Welcome back! Today, I’m pleased to feature author Lindsey Beth Goddard. Lindsey’s work has appeared in Dark Moon Digest, The Wicked Library, and The Sirens Call, among other outlets.

Recently, Lindsey and I discussed her inspiration as a writer, her short fiction collections, and her new book, Ashes of Another Life, available now from Omnium Gatherum.

A couple icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I don’t think I ever decided to become an author. Ever since I can remember, I wrote. In first grade, I won the Mother’s Day poetry contest for the entire school (grades K-5), and that’s when I realized I could touch people with my words. Through poems and essays and stories, I had a voice. I’ve always been introverted – private, shy. Writing things down was a good way to think, to vent and to communicate. Much easier than expressing myself verbally. Yeah, I’d say it was love at first write.

Some of my favorite authors are Robert McCammon, Ray Bradbury, Oscar Wilde, Emily Bronte, Gary Braunbeck, Lisa Morton, Stephen King, Graham Masterton, Poppy Z. Brite, Clive Barker, Shirley Jackson, Philip K Dick, Richard Laymon, Poe, and many, many more.

Congratulations on the recent release of your book, Ashes of Another Life! What served as your primary inspiration for the book, and how long did it take you to complete the project?

Thank you. It all started when I began reading the biographies of former FLDS cult members. They are brave and enduring individuals. Literally trapped, kept under constant surveillance, and forced to marry men several decades their senior, escape was not easy for the females. And males are liable to be shunned by their families and cast out of the community for the smallest infraction. A teenage boy caught with a collection of “worldly” possessions such as CDs could be thrown, penniless, into the outside world with nowhere to go. Rebellion is met with harsh consequence, and physical and mental abuse is used to eradicate free thought. I became so obsessed with studying this cult, I had to write a story about it. The process took over a year, but I love the results.

You have several collections of your short fiction available, including The Tooth Collector and Other Tales of Terror and Quick Fix: A Taste of Terror. What was your process in selecting the stories for each collection, and do you have plans for another fiction collection in the future?

Selecting the stories was easy. I chose the best of my reprints. A lot of these stories appeared in anthologies by small-press publishers who have since disappeared, so I wanted to give them a permanent home. In my latest collection, The Tooth Collector, I included a story that had previously appeared on an episode of the Wicked Women Writers Challenge podcast. I chose that one for the same reason: to give it a permanent home in print. My stories are like my children. I must take care of them!

In about a year, I’ll have another collection available through Burning Willow Press called Secrets of the Slain. What makes this collection interesting is that it’s a mixture of poems and stories and will include two unpublished stories that have never appeared anywhere else, one of which is a novelette. So, yeah, keep your eyes peeled for Secrets of the Slain. It’s a good one.

You’ve written both short stories and now a longer fiction project with Ashes of Another Life. Does your process differ from short versus long fiction? Do you find yourself drawn more to the compact arcs of short fiction or the more complex arcs of long fiction?

Oh, yes, the writing process differs between short and long fiction. You have to make every word count in a short piece, a challenge I’ve always enjoyed.

For me, writing shorts has been more of a necessity than a preference. Raising three children has left me with very little free time. Short stories have allowed me the instant gratification of being published without the endless hours of work. The story arc of a novel is preferable, though. It allows more room to explore my fictional world and all its characters. That’s definitely the direction my work is heading now.

If forced to choose, which part of the writing process is your favorite: developing characters, crafting settings, or writing dialogue?

Characters. I love developing characters.

What upcoming projects are you working on?

I’m trying to focus on a novel at the moment. I’ve had fans request a poetry book, but I’m not a prolific poet. I’m a sporadic poet at best! Haha. So I’m sure we’ll see a novel before that poetry book ever happens.

Where would you like to see your writing career in five years?

In the hands of the masses!

Big thanks to Lindsey Beth Goddard for being part of this week’s author interview series! Find her online at her official website as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Happy reading!

Welcome back! For this week’s interview, I’m thrilled to present artist Alex Murd. Alex’s work has appeared in venues such as The Wicked Library and The Lift, among others.

Recently, we talked about Alex’s inspiration, process, and all those amazing upcoming projects through Crazed Pixel Comics!

A couple icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become an artist, and who are some of your favorites in your field?

I love icebreakers, especially when they involve a rocks glass, good bourbon, and a dash of bitters.

My pursuit of art can’t be defined by a single moment, as I always knew I wanted to do something art-related. I didn’t always know what kind of art I would be creating, but held firm to the certainty. I was supported in my endeavors, and let my artistic niche find me. I’m only a lucky fool that it ended up being such a sexy one.

Artists that I admire, and can’t hold a candle to, consist of dead-and-gone to walking-around-town: Schiele, Klimt, Stuck, Tom of Finland, Mignola, Fyodor Pavlov, Los Bros Hernandez, Seatlleites Laura Graves and Eli Tripoli, Portlander Scott Roller.

Every creator feels like they are missing people in their ‘thank you’ speech, but these are off-the-cuff entries. Each of these artists have some facet I admire and respect.

What is your process as an artist? Do you work at a certain time of day or for a certain length of time? Do you work with music playing or without? Any other habits about your working style you’d like to share?

Process, oh goodness, how much time do we have here? Not very much, I’m guessing, so I will try and be concise. The take away from this is: what process?

I am a creature of whim. I can be very taken by some kind of inspiration or a moment, and run with it. My creative bouts are fickle. Inspiration and I play games with each other. Sometimes I win, sometimes it is the victor.

It’s all about the music. Music, as a medium, has inspired more characters, scenes, feelings, drawings, and carnal acts than any other medium, for me. I enjoy being a creative hedonist and seducing myself into creating: mood music befitting the project, twilight into the night, giving myself a mental massage before I begin. I’ll create a scene for myself, before I gorge myself on the artwork. And when I’m spent, that’s it. I’m done. Tapping out.

I enjoy being ‘taken’ by something and exploring its surfaces and inner workings before sinking in. If that sounds like an innuendo, it’s because it is. It’s totally like foreplay and sex.

There, that’s a way better analogy: my process is like taking someone to bed. You set the mood, you both have fun and explore, then you get down to the dirty work until you’re so worked up into a fervor you can’t possibly take anymore, then post-coital cigarette and ‘was it good for you’s’ all around.

And then there are always those projects that are fast and dirty, just to get the itch scratched. Sometimes, even in public. Lunchtime sketches, and have to jump out of the shower to jot down that idea, I’m lookin’ at you, you naughty, naughty ideas.

You have created a number of gorgeous pieces for The Wicked Library and The Lift (your cover art for Brooke Warra’s “The Dance” seriously stopped me in my tracks). Is your process different when you’re designing art based on a specific story, and how do you pick which image or scene to depict?

I’m flattered, and thank you for that. My Lift piece for Brooke’s “The Dance,” was one of my favorites to create. I enjoyed trying to conjure a good image from that story to best show Tommy’s feeling of isolation in his handicap.

The best aspect of creating individual illustrations from these amazing stories, is the selection of what to portray. I try and let the stories tell me what image or scene will best encompass their overall feeling, and engage a reader/listener. I read it once, off the cuff jot down the first images that impacted me, then process of elimination. What one has the best combination of honesty from the text, intrigue, and most important: mystery. I want to get people hooked on these tales. From there I think of an engaging style to draw the piece in, befitting the text. For example; I didn’t draw a garish cartoon for Aaron Vlek’s disturbing tale, “The Wet Man.” That style would be inappropriate for the weight of the story.

I work with Dan, since he is a gateway to the authors, and see how everyone is feeling about the idea I submit. Dan is an excellent backboard and I enjoy his collaborative efforts very much. He now knows how I work well enough to give me more free reign on a piece. But, it still never hurts to submit an idea. He’s told me I disturb him. I’m still proud of that one.

Creating illustrations from such a wide variety of voices is an absolutely different process, than creating of my own volition. I very much enjoy the challenge and exercise involved, trying to help bring someones’ words to visual life. The biggest impact is hearing how the author feels about it. If they enjoy it, duty finished.

Every artist sometimes faces that awful moment when it is either difficult or altogether impossible to create something new or keep working on a given project. When this happens to you, how do you work through these creative blocks?

I’ll let you know, when I know, dear. The best I can. Switching gears and trying to make myself walk away, which is no easy feat. When this happens I latch onto any fresh wave of inspiration: music, movies, books, a conversation. I take it and run, to try and break the spell. Even if it is simply a small sketch, or jotting down some words. The first strike is the hardest. Any time you create, no matter how small, it’s worth something.

Deadlines, as we all know, can be a lifesaver. Sometimes, even at a moment of losing inspiration on a project, if someone else is counting on it, you fortify and finish the damn thing. Then collapse and go brain dead with pointless and lovely guilty pleasures.

Out of your body of work, do you have a particular favorite piece?

I’m really not the kind of fella that ‘kisses and tells’, but there are pieces that tug deep on different heartstrings.

My first collection of ‘Cinder’ comics, along with my first ‘Little Black Book’, are two works that I hold dear.

‘Cinder’, my slice-of-life comic filled with alternative characters of every sexuality, and my collection of alternative and queer porn art, ‘Little Black Book’, helped me break artistic barriers, within myself. Being queer, these works give me a chance for catharsis and experimentation. I love exploring sexuality, and figure work, so these titles have become a perfect match. They remind me to keep playing around, and stay true to what I like.

If my putting my fetishes out there for others to read gives some other strange soul solace, my job was done well. Nothing like encouraging the freaks to stay freaky.

On a more saccharine note, an illustration of my ‘Satan’ character, Jasper, reuniting with a long lost lover, is warming. A creature spending eternity watching favored souls blink in and out of its existence, running into a now very old flame, and sparking as if it were yesterday. I find it very sweet.

I may revel in drawing dirty pictures, but it is no secret I am a hopeless romantic.

What projects are you currently working on?

My selection process is as follows: take yourself out of the frying pan, and place directly in fire. Too much is what. I have such a web of reserves, I pull out depending on my mood. Rotating artworks that can be added to, until they are submitted to print before CrazedPixel Comics takes to the road for con season.

Always room for more erotic and pornographic artworks for my ‘Little Black Book’ series. Some fresh pieces for ‘Cinder’. New prints. And I have a written horror comic that is dying to get drawn. Now if only a certain artist would get off of their ass, and give it some attention before it becomes a poltergeist…

An ongoing project is a series of original artworks for charity, specifically reputable women’s or any kind of minority rights funds. In lieu of payment, I ask for proof of donation to said charities, and I mail the original artwork. Something small I can do to help combat small mindedness.

And always The Lift or The Wicked Library artwork, time permitting.

Where can we find you online?

Our main comic hub, with most of our work, is available to read at crazedpixel.com. On it you can find our social media links.

My NSFW tumblr page, Smolder Sessions, where I house my art pieces, erotic, and risqué art, is alexjmurd.tumblr.com.

Physical copies of artwork and comics available through our store https://squareup.com/store/crazedpixel-comics.

And thank you, Gwendolyn, for the interview and for keeping your awesome lady-writing-self out there, for the world to read: you better keep that in here!

Big thanks to Alex Murd for being part of this week’s artist spotlight!

Happy reading!

Welcome back! Today I’m pleased to spotlight author Faith Marlow. She is the prolific scribe of numerous short stories and novels, including the Being Mrs. Dracula series.

Recently, Faith and I discussed her inspiration as a writer as well as her plans for the future.

A couple icebreakers to start: when did you first decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors?

I fell in love with writing very young, in the fifth grade, but I didn’t pursue it until many years later. I think I started entertaining the idea of writing a full novel in around 2002, something like that. Being Mrs. Dracula didn’t come along for quite some time after that. I love to read similar stories to what I write, things that are a little on the dark side, but I will read from just about any genre. Dean Koontz and Douglas Adams are my favorite large press authors. I mostly read indie and small press authors, and I try to read as much as I can from fellow CHBB/ Vamptasy authors. Felicia Fox, Skye Knizley, Rue Volley, Lily Luchesi, just to name a few.

Released in 2013, your first novel was Being Mrs. Dracula. When did you first read Dracula, and what in particular drew you into the story of his brides?

I think the first time I read Dracula was somewhere around 2009, when I first started searching for background information on the brides. I have watched countless movies and documentaries about vampires and Dracula (the fictional character and the historical figure) because I have been fascinated with vampires since I was a child. I began to notice that in just about every movie or story, Dracula has three beautiful women at his side. They usually don’t have much to say or do, aside from being loyal followers and eye candy. I had watched the 1931 film of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi years earlier and remembered the brides were not really explained or explored. I wanted to read the book because I was certain there would be more to learn about them there. I was stunned to discover little more is revealed about them. Bram Stoker did not even give them names. I was further shocked to learn that the name of Vlad Tepes III’s (Vlad the Impaler) first wife, whom most believe had at least some influence on the character of Count Dracula, had also been lost to history. Little more was known of her than the circumstances of her death and I found very little information on his second wife, Ilona Szilagyi. Although one is fictional and the other was historical, the women in both of these stories are overlooked. I wanted to know their story and since I could not find one, I decided to write one that would intertwine the information that I did have available with my own imagination. That was the moment of conception for Being Mrs. Dracula.

You’ve written both short fiction and novels. Do you find your approach is different depending on the length of the story?

It is a bit different because in short fiction, I have to find a balance of enough detail while not getting too wordy. In a full length novel or even a short novel/ novella, there is a little more room to stretch. I can give a little more detail, paint a more precise picture as opposed to giving a general impression. I think writing both is good for me, since I try to keep a brisk pace in all of my stories. I have a short attention span and get bored pretty quick, so the last thing I want to do is drag something out for thirty pages that could have been well told in ten. The last thing I want a reader to do is get bored because the pacing was too slow to hold their attention.

If forced to choose, which is your favorite part of the writing process: drafting new concepts, crafting a first draft, or polishing an almost finished piece?

I would probably say polishing an almost finished piece. Coming up with new stories is fun, but it may or may not get off the ground. I have folders full of halfway developed ideas waiting to become stories. The first draft can be stressful because I am still trying to connect all the dots and get from point A to B. When polishing that first or second draft, I can add or remove details, make sure everything is consistent and flows well, add a little dialogue if necessary. It’s when I really start feeling some pride in my story.

You are such a widely published author with stories and novels out from various presses. With so many accomplishments, what writing goals are left on your to-do list?

There are so many things that I want to do! My to-do list never stops. First on my list is finishing the third installment of the Being Mrs. Dracula series. It is my top priority. After that, my next goal is to continue The Dream Journal series and see where Anne and Maddie end up. I have a pretty good start on that. I also have a few new projects in mind that I will have to see how they develop. I know others will pop up that I have no idea about right now. Couples Therapy took me completely off guard and happened very quickly. I started writing it around the end of January or beginning of February, completed the story, my editor (EAL Editing Service) shined it up, Rue Volley created another fabulous cover for me, and it was published in September. For me, that is lightning speed. Books in the Being Mrs. Dracula series always take longer because I try to add in as much historical references and nuances as I can because I want Valeria and company to feel like they are a part of that world. It’s a lot of work, but she is worth it.

What projects are you currently working on?

My current WIP is Being Dracula’s Heir, the third installment of the Being Mrs. Dracula series. For those who have read Being Mrs. Dracula and Being Dracula’s Widow, they will recognize a few familiar faces in Valeria, Lamond, and Emil but will also be introduced to a couple new characters; particularly a young vampire named Astrid and a human with a score to settle named Tackett. Both of these new characters will be instrumental when Valeria is challenged by her newest adversaries. All of this is set against the glamour and decadence of the late 1920’s New York City, as well as the country’s devastating crash into The Great Depression. If there is one thing we know about Valeria, it’s that her past is never too far behind her, even after crossing an ocean to escape it.

Where can we find you online?

All of my work is available at Amazon.com and is available for purchase or Kindle Unlimited users can read them for free.

I am pretty active on social media, particularly Facebook. I post information about my own books as well as other titles available from my publisher, other author friends, and things that I just find fun and interesting. If you like creepy, unusual, or think bats are amazingly cute, you will probably like following me on social media. I am trying to be more active and connect better with readers, so I am always open to suggestions on things that readers want to see more of.

Big thanks to Faith Marlow for being our featured author this week! You can also find her on Twitter and Tumblr!

Happy reading!