Sheer Fear: Crime fiction's Geoffrey West is Back - Around the Cauldron!

Everyone connected with The Wizard's Cauldron is a big fan of Geoffrey West. A classy, polite and charming English gentleman living near the dreaming spires of Canterbury (site of the magnificent cathedral where Thomas a' Becket was disembowelled in 1187), he writes unusual and in inventive crime fiction featuring Jack Lockwood, an only too human psychologist. I've read all three of his books - which are ludicrously cheap bearing in mind how good they are - and he's one of the few authors whose releases I actually anticipate.  My review of his latest work can be found at the end of this interview. We met for the first time early this year and I cannot wait to chat again next year, after Book 4. I picked up the Wizphone and caught up with him at his writing desk in this most incredible of late British Indian Summers. Here's what he had to say.


Geoffrey's original interview with the Wizard

Hi Geoff, for new readers, particularly in the US, tell us a bit about yourself?

I am a freelance journalist/author and editor, who has been writing novels for several years, latterly publishing the Jack Lockwood Mystery series with Kindle Direct Publishing.  I used to write for home repair/DIY type magazines and have written five non-fiction books ranging from leatherwork to architectural salvage and major home repairs and how to make dolls houses.  I also do proofreading and editing work for publishers, and now also work for writers of independently published works. 

This is the inside of a magnificent doll's house - some quite incredible craftsmanship

Tell us about Jack Lockwood, the hero of your three books so far.

Jack Lockwood is a psychologist, a Behavioural Investigative Advisor, who occasionally works with the police, advising on criminal profiling in specific cases.  He has a tendency to go his own way, and frequently is at loggerheads with his police bosses, consequently much of the time he’s working on freelance non-fiction books, which often necessitates delving into unsavoury businesses and investigating situations and people.  

He has the misfortune to land himself in a lot of trouble, and fortunately has more lives than a cat, often losing one or more within an adventure.  

He has been compared to a ‘Jonathan Creek’ kind of hero (an English TV detective who is brilliant at lateral thinking, and solving problems), but, although he is highly academically qualified, he is not phenomenally clever, by no means stupid, but not a genius.  He solves problems with brainpower certainly, but also with tenacity and brute strength when necessary—I envisaged him originally as more of a Philip Marlowe-type character (from the Raymond Chandler novels). 

Elliot Gould plays Phillip Marlowe in "The Long Goodbye"

In fact he is essentially practical, having worked as a builder/ builders labourer for several years, and has learnt the art of bare knuckle fighting. 

Is there an inspiration for Jack Lockwood? Or is he purely a creature of your own fevered subconscious?

He is invented, but his name is actually the same as that of a favourite now-deceased great uncle of mine.  He was a very interesting and clever man, also extremely literary (he was a chief librarian who once employed John Braine, the novelist, before Braine became famous for "Room At The Top")

John Braine

 I think my Great-Uncle did various acts of derring-do in World War Two, but he never spoke of these things.  I very much hope he would approve of the use of his name—it is meant with great respect, and I feel that in some strange way it makes him live on. 

What is the latest instalment of his adventures?

Sheer Fear, published last week. 

By Sheer Fear HERE bookgoodies.com/a/B00OY578V6 

Jack’s half-brother dies just before being arrested for the rape/murders of three women. Afterwards Jack discovers that his brother was framed for these murders as part of a top-level conspiracy to silence these women, who all happened to accuse a famous public figure of molesting them when they were children.  Although they reported these incidents at the time, (30 or so years ago) nothing was done then, but in the aftermath of the Savile enquiry, fictitious ‘Operation Hedgerow’ was launched, stimulating these adult women to make fresh claims of historic child abuse.  Jack strives to expose this man, and clear his dead brother's name. 

Can you share an extract?

I managed to find a cheap hotel to stay for the rest of the night and called back at the hospital around mid-morning. On the way I found a WH Smith bookshop and bought a copy of Lord Aylesbury’s autobiography, which had apparently been published to great acclaim earlier in the year.
It was a fat paperback, entitled MY WAY, with the face of the affable lord on the front cover. Neatly styled flowing silver hair met his collar, and the half smile captured his famous charm, but to me his likeable exterior appeared to be as vacuous as the book’s title. I remembered what I’d heard about his former career as an actor, picked to play the part of the young John F Kennedy in a biopic about the American president’s early life, entitled The Young Kennedy. Now he looked much like Kennedy probably would have looked, had he lived until his seventies. Unfortunately, the great man, the centre of America’s elite power brokers, had been assassinated in his forty-third year. John F Kennedy had gone down in history as perhaps one of the most charismatic presidents there have ever been. Indeed John Kennedy and his brother Robert created an inner circle of aides and allies, that his government christened ‘Camelot’ because its glamorous style, and its chivalric values were considered reminiscent of the ancient English court of King Arthur.
I pondered on the fact that there must be countless autobiographies and innumerable songs played at funerals, inspired by Frank Sinatra’s admittedly memorable and excellent song, ‘My Way’. The links were ironic: Sinatra had been a close personal friend of President Kennedy’s until the relationship had been abruptly terminated when Sinatra’s links to the Mafia were realised. Kennedy had dropped him then and there with a brief phone call, cancelling the party Sinatra had been holding in his honour that weekend. Sinatra personally smashed up the concrete helicopter landing pad he’d installed on his estate, bitterly hurt at the rebuff.
My Way. It seemed that so many people, whether in the public eye or not, have the narcissistic conviction that they and their lives are brilliant and special, that their choices and manner of living are unique. Sinatra couldn’t have realised how huge a vein of conceit and self-delusion he was tapping into when he performed his iconic song for the first time.
As I always do when I first get an autobiography, I flicked through to the photographs, which I often find are more informative than the words. There was budding actor Kit Aylesbury as a child, then as a young thespian, then in the uniform of a young WWII American sailor, on board a troop carrier, playing his part in The Young Kennedy, the film that had made his career. I looked closer at the twenty-year-old Aylesbury, and wondered how many American actors must have cursed the unknown British actor for beating them to the iconic role of a lifetime, simply because he’d been born with a face that was so similar to the great man.
St Helier’s hospital was a rabbit-warren of a place, with miles and miles of corridors. The ward where I found Lauren was fairly quiet, the bed beside hers empty. She was a pleasant looking woman with shortish blonde hair, a round open face and a friendly smile.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” were her first words.
“It was simply luck, that’s all.”
Around us were other patients in nearby beds, and nurses coming and going.
“Look, Mr Lockwood,” she spoke earnestly as I sat in the plastic chair beside her. “The nurse told me that I can leave whenever I like. If you have the time, can you wait for me to get dressed and discharged, then I can take you for breakfast or coffee or something?”
“I’d like that very much.”
An hour later we were sitting in the restaurant of the Holiday Inn Hotel in Sutton town centre. It was a comfortable welcoming place, with thick carpets and cosy decor. After we’d ordered breakfast, she told me that she’d phoned her mother, who lived in Cornwall and had offered her a home for as long as it took for the house to become habitable again. She went on about how the fire inspectors hadn’t yet reached any conclusion as to the cause of the fire, that the police had asked her if she had any enemies.
“Not that I have,” she said in exasperation. “They obviously think the fire might have been started deliberately, but I can’t think of anyone who could wish me harm. I’ve thought and thought, but I really can’t think of anyone.”
“Have they got any idea how the fire started?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Too early to say. That’s another thing. If it turns out that my wiring was faulty or something, then what if the insurance won’t pay for the repairs?”
“Is the wiring very old?”
She frowned, trying to remember. “I had some electrical trouble a few years ago. An electrician gave me an estimate for repairs but I couldn’t afford it, so I put it off. Oh God, I shouldn’t really be admitting anything like this to anyone, should I? If the fire was caused by an electrical fault then the insurance is invalidated.”
“I’m not about to tell anyone. Besides, the fire brigade are good at tracing the causes of a fire. They’re likely to find some other explanation altogether.”
“But what explanation?”
“Are you sure you don’t have any enemies?”
“Gracious, no. At least I don’t think so. Until the police asked, I never thought of anything like that.”
“Before you went to bed, could you have accidentally left a gas fire on, or something alight on the kitchen stove?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve thought about it over and over, and I’m certain I did nothing like that. Besides, I’ve just remembered. I have smoke alarms, and they didn’t go off. I suppose both batteries might have been flat, but it’s unlikely. But if the fire was started deliberately I can’t imagine why. I’m a teacher. I live a quiet life. I can’t think of anyone…”
The pause was so pregnant I didn’t want to interrupt the birth. But eventually I had to: “Look, Lauren, there’s something I have to tell you. I didn’t just happen to be passing your house when I saw the fire. I was coming to see you.”
“Why? Who on earth are you?”
I explained all that my ex-police contact had said to me, stressing that I had no way of knowing whether there was any truth in what he said or not. Her eyes never left my face. When I’d finished, she ordered more coffee, and she stayed silent for a long time.
“My God, what a thing to hit me with,” she said at last.
“I’m sorry. I’m hoping there’s some other explanation for all this.”
“There must be.” She looked up and stared into my eyes. “Because I never made a complaint against this man, Lord Aylesbury, or Kit Aylesbury, as you say he was called then. I never even met him as a child. To my knowledge I’ve never met him in my life.”
“Then I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I.” She stirred her coffee, frowning and staring at the table.

The magnificent Gloria Grahame - classic
fifties femme fatale.
Often imitated, never
replicated.

You are known for creating absorbing women, both heroine and villain, in your books. Do fans of Geoff West have a femme fatale/bunny boiler/Nora nutbag to look forward to in Sheer Fear?

Absolutely.  There might even be more than one, and it’s not necessarily clear at first who’s a heroine and who’s a villain. 

Why is Jack so rubbish with women? Is this deliberate or a series of accidents and coincidences?

He never understands how women think, and is cursed with bad luck, plus his timing is always wrong.  He is also convinced that he is too untidy, disorganised and set in his ways to fit in with a permanent relationship, but he hopes things might one day change. 

Can you assure your long-term readers that Jack will eventually meet the woman of his dreams?

I don’t know what’s going to happen.  But Jack’s a great optimist, he’s sure he’ll meet her one day. And as long as she doesn’t get herself murdered he’ll be happy. 




Are you a supporter of the Police? It is not clear from the books.

Yes, very much so.  It annoys me when police are portrayed as bumbling fools in fiction since I’ve always considered them very practical, clever people who have limitless knowledge of people and human nature and, are generally well intentioned, and on the side of the angels.  

I would need to be a fan of the police, since my great grandfather, Andrew Veitch, was a first-class Superintendent of police in Lincolnshire, England in the 1870s and 80s. Here is a pic of him in uniform. 

What have you been a) reading b) listening to and c) watching lately?

 I’ve been researching addiction for my next book and just read Patty Boyd’s (left) biography—interestingly, Clapton was both addicted to drugs and alcohol, and I learnt a bit about the chaotic music scene of those days, when the Beatles, The Who, Clapton, Ronnie Wood, The Rolling Stones et al, whom I thought were musical competitors, were in fact all friendly with each other and often collaborated professionally.  


I very much like the writer Mark Barry, and especially loved his book Carla.  (Thank you, Geoff - Ed)

Listening to:  Not much of a modern music fan, I mostly like rock and very much like Country Music. 

Watching:  The DVD set of Borgen, the excellent series about Danish politics.  

Think I am going to join you in watching this - Ed.

I also loved Spiral and Braquo, two French detective series’ set in Paris. Watching films with subtitles is very enjoyable and absorbing, I find.  

And finally, what do Geoffrey West’s loyal fans have to look forward to in the coming year?

Almost certainly the best proofreader
in the UK - Julia Gibbs.

The Jack Lockwood Diaries, a collection of short stories in Jack’s life, that I am publishing as soon as I can.  

In fact the brilliant Julia Gibbs - left #Follow @ProofreadJulia - has agreed to help root out my mistakes (you can never see your own) and in a day or two I’m sending them to her.  

She’s always busy, but I know from experience that her expertise is well worth waiting for. 

These stories were first put up on my blog, the Jack Lockwood Diaries, but I shall delete these once the book comes out, and add more as and when I can, so whilst writing Jack Lockwood novel number four, and a book on Home Security I’ve been planning, I will be putting out regular stories taken from Jack life - blog here.

http://jacklockwood.wordpress.com/

Jack Lockwood’s fourth major mystery, is where Jack deliberately becomes an alcoholic, in order to see addiction clinics from the inside, and write a book about their treatment regime and so on.  

The book begins with Jack waking up from an alcoholic stupor in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, with a dead man beside him. He has no memory of the past drunken few hours, and accordingly is afraid that he may be the man’s killer. 

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Geoffrey, this has been a pleasure as usual and I hope you achieve the success you deserve with this exciting series of books in 2015. The best of luck.

Thanks you,Wiz - and the same to you.

Read Georgia Rose's interview with Geoffrey tomorrow.

http://www.georgiarosebooks.com/blog/

Read also Geoffrey's Interview on A Woman's Wisdom

https://awomanswisdom.wordpress.com/


LINKS

Novels: 

ROCK’N’ROLL SUICIDE  viewBook.at/B009XA5SQ4 

DOPPELGANGER  http://viewBook.at/B00B6U64B2

SHEER FEAR  bookgoodies.com/a/B00OY578V6 

Website:  www.geoffreydavidwest.com

Follow Geoffrey West on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GeoffreyDWest

The ultimate eighties femme fatale - Matty Walker

in the amazing "Body Heat"

Marky The Wizard's Review of Sheer Fear.

5.0 out of 5 stars Another terrific Jack Lockwood Yarn - his best yet! 1 Nov 2014

By Marky The Wizard - Published on Amazon.com

Where to start.

Lets start at the beginning. I loved the book. I read it one sitting and having read all three of Geoffrey West's Jack Lockwood's books, this is the best of them. I heartily recommend it.

The book is much faster paced than the others - it rattles along like a freight train never stopping to take on water and coal. So much happens, you'll be breathless before halfway.

The plot. David, Jack's oldest friend, is accused of a horrific triple rape and murder in the leafy environs of ancient Canterbury. Jack knows full well that David would never have done this, but the evidence seems insurmountable. Still, Jack - being Jack - sets out to prove his friend's innocence. Then, out of the blue, Jack finds a tarantula in his glove compartment and all hell lets loose.

Before long, Jack finds himself at the centre of a conspiracy within a conspiracy, a labyrinthine narrative involving the top echelons of the British establishment. As if that is not enough, he becomes a victim of a vendetta from a surprising femme fatale, and a target of some serious old school villains from the Brinks-Mat days, who don't mess about when it comes to inflicting pain to get what they want.

Geoff weaves the plot expertly, adding his usual fascination with modern history and culture to the mix, and long term fans will recognise Jack's hapless, unfortunate, attempts at finding love amongst the many beautiful, intelligent, flawed, damaged and determined women he encounters.

There are superb set pieces - including the opening scene and a gripping attempted burglary - plus thrills galore and a sense of page turning tension, particularly in the middle section of the book where you have no idea what is going to happen next.

Geoff is an old fashioned story teller and to him, the story is key. His fiction still reminds me of the old ITC detective shows of the sixties, where very episode ends on a cliffhanger, as each chapter does here. Sheer Fear is unapologetic about its old school roots and it benefits from it. There is one scene in the middle that had me both howling and marvelling at Geoff's audacity and for writers, there is a a series of sly digs at the publishing industry and, in particular, literary fiction writers, which had me grinning like the cheshire cat.

I'm a big fan. Sheer Fear can be read before Doppelganger and Rock n Roll Suicide and if you like a rattling good crime fiction read with an absorbing, flawed, charismatic lead character who you will root for all the way down the line, and villains you will definitely want to see get their just desserts, you will love it. At the price, it is a steal. Heartily recommend.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review 5.0 out of 5 stars

Romantic historian Anabelle Bryant talks Rakes, Rascals and Rapscallions...Around The Cauldron!

In the midst of crashing waves,  howling winds, communication breakdown and the paranoid anxiety of BST's lost hour, the Wizphone finally managed to connect with the resplendent abode of Anabelle Bryant, popular New Jersey based historical romance author.

A published author for e-powerhouse Carina,  and American rose-petal leviathan, Harlequin, Anabelle has been tipped by many insiders for a lofty position in the romance rankings and with her, er, striking and (some might say) saucy covers guaranteed to grab the attention of a rabid, intensely loyal, romance readership desperate for more tales of the Happy Ever After, who would bet against her? 

As she reclined on her chaise longue making notes in the ledger for her latest Regency epic, we had a natter. Here's what she had to say.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Anabelle?
I’ve always been a writer at heart, keeping journals from a very young age, but I chose education for my career and I don’t regret it at all. Still, the desire to be published never went away and I began writing romance soon after I finished college. I enjoy travelling, taking photos and most creative endeavours. 

When Carina decided to publish To Love A Wicked Scoundrel it was the realization of a long sought dream. I never imagined it would become a best-seller in three weeks.

Most people in the UK know New Jersey from top TV show, The Sopranos. Are you a fan? Is it like The Sopranos where you live?

I live near Princeton, so my surroundings are the complete opposite of the Soprano way of life, but you don’t need to drive too far for it to be true, considering New Jersey is such a small state. 

When Jersey Shore and Jersey Housewives became popular a few years back, I cringed. The people on that program no way resembled anyone I’ve ever met in New Jersey. I hope the rest of the world doesn’t wrongly judge my state by the exaggerated depictions on television.

Tell us about your latest work 
I am very much in love with my hero right now. His novel will begin a trilogy of historical romances that are a departure from the typical recipe for regency fiction. 

Each of these heroes approaches love in an unusual manner with deep secrecy and definite hardship. I’m almost finished with book one, and the next two are itching to be written.

Can you share an extract from "To Love A Wicked Scoundrel" 

"Come with me."

His voice dropped low, a sultry, sinful command, and Isabelle knew she should never have allowed their little talk to become personal. However, she did not object when he reached for her and clasped her hand, pulling her past the marble sculptures in the center of the chamber and further, to a concealed door at the back of the room.  

     He drew her inside and latched the lock.  She swallowed with nervousness and her eyes darted across the dim lit storage room.  Works of art littered the walls and floor, and a desk filled one corner, but she had no time to consider it further.  His strong fingers turned her shoulder, and Constantine brought her against his length in one fluid motion.

     "I have wanted to do this since the first time I spied you in Lord Rochester's study."

     He held her, their bodies pressed together at the most intimate places and Isabelle's breath came hard and fast.

     "You confuse me."  Her words shook with emotion, or fear, or the unfamiliar rush of desire that pooled within her, but she did not look away from his crystal gaze, shimmering with heat and promise in the broken candlelight.

     "Am I a riddle to solve, my sweet?"

     She could never confess her pathetic secret, she believed him the answer to every question of her heart.      His voice, low pitched, rich and silky, proved a lethal combination of wickedness and handsomeness and his uttered endearment caused all logical though to dissipate, turning her into a quivering mass of foolishness.  A silent warning reminded of his skill to charm and disarm, but Isabelle believed she engaged the real man who existed behind the dashing tailoring and fabulously good looks.

     "Tell me what you want, my lovely.  I know you feel as I do."  He tangled his fingers in her hair to knock loose the pins and unravel its length.  "Your hair is magnificent."  He touched a silken strand to his lips.  "It is a crime you keep it hidden from view."

     Isabelle's heart beat heavily as her thoughts scattered like the hairpins that littered the floor.  When had he removed his gloves?  How had they become embraced in a dark room behind a locked door?

     "Tell me, what it is you desire?"

     His eyes seared into her, while his clever tongue and honeyed words decimated her sensibility.  All intellect fled on a wave of concupiscence, the intense yearning enthralling.  She trembled, her body pressed to his, her skirts pushed to the side as he held her in a tight embrace against his hard length.  Her gown whispered impatiently against his trousers and every point of contact, no matter the layers of superfine or silk, burned with heat and ignited her blood.

     "Constantine."  His name came out on a broken plea, but for what she begged she had no idea.

     "Tell me, Isabelle.  Do you want what I do?"

     He whispered kisses across her temple with stunning delicacy, to belie the intensity of his words or fervor of his embrace.  She trembled at the contact of his mouth on her skin as his soft lips caressed her with extreme care and left a trail of dizzying pleasure in their wake.

     "I want to kiss you.  To taste your mouth, those delicious rosebud lips, long and thoroughly, and discover the flavor of your kiss, the secrets of your beautiful body, every curve, every softness..."  He broke off, although his hold on her did not lessen in the least.

     Isabelle's mind whirled.  She had no way to make sense of the carnal images he suggested, and her body reacted, flooded with desire as he continued to whisper and paint vivid pictures of sensuality that persisted and demanded attention.  She knew of the pleasures men and women enjoyed, but to hear them in explicit detail, while Constantine held her captive against his heated body was achingly exquisite.  And definitely wrong.  She needed to stop him, but a wicked part of her, a part she never knew existed, taunted that her entire life she'd been told she was wrong in every way.  Why not surrender to an opportunity for adventure?

You are studying for a Doctorate. Where do you find the time to write?
Time for writing is usually stolen. Mornings work best, but anytime I have the energy or inspiration will do. One luxury of teaching is having frequent holidays and the summer months free. Most of my writing happens on long weekends and during the summer. 

I also participate in JeRoWriMo (Jersey Romance Writing Month) where we are challenged to write 30,000 words in one month. I’ve been able to complete the challenge for two years now.

Why do you write about Regency England, with its rakes, ne’er do wells and rascals? What is the appeal?  

Arguably Stanley Kubrick's best film bar The Shining. 

Adaptation of  Thackeray's sprawling 

regency saga Barry Lyndon

Clever question because that is the reason I write Regency. Aristocratic bad-boys hold immense appeal. Dukes who break rules, earls who abuse their power to win a woman’s heart, – it all spells romance to me. Joined with the backdrop of masquerades, elaborate gardens and opulent estates, fashion, etiquette, stop me, please. My list will keep going.

Who are your go-to authors when you are researching the period?
I’ve learned so much from reading my favourite historical authors. Loretta Chase, Eloisa James, Sherry Thomas; they are all magnificent writers.

A Rake's Progress - William Hogarth

I do a lot of research and reading about the time period and own some excellent resource books. I like little known facts or oddities. They are fun to work into a story.


Is there a crisis in historical romance?
Critics have long spoken out against romance. The newest hype is that historical romance is deader than the time periods between the pages, but critics are wrong. 

Historical romance has the third largest portion of the genre market, the top selling section in the book store and earned 1.079 billion dollars last year. I have the latest issue Romance Writers Report with these facts on my desk, and it’s true. Historical romance is not going anywhere. It has serious, loyal fans.

Your work is highly rated, I hear, at Carina. How difficult has it been to get the word out about Anabelle Bryant?
Once I secured a contract I made a commitment to my authorship. I developed a website, joined all kinds of social media and ordered swag. I do personal appearances and attend conferences and literally think about my career as an author all the time...yet it’s still challenging to get the word out. 

The market is huge and competition is fierce. The old saying of “just write a good book” still rings true as the greatest influence for becoming well known.

Is Happy Ever After a cop out bearing in mind the complex world in which we live? As authors, shouldn’t we be reflecting a world where things don’t work out like that?

Well, I know there are books out there that represent a realistic view of the world because I’ve purchased them and have been sorely disappointed. I read for escape. I want to be transported to another time where I can meet characters who might be from 200 years ago, but face the same emotional challenges I experience. 

"The happily ever after is a guarantee in a romance novel. No matter how fraught the emotional turmoil within the plot, the reader knows in the end there will a satisfying resolution. In my opinion, it makes the reading ever more enjoyable. But then again, I’ve been known to daydream a lot."

I flew over New Jersey in 2006 on the way to Houston. As I came into land at JFK, I have never seen so many swimming pools. Is this the case or was it an optical illusion. Do you have a pool?

I do have a pool. You caught me, yes. Summer is short lived in New Jersey. We want to enjoy every possible minute. The beaches are wonderful here...but often crowded. 


No one can complain about coming home from work and slipping into the pool for an hour.

Give us your favourite a) two books b) DVD and c) CD
I’m a lover of the classics. The Scarlet Letter, anything Shakespeare, Fahrenheit 451, Alice in Wonderland. 

My favourite movies are all romantic: Sense & Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, The Holiday 

and music...Aerosmith 

Give us an author to watch out for in the coming year.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Carina authors. Carina is building an impressive inventory of romance writers. If you visit their website, there is a little bit of something for everyone. Paranormal, Time Travel, Romantic Comedy, Suspense and Historical.

Finally, what do fans of Anabelle Bryant have to look forward to in 2015
I’m so excited for 2015! Harlequin has signed me for three more historical romances and the first will release in January. 

I attend conferences and make appearances at libraries and book clubs. I also enjoy talking to my fans on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. It’s going to be a busy year...but busy in the best way.

Anabelle, it's been a pleasure to meet you and I wish you and your readers a prosperous and successful 2o15

Thank you, Wiz. I've really enjoyed it!

Contact

Website: http://www.anabellebryant.com

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AnabelleBryantAuthor  

Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com@AnabelleBryant

TO LOVE A WICKED SCOUNDREL

Amazon US: http://goo.gl/jRvaRS

Nook: http://goo.gl/ok3FPk

DUKE OF DARKNESS

Amazon: http://amzn.to/TVvglt

The Multi-Talented Lorraine Devon Wilke - Around the Cauldron!

California's Lorraine Devon Wilke has packed an awful lot into her life and she shows no signs of stopping

The third-eldest sibling of eleven, she packed her bags and hit the road as a travelling rock singer in the big-haired eighties, carrying her camera with her, before settling down to marriage, motherhood and a life of popular bloggery, including her current stint working for the Huffington Post.

Her list of past achievements and current work is quite staggering - and she's a delightful person too!

Lorraine is now a novelist writing (in Indie terms), that quiet, shy and vulnerable industry step-child Literary Fiction. 

The genre the 101 blogs tell you to avoid like the plague and yet, it's the one area where a reader can find really, really decent writing if you look for it. And Lorraine is a really, really decent writer.

I was introduced to her by Brenda Perlin and received both her short story and novel. The former is a cracking read, but the latter - I am twelve chapters in and I am engrossed is possibly a great book. I had to buy it in paperback. 

It's a sweeping, sassy, cynical, redeeming, tricky "Terms of Endearment" type family saga - remember those? - with dialogue so acute you can experience it, a real sense of place, and characters you can see and hear as if they were next to you, the novel deserves a wider audience. 

I picked up the Wizphone and interrupted Lorraine while she tapped out her latest blog on a sunkissed veranda overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here's what she had to say.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Lorraine?

Hi Wiz! I’m one of eleven children (third oldest). I was born in Chicago, Illinois, which remains one of my all-time favourite cities, but lived most of my childhood in a tiny farm town near the Illinois/Wisconsin border called Richmond. 

I remember flying into O Hare and seeing this shot - amazing (Ed).

Later, I hit the road with a rock band, which led me to Los Angeles... 

...where I started out as an actress, then launched into another full-time run at rock & roll during the wild and woolly 80s (yes, there are “big hair” pics on my website!). 

Website: http://lorrainedevonwilke.com/index.html

The 90s were about indie films (mine and others’), marriage (happy elopement) and family (one son, one stepdaughter); then back to music (more on that in a bit), and always writing (screenplays, articles, songs, books). 

Whereabouts in the US do you live?

Home base is Los Angeles (currently the beach community of Playa del Rey), as it’s been for most of my adult life, with the recent addendum of a wonderful little place in the hinterlands of northern California, Humboldt County, where my husband and I have a home in the charming Victorian Village of Ferndale, California. 

In what genre do you write? 
I write in the category I most love to read, Contemporary Literary Fiction. 

As a reader, I’ve always been drawn to real stories of a literary bent, ones that reflect upon or make commentary about life, relationships, family, culture, etc., and so my sensibilities as a writer lean in that same direction. 

Stylewise, I tend to interweave drama with humour, mostly because that’s the mix I find most often in life (though my recent short story, “She Tumbled Down,” is largely all drama). I seek out those unique narratives hidden in the everyday lives of contemporary people. 

Tell us about your latest work 

Since I mentioned my short story, let me touch on that first: “She Tumbled Down” was inspired by a hit-and-run that occurred in my neighborhood a few years ago, one that hasn’t been solved and likely won’t be. The street memorial put up by the victim’s family remains, even now, and I often walk past it and wonder what kind of person could do such a thing... hit someone then just drive away? “She Tumbled Down” is my imagining of one answer to that question. It’s not the specific story of the woman who died in my neighborhood, but it’s written in her honor and that of other hit-and-run victims whose deaths will never find justice. 

The bigger literary event of the year was After The Sucker Punch, my debut novel published in May of this year. 

What is ATSP about and why did you write it? What family sagas influence the novel?

I’d always wanted to write a novel but never felt I had a story that quite fit the medium. Then, several years ago, and many years after my father’s death, a journal of his came to my attention, one particularly focused on me -- and not in a very complimentary way (yes, he did use the “failed” word!). 

I remember my young son finding it so odd that a father would leave words like that in a journal meant to be read; in fact, he was the first one who said, “You should write a book about this.” I gave it some thought, but since I’d had a fairly distant relationship with my father throughout my adult life, his retrospective critique, while hurtful, was not particularly life shattering for me. It was when I brought it up in a women’s group I was in at the time, and realized how dramatically it hit others, that the idea of a book was further sparked.

Many people have asked, “How much of the story is true?” A fair question; but despite any correlations, this is most assuredly not a memoir. I wanted the freedom of fiction to create an imagined family and I very much did: in real life we all get along, no one’s an alcoholic, and there’s not a nun, lawyer, teacher, or lobbyist in the lot! 

Basically, After The Sucker Punch is about life: sometimes dark and exploratory, sometimes funny and irreverent. It encompasses various themes of significance, specifically the concept of self-acceptance, of grasping your personal truth and not letting anyone dissuade you from it, not even a father. Through the main protagonist, her siblings; her friends, lovers and even jobs, we explore issues of family, faith, cults, creativity, love, and the universal struggle to define oneself against the perceptions of a parent. I hope readers both enjoy – and find provocative – what is ultimately a triumphant journey of self-discovery. 

Can you share an extract from the work?

This is the opening chapter and a bit after that, from After The Sucker Punch, setting the stage for all that follows:

 January 5, 2002 – the journal of Leo Curzio:

One is obligated by moral duty to love one’s child. One is not obligated to like them. A conundrum when it comes to my fourth, my third daughter, Teresa – or Tessa, as she insists we call her now.Recently I searched through my journals of the past several years looking for an entry about her but could find nothing. Perhaps that’s not so strange; she has been an enigma to me since she finished high school. As I look back, it seems her senior year was the pinnacle of her life...from that point on little has happened to bear out her great promise.Convinced of her own abilities, which do seem apparent or, at the very least, measurable, she decided to try for a job in the movies, TV, or perhaps the recording business out in Hollywood. She insisted that if after two years she had gotten nowhere she would try something else. Well, it’s been more than three years and she has nothing to show for it except some amateur acting classes and self-produced plays. In September she will be twenty-five.So what’s the problem with Teresa? For sure, I don’t know. She is a great disappointment. Not simply because she’s failed up to now, but that endowed with so much talent she hasn’t employed it for anything useful and doesn’t show signs of improving.

On a day when all she wanted to do was mourn the father so often longed for and buried just hours before, Tessa Curzio sat on the bed in which she was surely conceived and felt posthumously sucker punched. She looked down at the twelve-year-old journal splayed across her lap and realized it truly was a Pandora’s box come to life, a dubious gift from a dead man who had little to say while living but clearly plenty upon departure. She snapped it shut and threw it across the room with enough force to shatter her mother’s purple vanity lamp. A clock that followed to the floor doggedly kept ticking time. 5:17 pm. It was the beginning of the next uncomfortable phase of her life.

There is also a very artfully produced (by Tom Amandes) book trailer for After The Sucker Punch that offers a visual synopsis of the story that’s quite compelling... 

What’s been the highlight of your time in Independent Fiction? And what don’t you like about it?

The highlight, definitely, was the actual creation of ATSP for publishing. Putting together a book, as opposed to just chasing after a publisher, was a new experience that came with quite a learning curve... which was both terrifying and exhilarating for me at the time! As I went through the process of rewriting, editing, formatting, working with a designer (Grace Amandes) on the cover (which I love), I felt like I was building a dream house... one that would be exactly as I pictured it. 

And, then, GETTING IT PUBLISHED... amazing! 

In a world where traditional publishing makes it profoundly difficult for an unknown author not working in a formulaic genre (i.e. vampires, zombies, romance, or SMBD) to get published, the sheer empowerment and pleasure of being able to create the book I wanted, and then put it up where readers from all over the world could access it, was creatively life-changing. From there, all else springs! 

And what I don’t like about indie publishing? A couple of things: 

First, it’s difficult, frankly, to do everything yourself. As savvy and capable as I am with marketing and promotion, there’s just the sheer volume of tasks related to breaking a book, particularly in this uber-saturated marketplace, which makes that process exhausting at times. I’m relentless and enthusiastic, but after five months on my own, I’m currently in conversation with a publicist to hopefully join me in the endeavour! 

Second, I’m not fond of the knee-jerk stigmas perpetuated about indie authors as a whole by some mainstream media, various publishing platforms, and select book bloggers (happily, not you!), too many of whom marginalize and rebuff all self-published authors as amateurs willing to put out poorly written, unedited pap to which Mom, Dad, and BFFs will award 5-star reviews. But, then again... I also don’t like that too many self-published authors prove them right! 

We indie authors are the only ones who can change that scenario and the only way we do it is by holding ourselves to the highest possible standards in, both, the excellence of what we write and the professionalism of what we deliver to the marketplace. 

Hear Lorraine ponder political issues HERE

I’ve covered this paradox surrounding “judgmental media vs. indie authors” on my blog and other places, and hope, given changing attitudes and the critical mass of like-minded authors writing on the topic, the industry as a whole steps up to raise the bar... and media takes notice! We’ll see how that goes in the next few years. 

Lorraine's blog at huffingtonpost.com

You were the lead singer in a band. Loads of us would have loved to do that!

ROCK & ROLL!! Yes... thank you for asking; I was a lead singer for many years. A true creative high point in pretty much every way imaginable! 

I mentioned the 80s earlier: that’s when I found the musical mentors with whom I conceived an original project called DEVON, a soul/new wave band that did it up big for most of the decade. 


My most recent foray was with a blues/rock project called Road To Blue... which morphed into an original project under my name... which culminated in an original CD, Somewhere On the Way, a true labour of love and a solid example of my sensibilities as a singer/songwriter. It’s available on iTunes and CDBaby, so hop on over to my site if you’re interested. 

http://www.lorrainedevonwilke.com/music.html

[And FYI: in an interesting bit of mixed media, one of the songs from the CD is part of the epilogue of After the Sucker Punch as a free download... now how fun is that?!)   

How seriously do you take your photography?

Very. One of my images was recently chosen for a traveling exhibit for the amazing group called The Peace Project, and just this week a piece of mine was jury-selected for YourDaily Photograph, a collectors’ site managed by the very prestigious  Duncan Miller Gallery in LA. I still take my camera wherever I go, shooting and uploading new work when I can.

Give me your favourite a) two books, b) CD and C) DVD

Damn, I’m terrible at these “favourite” things, but I’ll do my best to hone down the list! But know that these come with the caveat that they are some of my favourites, not necessary the favourites (I don’t think I could possibly be quite that selective!). 

Books: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

CD: Joni Mitchell’s Blue -  I know every word, breath and harmony! 

DVD: Still Crazy – It was my go-to gift DVD for years, particularly for anyone with an appreciation for rock bands and growing older! 

Invite one author, one musician and one actor to dinner. And what would you eat?

The author would be Dave Eggers (I like his books and his mission statement), the musician, George Harrison (my favourite Beatle); 

the actor, Gregory Peck (the man everyone wanted to be their father). 

... and can I add Maggie Gyllenhaal (I just binge-watched The Honourable Woman and she blew my mind!!). 

Wiz's favourite MG role - Crazy Heart

That’s quite a fabulous crowd, isn’t it?

We’d sit around the table at my house with some great blues, a fire going, and the sun setting, eating a Greek meal of roasted lamb with mint jelly, rice pilaf, Greek salad, crusty wheat bread, and baklava, all made by my grandmother, who’d have come down from the heavens to get it done right.

  
Finally, what do fans of Lorraine Devon Wilke have to look forward to in 2014?

I’d hoped to have a collection of my published essays (Sass & Sensibility... a Collection of Essays by Lorraine Devon Wilke) 

My goal for the rest of 2014 is to continue to give After The Sucker Punch the necessary push to keep it advancing in terms of sales and promotion, as well as get this next novel done. 

Novel #2 should be ready to go by the first quarter. Working title: Woman Between the Lines, “an anti-romantic comedy/drama about a recently dumped 33-year-old portrait photographer who sets off to find his ailing father's first love, convinced she carries the key to happiness for them all.”

 I’ll continue to write for The Huffington Post and the various other publishers I work for; keep my blogs going 

AfterTheSuckerPunch.com 
My Adventures in Independent Publishing and Rock+Paper+Music 
Sass & Sensibility from Lorraine Devon Wilke

hopefully find a few places to get up and sing, and, of course, sling the camera over my shoulder on some travels I’ve got in mind. 

I can always be found at 

info@lorrainedevonwilke.com 

Lorraine, it has been a pleasure to speak to you around the Cauldron and I wish you all the best in the coming year.

Thanks so much, Mark, for inviting me to visit you and your readers around the Cauldron. I had a blast answering your questions and hope your readers enjoy the glimpse.  

Buy Lorraine's work HERE

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lorraine-Devon-Wilke/e/B00K2ZOLSA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1413186082&sr=1-2-ent

US: http://www.amazon.com/Lorraine-Devon-Wilke/e/B00K2ZOLSA/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1413186082&sr=1-2-ent

Contact Lorraine:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-devon-wilke/

Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/lorrainedevonwilke

Website. http://www.lorrainedevonwilke.com/index.html

Twitter. @LorraineDWilke

Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8185626.Lorraine_Devon_Wilke

Google Plus. https://plus.google.com/+LorraineDevonWilke/posts