Q1: Where did you first get the idea for writing Hunting Darkness and the characters in it?

I had just finished writing the Conner’s Odyssey trilogy and wanted to try something new. At the time, I only had a few ideas that I knew for sure would factor in: One was that I wanted the book to be a standalone, two was that I wanted to try my hand at a bit of mystery and three was that I wanted to set the story in England. Being as I tend to enjoy the fantastical element, I was inspired to write an Urban Fantasy crime novel that would essentially weave the storylines of two very different worlds into one cohesive plot. Between my two brainstorming partners in crime and myself, we fleshed out a number of concepts that led to the story ideas I ultimately ended up using.

Q2: As an American, you chose to set the book in the British Isles, why was that and what issues did that cause you?

The short answer is that I love England (and the British Isles in general). I am the first generation of my family born in America, so I was raised by an English father and American mother. But it wasn’t just my fondness for England that pushed me in the direction of setting the novel there. Two other key reasons were far more influential. The first being that England’s immense (and at times mysterious) history makes it a superb setting for fantasy in the real world and secondly, crime detection was basically invented there, so I wanted my first mystery novel to be a nod to that. Now then, the issues of being an American writing a book set on the British Isles… Oh the issues. Having not grown up around a constant English dialogue made writing this book an incredibly difficult task. I spent countless hours pouring over all manner of articles about syntax and words and common phrases and so on. And for all my effort, I still needed the help of a few wonderful people who live in the UK to really purge the Americanisms from my character’s dialogue. (By the way, you know who you are. Thank you so much for your effort).

Q3: Every book an author writes is an inner journey and a learning experience, what did you bring back from this one you did not have/know before?

I hardly know where to start with this answer. I learned so much it was incredible—from English myths to tidbits about the history of Scotland Yard to the aforementioned study of dialogue. I mean, the learning was endless. I’m pretty sure I spent at least as much time studying about the content in the book as I did writing it. I hope the people who read Hunting Darkness feel like they got even a fragment of the takeaway I did from writing it. It was a journey I will always look back on with fondness.

Ian C. Bristow is the award-winning author of the Conner’s Odyssey trilogy. He has just released his first standalone novel, Hunting Darkness, and has started working on another title. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys creating works of art and playing music (good food and a few beers with friends doesn’t hurt his feelings either).

You can catch up with Ian and his latest literary, artistic and musical projects, on his website, on Facebook and on Twitter.

From the new Dai and Julia Mystery out soon - 'Dying for a Poppy' by E.M. Swift-Hook and Jane Jago.

Dai watched the familiar countryside roll by and tried to forget, rather than obsess about, the fact that he was lying to his bride of less than a month – and on two issues. Well, lying by omission. He had promised himself he was not going to keep anything from her about his working life. She had lived it herself and her security clearance had been higher than his until his sudden promotion.

Even his friend, and newly appointed Senior Investigator, Bryn Cartivel had warned him. Slapping him on the back the day before Dai’s wedding as they were taking a final drink in the Londinium taberna that had seen so much of their custom over the previous eight years.

“Two bits of advice from a long-married man to one about to take the plunge. One is never forget she is always right, even when you think you are and two – never – and I mean never – keep secrets from her.” Bryn burped loudly and adopted a fatherly look. “You see, if you get to the day you think you’re always right and she’s wrong or start finding there are things you can’t tell her – well, that’s the day your marriage hits the rocks.”

“You can’t tell your wife everything,” Dai protested. “I mean half the stuff from work is -”

“Everything she wants to know,” Bryn cut over his protest, then dropped a heavy wink. “But then my Gwen she’d know if I was keeping things from her. She’s descended from a long line of Druids on her mother’s side.”

The trouble was Bryn was right and these were things Julia would want to know – things Dai wanted to tell her. But it was not in his hands. These were secrets he had been ordered to keep from her.

***

The first had arisen in a conversation with the Tribune in charge of the praetorians in Britannia – Decimus Lucius Didero, foster-brother to Julia. He had summoned Dai on the pretext of a meeting about some legality around the marriage and had not been at all repentant about his duplicity.

“This is serious, Llewellyn and is a big part of how I swung this post your way. Our intelligence people are saying that a lot of dangerous contraband is getting in through the coast there and Viriconium is the hub of it. We need someone who is accepted by the British community and who we can trust. You fit the bill.”

“And here I was thinking I got the job on my merits as an Investigator alone.” Dai made no attempt to keep the cynicism from his tone. He had been wondering why this had come his way and was not too surprised to find it had been for reasons other than those put out for public consumption.

Decimus grinned at him.

“Well my sister falling for your baby-blue eyes helped as well,” he admitted, then he switched back to the clipped tones of before. “As if the smuggling isn’t enough we are talking a major anti-Roman group somewhere in the area and they have their fingers deep in our pies. We need to know who they are and how they are being financed and supplied before they start out on a major terrorist campaign. I’m sending you out with twenty of my lads under their own decanus, a good man Brutus Gaius Gallus. You may need them. We have no idea how high or deep this thing goes – even the Magistratus is not in the clear. So trust no one there and I mean no one.”

Dai took a moment to digest the implications. He had known it was going to be hard enough taking on a post he had been over-promoted to fill. But he had been looking forward to learning his way in and doing so with Julia’s sharp insight and wisdom to help. But Decimus had just taken that fond daydream of a bucolic honeymoon easing into things and blown it away. He realised now why, when he had asked for permission to relocate with some of his old team he had not met with more resistance.

“Julia will need…”

“Julia will not be told anything about it, Llewellyn.” Decimus sounded almost ferocious. Then he drew a breath and sighed. “She has been through too much, I am not having her dragged into this. She needs a chance to have some simple happiness with no more to worry about than what colour she wants to paint the guest bedroom.”

Which, Dai reflected rather grimly, probably showed more of wishful thinking on Decimus’ part than any true understanding of what Julia would want or need.

“I think she might notice Brutus Gaius Gallus and his men hanging around,” Dai said pointedly. “My wife is many things, but she is neither unintelligent nor unobservant.” And you of all people should know that, he added in the privacy of his own mind.

“Relax, Llewellyn. They have an official reason for being there and wandering around wherever. Amongst his other talents, Gallus once served as a bandmaster and all the men with him can play instruments. They are going to be there to learn some traditional British music as part of a ‘Hearts and Minds’ Arts initiative – a real one, believe it or not, from those effete, money-wasting idiots in Rome. But it gives them the cover we need for this, so some good comes out of it.”

It was sounding more and more complex and Dai’s heart plummeted.

“So you are pitching me in against smugglers, terrorists, corrupt Roman administrators, and whoever is behind them?”

Decimus pulled a face.

“You about have the size of it. But you are not exactly going in alone. You’ll have my praetorians and your own people and as soon as you have anything solid we can act on I’ll bring half a legion in to clean up if need be. But we can’t pounce until we have a target.”

“Don’t you have undercover people doing that kind of stuff? I don’t see how I’m going to succeed where they have failed.”

“This is deep Britannia, Llewellyn,” the Tribune reminded him. “The arse end of the Empire, hanging over the edge half the time. Hell man, you should know you grew up there. These are people who only trust someone they have known from birth and who has a British pedigree you could unroll from there to Londinium. We don’t have that many such people just lying around – in fact we have one. You.”

There was no answer to that and Dai had finished the meeting being briefed about what little was known of the situation in Viriconium and along the coast. It left him in a foul mood.

If you have yet to do so, you can read the earlier Dai and Julia Mysteries in Dying to be Roman and Dying to be Friends.

Beloved Readers Who Write,

Although a reminder of my superb credentials and exquisite sensibilities is becoming increasingly superfluous, it is possible that a tiny minority of the denizens of cyberspace may, as yet be unacquainted with the masterful intellect that is Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV the renowned author of both the speculative fiction classic ‘Fatswhistle and Buchtooth’ and of this ‘The Thinking Quill’ which offers insight into the mysteries of the authorial craft. Ecco, mes estudas, here one is. Prepared to pedagogueise…

How to Start Writing a Book – Lesson 6A. Refining the Write Character

For today’s little tutorial, one’s fickle Muse leads one further along the bridleways of characterisation and the building of those sprites which shall infuse your works with life and loveliness. Follow in one’s footsteps, mes enfants, and you will surely find that the strength of one’s pedagogical peregrinations shields your tender little souls from the hurricanes of blandness, excessive ‘realism’, cold bare prose, and that all-devouring vampiric creature whose name is critic.

Ergo, mes enfants, when you have your protagonistic personifications placed in your psyche allow them to speak within the pristine pergola of your mind. Listen as they tell you of their lives and loves and leisure pursuits. Speak with them aloud as their insubstantial forms draw flesh from conversation with their creator. Fear not the idle sneers of ignoramuses, listen not to well-meant advice wherein those less sensitive to etheric beings counsel against speech with those entities none else can see or hear.

Be brave and enter into such dialogues as the children of your encephalon will vouchsafe to you. Dispute with them, should that be their will. Declaim aloud your fractious floccinaucinihilipilification. Shout to the skies when Erato and Calliope send unto you an actor of such ferocious intractability as to madden the very core of your sensitivities. Sing lullabies to soothe the merciless breast of your insubstantial interlocutor. Eat only that which their nourishment requires, abstain from tobacco, strong drink, and hallucinogenic substances so that your soul can be pure and your psyche open to the voices from beyond.

In the ultimate analysis, when you have a protagonist who walks by your side directing your steps you have succeeded beyond mere measure, and you can allow yourself to be led by the hand into the labyrinthine lusciosity of lustful lubriciousness that is literature lubricated by genius.

Ah yes, mes estudas, when your careful construction takes breath into its own lungs your work is done. Cry tears of joy as you inscribe into insubstantial cyberspace the passages of pusillanimous prose your protagonists dictate to you.

When their clamour will not let you sleep, you will know you have achieved the ultimate in character creation!

I shall conclude with advice on antagonists. They are the bad people, everyone knows what a bad person is like, we all have neighbours, work colleagues or relatives we despise. So there is no need to explain them or their motives in more than the briefest of detail. Less is more.

Écrit bon…

Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV

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After running away screaming in terror at what lay inside his newly delivered package, Peter returned to the box. He had to return, he needed to see. It was real, the putrid smell leading him back to his front door told him so. He took a peek over the soggy cardboard flaps.

Gooey, bloody, torn flesh, swollen lips and a pair of dead, foggy eyes stared up at his ceiling. It was a woman. Her face, frozen in terror.

Peter’s heart jumped when he realized that she almost looked familiar. No longer able to stand the sight of it, he nearly looked away and prepped to close the box and call the police. But, just as his eyes ran away from the sight, they also registered a strange white spot at the corner of her lips. It was a thin piece of string. Knowing it was a bad idea, having already figured that he was tampering with evidence, Peter held his breath and pulled at it. It kept coming until after about a foot, it got snagged on something.

A frustrated sigh escaped from his own drying mouth. The smell distorted his vision, the horror caused everything else around him to sink into darkness. He ripped a napkin form the tissue box on the key stand by the door and pressed at her chin to part her decaying lips. Sweating, hands shaking, Peter pulled harder on the sting, unable to contain his curiosity.

Wait. Is this a mistake? Something meant for someone else? He thought. Since he started writing, Peter hadn’t dated any blondes or anyone in quite some time – more time than he cared to calculate or even admit to himself. Could it be a very old ex? Perhaps a long forgotten relative having gotten mixed up in something terrible? What was going on? Soon, the end of the string revealed what had gotten it stuck, a note. He pulled it from the knot and with another tissue carefully unwrapped it, without going all the way, in case he had to somehow put it back.

At the top of the note, in fancy cursive, it started with: Story Prompt #430. Peter dropped the note and fell back on his ass. He turned around to look at his laptop on the coffee table. Staring him in the face was a Facebook group page with prompt #429 at the top. His face turned white as questions dug themselves into him like arrows to the chest. What group did he join last night? What twisted minds could be responsible for this?! But over all – he slowly looked back at the bloody note on the floor – what was prompt #430?…. What in God’s name could it be?

Peter Midnight

Hello all. My name is Peter Midnight. Let’s dive right into this interview questions. But first, a teeny, tiny, bit about me.

I’m 30. I write sci-fi mostly. So, where to begin? The concept of far-reaching conspiracies, high technology and physics fascinate me, so does magic. It’s no surprise then that I’m a fan of shows like Rick And Morty, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, (Warehouse 13 and Eureka) (Softer core sci-fi, but still good food for thought) Dark Matter and The Expanse as well as shows like Fringe and Man in the High Castle, (Also, who doesn’t watch Game Of Thrones?)… its a long list, so lets keep it rolling.

Currently, I have a finished work/MS titled Broken Fate – Edge Of Destiny, which focuses on the one person in the middle of all the craziest things in the Broken Fate Universe *(Also there’s a whole universe. A reality where all my stories will take place). But, I’m not here to pitch to anyone or bore the crowd so if you’re interested PM me on FB. BF – EOD is a 60k words MS complete from a-z and edited a bunch of times. Limited open slots for beta readers. Act fast.

Anyway on to my current works and then to the answers you’ve all been waiting for.

At the moment, I’m working on another shorter MS called Broken Fate Ops (Side Stories) which is about the ‘other’ characters in the BFU and gives us a deeper look into how they work and behave when not in the main spotlight of the BF – EOD Original storyline. Think of it as Agents Of Shield I guess. (Never watched it, but I’m guessing it’s not called The Avengers for a reason :P) In Broken Fate Ops – Operation Mountain Ruse, we come across the some of the team at their lowest point. As they question their lives and choices, they are thrust into another impossible situation, however, this is happening at the same time our MC Raven is working out some very important feelings on a very delicate situation. Not the best pitch, but I don’t want to bog down this already-soaked and still highly-absorbent interview 😛 Check out my FB page for pictures, teasers and other information. Plus you could simply contact me if you’d like to soft-join the review group on Google Docs. (Soft-join means there’s no obligation. PM me, check it out, read and review if you like it 🙂 )

And Nooooooooow. For the interview questions.

Q1: What would be your one luxury item (survival is covered) on a desert island?

• A solar-powered tablet with all my favorite tv shows, movies, books, games and of course, porn.

Q2: What inanimate object do you wish you could eliminate from existence?

• All forms of pencil and pen type writing utensils. Why?

• Bruce Wayne: ….So why steal them? (Gems) or in this case, (All manner of writing utensils)
  
  Alfred: Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn….

Q3: If your books morphed into an animal which animal would they become?

• In case this interview resurfaces in the future, my answer should probably be a seagull. I wanted to say ‘snake in the grass.’ But seagull will make better and more sense.. In tiiiiime.

Those were the questions and all the time I have for today. 😀 Thanks for reading. If you want more, leave comments where this is posted and bug the blog, to bug me, to come back, for another 😛

Who knows, there might be more crazy questions with even crazier answers 😛

Anyway, before you go, just give me enough time to say thanks to YOU for reading 🙂

http://events.supportindieauthors.com/

It’s difficult being good, because bad girls have all the fun.

Which is probably why I found myself sitting on the pavement outside the Dog and Duck late one Saturday night. I blinked owlishly at the long denim-clad legs that blocked my vision. Came a deep-chested chuckle and I looked up, and then up some more to find myself looking into the amused face of a very tall man with a blond beard. He grinned down at me.
“How’d I get out here?”
“On my back…”
I must have looked disbelieving because he crouched down in front of me.
“Stand up and have a look inside.”

I don’t usually do what people tell me but there was something compelling about the big guy so I heaved myself onto my feet and walked to the pub doorway. Inside it was chaos. There were punches and bottles being thrown, and the floor was a mess of beer and blood. I automatically looked towards my usual table, to see my friends bending over something on the floor. There were tears and snot running down their faces and they seemed unusually distraught.

I felt the big man come stand beside me and his body heat was surprisingly comfortable. I turned my head.
“What’s on the floor?”
He put his hands on my waist and lifted me so I could look down onto the dirty floor in front of the red leatherette banquette.

What I saw all but defied belief. I shook my head, blinked twice, then fisted my eyes and looked again. It didn’t get any better. My friends were standing around a humped pile of clothing and hair, only it was my clothing and my hair. I screwed my head around and looked down on the blond head of the man who held me in the air. I wriggled and he set me down.

He smiled, not entirely kindly.
“Yes that is you in there on the floor. And yes you are dead.”
I considered that for a moment.
“The me in there is dead. But the me out here don’t seem to be in too much trouble. Why’s that? And who are you?”
“Your body is inside. But your spirit is out here.” His smile had the cutting edge of a razor and he ran a hand along the bare skin of my arm. Then he sobered “Who am I? That’s a bit more complicated…”
“Try me…”
He seemed to be struggling for words, but I can be patient so I waited quietly.
“Do you believe in God?”
That seemed to me like an odd question, but it was an odd sort of an evening so I played along.
“Mostly. Sort of.”
“And Angels.”
“You telling me you’re an Angel?”
This time his grin was genuinely amused.
“No. I’m the opposite.”
“Demon then?”
“Sort of. Although we don’t like that word.”
“Okay. What do you like to be called?”
“Dark Angels.”
I was vaguely surprised by how well I was handling this conversation, but I smiled at him anyway.
“You got wings?”
He moved his shoulders and I saw a pair of huge black feathered wings for the briefest of instants before they disappeared.
“Yup.”
“Right. I’m probably hallucinating, but just in case I’m not what do you want with me?”
“You have a choice to make.”
“I do?”
“You do. Mostly when people die there is a clear path to the light or into the dark. But in a very few cases it isn’t clear cut and the deceased gets to make a choice. Gabriel or Lucifer. Good or evil. Heaven or hell.”
He stared deeply into my eyes and whatever he saw there made his grin widen.
“You really are considering, aren’t you?”
I lifted a shoulder.
“I shouldn’t be?”
“No. You should be. But most of he newly dead are in hysterics right about now.”
I snorted.
“So why is it only you here? Shouldn’t there be somebody batting for the other team.”
He jerked his chin and I looked to where a skinny bloke lay unconscious on the deck.
“Who cold cocked him?”
A new voice spoke. Icily. “That’s a very good question.”
My head snapped around as if on elastic and I found my eyes assaulted by a bright whiteness that hurt my teeth it was so shiny.
I put a hand over my eyes. “Sheesh, Angel Wossname, turn the brightness down a tad, you’re blinding me.”
The voice that responded was both patronising and didactic. “Better to be blinded by the servant of God than beguiled by the servant of the Devil.”
For some reason this arrogance got on my nerves.
“Turn it down or bugger off. The choice is yours.”
After a second of affronted silence the white apparition disappeared.
My demon whistled admiringly.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
I shrugged. “It got on my tits. Now. How many lies have you told me?”
“None. So far. Lying to candidates is frowned on.”
“If I go with you, what?”
“You become one of us. A Dark Angel.”
“And if I choose the other path?”
“I don’t know. But you can bet your sweet ass it will be boring…”
I think he was going to say more but I held up a hand for silence.
“Fire and brimstone and eternal torment?”
“Only for murderers and child molesters. They go to The Pit. But that has nothing to do with us.”
I glowered at him.
“You aren’t giving me a lot of confidence. Explain further.”
He looked at me as if reassessing his options. Then he showed his teeth.
“My lord Lucifer wants you. So here’s the deal. There are five places the dead can go. There’s heaven, where you eventually get to be a white angel. There’s the waiting room where you go if you are to be reborn. There’s purgatory where you go to expunge your sins before being reborn. There is hell where you get to be a dark angel. And there’s the pit, where all the torments Lucifer and Gabriel can devise are heaped on your head.”
“This far I’m just about buying it.”
“Good. It’s the unvarnished truth.”
“It is,” the melodious voice came from just behind my right ear. I resisted the temptation to jump and cuss, instead turning my head to look at the new arrival.

He was white and gold and beauty incarnate, and his smile all but melted my heart.

“What Gor neglected to mention was that there hasn’t been a choice for ten of your generations until tonight. Which makes you a very important soul.”

I shrugged.
“Gor. May I see your true form.”
The Dark Angel flowed out of his simulacrum of human skin and stood before me, coal black and naked. He was mighty fine. I stared at them for a long moment before speaking.

“So what you are really asking me to choose between is two sides of the same coin.”

They both beamed at me and Gor went so far as to wink.

I held out my hand to the Dark Angel.
“Take me to your leader…”

© jane jago 2017

You are old so you shouldn’t bedazzle
You should be both faded and frazzled
It shouldn’t be you
With a Harley (brand new)
And a Swarovski Crystal vajazzle

© jane jago 2017

Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV’s review of ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’ by John Wyndham.

One is often asked to do reviews of other aspiring authors literary endeavours and after over a dozen forays into those depths, one has now made it very clear that only books of Outstanding Quality will be reviewed. Everything else appears on one’s annual ‘Did Not Finish’ record – a scroll of shame where many who have thought themselves worthy now lie banished, with a brief sentence to explain their failing.

There you will find people like JK Rowling (‘a puerile effigy of urban fantasy, masquerading as a morality tale, but in drag’) and JRR Tolkien (‘anyone who has to make up their own language to cover their poor literacy skills is truly execrable!’) and Tolstoy (‘the summum-bonum of Russian over-saccharine emotional indulgence.’)

So you may imagine one’s complete consternation when deep in the throes of composition, the door to one’s inner sanctum was thrown open and the vision of loveliness that is Mumsie threw herself on the chaise in the corner of the room. She was breathing heavily and the bluish Gauloise smoke from her nostrils reminded me of some delicate mythical creature.

“Moonie,” she said with some determination evident in her tones, “Moonie you are at best a poor excuse for a son. At worst you are a complete fucking waste of fresh air.” She paused for breath, leaving me hanging on her words like a delicate bushbaby in the darkest woods. Mumsie continued portentously, “I have just come from the pub where I have had to endure the complete embarrassment of hearing other people reading the utter crap you post on those females’ book blog, and pissing themselves laughing. I was tempted to put my foot down and stop it altogether, but if you are going to teach you need to learn.”

She extracted a dogeared paperback from her pocket.

“Read this, you deluded bastard, and perhaps it will give you half an idea what proper science fiction is all about.”

Then she was gone, leaving behind her the aroma of Pernod and cigarette smoke.

One was about to consign the horribly insanitary book to the waste bin when her fiercely moustachioed face reappeared around the panel of the door.

“You better fucking read it Moons. There will be questions.”

And so I read it. From cover to cover.

And I am still none the wiser.

My review of ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’ by John Wyndham

To summarise:  Something happens in a very uninteresting English village. Then some women get pregnant. Then they have some strange children. In the end, things blow up.

The writing is absolutely plain, plain and black. The characters are rendered with such mundane realism as to make them even less interesting than the locality. I did not find myself transported in any way and the necessary immersion in the author’s world never occurred. The dour realism, the lack of magic, and a story whose point passed me by completely, all of these meant that in a normal situation I would have cast aside the shabby little volume after a dozen pages. But Mumsie must be obeyed. So finished it was, and reviewed it is.

All one can say is that if that is a science fiction classic one has no idea why. One reached the end as unimpressed as one was at the beginning.

No stars.

Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV

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I am old, I can tell that you fear
The passing of days and of years
But this grasping at youth
Fails to see the real truth
We should make time for pretzels and beer

© jane jago 2017