What is your book Hawkesmoor: A Novel of Vampire and Faerie about? What draw you to write in the paranormal genre? In your life as a ballerina, was there anything about dancing that made you want to become an author?
What draws you to the paranormal genre?
My book Hawkesmoor: A Novel of Vampire and Faerie was born of the things that I absorbed as a child. I grew up with parents who were fascinated by all things paranormal. Their library had a large collection of books about ghosts, cryptozoology and all things speculative.
My Welsh mother, from the time she was quite young, was fascinated by Celtic mythology and all manner of things eerie. As I was growing up, she enjoyed telling me all about the secret world of Anglesey in Wales and the ancient legends of Celtic elementals such as the Moon goddess, Ceridwen; the horse goddess, Rhiannon; and the Tylwyth Teg β elemental spirits who guarded inter-dimensional portals in Wales. All of this rich background is woven into my writing in Hawkesmoor.
That was the foundation of my interest. I just grew up with the paranormal β not as an experiencer of genuine phenomena or anything like that, but with the ideas all around me, in one form or another.
As a writer, it’s a thrill to pull back the veil and allow the reader a look into these hidden realms. And it was great fun to create a character who has unearthly powers like Robin Dashwood!
In your life as a professional ballerina, was there anything about dancing that made you want to become an author? Do you miss being a ballerina?
In addition to writing, I am the artistic director of a regional ballet company. With some luck, I will still be the artistic director after the Coronavirus is over! The company has taken a serious hit after cancelling our spring season and our fingers are crossed that we can bounce back in time for the annual performance of βNutcracker.β
In the course of my ballet career I danced for various American companies, but I also continued to write between rehearsals. Many dancers knit or crocheted between our endless rehearsals, but I’d plop down in a corner to write.
When I finally retired from the stage I become a choreographer and formed my own ballet company in Los Angeles. I gathered together a small group of retired professionals like myself, and we built a company that was completely unique at the time. In those days, the only new ballets deemed βartistically validβ were contemporary abstracts in which dancers moved to music, without any story. But I wanted to create ballets about people who had fascinating stories and challenges to overcome. So we created completely original ballets featuring fresh stories and characters, and set them to music never before used for ballets.
Over the next 25 years, we would tell all sorts of stories from giddy 1920βs comedies to Medieval tragedies and Edwardian murder mysteries. We developed a cult following in Los Angeles and audiences loved the vivid characters, soaring music and beautiful period settings.
After creating so many of these ballet stories, I eventually came to realize I had been writing all along! And shortly after our final performance I picked up a notebook and started the first pages of what would become Hawkesmoor: A Novel of Vampire and Faerie.
Can you tell us a little about your novel Hawkesmoor?
Hawkesmoor is a very different take on the vampire novel. It is the first book in a trilogy. Book one begins in present day Manhattan β happily, a non-Coronavirus afflicted present β and shifts to the incredible beauty of Yorkshire in the U.K.
Robin Dashwood is the hero of the story. He is a handsome and charming British vampire with long gone aristocratic connections. He has created a quiet life for himself as an NYU history professor in an attempt to avoid more powerful vampires.
Robin has a chance encounter in a Manhattan art gallery where he meets the beautiful Lady Caroline DeBarry. Something he sees at the gallery reveals that there was a vicious murder from his human past. In search of answers to this historical mystery, he returns home to England, and to Caroline who has captured his heart. As Robin uncovers the truth, he and Caroline are thrown into an epic adventure that sends them both spinning through time and space, dream and reality.
The book is named for Robin Dashwoodβs historic home, Hawkesmoor Castle, which began as a stone building named DuPlessis Tower after the Norman family who were awarded the land by King William II in 1100. From then on, successive generations of the DuPlessis (Robinβs family) would add on to the original tower until the castle was structurally complete in the 17th century. While not a huge border castle such as Warwick Castle, it is a very beautiful and noble residence filled with fascinating furniture and dΓ©cor.
Iβm just finishing the second book in the trilogy and Iβm excited to say that it will be published in the Spring of 2021!
Amazon Link: Hawkesmoor: A Novel of Vampire & Faerie
Recommended Article: Hawkesmoor: A Novel of Vampire & Faerie – a Review
Thanks so much for hosting Anne!