The Lowdown With... Laura Mauro

Laura Mauro tells it better than I could: 'Most writers will tell you they’ve been writing since they were small, and I’m no exception. I started out writing poems, which graduated into awful teenage angst poems, which eventually grew into aborted attempts at writing a novel.

I started writing short stories in 2011 but never took it seriously until joining Absolute Write, where I was contacted by a member of the T-Party. Since then, I’ve been what you might call a ‘serious’ writer, although I’m yet to give up my day job.
I’ve had stories published in Shadows And Tall Trees, and in Black Static. My short story “Red Rabbit” made Ellen Datlow’s longlist for Best Horror Of The Year 2014, and “When Charlie Sleeps” was reprinted as part of the “Best British Horror 2014″ anthology, edited by Johnny Mains. In September 2014 my short story “Ptichka” was published as part of “Horror Uncut: Tales Of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease”, out now from Gray Friar Press. In 2015, my short story “The Grey Men” appeared in Black Static.
As of May 2015, I’m in the early stages of writing a novel.
I live in Essex, under extreme duress, and when I’m not making things up I enjoy reading, travelling, anime, video games, collecting tattoos, dyeing my hair strange colours and making up nicknames for my cats.'

1. Tell us three things about yourself.

- I work as a laboratory technician, currently in antenatal screening, which is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. Mostly it involves putting stickers on things, then putting them into a machine and pressing a button. I enjoy it, though. I also work as a healthcare assistant in an outpatient clinic some evenings, mostly in gynaecology. Sometimes, I wish I'd studied medicine at university.

- I have nerdy tattoos. I’ve got seven, two of which are Final Fantasy related. I also have a three-quarter sleeve in progress based on my favourite film – Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Spirited Away’. I know tattoos aren’t for everyone and people probably think I’m a bit mental for covering myself in pictures but it makes me happy.

- As a kid, I apparently saw a ghost at my nan’s house. I don’t remember this, but my parents tell me that I’d come downstairs and tell them that there was a lady at the end of the bed, and could they please ask her to stop talking to me as I was trying to sleep. A little later on, I told them her name was Betsy. I wasn’t scared to begin with, but as time went on I became more and more frightened of Betsy, and eventually my grandparents had my brother and I sleep in a different room. I stopped seeing her after that, but other people saw weird things in that house – someone walking upstairs when there was nobody else in the house, that kind of thing. Sometimes, I think about checking the census to see if anyone named Betsy ever lived in that house.

2. What was the first thing you had published?

I wrote a poem about my cat aged 7 and it got into an anthology. That's what the publishers said, but we've never been able to find a copy with the poem in, so I don't know if I can claim the credit!

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?

Probably "When Charlie Sleeps", which was in 'Black Static' (and ended up in 'Best British Horror 2014'). It was the first time I'd really let myself off the leash in terms of embracing weirdness. I had this line in my head from a Skunk Anansie song ('Charlie Big Potato') and I found myself turning it over in my head, trying to unravel the story of it, and everything I came up with came back to this sad, childlike monster. I told myself that it was too weird, and that nobody would want to read about an ugly monster in a bathtub, but I wrote it anyway because I wanted to write about it. And as it turns out, people seemed to like it.

4. …and which makes you cringe?

I started writing a cyberpunk novel a few years ago until it became horribly apparent that I have no idea how technology works and that I should probably leave it to the people that do. I sometimes wish I could virtually burn that novel.

5. What’s a normal writing day like?

I work full-time and have a part-time job on top of that, so I tend to write whenever I have a spare hour. Usually my lunch break, or after work if I'm not at my other job. The routine starts with a cup of tea - always tea, no other beverage will do. Then it's a matter of forcing myself not to fanny about on Facebook and focus on writing. That's the hardest bit for me - actually getting down to it and not being distracted by cat videos, or arguing with people who are wrong on the internet.

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?

Anything they like! But I would probably suggest "Ptichka", in 'Horror Uncut'.

7. What are you working on now?

I'm trying to gather the courage to start work on a novel. It's set during the 1960's in south London, and it's about a woman who finds herself caught up in the underworld of gangsters and villains, and the underworld beyond that - a world of ghosts who tell dangerous secrets she really shouldn't know. I sort of fell into a research hole with this one. I was too afraid to start it because I didn't think I knew enough about the 60's to make it feel authentic. But the advice I got was to just go ahead and write, and fix the time-period details on the redraft, so I'm staring into the abyss and ready to take the plunge!

The Lowdown with...Conrad Williams

This week's victim - sorry, interviewee - is Conrad Williams.

Conrad Williams was born in 1969. He is the author of seven novels (HEAD INJURIES, LONDON REVENANT, THE UNBLEMISHED, ONE, DECAY INEVITABLE, BLONDE ON A STICK and LOSS OF SEPARATION), four novellas (NEARLY PEOPLE, GAME, THE SCALDING ROOMS and RAIN) and two collections of short stories (USE ONCE THEN DESTROY and BORN WITH TEETH). He has won two major prizes for his novels. ONE was the winner of the August Derleth award for Best Novel, (British Fantasy Awards 2010), while THE UNBLEMISHED won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel in 2007 (he beat the shortlisted Stephen King on both occasions). He won the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer in 1993. He won another British Fantasy Award, for Best Novella (THE SCALDING ROOMS) in 2008. In 2009 he was Guest of Honour at the World Horror Convention. He edited the anthology GUTSHOT, which was shortlisted for both the British Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards. He is an associate lecturer at Edge Hill University. He lives in Manchester, UK, with his wife, three sons and a monster Maine Coon.

1.      Tell us three things about yourself.

I’m a green belt in karate. I excelled at the high jump at school. I like to send people handwritten letters.

2.      What was the first thing you had published?

A short story called ‘Dirty Water’ in Dark Dreams 6 when I was 18. Also making his print debut in that same issue was Mark Morris.

3.      Which piece of writing are you proudest of?

'Loss of Separation'. 

4.      …and which makes you cringe?

There were some short stories that appeared in the early '90s that should have stayed in the drawer.

5.      What’s a normal writing day like?

Coffee. Kids. Cat. Coffee. Cat. Messing with fountain pens. Playing guitar. Coffee. Writing. Cat.

Kids.

6.      Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?

‘One' would be a pretty good place to start, I reckon.

7.      What are you working on now?

I’m writing the final few chapters of a new Joel Sorrell novel, SONATA OF THE DEAD. I’m also still fiddling with a novel about a ghost in France called HOUSE OF SLOW ROOMS. And then I have to get cracking on Joel Sorrell 3, HELL IS EMPTY. 


Conrad's Website
Conrad on Twitter

The Lowdown with... Alison Littlewood

Alison Littlewood was raised in Penistone, South Yorkshire, and went on to attend the University of
Northumbria at Newcastle (now Northumbria University). Originally she planned to study graphic design, but “missed the words too much” and switched to a joint English and History degree. She followed a career in marketing before developing her love of writing fiction.
A Cold Season, from Jo Fletcher Books, was Alison’s first novel. It was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, where it was described as “perfect reading for a dark winter’s night.” Her second novel, Path of Needles – a dark blend of fairy tales and crime fiction – has recently been shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. Her third, The Unquiet House, is a ghost story set in the Yorkshire countryside and has been shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson Award.
Alison’s short stories have been picked for Best British Horror, The Best Horror of the Year and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror anthologies, as well as The Best British Fantasy 2013 and The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 10. Other publication credits include the anthologies Terror Tales of the Cotswolds, Where Are We Going? and the charity anthology Never Again.

She now lives in a house of crooked walls and creaking doors in deepest
Yorkshire, with her partner Fergus and a dalmatian called Dexter.
She Tweets here, or find her on Facebook.

 1. Tell us three things about yourself.

1. I hate talking about myself!

2. I’m from Yorkshire, and my accent has got broader the more I’ve written about Yorkshire places and Yorkshire folk. There’s no escaping it . . .

3. I’m older than I look. How much older – oh, let’s not go there.

2. What was the first thing you had published?

A piece of life writing called 'The Day I Drew God.' I did it for an online competition called TooWrite, and from there it got picked up by the Lincolnshire Echo, who plucked stories from the website from time to time. It was about the curiosity of a child being summarily squished, and it was tremendously exciting to see it in print.

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of?

Hmm . . . the thing is, in retrospect, there’s always something you want to tinker with. But I think that would be The Unquiet House, my last novel. I started off knowing that I wanted to have it working backwards, with jumps back in time shedding light on what had just taken place in the present. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to handle the historical sections, but once I started delving into the research I found I was immersed in it and thoroughly enjoyed the writing. I also started out without knowing how the plot would all come together, but somehow it did. It taught me to trust the old subconscious all over again. These days, I tend to think that if I’m starting to write a novel and it doesn’t feel impossible at the outset, I’m probably doing it wrong.

4. …and which makes you cringe?

Back when I first joined a writing class, I started off trying to write poems. And I thought about expanding on that, but on second thoughts, best leave it there. Ugh.

5. What’s a normal writing day like?

Get up. Feed the dog. Feed self. Check emails, do odd jobs, tidy up, spend too long on Facebook. Walk the dog. Home! Right, into the study, laptop on, notebook on hand, everything at the ready. Keep being prodded by dog, who thinks it’s his lunchtime. Make him wait. Try to ignore random pawing and big brown eyes and heavy dalmatian head resting on my knee/arm/keyboard, depending on how hungry he is. Give in. Feed dog. Right, the work of the day begins in earnest. Do words. Either lose self in them or despair, depending on how it’s going. Try not to end at the end of a chapter, because I know it’ll be impossible to get back into the writing tomorrow. Nine times out of ten, end at the end of a chapter.

6. Which piece of writing should someone who’s never read you before pick up first?

That’s actually quite a tough one, because my books have all been quite different. I’ve done horror-horror, folkloric horror, a fantasy/crime/horror cross, a more traditional ghost story and a mad zombie romp through a Mexican holiday resort. As I writer I tend to follow the ideas rather than producing the same kind of book over and over – I like to try different things and set myself new challenges each time. So I guess it’s up to the individual - they could pick up whatever they fancy!

7. What are you working on now?

It’s an exciting time, because I have two books out in September – A Cold

Silence, which is a sequel to my first book ACold Season, and Zombie Apocalypse: Acapulcalypse Now. Behind the scenes, though, I’m quietly getting on with my next book. I’ve really taken the plunge this time and set it in the 1800s, and it’s exploring fairy changeling lore – the idea of people being stolen away by the fairies and replaced with their doubles. It’s a scary concept – that the people you love might not really be the people you love. And there’s nothing sweet or light about these ‘good folk’ – after all, it is said that they were called that out of fear, not because it was true. I’m thoroughly enjoying delving into their dark side.