Every Friday, we meet a member of the BFS and peer deep into their soul (or, at least, a form they filled out). Want to be featured? Email us: online@britishfantasysociety.org
Name:
Fio Trethewey (pronunciation: Fee-o Treath-Foo-Wee), He/Him
Which region are you based in?
North West (Didsbury, Manchester)
If you write, which genre:
Sci-fi, fantasy, horror – all of the above!
Are you drawn to any specific SFFH sub-genres?
I love genre fiction. Despite writing a lot more horror/sci-fi, I’m a big fantasy fan and that usually leans into sci-fi which feels more like fantasy (ie Doctor Who).
Your influences
Tell us about the book/film/thing that got you into SFFH: What was it? How old were you? What impact did it have on you?
I was a big reader from a very young age. Roald Dahl was the start for me I think—Matilda, The BFG, George’s Marvellous Medicine being my favourites—and I got into sci-fi and horror much later. I think the first horror book I remember reading was The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. It was in our primary school library and we were always fighting over who would get to take the book home to read it again.
I also remember having a lot of cassettes for audio books that allowed me to devour classics. I had A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, and I also had a free copy of The Man, my first audio drama, adapted from a comic by Raymond Briggs.
As a teenanger I also had Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak recording by the wonderful Alan Cumming. (I recently met Darren for the first time, and we got a great photo!)
How does that early influence show up in your work now?
Oh as a writer it very much influenced my work! I didn’t realise at the time how big a part audio drama would play in my future, which is now what I am mostly known for writing over prose!
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
Work, as I have a day job that keeps a roof over my head, music—I have a very eclectic taste—films I’ve seen (I’m still thinking about Sinners) and TV. I like to mash all those things together and see what sticks. Also, my partner Georgia and our adorable menace of a rescue cat, Percy!
Who do you look to as a genre hero? Why?
I think when I think of genre writers, I think fondly of my fellow IP writers, and I would be remiss not to mention Una McCormack. She’s a beautiful person and a talented writer and is able to write incredible science fiction for the IP she’s working on. I loved the book she wrote for Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, Molten Heart. She never fails to ace the assignment—IP writing itself is its own beast!
Your Work
You’re stuck in an elevator for 60 seconds with that hero, and they want you to describe your work. Give us the pitch.
I’m a trans male genre author mostly known for sci-fi, fantasy and horror, but it’s usually mashing up my favourite tropes from my favourite childhood movies—things like found family, identity, growing up—and breathing fresh unadulterated queerness into them, whether that’s a trans lead, or a non-binary sidekick. Us trans folk deserve to be seen.
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently working on writing Season Two of the Holmwood Foundation, a fiction podcast designed as a sequel to the novel Dracula (more on that later!), as well as some NDA’d projects that I will be killed for talking about (sorry!).
I have two old manuscripts that need updating and rewriting, if I ever get the time between producing and writing Holmwood with my partner and working my day to day.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
I’ve been adamant to try and include queer characters. It’s something, since realising where I sit in that world, that I wish I had been doing sooner. However, it’s very obvious that there were signs to me in my early work, if I’d had the courage. I also appear to make people cry (in the way it’s good to make readers/listeners cry), so I’ll wear that badge with pride.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
I actually feel my most creative whilst driving which is not useful at all, but I let music and the long drives take my imagination to places I can’t whilst sitting still, whilst still being conscious of the driving itself. Long drives are perfect for it, and I’ve been doing a lot of those recently. The train is the second best place for similar reasons, but at least this way I can get out a pen and paper and start writing.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Just do it. Advice that I also need to take on myself as it is something I really struggle with.
(Pictured: Fio’s cat Percy sleeping on the windowsill by his desk)
What’s your writing soundtrack?
I can honestly write to anything as long as I’ve listened to the music more than once. New music in my rotation is a no go but, lyrics or none, as long as it’s a song I know intimately I can write alongside it. I also love writing to reading soundtracks (thank you, Spotify) as they usually have a good mix of spooky, serious, sad and epic music!
The Quick-Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Fantasy (ironically!)
Quiet or loud?
Quiet
Dark or light?
Light
Strict lines or genre blend?
Genre blend! All the way!
Awards or bestseller?
Oh tough – I think bestseller means more word of mouth against awards? So yeah, bestseller!
Fiction or nonfiction?
Fiction
Poetry or prose?
Prose
Plotter or pantser?
Plotter—pantsing terrifies me!
Reading or listening?
Listening
Notebook or computer?
Computer!
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Last book you read?
Hell Followed With Us, by Andrew Joseph White
Any SFFH author on auto-buy?
Freya Marske! The Last Binding Series was a favourite of mine over the last two years. I highly recommend anything she writes!
Favourite podcast?
Camlann, created by Ella Watts and the great team at TinCanAudio
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
We’re all so passionate about genre fiction, and we all have our niches, and honestly I find getting to discover things through other people’s passions to be some of the best ways I’ve discovered books.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
Well, my partner Georgia Cook (who I could talk about for hours but I will not because that’s not fair on you) and I have recently been working on The Holmwood Foundation, a horror fiction found footage podcast designed as a modern sequel to the novel Dracula. We started talking about it 5 years ago, and now it’s finally something tangible for everyone to discover!
(Pictured: Fio, Georgia and Percy at home)
(Content warnings for blood, horror themes, and possession)
Our story follows Jeremy Larkin (played by Sean Carlsen) and Maddie Townsend (played by Rebecca Root), two co-workers at the mysterious Holmwood Foundation, as they are possessed by the ghosts of Jonathan and Mina Harker and embark on a road trip across the country in an effort to achieve their ghost’s wishes: to stop Dracula once and for all. This is a story about identity and self discovery, family loyalty and devotion, all wrapped around a nightmare of a road trip with a rejuvenating severed head, incredibly sincere Victorian ghosts, and an analogue recorder.
The Holmwood Foundation Season One is currently releasing bi-weekly until 19 August after a very successful Kickstarter last year. You can listen to the first five episodes right now wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find out more on our website, theholmwoodfoundation.com, or our Linktree which has all our social media.
It’s delightfully queer, and a tonic to those who love the original book but are perhaps not a fan of the newer adaptations and its obsession with Dracula being a tragic hero.
(Pictured: Holmwood co-creators Fio and Georgia celebrate the end of season one’s recordings with Dracula’s severed head.)
I’ve also recently become a publishing assistant at Curious King, a limited run fine press publishers who make deluxe editions of sci-fi and fantasy books—check out our work via www.curiousking.co.uk.