Interviews

Quintette of Questions: Caroline Angel

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Today I’m asking Caroline Angel 5 questions about her latest book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

Madman Across the Water. Picking the title was easy, I’ve listened to the song of the same title since I was a child and always felt there could be a story hidden behind the haunting lyrics.

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

I could only think of fictional characters – Sam and Dean from Supernatural!

3. What five words best describe your story?

Creepy. Suspenseful. Eerie. Scary. Nightmarish. 

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

As above, Sam and Dean from Supernatural.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

That’s easy, the title, Madman across the Water! 

About Madman Across the Water

For generations one family has been haunted by something… something that stalks. It sees and listens, it watches and follows. In the shadows and mist it waits, to take you, to hurt you, perhaps to kill you. And if it doesn’t kill you, you’ll wish it did.

A creepy, suspenseful saga of family, horror, and mystery, this is one story sure to leave you frightened of the woods at night, fog, and all things tall and slender

Buy Madman Across the Water

About Caroline Angel

I can’t remember exactly when I started writing stories, Various fantasy novels found their way into my library, and if a book combined science fiction, horror, and fantasy I was home.

I took a break from writing for many, many years, though occasionally I’d start a story I would only to put it aside without finishing.

I caught the writing bug again when I started reading fan fiction, writing a few of my own, and received great reviews. I then penned a few short stories and submitted them into competitions. I was fortunate enough to win or place highly, and took the leap to write a novel. The novel received several offers to publish it when it was only about a third of the way through, spurring me to finish and submit it. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Social Media

So many book launches and author talks have had to be cancelled, I’ve decided to run as many Quintettes as I can to share some great upcoming work – and let you stock up on things to read while we’re all self-isolating.

Short Stories

Lockdown Fiction: Queen of Cats

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This is a tiny something I wrote in response to the latest Improbable Press prompt word list: foolish human, pixelate, melting, on the carpet

If you want to read the other stores prompted by these words, or take part in the prompts yourself, visit Improbable Press’s blog.

Queen of Cats

This foolish human heart of mine has melted. Look at you, Miss Fuzzy Drawers, Kitty LaRue, the Feline Queen of All She Surveys, squirming on the carpet with your paws in the air and a coquettish tilt to your whiskers. What price dignity now, puss?

I’ll take a picture for posterity – My Cat Empress, in playful mood.

I know it’s a trap. You know that I know it’s a trap.

I’m going in anyway, to rub your white belly, hairs as soft as silk (claws like needles, teeth like pins). No blood is drawn – you’re a merciful tyrant.

And I’ll post that photo, the Monarch Reclining at Home, but I’ll pixelate your face to protect your identity and maintain your mystery.

Interviews

Quintette of Questions: Stephen Dedman

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Today I’m asking Stephen Dedman 5 questions about his latest book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

IMMUNITY, and for once, it was very easy. I knew I wanted a special bioweapon as the McGuffin, and once I’d decided that the main character would be backed up by an American who had diplomatic immunity…

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

A 30ish Guy Pearce or Sam Neill for Nick Horne.  Tom Hardy would be interesting as Purdy, or maybe Chris Hayes.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Australian, noir, detective, bioterrorism technothriller.

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

Master Li Kao and Number Ten Ox, from Bridge of Birds.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

Private Investigations, Dire Straits

About Immunity

When Nick Horne, police crime scene examiner turned science journalist, hears rumours of a leak at Helikal’s genetic engineering lab in Western Australia’s wheatbelt, he tries to contact geneticist David Mora for details. After learning that Mora has disappeared, Horne realises that someone is trying to stop him investigating Helikal.

He reluctantly teams up with Tom Purdy, a US defence attache with diplomatic immunity who is also looking for Mora and fears that he may have given a bioweapon to a terrorist group threatening to unleash it on America.

Soon, Horne is not only fighting for his life, but must make decisions that can affect the world – but first, he has to decide who he can trust.

Buy Immunity

About Stephen Dedman

Stephen Dedman is the author of The Art of Arrow Cutting, Shadows Bite and For a Fistful of Data, and more than 120 short stories published and reprinted in an eclectic variety of anthologies and magazines. He’s taught creative writing at UWA and the Forensic Science Centre, and worked as a bookseller, book reviewer, game designer, editor, actor, museum exhibit and experimental subject.

He’s won Aurealis and Ditmar awards, and been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, the BSFA Award, the Sidewise Award, the Seiun Award, the Spectrum Award, and a sainthood. He lives in Western Australia and likes travel, theatre, movies, talking to cats, and startling people.

Social Media

Website: www.stephendedman.com

So many book launches and author talks have had to be cancelled, I’ve decided to run as many Quintettes as I can to share some great upcoming work – and let you stock up on things to read while we’re all self-isolating.

Interviews, News

Quintette of Questions: Suzanne Moore

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Today I’m asking Suzanne Moore 5 questions about her latest book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

The Place Between. The title evolved on its own over time. I can’t quite remember when I settled on the title. It was a working title and I played around with a couple of others but they didn’t feel right so this is the one that stuck. It felt like it captured the essence of what was going on in the story.

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

I think Diana Rigg would have made a great Sarah. For Beryl? Betty White, all the way.

Who wouldn’t want Grace Kelly to play one of their characters? I think she would make a great Lillian.

3. What five words best describe your story?

Mysterious. Unsettling. Loving. Emotive. Touching.

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

Max Smart and 99. They bring me straight back to my childhood and I still find the show funny. Just hearing the opening music to Get Smart makes me smile. I remember lying on my stomach in our lounge room when I was quite small, recording it for my Dad on Betamax tapes. I would have to pause recording during the ad breaks and then remember to start again as soon as they were finished.

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

It would have to be Gary Jules’s version of Mad World. The lyrics, “all around me are familiar faces…” makes me think of how, in the story, two people can see the same thing but they a completely different meaning, with completely different consequences.

About The Place Between

A lost mother, a forgotten past and three generations bound by hidden memories… History doesn’t always tell the truth.

Buy The Place Between

About Suzanne Moore

Suzanne Moore began her professional career as a small animal veterinarian with a love of surgery. In 2004 she returned to university to study creative writing as an aside to her veterinary career, and the balance of power between hobby and career shifted in favour of her creative pursuit.

After many years cocooned in her study Suzanne emerged rebranded as a writer, obtaining a PhD in creative writing from Murdoch University. During this time, she developed an interest in women’s narratives and time theory while juggling two small children and a household of geriatric pets.

Suzanne’s novelette, ‘The Station’—an eerie tale of a young girl’s journey through time and place—was published in Tincture in 2013.

Suzanne lives amongst the trees in the Perth hills. When she isn’t writing and the snow is deep, you can find her snowboarding in Japan with her family.

Social Media

So many book launches and author talks have had to be cancelled, I’ve decided to run as many Quintettes as I can to share some great upcoming work – and let you stock up on things to read while we’re all self-isolating.

Words are like oxygen