Q&A WITH DIANE DOOLEY

Diane and I are chummy around the Internets, and I'm also very much a fan: from her flash and short horror stories to her alternately humorous and desperate science fiction romance novellas. I'm never quite sure what to expect from her, but I always delight in what I find.

You write hardened space captains, interstellar bounty hunters, sweet romances and chilling horror. So I have to ask, who are your writing influences? What authors are on your “must buy” list?

I read a lot and very widely. When I first started writing it almost destroyed reading for me. I couldn’t enjoy the story itself, could only focus on how the story was being told. Thankfully, I’m past that phase. And looking over at my bookshelves I’d have to say my influences are those writers who appear again and again.

It might sound strange to say that Nabokov is one of my biggest influences, because I write nothing like him, unfortunately. I remember loving one his sentences so much, too much. It was so perfectly and exquisitely structured and punctuated, that I took the entire sentence and wrote my own version using its structure and punctuation. Silly me! The girl who fell in love with a sentence.

Also on the bookshelves: Jane Austen for dialogue, sly wit, and cleverness. Octavia Butler for boldness and sheer imagination. C.J. Cherryh for human and alien characters, spaceships and space stations. Thomas Hardy for tragedy, which I love. Poetry is my go-to happy place. Neruda, Pushkin, Plath, and many more. Short stories: Richard Bachman, Ray Bradbury. I adore the wicked and wonderful Roald Dahl, both his children’s and adult stuff.  Alasdair Gray, a Scots writer, for wit and intelligence and brilliance.

It actually feels a little impertinent to name these influences. I’m not even in the same league as them. Moving on: the book I’m most looking forward to buying is the one G.R.R. Martin is still writing. I’m on a Courtney Milan kick right now and trying to decide which one to treat myself to. I’m looking forward to Joe Hill, Jo Walton and Paolo Bacigalupi’s next books.

Ah, nobody ever says Thomas Hardy. I’ve happily allowed him to break my heart several times. Hell, even on re-reads. Do you find it difficult to switch back and forth from writing stories set in as diverse of locations as space ports and contemporary cabins?

No, I find it refreshing. I like darting back and forth in time, past, present, future. And to different locations, on Earth and off. I wish I wasn’t like that, though. I wish I had laser-beam focus. I wish I could focus on one thing and make it my own.

On the spot time! What are a few of your favorite lines that you’ve written?

Oh dear. This means I’ll have to go back and read some of my stuff, which I rarely do after it’s published. *several hours later* I’ve pick three lines from my published short stories.

1.  “They examine my body with morbid interest, excited for my eventual autopsy, these stumpy little creatures all dressed in white.”  

From ‘Monster,’ published in ‘From the Depths,’ Summer, 2012. Why do I like this one? I dunno. The morbid thrill of writing from the POV of someone dying and soon to be dissected, maybe? Writers are strange people.

2.  “Only someone as pompous and long-winded as Eugene could have written an eight page suicide note full of such petulant complaints.”

From ‘Compartment C,’ published on my blog, September, 2011. Again, I dunno. But that eight page suicide “note” just kills me.

3.  “Later that day the three bears relaxed in their clean and cozy home, nursing their headaches and each flossing their teeth with identical strands of long, golden hair.”

From “A Taste of Revenge,’ published by Dog Oil Press, September, 2009.  I love this line because I’ve always hated Goldilocks, that horrid, home-invading girl.

I adore the Goldilocks line. Even as a child, I was uncomfortable with her antics, and always sided with the bears. So, other writers sometimes talk about stories coming to them in dreams. Does this ever happen for you, where something that occurs in your sleeping mind refuses to leave once you wake? Or, alternatively, do you ever dream of the characters of your own invention?

I think this has happened to me, I’m not really sure. I’m always day-dreaming and can never quite differentiate between things that popped into my head when I was awake vs. when I was asleep.  I do remember this one time, a week or so before a final paper was due at university. I’d done all this cool research and had all this wonderful material at my fingertips, but I couldn’t do a damn thing with it because I didn’t have a thesis. I went to bed one night and had a vivid dream about all the research strands. When I woke up - eureka! - I had a thesis. I was so relieved! For the record, I got an A- with comments: terrific research, weak thesis, absolutely wonderful writing. I think that was when I decided to give the writing thing a go one day. As long as it didn’t require a thesis.

Good lord, I hope never to see that comment on an edit letter: What’s your thesis?

What’s next for you, Diane? I seem to recall tantalizing hints of the third Blue (Blue Galaxy, Blue Nebula) book.

Yes, I’m working on that one now. Blue Planet.  I finished it ages ago, but hated it. I love tragedy, but it was too dark and depressing, no light in it at all. But I figured out how to fix it and am enjoying it again. I always have lots of irons in the fire. Other works in progress include: a post-apocalyptic western, a gothic horror, a couple of contemporary romances that are finished, but need a brutal edit, a dystopian road trip/love triangle kind of thing, a near-future scifi romance. That’s just the top of the pile. I’ll take laser-beam focus for a hundred, please, and many more hours in the day.

These all sound wonderful. I can’t wait to see them emerge! And I’m seconding the request for more hours in the day (I promise I won’t spend them all on Twitter). Thank you so much for stopping by, Diane!

Find Diane’s diverse and engrossing work at: Amazon     Barnes and Noble

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Diane Dooley is the author of Blue Galaxy and Blue Nebula from Carina Press, Mako’s Bounty from Decadent Publishing, and That Night from Wild Rose Press. They’re also available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all the usual e-book stores.

She writes horror, science fiction and romance, short stories, novellas and novels. She also Facebooks, blogs and tweets.

INTERVIEW WITH DIANE DOOLEY, AUTHOR OF MAKO'S BOUNTY

Diane Dooley is an author of horror shorts (short stories, not horrifyingly short pants) and science fiction romance. I met Diane through AbsoluteWrite, share a publisher with her, and am delighted to have her on my blog today.

Why, thanks for having me, Regan. I also write contemporary romance, science fiction and dark humor, as well as some stuff that is completely uncategorizable. I am my own worst nightmare, as I try to identify my “brand.”  Usually I just write stuff then try to figure out what the hell it is. Information about and links to my other published stuff can be found on my blog.

Mako’s Bounty was released on March 13th as part of Decadent Press’s 1-Night Stand series.

For nine long months, at the behest of the evil Ravenscorp, Mako Dolan has been hunting the space pirate they call The Saint. Now she’s finally lured her prey to a one night stand with a mysterious woman—herself. But Vin Sainte is not at all what she expected. Far from being a ruthless space pirate, his main occupation seems to be rescuing nuns, adopting orphans and praying like a champ.

For nine long months Vin Sainte has been fleeing the bounty hunter from one temporary refuge to the next. Now he’s got Mako exactly where he wants her: weak from gravity sickness and ripe for conversion. Problem is he didn’t expect a foul-mouthed, hard-as-nails bounty hunter to be such a devoted daughter. His head on a platter is Ravenscorp’s price for her mother’s freedom.

They have less than twenty four hours. One will win; one will lose. Mako might be a fearsome predator, but Vin has the Lord on his side. Who will win the bounty?

Diane, you seem to have a thing for space pirates (see Blue Galaxy).  What is it about these futuristic opportunists, as opposed to space cowboys or gangsters of love, that you find fascinating?

What can I say? I do enjoy writing scoundrels of various sorts. Captain Javan Rhodes of Blue Galaxy is a semi-alcoholic has-been; Vin Sainte of Mako’s Bounty is a commie pinko rabble-rouser on the run from the authorities. Other characters I’ve written include a pregnant cannibal, a vengeful waitress and an alluring psychopath.  You know what? I think it’s best that I not try to analyze myself. The results could be very disturbing.  Um, yeah. Let’s move on *grin*

Let’s talk characters. What would a girl’s night out with Mako – planet of her choice – entail?

Mako’s a bit of a lightweight. If we let her at the booze we might have to  carry her home. She’s a spacer, you see, born on a mining colony in the asteroid belt. In the low-grav environment they tend to grow long and thin, with lower bone density and less water fluid than planet-born humans. Alcohol hits spacers much harder than us Earthers. Plus, Mako is rambunctious enough without adding a pitcher of gargleblasters into the mix. We’ll just sit the beauteous bounty hunter in between us and see who comes to check out our milkshakes.  If anyone gets on our nerves we’ll just set Mako the Shark on them.

And Vin Sainte, what would he have been doing for the last nine months if Mako wasn’t nipping at his heels, or is “bounty” the status quo for The Saint?

Oh, he would have been out there cruising the galaxy, causing trouble for Ravenscorp, looking for heroic deeds to do and pretty ladies to impress. Even if Mako claims Vin as her personal bounty, there will still be plenty of bad ‘uns out there hoping to collect the price on his head. So, yeah -  Ole Vin is permanently on the run. He insists that he is not a pirate, but a freedom fighter.

You’ve got some wonderful banter, and moments where characters are thrown out of their comfort zones. Which scenes are the most fun for you to write, and which the most agonizing?

I love writing dialogue. That part comes easy, so I especially like writing scenes with interaction, particularly repartee or intense confrontations. In my horror stuff I enjoy jabbing at soft underbellies. I don’t think my horror stuff is as scary as much as it is discomforting and unsettling. In science fiction I love the freedom of building a world and populating it with lots of imaginary people.  Close to agonizing is writing the openings and endings of my stories. I’m never happy with them and will fiddle with them endlessly unless someone stops me. Actual agony is reading something of mine that has been published and noticing all the ways in which it could be better, but by then it’s too damn late to do anything about it.    

What do you like to read? Is there anything that might surprise us on your bookshelves?

I read very broadly: genre, literary, non-fiction (history, biography, art), poetry, children’s, cereal boxes - you name it. This writing business does severely get in the way of my reading, unfortunately. The most recent book I finished was Stacia Kane’s ‘Unholy Ghosts.’ I read it particularly to see what she got away with with her bad girl heroine, Chess. I really enjoyed it and think I’m going to delve further into the urban fantasy genre.  Next up on the old to-read pile is the entire set of the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ books. Both my sons insist I read them so I can “get” all their jokes and references. Little geeks, those boys of mine! Probably the most surprising thing about my bookshelves is the sheer amount of space I need for my personal library. My husband recently built me wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves -- and there still wasn’t enough room for all my books.

What’s next for Diane Dooley? Any upcoming projects you can share?

‘Blue Nebula,’ the follow-up to ‘Blue Galaxy,’ will be released by Carina Press in September of this year. ‘That Night,’ a romantic comedy, will be released by Wild Rose Press in December. I have a short story, ‘The Staycation,’ being published by Underground Voices in May. I was delighted to get an acceptance on this story. It started out as a challenge to myself to write a story entirely without dialogue. I lean so heavily on dialogue that I wanted to see if I was capable of writing a story without it. I guess I succeeded!  

Works in progress? I’m close to finishing ‘Blue Planet,’ the third and final in the Blue trilogy, and am making progress on two contemporary romance novels. I have a gothic horror novella started, a post-apocalyptic novel started and I’d like to take a stab at urban fantasy at some point this year. In between longer works I’ll be tackling some more horror shorts.

I’d like to give away a copy of Mako’s Bounty to one of the readers of this blog. You can read the opening here to decide if it’s your cup of tea. To enter the giveaway please mention an urban fantasy story you think rocks. I like ‘em dark, funny or, preferably, dark *and* funny. (And, yes, I already have ‘Don’t Bite The Messenger’ on my Kindle *grin*)  

Thanks so much for stopping by, Diane! Mako’s Bounty is fun, sharp, with wonderful worldbuilding and a steamy center. The giveaway will be open to entries through April 2, 2012. I will draw a winner via random dot org on or around that day. Please include your email address in your entry!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
And zee weener is: CobraMisfit. Congratulations!

Mako's Bounty is available from Decadent Publishing, Amazon, and all the usual online retailers.