I’ve Got a Trope and I’m Not Afraid to Use It

Posted on by

PHANTOM AUDITIONGenre fiction writers are often accused of writing “formulaic” stories. It may surprise you to know I plead guilty as charged. My children’s adventure novels contain many well-worn tropes. My gothic mystery/horror thrillers likewise. Why? Because the reader expects them, and would be disappointed if I didn’t deliver.

simon-dillon-irresistible-summons-full-resIt is vital, especially in genre fiction, to give the reader what they want but not the way they expect it. Genre writers understand this. Agatha Christie’s novels and crime fiction in general is hugely formulaic, but also fiendishly difficult to write well. Like most genre fiction, they are an easy target for literary snobs.

In short, I have a trope (several in fact), and I’m not afraid to use them. However, I aim to use them in interesting and original ways. Here are ten tropes used in my quintet of gothic mystery horror/thrillers.

tumblr_p8fwjgL6LI1sxnnxgo1_400Imperilled heroine – All these books feature a tenacious, insatiably curious, likeable but flawed heroine, who is dealing with some kind of trauma either in the recent or distant past.

Big central mystery – Spooky paintings, sinister writing competitions, inexplicable sudden deaths, apparent messages from ghosts, and murderous cover-ups all feature in these narratives.

Haunted locations – Creepy forests, castles, mansions, or office blocks, are key locations in these stories.

5Supernatural elements – Ghosts, demons, witchcraft, astral projection… These are often (but not always) explored.

Hidden labyrinths – Again, these novels frequently include mysterious and sinister secret passages, caves, mazes, closed off wings in mansions, and – in one case – abandoned tube train tunnels.

Cults and/or secret societies – I seem to come back to this trope time and time again. Obscure religious movements and/or clandestine organisations pulling strings behind the scenes are an important part in many of my narratives. Often said organisations are revealed in secret rooms at the heart of the afore-mentioned labyrinths.

TheAshTreeIllustrationByGeorgeChastain565Villain/antagonist with similar goals to the protagonist – I am fascinated by stories where protagonist and antagonist essentially want the same thing. Of my gothic mysteries, The Irresistible Summons explores this with particular potency.

Melodramatic overdrive – With gothic horror, I have no shame in dialling up the melodrama when called for, with all the blood, thunder, and passion evident in the greats of the genre.

Religious Oppression – My protagonists sometimes have a religiously abusive past, or else the issue is relevant in the present. This isn’t so much a trope, as a theme I find myself exploring again and again, along with abuse of power. I expect this is a result of my background, upbringing, and personal experience of such things. I suppose this is no bad thing, as many famous authors wrote their greatest works around the same theme. For instance, Charles Dickens, whose father was imprisoned for debt, wrote again and again about lost families and fathers. In my case, I seem to write again and again about oppressive religious environments. This is true of The Irresistible Summons and The Thistlewood Curse, but outside of my gothic mysteries, I explore these themes in novels including Love vs Honour, and particularly Children of the Folded Valley (by far my most “personal” novel to date).

CultBig twist ending – This needs no explanation. I love a good twist ending, but only when it comes off as both inevitable and unexpected. It’s no good pulling out the rug from under the reader without laying the necessary groundwork, or it won’t feel satisfying. I don’t always do this (I’ve always maintained there’s a big difference between a twist ending, and an unexpected plot turn) but twist endings can be great fun to write, when they are appropriate.

Check out my published works here. If you want to try before you buy, to see if you care for my writing style, by all means take a look at a couple of short stories I’ve made FREE to download here.

Neil D’Silva: Folklore Horror and Social Realism

Posted on by

Neil D'SilvaHorror fans yet to discover Indian writer Neil D’Silva are in for a treat. His unique, Hindu folklore infused tales are grippingly gruesome, and never disappoint in the scares department. However, his novel Yakshini deserves a wider readership than just gore hounds. Incisive, challenging social commentaries about modern India bubble underneath. More on those in a moment, but first I must do my duty as a horror evangelist and urge those who consider the genre disreputable to look closer. A futile endeavour perhaps, but one D’Silva has much sympathy with.

“We are drawn to horror stories because the unknown has fascinated us since time immemorial,’ he says. “A lot of us acknowledge the “seen” world is not the only world. Our collective knowledge is just a small fraction of everything out there. We have all sensed things in the darkness and solitude… That’s what brings most of us to horror. I was quite a cowardly child, but as I began writing horror, I found myself scaling new boundaries within my phobias. There are fears that I have overcome through my writing and also reading, and I am grateful to the horror genre for that.”

I too, have found catharsis in horror, especially when it mixes supernatural elements with grounded realism (other examples include the novels of Ania Ahlborn, or Under the Shadow and The Babadook in the film world). They may sound unlikely bedfellows, but this technique is very effectively adopted by D’Silva in his writing. Yet whilst delivering the genre goods, I detected an urgency to the social issues highlighted in Yakshini, regarding rural arranged marriages, and the recent high-profile rape cases that shook India. When asked about the latter, D’Silva admits the infamous Nirbhaya case in Delhi cast a shadow over the book.

“The brutality was out there for everyone to read in the papers. When I read about it, and similar rape cases that happened in its aftermath, it both terrified and angered me. How could humans be so depraved as to brutalise another fellow human in that heinous manner? It opened in my mind a chain of thought. What if the woman in question had something in her, a kind of power, that would have helped her fight back, and mete out the same treatment to her brutalisers? But while that sort of thing sounds great on paper, it opens up another can of worms – that of moral policing, victim-shaming, and expecting women to behave in a particular manner. If women indeed did have the agency to fight back, our patriarchal system would still make her the culprit. That is the issue I addressed in Yakshini. Can a woman easily fight back the injustice meted out to her? Sadly, no. Often, we have seen that the victim is victimised more. That suffocating and infuriating thought led to the birth of Yakshini.”

Yakshini_updatedA supernatural thriller infused with Indian mythology, Yakshini concerns the eponymous immortal demi-goddess banished from her celestial dwelling. She is doomed to share the body of a human girl named Meenakshi, causing her to lead a curious, Jekyll/Hyde existence. Unable to bear Meenakshi’s rural patriarchal society, the Yakshini lashes out against lustful males, seeking bloody revenge. Serious problems ensue for Meenakshi, even leading her to be branded as a witch.

D’Silva also acknowledges the contrasting aspects of Indian society reflected within his writing, especially the differences in city and country. “Life in the urban areas of India, especially Mumbai, is very different from life in the rural zones. The urban centres have a broader worldview and, though we believe in strong family ties, the concept of individual freedom is better understood. The rural villages and small towns are infused in rich traditional values, which gives them a distinct flavour.

“Speaking specifically about the practice of arranged marriages, those are still prevalent in both small towns and huge metropolises. Marriages have always been a family affair in India and often the couple will get to know each other only briefly before they are betrothed. However, this is changing rapidly in the metros, especially Mumbai, with more and more people marrying out of love rather than a family arrangement. The sense of individual freedom has set in, but the beauty of our culture is that even in that, the value of familial ties is never forgotten.”

Despite the issues raised by the book, D’Silva is keen we don’t overthink it. “While Yakshini was strongly influenced by a particular rape case, I did not really start out with the intention of giving any kind of message. I just wanted to tell a story that would shake us from our state of complacency. But my readers have perceived it as a strongly feminist story, for which I am quite grateful. India’s leading feminist community, SheThePeople, was kind to feature Yakshini on their website, and even have me speak at their lit-fest. A few other reading clubs had discussion events around Yakshini where the feminism in the book was studied and analysed.”

Some have branded Yakshini as “the Indian Carrie” but I find Stephen King comparisons unhelpful and unfair. D’Silva’s work stands in its own right, especially in the way he fuses folklore and the supernatural with more grounded issues. Besides, when questioned on influences, D’Silva doesn’t even mention King.

“I learnt my scares and atmosphere from Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley, at a very early age. I learnt how to tell stories through conversations from Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. I learnt how to write riveting prose from Jeffrey Archer, and other contemporaries. I was impressed by the writing of many Indian writers such as Ruskin Bond, Khushwant Singh, R. K. Narayan, and Munshi Premchand, who could bring out the essence of India with simple and yet evocative words.”

Raised in a rich literary environment courtesy of his book hoarding father, who worked translating Indian films from Hindi to English, D’Silva honed his English skills by working as an assistant. “Sitting next to him, I’d see him hack away at his Remington typewriter, and was soon fascinated about how deftly he translated those stories. I would read the scripts to him, and those stories fascinated me. I owe a lot to my father… I don’t know if he actually read the hundreds of books that he collected. But that did rub off on me. I’d spend lonely afternoons swallowing book after book.”

MNH Final Cover PageIncreasingly famous in his own country, D’Silva’s status as a significant new literary talent among Indian writers registered immediately, as his first, self-published novel Maya’s New Husband shot to number one in Amazon India’s horror bestsellers. It remained in the top ten for close to two years, which landed him attention from literary agency The Book Bakers and then traditional publishers, as well as a loyal and growing readership that has now expanded beyond India. He since quit his teaching job to write full-time. With nine books to his name, at publishers including Penguin Random House, Rupa, and Hachette India, Yakshini is one of three novels currently in development for a film adaptation. But D’Silva is particularly excited about an adaptation of his non-fiction book, Haunted: Real-life Encounters with Ghosts and Spirits.

“This book was co-authored with paranormal investigator, Jay Alani, and tells his experiences in ten of the most haunted locations in India,” D’Silva explains, “including the Bhangarh fort, the abandoned Kuldhara village, the “black magic” village of Mayong, and others. The book, published by Penguin Random House, was quite hair-raising to say the least, because these were true experiences. We have now scored a major web series deal on this book with Juggernaut Productions.”

Haunted (1)When pushed on whether he has ever had a supernatural experience of his own, D’Silva is more guarded, though he does relay one scary childhood story. “I grew up in a colony that was rumoured to be built on a graveyard. Of course, we had no evidence of it at all and it might all have been the kind of juvenile poppycock teenagers indulge in, but it did give rise to several hair-raising moments that led to my imaginative mind taking great leaps, fuelled by the stories I had heard. On one occasion, I saw a woman dressed in a white saree walking on the ledge of the terrace of the four-story building opposite ours in the middle of the night. The woman was just walking along, precariously, maintaining her balance somehow, singing something softly. At one point, I felt she had sensed my presence and was turning to look at me, but before that, I ducked into my covers and shut my eyes.

“The next morning, the watchman of our colony had never shown up. When people visited his house, there were five finger marks on his face. The poor watchman said that he had been patrolling the building in the night when a woman clad in a white saree had approached him from behind, tapped on his shoulder, and when he turned, struck him right across the face and vanished. No one could find out who the woman was. That incident still shakes me badly.”

WTEDS_finalWhat The Eyes Don’t See, D’Silva’s most recent novel, launched today; exclusively on Wattpad. This paranormal horror thriller has already been covered by key publications including Mid-day and The Times of India. It reached 7000 reads on the very first day of release, an indication of growing and dedicated fandom. D’Silva describes the nifty premise with glee; a clever reversal on the no-one-can-see-it-but-the-protagonist ghost story trope.

“What The Eyes Don’t See… tells the tale of Anay Ghosh, a young man in the city of Mumbai who has everything going for him, until a paranormal entity enters his life. This entity, whom everyone around Anay can see but him, is bent on destroying everything he has.”

Neil D’Silva’s self-made success story has made him something of an online guru to other writers wishing to repeat the trick. His Facebook group For Writers, By Authors has over 21,000 members. In addition, he has recently started a You Tube channel featuring contributions from other authors and industry specialists. By remaining friendly and approachable to all, he has made himself immensely popular, though given his exponential success, I wonder just how long he’ll be able to keep all those plates spinning.

“I love promoting good literature,” he says. “It’s my biggest motivation in keeping my various activities going on. My YouTube channel as well as my Facebook group are geared towards giving rise to new literary talent, and I find time to do it. On a more practical note, I spend a few hours each day to keep up with my social activities. It still gives me a fair amount of time to do my primary job, i.e. to write. I also feel I owe a lot to the social media writers’ community because that was where I learnt a lot about publishing and marketing books. In a way, I am just paying it forward.”

Neil D’Silva’s official website is here, his Facebook page is here, his Twitter page here, his YouTube channel can be found here, and you can check out his books here.

Opening lines of my novels: Do you want to read on?

Posted on by

“Never open a book with weather” is advice often given to novelists. I’m not sure where to attribute said quote, although it is the first of Elmore Leonard’s ten tips for writers. I’m not sure how seriously to take it either. I can name a few classic novels that open with weather (Jane Eyre, for instance).

At any rate, I thought I’d give you the opportunity to judge some of my novels by their opening lines as well as their covers (it’s a myth that people don’t judge books by their covers – they absolutely do, when choosing what to read).

Glancing back over these, I like some, and slightly cringe at others. For instance, I think the opening to Children of the Folded Valley – still by far my most popular novel – is a tiny bit literary fiction try-hard, and I’d probably opt for something more immediately gripping these days. Still, it establishes the melancholy tone, as protagonist James Harper looks back on his childhood growing up amid a mysterious cult.

Folded Valley cover“We spend our adult lives trying to regain what we lost in childhood.

I do not claim to be unique in that respect. Whilst it might be argued that I lost more than some, we all, I think, chase after what we once had or never had. What we lost cannot be replaced, but we chase after it nonetheless.

Some think of what they lost with romantic rose-tinted spectacles, whilst others are more pragmatic. Some deny it, others get angry about it, others still accept it and seek help from friends, family, lovers, therapists, priests, gurus or anyone else who will listen. But I cannot do that. I can never tell my friends, my colleagues, my wife or my children what happened to me in the Folded Valley.”

Children of the Folded Valley is available here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Onto something a bit more instantly gripping, here is the opening of The Thistlewood Curse. The reader is thrown headfirst into an investigation that has ended badly, which establishes the two main characters DS Laura Buchan, and paranormal consultant Lawrence Crane.

THE THISTLEWOOD CURSE Cover (JPG Print version)“In spite of the peculiar circumstances surrounding the death of Jacob Price, Detective Sergeant Laura Buchan had all but convinced herself there was no foul play. That he died as the result of a bizarre accident had become the accepted version of events for her and most of her colleagues. Only the senior investigating officer, Detective Inspector Ethan Roland, had any further inkling that Price’s demise was in any way suspicious.

Laura kept pinching the bridge of her nose in a nervous reflex. The questioning of her lifelong friend and occasional colleague Lawrence Crane should have been mere formality; an interview that would establish beyond all doubt that he had no involvement in Price’s death. But Roland kept treating him like a criminal. No doubt he considered his actions thoroughness, but Laura thought he was just being rude. Through the two-way mirror Laura watched as Roland continued to question Crane in the interview room.

‘Are you glad he’s dead?’”

The Thistlewood Curse is available here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Phantom Audition concerns a grieving actress whose actor husband committed suicide in mysterious circumstances. This opening goes for the emotional jugular, establishing the novel’s themes of grief and what it can do to the mind.

PHANTOM AUDITION“What Mia noticed most was the silence.

She kept expecting to hear Steven’s voice, or the insistent thud of his feet, as he rehearsed his lines, pacing up and down. She expected to hear him on the phone to his agent, publicist, or to a director.

In the mornings, she no longer heard his absurd singing in the shower. His seat at the breakfast table stood empty. Mia would avert her eyes, unable to bear staring at the space he should occupy. He should be sipping his tea, scrolling through his phone, crunching his cereal… Silence chewed the room instead, like wind and rain gnawing an eroding landscape.

At nights, Mia would awaken and roll over, hoping to warm herself on his body. But Steven wasn’t there, and he wasn’t coming back. He had been replaced with the same terrible silence that screamed, clawed, and tore at her mind whenever she entered the rooms that still had his smell. The memory of her husband had stained the entire house.”

Phantom Audition is available here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Onto some of my novels aimed at younger readers (and the young at heart). Here is the opening of Uncle Flynn. This treasure hunt adventure mystery concerns eleven-year old Max. His crippling panic attacks are established in the opening chapter, ahead of the introduction of his mysterious uncle, and the main narrative. Themes of overcoming fear and the dangers of mollycoddling ensue, and Max’s character arc develops in ways that are hinted at in this opening segment.

Uncle Flynn_Cover_600px“Max Bradley didn’t like to climb trees.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to climb trees. He longed to do as his friends did and climb high into the branches of the great horse chestnut that stood at the foot of Gavin Bainbridge’s large garden. But every time he tried, he became dizzy after ascending just a few feet, and the idea of climbing higher frightened him. This was a continual frustration, since all eleven-year old boys could usually climb trees.

Max, Gavin, and Gavin’s cousins Jenny, Paul, Mark, and Katie had been playing a game of football, but Mark had kicked the ball into the upper branches of the tree. No amount of hurling sticks or stones had dislodged it, and the only way to retrieve the ball was for someone to climb up and get it.

Ordinarily, Gavin would have nipped up and retrieved it, but he was in one of his awkward, showing-off moods. He knew of Max’s fear of climbing and began to tease him.

‘Why don’t you go up and get the ball?’”

Uncle Flynn is available here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge is another action-packed children’s adventure story which well and truly throws the reader in at the deep end. Chapter one alone features a haunted house, a monster, and mad scientist.DrGibbles_1600x2400_front cover

“Being trapped inside a haunted house was turning out to be every bit as terrifying as Tim had feared. He sat on the moth-eaten hallway carpet leaning against the crumbling plaster walls, putting his hands over his ears to shut out the horrible muffled roars.

Tim desperately tried to think of a way out, but his options were limited. The front door was blocked shut, as was the back door. That left the downstairs windows, but they were boarded up; as were most of the upstairs windows, except the small bathroom window on the top floor. But getting to it would mean climbing the dusty wooden staircase and it didn’t look particularly stable…”

Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge is available here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Finally, here’s the opening of Echo and the White Howl. My youngest son begged me for a story about wolves, so I wrote this novel about a wolf pack in Alaska. It’s a vivid, thrilling tale of betrayal, exile, and vengeance, with a touch of the supernatural. I am particularly pleased with this one, even though writing animal fiction is way out of my “comfort zone” (if you’ll forgive my use of an obscenity) and is something I’ll almost certainly never attempt again. We join protagonist Echo and the rest of his pack during an elk hunt, establishing the bleak, unforgiving landscapes, and the main characters.

“The pack stalked the bull elk in the forest. Having successfully separated the beast from his herd, the wolves finally closed in for the kill.

Echo crouched in the snow behind a rock, a short distance above the elk, on a steep slope. He anticipated the imminent pounding thrill that would course through his veins when the attack signal came. He could practically smell the blood on the icy air. Every sense in his body tingled, and he longed to sink his teeth into the succulent flesh. But still he waited. Aatag, the Alpha and his father, would make his move soon.

The elk had spotted Aatag, some twenty yards away, lurking next to a large pine tree. Aatag no longer hid himself but stared down his prey, attempting to both intimidate and distract the elk from the danger at either side. To the right, Echo and his brothers Malakai and Puyak, both of whom lurked behind trees, waited high on the slope. To the left, Echo’s mother Kiana remained concealed in the undergrowth with Copper, Aatag’s fiercely dutiful second-in-command, as well as sly and clever Imalik.

Presently Puyak broke his cover and trotted across to Echo. Irritated at his brother’s impatience, Echo cocked his head, indicating for him to get back under cover. But Puyak disregarded this and eventually shuffled up next to Echo.

‘This is getting boring,’ said Puyak. ‘Why can’t we just attack?’”

Echo and the White Howl is available here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Gothic Mystery Podcast Interviews

Posted on by

The release of my last three gothic mystery novels – Spectre of Springwell Forest, The Irresistible Summons, and Phantom Audition – were each accompanied by a podcast interview with yours truly, conducted by the excellent Samantha Stephen – my co-host on The Tangent Tree podcast.

Throughout the three interviews, Samantha grills me on a variety of subjects in her inimitable manner, on everything from influences and twist endings, to why I have a thing for tenacious imperilled heroines creeping around haunted houses, spooky labyrinths, and other don’t-go-there places.

They aren’t too long, so why not head over to the Dragon Soul Press website and have a listen here.

Tempus, Time Travel, and Tall Tales: An interview with Claus Holm

Posted on by

From time to time, I interview other authors on this blog whose work I admire. Claus Holm’s Tempus series gripped and thrilled me, so naturally I sought him out for the Dillon Inquisition. Now he must answer for keeping me up at night, desperately wanting to know what happens next…

Claus Holm

Please give a short overview of the Tempus series.

Tempus Investigations is a supernatural detective agency in San Francisco run by Jim Corrigan; a 1930’s cop with a bad case of immortality. He doesn’t age, any damage to his body heals, and he can see and communicate with the spirits of the dead.

As such, he helps both the San Francisco PD and private clients when the supernatural comes knocking at the door. His friends and co-workers all contribute to the case solving in various ways; some with superpowers, others with investigative skills, tech knowledge, or pure heart.

Over the course of the series are everything from psychotic angels to time travel, Native American totems in human form, and real-life serial killer The Zodiac. The books are written to read like a Netflix-show, in terms of style and narrative. There are three in the series, with book three being published in 2020.

Tempus season oneHow did you come up with the character of Jim Corrigan?

By mixing traits from myself with some of my favorite fictional heroes. There’s a bit of Conner MacLeod from Highlander, a bit of Fox Mulder from The X-Files, a bit of the private detective Philip Marlowe, and a bit of Captain Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly all mixed together with myself and my own wishes (well – hopes!) for how I would act and talk if I was in situations like this.

I originally came up with him as a character for a role-playing game, but he changed a lot. He’s a lot nicer in the books. I found the concept I originally had of a completely unchanging man for over a century just didn’t work. He had to want to change, but he needed someone to pull him into the modern world and ground him. Which is, I suppose, the one story-line that runs through all three books – his growth as a character and as a person.

Jim is a slightly difficult man. He has very set opinions and he’s stubborn as hell, which are all traits that come straight from me. I would like to think I’m a little nicer to hang out with than Jim, though.

I particularly enjoyed the strong characters in Tempus, and their often amusing interactions. Do you think readers of this genre are more drawn to strong characters or strong stories?

Tempus season twoAs the books were written to emulate the feeling of watching TV shows like Buffy, Angel, and Supernatural, I would say that it’s the characters that have to be the biggest draw. If you connect with the characters in a TV show, you tune in week after week. Even if you miss an episode, they’re still there and you still care about them. They become your friends, and when a show ends, it can feel like losing a friend (or several friends) if they are well-written and connect with you. I’m not saying the plot doesn’t need to be there, but I think if you enjoy spending time with the characters, you would read a chapter or watch a show of just them sitting around and talking to each other.

A strong story is needed to draw you in, but once you’re in, I think you stay for the friends you’ve made.

In your writing, I detect an undercurrent of scepticism towards the Judeo-Christian worldview. To what extent am I reading too much into your writing?

For a long time in my life, I did hold a very sceptical attitude towards religion in general and Christianity in particular. I should add that this attitude was specifically aimed at the branch of Christianity I will (for lack of a better word) call “American Christianity” – the kind where you go to a mega-church, are super-self-righteous, believe every word in the Bible should be taken literally, and think that you are better than those of a different faith or denomination, just because your pastor has told you so.

I’m born in Denmark and was raised Danish Protestant, which is probably the most laid-back version of Christianity you can find. We were told by our priest that the Bible was all symbolic and probably didn’t happen the way it was stated, but that it’s a matter of philosophy and belief in something bigger than yourself. That is something I can agree with. To this day, I can still feel annoyed by people in real life, as well as in books and films, who act holier-than-thou due to their faith, and I can get downright angry when I see religion used as a weapon (again, both in fiction and in real life.)

When I created Jim, I felt like he would be a good way of expressing these emotions. Jim was killed and woke up from the dead, but his beloved wife, who was with him at the time and was also shot, did not wake up. Where is the justice in that? Why would a benevolent God allow this to happen to him, but not to her? That sort of question, I thought, might drive a man not only to hate God but to hate religion in general. When you on top of this have him living in a world where he knows there are things bigger than us (he encounters spirits, half-deities, and other things far more powerful than him) he would suspect that there actually was a God somewhere that took delight in hurting him and letting him live forever without the woman he loved. That would also drive him to hate that God.

I thought it would be an interesting characteristic in a hero – especially as a counterpoint to someone like Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon, who is a very spiritual man that embraces the divine in a sort of sceptical way. So yes, Jim hates religion, because I have a distaste for some parts of religion.

As for myself, I believe that there is something bigger than us. But I am also quite sure none of the organised religions have hit a home run. To me, it’s more about a philosophy and about aspiring to be a better person.

(As a minor spoiler for book three – in that book, we actually find out why Jim was made immortal. And the reason isn’t what you think.)

Some of your stories are torn from historic fact (for example the Zodiac serial killer which comes into one of the stories in the second Tempus volume). How much research do you do, and how much of this research sparks new creative directions in your writing?

In the case of Zodiac, the research actually came before the writing, because I read two books about him and decided that I wanted to add him to my fictional universe. However, it meant I had to be creative, as I had already established Jim didn’t live in San Francisco during the time of his murders. So in the book, Jim is only passing through San Francisco at that point and gets drawn into the case. I guess you could say that it sparked some creativity, as I had to come up with a character that the Zodiac could be.

I did a lot of research on the city of San Francisco itself, including taking a trip there between writing books two and three. I wanted to walk the streets my characters lived on. That made me realise the San Francisco I knew from books and movies was very different from the real one.

Generally, I try to do just enough research that the book doesn’t feel like a textbook. To me, the story and the characters are more important than the details of the background, but I also don’t want to screw things up and say something completely wrong. What I do try, though, is to always get the geography right. If you took my book in your hand and walked around the city of San Francisco, you could find most of the places the story takes place. I even put a bunch of pictures on Instagram under #TempusTourSF where you could see the real places. This is generally why I only write about cities I’m familiar with, and why so many of my other stories take place in Tucson. I don’t want to bore my reader with a bunch of facts, but I also want to make it feel real – so I guess the answer is that I do a fair bit of research but not all of it ends up in the books.

Have you ever had a supernatural experience yourself?

On a couple of occasions, I’ve seen what is referred to as “Shadowmen” – black figures with glowing eyes. Once when I was a young boy, and once as an adult. Both times only very briefly, because… well, because I ran like hell.

I’ve also had a more kind and benevolent experience: When my maternal grandfather died, I felt him on many times “coming back to check” on me. He had a very distinctive smell of tobacco and aftershave, and I would sometimes smell that, very strongly, in my apartment for a brief time – perhaps a minute. I always took that as a sign that he was looking in to see how I was doing. I think it happened five or six times and eventually it stopped. My grandfather was an author like me, and he was very proud of the fact that I started writing, so perhaps that’s the reason he dropped in.

Besides Tempus, you’ve written some short story collections. Tell us a bit about them.

My other books Dreams and Awakenings, Between Above and Below, Introduction to Isolation and The Tucson Time Traveler are all collections, albeit the stories are of different length. Between Above and Below are actually more like novellas, four stories in one book, while the others are shorter and more normal short story length. The short ones are what I like to call “Twilight Zone Fiction” by which I mean dark stories with a twist ending. The Tucson Time Traveler crossed more into the sci-fi world, so I suppose the TV show Black Mirror is a closer analogy than the old Twilight Zone. I like to see if I can do the unexpected in a story, so the twist might be big or small but it’s always there. I like the short story as a medium; because you’re allowed to do stuff you can’t do in a novel without upsetting the reader.

Between Above and Below though, was something different for me. Those stories are mostly not scary but go deeper into the people I tell about. One is a psychological thriller, one is a love story, and one is a story about angels and demons – and then, yes, there’s one scary one about a monster, just because I couldn’t help myself. The stories in that book are the most personal and (in my own opinion) the best I’ve ever written, which is why that one was also the one I published in Danish. When I did that, I ended up cutting the monster story and writing a new, non-scary one instead. That one I put on my website for free in English, so you could read it even if you’d already bought the English version. It’s called The Birthday Bike. (You can find it here.)

To what extent (if at all) do you agree with the statement “write what you know”?

I don’t agree with it at all. If I only wrote what I knew, it would be some very boring books. I think imagination is the key. You need to think yourself into a different place, into a different person. Looking at the world through your character’s eyes can be cathartic in many ways. I like to read books with supernatural elements, fantasy, space opera, and that sort of thing. I am pretty sure none of those authors have been to space or fought vampires. Stephen King was a schoolteacher in a little town in Maine when he wrote some of the best horror short stories ever, and sure, he added bits and pieces from his own experiences (like the textile mill in Graveyard Shift) but mostly it was make-believe. I’m a big believer in make-believe.

Which writers inspire you?

Stephen King is my greatest inspiration. I could say I’ve loved everything he’s ever written, but that would be a lie. But I’ve read everything he’s ever published (even the hard to find stuff) and I’ve learned from it. I don’t copy him, but I get inspired.

Two Danish authors – Dennis Jürgensen and Knud Holten – were the ones that made me want to write stories back when I was young, and I owe it to them that I became an author. I had the opportunity to meet both of them and they were amazing people.

Last but not least, a German children’s author named Michael Ende, who wrote Momo and The Never-ending Story. That was the first time I remember being sucked into a book so deeply that I cried when it was over, because I identified so much with the main character. Ever since then, I can read his books and be inspired by his language and his imagination (although I’m not sure how his language works in the English translation).

What are your future writing plans?

I’m publishing a book of love stories called Lover’s Moon in the summer or fall of 2020. It’s a “love mosaic” – 12 stories that take place in the same normal Friday evening in Copenhagen, about how love happens in 12 different ways. Old love, new love, parental love, chased love, love for your pet, love of God… It’s a very different book than I have ever done before, and I’m very keen on finding out what my long-time readers think about it. The book will be available in both Danish and English.

And of course, the third volume in the Tempus Investigations will also be out this summer. I think it’s the best of the bunch. I haven’t quite decided what I’ll write next, but I’m leaning towards a book of longer science fiction stories about how the technology impacts our daily life. I’ve already written a couple of them.

What advice would you give someone who tells you they want to be a writer?

Read a lot. Write a lot. Keep writing, even if what you’re doing sucks, as long as it makes you happy to do so. You will get better in time. Listen to criticism from beta readers and/or editors – they want to help you get better. And last, but not least, realise that while you might not become the next J.K. Rowling or Dan Brown and sell a billion copies worldwide, making millions in the process – every time just ONE person reads your book, you touch that person. They live for a little while in a world you made up, and that should be all you ever require.

Check out Claus Holm’s published works here and his blog here.

My Top Five Most Reviewed Novels

Posted on by

Every so often, I write an email, social media post, or blog urging my wonderful readers to please, please, please, take a minute to leave a review of my novels (or short stories) if they enjoy them.

Why do I ask this? Online reviews are absolutely essential to writers, especially little-known authors like yours truly who either self-publish, or more recently publish through a small indie publisher. We don’t crave reviews because we are insecure and require constant affirmation; we crave them because the more there are, the more algorithms show our work to more people. Reviews are an author’s lifeblood, and in many cases help us (indirectly) put food on the table.

Reviews don’t need to be long or eloquent. “I enjoyed it” is absolutely fine. If you can add that on Amazon and/or Goodreads, you will have been an immense help. Thank you very much to everyone who has left reviews. It is hugely appreciated.

With that rather begging (but continually necessary) appeal out of the way, here are my top five most reviewed novels (current combined totals taken from both Amazon and Goodreads). Most of these are four or five star reviews; which is nice, obviously.

PHANTOM AUDITION5. Phantom Audition (20 reviews) – My personal favourite of the novels on this list. A gripping and sinister psychological gothic mystery, it concerns a bereaved actress, who lived in the shadow of her much more famous actor husband, prior to his death. A series of unsettling discoveries lead her to believe her husband may have rather buried himself in his final role. Did it have a bearing on his apparent suicide? Was it murder? Could he even have been influenced by vengeful supernatural forces? Phantom Audition is a page-turner that messes with the mind of the reader as much as it’s imperilled heroine.

SSF cover4. Spectre of Springwell Forest (21 reviews) – A full-blooded gothic ghost story, guaranteed to send shivers down the spine. Easily the scariest novel on this list, Spectre of Springwell Forest concerns a young woman called Lily who moves to a sleepy village near Dartmoor, with her husband and young daughter. Lily discovers a sinister painting in her attic that shows the mouth of a mysterious abandoned railway tunnel in a forest. She is unsettled to discover other villagers have paintings (by a local artist) of the same image in their homes, though they remain tight-lipped as to why. Later, after discovering the real abandoned railway tunnel in a local forest, a mysterious spectral figure appears in the paintings that only Lily can see. The figure gradually becomes visible at the mouth of the tunnel, then slowly emerges, getting closer and closer as time passes. At the same time, Lily’s daughter begins to exhibit strange and disturbing behaviour. Intrigued? Read it if you dare…

The Birds Began to Sing_1600x2400_Front Cover3. The Birds Began to Sing (27 reviews) – Another gothic thriller, this one features a huge twist ending. The story largely takes place in a sinister country mansion that once belonged to the late, great author Sasha Hawkins. Several wannabe authors arrive at the mansion to take part in a mysterious writing competition, to pen the finale to an unpublished Hawkins manuscript. Among these is Alice Darnell, who is hoping this will finally lead to her big break. However, peculiar competition rules, enigmatic dreams, and ghostly apparitions lead her to question her sanity, as she is drawn into a tangled web of deceit, revenge, and murder.

uncle-flynn_cover2. Uncle Flynn (75 reviews) – The first novel I published is an old-fashioned treasure hunt story aimed at the young and young at heart. It concerns an anxious boy called Max who is plagued by fears and panic attacks. He is visited by his archaeologist uncle, and together they set about uncovering the truth behind local legends of buried treasure on Dartmoor, with roots going back to the time of Henry VIII’s sacking of Catholic monasteries. With rival villainous treasure hunters on their tail, can they get to the treasure first? More unsettlingly, why are the police also after Max’s uncle? Dedicated to my eldest son, this novel is first and foremost intended as a gripping and mysterious adventure, but it also features themes of overcoming fear and the dangers of mollycoddling – especially in the twist ending (yes, I do enjoy writing a good twist ending).

Folded Valley cover1. Children of the Folded Valley (259 reviews) – Still my most popular novel by a huge margin, this tale of a man looking back on his life growing up amid a mysterious cult clearly struck a chord among readers. It’s a mysterious and melancholy dystopian tale, with themes of religious oppression, loss of innocence, disillusionment, coming of age, rebellion, uprising, and the haunting power of traumatic memory.

Very loosely informed by some of my own childhood experiences, perhaps it is my most “personal” novel to date. Having said that, all writing is personal to some degree, so regardless of how many raw nerves I decided to jab with this book, I can’t attribute its (relative) popularity to that alone. I also like to think my writing has improved a lot since I penned Children of the Folded Valley as there are one or two sections I’d definitely approach differently if I wrote it today.

I completed the first draft in 2011; a fact I constantly point to, in order to dismiss those who view the novel as a cathartic response to the sudden death of my father in 2012. In fact, my father helped shape the final version. I spoke over the phone with him after he read the initial draft, and he made one particular suggestion that he felt would tip the story from “good” to “great”. Hugely excited at his idea, I thanked him profusely, and told him I would definitely adopt it. He seemed very pleased.

That was the last time I ever spoke to him.

Children of the Folded Valley is dedicated to both my parents.

Vital Statistics: Phantom Audition

Posted on by

Concluding the “vital statistics” series on my gothic mysteries, here’s a taster of my most recent novel, Phantom Audition.

Title: Phantom Audition

PHANTOM AUDITION

Plot: He buried himself in a part, but never returned. Now she wants to know why.

Small-time actress Mia Yardley, recently widowed wife of renowned actor Steven Yardley, discovers her late husband’s secret acting diary.

The diary details appointments made with a psychic medium, who advised Steven on which roles to take. It also raises questions about his mysterious and inexplicable suicide.

Seeking answers, Mia speaks to the medium, but in doing so is drawn into an ever- deepening mystery about what happened to her husband during the final days of his life. Eventually, she is forced to ask the terrible question: was Steven Yardley murdered by a vengeful evil from beyond the grave?

Expect: A psychological mystery with empowering catharsis, and a rug-pulling finale guaranteed to mess with the mind.

Current Amazon reviews: 6 five star reviews, 1 four star review.

Current Goodreads reviews: 10 five star reviews, 3 four star reviews.

Scariness rating: 4/10. This one really isn’t that scary. My notoriously scare-averse mother could probably read it. But it is suspenseful, gripping, mind-bending, and teasingly ambiguous, with an ending that is very open to interpretation.

Read if you enjoyed: The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Don’t Look Now (Daphne Du Maurier), or the play Death and the Maiden (Ariel Dorfman), and the film A Fantastic Woman.

For your copy of Phantom Audition, click here (for the UK) and here (for the US).

Vital Statistics: The Irresistible Summons

Posted on by

Continuing my “vital statistics” series on my each of my gothic mystery novels, this week can you resist The Irresistible Summons?

Title: The Irresistible Summons

Simon Dillon - Irresistible Summons full res

Plot: How far would you go to bring your loved one back from the dead?

Television producer Naomi Levinson makes documentaries debunking the supernatural.

When asked to film a promotional video for computer game company Persephone, she considers the task beneath her talents. But as production gets underway at the Persephone office block on London’s Canary Wharf, a mysterious disappearance, ghostly sightings, and lingering tragedy from Naomi’s past lead her to believe she might have stumbled into a genuine haunting.

As Naomi continues to investigate, past and present collide in a horrifying conspiracy. Cutting edge technology and ancient evil meet, leading to the discovery of a shocking and terrifying secret that could change the nature of life and death as we know it.

Expect: A ghostly and gripping gothic supernatural mystery, set in a modern office building rather an old creaky haunted house. Definitely one of my more disturbing novels.

Current Amazon reviews: 5 five star reviews, 1 four star review.

Current Goodreads reviews: 3 five star reviews.

Scariness rating: 10/10. For the most part this reads like a supernatural conspiracy thriller mystery at a solid 7/10 level of scariness, but the shocks of the final act push the rating up to 10/10 (check out the above reviews if you don’t believe me).

Read if you enjoyed: Coma (Robin Cook – and also Michael Crichton’s film adaptation), Pet Sematary (Stephen King), Fatherland (Robert Harris), or films such as Neil Marshall’s The Descent (the UK version with the uncensored ending) or Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom.

Pick up your copy of The Irresistible Summons here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

Vital Statistics: Spectre of Springwell Forest

Posted on by

Continuing my “vital statistics” series on my each of my gothic mystery novels, this week we get the lowdown on Spectre of Springwell Forest.

Title: Spectre of Springwell Forest

SSF cover

Plot: Lily Henderson has a horrifying secret buried far in her past. She hoped it would never be revealed. Now she has no choice.

To save her family, Lily must keep them from returning to the village of Springwell, where she lived with her first husband and young daughter decades previously.

In the past, after moving to Springwell, Lily encounters secretive locals, government scientists, and rumours of a ghost haunting the forest.

Are they linked to the mysterious deaths of local children? Do paintings by a local artist predict when tragic events are getting closer? Will Lily’s daughter be next?

“Two were taken. More will follow.”

Expect: To be lulled into a false sense of security, until you can’t stop reading, and by then it’s too late. Also, beware the sting in the tail.

Current Amazon reviews: 6 five star reviews, 1 four star review.

Current Goodreads reviews: 10 five star reviews, 3 four star reviews, 1 three star review.

Scariness rating: 9/10. A full-blow ghostly gothic horror mystery. It may be a slow-burn, but it builds to a properly spine-chilling finale that will definitely test the nerves.

Read if you enjoyed: The Woman in Black (Susan Hill), Don’t Look Now (Daphne Du Maurier), The Turn of the Screw (Henry James), Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad (MR James).

To pick up a copy click here (for the UK) and here (for the US).

Vital Statistics: The Thistlewood Curse

Posted on by

Continuing my series on the “vital statistics” series of my each of my gothic mystery novels, this week, I’m delving into The Thistlewood Curse.

Title: The Thistlewood Curse

THE THISTLEWOOD CURSE Cover (JPG Print version)

Plot: Can a ghost murder the living?

Lawrence Crane’s powers of astral projection are put to the ultimate test when he and his lifelong friend Detective Laura Buchan investigate a mysterious death on Lundy Island.

Sensing a dark power at work, they attempt to identify a human assassin under the control of supernatural evil.

But can they escape a terrifying, centuries-old curse?

Expect: A denouement that really ought to be obvious, yet somehow you fail to spot it (I’ve yet to come across anyone who predicts the ending).

Wordcount: 99,000.

Current Amazon reviews: 5 five-star reviews, 2 four-star reviews.

Current Goodreads reviews: 3 five-star reviews, 3 four-star reviews, 1 three-star review.

Scariness rating: 6/10. A halfway house between thriller and horror. It begins as a supernaturally tinged murder mystery (if indeed it is murder), develops into a ghost story, and gradually escalates from there.

Read if you enjoyed: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie), The Speckled Band (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), or if you enjoyed films such as Angel Heart or The Exorcist (or the books they are based on for that matter).

To pick up a copy click here (for the UK) and here (for the US).