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| The stunning Catherine Deneuve - classic ageless Sanguinarian in "The Hunger" |
Sanguinary
adjective
1.
accompanied by much bloodshed
2.
bloodthirsty
3.
consisting of, flowing, or
stained with blood (Collins English Dictionary)
Sanguinarian - Blood Drinker
Last week, Wizardwatchers had the pleasure of visiting Honolulu. This week, we turn our navigational gaze to the cold,windswept and mysterious land of the Ancient Britons, Wales, and the much vaunted work of neo-Gothic crime and horror writer Emma Edwards whose first book, Sanguinary has been chilling the bones and freezing the blood of those who have read it.
Wiz stocked up on garlic and silver bullets and - from the safety of the Wizphone Callbox - spoke to Emma about her highly rated first novel and matters criminal, literary, bloody and dark
Wiz stocked up on garlic and silver bullets and - from the safety of the Wizphone Callbox - spoke to Emma about her highly rated first novel and matters criminal, literary, bloody and dark
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Emma Edwards - hot new neo-gothic wordsmith behind "Sanguinary" |
Hi Emma! Tell us a bit
about yourself. Where do you live? Do you work? Are you married? Kids?
Hi Wiz!! Home is
Cwmbran, South Wales. It was my 15th wedding anniversary on Thursday.
15 years? Oh dear, now that makes me sound old! I have two
gorgeous children. The rest of the household is made up of two Westies
(one called Luci-Fur, she's a bit naughty but as my cousin once said to me,
what do you expect when you name your dog Luci-fur?), two hamsters
and a leopard gecko. I work
from home, my husband is self-employed and I help out his business when needed
and when not needed I write!
Tell Wizardwatchers about "Sanguinary."
Sanguinary
is, I would hope, a different sort of vampire novel. Rather than being
about traditional vampires my book is about 'real vampires' or otherwise
'normal' people who need to drink blood. The idea started when I saw a
documentary about people who claimed to drink blood and it ran from there
really.
Sanguinary has elements of horror, vampirism and romance all set
to a rock n’ roll backdrop.
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| Striking cover to Emma Edward's "Sanguinary" |
Great cover, Emma. Where does the idea come from? I personally think roses are an absorbing emblem. Did you design it yourself?
Thank you. The roses are very
symbolic throughout the Sanguinary series, to me and the characters. I've
even got the tattoo! There is a part in the book where the character Ash
describes what the rose means to him. It's a symbol of awakening,
discovering and the colour is always red, for blood.
Cover design was a joint effort between my husband and
I, fortunately for me he is quite handy at these things. We
took the photo ourselves, which involved him having to buy me some roses,
believe me flower buying is not a regular occurrence in the Edwards
household! We played about with lighting until we got the perfect
picture, I have to say I love the cover!
The book melds crime and horror - which fields the stronger impetus
behind your work?
I read
both genres but I'm more of a horror girl at heart. I feel that the
vampire element and the relationship between Ash and Angel is the main plot to
Sanguinary, the crime is the sub-plot.
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| The quintessential Count Dracula; and the quintessential blood drinking scene: From frigid spinster to blood drenched nymphomanic in one sanguine sip. (Dracula, Prince of Darkness, 1966) |
How do you
write? Longhand into Word? Straight into the PC? Are you methodical or
freeform? Are you a 2k a day woman or a mad binge writer?
I
write straight onto the PC. There is absolutely no method to
it, only madness! Usually I will have a beginning and an end and the rest
just comes after. I'm not strict with myself about writing a certain
amount a day, when it flows, it flows! When the writing is really under
my skin I'll be constantly thinking about what comes next, whatever I'm doing
and I will form the scene in my head. Except then the scene will loop
around and around in my head until I can get it out, via my fingers onto the
screen in front of me, only then will I be able to stop thinking about it.
Like I said, madness. But I guess the methodical side does kick in
when I am editing and I get a bit OCD then.
Three books,
two CD's and one DVD for your desert island marooning, please, Emma.
Tricky, so
hard to narrow it down, but here goes....
Books:
Killing me
softly by Nicci French
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| Vaunted Nicci French obsession thriller |
I would also have to take It by
Stephen King with me, and From the
corner of his eye by Dean Koontz too.
For music, I'd take Artwork by
The Used
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| Rebels and mischief makers, "The Used" |
and the classic The Path
of Totality by Korn
My sole DVD would
be close between The Lost Boys and The Crow but I guess it has to be The Lost
Boys, after all it was my introduction to the world of vampires in my younger
years.
A night out with a writer, a comedian and a musician. Where would you go and what would you eat?
The writer
would be Stephen King, I have admired him since I started reading his books
when I was a teenager.
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| Genius writer of "The Shining" |
The comedian would be Eddie Izzard and the
musician would be Bert McCraken of The Used. So much to do, so little
time!
Actually, I'd take them to the little beach by the Gwendraeth
river, where we could talk and laugh. I can see it now, us sitting around
a campfire, with Bert playing his acoustic guitar. As for eating, despite
all the blood and gore, I'm actually a vegetarian and as we're on the beach it
would probably be a picnic, champagne and strawberries sounds good.
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| Bridge over the Gwendraeth River |
Does Wales
play a big role in your books? Does the Welsh environment play a part in
your ideas and writing?
I find
it's easier to write about what I know. Sanguinary is set in Cardiff,
whose streets are very familiar to me. I worked for about five years in
an office block just on the outskirts of the city centre. Every lunchtime
I would end up in the city centre, usually spending all the money I had spent
the day earning, this was in my single days before kids arrived to spend all my
money for me.
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| Back Street Cardiff: Capital City of blood drinkers |
So I have maps planned out in my head of where the
characters live and the routes they take throughout the book. I also
spend a lot of time in West Wales, it has to be said the view of Gwendraeth
river can be very inspiring.
What do fans
of the brilliantly titled Sanguinary and Emma Edwards have to look forward to
in the coming year?
The
second part of Sanguinary is almost there, I can exclusively reveal
to you that the working title is
'The Slayer'.
I am working on editing
at the moment, so hopefully this will be finished within the next few weeks.
I have also just published a short story, just a bite sized taster of my
writing, it's called Upon Reflection and is available now!
After that I have several other novels in the works and there will also
be a third part to the Sanguinary Trilogy.
Emma, it's been a privilege and an honour to talk to you and I know Wizardwatchers will want me to wish you every success with your novels.
Thanks, Wiz. Loved it!!
Contact Emma at: www.emmaedwards.net
Buy "Sanguinary" at:
Chat with Emma on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/sanguinaryseries
Tweet with Emma at:
Twitter: @Emledwards
Great interview
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