The Next Big Thing

Tweet
As far as I can tell, I've been tagged three times to do the Next Big Thing meme, by Cathy Russell, Richard Bon and Andrew Reid. So I figured I might as well give it a shot...

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing

What is the working title of your book?
The Necromancer's Apprentice.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I'd just watched The Sorceror's Apprentice with a friend and me being me, I said "Wouldn't it be cool if that was a necromancer instead of a sorceror?" and the idea ran from there. The male sorceror became a female Necromancer General, and the army of mops became mummies. I'd had a mental image of a place called the House of the Long Dead kicking around in the back of my mind for a while, and now I had a home for it.

What genre does your book fall under?
It straddles the boundary between horror and dark fantasy. The world in which it is set is part fantasy city/part Ancient Egypt, but it's got bloodthirsty mummies as well.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Charlie Cox would make a good Jyximus, the apprentice, and I'd like Sigourney Weaver for Eufame, the necromancer, but I'm not sure about the rest of the cast. I'd want Tom Hiddleston in there but that's purely because I think he should be in everything.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
"An over-ambitious apprentice uses illicit knowledge to raise a mummy army of assistants...except this army will settle only for blood."

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I've got an editor who wants to work on it already so I think I'll be doing the indie press route. I've got no problems with self publishing or the traditional route, but I quite like the indie press approach. You have the contact with the publisher, so they handle the formatting, cover etc., but you're more than just a tiny cog in a huge machine.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I don't really know, I didn't time myself, but it must have been a few months. It's only a novella though so it's not like I've churned out 80,000 words in four months. I'm currently running edits before I send it out to the beta readers.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There will no doubt be Harry Potter comparisons due to the fact my apprentice starts off in an academy of magick, but it's inspired a lot more by Fantasia and The Mummy. I tend to be more inspired by films than books but that's what happens when you're a film student.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The Sorceror's Apprentice! Actually I'd have to say Disney, since there are elements of both Fantasia and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty in there. But for encouragement to actually write it, then I have to say it would be Carrie Clevenger and Nerine Dorman. I don't think I'd have finished writing the first draft without them prodding me along.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
There are mummies in it! Not enough people write mummies these days.

* * *

I'm not tagging anyone specifically but if you fancy a go and want to discuss your current work, then feel free - but drop me a link in the comments so I can read your answers!

Halloween Anthology

Tweet

It's almost Halloween (oh I'm so excited already) and I'm happy to announce that I have a story in a new Halloween-themed anthology! My mummy-with-a-difference story, Anonymous, can be found in the Penny Dreadfuls Halloween Special, which will be FREE on Amazon until Wednesday - how's that for a Halloween treat?

You can grab it in the US or UK for the Kindle - if you don't have a Kindle, then you can get the free app for your PC or smartphone. I've got it for my Android phone and the app's not bad.

Edited by Benjamin Knox, the blurb reads thus;

Thirteen deliciously ghoulish tales will make your Halloween Night that much more fun and creepy. Hide under the blankets with a flash light, stifle a scream, suppress a giggle, as some of the rising stars of horror and dark fiction bring you a collection of chilling and terrifying tales you'll never forget!

And isn't that a wonderful cover? The art is by Carmit Manor Massimino.

Grab your copy and enjoy a ghoulish scare...

#FridayFlash - Queens of Twilight

Tweet

The inhabitants of Karloff Falls gathered at the single bar on Main Street for the annual Halloween Battle of the Bands contest. Some of the townsfolk wore homemade T-shirts to support their friends or neighbours. Others wore disinterested expressions, there solely due to the lack of anything else to do.

MC Marie Festre adjusted her Morticia Addams wig and wiggled onto the stage.

"Good evening, Karloff Falls!"

The crowd yelled a greeting in reply.

"Are you ready for the Battle of the Bands?"

Another shouted affirmation. Marie smiled.

"Well give it up for the Queens of Twilight!"

Isolated pockets of applause were scattered among the silent crowd. Four women shuffled onstage, greeted by stony faces. They looked at each other with dead eyes and shrugged. The tallest woman headed for the microphone, and wrapped bony fingers around the stand. Her skin bloomed pale green under the stage lights.

"What's up, Karloff Falls?!"

Silence. The singer shot a glance to the guitarist to her right. The guitarist gestured to the crowd. The singer bit her lip and turned back to the audience.

"I'm Elsa, and this is Glenda, Lyra and Rita," said the singer, pointing to the bassist, guitarist and drummer.

Several fans whooped in the crowd. A man near the front mimed a dramatic yawn. Elsa narrowed her eyes and leaned in towards the mike.
"People keep complaining that music is too manufactured these days. Well, our manager scoured the length and breadth of the state to put us together!"

Elsa's pronouncement provoked squeals and cheers from the band's few rabid fans in the crowd. Bored chatter began among the rest of the audience. Lyra picked at the ugly seam that ran up her arm from her wrist to her collarbone. Glenda tightened the bolts in her neck before adjusting the strap of her bass.

"So we say yes, a lot of music is manufactured, but they don't get more manufactured than us!"
Elsa punched the air to more scattered cheers. Rita and Lyra leaned in to squeal into Elsa's microphone and the band launched into their first number, Little Lightning Bolt.

Their manager waited in the wings, smiling as the band's raucous blend of punk and 50s rock n roll won over the more skeptical patrons in the crowd. He twiddled the ring on his little finger, caressing the Frankenstein family crest set in gold.

The Queens of Twilight finished their first song to screams for more. Their manager smiled. Great-great-great-grandfather would be so proud.

#FridayFlash - Phantom of the Opera

Tweet

By Gary Bembridge

Wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing that I never would, dreaming of you won't help me to do, all that you dreamed I could...

Edith sat in the box, gazing down at the stage. A young woman in taffeta stood near the footlights, her throat straining as she sought the higher notes of the piece. Edith searched her memory for the singer's name, but the amnesia of the passing years robbed her of the answer.

She folded her hands in her lap and risked a wan smile, although she knew no one could see her in the shadows of box five. The Phantom's box. Even after all these years, she could still appreciate irony. Henry kept the box free as a gimmick, but she knew it was because he still considered it to be "her" box, the place she'd sit to watch any performances in which she had no role.

Her mind flitted away from the empassioned singer on the stage, and skipped across thirty years. Her last performance on those very boards, her soul wrapped up in the tender arms of Mozart, her voice occupied by Voi che sapete. Henry, then just the son of the theatre's manager, watched from the wings. The success of Marriage of Figaro seemed to herald their own impending wedding.

Edith frowned at the memory - only days later, the illness had set in. Weeks later, a white-faced young woman with black hair and eyes of midnight arrived with promises of a better tomorrow, but Edith refused to leave. She returned to the theatre, reliving her romance as Henry mourned. Months turned into years, and even the rumour the theatre was haunted couldn't improve its fortunes. Henry became the manager, and took the difficult decision to forsake opera in favour of musicals.

"We need to bring in patrons, Edie. No one wants opera any more," Henry had told her as they sat in her box. The Phantom of the Opera was his compromise with the owners.

A high C several shades too flat brought Edith back to the present. The young singer continued to strangle the life out of the song, and Edith shook her head. She would have given her eye teeth for such a role, but instead the managers now cast teenage television stars instead of seasoned singers. Henry called them "attention seeking brats".

Edith looked down into the stalls, watching the audience below. Most were wrapped up in the drama unfolding onstage, but some hunched over their strange glowing tablets that they operated with their fingers. So rude, she thought.

The song ended to rapturous applause. Edith rose, allowing her outline to flicker in the shadows of box five. Several heads in the grand circle swivelled in her direction, and furious whispers broke out among the patrons, with fingers jabbed towards her.

Edith smiled; the rumours would live a little longer yet. She passed through the door and drifted down the stairs. The Phantom of the Opera would find her Henry, her maestro.

[Book Review] Blood Skies

Tweet

When I first saw a tweet about Blood Skies, it was something to do with vampires. Oh yay...MORE vampires. Just what the world needed, I thought. Well, I'd been talking to writer Steven Montano on Twitter and as I got on with him, I thought I'd ignore the vampire thing and read the synopsis anyway. Luckily, my attention was caught by talk of arcane storms, warlocks and a necropolis - all things that there just aren't enough of in the fiction I've read, and I can honestly say I am very glad I gave it a go!

Blood Skies tells the story of Eric Cross, a warlock seemingly out of his depth within a military squad, dedicated to protecting what is left of humanity by pursuing a traitor through a series of evil lands, each more treacherous than the last. Earth, ruined by a mysterious cataclysm known only as "The Black", comes across as a nightmarish blend of Azeroth, Middle Earth and all of those twisted places your mind goes when it's dark outside and you're all alone. The stakes are raised dramatically when Cross' younger sister, a witch named Snow, becomes involved, and the tension ratchets up to an almost unbearable level.

I'll admit, the first couple of chapters seemed a little tough going, but I liked the style of writing, so I persevered, and within a few pages I was hooked. This is a story with balls, and a story in which there is always something going on - and something to be resolved. Everything from the beginning becomes important by the end, and nothing is wasted.

What impressed me was both the vast scale of the world building on display, with lush, vivid description bringing the locations to life in all their horrific splendour, and the quality of the prose. This is a real page-turner that had me clicking like mad through the Kindle edition, genuinely worried for Cross as he stumbles further into the middle of a truly heinous plot. Montano blends his epic description with staccato action scenes that seem almost cinematic in their execution, and there's a dark poetry to the whole thing that made me deeply envious that I hadn't come up with this first.

I'd classify Blood Skies as dark fantasy, and I'll definitely be downloading the rest of the series!

You can buy Blood Skies for the Kindle, or in paperback.

Please note, I bought my copy myself, so this wasn't based on a complimentary review copy, and I'm giving him five blunt pencils out of five, not because I talk to Steven on Twitter, but because it's a damn good book.

#FridayFlash - Minuet

Tweet

The strains of a string quartet echoed among the icicles of the Palace. The violins soared above the muted refrain of the cello, and Lady Winter twirled and spun across the ballroom. Her heeled boots traced filigrees in the glittering crust of frost that coated the floor. The quartet stood on a raised dais near her throne of ice. Their skin glowed pale blue in the late afternoon light.

"M'lady?"

Lady Winter ceased her twirling and turned to face Adage, her faithful butler. He nodded once, and stood to attention in the doorway. Lady Winter snapped her fingers and the quartet ceased playing, musical notes hanging frozen in the air.

"Yes?"

"M'lady, my apologies for the interruption, but there is someone to see you."

"Is it someone interesting?"

"That is not for me to decide, m'lady. His name is Ulf Bauer, and he hails from the village of Pennendorff."

Lady Winter cocked her head on one side and thought for a moment. Pennendorff lay just five miles from the Palace - the closest any humans dared come to her home. The villagers were stalwart and sturdy, as proven by her quartet of musicians. Even without her enchantments, they'd pandered to her every whim for weeks.

"Very well, Adage. Send him in."

Adage stepped aside and bade the villager to enter. A very short man, pale of cheek and gaunt in build, stumbled into the ballroom. His fingers grasped the brim of a faded hat, and his hands shook with cold. His nose glowed red in an unremarkable face.

"Bauer, is it? What business have you at the Winter Palace?"

"Beggin' your pardon, m'lady, but I come on behalf of me village." Bauer fiddled with his hat, eyes darting around the room as he fought to avoid Lady Winter's gaze.

"I'm familiar with Pennendorff." She shot a sly grin at the string quartet, now motionless on their dais. Their faces froze in eternal grins, but their eyes screamed for help. Bauer started, recognising his neighbours among them.

"Well, er, well y'see, m'lady, winter came a bit early, and we din't have time to bring the 'ole 'arvest in. Food's runnin' a bit short, y'see, and, well, we was wonderin' if you could maybe end winter a week or two early so we can start foragin'." Bauer stared at the floor.

"Why would you ask me to do that? Why not visit Lord Spring and ask him to come early?"

"Oh, m'lady, we ask you because you're more powerful than he is. Oh yes, m'lady, we know that."

Bauer nodded several times, and Lady Winter pursed her lips. Annoyance and displeasure burned in the depths of her frosty eyes.

"Flattery. Bauer?"

"No, m'lady. It's the 'onest truth, yes it is."

Lady Winter glanced out of the window at the lawn. An idea struck her. She looked at the villager, a smirk hovering around her mouth.

"I'll make a deal with you. If you can win a game, then I'll end winter early." Her tone thawed, the ice replaced by a sheen of honey.

"Really, m'lady? Oh, you're ever so good - ever so good, indeed! What's the game?"

"Chess."

Bauer's face fell. He looked at the floor again.

"I'm afraid I don't know how to play, m'lady."

"That's alright, Bauer. You don't need to know the rules."

"I don't?"

"No. For I shall be playing for you. Or, should that be, I shall be playing with you."

Confusion clouded Bauer's face. Lady Winter snapped her fingers, and the villager's bewildered expression froze in place as thick frost clung to his entire body. Lady Winter skipped around him, examining her handiwork. She squealed and clapped her hands with delight. Adage appeared at the ballroom doors.

"Is everything alright, m'lady?"

"Perfect, Adage, perfect! Have this pawn taken outside. My chess set is finally complete! I think I might invite my sister to play tomorrow."

Adage disappeared to fetch help to move the pawn. Lady Winter twirled across the ballroom to the window to admire the chess set on the lawn outside. If she used a pawn to win the game tomorrow, then she would keep up her end of the bargain. Otherwise...

* * *

The original image is of the ballroom at Peterhof Palace in St Petersburg, taken by Chilli Head. Wintry editing by me.

The Goings On of Icy

Tweet

I haven't really done many posts about myself for a while, I suppose in part because I can't think who'd be interested (well, that, and most people who read my blog follow me on Twitter so you get to hear my rants waffle on there). Still, I figured I should probably do some sort of update about what I'm getting up to at the moment.

First off, where the heck has the year gone? Can't quite believe it's October already. It just seems like yesterday that I was getting excited to go to Venice in July, and the whole summer stretched ahead of me like a season of promise and potential. Now it's nearly Halloween...

I finally bought a Kindle! I also got it a very cool Frankenstein cover. I'm currently reading Helen Howell's Jumping at Shadows on it, and it's so much easier reading off the e-ink screen that it is the screen on my Android. That'll make it so much easier taking books to and from work - plus it's lighter, so hopefully it'll make my bag lighter, and thus less stressful on my back. But isn't the cover cool?!

The second year of my teacher training course kicked off in a big way on Friday so I'll be devoting a lot of time to that between now and May. Between that, my day job, my PhD and editing on The Necromancer's Apprentice, I won't be taking on any new commitments until at least Easter or so! I expect to be rather busy over the coming months.

Speaking of my PhD, I'm currently working on my second 'big' chapter (my first being my literature review, in which I summed up which texts I'm planning to use in my discussion). This chapter is an overview of the horror genre within cinema, ranging from around 1910-1978. That's a lot of horror and I've only got about 8000 words in which to do it, so I'm finding keeping to the word limit to be a whole lot harder than the actual work. I'm reading some fascinating books so it's all very interesting, and I get to watch horror films and claim it's research. I've just finished writing the section on German Expressionism, which special emphasis on The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu and Der Golem, and I'm moving on to horror's "classic" age, in the 1930s. Many critics seem to think that one neatly leads on to the other, pointing to the move of Paul Leni to Hollywood in the 1920s, but to do so completely ignores the horror production within silent Hollywood, namely films such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde starring John Barrymore in 1923, or Lon Chaney's starring roles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923 and Phantom of the Opera in 1925. Madness, I tell you.

Anyway. Watching all of these classic horror films has me staring at the exceptionally beautiful leading ladies, and it's got me experimenting with my own image a tad. Behold! Me with curly hair, retro makeup, and a suitably vintage Photoshop treatment. I actually went out like this last night, my look complete with fake beauty spot, false eyelashes and suitably slinky black dress, but I can't help thinking it makes me stick out like a sore thumb in Newcastle. Still, it's a look I'm fascinated by, so I'll probably spend the rest of the year working on variations of it. In case you're interested, the makeup I used is a combination of Max Factor, No.7 and Soap & Glory.

I think that's enough waffle from me. What have you all been up to?