Hi Angeline! Welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews! It is great to have you here.

Your book Through A Glass Darkly was recently released as a Chapbook from Naked Snake Press. Can you tell readers a little about this work?

Through A Glass Darkly is a Horror/Thriller that puts a new spin on the old, traditional perspective of the Anti-Christ. It explores the fact that Saint John could not have known about modern technology and therefore had an incomplete picture of how things would be in the “last days”.

Through A Glass Darkly combines technology and theology within an original storyline. Was a lot of research necessary for this story, or is the bulk of the information derived from your imagination?

I had to do a lot of research on Stem Cell research and the medical “stuff” behind all of that. Not being a scientist or one in the medical field, I pretty much had to start at square one in defining and exploring the possibilities in this new field. I’m expanding this chapbook into novel form, so I’ve been having to do an extensive amount of research -- more so than for the original chapbook.

You primarily write Horror, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. Do you find that your writing style differs between genres?

No, I don’t think so. I think if you read a particular author, after a while you, as a reader, are able to say “that sounds like so and so wrote it”. Each author has a style, I’m not sure it changes much due to genre.

Since everybody needs a break, even when doing something they love, how do you like to spend your time away from writing?

I quilt and sew, and then there’s research. I actually love the research part of my job. Mundane things aren’t mundane to me! My husband actually calls me “the Monk” because I’m so ritual-oriented and don’t mind doing repetitive tasks. Lol.

Your books encompass a wide variety of characters; do you have a particular favorite?

Hmm. I like Selwyn, the elf assassin in my Fantasy series, The Isgor Chronicles. He’s just so bad and he doesn’t care. If the price is right, he’ll do the job. I also am partial to Tore Nordahldatr in my Fan/His novel, The Swan Road. She’s a woman, but she kicks some serious ass in the novel. She can hold her own with the men of her day and age.

What do you find the most compelling aspect of writing darker fantasy and horror novels?

Reality? I mean, life isn’t all gumdrops and lollipops. I tend to write a lot of Historical Horror and I try to paint a realistic portrait of how things really were. People didn’t live in Cinderella castles. Castles were cold, stinky places infested with lice, fleas and other vermin. Chicks didn’t run around in chain mail bikinis or have their bosoms thrust out in leather, nor did they wear spandex leggings [I see this a lot at Renaissance Faires and it drives me nuts]. It’s cold as Dante’s hell in England and Scotland and Norway and most of the places Earth-based fantasy is set in. People dressed accordingly. So, I guess I’m a realistic Fantasy writer!

The Isgor Chronicles sounds like a wonderful fantasy series. Can you tell readers more about this series?

The Isgor Chronicles is a series of 33 stand alone stories, that when put together form a novel-length adventure. The characters are all connected in the past and in the present. It’s High Fantasy with dragons, sorcery, swords and the nasty villains of all species: orcs, goblins, trolls and cross-breeds. There is a bit of romance here and there to cross genres, but mostly readers will tell you that I write more masculine and have a lot of gory battle scenes and fighting. The online Gender Genie has yet to say anything I’ve written has been written by a female. Which is a good thing in the Horror industry!

How do you keep your ideas fresh within a series?

The individual stories in the series have a life of their own. Each character lives a particular life though those lives interact with other characters. Sometimes I have an idea of what a character is going to do, but most of the time, the stories write themselves and it’s up to me to weave them together with a unifying thread. These characters exist in my head and they live and die there. Sometimes the ones I want to die, don’t. Sometimes the ones I want to live, don’t. The characters dance their own dance so it’s always fresh and exciting to be able to write the stories.

Given the variety of your work, what do you like to read?

Mostly I read Historical non-fiction. I also like monster Horror, High and Epic Fantasy. I’m a big fan of Howard’s Conan, and similar tales.

Can you tell us a little about your other upcoming works?

I am wrapping a Horror/Vampire novel right now. The working title was New Breed: The Eye of Holdair, but recently I’ve changed the title to BLOOD ALONE. Don’t know if that will stick or not. I am also working on The Isgor Chronicles, the sequel to The Swan Road, which is entitled, Pasha of Ghazni…and have just outlined the novel based on my chapbook Through A Glass Darkly. If I keep to my schedule, I’ll start writing on that novel September 1st.

MOMENTO MORI a Speculative/Horror collection is scheduled to be re-released with new material through Scrybe Press in September. I’m looking forward to seeing this in print again. Scrybe does a great job with their designs.

THE COMMANDMENTS is a themed Horror collection scheduled for publication as a signed, limited edition from Nocturne Press, sometime in 2005. I’m really excited about this collection coming out as I feel it has some of my best modern day Horror to date. It’s heavy on the religious Horror.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I write in a wide range of genres, from Weird Western, to Fantasy, to Horror, with some children’s educational fiction thrown in there for variety. A lot of male readers automatically assume a woman writer writes “chick lit”, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to my work. I don’t write gore for gore’s sake. I believe in good storytelling and plots with meat. If I wouldn’t want to read it, I don’t want to write it. That’s my job as a good story teller.

Thank you so much Angeline for taking time to answer my questions. I have enjoyed learning more about your work. Readers, if you have not had an opportunity to see some of Angeline’s work, stop by her website for a look at her books.

Interviewed by: Amanda