Interview with G. R. Yeates

I’m pleased to welcome talented horror writer G.R. Yeates to Exquisite Corpse (thanks, G.R., for letting me practice my interview skills on you).  G.R. Yeates has been published in the Dark Continents Anthology, Phobophobia and has been accepted into the Horror for Good anthology coming soon from Cutting Block Press. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed Vetala Cycle, a trilogy of vampiric horror novels set in World War I. The first two volumes, The Eyes of the Dead and Shapes in the Mist, are available now with the third and final installment, Hell’s Teeth, coming in March this year. Expect more, much more, from this writer in 2012.

Assume that you and I are total strangers. What are the most important things I need to know about you and your work?

A. The most important thing to know is that my vampires and the setting I place them in are both rather unique. The vampires are inspired by the Vetala of Hindu myth and, if I’m not wrong, Bentley Little is the only other Western horror writer who has used an explicitly Asian vampire in his fiction – the Chinese cup hu girngsi. Regarding the setting, the First World War has been very sparsely used and even then the Western Front tends to be the focus. I used this in the first novel but in the second I moved to London and in the third, the action takes place during the last days of the Gallipoli campaign. It was important to me, when using this setting for the series, to depict more than one of the theatres of war to give the reader a real sense of place and history.

Having read The Eyes of the Dead, I was struck by how well you evoke the bleakness and horror of war, and how relentless the horrors were for all involved.  The battlefield does indeed make the perfect playground for the Vetala.  On one level, the novel is a straightforward tale of guns and bombs and vampires.  On another, I interpreted the Vetala as allegorical creatures symbolizing humankind’s capacity for immense cruelty and brutality when thrown into extreme situations such as war.  Was this what you hoped readers to take from the story?  Was it foremost in your mind when writing it, or did it evolve with the storyline?  And how comfortable are you with readers projecting their own interpretations on your work?

I’m pleased to hear that the novel worked on more than one level for you as I do keep being told it is a literary work – it’s satisfying to know people feel that way about it as I wrote expecting to achieve no more than pulp horror at the time.

I was concerned to portray the utter grimness of the war because I felt it was almost my duty to after having read the personal accounts of the men and women who lived through the conflict. They went through hell in a way few of us have ever experienced and I wanted to portray that as sincerely as I could, just to show basic respect if nothing else.The Vetala were certainly intended as a reflection of humanity, a theme I build upon as the books progress. The writing of The Eyes of the Dead took place between June 2006 right up until the night of publication in May last year so I would say the Vetala evolved significantly over that long period of time, from being more traditional vampires in their first incarnation to something more esoteric and nightmarish as well as bitterly human in the end. If a reader takes away a moral message from the book I’m as happy as if they take away the feeling of having read a good and effective horror story. I’m as concerned with aesthetics and effect as I am underlying messages in the text. This is why I’m also happy that people make their own interpretations as I think it’s interesting to hear how different people find their own points of identification. Also, that’s part of the joy of reading – interacting with the story, the characters, the language and finding something to take away from the experience when it is over – so it’s not for me to say whether someone is right or wrong. Once the writer sets down their pen, the story is out of their hands and it’s up to the readers to decide what you are talking about.

We both have a story in Phobophobia, a horror anthology from Dark Continents Publishing.  Tell me a bit about how you came to be involved in this anthology and about the genesis of your contribution, “P is for Pteranophobia”.

I became involved with the anthology through being in a state of extreme sobriety whilst having the pleasure of acquainting myself with the mellifluous Dean Drinkel and the adroit Adrian Chamberlin. Dean asked to see the then-unpublished draft of The Eyes of the Dead and on the strength of that he was kind enough to invite me to contribute. I then did some research on the more peculiar phobias out there and Pteronophobia, a fear of feathers, was one that I thought would be a challenge to make into something disturbing. I then spent a few nights re-reading Lovecraft’s The Rats in the Walls and Robert Howard’s Pigeons from Hell to get an idea of the kind of tone that I wanted to set and took it from there. I’m very pleased with the final result and the quality of the anthology that it is a part of.

Independent publishing vs. traditional publishing – care to weigh in on the debate?  If one of the big six publishers approached you tomorrow with the offer of a publishing contract, would you accept it?

Firstly I think it’s erroneous to set the debate up as independent publishing vs traditional publishing. This is a dichotomy that the larger publishers have created because they want this to be seen as a war much in the same way as the music and film industry have done with the growth of readily-available digital media. Personally I don’t see it on their terms. I think self-publishing is fast becoming one of the best options for a writer who is starting out. Chances of getting published through them were slim when I started out back in 2006 and now I think the gates are pretty much shut altogether unless you are very, very lucky or already established in some regard. In this respect, I think small presses are going to become much more important and powerful because they are better able to adapt and change and work on a face-to-face basis with their client – I can cite my own experience with Dark Continents Publishing in that respect. Dean and Adrian have been excellent to work with as editor and liaison respectively.

Before that my only experience of publishing was being out alone in the wilderness that so many writers are familiar with, which when you’ve been getting incredibly positive feedback about your work from day one becomes incredibly galling and depressing. I think there’s quite a sick irony in the fact that self-published writers would get more respect from some of the major publishing flagwavers if we were still spiralling around in purgatory trying to get traditionally published whereas now I have achievements such as – two critically-acclaimed books; publication in Phobophobia and being accepted into the Horror For Good anthology alongside luminaries like Ramsey Campbell, Jack Ketchum and F. Paul Wilson (which is still mind-blowing for me) – and I would likely have none of this if I had not gone down this road. Now some might say it’s because I’m one of the few good self-published writers out there and I’m getting my just rewards and the rest are all churning out dreck etc. I have to disagree – there’s not a few, there’s a lot of talent out there and I’m proud to be part of such a mutually supportive community of creative individuals. I promise I will not now quote from brave new world and make you all sick.

To cut a short story long, this is why if a large publisher came to me with anything less than life-changing money, I wouldn’t take it. It’s almost five years since the Kindle was released and they are refusing to adapt and becoming increasingly entrenched to the point that their complaints now sound like a stuck record. I just don’t think they would have my best business interests at heart right now.

LINKS:
http://www.facebook.com/l/BAQGXR-yNAQG_11qjGJRATHIZXvZy8CPqF-fpgxdsIVwtLw/www.gryeates.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/gryeates666
http://www.facebook.com/l/_AQGVkWrSAQGh-_RdysXiiz5X4yyGzmaz3zeOa2dWfKDG8Q/www.twitter.com/_gryeates_
http://www.facebook.com/l/eAQEYXtdSAQEZ7e5Iyb478CKfpx760DcmQj6ZK18nuysaQQ/plus.google.com/111096333719944555031

THE EYES OF THE DEAD
http://www.facebook.com/l/KAQHa0bJlAQGCeqS9EpBxtpOzsidOYsklHYd7jfs2CEzcMw/http:// http://www.facebook.com/l/nAQF7Sqz2AQEcQ4D8zHkgQVszNM5F0odWo4tnumdWxDFPJg/www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0052BPGTM
http://www.facebook.com/l/KAQHa0bJlAQGCeqS9EpBxtpOzsidOYsklHYd7jfs2CEzcMw/http:// http://www.facebook.com/l/PAQEnrFNdAQEeCAB4LPH3DzDC-pp3bZ2ytRKapn3p64Nc9g/www.amazon.com/dp/B0052BPGTM

SHAPES IN THE MIST
http://www.facebook.com/l/lAQGexNkUAQGPg3ngO9gdReQDQOi1GwEuqXjurenj5J1bjQ/www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005IE7VX2
http://www.facebook.com/l/-AQH2bUa2AQEkTJKV2BpKgVCz5le4wMxl3UR5hx3XbApVTQ/www.amazon.com/dp/B005IE7VX2

 

Culture and patriarchy and brainwashing cults

This week’s attention-grabbing posts include -

Nerine Dorman hosts Matthew Tait, the author of Slander Hall, where they talk about Matthew’s interest in cults that are involved in brainwashing.

AJ Brown’s guest post on the Dark Continents Publishing blog is about the greatest common denominator – fear.  More specifically, the fear of failure.  Even more specifically, the fear of failing as a writer.

Go Indie takes a recent conversation thread from Facebook and uses it to introduce some of its new members.  Well, yes, I am one of them, but the real reason for listing this post in my weekly round up is to show how these kinds of blogs and groups really can work to help spread the word and share the love about your work; as a result of joining the group, and reading LA Sherman’s intriguing introduction, I purchased her e-book “Bengali Girls Don’t”.  It promises to be an interesting and well-written read.  I also await with great interest the publication of Tasha Turner’s novel based on Jewish vampire mythology; the vampire myth exists in many variations across many different countries and cultures, so it’s surprising that, given the current fascination with vampires inspired by Twilight and True Blood, more writers aren’t delving into that rich cultural heritage to bring readers a fresh take on the genre.

Want to know more about L.A.Sherman and her novel “Bengali Girls Don’t”?  This interview with the author on G.R. Yeates’ blog is a great place to start.

Courtesy of a SuperNOVA friend, there is this extraordinary art form that is new to me.  I have a small pile of books that our dog stole off the bookshelf and chewed, and that I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to throw out.  Now, if only I was visually artistic and had a sharp enough knife…

Image from www.visualnews.com

 

Joe Konrath.  Like he needs a shout out on my itty bitty blog.  Here he tells us straight what he thinks of Amazon.

With thanks to Glenda Larke, this article on how contraception has changed and continues to change the world has nothing to do with books and writing and a lot to do with everything else.  It might be the single most important article you read all year.

An unusual disorder

Is there such a thing as an obsessive compulsive editing disorder?  If there is, then I think I have it.  I’m not talking about editing my own work, although I am reasonably diligent at that.  No, I’m talking about the irresistible compulsion to edit the writing of total strangers.

I was at the library the other day, making use of its excellent free computer use service, when a young woman next to me leaned over and said, “Excuse me – what’s another word for ‘lots’ or ‘many’?”

Why yes, I thought, as a matter of fact, I am a walking thesaurus, thanks for asking.  Instead of throwing out a few synonyms, I got up from my chair, came around to her PC, and took a look at the document she was working on.

No need to thank me - it's all in a day's work for the Masked Editor.

“Hmmm. ‘Many’ works fine in this sentence,” I said, “but you’ll want to change a few other things.” My fingers began to fly over the keyboard, changing the tense here, the punctuation there, the spelling somewhere else.  The document appeared to be a creative approach to writing a CV, told as a narrative in third person rather than in dry bullet points.  Whether it would succeed in its aim, I don’t know, but I was determined to ensure that I had done my part (even although I hadn’t actually been invited to play a part at all).  She wasn’t doing too badly considering that English was her second language (at least, that was what I inferred from her accent and the information given in the text), but still, it could be improved…

Suddenly realising that I might have overstepped some bounds of propriety, I completed my edits, gave her a slightly embarrassed smile, and returned to my seat.  A few minutes later, she had another question.

“Umm…it needs to be longer.”

“Longer?”

“Yes.  It has to be at least 300 words long.  I’ve only got 220 words.”

I was up and over on her side of the desk like a shot.  “Let’s see – you could expand on this part here.”  I tapped the screen.  “It says you had trouble when you went to Perth.  What kind of trouble?”

“Well, my family didn’t really want me to go…”  She trailed off.  I could see from the timer in the corner of the screen that she only had a few minutes to go before her free hour of PC time would be up and the computer would shut down.  There was no time for consultation; I cracked my knuckles, elbowed her out of the way, and set about telling her life story.

“Your family didn’t really want you to go,” I said, typing away furiously, “but when they saw how passionate you were about your dream of becoming the Best Pharmacist in the World, they relented and sent you on your way with their tearful blessings.   Of course, the reader knows about your passion, because back here,” – I pointed out an earlier part in the text – “we’re going to tell them about the chemistry set you got for Christmas…no, not Christmas, you’re Muslim, silly me…that your rich uncle in America sent you when you were seven…”

Her computer timed out, and with a smile and a word of thanks, she took the USB stick on which the story had been saved and departed.  I returned to my seat, secure in the belief that I had done at least one good deed that day, and she returned to her family, probably to tell them about the crazy lady in the library who tried to write her homework project for her.

All referrals to a good therapist gratefully received…