Monday, 18 May 2015
Witchlight by J.S Watts
Release Date: 1st March 2015
Publisher:Vagabondage Press
Publisher:Vagabondage Press
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy / paranormal
Brook Cottages is thrilled to welcome J.S Watts to the blog with this great guest post.
Pigeonholes Are For Pigeons: the
delights of cross-genre writing
As a reader,
I enjoy reading genre books of all varieties, but I always get a little thrill
when I come across a book that strays beyond traditional genre boundaries, or
merges two or more genres. Margaret Atwood’s wonderful novel “Alias Grace”
comes to mind: a book that simultaneously manages to be historical fiction,
literary fiction, a mystery novel and an insightful piece of writing on human
romantic and sexual relationships. Or there is Marcus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”,
with its blend of history, emotion and magical-realism. It keeps me, the
reader, on my toes, makes me think harder and often manages to deliver the
unexpected.
As a
writer, therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that my writing tends to be
somewhat fluid when it comes to genre boundaries. For example, my poetry,
whilst literary in style, frequently has mythical or science fiction themes. My
short stories often straddle two or more genres: fantasy and horror, horror and
crime, science fiction and fantasy, fantasy and literary fiction, and my first
novel, “A Darker Moon” has variously been described as horror, gothic romance,
dark fantasy, mythical fantasy, magic-realism, literary fiction and dark fiction.
At least everyone agrees that it is dark. I guess I write what I want to read
and try not to limit myself to pre-imagined boundaries.
Guess what!
My new novel, “Witchlight”, ploughs its own furrow as well. It’s definitely
fantasy/ paranormal, as it’s a story of witches and magic in modern-day
England, but there’s also humour and a touch of romance, as well as some dark
undercurrents. Like Harry Potter, my main character, Holly, discovers she has
previously unknown magic powers, but as she is thirty-eight rather than eleven,
similarities end there.
In fact, when her fairy godfather arrives to tell her she’s a witch, she's
suddenly having to come to terms with the uncertainties of an alarmingly
magic-fuelled world. Magic, it turns out, is not like it is in the books and
films, and Holly starts to doubt whether her fairy godfather is the fey,
avuncular charmer he appears.
In a world where appearances can be magically
deceptive, Holly cannot afford to trust those closest to her, including
herself. Whilst romance blossoms, accidents start to happen and people die. Old
Magic is on the hunt, but in the age-old game of cat and mouse, it is not clear
who is the predatory feline and who is the helpless rodent.
Does that
make the book fantasy, magic-realism, paranormal women’s fiction, romantic
urban fantasy or what? It’s possibly all of them, I guess. I wasn’t thinking
about genre conventions when I wrote it. I just enjoyed creating characters
that amused and entertained me, and hopefully my readers, and a story line that
allowed my imagination to take me wherever it wanted. Basically, I wanted to
stretch my writing wings rather than perch in a pigeonhole, however comfortable
and cosy.
At the end
of the day, whatever label “Witchlight” is given is probably going to be fine
by me, just so long as people enjoy reading it and come to love the characters
as much as I do.
J.S.Watts
About Witchlight:
Holly has been mortal all her life. Now at
thirty-eight, her fairy godfather arrives to tell her she’s a witch, and
suddenly she's having to come to terms with the uncertainties of an alarmingly
magic-fuelled world. Magic is not like it is in the books and films, and Holly
starts to doubt whether her fairy godfather, Partridge Mayflower, is the fey, avuncular
charmer he appears.
When appearances are magically deceptive, Holly cannot
afford to trust those closest to her, including herself. Accidents start to
happen, people die, Old Magic is on the hunt, but in the age-old game of cat
and mouse, just who is the feline and who is the rodent?
About The Author:
J.S.Watts is a British writer who
lives and writes in the flatlands of East Anglia in the UK. Her poetry, short
stories and reviews appear in a diversity of publications in Britain, Canada,
Australia and the States. Her poetry collection, “Cats and Other Myths” and
subsequent multi-award nominated poetry pamphlet, “Songs of Steelyard Sue” are
published by Lapwing Publications. Her dark fiction novel, “A Darker Moon” is
published in the UK and the US by Vagabondage Press. Her second novel,
“Witchlight” (ISBN 978-0692406908),
is due out from Vagabondage this week. You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/J.S.Watts.page or on her website www.jswatts.co.uk
Thank you for hosting my guest post!