The Dance of the Vampires: Emma Edwards meets Dracula buff, Shane O'Neill

In the third last Cauldron interview before the summer hiatus (a Wizard's conference, somewhere near Krakow, don't worry about it...), Emma Edwards, sparky, innovative, author of Cardiff vampire novels "Sanguinary" and "Imbrued" takes over from Ngaire in the Cauldron hot seat.  

http://greenwizard62.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/an-interview-with-emma-edwards.html

Emma has become a top friend of mine and is a big supporter of all things Green Wizard and I've been looking forward to seeing her stir the pot, as it were. 

For her interview, Emma chose vampire historian, football nut, Sabbath fan, Nosferatist and big Dracula buff, Shane O'Neill, author of "The Dracula Chronicles." 

...and here's Emma!

_____________________________________________

Emma: You know I only agreed to this gig because I thought Igor would be here…where is he?

Cousin Igor, at your service, Emma!

Anyway, I digress.  I am in fact very honoured to be asked to take a turn at stirring the Cauldron, especially after the great job Ngaire Elder has done over the past few weeks.

About nine months ago I first stumbled into the business of Indie authordom, I didn’t have much of a clue what I was doing…I had written a book and published it…now what?  

I was very lucky to be approached very early on by Wiz and asked if I would like to include my book in The Independent Paperback Giftshop.  

And am I so glad that he asked because Wiz himself and the fellows of the Wizard’s Court have been amazing with all the support, advice and occasional kick in the butt that I have needed.

I once read a comment that described authors as competitive with a lack of will to help others.  I have found the exact opposite of this to be true.  The Indie authors I have met in the past year have been a great bunch, always supportive and ready to offer advice and help.

Another shining example of this is another good friend I have made since my Indie journey began, fellow vampire author and one time Wales dweller Shane O Neil.  

So I am doubly honoured to be able to spend some time taking over at the Cauldron with Shane.

Welcome to The Cauldron, Shane.  Tell us about your series, The Dracula Chronicles.

The Dracula Chronicles is a series 20 years in the making, and seriously for the last 12.  Originally it was going to be 8 very large tomes, but I’ve started to break them up into novels of about 125k-140k words each, so there could be as many as 15-20 by the time I have finished with it.

The series is an epic journey through the ages where the forces of Light and Darkness struggle for supremacy until the Second Great War, as foretold in the Book of Revelations. This bitter feud began after the creation of mankind. Lucifer’s jealousy leads to the First Great War of the angels. Hundreds of thousands of years on the feud simmers beneath the surface. It plots the course of history as we know it today. Both sides manipulate the major players through the centuries to seek an advantage over the other.

Bound by Blood by Shane O'Neill - highly rated old school
 vampire horror

 
On a cold night in December 1431 in Sighisoara an old gypsy woman delivers a prophecy to the great Vlad Dracul. She tells him he is about to sire two sons, one an angel and the other a devil. He returns to his fortress just as his wife bears him a son, whom he names Vlad. In the very same moment across the country on the border between Transylvania and Hungary a gypsy girl gives birth to another son, Andrei. The die is cast. The twin souls are born. The young Vlad Dracula becomes the instrument of the forces of Darkness. To balance this, the baby Andrei is blessed by the angels and bestowed with awesome powers. These chronicles are their story.

Vlad Dracula - the ruler who started it all

You have published two volumes of The Dracula Chronicles so far, what is next for the series?

Yes I began with Bound By Blood which I broke into Volume 1 & 2 and released together.  This is not the beginning of the series, but the first one where readers will see Dracula the vampire.  I felt it necessary to begin with the vampire first.  In the summer I intend to release the very first book in the series, The Path To Decay.  

This goes back to the night of Dracula’s birth and of course, the birth of his brother, Andrei; sired by the same father but born in very different circumstances.   

What first sparked your interest in Vampires and more specifically Dracula?

]

When I was about 12 years old and I started babysitting my sisters I often saw one of Christopher Lee’s Dracula movies.  Of course they were quite terrifying at so tender an age and I was completely hooked.  Very soon after that I saw Salem’s Lot, which scared the living crap out of me and hooked me further.  So the interest in Dracula was already there.

Christopher Lee tattoo

I became aware of Dracula the man in my later teens and with my deep love of history I began to study him in great depth.  When I began writing I wanted to create something that combined the two.

This scene from "Salem's Lot" softened my evacuate for a week after I saw it.
The scariest TV movie ever made? And a brilliant book, King's second best - Wiz.

The Dracula Chronicles have been described as ‘a lesson in history’, you must have to do a great deal of research?

I’m still not sure whether to be flattered by that comment or not, but yes it has been said.  As I said this project has been ongoing for a lot of years and it involved a lot of very meticulous research.  The books begin in the 15^th Century and I wanted to portray Dracula’s life and times and his character as accurately as I possibly could.  But I have also mixed various legends and folklore in with the real historical events.  The most exciting aspects of writing these novels was where I had opportunities to fill in some gaps not covered by historical texts.  This allowed me to manipulate events to suit my purpose.

You are also very dedicated to the promotion of your works….

Oh yes.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard a truer word spoken.  I use many social media outlets to raise awareness of my work.  

The problem is I tend to overdo it and have promoted my books for as much as 12 hours a day on lots of days.  Not a good thing when you have a wife who doesn’t appreciate what you’re trying to build and wants you for other things.  Something had to give I guess and sadly I’m a single man again.

I believe you are also something of a football fan (as is the great Wizard who is watching over us).  Do you get to go to many matches?  Who do you support?

The very first game I saw live was a pre-season friendly between Luton Town and Manchester United. I was only a little kid but met George Best and Denis Law after the game. There were bars in the football grounds back then and George lifted me up and sat me on the bar where he was standing.  I loved both teams always after that and continued to watch Luton as I lived there until I was 9.  

I watched them a lot in the late 80’s and early 90’s too and also got up to Old Trafford as often as I could.  Sadly I haven’t seen a live game in this millennium.  I also love Glasgow Celtic being that I am an Irishman.

You are also working on a series of short horror stories, the first being the beautifully titled, Orchid.  Can you tell us a bit more about your plans for these short stories?

The horror shorts are called Tales Of The Black Sabbath and each title is named after a song by the legendary hard rock band.  I thought of incorporating lyrics into the stories but decided against it for copyright reasons.  I remember Shaun Hutson doing it years ago though and he had such stories featured in Kerrang magazine.  I have dreamed of that same thing my whole life.

The band (and track) that invented heavy metal and changed my life. 

Up till this point, I was into The Wombles. 
(I love Sabbath...oh and if you go ahead, Shane, I'll send you a 5000 - NIB? :-)

Orchid is the first and is about a young woman who is killed way before her time in a car accident.  As her husband is burying her a mysterious stranger comes to him at the graveside and tells him he can bring her back as long as he doesn’t let them bury her.  The husband can’t resist such an offer and so starts off a chain of events with startling consequences, for such things always come with a price.

I hear you’re also something of a Scrabble Buff?   What was your highest scoring word ever?

Yes I was for a time.  I took the game up in 2004 and really fancied myself as a player though I had no conception of how good the real top players are.  I foolishly boasted I’d make it to the World Championships.  Well I did and in 2007 I went to Mumbai and represented Wales, but had a terrible tournament, my world ranking dropping from 86^th to 205^th.  I quit the game the same week, having achieved what 
I set out to do.  

My highest scoring word was 301 for QUICKEST through two triple word scores.  In the game we call that a 9-timer as it scores 3x3.  I managed my highest score in that same game with 921.

You recently got re-tweeted by Luke Goss from everyone’s favourite Boyband, Bros….

Oh yes!! I posted a Top 5 on-screen vampires on my blog and ranked him at #1 for his role as Jared Nomak in Blade II.  

Luke Goss - Jared Nomak in Blade II

In all fairness he was brilliant in it.  He is actually a very talented actor and enjoying a flourishing movie career now.  Best of luck to him.  Here is the post if anyone fancies a look.

http://www.draculachronicles.co.uk/frontpage/my-top-5-on-screen-vampires/

Jared Nomak is furious with you as you refused to write him a part in the next instalment of the Dracula Chronicles.  He kidnaps you and throws you in his dungeon.  Although, after seeing your blog post where you named him as your #1 on screen vampire (above Tom Cruise as Lestat, the two have a big rivalry…probably…) he relents and decides to allow you a few luxuries…3 books, 2 cds and 1 dvd…what would you choose?

When I started reading the question I thought I was well and truly f*cked.  Thankfully there was light at the end of the tunnel.

My 3 books would be.. Shibumi by Trevanian

Strumpet City by James Plunkett 

...and probably one of your books, Wiz. The Ritual is a book I really want to read.  It looks awesome.

(That's very kind of you, Shane.  At the risk of interrupting like that bloke with the glasses on "Pointless", one of the chapters is based on the Black Sabbath Black Sabbath cover. Anyway, back on with the show - Ed)

Only 2 cd’s? Ugh.. well my favourite album is Spectres by Blue Oyster Cult.  

The second would have to Deep Purple’s 1984 reunion album, Perfect Strangers.  It’s the best I’ve heard.  

1 dvd would have to be Legends Of The Fall. Edward Zwick is a master moviemaker and that, in my opinion, is the best movie of the very many I have seen.

Hollywood is calling….who would be your ideal choice of actors for the on-screen adaptions of The Dracula Chronicles?

I always imagined Benecio del Toro as my Dracula, but I’m leaning towards James Purefoy now.  Alice Krige would be Ilona Szilagy; Michael Wincott as Varkal; Joely Richardson as Ruxandra; Rutger Hauer as Mihnea and maybe Elizabeth Berkeley as Anya; Hugh Jackman as Jean Pelou; And Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer.

For the historic figures Sean Bean would have to be John Hunyadi; Derek Jacobi as Pope Paul V, David Thewliss as Henry VIII… oh there are far too many in truth…But the big movie producers are too scared to touch this.  They could never afford it.

Lucifer himself appears features in The Dracula Chronicles….I have a dog called Luci-fur….



Hmm well my Lucifer isn’t someone you could pet and live to tell anyone about it.  Saying that, he appears as a woman in the early books so some petting is possible, maybe.. Oh Hell, just rub away….

My other dog is called Sparkle (that’s what you get for letting a 3 year old name a dog).  Of course, ‘sparkle’ has much more connotations with another kind of Vampire these days, what do you make of the whole Twilight saga and their sparkling vampires?

Well I am not one to berate another’s work as I know the effort that goes into creating something worthwhile.  I am also aware of the angst between Stephen King and Ms Meyer.  

Saying that, I firmly believe vampires are creatures of darkness.  Mine certainly are.  I have to say I’m fed up of the whole teenage vampire thing.  

As a serious lover of the horror genre I feel these tales with vampire boyfriend/teenage girl really take a lot away from what vampires are supposed to represent.  

My vampires are dark, brutal monsters as they should be.  There is no sparkling in sunlight, no moody teenagers (or werewolves) and not a hair product in sight.  Actually werewolves with vampires annoys me even more.

You are a well-travelled man, Shane and you have also spent a lot of time in good old Wales, where do you consider home?

Yes I have lived and worked all over the world and spent about 17 years in all in Wales.  Home for me will always be a small fishing town in west Cork in the Republic of Ireland.. a beautiful spot called Castletownbere.

Shane, it has been a pleasure to have you on the show tonight. I, and all the Wizardwatchers, wish you all the very best in the future.

Emma, anytime. Loved it...and thanks!

Contact Shane here...

Amazon:

US -  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00A75SM4O

UK -  http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00A75SM4O

Website

www.draculachronicles.co.uk

Blog

www.draculachronicles.co.uk/blog

Twitter

@ShaneKPONeill

Goodreads

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12341417-shane-o-neill

Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/user/DraculaChronicles

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/ShaneONeillsDraculaChronicles

Contact Emma Edwards - links here...

http://greenwizard62.blogspot.com.es/2012/08/an-interview-with-emma-edwards.html

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Zoltan, Hound of Dracula 

Sanguinary: The Review

In 2003, I was a member of a forum in America called The Nook. 

It was quite a social place at a time when social networking was just beginning. 

There, I met a librarian from Watford. 

She told me her name was Freya and wouldn't give her real name even in private messages, of which, over time, there were a great many. 

Toward the end of our interaction, I was beginning to get excited at the prospect of some local weekend action, when lo and behold, she invited me down to Watford.

Then she told me what she did at weekends.

Along with a posse of like minded others, she spent her nights dressing up as a vampire, sleeping in coffins and...
...drinking the blood of willing donors and/or supplies stolen from Watford General. 

She was very candid about it. And she thought I would enjoy it and she wanted my company.

And for my part, while fascinated, I declined the offer. Naturally, our friendship petered out.

As my life collapsed like a rack of dominos in the next eight years, I forgot this story, but when I encountered Emma Edwards and her bloody tome "Sanguinary", it came back to haunt me like a legion of demons breaking down my door for a quick word.

Emma Edwards

An Interview with Emma Edwards
Original Interview from July 2013

Synopsis: Set in Cardiff, mostly in a nightclub called Domain, among goths, emos, rockers, metalheads and similar outcasts, Emma writes a quite simple - yet strangely complex - morality tale.  

Angel, the symbolically named heroine of the piece (who is anything BUT an angel), is a cub reporter for the local rag and she is sent to investigate the nightclub following a spate of gruesome murders in which the corpse is found drained of blood. 

Desanguinated, in the parlance.

Angel, a dyed in the wool counter-culturalist, neo-goth, rock chick and sex crazed thrill seeker is considered by her editor to be the ideal choice infiltrate the club. 

He's heard rumours of Sanguinarians - human beings who drink the blood of willing others. 

Not vampires, but something like.

Angel takes the job and before long is watching the lead singer of hot Manson-style rock band Erebis strut his stuff. 

Muscular, chiselled, pale, tattooed, challenging, feminine, writhing, taboo-breaking, in your face, he cuts a fine figure on stage. She notices a gaggle of young girls gyrating to his every move and she realises she is similarly entranced.

After the show, in the spirit of good journalism, she offers to buy him a whisky. He accepts. His name is Ash. And Ash tells her quite openly that the whole band drink blood for kicks...and despite her job, despite her ethics, despite...

...she begins to fall in love with him.

That same night, another girl is found in Cardiff docks, pallid and very, very dead.
____

Sanguinary is well worth a read. I think its a very, very good book.

This conclusion might surprise you.

I'm not in my twenties. I'm male. I'm not a fan of vampire fiction. I've never been to a goth club. I've never met a goth or an emo, nor have I spoken to a man who habitually wears make up in twenty years.

Yet I had no difficulty reading Sanguinary.  

In fact for several hours afterwards, I went through it and thought about it in some detail. Engaging, challenging in parts, and completely absorbing, the novel kept my attention. 

It has many, many strengths. 

Strong characterisation which remains concrete from chapter to chapter, a solid sense of place and a deliberate restriction of environment (the club, Angels house, the vampire's "crypt"), ensured a feeling of creeping claustrophobia. 

Emma has clearly walked in the moccasins of the protagonist because the dialogue, in parts, crackles like a sparkler on bonfire night. 

She has an excellent ear for banter, natter, and the way people speak, yet avoids the trap of dialect and slang and the use of interlocutions. 

This ensures a rattling fast pace, a sense of transferability (it could take place anywhere), and character-led reading experience.

The anti-heroine, Angel, is sexy, captivating, vulnerable, a borderline alcoholic, constantly at war with her demons and under pressure from her scathingly pristine and successful family. She makes mistakes, sometimes bad ones. For example, her treatment of her plain, straight and loving ex-boyfriend after she falls for Ash is disgraceful and dilutes much of the sympathy bankroll the reader has saved for her. She drinks too much, she is caustic, cloying and vicious at times, but there is a goodness to her that comes across - even if you sometimes have to believe.

As a heroine, you root for her and that's not always what you would expect. Emma clearly knows her readers, particularly the relationship that develops between the reader's experience and the familiar character in society - she's the type of girl who would ignite the Galahad, the Lancelot, the Martel in every man she meets and, as she admits on three occasions, be immediately willing to spit her saviour into the gutter.

And then there's Ash. If you are male - and this is a book suitable for both male and female - you are going to have strong feelings about Ash. That can go both ways...

Again, this is to Emma's credit.

Emma was originally drawn into the vampire genre by the lead character in "The Lost Boys".

Arrogant, offhand, cocksure, uncaring, dissuasive and unconcerned, Ash is every inch the Lestat symbol,  the sexual predator, the fanged beast of the night that trembles the heart and inspires the fevered breast.  He is written as a symbol of many things: There isn't much of a metaphysical leap between Ash gyrating on stage in his leather trousers, and the chilling pale-skulled Nosferatu sneaking up on the willing virgin in her chambers.

Emma writes him strongly, possibly the strongest written character in the book, sketched with a fine eye for detail.  

There are Heathcliff elements of him - the orphan, abandoned child, the dark presence - as well as the very definite danger of the ultimate Bad Boy - but Emma shows us slivers of light, explaining his blood drinking as every inch a curse, a circumstance, a quirk of medical fate and that there are other sides to him. 

I'm told women generally love Ash - and he's as good a reason as any to buy the book, because together, Angel and Ash are dynamite.

Dynamite. I'm not kidding: I mean, say what?!

The book exudes sex. It positively bleeds it. 

Some flowers are so productive, even their stems are fragrant; their stamen emitting pollen, their buds weeping copious juices as if the act of germination would be its very last.

If Sanguinary were a flower, and sex was it's fragrance, this novel would be one of these flowers.

The book has an unbelievable amount of sex per page. I mean truck halting amounts. The lovestruck duo never, ever stop bonking. 

If you like sex writing, you will love this book. 

Some good ones too. The  sex scenes that satisfy Ash's dark desire for bloodletting - the enthralling moment when Ash feasts on Angel's blood by opening an artery on her thigh, for example, an act which echoes Dracula, Prince of Darkness - are genuinely breathtaking and are worth the price alone. 

Obviously, Bad Boy symbol Ash is a tattooed sexual behemoth whose very presence inspires a cacophonous certainty of orgasm in all his women. Yet, Anne Rice wrote Lestat and his clan as asexual at best and impotent at worst and Dracula himself never showed much interest in sex, so he has to be human after all. Brilliant irony in the age of the vampiristic supermen. 

Emma is making a wry, social comment here - the good guy-bad guy sex angle - and indeed, there are three or four entertaining subplots to this affect, particularly the three cornered relationship between Jay, the lovestruck guitarist and friend of Ash, the vampiric singer, and Angel herself.

It's not a perfect book. 

Sometimes, you wish Emma would get to the point, the watchwords of today being space and economy. There are too many characters in the book and you end up not caring about two or three of them; they take up space. The murder scenes, written as vignettes, didn't convince me and I remember thinking I wish Angel and Ash would go down the Taj Mahal for a Bombay Duck and a big pot of Chicken Balti instead of going to that bloody nightclub again, but none of this stopped me enjoying the book. Nitpicking for balance.

It's a lovely typeset paperback with a beautiful, clean font and the whole thing inspires you to hold it in your hand.  It's now sitting proudly on my bookshelf.

Emma is a big talent that much is obvious. She has what it takes and she writes in the right genre. Its an innovative take on a traditional theme and she's pulled off the job - for a first novel, that takes a lot of moxy. 

I've already got the second book. Imbrued, (also featured on the Wizard's Cauldron). There is a third on the way and she'll complete it, no doubt. I'll be featuring on this too.

I heartily (and bloodily) recommend this book.  
Well done, Emma. Thumbs up from the Wizard.
_______________________________________

Incidentally, if you're a Kindlehound

Amazon UK   = 76p

Amazon US  = $1.23

You'd be crackers to ignore that. I mean, in Ali's newsagent, a Mars Bar is 70p and you wouldn't think twice.

Get your fangs in, your cloak on and download this to Kindle. You won't regret it.

And of course, no feature on vampire related topics would be complete without...

...the king of vampires himself...Zoltan: Hound of Dracula.

Merry Christmas.

An Interview with Nathan Squiers

Appropriately mean and moody photo of
Nathan Squiers, the Literary Dark Prince.

Nathan Squiers is a resident of New York City and writes and works for CHBB.  

"Imbrued" - a novel by Emma Edwards

A beautiful photograph of Emma Edwards

Think of Wales and you think of so many things. 

Salt pits. Molten steel. Obelisks. Grass as green as shining emeralds. Constant rain. Dark forests. Welsh Rarebit. The M4. Manic Street Preachers. The Alarm. Richard Burton. Richmond from the IT Crowd. Cardiff City. Dylan Thomas. Terriers. Collies. Strangely shaped vegetation which shimmers oddly in certain light. Ffos Las Racecourse. Jacket Potatoes.

When I think of Wales, I now add Emma Edwards and the Sanguinary Trilogy to my imagination mix. 

I make no secret of how highly I rate Emma. Crystal clear prose, an innovative look at a traditional theme, a coherent story, embedded in real life locations, with sexy, intriguing characters put in extraordinary situations, this is value for money Indielit. Additionally, she's a top quality girl too - easy to talk to, funny and - thank the good lord - someone who doesn't take herself and/or Indielit all that seriously. 

Emma took time off from painting her caravan somewhere in deepest Wales to talk to me once more on the Wizphone about Imbrued her long awaited sequel to hot, blood-drenched, cult indieseller Sanguinary.

Hi Emma. Tell us about Imbrued? What is it about?

Hi Wiz, firstly I want to say thank you for having me back to the Cauldron again.

You're always welcome on the Cauldron, Emma!

I'm so glad, Wuz. So Imbrued is the follow up to Sanguinary, which isn't the usual paranormal vampire type of story, it's about a group of humans who drink blood.  

Imbrued - the follow up to the acclaimed "Sanguinary"

Most of the characters are back from book one.  It continues Angel's story and her involvement with the blood-drinkers carries on.  As with book one it brings in some of the more traditional vampire folklore to mix up with these modern 'vampires'.  In Imbrued a slayer has risen and is determined to kill the 'vampires' and it's a fight for survival. And all the other elements of book one are still there- sex, blood and rock 'n' roll.

Average night out in Cardiff

I knew a real life blood drinker once, Emma.

Did you, Wiz?

Yes. She was a librarian from Watford. Nice girl.  Good sense of humour.

How did you meet her?

I met her on the Internet and we were getting it on, but once she started talking about weekend coffin sleeping and drinking blood, I lost interest a bit.

Hahahahaha. I can understand that.

Anyway, enough about me: How long did it take you to write "Imbrued"?

It's hard to put a time frame on how long it actually took me to write either of my books because I wrote them both over about ten years, on and off.  By the time Sanguinary was published Imbrued was also nearly ready, it was just in need of editing. 

Who designs your covers?

It's a joint effort between me and my husband. I decide how I want it to look and he does as I tell him...I mean he works the magic.   I wanted the cover to be similar to Sanguinary, to keep with the series theme, yet still different.  We were out shopping for roses for the photo when it came to me that book two should have two bleeding roses.  Bit of a giveaway for book three now though, isn't it?

Three Roses and a Funeral?

Haha, Wiz. Not quite.

What does the title "Imbrued" mean? I remember being impressed with Sanguinary as a title?

Imbrued means stained with blood.  Again keeping with the blood themed titles!

Your working title was Slayer. Why did you change that? 

It was Slayer for a long time but it started to feel that the word was a bit too obvious with regard to the plot.  I wanted something more subtle.  And I thought that Imbrued fitted in better with the Sanguinary meaning.  But my son still refuses to accept the change, he still refers to it as Slayer....as do other people...

How do you market your work. Tell us about your recent book signings.

Emma and Andrea, Emma's cousin
buttonhole customers
somewhere near Pontypridd

At this stage I've sold a lot more paperbacks than I have e-books and it's good old word of mouth that is the main thing that's selling them. Quite a few times I have sold a book to someone, they have recommended it to their friends and have then come back to me for more (in one case eight more!).

Recently I arranged a pre-launch party for Imbrued at a local hotel.  Again there was a good turnout and I sold quite a few copies, even a few people who were in the hotel bar wandered in and bought a copy of both books.  I always take printed copies of all the reviews that I have received to book signings, for people to browse through.

Emma's infamous book signing for Imbrued
in Wales on Friday. Let the parddy begin...

 In the summer I set up a book stall at a caravan park in West Wales on a carnival day.  It went very well and I met someone who has now turned out to possibly be my 'number one fan'.  Stephen King's Misery does come to mind at times.  

Let's just say if anything ever happens to Ash and if my online presence disappears for any length of time then I am probably locked up in a house somewhere in the Rhondda Valleys working on some re-writes.  Only joking, she's lovely really!

Crazed Emma Edwards
fan from Cwmbran has issue with
concluding "Imbrued" plot twist

How much of you is in the book? Is your protagonist a Symbolic You? Is she a you of the past? A you that you want to be?

Angel is very much a part of me, I think that's why I find her so easy to write as character.  A much wilder, crazier part of me though! She likes the same things as I do and we have the same taste in men! She is the younger me in the rock clubbing aspect, she's far more messed up than I ever was though. Maybe she's the me that my younger self would have liked to have been. I'm a bit more sensible than Angel though.

Emma and Andrea celebrates Sanguinary UK sales at
Tramps in the West End

Who is your favourite character in Imbrued? What is your favourite scene?

Without doubt, my favourite character is Ash.  Is it possible to be in love with your own character?

One of Wales' favourite caravan park entertainers.
Mr Balloonatic

One of my favourite characters is the Balloonatic!

He doesn't make the book, Wiz. He entertains on caravan parks.

Can you include him in Three Roses and a Funeral?

No Wiz. The Balloonatic will never appear in my books, hahaha. My favourite scene? So many to choose from. One of the first to come to mind is not actually one that Ash features too highly in though, it makes me smile everytime I read it. t would be a too much of a spoiler to tell you about it, sorry! 

Oh boo!!

Sorry Wiz.

I like spoilers.

No! Surely not?

I'm just kidding.

Oh. Okay. Another scene that I like, just for the drama is the very end of chapter two. Sometimes I wish that I could sit over people when they read the book, just to see their reactions to certain scenes. That would be a bit annoying for the readers though, wouldn't it?

Do you reread your work? Or do you put it on the shelf (like many writers) and forget it ever existed.

Well, I haven't reread them recently, just because I have been through them so many times whilst editing them both over the past few months.  But I am sure I will go back to them, I've read them loads of times but I never get bored.  I would never forget about their existence.  But I am a bit obsessed with my books.  My three tattoos are all relating to the books, I've got a rose, bat wings for Ash and my latest tattoo, Angel wings for Angel.

Angel's wings

Are you happy with the response to your work? Is Imbrued fundamentally different to Sanguinary as a result of criticism and observation by your readers?

I'm more than happy with the response that I've had to Sanguinary.  

Delighted Sanguinary fans show appreciation

When I published it I had no idea what to expect but the feedback has been very positive so Imbrued is essentially the same as Sanguinary, a continuation of the story.  The one issue that I have found with the readers of Sanguinary is that there is a big divide between the female fans of the two main male characters, some much prefer Ash, others Jay, so I try to keep in something to make everyone happy...

And finally, Book 3. What's the working title, and when can Emma Edward's fans expect to hold it in their hands?

The working title is Exsanguinated, but as you know Wiz, I am prone to changing my mind.  

One of the world's most famous Exsanguinates...

Richmond off the IT Crowd...

I don't have an exact date as yet, it's only at about 20,000 words so far (both of the other two books come in at over 150k between them), so it's a long way off yet but I would hope that it will definitely be ready sometime in 2013. 

Emma, once again it's been a pleasure talking to you. It wouldn't be the same though without saying goodbye to your devilish pooches...

...and I shall review both books after Christmas. As you know, I'll be reading both copies over Christmas! The best of luck to you in 2013...

Thanks again, Wiz, it's been a pleasure as always!

Contact:

For more information on Sanguinary and Emma Edwards, see the original interview here:

http://greenwizard62.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/an-interview-with-emma-edwards.html

Links: 

www.facebook.com/sanguinaryseries

Sanguinary:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JYK7FC

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JYK7FC

Imbrued:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AEGI44O

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AEGI44O

Paperbacks available from 

www.emmaedwards.net