The shortlisted works across all 13 categories of the British Fantasy Awards have been announced! Find out who’s in the mix over on our blog. Winners announced at Fantasycon in October.
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Announcement:
Meet Marielle Evans
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: content@britishfantasysociety.org
Name, including preferred pronouns:
Marielle Evans (she/her)
Which region are you based in?
East Midlands
If you write, which genre:
Sci-fi & fantasy
If you don’t write, what do you do?
I’m an audio typist and medical secretary for the NHS and private sector in paediatrics. It’s not much but it pays my way to do the things I love, which include video games, spending time with my husband and cats, TTRPGs with friends, and biannual dabbles in playing violin in an orchestra.
Are you drawn to any specific SFFH sub-genres?
I like my fantasy playful and sometimes with a bit of spice. Chemistry between characters is important to me and when it’s not the focus, the events or the magic or the narrative style of the story have to keep me hooked. I’m a sucker for dragons and powerful spells, for parody fantasy, or the more romantic forms of gothic/vampire stories, or even things with a hint of dystopia. I’ve got to have a happy ending though. I like larger than life stuff—those big blockbuster superhero, mythological, space opera, blast my emotions out kinds of stuff.
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?
Honestly, I can’t pinpoint exactly when. Maybe fairytales and nursery rhymes as a child? I buried myself in stories and didn’t come out and then I wanted to write my own or play them out with toys or friends. It started off with anything that had talking animals, and Disney films probably helped a great deal. I binged Redwall and later on Discworld, with many other books in between, though my habits have tended to be devouring a long series and then re-reading it instead of expanding my range as much as I’d like to work on now.
I got into sci-fi later than fantasy, despite arguably enjoying viewing it more. I watched Red Dwarf from a young age and it was my favourite comfort show, but it took years to consider writing any proper sci-fi and so far I’ve only touched a genre blend. For me, FarScape (pictured; source) is the be-all and end-all of sci-fi. I’ve lost myself in many other series (usually the big ones), but nothing so far has compared to my love for that show.
I guess the impact my earliest influences had on me are that all I’ve ever wanted to do, all I’ve ever really been, is someone who loved writing. In my late teens, I got hit with a Pirates of the Caribbean whammy that never left.
How does that early influence show up for you (in life/writing/agenting/publishing/editing/reading) now?
I’m still just a big kid and my major focus always involves magic or grand, sweeping epics and adventure. I’ll seize upon any past hyperfixation. Most of this energy and love got poured into fanfiction and role-play across the years instead of my own work, but it’s taken until now to finally know what it is I want to make—the first thing being pirate-themed, and beyond that a space drama (opera seems a bit of an exaggeration).
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
Everything? Mostly the books and TV shows I’ve gobbled up and also film/video game soundtracks play a big part in daydreaming up ideas or scenes. For specifics it depends on the project. I’ve drawn from Dragonlance, Redwall, Discworld, Shadows of the Apt, Labyrinth, Marvel, FarScape, Babylon 5, Doctor Who… Oh, and I’m a lover of a variety of video games so there’s influence from Guild Wars, Zelda, The Witcher 3, Dungeon Keeper, Mass Effect, probably even Portal. I’m just listing things I love at this point XD
Who do you look to as a genre hero? Why?
Terry Pratchett (pictured). Because he’s Terry Pratchett. More seriously, nothing I ever read held a candle to what I experience in his books. I blame this in part on the fact he shared a name with my father who I lost when I was young, so it felt like I could latch onto someone else who was making what I loved.
His command of words, these stories that were so simple and complex and insightful, covering and challenging morality in ways some fantasy authors couldn’t even begin to touch, so many layers of humour and intelligence and wisdom all parcelled up in tales you could binge like Tiffany Aching’s little brother on sweets. It’s not a healthy way to improve my writing to fixate on only one legend, so I’m doing better at branching out now. If I had to pick some others I’d say Iain M. Banks for the Culture series and Adrian Tchaikovsky for his amazing world and characters in Shadows of the Apt and the wow factor of Children of Time.
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.
Magic. Adventure. Angst. Romance. Epic. Emotion. I’ll do a better pitch when I’m ready to reveal what I’m doing. *Pulls out example page of writing with a link to fan fiction at the bottom* : see for yourself. Also, psst, I like Elder Scrolls, too.
What are you working on right now?
It’s a secret. May involve pirates. First time writing children’s/YA.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
The project I’m working on now because it’s the biggest, most ambitious, most exciting thing I’ve ever worked on. But since I can’t talk about that yet… Technically, my fan fiction, because it’s where I’ve put the most work and love and where I’ve had the most feedback.
For my original works, my Clockwork Tides series, which is almost entirely unwritten as yet. I self-published Wild which is a story in that multiverse. I’m working on getting the first of a trilogy out before the end of this year called A Peculiar Conception, and I still need to write the novella Clockwork that connects everything together.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
Peace and quiet at home or somewhere by the sea (which is far from where I live). I do best between 10am and 3pm, which is a pain in the backside when needing to work for a living. I write either on paper in my room or in my living room, or type on my computer. I am obsessed with lined refill pads, though my sensory issues mean I have to time writing sprints around when my hands haven’t been washed recently. Yay, autism.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Write for you. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks or wants, at least don’t make it your priority. Write what you want to write, what you’re passionate about, what has to be put down and told. Write anything, even if it’s bad; you can make it better later.
What’s your writing soundtrack?
Usually silence because I want to sing along to music too much. I make a lot of instrumental playlists so sometimes I can write or research to soundtracks that are relevant to what I’m doing, but usually I love music too much to be able to focus on my writing.
The Quick Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Sci-fi and fantasy… smidge of horror-ish
Quiet or loud?
Quiet
Dark or light?
Dark as aesthetic, light for getting things done
Strict lines or genre blend?
Genre blend all the way
Awards or bestseller?
I guess I lean toward bestseller? I want to make people happy more than I want to impress them
Fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction
Poetry or prose?
Prose
Plotter or pantser?
Plantser
Reading or listening?
Reading. I wish I was a better listener.
Notebook or computer?
Both
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
Until I re-read it again and find I actually loved something else more, Thud by Terry Pratchett
Last book you read?
Re-read A Hat Full of Sky (also Terry Pratchett). Currently re-reading Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques and a bunch of Marvel comics around the Time Runs Out era. The last book I read that was for the first time was Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card.
Any SFFH author on auto-buy?
Not currently but I’m hoping to change that. Terrible habit of being obsessed with people who are no longer with us. I’m making a start by adding BFS members’ books to my Want To Read.
Favourite podcast?
I don’t do listening currently. I’d really like to watch/listen to Critical Role though if that’s even a podcast. Is it??? I feel old hearing the word podcast.
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
Getting the chance to meet/read so many amazing people who share the same passion and find like minds. I waited far too long to find this place.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
Oops, I somewhat did this above! I have a short story called The Soup Guardian and my debut novel Wild, both of which can be found on Amazon under Marielle Evans. Set in the same multiverse as Wild is A Peculiar Conception. I’m hoping to bring this out before the end of the year as it’s in beta read stage. My big project I’m working on I’ll just call part of its title for now, which is Crossbones. Super excited to share that eventually.
Also, if ‘coffee shop’ gay erotica is your cup of tea… or coffee, I wrote a couple of short stories under Kit Sanderson, also on Amazon, called Sprinkles and Gingerbread.
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