Today I'm delighted to welcome Newcastle-based writer Stephen Mellor, whose debut novel The Long Sleep was made available on Amazon last month. I asked Stephen some questions about writing, reviews, and interviews.
Tell me about your book.
My book is called The Long Sleep. It’s a science fiction detective novel set in an arcology built over the ruins of Newcastle, although it starts off in a spacecraft orbiting a planet several lights year away.
The first ever colony ship has been sent to a terraformed planet. However, when it gets there, it blows up. Back on Earth a private detective called Kem Logan is hired by a member of the ruling Executive Committee, Lize Carr to find out why it happened. She is convinced that it was sabotage but she can’t get the Committee to agree to an official investigation.
The investigation ends up being a lot more dangerous than either Kem or Lize bargained for and the changes it makes in both of their lives, before they discover the reason behind the New Argo’s destruction, will make a massive impact on them and their loved ones ...
What was your motivation for writing it?
It was actually taken from a short story that I wrote, while sitting on a beach in Northern France. I was really pleased with the short story but people kept telling me that it needed expanding and there was more there. I’d never even thought seriously about writing a novel before this — although I’ve always written stories — but with this encouragement, I thought I’d go for it.
What's your favourite part of the creative process?
This is a really difficult question. The easy answer is that I love it all but that’s probably a complete lie. There are times when I’m trying to write when the words just won’t come — my wife is actually great at filling in nouns when my mind goes blank, as it does far too often! — and I feel that I’m never going to get another useful or interesting sentence down ever again. But then, there are times when it just really flows and I discover that I’ve suddenly got one thousand words written. I love that, to find the words just springing from somewhere, almost bypassing my consciousness and just appearing there on the paper or on screen ... it’s breathtaking.
How much difference does an editor make?
An editor is utterly vital. For The Long Sleep, I had the wonderful Jean Rogers who, although not a professional editor, is certainly as good as one. I was able to talk to her through the whole process and she helped me no end. Then, she went through the whole book with a fine-toothed comb and helped me make it better.
My second — as yet unpublished — novel, Down Among the Yla, was different. I wrote that in much larger chunks before showing them to Jean and then didn‘t do any real editing until the end. I also got a lot of help from an editor at a ‘real’ publisher who was that close to accepting it (but then didn’t ...). She suggested a couple of changes that made the whole story so much stronger and just made it make more sense.
How important is a good title and cover?
They are both vital. Although there is the whole ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ thing, everyone does. There has to be something there to make someone pick up the book in the first place. You can only get away with a boring title or a dull cover if your name is A Name. I mean, JK Rowling’s next book could have been called JK Rowling’s Next Book and have a blank grey cover and it would still sell millions. I hope that the cover I designed for The Long Sleep is eye-catching and the name makes people wonder what it means.
How do you feel about interviews?
This is my first one! I like it!
What are you reading now?
I’m a bit of a book slut really. I’m usually in the middle of several books, as well as my regular comic book orders and various graphic novels — but British Summertime by Paul Cornell and Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersley-Williams are the paper books I’ve got on the go and Doctor Who — Lungbarrow by Marc Platt, Into The Shadows by Steven Miscandlon and The Indie Author’s Guide to the Universe by Jeff Bennington on my Kindle. I don’t know why I’m like that, I’ve always done it from when I was young.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently trying to finish my third novel, Ghostkin. This is a contemporary supernatural thriller. The psychic trauma caused by the First World War created a massive rift in space-time, allowing all manner of mythological, fantastical and magical creatures and beings to come through into our world. The actual story is about a small time crook who gets caught up in a gang war between humans and vampires. I’ve practically finished it — in fact, I’ve made a pledge on Twitter that I’m going to complete it before I go on holiday at the end of July. This is quite something, because, due to a combination of depression and stress, I haven’t actually written anything for about nine months. But, I’m just about to be made redundant which, strangely, has actually lifted a lot of the stress and depression, and I am feeling like I can write again.
I’m also preparing a collection of short stories that I have written, mainly science fiction stories, but there are also a couple of completely non-genre pieces that I wrote to see if I could — one of which is actually one of my favourite pieces of my own writing.
With my impending redundancy, I plan on focusing on the writing for a while and seeing what I can do with that. Obviously, I’m not going to be the next Stephen King or Neil Gaiman — at least not for a while — but hopefully, I’ll end up being the first Stephen Mellor.
How can we keep up to date with your news?
I am on Twitter — @samarcand; Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/SamarcandBooks and Livejournal (although that has been another casualty of the recent lack of writing — I’m starting it up again, though) — http://samarcand.livejournal.com/. I also have my own website — http://www.samarcand.co.uk — where you can read a sample of The Long Sleep and buy copies.
~ ~ ~
Thank you, Stephen! The Long Sleep is available for Kindle from Amazon in the UK and the US at just 77p/99c. And if that's not cheap enough for you, it will be free all this weekend, from Friday 15th June to Sunday 17th June. (The paperback edition is £6.50.)
Tell me about your book.
My book is called The Long Sleep. It’s a science fiction detective novel set in an arcology built over the ruins of Newcastle, although it starts off in a spacecraft orbiting a planet several lights year away.
The first ever colony ship has been sent to a terraformed planet. However, when it gets there, it blows up. Back on Earth a private detective called Kem Logan is hired by a member of the ruling Executive Committee, Lize Carr to find out why it happened. She is convinced that it was sabotage but she can’t get the Committee to agree to an official investigation.
The investigation ends up being a lot more dangerous than either Kem or Lize bargained for and the changes it makes in both of their lives, before they discover the reason behind the New Argo’s destruction, will make a massive impact on them and their loved ones ...
What was your motivation for writing it?
It was actually taken from a short story that I wrote, while sitting on a beach in Northern France. I was really pleased with the short story but people kept telling me that it needed expanding and there was more there. I’d never even thought seriously about writing a novel before this — although I’ve always written stories — but with this encouragement, I thought I’d go for it.
What's your favourite part of the creative process?
This is a really difficult question. The easy answer is that I love it all but that’s probably a complete lie. There are times when I’m trying to write when the words just won’t come — my wife is actually great at filling in nouns when my mind goes blank, as it does far too often! — and I feel that I’m never going to get another useful or interesting sentence down ever again. But then, there are times when it just really flows and I discover that I’ve suddenly got one thousand words written. I love that, to find the words just springing from somewhere, almost bypassing my consciousness and just appearing there on the paper or on screen ... it’s breathtaking.
How much difference does an editor make?
An editor is utterly vital. For The Long Sleep, I had the wonderful Jean Rogers who, although not a professional editor, is certainly as good as one. I was able to talk to her through the whole process and she helped me no end. Then, she went through the whole book with a fine-toothed comb and helped me make it better.
My second — as yet unpublished — novel, Down Among the Yla, was different. I wrote that in much larger chunks before showing them to Jean and then didn‘t do any real editing until the end. I also got a lot of help from an editor at a ‘real’ publisher who was that close to accepting it (but then didn’t ...). She suggested a couple of changes that made the whole story so much stronger and just made it make more sense.
How important is a good title and cover?
They are both vital. Although there is the whole ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ thing, everyone does. There has to be something there to make someone pick up the book in the first place. You can only get away with a boring title or a dull cover if your name is A Name. I mean, JK Rowling’s next book could have been called JK Rowling’s Next Book and have a blank grey cover and it would still sell millions. I hope that the cover I designed for The Long Sleep is eye-catching and the name makes people wonder what it means.
How do you feel about interviews?
This is my first one! I like it!
What are you reading now?
I’m a bit of a book slut really. I’m usually in the middle of several books, as well as my regular comic book orders and various graphic novels — but British Summertime by Paul Cornell and Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersley-Williams are the paper books I’ve got on the go and Doctor Who — Lungbarrow by Marc Platt, Into The Shadows by Steven Miscandlon and The Indie Author’s Guide to the Universe by Jeff Bennington on my Kindle. I don’t know why I’m like that, I’ve always done it from when I was young.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently trying to finish my third novel, Ghostkin. This is a contemporary supernatural thriller. The psychic trauma caused by the First World War created a massive rift in space-time, allowing all manner of mythological, fantastical and magical creatures and beings to come through into our world. The actual story is about a small time crook who gets caught up in a gang war between humans and vampires. I’ve practically finished it — in fact, I’ve made a pledge on Twitter that I’m going to complete it before I go on holiday at the end of July. This is quite something, because, due to a combination of depression and stress, I haven’t actually written anything for about nine months. But, I’m just about to be made redundant which, strangely, has actually lifted a lot of the stress and depression, and I am feeling like I can write again.
I’m also preparing a collection of short stories that I have written, mainly science fiction stories, but there are also a couple of completely non-genre pieces that I wrote to see if I could — one of which is actually one of my favourite pieces of my own writing.
With my impending redundancy, I plan on focusing on the writing for a while and seeing what I can do with that. Obviously, I’m not going to be the next Stephen King or Neil Gaiman — at least not for a while — but hopefully, I’ll end up being the first Stephen Mellor.
How can we keep up to date with your news?
I am on Twitter — @samarcand; Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/SamarcandBooks and Livejournal (although that has been another casualty of the recent lack of writing — I’m starting it up again, though) — http://samarcand.livejournal.com/. I also have my own website — http://www.samarcand.co.uk — where you can read a sample of The Long Sleep and buy copies.
~ ~ ~
Thank you, Stephen! The Long Sleep is available for Kindle from Amazon in the UK and the US at just 77p/99c. And if that's not cheap enough for you, it will be free all this weekend, from Friday 15th June to Sunday 17th June. (The paperback edition is £6.50.)
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