Murder and Machinery: An Interview with Danielle Birch

Danielle Birch's "Leonora" is just one of the mad mechanical tales featured in Murder and Machinery. Out April the 3rd. Kindle pre-orders available now.

Tell us three interesting facts about yourself:

I love to collect antique dolls and while I adore my growing collection, most of my family and friends find them creepy. My husband and I like anything vintage and eclectic and spend a lot of time searching through garage sales, op shops, and antique shops for just the right piece. I have worked in law (my day job) for the past 18 years and it has provided much inspiration for some of my stories.

What drew you to this particular theme? 

I love a challenge, so the chance to write something with a hint of a steampunk theme was fun to explore.

What’s the most frightening machine for you personally?

Though I am a huge fan of horror, I find some machines and robots terrifying, most especially the fighting machines in War of the Worlds.

Which short story authors or authors in the horror genre inspire you? 

Shirley Jackson.

What does your editing process look like? 

The first draft flows quickly (but filled with many lumps) onto paper. Then I slowly weave the plot and play with words through several edits until I’m relatively happy with it.

Do you write everything and then edit or do you meticulously plan before you write? 

When I start, I have a rough plot in my head along with the characters and their backgrounds. Quite often, the ending doesn’t come to me until I’m about half-way through writing the story.

What are you working on now?

A novel – a modern tragedy.

Where can we find you online?

Website: www.daniellebirch.com

Instagram: daniellembirch

Twitter: @mrsdanbirch

Thanks, Danielle!

Murder and Machinery: An Interview with Karen Bayly

Karen Bayly's "Foul Beasts" is just one of the mad mechanical tales featured in Murder and Machinery. Out April the 3rd. Kindle pre-orders available now.

Tell us three interesting facts about yourself:

I have Welsh and German ancestry. I have a PhD in Ethology (the study of animal behaviour). I used to act and get paid for it. 

What drew you to this particular theme? 

We like to think we are masters of the machines we create. Playing with the idea of a machine taking over or someone hijacking a machine for a nefarious purpose is always fun.

What’s the most frightening machine for you personally?

The Corporate Machine. Not a mechanical monster, but a monster nonetheless. I’m also skeptical about making androids too human. It feels like birthing a slave race. Humans are quite frightening biological machines.

Which short story authors or authors in the horror genre inspire you? 

Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, Clive Barker.  Angela Carter wrote some excellent horror (e.g., “The Bloody Chamber”). Also, screenwriter John Logan who wrote much of the TV series, “Penny Dreadful”. He was nominated for a Bram Stoker award four times, but never won. He did win an Edgar Allan Poe Award though.

Do you have a favourite story about machines, other than The Pit and the Pendulum?

Mortal Engines—I love that cities can be machines that devour other city machines. I’m also ridiculously fond of HAL 9000. It gets a bad rap in the movie.

What does your editing process look like? 

Tedious, meticulous, and often mind-numbing. The latter probably explains why I often miss things. I do the standard developmental, line, and copy edits. I read it aloud. For longer pieces, I enlist beta readers. Yet still errors slip through. Aargh!

Do you write everything and then edit or do you meticulously plan before you write? 

I create a rough plan which gives me a few plot points as guideposts to a destination. I may even get detailed about certain parts. Then I start writing and any detail usually goes out the door. Planned plot points evolve and new ones emerge. I guess it is a bit like building a trellis for a plant to climb—you create a framework, plant the seeds, and guide the growth so that you end up with a healthy plant that reaches upward and outwards instead of crawling on the ground.

What are you working on now?

I’m editing my YA fantasy, tentatively titled “The Witch Who Wasn’t” and writing a dystopian novella about an assassin and the Corporate Machine who owns her.

Where can we find you online? 

https://www.karenbayly.com/

Thanks, Karen! 

Murder and Machinery: An Interview with Michael Picco

Michael Picco's tale "The Wheel" is just one of the mad mechanical tales featured in Murder and Machinery. Out April the 3rd. Kindle pre-orders available now.

Tell us three interesting facts about yourself:

1. I am a germaphobe. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this neurotic and annoying behaviour. (Editor’s note: smart man)

2. I like to eat my pancakes from the inside out. That way, there’s always a tiny pool of syrup to dip my pancakes into without them getting all soggy. It’s a mouth feel thing. Don’t judge me. (Editor’s note: smart man again)

3. I used to be an avid spelunker. Too many injuries prevent me from doing that now though, I am sad to say. I actually got stuck in a cave once and I am still trying to work that awful experience into a narrative. (Editor’s note: hmm…not so smart man)

What drew you to this particular theme? 

There’s something dreadful and diabolical about the efficiency of machines. They are relentless. They move with a tireless monotony that I find deeply disturbing. In writing The Wheel, I didn’t want to write about a machine that was designed to kill, I wanted to write a story about something that is normally innocuous… something safe. I wanted to write about something that would normally be calming or soothing to see in operation. I wanted to write about a machine that was designed to bring life to a community but instead killed its most vulnerable.

What’s the most frightening machine for you personally?

The increasingly short-circuiting, gear-slipping clockworks between my ears. Stupid brain… (Editor’s note: keep it well-oiled with whisky…NB. I’m neither a doctor nor a mechanic.)

Which short story authors or authors in the horror genre inspire you? 

I love Tim Curran’s work! He’s a great new voice in the genre! John Skipp and Craig Spector remain two of my absolute favourites in the field and have been a HUGE influence on my work. I also enjoy Erinn Kemper’s work (and wish that I wrote more like her).

Do you have a favourite story about machines, other than The Pit and the Pendulum?

Burning Chrome, by William Gibson; The Karma Machine, by Michael Davidson, Fred Saberhagen’s The Berserker War Series and, as unpopular as this book may be: Tommyknockers, by Stephen King.

What does your editing process look like? 

Oh, you mean besides a lot of drinking, swearing and slamming my face onto the keyboard? (Editor just burst out laughing…spraying expensive scotch over cheap laptop) Chuckle… I usually roll my edits as I am composing. The previous day’s work gets at least two rounds of edits before the whole story gets edited.

Do you write everything and then edit or do you meticulously plan before you write? 

My process is fairly organic. Usually this method results in a LOT of rewrites, but seems to yield the best results for me.

What are you working on now?

I just released my second collection of short stories (Corpse Honey, A Banquet of Gruesome Tales), so I am taking a little bit of a break from writing and focusing on promotion instead. I hope to start work on The Lost City of Brass (the long-awaited sequel to Fraser, The Disappearance of Michael Pitts) this summer.

Where can we find you online?

http://michaelpiccoauthor.blogspot.com

amazon.com/author/michaelpicco

Thanks, Michael!