Welcome all you practitioners and fantasy fans. We're taking a journey back into the world of Jonathan Alvey and the
White Dragon Black series today as a stop on the
Blondes, Books, & Bourbon Blog Tour.
Sublime Noir And Urban Fantasy
Blondes, Books and Bourbon,
is a gritty, witty, and downright entertaining series of short stories. The character
of Jonathan Alvey, and indeed the whole White
Dragon Black series, reads as if the author mixed Harry Dresden and Phillip
Marlowe in an acid bath and then etched the page in the peerless prose that
resulted.
The stories in the anthology vary in tone and temperament,
some irreverent and funny like What a
Nightmare (which reminded me a bit of a slapstick comedy), others darker
and more foreboding such as The Cost of
Custody, or The Ties That Bind.
I
enjoyed this anthology greatly, and every enchanting story was a treat to read.
In addition, there’s a fun character interview with a twist, and a tantalizing
sneak peek at the next novel the White
Dragon Black series. I highly recommend Blondes,
Books and Bourbon.
1. Please share how you came up with the concept for
your short stories? Which of the stories was the easiest to write and which was
the most difficult?
All of my writing comes from my Muse, I can’t
construct a story myself. From my perspective, I don’t create my tales - I just
record them. Now doesn’t that make me
sound crazy? But it’s true – the majority of the stories I write, are idea’s
that come to me as snippets of conversations, or little scenes that play out in
my head as images. My challenge is to turn those into words that capture what I
‘see’.
In many ways, ‘The Ties that Bind’ was the hardest
story to write, as I wanted a thread that connected it to the next novel,
’Bindings & Spines’ and yet allowed the story to stand all its own. That
made for a challenge that I truly enjoyed.
The easiest one to write was probably, ‘Sins of the
Father’. Being the first story written in that world, I had no restrictions, no
rules, and no history. I didn't have to keep anything straight, remember
details, or worry about contradicting myself. Of course, when I wrote it, I had
no idea that it would spawn so many other short stories, and novels.
2. Please name some of your other published works?
Tomorrow Wendell - first White Dragon Black novel
Horror Library, Volume Three – ‘Blink the Blood Away’
Tales of the Talisman Magazine, Volume 1 Issue 4 –
‘Pigeon Pete’
Mental Wellness: Real Stories From Survivors –
‘Ceaseless Cycles’
Legends and Lore: An
Anthology of Mythic Proportions – ‘Charon’s Obol’
3. What is your preferred writing genre?
I’m a paranormal / urban fantasy author mainly, but I
cut my teeth with horror, and that will always have a dark spot in my heart.
I’m sure my mind will churn out some further grisly morsels yet.
4. And preferred reading genre?
When it comes to reading, I’ll take just about any
sort of spec-fic, as long as it’s well written. Sci-fi, horror, fantasy,
alt-history – give me a well told story, and I’m yours for the duration.
5. What are your top 3 favorite books?
Ignoring how awful question that is to ask of any book
lover, these are three I certainly always come back to, both physically, and in
my mind:
‘The Dark is Rising’ by Susan Cooper was my favourite book as a child, and it
still ranks in the top three.
‘Snow Crash’ by Neal Stephenson was an amazing journey meshing cyber-punk,
ancient myth, and philosophy and thus must have a place here.
‘Someplace to be Flying’ by Charles de Lint, in many
ways is one of my favourites of his works. There is a darkness to it that
really appealed to me and it stepped away from some of the better known
characters and giving a fresh view into an odd world.
6. Do you have any particular writing habits?
You mean good ones? I try to get my writing done at
the beginning of the day. After enough coffee to find words, I sit down and
write what my Muse deigns to share with me. That way, no matter what else the
day throws at me, I have got the important part completed.
7. Do you have a playlist that you created while writing your story?
Yes, definitely. It grows and shrinks every so often,
as songs no longer seem pertinent to the world, or I find new meaning in songs
that inspire me. I also have subsets for the different moods Jonathan goes
through and, of course, one for fight scenes.
8. Panster or plotter?
Panster – Absolutely Panster! If I even try to plan a chapter ahead, the entire train
of thought comes to a painful screeching halt and I’m left, chin in hand,
staring at a black page, listening to the sheep Baa.
9. Advice for writers?
I think there are two things that I would recommend,
one is easy and the other sounds hard, but is actually just a change of
mindset. First advice is a standard – Just Write. Get it down, and don’t look
back until you've told the story. The second thing is - Learn to Love Edits. It
sounds impossible, but editing is just writing from a different angle. It is
the same process, same creativity, same weaving of words but you are doing it
from outside the box instead of inside.
10. What's up next for you?
Any moment now, my editor, McKenna Gardner, who worked
wonders with my first novel, ‘Tomorrow Wendell’ and acts of magic to get,
‘Blondes, Books & Bourbon’ together, is going to show up with a red pen,
and a cattle prod. This will be my cue
that she intends to help me get the second White Dragon Black novel, ‘Bindings
& Spines’, ready for publishing. Everyone should take a minute and thank McKenna
for making these works exist, by the way.
11. Please provide some insight, a secret or two
about each of the stories.
‘Interview’ was actually written for a blog that was
promoting the first White Dragon Black novel, Tomorrow Wendell’. They asked for
a character interview and that really gave me pause. I tried to wrap my head
around what sort of circumstance would find Jonathan Alvey giving an interview
and realized there was only one.
‘The Play’s the Thing’ is the second story written in
the WDB world. It was a fun tale to write, and I did so quickly, but it opened
up a deeper understanding of both Jonathan, and his world, for me. It was also
the story that made me realize I would be seeing a lot more of that character
in my future.
‘The Cost of Custody’ was written as a submission for
Xchyler Publishing’s open call for their next anthology. It was the first time
I had submitted anything involving Jonathan, and I was actually quite surprized
when it was accepted into ‘Shades and Shadows: A Paranormal Anthology’. This
was the first time the public was exposed to the character who had taken over
all my writing time… clearly it was only the beginning.
‘Sins of the Father’ is the story that started it all.
At the time, it was quite a digression from my usual style. I thought it a one
off, a cute tale that stretched my writing ability and nothing more. However, once
it had been written and edited, I found the writing department of my mind had
been cleared of everything but a brooding figure with his feet up on a battered
desk.
‘Legerdelivre’ was written long ago, and then about a
year after, my Muse showed me a different possible ending to the story. I
enjoyed it in my head but never put it into words. When we were editing that
story for ‘Blondes, Books, & Bourbon’, I told my editor, McKenna, about the
alternate ending and asked if she’d like me to write it up. She suggested I
should write it and another, if I could. It wasn't that the original ending was
bad, but the idea of managing to get a better one, was tempting. I went to work
on it immediately, and not only wrote out the one I’d carried in my mind for
quite some time, but a third ending as well. The version that is in this
anthology is actually the best parts of all three ending fused into one. It
wasn't the easiest to pull off smoothly, but I couldn't be happier with the way
it turned out.
‘Do As I Say, Not As I Did’ holds a special place in
my heart because it a story that shows that Jonathan can intentionally be, when
he really wants to, a bit of a jerk. That, to me, is simply entertaining. Hmm,
maybe this says something about me I should admit in an interview.
As I said, my stories come from my Muse, but sometimes
I can say, ‘Hey, can we work with…’ and she’ll give me a story, there are two
of those in this anthology. For the first, I wanted a story that was centered
on Jonathan and his problems with keeping a secretary. That was it. That was
what I asked for. After a day of musing (where do you think the term comes
from?) what I got, was the story, ‘What a Nightmare’. The second was ‘The Ties
that Bind’ and it came about because I wanted a short story that tied into the
next novel ‘Bindings & Spines’. I wanted to create a tale that stood alone
but, when read in conjuncture with the novel, enriched the understanding of the
what, and why, of Jonathan trying to go ‘clean’ from magic.
Author's Favorite Things:
- Quote - “Don’t you smile at me like that … that’s
not even a real smile! It’s just a bunch of teeth playing with my mind!”
- TV show – Doctor Who. I mean ALL Doctor Who; not just the new, not just the
old. Doctor Who.
- Comic book character – Death from Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’
- Movie – Casablanca. Is there any other possible answer?
- Candy bar – Big Turk. I mean, how can you say ‘No’ to Turkish delight and
chocolate?
- Junk food – White Chocolate. No, wait, ice cream. No, Gin. No, gummy bears.
Coffee?
- Place you visited – I haven’t traveled much, or very far. The trip to Wales,
my mothers country of birth, was taken when I was young but even so it floats
in my dreams always.
- Restaurant – The mom and pop diner, in the small town where I live. They have
big inexpensive breakfast served all day, and burgers that just hit the spot
every time.
- Island – Roke. There are, I’m sure, many wonderful ones out there but I take
Roke as my choice.
AUTHOR BIO:
R.M. Ridley lives with his
wife on a small homestead in Canada, raising chickens and sheep. He has been
writing stories, both long and short, for three decades, the themes of which
range from the gruesome to the fantastical.
As an individual who
suffers from severe bipolar disorder, Ridley is a strong believer in being open
about mental health issues and uses his writing to escape when his thoughts
become too wild.
BOOKS:
WHITE DRAGON BLACK
Bindings and Spines (Book 2,
2015)
FIND THE AUTHOR ONLINE:
