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:
Jan Edwards
Which region are you based in?
Midlands
If you write, which genre:
Horror, crime, fantasy
If you don’t write, what do you do?
Mostly I read – when I’m not growing stuff.
Are you drawn to any specific SFFH sub-genres?
I do like a bit of urban fantasy and/or anything folklore, myths and legends based, and anything that introduces me to something I haven’t read about before is good.
As I write it, I obviously read a fair bit of crime. I love a dragon or two—Anne McCaffrey’ early Pern books still take some beating. I appreciate a good ghost/supernatural story, something to raise the gooseflesh!
The creatures of folk lore inevitably leads into folk horror which is my sweet spot horror-wise. Not a fan of blood and gore for the sake of it—where the action slides into icky. For me at least it seldom frightens, just exasperates. My preference with horror is always something that provokes those primal fears in the everyday. That point where the familiar is suddenly no longer my friend or a new experience is not what I expected, and above all has it has to have me thinking twice about turning the light off.
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 invariably balk at the ‘favourite’ questions. It seems so unfair with so many excellent writers out there to pick one above the rest—it’s a cumulative effect.
That said, when Noggin the Nog (pictured) was first aired in the late 1950s I was very small and loved it—and always felt it had some role in prompting my life-long love of dragons and folklore.
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
Life inspires much of all our thoughts so headlines and personal events have their influence. If my inspiration needs a more direct kickstart then I have a fairly extensive library of myths and legends from across the globe and only need reach out to the shelf behind me a pluck down a book at random to get started.
Whom are your heroes?
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my other half, Peter Coleborn—Alchemy Press editor, mentor and best friend. On the writing front I’ve mentioned Anne McCaffrey and would add Charles de Lint to my classic fantasy authors that I can read again and again. Harder to pick among the later books as they haven’t had time to take root just yet.
What are you reading now?
I have read more crime than SFFH of late, but on the fantasy shelf Juliet McKenna’s Green Man series is excellent, and for horror the Shadowplays anthology edited by Peter Coleborn and Mike Chinn is fab!
(Pictured: Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards)
Your Work
What are you working on right now?
I have been working on my WW2 crime series—Bunch Courtney Investigations—for some years now, so fantasy and horror has been confined to the off commission for folk horror and/or Sherlock Holmes, but my collection Of Sands and Tides is a series of interlinked cosmic fantasy stories set in the 1930s. Loosely Lovecraftian but leaning heavily on other myth and legends surrounding Nessie, Pharaohs tombs, sunken submarines. Eclectic but fun to write—and hopefully to read!
I have also begun work on a fantasy series that was temporarily shelved to pen the crime series. Working title Margrave of the South Coast. An urban fantasy/romantasy with a strong female lead and plenty of mythical elements. Hoping the have the first in the series out for the new year.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
All of my stories resonate or I’d never have written them so not sure I can answer that one, though my novella, A Small Thing for Yolanda, has always been a favourite.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
I write best in the wee small hours—a night owl through and through!
What is your writing soundtrack?
Oddly I can write with the TV on as background as white noise and even follow the plots if it’s something like old re-runs of Poirot that I know well. If I play music at all then it has to be instrumental—usually folk or even heavy metal or pomp rock with long solos, otherwise I start singing along (very badly) and get distracted.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Read! Read everything and anything you can lay hands on. Read old favourites, new attractions, read out of your comfort zone, read fact as well as fiction. Just read… Lots.
The Quick-Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
All – depending on my mood.
Quiet or loud? Dark or light?
As above.
Strict lines or genre blend?
Either
Awards or bestseller?
Neither. Awards/best seller lists bring expectations to the party. I go with what takes my fancy meaning the replacing of blurbs with puffs trend is unhelpful.
(Pictured: Jan’s ‘brag shelf’)
Fiction or non-fiction?
Both.
Poetry or prose?
Prose, though poetry isn’t alien to me.
Plotter or pantser?
Pantser with short fiction. Pantser and plotter with novels.
Reading or listening?
Reading
Notebook or computer?
Computer. My handwriting is so appalling even I can’t read it!
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
Far too many to choose from.
Favourite podcast?
None. Being a paid-up card-carrying member of the fidget-*rse brigade sitting still seldom happens 😊
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
Friendships. Going back to the early days of Fantasycon I had friends that I only saw for that one weekend a year—or perhaps at open nights or via newsletters, etc. These people were and still are good friends. So much easier to keep up now with social media, of course, but the ability to link up with people interested in the same things is to be treasured.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
I have a great many short stories out there in anthologies, some of which are collected in:
Plus a novella:
My WW2 Bunch Courtney Investigations are in the throes of moving home:
- Party to Murder (due out in November)
- Winter Downs
- In Her Defence
- Listed Dead
- In Cases of Murder
- Deadly Plot
My new fantasy series:
- Margrave (book 1 due out in new year)
Details and links for all of my works can be found on my blog page: janedwardsblog.wordpress.com
Leave a Reply