'Close Encounters of The Welsh Kind'

AmeriCymru spoke to Darren Bowker Powis and Richard W. Finlan about their new book 'Waliens' and their publishing venture Daric Books. Based just outside Pontypool they plan to champion sci-fi, fantasy and horror fiction with Welsh themes and settings. We will be offering a copy of 'Waliens' in a forthcoming competition on the site. Meanwhile read on....

1. What is Daric Books mission statement? Why did you set up the company?

DBP: "Daric Books, has been set up to primarily champion sci-fi, fantasy and horror fiction with a Welsh themes and settings. In time we want to eventually offer opportunities for new writers and other creative people involved with book production, such as illustrators, photographers, graphic designers, editors, etc. We also have plans to offer book design and editorial services."

RWF: "Our aim is to make Daric Books a community project and get new local writers published. Initially we will concentrate on writers of sci-fi/fantasy/horror with a Welsh flavour, but hope to expand into other genres like crime thrillers, romance and comedy."

2. How long has Daric been publishing. Care to tell us a little about your history?

DBP: "Richard and myself are both former journalists. We first worked together on the Pontypool Free Press and have been friends ever since. Our first book together, Weird Tales from Weird Wales, was a collection of spoof newspaper stories from a paper in a fictional Welsh town. We later expanded on the idea by writing a novel set in the same fictional Welsh town.

The idea for Waliens has been buzzing around my head for over twenty years, but I struggled for a long while to get in down on paper. I talked about it with Richard and with the addition of his ideas and suggestions, everything just clicked into place. We decided to write it jointly and drew on well documented Welsh UFO cases such as The Dyfed Triangle and The Berwyn Mountains incident, along with some less well known ones closer to home, in Cwmbran, Varteg and Trevethin. The panic and paranoia depicted about alien invaders in the story is something of comment about the prejudices and fears some people have about immigration, but overall, Waliens is meant to be an entertaining read and not a soap-box lecture.

It’s a sort of Welsh X Files, but with a sense of humour. I love the fictional concept of strange things happening in everyday places like the ones I grew up in.

The story and characters in the book are 100% fiction, but the settings for the story were very much influenced by - and indeed are a homage to - Gwent valley towns like Pontypool, Cwmbran, Newbridge, Ebbw Vale, Llanhilleth and Abertillery.

I'm not actually a believer in UFOs and little green men, but find the subject interesting. There's no conclusive evidence for their existence, but if there was I’d be delighted and thrilled. Like Special Agent Fox Mulder, I want to believe..."

RWF: "It is basically a satire on current trends within the newspaper publishing industry and the running down of Welsh industry. There are a number of social issues which we address such as the paranoia of an alien race taking over. But it is intended to be a fun and light read."

Promotional video for Waliens produced by Rebelhed Productions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G946y2v5EIM

4. You recently published 'Return of The Kin'. Who are the Kin?

RWF: "The Kin is a collective of weapons and artifacts that are joined by a family tie. They are made manifest in human form by The Girl On The Green Horse and the Silver Knight. They were created 500 years ago to combat the evil of Corrus Agrippa. Their origins will be revealed in Vol. 5"



5. Would you say that Wales has a rich tradition of horror/fantasy or imaginative fiction? If so who would you recommend to our readers?

DBP: "Very much so. We have a story telling traditions going back to the bards, through myths and legends, and coming right up to date with best selling authors taking all three genres in new directions."

RWF: "There are many great writers in Welsh fantasy and we can recommend Arthur Machen, Kenneth Morris, Alistair Reynolds, and Tim Lebbon."

6. Are you currently looking for manuscripts or will you be in the near future?

DBP: "Not at the moment, as we have enough projects to keep us going until well into next year. We have to build up the company first in terms of it’s scale of operation and resources."

7. Who are you reading at the moment?

DBP: "Some non-fiction, Parallel Worlds by Fred Alan Wolf, which looks at quantum physics and discusses ideas such as time travel and alternative universes, etc. It’s an interesting subject for me and also ideal for research.

When I read fiction, I enjoy the work of Stephen King, Terry Pratchett and Robin Rankin. My favourite writer, however, is the late Douglas Adams, who’s wonderful, imaginative and inspirational work made we want to become a writer. I’d like to raise a glass and a towel in his memory."

RWF: "Terry Pratchett and H.P. Lovecraft"



8. Where can our readers go to get Daric titles?

RWF: "They can be obtained direct from our website. www.daricbooks.com."

9. Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

DBP: "It’s great to know there’s an active Welsh community in the US, and being married to a New Yorker, I know there’s no better combination than Welsh/American!"

RWF: "It’s very nice to link up with our American friends and I can say that on both my visits to your great country have been wonderful and I’m hoping to return soon. If you do buy our books we hope you’ll enjoy them and continue to patronize our site."

Darren Bowker Powis and Richard W Finlan of Welsh horror publishing house Daric Books

Ten Questions With Welsh Horror Writer, Peter Luther

Peter Luther is an author of exquisitely crafted and electrifying supernatural thrillers. Peter, who lives in Cardiff has been referred to as the 'Welsh Dan Brown'. AmeriCymru spoke to Peter about this comparison, and other matters including his forthcoming novel 'The Vanity Rooms'. ( Visit Peter's website here )

AmeriCymru: In what way has your background as a lawyer ( attorney) helped you as a fiction writer?

Peter: In my opinion there is no better training for writing fiction than being a lawyer. You meet interesting people and encounter a lot of unusual situations.Dark Covenant mirrors the rough and tumble of my career as a practising solicitor, but the law does spill over to my other novels. There is an understanding probate solicitor in The Mourning Vessels, and a stressed criminal solicitor in Precious Cargo.

I also think being a lawyer hones your analytical skills: my stories have very tight plot structures, with strict rules within the bizarre world I have created. I’m sure this is partly as a result of my legal training. On a general note, I think life experience is very important for being a novelist. I tried writing in my early twenties, but when I returned to it in my late thirties my perspective was far more rounded.

AmeriCymru: All your novels so far have been set in Wales. Is there any particular reason for that or is it just familiarity with the area?

Peter: I do a lot of signings in England, and the readers I meet are always pleased to see a story set in Wales. I don’t think there are enough of them east of the Severn Bridge. It’s a beautiful, dramatic country with inexhaustible sources of inspiration.

The Mourning Vessels is set in Tenby, probably my favourite place in the whole world. The majority of my scenes are however set in my home city of Cardiff, which is because of my familiarity with the area.

AmeriCymru: Are you a horror fiction fan? Are there any particular horror writers whose style you admired or were inspired by?

Peter: I’m not a horror fiction fan per se, but I love anything that is original and well-conceived. In this respect I was very influenced, along with the rest of my generation, by the early Stephen King novels.

The Mourning Vessels involves bereavement counsellors visiting the recently bereaved and offering to ‘solve’ their grief, which they achieve by trapping the departed in the things they coveted in life. These objects - clocks, typewriters, even a bespoke Cluedo board (or is that Clue in America?) - then turn evil and leprous. This has more than an echo of Pet Semetery. It’s sort of a Pet Semetery with antiques...

AmeriCymru: You are quoted as saying that your novels are 'human interest stories masquerading as horror fiction' - what do you mean by that?

Peter: 100,000 words of things that go bump in the night would leave me asleep on my Mac. I need to write about the things that are important to me, which have relevance to my own experience. My characters are ordinary folk with all the ordinary problems: career, money, bereavement, fertility, parenthood. This gives the books what I would describe as their emotional heart, which hopefully leaves a mark on the reader even after all the paranormal conceits and puzzles have been digested, and which saves them from being left on train seats...

AmeriCymru: Could you have written your characters, their relationships and situations in a non-genre drama or in other genres? If so, what do you think you would have to change, if anything?

Peter: That’s a difficult question. If I have a talent, it is that I can take a completely off-the-wall concept and make it believable, and so I cannot really imagine writing in any other genre. With the supernatural anything is possible, and that’s what holds my interest.

That said, I can see myself writing a legal/corporate thriller one day, but it would need to have a very unusual angle.

AmeriCymru: You described your first novel, Dark Covenant , as "a parable of materialism" and your second, The Mourning Vessels, as "a parable of bereavement" - would you describe these as moral tales?

Peter: I wouldn’t be as pretentious to suggest my novels are moral tales, but they certainly have a message. Perhaps the message is a personal one, that I’m writing letters to myself.

In Dark Covenant a struggling lawyer makes a pact with the Devil through the crossword in a lifestyle magazine built from his desires. For me, the magazine represents the contracts we all make in life. We all bargain our time, and sometimes our principles, for the things that we need. For the things that we think that we need. The story is essentially Faust with a modern twist.

The Mourning Vessels was inspired by the loss of my parents. I lost my mum on Christmas Day 2004, and my dad succumbed to grief on Christmas Day 2005. During the year he was alone he created shrines to her memory, from photographs and the little things that she treasured. I didn’t think it was healthy. The book is very much about dealing with bereavement, and I suppose if there’s a message it’s that you need to let go. Remember the ones you loved with a smile, not with pain and torment.

Precious Cargo was based on another sad time in my life: my experience with IVF. There’s a chapter in the book called ‘the imagined child’, because I believed I could see my unborn child’s face, that the child was so close. We tried four times then gave up, because carrying on would have damaged us, I think. Sometimes you need to accept the cards life deals you, and be happy. Anyway, that’s what I believe.

AmeriCymru: how did you imagine the fantastical devices and sinister 'toys' in Precious Cargo?

Peter: I honestly don’t know. These screwball ideas come naturally, if that’s the right phrase...

AmeriCymru: You have been referred to as the 'Welsh Dan Brown'. How do you feel about the comparison?

Peter: My novels have some codes and puzzles, but that’s really where the similarity ends. Mr Brown has a very readable style, but I confess that I find his historical subject matter more interesting than the plot and the characters. That could be because I now read modern fiction with an editorial, critical eye; for this reason I much prefer reading classics or history, when I can completely turn off.

AmeriCymru: We learn from your website that you are working on a fourth novel ('The Vanity Rooms') at the moment. Care to tell us anything about that?

Peter: This is the third novel with my main character Tristyn Honeyman, an ex-Baptist minister from North Wales and a sort of spiritual detective.

The demonic society he encountered in the The Mourning Vessels and Precious Cargo are now posing as an arts charity, giving struggling artists free accomodation. This is in a building in Cardiff Bay once occupied by a chapter that escaped from Revolutionary France, who were obsessed with the Roussean concept of ‘amour propre’, or self image.

The apartment comes with a mobile phone, which has some unusual functions and a strange address book. Both apartment and mobile are infested by the eighteenth century chapter, who are determined to find the true meaning of celebrity, that exclusively human need to be admired.

I know, it’s not the work of a well man...

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of ameriCymru?

Peter: Thank you so much. I’m trying to do something a little different, and I’m writing in a very unfashionable genre: the supernatural thriller without vampires. Your support means everything to me.

Peter Luther on Amazon

The Mourning Vessels. by Luther. Peter	Precious Cargo by Peter Luther	DarkCovenant by Peter Luther