Book Review: Crime Rave by Sezín Koehler

FIVE GIANT STARS!In this dark, gritty follow-up novel to American Monsters, cutting-edge visionary Sezín Koehler brings readers back into an iconoclastic world of murder, mayhem, and revenge, where being a victim is merely a prelude to being an avenger. And what vengeance the characters who've returned from Monsters wreak! Crime Rave is not a novel to expect easy, comforting sequel-like closure from but a thrilling gut-punch to the psyche that'll keep you simultaneously hungry for justice and spooked about just what that might mean. If you like your morning coffee with a shot of whiskey and a filterless cigarette Irvine Welsh-style, you'll want to add Crime Rave to the alchemy.And don't forget to pick up your copy of the incredible prelude to Crime Rave, American Monsters. Here's my review.

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Uptalking Writing with Horror Author Martin Lastrapes

Greets Bloggolicious!

Here's some really cool news. In December, the wonderfully warm, friendly, and talented best-selling indie author Martin Lastrapes invited me to be a guest on his show, The Martin Lastrapes Show. And what a show it was! So fun! I was tickled to visit Martin in his studio and gab for a couple of hours about that thing we all love: writing. I encourage you all to come listen and leave some comments about your thoughts. Admittedly, Martin and I were all over the place with topics, ranging from how we got started in the world of writing, to how authors develop a voice, to what's so intrinsically amazing about Tom Robbins, to marketing, editing, and essentials of cover art for indie authors. This is a show that promises to leave very few stones unturned. And for those we missed, Martin and I have plans to do some more stone flipping in the future. Visit the show and, again, feel free to leave comments and share your thoughts, expertise, and experiences. We'd both love to hear from you!

Listen and subscribe at Martin's show link, Stitcher, iTunes, or right here on Lybsyn.

Now it's time to get serious. It's okay—it shouldn't hurt…much.

Have you ever had that disconcerting moment when you're exposed to a recording or an image of yourself unexpectedly and thought, "Who in hell is this alien-like doppelgänger acting as if she's me? Do I really sound/look like that?"

Fun fact: I'm a feminist, which is to say I spend a lot of time thinking about how women and men harmonize—or don't—in our shared paradigm. (That's the paradigm of being respiring mammals roaming the earth simultaneously and trying to refrain from destroying each other or it, while still enjoying equal access to the great stuff we find here, like coconuts and scotch).

What do these two things have to do first with each other and secondly with Martin's show? This: Are you familiar with the term "uptalk" also known as "upspeak"? In brief, it's that strange vocal lilt some people end spoken sentences with, where their voice rises as if asking a question, even with completely non-questiony statements like "Hi. My name is Tammy." But in upspeak, it sounds like, "Hi. My name is Tammy?" Speaking this way tends to make a person sound uncertain of what they've said, or apologetic, or expectant of being and willing to be contradicted. There's been a good deal of discussion and research on this phenomenon, which is a characteristic frequently attributed to women, who are socialized to defer to others (usually men). What's so weird about it is that it sounds like a tacit admission of the possibility of being incorrect—even about one's own name! Freakishly bizarre and undermining, this habit, at least I've long thought so.

And guess what? After listening to my chat with Martin, I appear to have won a blue ribbon at the Uptalk Lingual Faire. (Cue immature laughter over the phrase "lingual faire.") Winning? Um…

You can probably imagine my horrified surprise at learning that I have not only a mild propensity for but a raging linguistic habit of uptalk. I was shocked! Bewildered! Embarrassed! I mean, I don't need people to listen to me and think, "Ah, there's woman whose authority on subject X would stop even Ghengis Khan in his tracks." But, dae-um, I at least try to sound like I know what I'm talking about. Because I do. Really. You know, most of the time.

Thanks to this horrifying revelation, my sudden self-consciousness, as well as incurable curiosity (a.k.a. nerdiness), led me on a paranoid dash to the googles in order to learn more. What I discovered was actually not what I expected (and hugely reassuring). Wait, did that last sentence sound like clickbait? Oh well…moving on.

Turns out that, while there is a lot of talk (get it, talk?) about how upspeak is essentially self-negating, there is no actual evidence that this is the case. What's that song? Birds do it, bees do, even monkeys in the trees do it? So, yeah, it's just a thing a great number of people do. Enough so that it's become a cultural norm, not something that confirms or denies a person's innate expertise or confidence on a given matter.

This Bloomberg article describes succinctly where this unnecessary self-consciousness came from, specifically with this statement:

The lilt is still widely considered a signifier of girlish insecurity and ditziness. Anne Charity Hudley, a linguist at William & Mary, offers a possible reason for this. “When certain linguistic traits are tied to women … they often will be assigned a negative attribute without any actual evidence,” she says.

This article by activist Marybeth Seitz-Brown at Slate confirms this.

But the funny thing is, uptalk isn't actually just used by the young and female. When you’re on the lookout for it, you’ll hear uptalk from people of many demographics. Yet I’ve never heard anyone condemn New Zealanders’ speech for not being authoritative or confident enough, despite their rampant use of uptalk at all ages and genders. I also hear many men, including former President George W. Bush, using uptalk, and have yet to hear any of them be chastised for not sounding authoritative enough. In fact, there's no conclusive evidence that women even use uptalk more than men.

If you've stuck with me this far, I highly recommend reading the two articles above. You will never listen to a conversation the same way again! (I know, I know, overanalyze much?) To sum up, what I've always subconsciously assumed—that uptalk is an automatic self-negation of one's own point of view—is really nothing more than a widespread, learned cultural trait, a meme if you will, that has been misattributed as a "girlie" habit. Phew!

And there you have it. If you, like me, are unusually attuned to words in all their forms, from spoken to written to sung to signed, and tend to notice the way they're presented a little more acutely than the average person (because you're a writer and you simply can't help having a bit of savantism about language), you can rest and read easy knowing that uptalk is nothing to fear, nothing to hide from, nothing to be embarrassed of, and most importantly, not an indication that you nothing meaningful to say.

PS: For the curious, I have more, yes, much more to say about language in this post here.

Announcement: Martin's first novel, Inside the Outside, was an Amazon best-seller in horror and won the grand prize in the 2012 Paris Book Festival. His newest best-seller, The Vampire, the Hunter, and the Girl just came out. Lovers of paranormal and horror, these are both shoe-ins for date night with a novel. I heartily encourage you to check them out!

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Author Spotlight: Scott Whitmore, Paranormal and Steampunk Writer

It is my great pleasure to introduce today's guest, paranormal/steampunk author and erstwhile naval office Scott Whitmore (visit his blog here). His novel Carpathia released in March of this year, and a what wild ride it sounds to be!

After spending years trying to locate and destroy Prince Radu Zeklos, the vampire that killed his fiancé, Daniel Jameson finds a solution to his problem when in the summer of 1882 the King of Romania decides to host an international race of “self-propelled ground machines” through the Carpathian Mountains. Four nations — Germany, England, France and the United States — are set to take part in the race, and Jameson finds allies in Major William “Stump” O’Brien, the American team’s military liaison, and Olivia Lowenby, the daughter of the man responsible for building the English vehicle and a woman who also desires revenge against the vampire for the death of her brother. Initially opposed to the race because if successful it will destroy the “traditional way of life” for Romania’s vampires and werewolves, Prince Zeklos has changed his mind. He too seizes the contest as an opportunity to achieve something he has spent years dreaming of: the creation of a new nation of the undead, Carpathia. With airships battling in the skies and humans fighting undead creatures on the ground, Carpathia is filled with action and plot twists as Jameson and Zeklos maneuver to achieve their very different goals.

Scott joined me to share his writing process and what else we can expect in this exciting series.Why do you tell stories? Where do most of your ideas come from? What was the seed of inspiration for Carpathia?I've always had an active imagination and read a lot as a kid. Wanting to write my own stories, I suppose, was a natural progression. I wrote a few short stories and started a novel when I was in middle school, but as I recall didn't get too far into it.Flash forward many, many, many years and I was working at our local newspaper as a copy editor and sportswriter covering high school sports and auto racing. That was very technical writing and I began to think about trying something more free-form.I read a book about the early days of auto racing when cars would race great distances between cities instead of on a track or circuit, and thought that would make an interesting setting.Steampunk and paranormal! What an amazing cross-pollination. Did the idea originally start as strictly one genre and morph into something greater or did the two just fuse organically? What do you like about writing in these genres?For many years the vast majority of what I read was non-fiction, history and political science mostly. For some reason I picked up a copy of Boneshaker by Cherie Priest—maybe because the story was set in nearby Seattle, where she was living at the time—and that re-ignited my interest in fiction.Boneshaker is a steampunk/paranormal story, and I was really interested in the possibilities those two genres represented in combination. So, when I decided to write my novel and I was looking for ways to make that motorcar race interesting, what's better than vampires and werewolves?What I really enjoy about steampunk is being able to play around with the timeline of real events by introducing a technology earlier than it really happened, or by developing it in a different way. Like airships, for example. They existed, obviously, but not at the time I write about them, or in the way I describe them with decks full of cannons.What, if any, limitations or drawbacks do you think they hold?I see overexposure as a real drawback for both paranormal and steampunk. Just like there seems to be a greater number of kinky sex books as a result of 50 Shades, not that long ago Twilight created a huge number of look-alike/copycat books. Steampunk has also become more mainstream, so much so that the TV sitcom Two Broke Girls had a small bit making fun of it.The challenge then becomes trying to frame stories within these genres in a way that is fresh and unique (hint for paranormal: no sparkles!). I consider my books "steampunk lite" because I don't spend time on the clothes (corsets and goggles and top hats, oh my!) and my machines aren't too fantastical. In a similar vein, my vampires, werewolves and zombies are very much influenced by the old black and white "creature feature" movies I watched as a kid on Saturday nights: lots of mystery, no teenage angst, no sparkles.Soon you'll release a follow-up to Carpathia. Did you start out intending to write a series? If not, what was the moment you realized you were going to keep going?I had absolutely no intent on writing a series. In fact, my daughter—also a writer—shared a running joke while I was writing Carpathia where she constantly asked me what the other two books of the trilogy would be about.My mother actually got me thinking about writing a follow-up to Carpathia. As the dutiful (and proud) son, I sent her a copy but fully expected she would either stop after the prologue or not bother to read it all. Much to my surprise she read it and engaged me in a lengthy discussion about the plot, why certain things happened, etc. At the end of that talk she wanted to know when the sequel would be done.As I mentioned earlier, I'm a big fan of Cherie Priest's steampunk stories—Boneshaker, Dreadnought, and Ganymede— which are set in what she calls the Clockwork Century, her version of history. I like the way her stories exist within the same universe and feature some of the same characters, but are not direct sequels.I decided to follow Ms. Priest's formula and create what I'm calling the Carpathia Timeline, with the follow-up being the next entry. Set thirty years later, some of the same characters come along and there are definitely some cool references for those who've read Carpathia, but the story can stand on its own, too.Now that you're already two books into the Carpathia series, what's next? How far will it take us?When I write it, the next book in the Carpathia Timeline will probably skip ahead another thirty years. The plot floating around in my head right now revolves around an organized crime gang war in Chicago in the late 1940s or early 50s, with werewolves on the run from Communism muscling in on the existing crime families.I've also had several ideas for shorter stories set before and after the events of Carpathia and the follow-up. There could well be an anthology, or perhaps just some novellas. One of my all-time favorite series is C.S. Forrester's Horatio Hornblower books, which did not follow a set chronology. In the first book, Hornblower is a senior officer while his middle and early naval career are detailed in later novels.I would also like to write something outside of the Carpathia Timeline and have had some ideas for a dystopian/sci-fi story and a military/spy thriller.After your retirement from the Navy, you worked as a sportswriter and copy editor for a small newspaper in Everett, WA, and were prolific writing about motorsports. How does one go from that to this?As I put on my Twitter bio (Shameless plug! Follow me @scottwhitmore), I consider myself to be an observer of life, and both jobs, the Navy and the newspaper, provided me with some great memories of colorful characters and unusual situations. Throw that stuff into the hopper with an active imagination that hasn't been allowed to run free for thirty years, and you may just get a novel or two.Do you have a muse? What do you do to call it/s/he when you need it/her/him?Not that I know of. There may be someone working behind the scenes, quietly, though.What is the best piece of writing advice you have for new authors?When I was learning to be a copy editor from an experienced man at the newspaper, he told me the best editors do not change the writer’s voice. If you ask ten people to read your story you are likely to get 10 different opinions on “what works,” “what doesn’t work,” “what should stay the same,” or “what should be changed a little/a lot.”By all means, listen to them, but remember you wrote those words in that way for a reason. That’s your voice, the way you hear/see/think the story should be. Never forget: it’s *your* story. Listen to them, thank them, think about what they have to say, and then be alright with the notion of not following their advice if you don’t feel it is true to your voice.In your opinion, what makes a great story?A good friend who is an actor sent me a copy of Save The Cat: The Last Book On Screenwriting That You'll Ever Need by the late Blake Snyder. In the book, Snyder states there are only ten types of movies—such as "Dude With A Problem," "Monster in the House," and "Golden Fleece"—and then he details how every movie ever made falls into one of them. It's pretty funny but very enlightening, and I think equally applicable to books.I think what sets a great story apart from a good or so-so one is how it fits into and also breaks free from whatever category it falls into. It may be a character, a setting, a really cool plot twist or just thrill-ride action, but the stories that transcend the norm have something about them that stands apart.About a year ago I read Berserker by William Meikle, which can use "Vikings versus Yeti" as its tagline. Sounds a little cheesy, right? Like something you'd see on the SyFy channel on Saturday nights? The truth is I *loved* that book. The characters were interesting and unique, the premise was unusual but executed very well, the writing was descriptive and smart; bottom line it was just a ton of fun to read. Will Berserker win any literary awards? Maybe not, but I recommend it to anyone looking for some fun hours of escapism with a great story.What are some of the challenges you experience in writing?After retiring from the Navy I learned I suffer from depression. I wrote about the experience in my blog, but long story short I probably have always had it and the regimented nature of military service actually helped me to function very well with it. I'm on medication right now which helps to even the road out, keep the lows from becoming too low and the highs from too high, but it can also knock my creativity for a loop. There are days when I know I should be writing, but the spark just isn't there.Also, for someone who claimed/claims to be an editor, I can be terrible with grammar and spelling.Who are your favorite authors or books in your genre? In other genres?Cherie Priest and O.M. Grey are great steampunk/paranormal writers: anything by them; Steven Montano's Blood Skies books are really cool paranormal/sci-fi; Jo Nesbo's Inspector Harry Hole books and Jill Edmondson's Sasha Jackson Mysteries for crime fiction; and Alistair MacLean's early works for action/adventure.At the risk of sounding like an apple-polisher I really enjoyed your Contract of Defiance (blogger's note: o/) as well as Mike Berry's Xenoform and John-Paul Cleary's Convergent Space for sci-fi. Paul Anthony has written novels in a number of genres, crime as well as historical fiction, and they're all good. Patricia Fulton's The Drought was a really cool horror story which reminded me a lot of early Stephen King.I'm sure to be missing some folks who will, when they read this, likely string me up for not mentioning them!What is your writing process? Are you a dedicated everyday writer, or catch-as-catch can? Do you have any special rituals or activities you do that help you prepare to write?For the novels I found writing every day to be best, in the morning usually, with the goal being around three thousand words per day. As I noted above, there are days when writing wasn't in the cards, so I try not to be too strict about setting deadlines for myself (which is why I'm not doing the NaNoWriMo).I also blog about book reviews, my military service, auto racing and anything else that crosses my mind. Those posts are usually written when the thought hits me rather than by a set schedule.For the novels, I spend a lot of time thinking about the characters or through the major plot points before sitting down to start writing. I don't outline, but I will jot down notes and ideas. Strangely, a lot of my story ideas come while I'm in the shower or walking my dog, Maddie. I can't tell you how many times I've stood dripping wet over my desk scribbling an idea on a notepad or sending myself an email from my smartphone while sitting on a park bench.Can you give us some insight on why you chose to go the indie publishing route, and what you’d do the same and differently if you were going to start again at the beginning of your writing career?At the suggestion of a friend, while I was at the newspaper I self-published a book of my writing called Short Track Saturday Nights that covered one season at the local racetrack. I went through CreateSpace and had a ton of fun doing it. Because the topic was so specific and the level of interest would be very limited, I never thought about a "traditional" publisher.A few years after that my daughter Katherine finished her debut novel, Rhythm of Redemption, and she asked me to edit it and help her try to find a publisher or agent. What an eye-opening experience. We researched likely agents and publishers, wrote and re-wrote query letters, got advice from other published writers, etc., etc., but the only replies were from vanity presses we hadn't even submitted to (how they got wind of the book, I'm not sure).Although disappointed, we went ahead and self-published her book and when it came time for Carpathia I decided not to pursue the "traditional" route very hard. I sent one or two query letters, and got a response that said the premise was interesting but my writing was not. I have a company, 40 West Media LLC, for my freelance writing, so we slapped that on the book as publisher and sent it out into the world.I've done my own book covers, too. To me having the control over every aspect of my books is a lot of fun. I don't work on my own car — too complex and hard—but I'm happy to tinker with formats and fonts. Hello, geek!The development of Indie and self-publishing is just the natural outgrowth of technology. First the web and computers revolutionized the way we buy things like books, music and movies, and now that technology allows us to create and share our own music (iTunes), movies (YouTube) and books (Kindle, CreateSpace, Lulu, Nook, etc.). We're all artists now, or at least we all can be. Of course, the collateral damage is the near elimination of record shops, bookstores, and Blockbuster. That's evolution, I suppose, and I'm sure the folks working in traditional publishing are as concerned about their futures as I am excited about my prospects as an Indie.If a traditional publisher approached me, of course I would be interested in hearing what they had to say. Do I expect that to happen? Not at all. :) And that's fine, because I'm having a lot of fun as it is.Anything else you want to mention or elaborate on?Nothing other than thanks for interviewing me. And get on that next book. I want to know what happens to Aly! (blogger's note: o/)***Thanks a million for this insightful look into writing and the indie publishing track, Scott. Your comments on good writing advice—knowing when to accept advice when it comes to keeping your unique writer's voice—are absolutely invaluable. Keep us updated on when your next book comes out.Here are some of my biggest takeaways from Scott's interview. Feel free to share your own. If you've read Carpathia, please add your plug or hop over to Scott's blog and share your thoughts.

1. For a werewolftastic good time, run out (or link over to Amazon or Smashwords) and get your copy of Carpathia!
2. In paranormal, no sparkles, ever.
3. Scott has some of the best taste in books ever ;). Scott also really needs a waterproof digital recorder.
4. Talk to Scott's mom for some good novel feedback.

More about Scott:Born and raised in the Midwest, Scott Whitmore turned to writing after 20 years of service in the US Navy. He has written for The Herald, a daily newspaper located in Everett, Wash., with a circulation of 45,000. He has also contributed to RacingPress.com, Sports Northwest magazine, SBNation.com, and Racing in America. Scott currently works as a freelance writer and marketing consultant, specializing in motorsports. He wrote and published Short Track Saturday Nights, a book about the 2008 racing season at Evergreen Speedway, Washington’s only NASCAR home track. His debut novel, Carpathia, is available at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.

Author Spotlight: Carmilla Voiez, Erotic Paranormal Writer

When the Red Hot Chili Peppers named their album Bloodsugarsexmagik, they may have been having a premonition about U.K.-based author Carmilla Voiez’s debut novel Starblood. Mix those elements together with a finishing dash of violence and you have the precise witch’s brew for a riveting cocktail of words, and Carmilla serves it up with a splendid and elegant flourish. It is my distinct pleasure to have her as a guest on this blog to tell us more about her delicious novel, and share many of her thoughts on and experiences with writing. So, with no further ado—

Carmilla Voiez

First of all, outside of the book review readers can find on Amazon, is there anything else about Starblood you would like to tell people? How long is it and do you plan to write a sequel?

Starblood is a story about Goths and magic. It's often dark and violent. The language is urban and uncensored, and each character is deeply flawed. Oh and it's very, very sexy. Diversity of the sexual experience is explored closely within the story's pages.

 

The tale starts in Satori’s bedroom. Satori is a powerful magician who is still in love with his ex-girlfriend. When he attempts a ritual to get her back something goes wrong and Lilith steps out of Chaos and into his life. The main characters are Satori, his ex Star and Lilith. Lilith embarks on a killing spree. Satori tries to send her back into Chaos while at the same time trying to convince Star to come back to him. Meanwhile, Star tries to untangle her own hopes and desires while being used and abused by both Satori and Lilith.

 

Starblood is just over 300 pages long and a complete, standalone story. However, as I finished writing the last paragraph an idea for a sequel developed. I have now written the sequel, which will be called Psychonaut, and I am currently editing it with the hope of publication in 2012. Of course, as I wrote the last paragraph of Psychonaut an idea for a third part to the trilogy thrust itself into my brain. I love the characters. There is a chance I might write about them for ever. 

Do you have plans or are you already writing something to follow up Starblood? How long did it take to write?

Starblood was written in one month, during NaNoWriMo in November 2009. I spent the following twelve months rewriting and editing the story. Psychonaut is a longer tale and is more in the traditional fantasy style, so I was involved in creating worlds as well as developing the story and characters. Psychonaut was started, but not completed, during NaNoWriMo 2010. I expect the editing process will take another twelve months. Following in this tradition, I have sketched down my ideas for the third story, but plan to write it during NaNoWriMo 2011.

In addition to the Starblood trilogy, I am working on a novel about anarchy and shamanism.

Besides Starblood , can we read any other works of yours?

There are a couple of short stories at www.carmillavoiez.com, but Starblood is the first novel I have been lucky enough to have published. 

On to more general, writer-ly questions. 

How long have you been writing?

As a child I always wanted to be a writer, and was very prolific through to my late teens. The only things published at that time were a few Gothic and vampire poems in Goth fanzines, and no power on earth would compel me to share those early attempts with you.

Then, for some reason I cannot quite fathom, life got in the way and I stopped writing. I didn't write again until I was well into my thirties. Writing, for me, is an act of rediscovering myself. I have to open all those cobweb covered closets and full to bursting drawers and look at things afresh: things I have experienced, things I have felt, and even those things I have previously been afraid to feel. It's traumatic and liberating at the same time.  

What made you first pick up a pen (or laptop, typewriter, etc.) and want to write? Why erotic fiction? Have you written in other genres?

I started writing again as part of a degree course and I quickly realized what had been missing from my life for over a decade.

Starblood is erotic, that is true, but I would class it as horror. Some other readers class it as dark fantasy and a couple of readers told me they felt it was a Gothic romance. I guess that means it isn't just one thing, but flows like water through different genres. Or perhaps people see what they wish to see in every book they read. I have written outside of genres, in literary fiction, but I haven't yet been published outside of the erotica/horror genre.

I write erotica because sex and sexuality fascinate me. I explore the way sexual desire can turn the strongest of us into gullible idiots. I look into that dichotomy quite often in Starblood.

What or who are your inspirations? And being from the U.K., do you find being surrounded by so much history and culture to be something of an inspiration as well? 

I am inspired by so many things: the constantly changing sky and sea outside my front door, sexual politics and the barrage of attacks by the far right on what it means to be a woman, the varied and rich mix of dialects within the U.K. and how these both reflect and create cultural differences within a relatively small geographical landscape, gothic music and the people I meet.

Writers who inspire me are just as varied. I love Clive Barker’s writing, both in the horror and fantasy genres. He explores sexuality and its close relationship with violence in ways I find challenging and fascinating. Other authors who have inspired me include Storm Constantine, Iain Banks, and Margaret Atwood.

Is being a published writer what you thought it would be? 

It’s too early to tell. So far Starblood is an undiscovered gem. Maybe that’s a question to ask again in twelve months?

Why do you write? Do you find writing to be an activity that satisfies you in ways nothing else can?

I write because I am compelled to write. Characters storm through my head demanding to be heard. I write to release them and find peace for a moment.

In your opinion, what makes a great story?

I love character-driven stories. I love the psychology of a good story and the way it opens my mind to fresh perspectives. I changed my lifestyle after reading Robert Newman’s The Fountain at the Centre of the World. Great stories have power. They make you think, they make you feel and often they make you cry.

What are some of the challenges you find in writing?

I think the greatest challenge is in knowing when to stop. I am speaking more of editing than writing. How do you know when a book is as good as it can be? The main challenge in writing seems to be finding enough time to sit at the keyboard.

Who are your favorite authors or books in your genre? In other genres?

I pretty much covered this in my answer to a previous question. In addition to Clive Barker, Storm Constantine, Iain Banks and Margaret Atwood I would add a few of the literary greats whose stories have transported me to other times and places: Leo Tolstoy, Haruki Murakami, Honore Balzac and J.K. Huysmans among others.

What is your writing process? Are you a dedicated everyday writer, or catch-as-catch can? Do you have any special rituals or activities you do that help you prepare to write?

My writing process? Well I suppose that depends. Are you referring to intentions or practice, which unfortunately vary widely. I always plan to write for an hour each morning and two hours each evening. During November and NaNoWriMo I manage to achieve my goal. For the rest of the year I slot writing in around work and family in a very ad hoc manner.

Did you pursue the traditional publishing route of first getting a literary agent and then having them sell your book to a publisher, or did you decide right away to go straight to Stone Circle Publishing Ltd. and work with them? Why or why not?

It was always my plan to work with a literary agent. However, one of my beta-readers had a dream of setting up a publishing company. When he read Starblood, he fell in love with the story and characters, and in particular Lilith. He asked me whether I would consider publishing through Stone Circle Publishing Ltd. After some thought and negotiation I agreed, and Starblood  is the first novel to be published by SCP. I still intend, for my non-genre novel, to snag an agent.

Do you have any advice for other writers? Anything else you would like to mention or elaborate on?

Keep writing. Try not to let your inner editor stifle the tale. Believe in yourself and the intrinsic value of a good story.

You also have a very cool online clothing story called Drac-In-A-Box that’s earned some awards. Do you want to tell us anything about that?

Drac-in-a-Box was set up by Dorian and myself in 1999. It has been very successful and through it I have met some amazing people and accumulated an impressive wardrobe. The ethos of the company has always been to celebrate diversity in beauty and we cater to all sizes of Goths. It isn’t run as a profit-hungry capitalist business, but rather as a niche clothing maker and supplier. I hope it will continue to prosper, alongside my writing, for many years to come.

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Isn't she inspiring? I just want to shout out another thanks to Carmilla for spending her time with us. Please feel free to send any other questions or share your thoughts on Starblood or writing in general. The novel is out now in e-format at Amazon and should be available on iBook within a couple of days. You can find Carmilla on Tumblr at http://carmilla-voiez.tumblr.com/ or Twitter @CarmillaVoiez.

If you'd like to read more interviews by other other writers, including me, wander on over to The Battered Suitcase blog. Because really, when you aren't actually writing, what could be better than reading about writing? Cheers!

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All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.