Archive for the ‘Fading Light’ Tag
I’ve got a little bit to tell today. Lee Mather is going to post an interview he’d offered when I’d interviewed him last month. Once it goes live, I’ll link it right here — http://leemather.livejournal.com/12439.html
Now is the opportunity to own both my novels at 25% off through Dec. 31st, both The Wrong Way Down and Crossing Mother’s Grave are available at discounted rates using this limited time promotional code 12PE9NGO4MDS. Direct links are on the respective book’s title.
Also, the free fiction website is doing very well, please visit. It is the best way to know if you’d like my books or not. I promise, if you like the Skyrim Blog, you will love my novels.
I will be at World Horror Con 2013 in New Orleans in June.
Thank you for showing interest in me,
Jake
Book 1
Book 2
Anthology
This interview was provided from my last guest, Lee Mather. To find him…
http://www.leemather.org.uk
http://leemather.livejournal.com
http://www.facebook.com/mather.lee
1) What is your working title of your book?
I am currently working on the third book in the Heretic Series. Its name is so cool I’m keeping it under my hat until I get a nod from my publisher. It is such a secret that not even my wife knows the name.
However, Crossing Mother’s Grave is getting great reviews from a plethora of sources.
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
Rising from the darkness of my subconscious is as good a guess as any other.
The third book continues Popalia’s quest, she and her band of survivors from Crossing Mother’s Grave are closing on the thief, Thorgen. He is cornered somewhere in the Portown of Magistrey. Meanwhile a Lycanthropic Pirate and his sadist crew are raging up and down the coast. Their paths are inevitably going to cross and when it does, it is going to be ugly.
3) What genre does your book fall under?
It is categorized as dark fantasy, but wields a fast-paced action adventure feel to it. It is quite sharp.
4) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Emma Stone would easily fit the role for Popalia. Because the characters are so young, most of the actors would also need to be newer. Russell Crowe would make an excellent Randel Grenier, who is the central villain.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Violent pirates become an acute pain in our heroes’ asses.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
My first two books were published through Damnation Books, a small publishing house based in Northern California. I’m hoping the third in series will also find a traditional publisher.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 
I’m still writing this one. My second book, Crossing Mother’s Grave, came out less than three months ago and it took about nine months until I was happy with it.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
No one, I write my own books, not someone else’s. JRR Tolkien was very inspirational. Ray Bradbury, Steven King and Robert E. Howard also contributed to my idea, but this story is mine.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
God? The Devil? Maybe it was Sigmund Freud’s Id, I really don’t know.
In all truth, it was an old friend of mine from my college days. Fifteen years ago he had an idea to write twin novels. It would be one story, but told from two different perspectives. It was an awesome idea, but he quit writing his half––I didn’t.
In fact, his idea of multi-dimensional story-telling has become cornerstone in my series.
10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
I recommend wearing a helmet and a five point lap-strap when reading my books. They are a rush once they start rolling. Oh, and keep your limbs in the car at all times.
I’m showing free samples over here….yes, free.
I’ve spotlighted a couple other authors for everyone to keep an eye out for—Jeremy Kline, author of Lazarus Cain, Dina Rae (She was my guest a few posts back,) D. Robert Grixti – whose first novella is being published by Damnation Books on Dec. 1st 2012. Last and not least, from the Fading Light anthology, watch for Peter Welmerink and Tim Baker.
Lee Mather lives in Manchester England with his wife and new baby. Similar to Edward M. Erdelac, (my last guest) Lee is in a few anthologies being considered for a Bram Stoker Award in June 2013. Lee is coming out swinging, here is the good stuff.
1) Hi Lee. If you had three words to define yourself, what would they be?
If I could describe myself in three words I’d be a better writer than I am.
I’d only mess it up and throw in an adverb or something…
2) My first ‘Lee Mather’ experience was through the short story Wrath from the anthology Fading Light. Tell us a little about that fine gem?
Wrath is pretty dark, even for me. Primarily, it’s an apocalyptic tale about the wrath of God but it’s also about the concept of whether it’s ever too late for a second chance. It was hard to write. We had our first child this year and I think some of my angst at being a father came out in Wrath.
3) I’ve got an anthology sitting here on my desk named Corrupts Absolutely. It is ready to be cracked open and read. Your contribution is Crooked. What can I expect from Crooked as well as in Corrupts Absolutely?
Corrupts Absolutely is about superheroes that aren’t necessarily heroes, and the notion of whether their powers would corrupt them. I know you enjoy Ed Erdelac’s writing and Ed has another cracker in Corrupts…
As for me, I was excited about the concept of a play on power and that’s why I wrote a story specifically for the anthology. My effort, Crooked, is about Leon, a stroke victim who is also a thief. He’s on the run from an angry mob boss who assumes Leon is helpless. There’s a twist, and not the fact that Leon has a secret power (that’s kind of obvious).
4) Do you have any other writing projects to boast? Or scorn?
I have an urban fantasy novella out from Lyrical Press called First Kiss, Last Breath. It’s about a teenager who believes he has brought a demon into the world from a mural he has painted.
I wanted to write something where the reader can’t quite trust the viewpoint of the protagonist to create an ‘is it really happening vibe’. I hope I’ve managed that with First Kiss, Last Breath and, so far, reviews have been kind.
I also have a dystopian sci-fi short included in No Place Like Home, a forthcoming anthology from Angelic Knight Press. My contribution is Natural Selection and it’s about the response to a pandemic in an alternate Britain where the soul of a person is externalised in the form of a youthful twin.
5) Getting pissed in the US is a bad thing but in England it is fun ––are you a drinker? If so, what is your poison?
It’s a big rite of passage over here to go out drinking when you’re young / underage which means our town centres are full of drunken sixteen year olds. This is not always as fun as it sounds.
I am partial to a drink but not so much this last year due to my wife being pregnant and us subsequently having our first child. These days it isn’t a good idea to be drunk! If I do, it’s usually beer – Weissbeir or something like that…
6) A time machine travels back five years offering you a brief chance to meet yourself, what would you say?
I’d pull up in my Delorean and shout, “Mather, where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”
7) I’d recently read Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 for the third time. I love that book. If books were banned in the UK, which book (or books) would you protect at potential danger to your own livelihood? List as many books as you think you could smuggle safely, or would you agree that books are dangerous to the cohesiveness of a working society?
Yes, any art can be dangerous. You only need to look at what happened to the US Embassy staff in Libya following the release of the Innocence of Muslims film earlier this year. The film did not cause the underlying problems between the Arab world and the West, nor did its contents excuse the actions of the protestors. But let’s be honest. It lit the flame on the dynamite.
So I do think an element of censorship of our art is required. That might start with the artist (a la Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange – he withdrew the film from circulation in the UK) or it might be through governing bodies or transparent regulations.
I’m not envisaging the fascist states of Orwell or Bradbury here, either. Who in their right mind would want a government with that level of power? We still need enough freedom to challenge the establishment, as long as it’s in a constructive way…
As for a book I’d risk my life for, well, the pregnancy guide we bought has proven pretty useful…
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Find out more about Lee and his writing at www.leemather.org.uk
Or follow Lee on Twitter, where he moralises about all sorts of things.
“First Kiss, Last Breath” is available now from Lyrical Press.
“Bloody Parchment“, featuring Lee’s story, “Masks”, is available now from Amazon.
“Fading Light“, featuring Lee’s story, “Wrath”, is available now from Angelic Knight Press.
