useful for scoliosis, by teaching how to move and engage separate muscle groups. This can help tease out asymmetrical patterns of muscle use, encouraging the strengthening of weak underdeveloped muscles, and breaking down the dominant bossy muscles which develop on one side of the torso.

While surgery focuses on straightening out the spinal curvature, it is important to highlight that Pilates exercises are not designed to restructure the spine. Their purpose is to encourage flexibility and length, and enable the body and spine to be as healthy and supple as possible. As such, Pilates is suited to all people with scoliosis. The basic exercise movements can then be modified and developed more precisely to suit the particular shape of an individual curvature.

Your co-author Alan Herdman suggests that the message of Pilates is ‘Quality not Quantity’. How often would a typical scoliosis sufferer need to practice Pilates to feel the benefit?

Alan is right. Pilates requires you to be mindful and put time and effort into any programme, particularly if you’ve got scoliosis.

To get full effect and benefits, two to three times a week is a great start.

Including it as part of your everyday lifestyle is ideal.

There is no quick fix for scoliosis, and it’s good to put in consistent time and focus over the long term, learning and listening to your body.

In the book you look at different strategies for living with scoliosis. As a sufferer yourself, what is the best advice you can give to other people living with this condition?

First, accept your scoliosis and recognise that it makes you unique. It is a symbol of your individuality.

Get information about your curvature, so that you understand and are aware of what your scoliosis involves (e.g. location, size and type of curve).

You should explore options available for treating your scoliosis and keeping your body strong, lengthened and flexible.

It’s important to make yourself a health care plan for life, including adequate rest, a healthy diet, and a gentle regular exercise routine to keep the body as supple and healthy as possible.

Think length. It’s wise to avoid movements and circumstances which jolt or compress the spine.

In short, let go and listen to your body. Accept, observe and explore your condition with curiosity.

(c) Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010

This article was first published in the Singing Dragon Newsletter in October 2009

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• Early diagnosis of scoliosis can prevent surgery later, By Chris Zdeb, Montreal Gazette, June 21, 2010
• Scoliosis, Curvature of the Spine, by Courtney Norris, The Pilates Edge, January 6, 2010
• The Pilates Bookshelf: Curves, Twists and Bends: A Practical Guide to Pilates for Scoliosis [Book Review], By Alexa Thorson, Pilates-pro.com, November 11, 2009

[Interview] Bryony Rheam

Bryony Rheam is a Zimbabwean writer.

Her short stories have been featured in anthologies that include Short Writings from Bulawayo I, II and III; Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe (‘amaBooks, 2008); Laughing Now (Weaver Press, 2007), and Women Writing Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, 2008).

Her first novel, This September Sun was released from 'amaBooks in 2009.

In this interview, Bryony Ream talks about her writing:

How would you describe your novel, This September Sun?

This September Sun is a mystery/romance novel. It may have a deeper meaning and could be read as having post-colonial undercurrents, but that was not the main reason why I wrote it.

It's about a young girl growing up in Zimbabwe who longs for a more exciting life elsewhere. She returns to Zimbabwe from the UK when her grandmother is murdered and is forced to face some hard truths about her family history.

The novel begins on the day Zimbabwe gets its Independence from Britain and it charts the changes, both good and bad in Zimbabwe over the next 25 or so years.

The main character, Ellie, struggles to find an identity for herself in a country where she feels increasingly sidelined. She never really feels she fits in in Britain either.

What would you say was the aim behind your writing the novel?

To tell a story.

Perhaps also to express something of myself. I'm very much like Ellie - I don't feel I fit in anywhere in particular.

Who is your target audience?

I suppose it would be Zimbabweans of my age group, but it seems to have appealed to a wide range of people of varying age groups and racial backgrounds.

I do feel my own age group and those younger than me don't really have a 'voice' which represents us. A lot of Zimbabwean writing has centred on the war, but if you were born within the last 35 years, the war doesn't have so much relevance.

For people of my generation, we tended to be brought up on stories of the war and I feel the older generation want to hang on to the bitterness and loss associated with it ... It holds you back from looking forward and living in a present which isn't weighed down with racial politics ... I think my generation would like to live 'normal' lives, not worrying about the legacy of the past.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Many people think that This September Sun is a true story, but it isn't.

I do draw on personal experience, but can quite honestly say that no event is absolutely true in the novel and no character is a true copy of someone I have met in real life.

Which authors influenced you most?

I think Graham Greene and Virginia Woolf.

I love the way Greene writes a story that indirectly raises lots of philosophical questions. I like the stream of consciousness style of writing of Woolf's and how the smallest things have the greatest significance.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concern is to tell a good story, one that makes you think and one that you get so involved in, that the characters live on beyond the closed book. I don't want to get bogged down with delivering a specific message.

I really enjoy writing and feel such a sense of accomplishment when I have finished something.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

At the moment, I have a full-time job and two young children. There isn't much time for writing in my life!

I also feel that the western publishing world is suspicious of white fiction writers from Africa. It would be easier for me to write my memoirs!

I think that western publishers feel that white writers cannot possibly give an 'authentic' view of Africa. The West tends to see famine, wars and AIDS as 'Africa' and feel uncomfortable about publishing stories of middle class people who are not struggling to survive.

I think this is because the West still carries the 'white man's guilt'. They also have a certain idea of Africa and want that image to be fulfilled.

I actually find African readers and publishers far more sympathetic. I have been really pleased to receive so many positive comments about my writing from black readers.

When did you start writing?

Ever since I was a child I've been writing something.

I stilll have a little book of stories that I wrote when I was about 11 about a dog called Merlin. I always dreamed of being published and used to send stories off to various publishing houses which, of course, were turned down at that stage.

I started writing short stories in my early 20s. At the end of 2002, I saw 'amaBooks' advert looking for short stories for their first anthology, Short Writings from Bulawayo, and I sent off "The Queue", a story I had started writing a couple of years earlier.

"The Queue" is about an elderly white woman who cannot cope with the circumstances in which she is living. She has to deal with petrol queues, rapid inflation and just the general difficulty of living in Zimbabwe if you have little money. She thinks back on her life and tries to come to terms with her loneliness - her son lives in Australia and her husband is in a home as he has Alzheimer's. The story ends with the woman's death.

Do you write everyday?

I wish I did!

I write very erratically.

I lack discipline, I'm afraid!

What motivated you to start and keep working on This September Sun?

I was in London having a conversation with two friends. One of them happened to mention that at Independence, the British flag was burned at Brady Barracks. Thus, the first line was born!

After that I joined a writing group. It was great having a weekly deadline to meet. I am not very disciplined on my own though and after I left Singapore, which is where I had joined the writing group, I became lazy and wouldn't write as often.

It was only when my daughter was born that I began to write again - every time she went to sleep! I did a lot then and then I had a couple of weeks when I was by myself and I used to sit for hours and write. I was determined to finish it.

It took me about 10 years to write the novel.

The parts of the novel which are set in the 1940s and 50s were the hardest to write as I had to get all the historical details correct. I did a lot of research to get them right.

I actually enjoyed the research the most as I really loved hearing all the interesting stories people had to tell. I learnt a lot - like the fact that you could buy wonderful ice cream in Abyssinia during the Second World War!

The novel was published in Bulawayo at the end of 2009. I knew Jane and Brian of 'amaBooks as they had published my short stories previously.

What sets the novel apart from other things you've written?

My short stories deal more directly with the political situation in Zimbabwe, whereas the political situation is more in the background in my novel.

The novel is similar to the short stories in that it's about relationships between people and how we are all products of our environment.

How would you compare writing short stories to writing novels? Is the process the same?

It's completely different, although I still have to manage to write a short short story - I tend to write rather long ones!

It's easier to write the short stories because you can get to 'the point' more easily.

What will your next book be about?

It's going to be a murder, also set in Bulawayo, but this time it's a murder that will have to be investigated and the murderer discovered.

How many books have you written so far?

Just the one book, This September Sun, published by 'amaBooks in 2009.

I've also had short stories published in the following anthologies:

• Short Writings from Bulawayo ('amaBooks, 2003);
• Short Writings from Bulawayo II ('amaBooks, 2005);
• Short Writings from Bulawayo III ('amaBooks, 2006);
• Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe ('amaBooks, 2008);
• Laughing Now (Weaver Press, 2007), and
• Women Writing Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, 2008).

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Having This September Sun published. It was a major achievement for me!

Possibly related books:

,,

Related articles:

• A Conversation With Alexander McCall Smith, by Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, The Atlantic, June 12, 2010
• In Conversation: Irene Sabatini, by Belinda Otas, Belindaotas.com, June 10, 2010
• Lawrence Hoba [Interview], Conversations with Writers, February 6, 2010

[Featured Author] Peter Tomlinson

Pigeon Holes Are For The Birds
by Alexander James

Peter Tomlinson put his literary life on the line when he turned his back on the genre stereotypes agents, publishers and retailers love to slot into their gold-lined pigeonholes – and he’s never looked back.

After bravely ploughing an independent furrow in a field of his own, the first two novels in his Petronicus Legacy series have already been released and the third in the trilogy is under contract and its first draft is complete.

But even with a solid reputation as the author of nearly 300 poems in eighty poetry and short story magazines in the UK and abroad, the path less trodden – avoiding all genre models – was no easy route for Peter.

Mainstream houses turned down flat his first four novels and two one-act plays because they didn’t fit neatly into their well-ordered catalogues.

Only when he submitted his fifth novel to an independent press with a more open mind did he pique interest … and not only interest in that book; the publishers were so impressed that they immediately offered a three-book deal for Peter to get to work on following his 80,000-word The Stones of Petronicus, with The Time of Kadrik and The Voyages of Delticos to make up a series.

And, said Peter at his home in rural Shropshire:

There are heavy hints that the series won’t end with a mere trilogy.

You see, each book is absolutely self-contained; the lead characters in each are different, but descendents of characters past, the time setting is different, but is the result of times past, the situations are different, but are extensions of situations past … there’s a common thread of development that bonds them. Making up history as I go along means that I could tie together as many Petronicus books as life allows me to write.

It’s as though Peter developed a genre of his own when he took his first character, Petronicus the scribe, and placed him in a time and country that, ‘real world’ as it is, can’t be identified … but which is, certainly, a million miles from the land of fantasy.

He said:

There were times when I felt I was getting nowhere as publisher after publisher told me they just weren’t interested in me if I couldn’t produce a book that would fit their lists so that they could easily identify a target readership for the marketing boys and retailers. But I was determined to go my own way.

So I lowered my sights from the major publishing houses and looked around for a reputable small independent. I found BeWrite Books and we just seemed to click. Far from being frightened off by the fact that the book fitted no established genre, they not only went for it, they immediately signed me up for two follow-ups.

Stones of Petronicus came out last year, Time of Kadrik was published in the spring, and I’ve just completed the first draft of Voyages of Delticos for a winter release. Together, they’ll make up the trilogy, The Petronicus Legacy.

The novels are not typecast in the mode of conventional adventure/historical fiction; the location, characters and civilisations described are entirely fictitious. I take readers into places they have never been before and to meet characters they will meet again only in their dreams … or maybe their nightmares, as one reviewer put it.

The first book follows the theme of a perpetual search for truth and the nature of human existence. All the books explore the relationships between old and young as they complement each other through interaction of enquiring and often precocious youth and the steadier, more experienced wisdom of the elder.

There is no conflict between them except, at times, some understandable impatience. Together they face great dangers as horror and wickedness descends on their idyllic world, and here we see how the combination of youthful energy and mature wisdom triumphs.

But never could the work be labelled ‘fantasy’, in spite of a touch of the mystical and the introduction of some pretty fabulous creatures. My characters have no magical powers and they face purely human struggles in an earthly landscape. The result is education in its purest form.

And it couldn’t be written off as ‘adventure’ because so much of the adventure is of the mind. It’s not ‘historical’ because there’s no factual framework. And it couldn’t get by under that vague and confusing ‘literary’ banner because … well, because there’s always a beginning, a middle and an end to the stories.

The books couldn’t even be classified in terms of potential readership; they would appeal as much to young people as to mature adults, as much to a female as a male audience. And if there’s the slightest whiff of ‘coming-of-age’ (another genre these days), you’d be hard pressed to say whether the coming-of-age applies to a young character, an old character or even a whole civilisation.

In Petronicus, for example, we have the young apprentice to life learning at the side of the master craftsman as the two main characters journey through the joys and tragedies of their lives together.

Sure, I can understand why it is my books would confound publishers whose first question is ‘what genre?’ But I wasn’t about to compromise my work to squeeze it into a narrowly defined slot to suit commercial trends.

Although there is conflict and great danger in the lives of the principal characters, Peter avoids falling into the trap of relying on gratuitous violence to carry the story along. The writing creates vivid images in the minds of his readers and he often crafts his writing in terms of acts and scenes in a visual drama.

Perhaps unusually for an author, he is predominantly an ‘imager’ and this visualisation – actually being an eye witness to what he creates – is demonstrated in his writing.

He has often said that reading is better than watching film; the scenery is better.

In his second novel, The Time of Kadrik, which is set in the same fictional landscape, 10 generations later, Peter casts his players onto a much wider canvas. Here we are introduced to different characters in a different time. The principal player is Kadrik who we follow from boyhood into maturity as he is forced by catastrophic circumstance to question the beliefs on which the survival of his community depends.

With only his wife to support and encourage him, Kadrik lives through several lonely years until his fate is decided by an inescapable imperative and a resolve that comes to dominate his life. In order to save his community from complete collapse, the very young Kadrik must embark on a perilous journey both geographical and intellectual. He undertakes this journey in the company of three unlikely companions: a nameless outcast and two members of a mysterious humanoid species known as the Men Half Made.

Peter insists:

Even so, I avoid straying into the realms of fantasy.

The ‘quest’ is a very human endeavour toward human goals. The Men Half Made are not mythological mermaids; they’re merely an earthly breed apart. And, although I draw heavily on a lifetime of historical research, there can be no confusion between the books in this series and a historical novel because of the way I’ve used what I’ve learned to create an entirely new and fictitious historical base.

I’ve travelled widely to research the backdrop to my scenes. But, again, I’ve used what I’ve learned to create a new reality rather than a Neverland.

A reader might occasionally think he’s worked out where in the world the characters are playing out their roles – but he’ll soon find that he’s mistaken.”

BeWrite Books editor, Neil Marr, said:

One of the beauties of being an independent press, driven by factors that are by no means entirely commercial, is that we have the freedom to experiment with work that doesn’t necessarily fit some tried and tested, money-spinning formula.

Peter’s books break new ground – and that’s their problem in the mainstream where genre is all important. Big-business houses – their marketing departments and their retailers – are tied to established best-selling formulas to keep afloat. A small independent like BB is free of those restrictions.

In the end, it’s the reader who benefits.

Peter’s work is consistently at the top of our ‘most reviewed’ lists. Readers who read the first couldn’t wait for the next … and already, we’re getting emails from people desperate to know when the next will be available.

These books are fresh, you see. There’s nothing else like them out there.

Peter’s road to print was long, winding and frequently pot-holed.

Born in a working class district of Merseyside, UK six months before the outbreak of World War II, he retains some hazy memories of the blitz he lived through.

I vaguely remember my mother cradling me in a blanket and telling me that the ‘all clear’ would be heard soon and we would be safe again.

His father joined the Royal Navy and served throughout the war on destroyers and mine-layers, returning home in 1945 a virtual stranger to Peter.

Meanwhile, Peter was evacuated with his mother and elder brother to a remote hill farm in North Wales to escape the blitz, and that is where his vivid memory begins.

I well remember the sheepdog and the farm animals and I have a pictorial recollection of being left on the edge of the field whilst my mother helped the farmers with haymaking.

There is also a recurring infant memory of a distant mountain that seemed very remote and mysterious.

There was no electricity, gas or piped water in the family’s evacuation home so that much time was spent collecting wood for the fire. Whilst in the safety of North Wales they knew that their home town was being heavily bombed and that relatives were in constant danger. It was inevitable that the anxieties their mother felt were inadvertently transmitted to her children.

When the war ended, the family was re-housed back on Merseyside in one of the emergency prefabricated houses (prefabs) on a cleared bomb site opposite a pawn shop. Peter received the minimum education and often ran wild with other kids in the wasteland of bombed-out buildings and post-war dereliction.

He has only two clear memories of his junior schooling: fear of being wrong and the embarrassment of a recurring stutter, a disability suffered by many wartime children. Perhaps this early communication difficulty led him to retreat into his own imagination.

It was during his brief secondary schooling that his interest in storytelling began. Often, when the teacher was engaged in administrative tasks, Peter was called out to stand in front and tell the class a story. It was terrifying at first, but he gradually mastered his stutter and enjoyed the task. This happened so often that making up stories on the spur of the moment became second nature to him.

He left school aged 15 and worked briefly in a shipyard before finding a job as a telegraph boy at an American Cable Company’s station in Liverpool. They trained him as an operator and taught him the telegraph man’s economy and precision in the use of language. They also trained him to touch type, a skill useful to an author. In fact he can still type as fast as he can speak.

His main recreational interest at the time was mountaineering and rock climbing. He associated with a group of free-spirited, rebellious young people who regularly hitch-hiked to North Wales, slept in old barns and tents that fell down whenever the wind blew, and involved themselves in poetry, heavy drinking and deep discussions by candlelight.

Peter was a very early member of the Cavern Club in Liverpool. But these carefree years ended at the age of 18 with conscription into the British Army. Peter resented the curtailment of his freedom and the discipline, bull and homesickness played heavily on him. Years later he published a poem recalling those feelings:

Conscription 1958-60

Barracked and confined
in drab wooden huts
with the smoke of cheap cigarettes,
smells of adolescent sweat
and scant privacy.

Tethered to an unfamiliar routine,
a world of harsh discipline,
contrived discomfort
and coarse khaki roughening skin,
chasing any kind word or praise
amidst insults and humiliations
embarrassingly endured.

Cold, always cold
in those slow, homesick,
day-counting weeks
in alien Catterick.

An ache filled the space
where our freedom once was,
where fettered youth could no longer run.

Then ranked in tight marching order
and dispatched as props for a dying empire
with mum’s fears, dad’s knowing eye
and daft words like: ‘It does them good’.

© Peter Tomlinson – first published in Reach Magazine

As a wireless operator, Peter spent 18 months in Cyprus. It was here that his serious interest in poetry really began. It was often too dangerous for young soldiers to venture far from their army camp but he was able to wander freely in the nearby deserted ruins of an ancient Greek city and give his vivid imagination free rein. Often he put his thoughts on paper and years later he worked these into published poems.

Another three or four carefree years passed after demobilisation before he went to college and university and pursued an academic career.

After early retirement, he worked for a few years as a cultural guide overseas, leading tours on foot in Rome, Venice, Florence, Assisi, Verona, Istanbul etc. What he saw and what he learned was to find its way into the fictional land he created for Petronicus and his descendents.

Since achieving his ambition to take time to write, he has published hundreds of poems in scores of magazines. Success came to him when Bluechrome published his first commercially produced poetry collection Tunnels of the Mind, which received favourable reviews.

In an effort to present even more work to readers, his wife, Margaret, suggested self-publishing under their own imprint, Hengist Enterprises. This launched four collections of poetry, two collections of short stories and two collections of original epigrams.

Peter read his poetry at numerous poetry festivals. At the Oxford Poetry Festival he had a chance conversation with a friend, the well known British author and poet, Sam Smith, who suggested submitting work to his own publisher, Bewrite Books.

Neil Marr – who edits both Peter and Sam’s work for BeWrite Books – said:

It was a fortuitous meeting. Sam is another author whose writing refuses to be pigeon-holed. It courageously crosses genre lines or, like Peter’s, absolutely defies all genre definition.

The sheer scope of Peter’s books is breath-taking. He’s the only author I know who can produce an epic in a tight 80,000 words.

Many of Peter’s ideas for poems and novels come to him whilst he roams wild and lonely places; the Shropshire hills and forests, the mountains of North Wales, the Lake District and the Alps. He finds that the restful rhythm of solitary walking removes his thoughts from the futile imperatives of modern life and provides an easy conduit for ideas to flow into his receptive mind.

His wife Margaret acts as an at-home editor, paying meticulous attention to his manuscripts, ensuring clarity, correct use of grammar and making sure a good clean copy is sent to his publishers.

Margaret says:

After we’ve had breakfast and discussed our plans for the day, Peter settles down to the intensive daily writing session. He is very self-disciplined about this and not even the lure of a visit to the supermarket can drag him away. Slips of paper with cryptic words litter the house as ideas enter Peter’s head and he scribbles them down before forgetting them. This can happen at awkward times: I’ve even found messages on the loo roll!

He freely admits to living in a dream world and it can be disconcerting living with a daydreamer. Not only does he forget important things I’ve told him, but he forgets what he’s told me. Is this the onset of senility or the flame of genius burning bright?

Despite these drawbacks, I think that Peter’s writing has drawn us closer. I am full of admiration for his creativity and feel privileged to be involved in the process, especially when we discuss ideas and language, although the dots and commas department is where I really feel important.

Entering into the dream world is the best of all: during our recent travels to Iceland and Greenland we were both fired with delight at recognising scenes from Petronicus – the Land of the Towering Rocks, the Land of the Bubbling Mud, the Mountains that hold up the Sky. Peter had created them in his mind before we saw for ourselves that they actually existed in the real world.

This interview first appeared in Twisted Tongue Magazine

Possibly related books:

,,

Related articles

• Peter Tomlinson [Interview], Conversations with Writers, November 19, 2007
• Sam Smith [Interview], Conversations with Writers, November 5, 2007
• Neil Marr [Interview_1], Conversations with Writers, November 5, 2009

[Interview: 2 of 2] M. A. Walters

In an earlier interview, science fiction, horror novelist and short story writer, M. A. Walters talked about his collection of short stories, A Flourish of Damage and other Tales (Sonar4 Publications, 2010).

M. A. Walters now talks about the influences he draws on as a writer:

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

I would say it’s a mix. I think I jump across genre lines pretty freely. I think most of my current work is a combination of science fiction, horror, and speculative fiction.

I kind of have to think the writer Nina M. Osier for that. She writes in the sci-fi genre and seemed to think it might be a good fit for me. She is a good teacher. Also, she was subtle. I felt it was OK to try on the genre and it was a great fit.

Who is your target audience?

I try and be inclusive on purpose. For example, I try and write strong, interesting and flawed characters that will appeal to many personalities.

I try and hook the reader and keep them moving. I want them both entertained and challenged.

People have told me that I write strong and interesting women. Which is funny to me because women are still a mystery to me. I thought it a stupid notion to cut out half the world’s population by only writing for men. For example, women are quickly discovering science fiction today. They are joining the sciences and I think they offer some intuitive wisdom even there in the hard sciences. They have been solidly in the horror realm for a good while, since what, Mary Shelley, which is horror but also an early sci-fi theme.

I hope my work appeals across genres and across gender. For example, Jian, the lead character in the first book of the Minders series is a very strong, powerful and complex women. She really ended up being the lead. I did not plan it that way at all. She took over but made the book better for doing so.

Of course, the same applies for the male characters. I mention women because I’ve gone out of my way to include them in the sf genre by looking at them as potential readers.

If you just want a good adventure story, I think you will want to give my work a look. If you are a horror, sf, or speculative reader, the same also.

I attempt to be inclusive. I think, even a mystery or thriller reader would enjoy some of my work. At least I’d like to think so.

Which authors influenced you most?

The truth is ... and this is what I think makes my work a bit unique ... a lot of my influences come from outside my genre.

I see the influence of some surrealistic poets, for one, in the way I string sentences together and sometimes unusual word combinations and the way I piece environment together.

For me, environment is the biggest character in a story. I learned that from F. Herbert.

As for the others, these are people I’ve not read for a long time but the poetry and internal world is still there. Writers like Paul Bowels, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Pablo Neruda. They all wrote the interior world very well. At the same time, their eyes were piercing, in the awake sense. You could see through their eyes, in new ways, the ordinary world.

It’s strange, but there is poetry in every thing if seen very clearly. There are violent explosive episodes in my work, but there is an odd poetry and beauty there also. Perhaps because so much is at stake in those moments. I want the reader to feel that. I want them to be tense and uncomfortable.

There is a fight scene in the "Rocks Beneath" and there is so much at stake in that moment, the whole book has been driving you there as the tension mounts. You are so invested in the character by that time and more than just the life of those two individuals is at stake. After a friend read that passage, he said he was exhausted and that he hated one of the characters. Actually hated them.

That meant I had succeeded in my venture.

It was the biggest compliment I’ve received thus far.

The point is, I really did not discover my genre until about 10 years ago. Friends tried to get me to read the Ring Series, Tolkien’s work. I said, "Isn’t that for kids, like teen stories?"

One day, I picked it up and was completely pulled in, completely sucked in and I never looked back. That’s a good point on horror writing, I think.

Throughout Tolkien’s work you see the influences that haunted him from World War I: the trench warfare is there; the deep friendships and the harshness; the senseless death ... I’ve heard others say this also. I think it is true and a very strong feature of his work.

From there I discovered Frank Herbert’s Dune, and later the work that continued through Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Lovecraft is also there in some work. Like in "After the Fall, the Remnant". Which is outlined to continue and become a full novel, perhaps my next.

I think I need a break from the Minders.

Bradbury, he was a man so far ahead of his time. And he could be so nostalgic and sensitive, and yet far out front ahead of his era. And he still is!

I see some Bradbury in "Scraps of Time and Place".

Bradbury is like childhood, terrifying and wonderful at the same time. I’d like to think I capture a little of that from time to time. Stephen King is like this. He knows and understands childhood and the wild things in the closet and the shadows under the bed. He writes remarkable friendships, the ones we carry with us always, from those years.

S. M. Stirling is a contemporary writer I really enjoy. I can’t pen point a particular influence although I aspire towards his battle scenes. He can put those together better than anyone I’m aware of now.

When did you start writing?

When I was between 10 and 12 years old.

People, kids begin to look at the world around that age. Before that we are pretty focused on the self. Well, I began to look around and realized the world did not operate the way I was taught it was suppose to. That view then turns on the self and I realized that I made even less sense. So I began to order things on paper. Back then it was pen and paper and when pen hit paper it was somehow transforming and natural.

Getting published ... that has been a twisted path for me with many pitfalls and detours.

First, I put pen to paper then, sometime later, the thought of sharing arrived slowly.

Writing is a damned scary venture, isn’t it? Sharing what you have written, that’s not for the faint-hearted but, face it, we writers are basically faint-hearted. You can’t have that kind of nature and not be a bit thinned-skinned. It’s like a romantic venture, that moment you put it all on the line.

You eventually learn to tuck your ego away or so I hear -- but it’s raw and takes some courage always.

I started by letting a few people I trusted look at my work, but that was much later. I was in the process then of deciding this is what I want to do. I always keep returning to that.

I started as a poet, believe it or not. And I did publish in that genre in this anthology or that one right away. The poetry came much later when I was in college, as did the short stories ... I took those genres up seriously in my early 20’s. Before that is was snippets, patches of stories, a half poem, it was mostly journal type entries. But it began there.

Strangely and odd enough I was not heavy reader until college.

It was like a dormant part of me woke up and woke up at a full gallop. I’ve been catching up ever since.

It was an English teacher and I was terrified of him, anyone with sense was! First day of class there was like 37 people, mostly unknowing freshmen packed into his little class that had about 12 chairs.

We were spilled all over the floor and standing in corners.

He was a tall lean Scotsman with a big white beard and wore a little red beret and the same old brown wrinkled corduroy sport coat everyday. I think that coat was much older than I was.

We were all squirming and quietly asking each other, "What’s up?"

We knew this was not the norm.

He looked up and his eyes seemed to impale each of us. You knew there was no corner deep enough to hide in! In fact, we quickly learned not to sit in those corners anyway.

He quietly said, "If you are worried about having a seat don’t be. There will be plenty of seats soon enough. By the end of week there will be 12 to 15 of you left. Fewer of those will survive before to the end of semester."

Then he roared with the loudest belly laugh I’ve heard before or since. I once, many years later, heard that laugh in the back of a darkened theater and instantly said, "That is Mr. Moore." He was always Mr. to me even after we became friends. He was my first teacher in every sense of the word.

Well, Mr. Moore pointed to the door with his chin and said, "If you want to leave, now is a good time to do so because the door will soon be locked, as it will be every day the moment class begins. There are no latecomers here."

Those with good sense bolted for the door and he politely told them all goodbye and said thanks for coming.

Truth is, I think, I was too scared to leave.

Afterwards, I told my girlfriend of the time, "I can’t do this class. This is not for me."

She looked at me and said simply, "I think you have to if you want to write."

Well, long story made short, I survived the first week, and I survived the entire semester.

I took every class he offered, in fact.

I never walked in that room at ease, though. It was like a confrontation with a Zen master. There was the feeling that anything could happen in that room. Yet through all this, he was the most respectful person I have ever met.

He was not mean, ever. He was stern, and he was caring. But it was the kind of kindness that strips away falseness.

If you ever, and I did, say something glib or false you were ablaze in your seat instantly.

But it was always Mr. Walters, Ms. So-and-so. It was the first time most of us were treated as adults.

OK, so I did the bravest thing I think I had ever done up to that point. At mid-term, I quietly slipped a large envelope of probably 200 poems on his desk.

I was so frightened I could not talk. I just slipped it there on my rush to the door.

He never said a word about it.

I’m laughing here.

But the very last day of class, he said, "Mr. Walters, I believe this is yours."

I picked up the same envelope and neither of us said anything.

I thought, "Oh, crap, he did not even bother to look at them."

Lol.

I was mistaken.

I got home and realized every single poem was littered with red and blue ink. He had thoughtfully commented on each poem.

That was the beginning ... somehow.

Possibly related books:

,,

Related articles:

• M. A. Walters [Interview: 1 of 2], Conversations with Writers, June 8, 2010
• Yann Martel: in search of understanding, by Mick Brown, The Telegraph, June 1, 2010
• Ray Bradbury made me want to write, by Neil Gaiman, Times Online, May 21, 2010

[Interview: 1 of 2] M. A. Walters

Maine, New England resident, M. A. Walters is a science fiction, horror novelist and short story writer.

His work includes the collection of short stories, A Flourish of Damage and other Tales, which is available as an e-book from Sonar4 Publications.

In this interview, M. A. Walters talks about his writing:

How long did it take you to come up with A Flourish of Damage?

It took a year to knock the shorts out while working on two novels. Sonar4 is the publisher. They are small but vigorous with solid heads and work ethics behind them. They are smart. I’ve had a chance at a bigger house, but I trust these people and know they will promote me, and I think I have something to offer them also.

Which were the most difficult aspects of the work you put into the book?

Dealing with domestic violence and some of the darker sub-currents of our culture.

In a lot of the shorts in this collection I’m pocking around some uncomfortable patches and corners of my self. I got a little too close to the edge a couple times and pulled back. It’s hard not to become the thing we hate at least for moments, the darkness in the world.

When we rally against injustice, I discovered it’s far too easy to become that which we hate. Yet that quick recoil itself is what tells us we are different. The lead character in "Flourish" is all about that very fine line, and it was a challenge to me. How does she take back her life and maintain that humanity?

I’m something of a near pacifist by nature but there is something in me that respond vigorously to blatant abuse and injustice. It’s a deep part of my nature; it’s part of the furniture of my self. It’s not going anywhere, so I accommodate it. I just work with it.

Well, the part of me that is pacifistic and tolerant and who is really a live-and-let-live kind of personality can encounter wrath and rage in myself when the large attack the weak and those that can’t defend themselves.

I used to practice aikido and aikido is a positive paradigm in relating to this inner and outer conflict. But people there take that to one extreme or another also. It’s all peace and light or it’s brutal, either of those points of view is BS in my mind. What there is are circumstances and the response that is proper for that given time. Lock your self into either of those corners and you are in a dangerous place.

People don’t want to think, they want right and wrong answers. There are solid lines that should never be crossed, when crossed you have lost what makes you human and there’s nothing left worth fighting for at that point. Forget that and your culture or person is over, you just don’t realize that yet. I’m very serious on this point. Perhaps I’m just a moralist at heart; oh-well all good horror is moralistic in nature.

Which aspects of the work you put into the book did you enjoy most?

The writing itself, when it’s pouring through you and you don’t really feel like you are at the wheel, you are something of a watcher and there is something magical there, about that, for lack of a better word ... It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever encountered. It’s addictive.

What sets the book apart from other things you've written?

A couple of those stories are a bit too personal for my taste.

Maybe there is a little more of me in a couple stories in that collection than would normally be.

I was pushing the edge a few times there.

A Flourish of Damage and other Tales is similar to other things I have written because I returned to short story format, which was how I essentially saw myself in the past.

I went back to my roots.

Those stories were all written over the last year while I worked on the novels, they were like a breathing break for me.

The novel is an over-whelming experience for me. I like to do it but, frankly, it hurts.

What will your next book be about?

It’s either going to be finishing book two of the Minder series, tentatively titled The Culling, or I’m going to expand After the Fall the Remnant into a novel. I know where that’s going and I think its’ an interesting place. I’m excited to jump in those waters. It’s a very Lovecraft kind of tale, where something ancient and so very different from us suddenly jumps into the present.

We will also have the deal with our own dark-side there because the beings that show up look on us as simple resources, nothing more. It’s a coldness so deep it’s not coldness. That is much more frightening. It’s indifference. This is what we confront in the novel and I’m letting the human race off easily in this one. They will never be the same again, simple as that. The human race is done but evolution still proceeds from that point. Dormant things in the human also wake up; survival and chaos are also a different word for creation, right? I’m excited about this work.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Persistence ...

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Mine and those around me also. I always had a strong sense of empathy and saw a good deal of suffering and, yes, that shaped me and it’s there in the work.

I also grew up on the wrong side of the track so to speak. Which is an education in and of itself.

One of my characters from the story, A Flourish of Damage, is a writer and says something like she bleeds all over the pages she writes, because she is hidden there, but hidden well, hopefully. The writer has to step out of the way for things to work and yet still be there.

Remember, at the beginning, I said I began writing at around 10.

I think a lot of us can’t always solve our problems with the world but we become god-like with the pen, don’t we? Some of the injustice and sand traps of the world get solved or at least framed in a different light on paper. It’s a way to deal, to more than deal, to transform something in our selves. At the same time, remember, it’s hopefully just a good story. You have to entertain, never forget that, or, you are doomed. You also can’t make everyone happy, so don’t try. That’s related to what I said above. Be inclusive but don’t try and please all. That’s a foolish venture. I’m young in the business of writing but that seems pretty apparent.

Do you write everyday?

I try to write something, maybe just a blog, even correspondence.

Health does not always allow this. There are many days I simply can’t, but it’s always there, the mind is constantly spinning stories even if I’m sick in bed. In fact, that’s when I tend to crash through difficult parts of a story or character, in that quiet dreamy realm when sick or exhausted. I’ve had crummy health my entire life, in the last few years it’s been much worse. I don’t venture far these days. Which is odd for me as I used to love to travel, to throw myself into strange places and sink or swim.

I ‘think’ it was Proust who also was like this. I read where he said if he had been born healthy he would never have been a writer. I think that might be true for me, I would probably be out hiking and expending energy physically. So, again, there is a positive even to this. I came back to writing from illness. So, I accept this.

I try and make up for it during a good spell. Some days I can’t work. Some I will be here for 12 hours straight. When I can I’m here and I work hard and long. When I can’t, I can’t. As soon as I sit here, it happens, the world recedes around me.

There is something shamanistic about writing. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there. I’m not a TV watcher. This is what I do when I can. I take a nap in the middle of the day then find myself here again if health permits. Ends with some reading and sleep. Yes, reading, my eyes take a beating.

I’ve been away from publishing for many years and am only now seriously thrusting myself into that arena in the last couple years.

Early on, I had a bad agent and bad publishing house miss-adventure. I got very busy afterward and I just walked away from the business until just recently.

I had three books optioned by a medium-sized west coast publishing house. About the time my work was suppose to be coming out the house split and not remotely nicely. Many writers were caught in the middle of all this.

Aside from that, small bits here and there back then. Point is, I’m here now, and I’m seriously here looking at this as a profession. I take the work seriously. Myself as a writer, I hope, less seriously than back in those days.

I’m not often one for quoting my ex-wife, but she said most writers can’t really enter this profession until they hit 40. I think that is pretty accurate. Experience shaped my work and I think at 40 you can look back and see that and throw all that into your work. You have to go through the agony of those early years to do that. You can’t spare people from that, I don’t think.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

Easy, I’m dyslexic, and not mildly so. This is why I was not a good reader until college, not that I’m good now. I was un-diagnosed before this. I read, and edit profoundly slowly but I write quickly, thankfully! It is a painful process for me, editing.

My early experience marked me throughout my school days. After I got my diagnosis after near 12 hours of testing with a wonderful college psychologist, I flourished as a student. I discovered, in fact, I had a very high IQ, I was not slow (I knew there was something very wrong), my brain was just wired differently and did not see words and such as most did. Most people don’t realize those glitches are not just for words. The thoughts twist and turn and I lose those also. I’m horrible with names, I never remember dates, and my sense of time is horrible. I’m not good in certain venues and formats due to this.

Reading is painfully slow still, editing. There are days I can’t get my words pointed in the right direction, days I simply cannot spell. It’s funny, however, when some people read my work they say it sounds effortless. They don’t hear the huge roar of laughter inside. Effortless, no, painful yes! Thanks to the literature gods for technology.

Some days are okay. I have a prism in my glasses that helps me see the words better. Before that I had horrid migraines. Still do at times. But the problem is in the brain ultimately. I’ve learned to compensate for it. I choose to look at it in a positive light now. Maybe the gift of writing might not be there save for this disability? Who knows?

But it impacts edits, and as a writer and I don’t do public readings of my work. Signings I will happily do. Reading out loud is a painful childhood memory for me. I’m an adult now and can just say no. I will write for you, I do my job and yours is to read.

My generation did not know these things and I would get tossed up front and feel like a sideshow freak. Yet everyone knew I was quite intelligent, which was a strangeness to live with. Often times our weak points become our strongest points however. There is a certain irony in my becoming or being a writer you see. This irony is certainly not missed on me.

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• M. A. Walters [Interview: 2 of 2], Conversations with Writers, June 10, 2010
• An Interview with M. A. Walters, by Chris Bartholomew, Static Movement
• Robin Becker: Zombies and Brains [Interview], by Alan Sanders, The Fountain, March 4, 2010