Interview - David Wellington, author of Cursed

Today I am pleased to welcome to Floor to Ceiling Books David Wellington, the author of Cursed!

AMANDA: Welcome to Floor to Ceiling Books. How are you today?

DAVID: Very well, thank you, and quite grateful to have this opportunity to talk to you and my readers.

AMANDA: Can you start by describing Cursed for the readers of FtCB? What makes it different? Why should they be rushing out to buy a copy?

DAVID: Cursed is a story about werewolves, but not simply the ravening beasts of traditional werewolf fiction. It is based on an intense research effort into the behavior and lifestyles of real wolves. It’s also a gripping story of betrayal, loss, and the desperate love that is born from utter loneliness. Hmm, that actually sounds pretty good. Maybe I’ll go back and read it myself again.

AMANDA: Cursed saw an unusual route into finished book form – it started as a serial on your website, correct?

DAVID: Yes—it was actually the fifth book I released in this way, serializing it online first. I published it one chapter at a time, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for five months. Readers were able to comment on the story as it was posted—which led to one problem, when a reader guessed the big twist shortly after I’d begun publishing the story. Which of course required me to edit major portions of the book while it was still in progress. This took a lot of work but made the book better in the long run.

AMANDA: What prompted you to produce a book in this way? Had the finished article been rejected by publishers? Or had you always intended to release it via your website?

DAVID: By the time I wrote Cursed I’d been doing serials for a couple years. My first paperback was due to come out, but there’s such a long lead time for a book to go from manuscript to finished copies that I was losing my mind. I had no idea if Monster Island, my first serial, would even work as a paperback—it had been written specifically for the serial form. That turned out to be an unwarranted fear, but the way I deal with stress (especially about my books) is to write another book. So 13 Bullets and Cursed both came out of the anticipation and anxiety I was feeling.

AMANDA: Let’s deal some more with Cursed: the wolf element is one of the most realistic I’ve encountered in a werewolf book to date. Is this intentional? Did it require a great deal of research?



DAVID: I spent far longer researching the book than I did actually writing it. That research took a number of forms. I had to do extensive research into the setting for the book—the Canadian wilderness—because I knew it would be one of the major characters. I had to learn everything I could about wolves, which meant a lot of reading, visiting zoos, and—no, really—playing with my dog. It was really the dog which influenced the book the most. In the process of training her I kept treating her like a human being, but she clearly didn’t want that, nor did she respond to it. She expected me to be an alpha male wolf and treat her accordingly. The ironclad status hierarchy that wolves—and dogs—live by was fascinating to me, and I knew it had to go into the book.

AMANDA: In future books, will you consider working other animals into the shapeshifting world? Bears? Big cats?

DAVID: The sequel to Cursed, which will be called Ravaged in the UK, goes somewhere similar to that. But I refuse to give any details about that book. There are just too many spoilers involved.

AMANDA: What draws you into writing about the traditional “monsters” of literature?

DAVID: Monsters are fascinating because they live outside of human society. They can never just do what they want—either they have to worry about being hunted down, or they have needs they must fulfil (like the vampire’s need for blood, or the werewolf’s need to stay away from other humans). But that just means they have their own agendas. Their lives can never be like ours, and to me that makes them fascinating.

AMANDA: Which authors have most influenced your work?

DAVID: I like to think every book I read influences me, even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones, because they teach me what not to do. I think of myself as coming out of a long tradition of writers, starting with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, through the pulps of the 20s and 30s and the paperback revolution of the 50s. It was the truly bizarre (and yet effective) genre writing of the 80s that probably influenced me the most however—especially the science fiction writers, like Larry Niven and David Brin.

AMANDA: I can see that Ravaged is also going to be released by Piatkus (the follow-up to Cursed). Can you give us any hints about what will happen? And when will we see it in bookstores?

DAVID: There will be no spoilers! I say this all the time with my tongue firmly in my cheek. But seriously, I don’t want to give anything away. All I can say is that the story picks up exactly where it left off at the end of Cursed. It was one of those stories where I had to know what happened next. The characters were just that real to me. Readers won’t have long to wait. Cursed will come out at the beginning of September, while Ravaged will be out the very next month, on 7th October.

AMANDA: Thank you for your time! Any last words? (and that is in terms of the interview! It wasn’t meant to be as sinister as it sounded!)

DAVID: Thank you so much for having me! Er, virtually, that is. I’ll just finish by saying I hope that fans of my previous books will give Cursed and Ravaged a look. I think they’ll find quite a bit to their liking, here!

It just remains to be said that Cursed is being published by Piatkus on 2nd September and I would urge you all to go out and pick up a copy - this is a damn good werewolf book!

Cursed by David Wellington

Cursed is the tale of Cheyenne Clark, a twenty-something we meet while she is struggling through the Northwest Territories of the Canadian Arctic. “Most people’s lives change very slowly, more slowly than the seasons. Some people are born into the life they’re going to lead and nothing much ever comes along to force them to change. For Cheyenne Clark, change came about in the space of thirty very bad seconds.” She is hunting for something, but it seems like something is hunting her too...

It is desperately hard to synopsise this novel without giving too much away about the plot (which is why I have kept it as sparse as possible) – and I feel as though part of the strength of Cursed comes from watching the mystery about Chey unfold. To start with, she is merely a girl in danger of her life, and I enjoyed being given little hints and tips about her back story and what she is really doing in the Canadian Arctic.

In recent times many books involving werewolves have made these creatures into soft, cuddly affairs – taking away the animal quality from them. David Wellington more than makes up for this in Cursed. In fact, his werewolves are another strong element of the novel. We are able to see the world from the perspective of the wolf – almost a separate entity from the person – and it is a fearsomely hard world to live in. In fact, the sequences with the wolf reminded me of nothing so much as books like White Fang by Jack London – it is extremely clear that Wellington has worked hard on representing a realistic picture of what it would be to turn into a wolf night after night.

Wellington presents the bleak world of the far north with great depth and passion – the details about the landscape and the moonrise/moonset are inserted perfectly, so that it never feels as though we are being handed a lesson in the natural world.

The characterisation is Spartan, but effective. Chey is a character you want to sympathise with – you know she has her secrets, but her reactions to learning about the wolf are honest and genuine. Powell is a darkly enigmatic man, who takes a very pragmatic approach to life in the frozen north. By far my favourite character though was Dzo – he is mysterious, and I’m hoping he returns in all his odd glory in the second book by Wellington.
In fact, I only had a couple of minor problems with the novel. The main one was the fact that Wellington left the details of his world fairly blank: it was clear that I was dealing with a version of Earth, but in this version lycanthropes, shapeshifters and werewolves (interchangeable terms?) were known as being real. Apart from that, Wellington gave us nothing. In other novels I’m used to be handed far too many details about a world (which creates a whole other problem of boredom), and I think a balance needs to be struck between that approach and that of Wellington. I could have done with a little more background.

That aside, Cursed was a compulsive read – chilling, dark and fatalistic for much of its pages, but containing an element of hope to take onward to the second book in the series. Chey and Powell were characters that I want to journey with, and I found this ultra-realistic take on the werewolf myth a very effective addition to the canon of lycanthropy. Highly recommended.

Cursed is being published 2nd September by Piatkus Books.

Come back tomorrow for an interview with David Wellington, the author of Cursed!

300th Blog Post - My Top Three Books of All Time

I've been asked one of *those* questions. You know the ones... As a book lover I dread this question, but, to celebrate my 300th blog post, I am going to make my best stab at it. I was asked about my most favourite book. When I complained about the restriction, I was told to name my top three. So here they are!

In third place...



Yes, that children's classic Watership Down by Richard Adams. Except I don't think it is your typical children's book. It spoke to me on so many levels - a quest story, a love letter to the British countryside, a treatise on fascism and extreme propaganda. The characters were vivid and well-drawn, from Hazel and Fiver who led the group, to Bigwig, who always seemed to be so contrary. As a child I was amused by the fact that one of the characters said 'Piss off!' The storytelling within storytelling worked for me as well - tales of El-Ahrairah and how he outwits Lord Frith. Just saying these iconic names makes me want to pick the book up again! Certainly it is a book that I have read more than ten times, and would turn to again and again out of comfort and enjoyment.

In second place...



I picked up Archangel by Sharon Shinn on a whim from the library when I was in my teens. And I have never, before or since, been SO entranced by prose. I think Shinn has the most amazing talent to bring magic alive - and her passion for music imbues every word of her novels. Archangel is the first in a trilogy of three, and all of them are well worth reading. Archangel tells the story of Gabriel, who is to wed the Edori slave Rachel - the trials and tribulations as they learn to love each other are beautifully written, and the idea of lovers destined to be together was presented in a unique manner. To me, stunning.

In first place...

So here it is. My most favourite novel of all time. It is not the best written; it is not the most literary; and it is definitely not genre. It is this:



The Sunne in Splendour is a sprawling epic of a novel. It is over 900 pages of exploring characters from our own history. It takes the controversial Richard III and overturns what we might think of the person who Shakespeare vilified and who was said to murder his own nephews. This novel is a sympathetic portrayal of a man who was loyal to his country and who wanted the best for his family. Historical personages spring to life from the pages; bitter betrayals and love stories are detailed by engaging prose. I just love this book and endeavour to read it every couple of years or so. Sharon Penman is a supremely talented author, managing to breathe life into a long-dead era. Her research is superlative and I admire the dedication taken with every single one of her novels. This is by far my favourite and, indeed, my favourite book of my whole life.

Now I open the floor to you. It is tough - but tell me your top three books, and why. Invite me to read those books that you deem, in your opinion, to be the best you have read. They needn't be the best written, just those that resonated beyond all others with you. I'd love to hear!

Living In The Blogger Bubble

I was reading this post and the matter of different perspectives really struck a chord with me.

I am wondering whether us book reviewers/bloggers live in a special little bubble, undisturbed by the real world?



The reason I question this is because of Mockingjay. You might have heard of it. If you haven't, here's the story - Suzanne Collins is a YA who has written a trilogy called The Hunger Games. The third volume was released this week. Before release it was on strict embargo. My Twitter stream and my Google Reader reached feverishly excited proportions - people were declaring war on those who had posted spoilers. See? There were even swear words committed to blog posts.

I - being part of the bubble - found myself caught up in the excitement. Pictures like these:



had me frothing at the mouth!

I waited until today to try and pick up my copy from the local Waterstones. I envisaged massive displays with multiple copies of Mockingjay. I looked forward to seeing the shiny cover and feeling myself nestled comfortably in the blogger bubble, sharing my reading experience with people on Twitter.

There were NO copies of Mockingjay in Waterstones. Or in WHSmith, although I already suspected they wouldn't carry it.

As far as I was concerned this was one of the BIGGEST YA releases of recent months. Clearly my local bookshops didn't share the same view.

So, traipsing home disappointed I started to wonder (and then Larry's post punched it home) about the perspectives of bloggers. Thanks to reading other blogs and being infected by buzz, we become all wrapped up in shiny releases - and sometimes little realise that those releases have absolutely NO impact on booksellers.

Do you agree that there is a blogger bubble?

Vacation and Themed Months

Two bits of news for you guys on this rainy Wednesday evening!



The first is that I am jetting off on vacation next Tuesday and starting to think seriously about it. I am away for a week. There are a couple of posts scheduled but not masses so if anyone feels like whipping out a guest post before the weekend that I can host on my site (with enormous gratitude) then I would be very appreciative. Drop me a note via my email magemanda AT gmail DOT com or contact me by Twitter @ALRutter!

The second is that I have been reading this post a number of times, and watching the comments, and thinking seriously about the future of my blog. I don't want to be *just* another "new release" blog and I want to explore different genres. So I have come up with a new direction for Floor to Ceiling Books.

I am planning theme months - which I want the readers of my blog to have full input on. A week or so before the end of the month I shall offer up three themes for the following month - whichever option is chosen I shall abide by, and read books under that theme alone.

Some of the themes will be wide-ranging - like YA titles. Some will be very, very specific - like Charles de Lint novels. Some will be extremely personal - like books my boyfriend has recommended. And some will hopefully widen my reading experience (and contribute to the SF/F Masterworks blog) like reading classic SF/F novels.

I hope that sounds of interest! Hopefully it will give a good mix of new and old novels, and will touch on a number of different genres.

I intend to kick this off in September. I am away on vacation from 31st August to 7th September and am starting to think about which books to pack, so I will pack whichever books correspond to the theme voted for in the majority by my blog readers.

The options this time around are:

1) David Gemmell novels

2) Historical fiction novels

3) Books published by Orbit

I'm asking you, my readers, to pick option 1, 2 or 3. Please leave me a comment. Whichever option receives the most votes by midday on 30th August will win and I will take books of that type on holiday.

I'd really welcome general comments on this future direction for my blog, and also suggestions for future themes. I am planning to do this each month going forwards, and I will be very grateful for any contribution from my readers!

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

The Lies of Locke Lamora is the first book of the Gentleman Bastard sequence, and tells the tale of the titular Locke Lamora (or the Thorn of Camorr) as he tries to pull off a massive con against one of the Dons of Camorr with the help of the gang of Gentleman Bastards. While this is being played out, Locke learns that he is in the middle of a war between the Grey King and Capa Barsavi that has dreadful repercussions for both him personally and the city of Camorr.

I enjoyed this book. Thoroughly. It was entertaining, good fun and left me with a smile on my face. When I wasn't reading it, I found my thoughts dwelling on it and wondering what events would come next, which I think is the mark of an excellent book.

Before I start with specific thoughts, likes and dislikes, I just want to make a couple of observations. The first is that, in a mystery novel, I like to try and work out the secret identity of the secret personage who is committing the crime, and try to discover why they might be doing terrible things. In this novel, unless I'm being completely dense, there was no way we could piece together clues to find out who the Grey King was and why he declared war on Capa Barsavi. I think the novel would have been even stronger had the reader been able to play this game.

The second is that The Lies of Locke Lamora seems to fit more into the canon of literature led by Alexandre Dumas - swash-buckling high adventure - rather than anything from the field of genre fiction. Barring the use of Bondsmages, this novel could easily be set in Renaissance Italy. The term 'unique' is thrown around with abandonment, but, in this case, I would say it is justified - even though I am four years late to the party, The Lies of Locke Lamora feels fresh and new and exciting.

This is not to say the whole book is perfect. Lynch does a fabulous turn in dialogue - his characters mock each other; cry bloody vengeance without sounding cliched; and have conversations that sound natural. Every part of The Lies of Locke Lamora that involves characters in face to face encounters is pure gold. It is just a shame that, for me, some of the remaining prose sounds a little dry and wooden at times. When Lynch needs to introduce a new part of Camorr, or describe the games commoners play, it is not done smoothly - rather we are handed a section of rather dry exposition that sits uneasily next to the glittering dialogue. This might be a matter of taste, but I found these points clumsy for an author who shows such skills elsewhere.

I have to mention the language as well. That is, the realistic swearing (i.e. words like f**k etc.). I believe it has probably been pointed out by other reviewers. The fact is, I would probably have complained if Lynch had come up with his own swear words - at that point, I would have been muttering about silly made-up words that sound false. I'm not absolutely sure that Lynch could win on this point either way, but the realistic swear-words jarred me out of my read, which I found a little frustrating. Certainly the swearing 'fit' the characters, since they were from the lower end of the social spectrum, but the choice of words did not 'fit'.

One of my friends who read The Lies of Locke Lamora and loved it mentioned to me the point of alchemy and how it is employed in the novel - and I find myself agreeing. That is, it seems a 'dialed-in' plot device. At points it was used to nice effect, such as the method of lighting the streets and buildings, and I enjoyed the 'genetics' part of it, where trees were given additional attributes thanks to alchemy. However, at other points, it seemed as though Lynch used it in a slightly deus ex machina fashion - such as during the calamity that Capa Raza tries to inflict on the nobility of Camorr.

The use of flashbacks in The Lies of Locke Lamora was inspired, and I found myself enjoying the exploits of the younger Locke far more than his older counterpart. I also loved the way that the flashbacks would lend weight to future events - a form of foreshadowing, if you will. It was a clever way of helping to build facts necessary into the plot, without using the tired exposition that Lynch sometimes fell back on. A couple of times I would say that the flashbacks were either unnecessary, or ill-placed - my example here would be where the background to the Bondsmages is introduced. We've already been advised that people *really* don't want to get on the bad side of Bondsmages through some clever dialogue - this section slowed down the overall read and added no depth to the novel.

In my opinion this is a fabulous novel, with some flaws. It isn't the instant classic some would have had me believe, but it is a cracking piece of storytelling and I envy those who are about to embark on it for the first time.

How Do You Deal With Criticism?

I am genuinely curious about this one, and would enjoy any comments that could be offered.

I posted a review of this book on Amazon, and today received the following response to it:

What a very poor review. More than OK not to like or rate a book but to so willfully misunderstand huge sections and use such misunderstanding as justification is indolent. So to be specific:

1. Memphis and York - it's an alternative reality - the Memphis the author is referring to may well be a reference to ancient Egypt; the familiar juxtaposed with the unfamiliar may just be an absurdist trick but the aim is to create recognition and confusion not to impose geographic reality. So reckon you did miss this one.

2. Screenplay - just wondering how you write a book without this lazy criticism being applied - and if the author does want a film deal then is this a crime. Is a screenplay any less worthy than a novel. Kind of needs to be judged on it's merits not it's purpose.

3. Women - the whole point of this passage is that it is grotesque - even in the semi-feudal society which the narrative takes place in this is not taken to be right - equally the question about tenderness is an obvious one and the book then goes on to describe dealing with bad tempered men - which is again a exaggeration to show how warped the entire situation is.

4. Smoking - another huge miss - there is a passage earlier on extolling the pleasures of smoking; by this characters brother. Like I said this is just lazy reviewing.

There are many things you could have criticised quite legitimately in this book; but the examples you chose are poor.

He's given reasons as to why he thinks my review is poor, which is appreciated, rather than just saying he hates it. I'm willing to accept my stance on the book in question is suspect because I disliked it a great deal. However, I am also of the belief that the points raised were factors that I found abhorrent, and that other people might read them entirely differently.

So, my question to reviewers (and, I guess, authors) is how do you respond to criticism? Do you shrug it off and just think that the person didn't understand what you were saying? Do you take it on board and think that they might have a point?

All opinions welcome!

Series? Or Standalones?

Here is your Friday question! Which do you prefer to read - series or standalones?

I read both - and I enjoy both. But if pressed I'd have to say series. When you find a brilliant book and realise it is the first in a long series, it gives me a feeling of pleasure and anticipation. When you live with characters for a long time, their motivations and attitudes can be revealed as a slow burn rather than quick-sharp to suit the plot of a standalone book.

I am the same when it comes to films vs long-running TV series. I just like to immerse myself completely in a world and not have to come up for air for a while.

How about you? And which would you list as your favourite examples of both?

The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

Avery Cates is a Gunner, a survivor living in Old New York. At age twenty seven he is one of the oldest living on the streets, hiding from the System Pigs and trying to make a living by killing people. This is a world where the System Security Force are all-powerful, and the fastest growing religion is that of the Electric Church. Cates has his suspicions that converts to the Church are forcibly recruited, and those who join become immortal cyborgs. Just when life for Cates seems to be taking a nose dive, he is offered a big job. The biggest. If he can survive through it, he'll be a rich man. But it's a big if...

I really enjoyed this first novel about Avery Cates by Jeff Somers - The Electric Church is a quick read, with a great page-turning quality. The Monks of the Electric Church are genuinely chilling, and the set pieces come thick and fast.

The strongest part of this novel is the characterisation. Avery Cates jumps from the page fully-fleshed - a clever young man who is jaded with life on the streets, a seen-it-all, done-even-more sort of guy. Someone whose bitterness with his lot in life is disguised by an extremely dry sense of humour. Cates is ably supported by a cast of secondary character that you genuinely come to care about.

Somers' prose is crisp and efficient, and the book fairly rattles along - but I did find the plot both slight and something I felt I'd seen before. The idea of someone pulling together a crack team to perform one last big job is extremely familiar, and there were few subplots to distract us from the resolution of this job. It made for a driving and very direct novel, but I liked Cates and the world he inhabited enough that I wanted to see more of it. The world itself (apart from The Electric Church itself and the Monks) was thinly-drawn in this first novel. I do think there is more to explore in future novels.

The Electric Church read like a cross between Richard Morgan and Ocean's Eleven - pared-down, noir and with a body count that defies belief. The humour is black and biting and the action is non-stop. A very worthy first novel in the Avery Cates series - I will be reading the rest.

Books I Adopted This Week

It is one of those weeks where I feel at my most grateful that publishers see fit to send through books. A few of those I received are novels I'd have been queuing up to buy with my own money and I can't quite believe my luck that I'm receiving them for review instead.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms. And the Voidbringers followed ...They came against man ten thousand times. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won. Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself - and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne. On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes that blow through every few day a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn't understand and doesn't really want to fight. What happened deep in mankind's past? Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?

This is the big daddy of the books that came through this week - one of the most hotly-anticipated fantasy novels of the year; possibly a novel that kick-starts a new fantasy epic to take the place of The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire. The buzz surrounding this book is just huge right now, and initial reviews are starting to flow in, most of which incredibly positive. I am beyond excited about this, and so eager to start it and be there right at the beginning.

Published by Tor in the US on 31st August and by Gollancz in the UK on 30th December.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals. But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

So, here we have another fantasy epic starting. Many people have had good things to see about Brent Weeks' previous trilogy, although it was one I haven't yet read, and so this first book in his new trilogy is generating real excitement as well. Have to say, it's a lovely chunky hard-back I've been sent, and I really want to give this one some love too!

Published by Orbit on 26th August 2010

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) thought motherhood would be a breeze and that having a daughter was a dream come true - a shopping friend for life! But it's trickier than she thought - two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping. She can create havoc everywhere from Harrods to Harvey Nicks to her own christening. She hires taxis at random, her favourite word is 'Mine', and she's even started bidding for designer bags on ebay. On top of everything else, there's a big financial crisis. People are having to Cut Back - including all of Becky's personal shopping clients - and she and Luke are still living with Becky's Mum and Dad. To cheer everyone up, Becky decides to throw a surprise birthday party - on a budget - but then things become really complicated. Who will end up on the naughty step, who will get a gold star and will Becky's secret wishes come true?

And now for something completely different... *grin* The Becky Bloomwood novels are one of my very favourite ongoing chick lit series. I think that Kinsella does a wonderful job, with the quirky characters, humorous situations and the slightly cringe-making problems Becky always seems to get herself into. Becky is a wonderful heroine - someone you'd definitely want to go shopping with! I am planning to re-read the preceding novels before getting to this one, so that I can provide reviews of all - and really enjoy the experience of immersing myself in Becky's world.

Published by Transworld on 2nd September 2010.

I did receive a few more books this week, which I shall provide details of in the future, but this mighty triumvirate just had me so excited that the rest paled slightly in comparison (and so I think it would be best to tell you about the others when I can give them due attention!)

Was your mailbox as exciting as mine this week? Which new books did you adopt?