[Interview] Nerine Dorman on Camdeboo Nights

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Last week I reviewed Nerine Dorman's ace Camdeboo Nights, and today I'm welcoming her to my blog to talk about it further!

1) How would you sum up Camdeboo Nights in a single sentence?
Part road trip and monster mash-up, the story takes four teenagers on the ride of their lives.

2) It feels like a very 'personal' book. How much of yourself is in the story?
Interestingly enough, this is possibly the least personal of my novels. I did draw on some of my experiences, like being bullied at school. I was also touched on some of the results of bullying because at the time of writing, we'd had our "Ninja Killer" case. So there was that... But also my great love of the hamlet of Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo, in a part known as the Camdeboo. So, while vampires made wonderful villains in this tale, I also touched on African myths and mixed in a few strange ideas of my own.

3) Your other books tend towards first person P.O.V., but Camdeboo Nights is more of a head hop. What made you choose a different style of P.O.V.?
I'd recently read my first George RR Martin novel, and I wanted to experiment with telling one story from multiple points of view. Some may find this disorientating, but I decided to write each chapter from either one of the two primary characters (Helen and Trystan) and swapped out with the two secondary characters (Arwen and Etienne). This was immensely fun because no character has all the information, and it's wonderful watching them flounder around without being privy to all the important details. So, readers get to see what's happening while the characters remain in the dark.

4) Your stories are always very character-driven. Where did you get the ideas for the characters in Camdeboo Nights?
Trystan was my first. I'd always loved the idea of a vampire who was on the run from his kind holing up in the most obscure place he could find. And I had to give him something special, a quirk--and his is that he relates more to his 1947 Hudson Commodore, which he's kept in mint condition over the years, than he does to people.

Helen changes that. I don't want to say much about her for fear of spoiling some of the surprises, but she's got a good heart, and genuinely tries to keep it all together when everyone else around her is falling apart. Her parents are in the process of getting divorced. Her mother has a mental illness and her father is off gallivanting with a much-younger woman. Not an easy time.

Arwen and Etienne are almost comic relief. Arwen's parents were real eccentrics who named her after a character in The Lord of the Rings. Etienne is a little person who gives as good as he gets. Although he puts up with a lot of bullying, he doesn't let it affect him.

5) Will there be a follow-up?
At this point, no. I've got a bunch of projects on my plate that are going to keep me busy for a while, but I'm very keen to pick up the story 10 years from where it's at now. I have... Some ideas. But I need to let them ruminate for a while.

You can buy Camdeboo Nights from Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Kobo.

Bio: An editor and multi-published author, Nerine Dorman currently resides in Cape Town, South Africa, with her visual artist husband. Some of the publishers with whom she works include Lyrical Press, Dark Continents Publishing and eKhaya (an imprint of Random House Struik). She has been involved in the media industry for more than a decade, with a background in magazine and newspaper publishing, commercial fiction, and print production management within a below-the-line marketing environment. Her book reviews, as well as travel, entertainment and lifestyle editorial regularly appear in national newspapers. A few of her interests include music travel, history (with emphasis on Egypt), psychology, philosophy, magic and the natural world. You can stalk her on Twitter @nerinedorman.

[Book Review] Camdeboo Nights

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Anyone who reads this blog will know I'm a big fan of South African wordmistress Nerine Dorman, and it's my pleasure to review one of her most recent offerings, Camdeboo Nights. Set in her native land, Dorman tells the tale of Helen Ashfield, a young woman trying to come to terms with the fact her parents are getting divorced, and she has to start a new school in a small town. If that wasn't bad enough, it seems Helen also has somewhat awesome powers, which bring her to the attention of Trystan, a runaway vampire. Separately, they'd probably have gone under the radar of the badass vampire enforcer, Mantis, but together, Helen becomes a target, bringing Trystan out into the open.

The way I've described it might make it sound a little like another human plus vampire series that I'm sure I don't need to name, but I can't stress enough how unlike said series Camdeboo Nights actually is. For one thing, Camdeboo Nights is told from several points of view, granting us access to Trystan and Helen, as well as Helen's friends Arwen and Etienne. Plus, Helen isn't a grating Mary Sue - she has issues with school bullies, and while she's a little more passive than I'd like, she doesn't spend her whole time mooning after Trystan. Helen has real problems to deal with, on top of her magical ones, and no matter what she does, she always does what she thinks is best. It's admirable.

As always with Dorman's books, one of the joys of reading is the world created in its pages. I've never been to South Africa but I always feel like I 'know' the country a little better once I've read one of Dorman's books, and the vistas of Camdeboo Nights are so far removed from anything I've ever encountered. Beyond the physical landscape, there's a real mythology and sense of 'history' to this story - Trystan's dealings with his vampire brethren have made him an outcast, so he's hardly a shining, flawless hero, and that makes him far more interesting as a result. Then there's Arwen, descended from a family of witches and seeking to tap into power of her own. She's prickly and strong-minded, and I really liked her. Her motives are sometimes shadowy or ambiguous, but again, it makes her more interesting to read.

Camdeboo Nights is a wonderful read, and I seemed to fly through it in no time at all, meaning the only question is...when is the next one coming out?

Four and a half blunt pencils out of five!

You can buy Camdeboo Nights from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

[Guest Post] Stepping clear of a black hole

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If you want to get published, and you don't want to put out your work yourself, then you really have no option but to query agents, or small publishing presses, to find the one that suits you. It can be a nightmare process, and there have been rumblings online about discontent within a particular independent press who doesn't have the money to pay author royalties. I've asked the very awesome Nerine Dorman to give some advice on what to do - and, more importantly, what not to do, when sending out your work into the big bad world of publishing...

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So, you’re treading the submissions mill, looking for that literary agent or publisher of your dreams are you? Working your way through Publishersmarketplace.com or a following up on names you found at the Absolutewrite.com forums?

Yes, it’s a disheartening process. If an agent or a publisher even bothers to get back to your query, (less than half most of the time) there’s a fair chance you’ll receive a polite form rejection of “Dear Mary Jane, we thank you for your query, but…”

That wonderful word: BUT. It doesn’t get any easier the longer you’ve been in this game and yes, we know this isn’t a personal but, blah blah blah, face it, sweetie, are you really the industry’s next EL James or Ms Meyer? What agents and publishers look for is highly subjective. There’s no getting around that. That’s why you need to query widely.

Often, when an agent or a publisher does come back to you with a “Dear Mary Jane, we are delighted to inform you…” it’s easy to rush into signing away all your rights without thinking, and end up taking the short end of the stick at the end of the day.

This post is beyond the scope to give exhaustive details of all that can go wrong. (Just go check out http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/ as a basic picture of all the horrible pitfalls.) But I am going to give you two very important pieces of advice most new authors ignore. 1) DON’T RUSH INTO SIGNING ANYTHING. 2) DO YOUR BACKGROUND CHECKS BEFORE YOU QUERY.

And, in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t listen to this advice either when I was first starting out. Luckily the agent that I’d briefly had (who wasn’t right for me, BTW) let me down nicely. We’d really been wasting each other’s time. Here’s a mantra: No agent is better than a bad agent (paste a little post-it note somewhere on your desk for that one.)

Before we got a wee bit distracted, let’s get back to those two aforementioned pieces of advice which should be branded onto your left and right hands. That way you can see the words when you type. Actually, even better, do your background checks BEFORE you even get to the point where you’re going to have to sign anything. Look at it this way, if you’re picking an agent or a publisher to query, it’s kinda like getting into a relationship with another person. You don’t want to entrust your baby to a remorseless gun-wielding gangster, do you?

Nope, didn’t think so. So the process of querying can look something like this:

1) Make a list of agents/publishers;
2) Go read each agent/publisher’s submission guidelines. Are they open for submissions? What genres are they looking for? Who are their clients? When was their most recent sale/release?

If an agent/publisher doesn’t have any recent activity, it’s a reason to be suspicious (sure, sometimes they’re tardy and they don’t update their sites, but rather be safe than sorry). That’s when I go to two websites. Preditors and Editors might not always be up to date, but there’s still loads of information there. Go check up your chosen agent/publisher. Then, run a search on the Absolute Write forums. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Sign up and start a thread. See what sort of answers you can turn up. Everyone who is anyone in the publishing industry pretty much hangs out there from time to time.

Still don’t know anything? Proceed with caution, and if said agent/publisher seems too good to be true, they probably are. Another golden rule: If anyone asks for money upfront, RUN AWAY AS FAR AND FAST AS YOU CAN. Just don’t go down that road. A reputable agent/publisher will never charge you money for services like reading your manuscript, or editing it, for that matter.

Lastly, one of the best things you can do is make friends with other authors. This will happen in places like Absolute Write. Find out about authors’ good experiences and their bad, especially in the chosen genre that you’re writing. They’ll be able to tell you how royalty payments work, which publishers are good about communicating with their authors, which aren’t.

The hallmarks of a good publisher is a company that will provide you with value-added services. Nowadays it’s not career suicide if you decide to self-publish. Maybe your book is hard to classify, or you might already have a niche you can market to. Just remember, without a publisher, there’s a lot of stuff you’re going to have to do yourself (like cover art, editing and formatting).

So, there are loads of publishers you can still approach that don’t require you to have a literary agent. Check out Duotrope.com for potential markets. Remember to do your background checks.

The publishing industry is changing at a rapid rate nowadays. It pays, therefore, to keep up to date with news. Follow agents and the editors of your favourite imprints on Twitter or subscribe to their blogs or newsletters. Keep yourself informed, so that the choices you make aren’t harebrained. You’ve spent ages polishing that manuscript. You really want your novel to be the absolute best when it eventually gets released into the world.

Bio: Nerine Dorman is a South African editor and (mostly) dark fantasy author. She is the editor of the annual Bloody Parchment short story competition and anthology (eKhaya/Random House Struik), among other projects. Authors are welcome to query her for her editing rates at nerinedorman@gmail.com.

Guest Post - Nerine Dorman

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I like to promote authors whose work I enjoy, and it's even better when I can get them to talk about it, so it's with great pleasure that I throw open the doors of the Blunt Pencil to my very dear friend, and exceptionally talented author, Nerine Dorman. She's currently promoting her latest release, Inkarna, which I reviewed here, and here she is to tell you more about it...

Inkarna - in Nerine Dorman's words...

Your House is your Home

It’s a bit of a dog-eat-dog world for my Inkarna—a race of reincarnating body-thieving magicians who are often in conflict with different cabals among their kind. That’s why there’s safety in numbers, and it’s rare that one will find lone Inkarna in the material world, as well as in their conception of the afterlife, or Tuat, as it is known.

They have existed since Pre-Dynastic times in ancient Egypt and, over the eons, strive for mastery in their society where it’s quite possible to make oneself eternal, implacable enemies.

It’s often said: keep your friends close and your enemies closer, which is true for my Inkarna. Rivalries that span centuries are bitter, and those who would seize immortality do so at a price which is often higher than anticipated. So, while my Inkarna will cluster in Houses that have a particular focus in their work, the internecine squabbling can have more devastating effects on individuals than the conflict arising between the Houses.

Inkarna the novel is the story of a woman—and a man—or rather a person who learns to make do with the limited resources at hand. Despite every setback, the Inkarna that is Lizzie/Ash fights hard to stay true to House Adamastor, a small grouping of Inkarna who have remained in hiding at the very tip of Africa for centuries.

What Lizzie/Ash doesn’t know is that her House has been protecting a dangerous secret—hence the reason why House Adamastor has remained under the magical radar for so long. All that changes when circumstances surrounding Lizzie’s return go horribly wrong.

How does it work? The Inkarna have means to keep watch over the world of the living, and when they detect a person who is about to go through a near-death experience, they summon the energy to punch through one of their own to displace the target’s soul. The Inkarna take over the body and the departed sinks into the primordial chaos that is the Sea of Nun. I agree that what they do is not very nice, and it’s often that the Inkarna will justify their actions by stating that the individual whose body they have stolen would have died anyway.

While House Adamastor’s Inkarna are considered “immortal librarians” by the others; their specialities lie in information-gathering and sneaking about. The other Houses have far more sinister powers.

What’s eternity without an overambitious enemy? House Montu (named for the falcon-headed Egyptian god of war) seems set to take over the world, with fingers in many pies but mostly involved with the production of arms and the support of warfare. To put it mildly, they kick ass in combat, as Lizzie/Ash soon discovers.

Other houses that are mentioned, but not featured, include House Alba, Malkuth and Thanatos. This is where it gets fun for future instalments. Alba are British imperialists who trace their origins to the time of King Arthur. Malkuth are concerned with worldly matters and business, and messing around with politicians. Thanatos are possibly the ones I’ll play with next. They’re necromancers and I’ll leave it up to your imagination for now when it comes to some of the activities they engage in.

So, if vampires, angels and ghosts have outstayed their welcome on your bookshelves, and you’re looking for a fresh supernatural departure, I offer you my Inkarna. Even better, I don’t think I’ll be running out of stories anytime soon. And yes, I do plan to follow up with more instalments.

Bio: An editor and multi-published author, Nerine Dorman currently resides in Cape Town, South Africa, with her visual artist husband. Some of the publishers with whom she works include Lyrical Press, Dark Continents Publishing and eKhaya (an imprint of Random House Struik). She has been involved in the media industry for more than a decade, with a background in magazine and newspaper publishing, commercial fiction, and print production management within a below-the-line marketing environment. Her book reviews, as well as travel, entertainment and lifestyle editorial regularly appear in national newspapers. A few of her interests include music travel, history (with emphasis on Egypt), psychology, philosophy, magic and the natural world.

Follow Nerine on Twitter @nerinedorman, like her Facebook author page, visit her blog, or see her website.
Buy Inkarna in print here.

[Book Review] Inkarna by Nerine Dorman

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Way back in February, I reviewed Blood and Fire, a collaboration between Carrie Clevenger and Nerine Dorman. The story involved Carrie's vampire, Xan Marcelles (his novel, Crooked Fang, is coming soon) and Nerine's reincarnating spirit, Ashton Kennedy. With Inkarna, Ashton gets the chance to tell his own story. And in a world where 'paranormal' books seem to be preoccupied with vampires or werewolves, Nerine Dorman gives us reincarnation, ancient Egyptian mysteries and even daimonic powers. What's not to love?

The story is told by Ashton Kennedy - or rather, by Lizzie, a woman reincarnated into the body of this fairly obnoxious young man. As one of a race of beings known as Inkarna, Lizzie belongs to House Adamastor, a group of people dedicated to knowledge and secrets. Sadly the afterlife is just as riddled with politics and intrigue as the mortal coil, and Lizzie, as Ashton, finds herself caught up in a deadly tug of war with House Montu, a warrior cult - as if it's not hard enough just to deal with the enemies Ashton made during his lifetime! This is some serious stuff, people - no twinkly vampires or cuddly werewolves here. The Inkarna have daimonic powers that put the Jedi and Sith to shame, and when it all kicks off, it REALLY kicks off.

There are many things I loved about Inkarna, and clearly its basis within ancient Egyptian mythology was one of them. Dorman knows her stuff and her passion for the subject bleeds through every word. The concept of a woman finding herself trapped inside a man's body was equally fascinating, and Lizzie's slow transition as she 'grows into' Ashton was impressive and well-handled. The setting of South Africa was also a point of interest - I've never been, but I feel like I've explored Cape Town along with Ashton and Marlise, his partner-in-crime.

There were several occasions when reading that I got so wrapped up in the book that I almost missed train stops, and I'd get "itchy fingers" until I could get back to turning the pages. For anyone who loves paranormal or mystical fiction, or for anyone who likes stories that are a bit out of the ordinary, or for anyone who just enjoys a well-written book, I'd highly recommend Inkarna.

Five blunt pencils out of five!

You can buy the paperback here, or the Kindle edition here. Nerine will be visiting my blog next Wednesday to talk about Inkarna some more!

[Book Review] Blood and Fire

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I've long been a fan of Carrie Clevenger's Xan Marcelles, and in this novella, the bassist vampire is marched out of Pale Rider, in Pinecliffe, Colorado, and into a hellish house of mysteries. He's not the only one - Ashton Kennedy, written by Nerine Dorman, is a being known as an Inkarna (essentially a body thief) and he's charged with the task of breaking into the same mystery house to retrieve an ancient artifact. The unlikely pair team up in order to bust some heads and get the hell out of there.

I'll be honest upfront - I loved this. I started with the intention of savouring each chapter and taking my time, but I ended up absolutely whizzing through it. Carrie's Xan chapters are written in his inimitable style, and contrast nicely with Ash's more esoteric and worldweary ways. I always enjoy reading Xan's chapters but it's been a real pleasure getting to know Nerine's Ash. The pacing is excellent, taking us from Xan's Ordinary World of Pinecliffe, and into the hidden mysteries of Luxor House. The house was so well-described I felt like I'd actually been there, and the dual observations make it really pop from the page. The action never lets up, and I would love to see a paranormal thriller from these two.

I can't actually recommend it enough, and as an extra incentive, the book will be free on February 10, 11, and 12! If you can't wait until tomorrow, you can download it from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Five blunt pencils out of five!

Say hello to Nerine Dorman

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I love throwing open the doors of my blog to different writers, so today I'm very pleased to welcome South African word mistress Nerine Dorman! Nerine Dorman works as a newspaper sub-editor and writer by day; at night she writes and edits fiction. Her novels are an indulgence in black magic; vampires; tall, dark and looming...

You've got several books available, and more on the way. What first attracted you to writing as a career?

This is one of those very difficult questions I’m not quite sure how to answer. It’s safe to say, I’ve been story-telling since a young age, be it my worlds of make-believe I’d dream myself to sleep to, or make up games with friends. During my young adult years I used to do a fair amount of fantasy role-playing with my geek friends.

But I remember very clearly at about the age of 13 when I wanted to write a novel. It seemed such an unattainable goal and I had no idea how I was going to go about it, but it kinda stuck through all my phases—like the time I was convinced I was going to be the next best thing after Trent Reznor and Peter Steele for the South African music industry. I’ve always come back to the written word.

You work as both a writer, and an editor. Which gives you greater satisfaction?

This is a tricky one. I love both equally. I’m always thinking up better ways to say stuff. Nothing gets my goat more than reading a passage and wanting to reach for my red pen. I guess it stems from the fact that both my parents were school teachers.

But seriously, I get as much kick out of writing as I do making authors improve their writing. When an author turns around to me and says “thank you” or refers to me as their “super editor” on a blog, it makes me go all warm and fuzzy, and I have to go sit down ’cos I feel all teary-eyed. Working with an author who visibly improves after the first novel is just the best feeling ever.

As November is nearly upon us, what do you make of the NaNoWriMo phenomenon, from both a writer's and an editor's perspective?

Luckily this year I’ve talked myself down from the very high place of doing NaNo. I know I can do it. After all, at the start of the year I wrote a 95 000-word novel in just over two months. But to be honest, it’s very intense and since I’ve already proved that it can be done, I don’t want to go down that road again. It’s exhausting. Also, with my editing deadlines—I’d be treading dangerous ground headed for a burn-out.

NaNo is great if you’re a writer who needs the focus but as an editor, I see a lot of authors rush off their manuscripts the moment they’re done, and that’s not always so good. Usually about a month or two after NaNo I see an influx of submissions. Not all these are ready for publication.

Speaking of editing, you recently launched an editing service. Tell us about it.

At some point I’d like to resign from my day job and do the work I really enjoy—which is editing from home and not having to commute or get out of my PJs. I’d like to build solid relationships with authors who need a personalised editing service that isn’t going to cost them an arm and a leg; my rates are, I believe, affordable. I’ve been editing professionally now for a number of years and have a pretty good handle on the most obvious issues that occur in a manuscript. My preferred genres are horror, urban/dark fantasy as well as epic fantasy. I’m not averse to romance, erotica, BDSM or paranormal.

What hobbies or interests do you have that you find most compatible with writing?

I have a huge love for music. Considering that music features in a lot of my stories—some characters are involved in the industry—this is definitely a plus. I have particular soundtracks I prefer to listen to while I work that help to create a positive mood for my writing and editing. After that it’s magic, history and philosophy. These themes are recurrent. After that it’s travel and the environment.

Travel’s a big one for me because it offers me a lot of inspiration for creative world-building. Many of my readers have commented that my settings are very realistic. Even if they haven’t visited Africa, they feel as though they walk every step with my characters.

I am, by proxy, also involved in South Africa’s subcultures—be it the goth scene, the body mod tribe, indie filmmaking and the fetish scene. My husband is an indie filmmaker and photographer. I meet some VERY interesting folks; this ties into my writing quite nicely.

As your day job is related to writing and you do so much in your non-day job time, do you ever worry you'll get bored with the written word?

Bored? What’s that? I don’t have time to get bored. There’s always one more deadline I need to take care of. If I need a break, I play in my garden a little or spend time with my animals. To be honest, I’m on the go nearly all the time. I compulsively have to fiddle and if I don’t have a computer keyboard, book or ereader handy, I start getting twitchy. Sometimes I get a yen to play music on one of my guitars or even haul out my piano accordion. The sounds I produce are usually so discouraging I go back to my computer. A wee bit OCD—that’s me. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

You can find Nerine's author page on Facebook here, while her editor page is here! Go and check out her blog here, or go and follow her on Twitter @nerinedorman.