Death and Breakfast, Prologue: The Lilly House (Audio Version)

Inspired by all the Halloween weirdness of the last few days, I sat down and wrote "The Lilly House", a ghostly prologue to a longer story entitled Death and Breakfast.  This is my first attempt at uploading an audio version of my work.  (Duration: 5 minutes)

Something Wicked This Way Comes: An All Hallow's Eve Interview With Jemima Valentino

Jemima Valentino is the author of His Elle, an erotic novella, and Broken, a short story based on real life events.  I couldn't think of a better time than Halloween to talk to Jemima about her new supernatural release The House On Hundred Hill.

Your new paranormal novella, The House On Hundred Hill, explores the hidden world of the Nephilim.  Has this particular mythology always been of interest to you?  Did you have to do much research?

I absolutely love mythology and the supernatural, but to be honest I am probably a bit of a dunce when it comes to ancient legend - I do love to make it up though! I did do a little bit of research on the Nephilim, and discovered that they were supposed to be giants, so much larger than my characters Draven and Nate Black. I think the thing with mythology though, is that it’s open to interpretation as the whole point is, nobody really knows. So, I allowed the research and information I discovered from it to swirl around in my head for a while to come up with my own interpretation. ‘The House on Hundred Hill’ was my first real attempt at world building, and I totally loved it! It’s given me a new passion and a totally different direction to my current work in progress.

Your first novella, His Elle, was a piece of erotica set in the real world.  The House On Hundred Hill is a paranormal thriller with erotic elements.  Did your writing process differ at all the second time around?

Absolutely. I wrote His Elle very much from the heart, putting myself in the place of my central characters and basing their emotions on how I thought I would feel in that situation. His Elle is a story of emotional and psychology healing through BDSM and although I have never lived in this lifestyle, it’s always easier to write a character that you can relate to. I remember having a similar discussion with you before about how it is easier to write a character based on your own gender, age group, environment etc.

Whereas with The House on Hundred Hill, I have (obviously) never encountered a real-life Nephilim or their ancient enemies, the Gregori. Therefore, the short answer is definitely yes - my writing and thought process differed massively with second book, and I’m sure it will do so again with my third, fourth and fifth as you grow as a writer, and in the writing process, with each new idea.

Genre terms such as "urban fantasy" and "paranormal romance" have become ubiquitous in recent years due to the success of Stephenie Meyer and the more adult fare of Laurell K Hamilton and Sherrilyn Kenyon.  What do you think it is about these subgenres that makes them so popular?

I think people in general like to get lost in fantasy. The worlds that Laurell K Hamilton and Stephenie Meyer have created have massive appeal to readers that can use their imagination and lose themselves in an alternate reality for a period of time. It’s escapism in its simplest form. I read ‘Thinner’ by Stephen King when I was a child and was probably far too young to be let loose inside a book that dealt with an adult theme of gypsy curses, but that book has stayed with me to this day because I remember thinking what I would do if one of my family was cursed in such a way.

Escapism is what books are all about - every fiction book ever written and read has caused somebody somewhere to lose themselves, even if it’s just for a second. Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance are not new to our bookshelves, they’ve just been modernised with the times, and given updated ‘genre definition’ from the classics of Bram Stoker and JRR Tolkien.

Do you have a favourite novel from the fantasy or horror genre?

I actually watched the start of ‘Christine’ last night on the TV, before I fell asleep. I’d forgotten what an awesome story that is. Although it’s probably not amongst my favourites, I do enjoy most books by Stephen King.

This year I have also read quite a few books in the fantasy genre by indie authors, and the one that really stuck with me is Fierce Dawn by Amber Scott. It was really very well written and probably the only time I’ve given a 5 star review to a book that sits in the YA category. Then again, I also totally loved Hunger Games too, and can’t wait for the film release next year.   

What would you say separates The House On Hundred Hill from other works of fiction that explore paranormal romance?

Probably it’s erotic element. Angels and BDSM is not something that I’ve come across that much (if at all!), and some readers may find that a bit of a strange theme throughout the book. It was written intentionally though and I really think it adds that extra dimension to the normal ‘sexy angel’ books that you find floating around on the bookshelves of YA readers. The House on Hundred Hill is very adult, and I’m hoping it will appeal to readers who like to combine the paranormal and sex.

Can you choose one sentence from the book that encapsulates its style or theme?

He was Nephilim; the perfect impure balance between humanity and the sprawling darkness, the terrifying shadows that eclipse the soul of the pure-bred humans and lead to that desperate ache, that chill of bones, the screams of malevolence that beg and fight for release but are never heard or recognised until it’s simply far too late. 

Do you have a favourite character in this book?  Who was the easiest to write for?

Jessica was the easiest to write (going back to my earlier comment about relati

ng to characters), but the most fun and my favourite was actually Draven. I love that dark dangerous edge in an alpha male character and my favourite part of the book was when Jessica meets him for the first time.

The House On Hundred Hill is the first in a series. What can readers expect from future instalments?

I would love to tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. (That’s not a threat by the way, before I’m arrested for posting death threats to the internet….)

Seriously though, I have the plot semi formed in my mind at the moment but I’m taking a little break from writing the next one to concentrate on something else. But, what I can tell you is that there will be a surprise return of a character mentioned in The House on Hundred Hill, and Jessica and Nate’s relationship will be threatened as they venture into Gregori territory on the desperate hunt for Draven and Azrael.

Who are your writing influences and/or literary heroes?

I hate this question because there are so many literary heroes and I always struggle to name just a few. From the top of my head, I would have to Say Stephen King and Anais Nin. I always want to throw Sue Townsend in there as well, as the woman is a comedic literary genius and the Adrian Mole series will keep in entertained for the rest of my life as I never get tired of reading those books, time and time and time again.

As it's Halloween, I have to ask you - do you believe in ghosts?  Have you ever had a paranormal experience?

Oh for sure! I am a great believer in paranormal activity. I’ve never actually seen a ghost, although I think I’ve felt them on more than one occasion.

My parents live in an old converted barn / woodshed that dates back to the early 1800’s (just to clarify, it’s a house now, they don’t just live in a woodshed…), and they have a long sweeping gravel driveway that leads up to the house. My dad told me once that he looked out of his bedroom window one morning and there was a man with a horse and cart walking up the driveway. By the time my dad went out to greet him, the man and his horse had disappeared. When my dad asked in the local village if anyone knew him, the locals said his name was Ipikin and he was a rag and bone man at the time my parents’ house was built. The villagers even showed my dad some drawings of what the man looked like. Since then both of my parents have seen Ipikin a few times, mainly in the winter when the driveway is covered in snow. Spooky eh?

The House on Hundred Hill is out now on Amazon. Check out Jemima's website for more information, or follow her on Twitter: @JemimaValentino

Books We've Loved This Year

We're fast approaching autumn, and many of us will have read at least one book this year that we absolutely loved and can't stop recommending to people.  For me, there have been two, about which I have already waxed lyrical: The Gargoyle  by Andrew Davidson and Skin Lane  by Neil Bartlett.  Here, three bloggers give you their favourite book of the year so far.


"Blue Boy" by Rakesh Satyal
Recommended by Brian Centrone from New York 
(Site: BrianCentrone.com Twitter: @BrianCentrone)
Anyone who knows me knows that I have a love for all things Indian: The Food, the culture, the men (especially the men), and the literature. So it was not a surprise that when I came across Rakesh Satyal’s Lambda Award winning novel Blue Boy, I fell in love at first read...
Set in Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1990s, Blue Boy tells the story of young Kiran, an Indian American trying to fit in. His world is split between the Indian families his parents socialize with and the very Middle-American kids and teachers at the public school he attends. Poor Kiran doesn’t feel he belongs to either world and the situations he finds himself in in both groups are just as awkward and endearing as they are funny and heartbreaking.  Kiran believes his difference is Divine and sets out on a journey to transform into who he feels he really is, the reincarnation of Krishna himself.
A magical voyage of self-discovery, spiritual understanding and pop culture references, Blue Boy is the book for every boy who had a secret love of dolls, ballet and singing, and for every person who grew up wondering where they belonged. This novel will not disappoint. 

"Free Fall" by Nicolai Lilin

Recommended by Marc Nash from London 
(Site: Marc Nash's Kindle Store Twitter: @21stCScribe)

War memoirs are dominated by those of WW2 and of course Vietnam. This memoir of a more recent and modern war blows those portraits out of the water. The second Russian war in Chechenya was dirty, pitiless and ultimately pointless on both sides. Lilin was a conscripted sniper in a specialist anti-terrorist unit that fought on the front line in ordinary clothes rather than uniform. He paints brutal pictures of the effects of modern weaponry on human flesh, but not in a Hollywood relish of gore fashion, but rather one that makes you realise why soldiers try and avoid engaging in combat with the enemy from any closer than an airborne helicopter gunship. This updating of the deadliness of modern weapons again removes us a million miles from the Vietnam/WW2 battlefield axis.

The cruel treatment and dispatch of captured prisoners on both sides, in order to send a message to the enemy, is graphic and yet almost neutrally detailed. And finally, I have never come across better descriptions of physical states of being during battle. The physiological symptoms of a body overtaken by fear, exhaustion, sensory deprivation, concussion from a grenade, are astounding pieces of writing. There are some ruminations on the purpose(less) of the war, as the book begins with a Kafkaesque account of his conscription and ends with a short but debilitating section on his failure to adapt back into civilian life and an undiagnosed PTSD. Lilin's writing is so good as to bear the weight of its gravity, its philosophising and to convey the mix of muscle and technology throughout: "God was a haven for our souls, the only place not regulated by military code". Simply stunning. 

"Blueeyedboy" by Joanne Harris

Recommended by Jemima Valentino from Shropshire 
(Site: JemimaValentino.com Twitter: @jemimavalentino)

"Blueeyedboy" is the brilliant new novel from Joanne Harris: a dark and intricately plotted tale of a poisonously dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems. Told through posts on a webjournal called badguysrock, this is a thriller that makes creative use of all the multiple personalities, disguise and mind games that are offered by playing out a life on the internet.

The word ‘creepy’, is somehow not enough. Harris has truly opened up her dark side and within these brilliantly crafted pages, unfolds a story of a lonely 42 year old sociopath who lives with his mother and his online friends. Through his web journal, his disturbed mind is truly let loose, his style - intelligent bordering on genius, his motives - dark and intensely dangerous; pulling the weak and vulnerable into his tribe, badguysrock.

Our Blueyedboy dreams of killing mother, stalks a blind child prodigy and harbours an unhealthy fascination for Albertine, a girl that holds more influence over this life than he dares to admit. As he entices Albertine out to play on badguysrock, we realise that there is far more to their relationship that meets the eye.

Just as you think you know this would-be serial killer and can predict his actions as easily as Columbo, Harris throws in a twist, and then another, and another until the entire story fits together like the perfect jigsaw and leaves you breathless.  I have read some intense books this year, and have loved many, but Blueeyedboy jumps to the top of the pile. Now this book is inside my head, I don't think it will ever leave.

Book Review: The Radleys by Matt Haig

Families. Sometimes they're a bloody nightmare...

Vampires have enjoyed something of a revival in recent years.  Teens have swooned over young adult fare such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, while more adult stories have played out in Southern soap True Blood and kitchen sink comedy drama Being Human.  Matt Haig's interpretation of the vampire myth has most in common with Being Human, introducing us to a typically English suburban family who are struggling to suppress their darker instincts.

Peter and Helen Radley are a middle class couple with a wild past that they never discuss.  Their children, Rowan and Clara, are outcasts at school because they are different; they are incredibly sensitive to sunlight, can barely stay awake during the day, and have all kinds of strange cravings and allergies.  Rowan and Clara feel like freaks, clueless as they are to their true heritage.  But that changes one night, when Clara is attacked on her way home from a party.  Self-defense soon becomes dinner.

Terrified that their quiet village life could be turned upside down, Peter contacts his brother Will, also a vampire, to help them clean up the mess.  And it is when this devil of a man steps foot in Bishopthorpe that things really begin to fall apart.

The Radleys succeeds as a novel because the focus is never on the characters as supernatural creatures.  For the first chunk of the book, the two teenagers are unaware they are vampires at all, they are simply angsty teenagers, and the author treats them as such.  Similarly, Peter and Helen are presented to the reader as parents struggling to raise their kids right even as they hurtle towards their own marital and mid-life crises.

Matt Haig's humour permeates the story.  There are plenty of vampire in-jokes, such as the scene where a potential victim jokingly refers to Will as "Dracula", to which he replies, "I prefer Count Orlok."  There's a hint of satire in proceedings too: Helen entertains the idea that she is not the only vampire housewife in Bishopthorpe; surely there must be other women in her book club who have given up a life of bloodlust and depravity in order to conform?  As her son Rowan later points out, not only are they vampires, but they are also British: "repression is in our veins".

There are times when The Radleys doesn't work, although these are few.  The co-existence of a secret vampire subculture and a clandestine agency dedicated to tracking bloodsuckers could have been explored more fully, as could the history of some of the more fascinating side-characters such as vampire Isobel and policewoman Alison.  These small faults, though, are more than made up for by the larger than life, wicked Will Radley, who dominates the page the moment he is introduced.  He'll tear your throat out without a second thought, but for a moment you might just want him to.

Tarts & Hearts (A Poem)

In a faraway land lived a wicked queen,

With cruel and exotic pleasures.

And high in a tower, behind a locked door,

Was the room where she kept her treasures.

Under her bed, slick, full and red,

A box of human hearts.

And high on a shelf, the family jewels,

A bowl of other, male, parts.

But on the table, in rows of six,

Laid out like the proverbial lamb,

Was the queen's truest weakness, her secret, her vice;

Tarts with strawberry jam.

With lipstick smeared and a dripping chin,

The Queen would devour her feast,

Grunting and groaning and making the call

Of a horned, amorous beast.

The years would pass, and the royal rose drooped,

But the queen never left her tower.

High in her room, swathed in scarlet,

She never once doubted her power.

Her subjects revolted, and marched on the tower,

They trampled the door and they took her head.

And for all the tarts, and hearts, and private parts,

It didn't matter; the queen was dead.