A friend and author of the forthcoming short story collection, Strings, Darren Gallagher asked me to participate in a blog hop that has been cycling around t'interwebs over the last months. You can read Darren's post
here.
Of course, being the gobshite I am, I agreed. I've never done one of these things before, so bear with me as I jump in feet and head first (though I'm not certain I'm still limber enough for such a maneuver.)
What
is the working title of your book?
Red
Wine and Words. Not working, but actual!
Where
did the idea come from for the book?
It’s
a collection of sixteen short stories, so the ideas came from many
different places at
many different times. Some of the stories have
already been published in various
anthologies, so the ideas for those
would have come from the submission call and
subsequent
brainstorming.
Usually
brainstorming, for me, gets out of control. It’s highly likely that
brainstorming for
one story will uproot ideas for ten others.
Dreams,
also, form the basis for a lot of my ideas. But mostly, anything that
intrigues me,
scares me, confuses me, or affects me in any emotion
not aforementioned, gets the
creative juices flowing. I’m a little
strange like that.
What
genre does your book fall under?
As
you might have gathered from the above question, I am, at times, more
emotional than
a pregnant woman coming down off a lifetime
prescription of anti-depressants. So
whatever mood takes me, will
also take my writing.
I’m
fond of the dark stuff. This is not in reference to Guinness (which,
funnily enough, I'm
also fond of) but to dark themes – horror,
psychological horror, thriller, murder, mystery,
love and loss, etc.
You will not find many happy endings in my writing, and certainly no
chick lit. No siree.
Which
actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
All
male characters shall be played by Johnny Depp. And I shall call him
Johnny. And he
shall be mine to cuddle at will.
All
female roles shall be played by Angelina Jolie. I shall call her
Angie. And she shall be
mine to cuddle when Johnny is broken.
What
is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Does
it count if I write a whole page punctuated only with commas and
semi-colons?
Okay then, okay:
'An
eclectic collection of tales which blur the line between fantasy and
reality, mixing
horror, humor, suspense, and tragedy with the
all-encompassing theme of love and loss.'
Will
your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
'Tis published, and published by Post Mortem Press, based in Cincinnati. The company is
owned and run by Eric Beebe and his wife Stephanie
Beebe, and they run it like a family.
There’s a great bunch of
authors represented by Eric and Stephanie, and there's a lot of
blaggarding goes on in the group. But, I've gone too far; the first
rule of the Post Mortem
club is we don't talk about the Post Mortem
club.
How
long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Most
of the stories in Red Wine and Words were already written when the
brilliant idea
came to me to lump them all together in a single
collection. All that remained was to
gather them up and edit them
according to my writerly ego at the time (some were almost
a year
old. Oh, the shame!) Of course I did write a few extras specifically
for the
collection, and edit those too.
I
guess in all, from writing the oldest story in the book, to having
the book published, took
approximately one year.
What
other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I
would never be so boastful, or, for that matter, be able to overcome
my self-doubt for
long enough to compare myself to any other book or
author. Every book has its own
unique charm, every author, their own
voice. Some may appeal to me in the fiercest
possible way, others,
not at all.
So
for this, you're going to have to make do with the opinions of
others. One review which
literally made my jaw drop, was from Dean
Cowan of BookPleasures.com. Dean said:
“On
my bookshelf I own collections of stories by the likes of M.R. James,
Conan Doyle, and H.P
Lovecraft and I hope Emma Ennis would not be
insulted if I said that stories of this kind belong beside these."
How
do you like them apples?
Who
or What inspired you to write this book?
I've
always loved reading, and in school, getting assigned an essay was
the highlight of
my week. While the rest of the class were groaning
in despair, I was dancing inside. It just
so happened that I was
lucky enough to have a teacher who nurtured both these loves. On
the
return of one of my essays (I think I was about 13 or 14 years old at
the time) she had
written: “I loved this one, Emma. So emotional.
Perhaps a future as a romance novelist?”
(or something along those
lines.) And from there, the seed was sown; there would be no
weeding
it out, no matter how many rejections racked up.
It
was for this reason that I dedicated Red Wine and Words to this very
teacher.
What
else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Seriously?
Is it not piqued already? You lot are a hard crowd to please. Very
well...
2012
is the year of the apocalypse (I've lost count of how many we've had
so far this year)
– that's in there. Copycat murders – they're
always fascinating aren't they? Well that's in
there too. You want to
know about Egyptian curses, or what imaginary friends really are?
Well I've got some theories for you to bandy about. Ancient Indian
spirits, Shadow People,
mental diseases – yep, you guessed it –
all found within the covers of Red Wine and
Words.
Add
to all these a generous dollop of the human condition, a sprinkle of
conspiracy, a dash
of fairytale and a pinch of dark angels, and there
really, really is not much else you can ask
for. Just go buy the damn
thing!
And that, as they say, is a wrap! Next week you can read posts by:
Rebecca Snow,
Brian Dobbins, author of '
Jasmine's Tale,'
Dale Eldon, author of the forthcoming novelette '
Dark Dwellings,'
and
Jason D. Brawn, author of the novelettes '
Stranded' and '
Refuge.'
Tag, you're it!
