Wow, what a hectic couple of weeks!

I’ve been delighted to receive some great reviews for Tourniquet from SFCrowsnest and from Conrad Williams in the forthcoming edition of Ink Magazine. 

The SFCrowsnest review can be found here: http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/articles/books/2007/nz11486.php 

Ink Magazine has an online presence at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=196164575 and will be launched at Fantasycon 2007. 

And I didn’t even have to ply them with alcohol. 

Furthermore, I had my first public reading/book launch at the Middle Bell, Barton, on Wednesday 1st of August. After a slosh of the hearty red stuff to calm the old nerves, I read from chapter three of Tourniquet to a decent sized crowd in a suitably red velveted, candlelit atmosphere. Afterwards, my good friend, Zena Burton, kindly took to the stage and gave me a damn good grilling, otherwise known as an interview. It was surprisingly good fun, as were the well thought out questions from the audience. The evening concluded with a competition to see who could get through the surplus free wine the quickest. I made a wonderful new friend in the form of Terry Stephenson, an ex-journo and Camden aficionado. It was also fantastic to have my lovely editor, Donna, at the event, and the inimitable Neil. All in all, it was a hell of an evening with friends and attendees in their gothic finery, and all caught on video. To be posted soon. You have been warned. 

Other news. I am beyond excited about our annual holiday to Ireland, commencing later this week. The dark lord is of Irish decent and we like to make it to the homeland every year so that Scarlet has a grasp of her heritage – and we have an excuse to sample the Guinness and enjoy some toe-tapping fiddling. One shame is the timing. Unfortunately I will miss the launch of disLOCATIONS, the latest anthology from Newcon Press and the brain child of our dear friend, Ian Whates. It is an incredible anthology, featuring Ian himself and such names as Chaz Brenchley, Amanda Hemingway, Ken MacLeod and many more. But I’ll be willing Ian a belter of a launch from whichever fine drinking establishment I’m holed up in. 

Talking of Ian, I was gutted to miss the latest British Science Fiction meet in London a couple of weeks ago. Del made it, alongside our friends, Sam and Paul, and was fortunate enough to see Ian interview the lovely Anne Sudworth. Anne is an artist and her paintings are breathtaking. If you haven’t come across Anne yet, this is her website: http://www.annesudworth.co.uk/  

So, it’s a period of winding down for me. I have every intention of launching into Revelations, the next book in my Tales from the Renegade City series, directly after our holiday. For now though, I am enjoying reading Swaybuck, a novel by Scott F. Falkner, a very talented author and online friend (http://www.scottfalkner.com/) and am approaching the last 100 pages of Rob Mackellar’s fine debut, The Black Flame, (http://www.robmackellar.com/). It’s a strange feeling, having this chance to slow down. I’m finding myself wanting to sleep and sleep and sleep. But being the Arian I am, I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before I’m all fired up again and ready to roll, the industrial lushness of cyberpunk spilling up from my gut and splattering the page. 

With that delightful image in mind, I’ll leave you to the sun, sin and sanity of summertime.

Bon voyage. 

Love and dark light, 

Kim Lakin-Smith

THERE’S A DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN…

Now is we were to talk in stereotypes for a minute, the world of science-fiction and fantasy has a certain reputation for male domination.

            JRR Tolkien, Stephen Donaldson, William Gibson, Iain M Banks, Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, Philip K Dick, Graham Joyce, Phillip Pullman, Arthur C Clarke, all the way back to HG Wells…and not a woman among them.

            Then take another stereotype – the 30-something married mum, tucked away in her country pile, quietly tapping away at her laptop as she constructs the latest offering in the chic-lit stable…to give the world this year’s reworking of Bridget Jones’s Diary…

            What is a little less usual, perhaps, is a 30-something married mum planning out her follow-up book in her Victorian Gothic manor house in Barton – especially when her recently released debut novel is entitled Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City.

            But then the word ’stereotype’ is not something that easily sits with Kim Lakin-Smith.

            Brought up in Barton, she studied English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Glamorgan and won a scholarship to study an MA in Writing at Nottingham Trent University.

            She says that she found her spiritual home among Nottingham’s rock scene, but also lived in London, Ghana and Vancouver – balancing her literary aspirations with a career as an advertising executive, copywriter and web designer.

            And to add to the complexity, the Renegade City of the book’s title – which will be the setting for a number of planned sequels – is not on some distant world or in a mysterious other dimension. It’s actually Nottingham…but not as we know it.

            Sitting in the upstairs kitchen of her Barton home, the house where she grew up, dressed in clothes which one could describe as ‘gothic’, after escorting her four-year-old daughter Scarlet to her nearby nursery, Kim seems at ease with these paradoxes.

            “When I was living in Nottingham with my now husband, we were very active in the city’s rock scene,” she explains.

            “We were sitting in our local pub one night and we started talking about how wonderful it would be if a city existed that we felt completely at home in – when you move in certain circles, you can sometimes feel quite isolated from the mainstream.

            “What really interested me about Nottingham is that it is a wonderfully historic city which has developed an increasingly bad reputation in the media.

            “I wouldn’t say the gun violence in the city was an inspiration for the book – Nottingham has a reputation for being very welcoming and I thought it would be interesting to explore what would happen if it was taken over by an alternative society who made it into something very different.

            “There is a level of violence within the novel but it’s at an appropriate level.”

            But the story does spring from Nottingham’s perceived problems with gun crime – “Future Nottingham has earned its tag as the UK’s gun crime capital” says publicity put out by the book’s publisher.

              The book tells of how Origin, the greatest rock band of the century, buy off local government, and revamp and remarket Nottingham as a goth-noir paradise called Renegade City.

            The freaks, geeks and greebos of the world move in, find a new religion called Belief and, with it, the freedom to live as they choose.

            But lead singer Roses dies in suspicious circumstances and his brother – drummer, Druid – is left looking for his killer…so, no Mr D’Arcy character then?

            Well, no, but there are a host of street punks, demonic gangs and animalistic bikers to keep fans of sci-fi, fantasy, cyber-punk, dark fantasy and horror genres happy…

            And with Kim’s snappy prose, narrative tension and engaging characters – as well as the fascinating, dark and cruel world that she’s created – Tourniquet should also prove a hit with anyone who’s enjoyed Blade Runner, The Matrix and even Dr Who…so say I.

            And yet the lion’s share of Tourniquet was penned in green and pleasant Barton – well away from the sometimes grim and troubled streets of Nottingham.

            “It actually helped being in Barton when it came to writing the book,” Kim says. “It was nice and quiet, which helped me to focus, and being away from Nottingham really helped build the city in my mind.

            “It was strange and nice coming back to the village because it’s a very inspiring setting and it allowed me all the space I needed to imagine all the mayhem of Renegade City.

            “Now, on the days that Scarlet goes to school, I start writing at about 9am and go through to 5pm. Then I’ll go and collect her and play mum until bedtime, after which I’ll write again between about 8pm and 10.30pm.

            “My husband Derrick works in London in the week as an IT consultant, so the weekends become family time for all of us when we’re all together.”

            Kim cites the fantasy author Graham Joyce as a key contributor in honing her talents – he taught and, according to Kim, regularly shouted at her during her time at Nottingham Trent.

            She says she is also inspired by the artist HR Geiger, music video director Floria Sigismondi, rock legend Marilyn Manson and the scriptwriter Joss Wheldon – “artists who take pop culture, crack it open and hatch something new,” according to Kim.

            But it was a chance meeting with another legend in the world of fantasy literature that finally set Kim on the road to success.

            Fantasy writer Storm Constantine had set up Stafford-based Immanion Press in 2003 – initially to publish her own back catalogue of out-of-print novels, but the company was soon publishing new and established writers in the sci-fi and fantasy markets.

            And, hearing that Storm would be giving a talk at the Derby Alternative Book Festival, Kim booked herself a ticket.

            “I went up to her as she was having her dinner after she’d done this question and answer session and we talked for ages and she gave me lots of very good advice,” Kim recalls.

            “I told her about Tourniquet and she asked me to send her the first three chapters, then about a week later the phone rang. It was her telling me that my book was just the sort of thing she wanted to publish.”

            Tourniquet finally hit the bookshops in May and is selling well, while Kim is hard at work on its sequel ‘Revelations’ – pencilled in for release in 2008.

            “I’m at the planning stage at the moment and I can’t wait to be back into the cut and thrust of the writing,” Kim concludes.

            And about stereotypes – does she feel like a lone female voice in the world of dark fantasy?

            “Not really,” she says, “There is a perception that the literary world is populated by bearded men in Christmas jumpers and it’s true that female writers have a tougher time breaking in than the majority of male authors.

            “But ultimately, if you do get through as a female writer, you’ll be more interesting as a result, because of the journey you’ve been on.”

A LOCAL CELEBRITY

DARK FANTASY AUTHOR, Kim Lakin-Smith, lives in Barton-under-Needwood. After gaining a First class honours degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Glamorgan, Kim was awarded a scholarship for her MA in Writing at Nottingham Trent. Her debut novel, Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City, was published by Immanion Press in May of this year. She now works as a full-time writer and runs workshops and readings in the local area.

What kind of person would you expect to see at your book signing?

I’d expect Tourniquet to appeal to anyone interested in genre fiction, creative writing, and/or the alternative music scene. But I’m a ‘welcome one and all’ kind of a writer. Authors should never underestimate how blessed they are to be able to stand up in front of an audience who want to be there. It’s a dream come true.

You have a very poetic writing style. Do you also write poetry?

I dabble in poetry, but my passion is for prose. I love unexpected combinations of words. My writing has been described as very filmic. I love the idea of painting a celluloid image with words!

What do you look for in a book, and does this reflect in your own writing?

I enjoy the poetic fiction of Angela Carter, Margo Lanagan and Oscar Wilde. Daphne du Maurier is fantastic at characterisation. When it comes to genre fiction, I’m a big fan of Mark Chadbourn and China Miéville. I hope this reflects in my own writing. It’s essential that a writer reads in quantity. We all learn by example.

Are your characters based on anyone you know?

I take inspiration for my characters from a mix of real-life character quirks and tear sheets made up of photos, artwork, articles, ads, clothing, etc. But once they come to life on a page, my characters evolve beyond all recognition. I’d say some characters pay homage to people I know, but the resemblance is only skin deep.

Your book is based in a decaying city but you live in a rural location. Could you tell us about that choice?

I’ve lived in Pontypridd, Vancouver BC, Accra in Ghana, Nottingham, and London, and am now back not only in the village I was raised in, but the house I was born in. Barton is a very inspiring village with a real sense of history. It lets me conjure dark cityscapes in the knowledge that what lies beyond my window is anything but.

Does your book have a political/social message?

In Tourniquet, the greatest rock band of the decade turn against a manufactured music industry, return to their home town of Nottingham and plough their royalties into regenerating the city. One of the ironies of the book is that in doing so, the ‘good folk’ leave and a black parade of freaks, geeks and greebos move in. I’d say that’s a political premise.

Also, there is an argument that people read for escapism. For me, the notion of escapism is political in itself. Why do they need to escape and from what? I like to think that my book champions the ‘outsider.’

Have you found it difficult as woman writer writing for a male dominated genre?

It’s a challenge, but this is one of the few industries where a woman can make it, and make it big. Women always have to work that little bit harder. I’m part writer, part mother, part wife, and part domestic goddess!

Will there be more Tales from the Renegade City?

Definitely. I’m currently working on Revelations, the second book in the series. As long as fans keep wanting more, I’ll keep writing about the city and characters that I love.

Do you have any advice for budding creative writers around the village?

Author, Graham Joyce, talks about the ‘graft’ behind the craft of writing. Very few of us are natural storytellers. Writers never stop learning. If you want to succeed in the publishing industry, you need to be thick-skinned and tenacious. Join writing groups, workshop pieces online, take courses, attend conventions and learn to network. Practice, practice, practice, and never lose your sense of humour.

Do you believe in ghosts? The 300 strong crowd who attended the Swadlincote Ghost Festival certainly do. It was a fantastic night. Del and I arrived to find ourselves in a huge open warehouse of a conference centre with stands from all manner of mind, body and spirit vendors lining the four walls. We set up shop and settled in for an evening of talks, medium sessions and analysis with some of the UK’s foremost psychic experts: Richard Felix (Most Haunted), Mark Webb (Haunted Homes), SPI Medium Diane King, Guest Medium Patrick Hutchinson, and Guest medium and spiritual artist Judith Cooney. Our dear friend Zoe Ridley (Hunkydory Holistics) was kept busy for the night giving massages and reflexology, and we met the lovely Mags, a palm reader. The icing on the cake for Del and I had to be the four sports cars, driven into the venue by four of the guest speakers. The Mustang was awesome…it will be mine. Oh yes.

Blood everywhere and not a bit worth saving! That’s the motto of today. Photoshop is all well and dandy, but up until five minutes ago it has refused to let me make a neat little splattering of blood on my print artwork, no matter how many times I try it. Snowflakes, yes. Abstract leaves, yes. Marble angles, yes. Blood? No, no, no…but I have finally beaten Adobe’s fine multimedia application into submission, oh yes.

Just as well really as the artwork is currently being sucked up by the Magic Printing Fairies, ready to be regurgitated in a week or so’s time as our merchandise stand for the Swadlincote Ghost Festival. I can’t wait! I think it’s going to be a ball, plus the wonderful goddess Zoe is on stall duty too, offering Indian head massages and reflexology in her guise as HunkyDory Holistics.

Other news…I have just completed a music review for rock three piece, Uniting the Elements. Check it out at www.kimlakin-smith.com under Music Reviews. I am also delighted to be on chapter 8 of Rob MacKellar’s debut novel, the Black Flame (www.robmackellar.com), a must-read for all fans of high fantasy. Rob is a clean, concise writer with a delicious ability to spill fresh blood with each turn of the page…and so back to blood.

Billed as “one of the largest paranormal events in The Midlands ever”, The Swadlincote Ghost Festival hosts a range of paranormal activities including talks, investigations, stalls and demonstrations.

Kim will be appearing to talk about and sign her debut novel Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City

Swadlincote Ghost Festival Friday 13th July 2007

Times: 6:00pm – 1:00am

Price: £12.50

Location: Bretby Conference Centre

For more details see here

There will be a reading and a book signing session at the Middle Bell, Barton Under Needwood on 1st August 2007. Entry is free, please arrive for 7.30 pm. See link for location.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF-8&q=&msa=0&msid=114927248900174264216.000001134dd6484853948&ll=52.764982,-1.724596&spn=0.004629,0.009978&t=k&z=17&om=1

Any questions please contact Kim here

One of those weird, crazy days today that starts off surreal and continues in the same vein. Woke up to find a giant crow flapping round the bathroom, having somehow made its way down the chimney and proceeded to throw itself against the window for many hours and left a beautiful mess to deal with in the process. Then I managed to spill dog mixer all over the kitchen floor. The highlight of this screwy day had to be a photo shoot with the local newspaper, with me as the most awkward model in history. To top things off, the mini me decided to take two hours to go to sleep. Ah, kids. Couldn’t eat a whole one.

The one bonus of this imposed sabbatical from the laptop had to be the hundred or so pages of Gregory Maguire’s magickal/political pastiche of witchery in Oz, ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’. Having made the ill-informed decision that this would be appropriate reading matter for said mini me while going to sleep (ha!), I was more than taken back by the dry, often harsh, boudoir humour of the book – but like a heart in a tin man, it’s grown on me. The green-skinned Elphaba is a joy of a character, all done-wrong-by, wrongfully green, and plumped full of subterranean knowledge like a bad apple. Gorgeously dark, mind-engaging stuff.

On the writing front, I’m currently working on a short story for an anthology of women writers. I’m eking it out, but the going is slow because there seem to be a million and one tasks to complete and, somewhat disappointingly, I haven’t sprouted octopussy arms. So I thought I would add to the chaos by having a reading and signing session on the 1st August!

Good job I’ve discovered a new favourite tipple. Hendricks…gin. Well, old habits die hard.

Love and dark light.

Kim Lakin-Smith x

You can now buy Tourniquet direct from the local shop at Avebury Henge. Offering a wide range of non-fiction books, Avebury Henge have recently started selling a select few fiction books and Kim is over the moon that Tourniquet is one of those titles.

Today, 21st May 2007, Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City is officially released. Tourniquet can be purchased from all good bookstores and online at Amazon, Tesco, Blackwells and Immanion Press . Signed copies are available direct from Kim’s website.

Read the official press release here