This suggestion came to us from a Night Beats writer, Nicole Northwood, who challenged Rachel to design her upcoming novel, Beneath the Starlit Sea, as a picture book. Rachel can’t resist a challenge! Tweet us and if Rachel likes your suggestion, she’ll make on in a future issue of the newsletter.
A snippet from Rachel A Rosen’s climate fantasy novel, Cascade (The Sleep of Reason Book 1).
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha: Today we’ll talk to Henry Mitchell about his newest novel, The Winged Child. Henry, can you introduce us to your book?
Henry: Thanks, Night Beats, for letting me talk about my book. Talking about writing isn’t as much fun as writing, but it comes close.
The Winged Child, is a novel about Millicent McTeer, who might know how to fly, Joshua, her father, who might be a machine, her mentor, Simon Ryder, a neurobotanist who might be a dragon, a host of other characters human and other-than-human, and their adventures in a world that might be falling apart, or maybe is being born.
Sabitha: What was your favourite thing to write in the book?
Henry: I first met Millicent McTeer in my short story, Precocious, about a little girl who was convinced she could fly, in a collection, Early Dark, published by Alfie Dog Fiction. It was love at first sight, and I knew I would eventually have to give Millicent a novel of her own.
My favorite thing to write in the book was Millicent’s interactions with the other-than-human characters in the tale, ghosts, púca, dragons, and trees.
Sabitha: We have a lot of writers in our community. What’s your writing process?
Henry: I’ve never planned a book or written from an outline. I agree with Stephen King that “plot is the last resort of a bad writer.” I usually start with a place, a scene, a bit of landscape, a street corner, a room. If I am patiently observant, a character will come along and inhabit the scene. The character eventually must do something, go somewhere, and I follow along. I may not know how the story ends until I’m writing the last page. I figure if the tale surprises me, it will surprise the reader.
Sabitha: It sounds like your story-telling process is very organic. Is there anything in particular that changed from when you started writing to the published version?
Henry: Although The Winged Child is Millicent McTeer’s story, Wendl VonTrier is perhaps the character who resonated most strongly with me. Wendl is a púca, a benevolent prankster, ever an oddity in human company, and delights in being so. His part in the tale expanded as I wrote. I haven’t had my fill of Wendl yet. My current novel-in-progress, Among the Fallen, gives him more room to play in.
As a child, Millicent was convinced she could fly. Her father, Joshua, referred to her as his Winged Child, and that became the title of the novel. Originally, I planned for the Winged Child to be a story about a childhood, but Millicent led me on until she grew into an old woman.
Sabitha: What advice would you give someone who’s querying?
Henry: I sent out two hundred queries before my first novel was accepted. Regard a rejection as a reprieve, one more chance to make it better.
Sabitha: What do you most want your readers to take away from reading your book?
Henry: I hope the tale will convince readers to live their own life, and not the one expected of them.
Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading The Winged Child – and Among the Fallen when it’s written! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
Henry: The Winged Child is available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, through your local independent bookseller or the links on my website. I post daily on my blog, on Twitter, and Facebook.
by Sabitha F.
In a first for Night Beats News, let’s have a look at a work that tells a story in pictures rather than words.
Social Distortion, a limited edition photography ‘zine by Stephanie Saroiberry, is an evocative, melancholic work about life under lockdown. Through a series of Polaroids—a medium that I absolutely adore and which is criminally underused in the age of Instagram—Stephanie explores Ohio at the beginning of the pandemic during April and May 2020. Her dreamlike shots of worn billboards and empty playgrounds paint a picture of a world emptied and abandoned, their faded pastels in stark contrast with the bleak landscape.
This ‘zine brims with nostalgia. I’m reminded of my childhood in empty, inhuman spaces designed for cars with people as an afterthought, and this wistfulness is enhanced by the use of Polaroids. The high production values emphasise the subtle details in these faded, distressed photos. Even the title harkens to the music of the 80s and 90s. When you’re isolated and lonely, the past is what you have left, and this ‘zine does an incredible job of summoning that sense of loss and memory.
There are only 50 copies in existence, so get yours while they last.
Our newest Night Beats feature is author interviews on our blog. Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha: Our first author interview comes to us from Jeffrey Matucha, the author of A Long Slow Aftermath. Jeffrey, can you tell us a little about your book?
Jeffrey: A Long Slow Aftermath is the story of Preston who has just come out of drug rehab, a man trying to get his life together after a long bout of meth and alcohol addiction.
Living in the quickly gentrifying city of Oakland, California, Preston finds himself caught between his tech professional friend, his curious and adventurous new friend Toshi, as well as Miranda, the six-foot-tall queen of the punk scene, also newly clean and sober, as he tries to navigate through new and old worlds and the quickly changing urban landscape without the gauze of drugs and alcohol.
Sabitha: What inspired you to write this book?
Jeffrey: Preston has been a character in my writing for years. He originally appeared as one of an ensemble cast in my first book Gutter Folklore. He was the main character in my book The Falling Circle, a book about being poor in the big city. He was also a major supporting character in my book about addiction, Crash Shadow, where he was a big-time meth dealer.
I’ve written about working poor struggles and also about addiction. I decided I needed to write a book about the process of getting clean, of getting out of the endless cycle of addiction. Preston was the perfect character for this story.
Preston continues to evolve, and he continues to be a major player in my upcoming books.
Sabitha: What was your favourite thing to write in the book?
Jeffrey: I would say working on my new character Toshi. Toshi is what you might call an inclusive hat trick: she’s Asian, she’s gay, and she’s blind. Usually when someone has a character like that in their story the point of their presence has something to do with them personally, that they aren’t white, or they’re gay, or their disability, but that’s not why Toshi is in this story.
Toshi comes from a comfortable background. She was born into privilege and she knows it. But as a product of the progressive Bay Area she also keeps an open mind. She befriends Preston as Preston takes her to meet her working class neighbors, and introduces her to the exotic Miranda who has been through trials and tribulations Toshi has never known and can barely imagine. Their friendship culminates when Preston takes Toshi to her first ever punk show. Their friendship is one of a have and a have-not, but in the spirit of cooperation, exploration, and adventure, rather than a culture clash.
Miranda is also another character I loved working with in this story. A six-foot tall scene queen absolutely covered with tattoos and scars, her character has come alive to the point where she’s going to get her own book. She’s a woman of the world plus, someone who has lived far more life than most people ever will, even among the hardcore rocker community. There’s too much of her to just leave her as a supporting character.
Sabitha: If you could pick any author to read your book, who would you want to read it? Why them?
Jeffrey: I sometimes say I write punk literature, and that field is kind of a wasteland. For a tribe that is so invested in music, art, and activism, the realm of punk literature is sadly lacking. Where are our scribes? One of the bright spots of that sub-genre is Dani Dassler, who wrote an excellent novel called PR.
She’s not only read this book, she’s read many other of my novels. She’s beta read and vetted many of my scenes, including scenes of my upcoming work, The Rise and Fall of Skye Wright. So yeah, she’s not only a writer I would want to read my books, she already has!
Sabitha: What do you most want your readers to take away from reading your book?
Jeffrey: To get an insight into what someone struggling with addiction is going through. Many of my friends do not need any insight into such a thing, but I want those who haven’t experienced it to get an idea of what it’s like.
Preston is in the early stages of his recovery, when he’s still quite close to his using addiction. That’s when the struggle is all too real.
Sabitha: Thanks so much for doing this interview with us, Jeffrey. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
Jeffrey: You can find A Long Slow Aftermath here. You can find me on Twitter and on Facebook.
Introducing a new feature for the Night Beats blog – author interviews! There are tons of fantastic authors in the Night Beats community, and we thought it would be fun to hear directly from them.
We’re looking for authors who have a link to buy their book, or at least have a pre-order link, so that our community can get their hands on the book you promo! If you want to engage with the Night Beats community but don’t have a book for sale, look at some of the other Night Beats activities here. Maybe you want to share a taste of your writing in our newsletter as a beta read, for example?
If you or someone you know would be interested in being interviewed, send us an email at nightbeatseu (at) gmail (dot) com. We’ll be in touch about turning their words into a blog post.
The process: we’ve got a general question for all authors, and then 10 numbered questions. If we decide to run an interview, the author will answer the general question, and then 2-5 of the numbered questions (of their choice). The whole interview should be less than 500 words. We’ll lightly edit it, and send it back for final approval. Once it’s approved by you and us, it will be scheduled for a free slot on the Night Beats blog.
We reserve the right to reject or remove any blog post if we feel it’s not consistent with the values of the Night Beats community. Our values are basically “no hate” and “don’t be a jerk”, but we’ll deal with situations on a case-by-case basis.
Please ensure that your submission is:
The list of questions are below.
Start by telling us a little about your book. And tell us where the Night Beats community can find you and find your book!
1) What inspired you to write this book?
2) What was your favourite thing to write in the book?
3) We have a lot of writers in our community. What’s your writing process?
4) What advice would you give to someone who’s writing or querying?
5) Can you give our community a writing prompt to inspire their next story?
6) Which character do you relate to the most and why?
7) How did you choose the title?
8) If you could pick any author to read your book, who would you want to read it? Why them?
9) Did anything change from when you started planning your first draft to the published version? What?
10) What do you most want your readers to take away from reading your book?
A snippet from J.L. Logosz & Vera Valentine’s spicy science fiction romance, Planet Oster: Fertility Fusion (The Holiday Hedonism Series).
This suggestion came to us from Rachel Corsini, who asked us for Peter Pan as chick lit. Tweet us and if Rachel likes your suggestion, she’ll make on in a future issue of the newsletter.
A snippet from Rohan’s psychological science fiction short story, Ex-Mech. Read it for free here.
Fiction To Sink Your Teeth Into, a feature from author and professional chef Rohan O’Duill!
This month I opened up suggestions for recipe pairings to the Twitterverse, and by far the biggest response was for LOTR with mushrooms and taters.
While Tolkien listed off a lot of foods from the Shire, he tended not to get into recipes. I have taken a little liberty with the tomatoes as they were not mentioned, but with land borders to warmer places, I am sure they could have got their hands on them.
Serves 2/3
Night Beats Extended Universe 