Hello, and welcome to our latest series of author
interviews. The long anticipated
anthology "Altered Europa" will be coming out on April 2, 2017 (ORDER YOUR COPY HERE)! In preparation for this grand
release we'll be running interviews of various contributors.
Today I'm interviewing DJ Tyrer, who contributed the solo
story The Archers.
MTI: Starting off,
for those readers who haven't run into you before, could you tell us a little
bit about yourself?
DJ TYRER: I’m the
person behind the Atlantean Publishing small press, based in Southend-on-Sea
in the UK,
which has been going for two decades, and am a writer and poet who’s had work
in a number of anthologies and magazines.
MTI: Now, the next
question I generally ask contributors is this; what first compelled you to weave
fiction, and what's your favorite type of story to write?
DJT: I’ve always done it and would be doing it
even if I wasn’t being published. The bulk of my writing tends to be horror
fiction, but my favourite is whatever I’m writing right now; I like to try my
hand at different types of story, even if the result isn’t always successful.
MTI: If you had to
pick just one author who has influenced or inspired you, who would it be?
DJT: That’s a tough one! Starting out, it would’ve
been Tolkien. Then, Lovecraft became a major influence upon my work (and still
is). But, probably it’s R.W. Chambers, whose Yellow Mythos has become a regular
playground for my own writing, and the inspiration for my most successful
fiction.
MTI: Your story, The
Archers., appears in Altered Europa,
an anthology devoted to alternate history and altered reality. Tell us a little bit more about this
contribution, particularly, how does it deviate from known history?
DJT: The story had its
inception in the claim that, when the British railways moved from steam to
diesel, the government stockpiled the steam engines in hidden tunnels for use
in the event of nuclear war. The deviation from known history takes place
during NATO's Able Archer military exercises. As in reality, the Soviets
believe them to be the prelude to an attack on the Communist bloc – only, in my
story, they launch a preemptive nuclear strike. While they nuke the NATO
military forces in Europe, their attack on Britain is restricted to a
high-altitude detonation causing an electromagnetic pulse that puts a lot of
modern technology out of use. The arrival of a steam train is both the symbolic
and literal start of a return to normality, although it proves a fraught
journey.
MTI: If you could
go back to any point in time and change any historical event to create an
"altered" world, what would you choose to change?
DJT: To be honest, I don’t know if I would. There
are certainly things I wish had been different, but having no way of knowing
what the knock-on effects of any change would be, there’s no way to know if
even the most positive-seeming changes wouldn’t lead to something worse. I
doubt this is the best-possible world, but it could probably be a lot worse.
MTI: For further
pondering, if a wormhole leading to an alternate reality suddenly appeared in
front of you, would you dare to take the plunge and discover what awaits on the
other side?
DJT: I suspect I might just wuss out, but
curiosity might just get the better of me and pull me through!
MTI: Shifting back
to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right
now?
DJT: Primarily, I’m focused on stories and poetry
for submission to anthologies, along with a ‘fictional non-fiction’ booklet for
my Buxton University Press imprint. I’ve got a long list of projects I want to
get to work on, but my plans to focus December and January on writing a novel
were derailed by the discovery of a damp and mould problem that has had me
spending an inordinate amount of time on drying and salvaging books. Still,
I’ve learnt a surprising amount about mould and it’s inspired a couple of
stories and poems, so it’s not all bad!
MTI: Other than
your work appearing in Altered Europa, do you have any other stories being
published in the near future?
DJT: I’ve just had a novella, Different Masks,
published across two issues of The Yellow Sign magazine (Rainfall
Books). I’ve got stories in forthcoming issues of Xnoybis, Dunhams
Destroys Lovecraft and Frostfire Worlds, amongst others, and
anthologies such as What Dwells Below (Sirens Call Publishing) and More
Bizarro Than Bizarro (Bizarro Pulp Press).
MTI: On a lighter
note, have you watched any good tv lately?
DJT: I don’t watch much TV, but I do enjoy Death
In Paradise. In watch a lot of DVDs and
recently discovered Big Love.
MTI: Ah, yes, I've heard interesting things about Big Love. So sad about Bill Paxton passing recently. Now, how about
music?
DJT: Very little recent music has caught my attention
(The Handsome Family and Meghan Trainor being the main exceptions), although my
tastes cover a ridiculously-wide range.
MTI: Can you name
three movies that you could watch over and over again and not be bored?
DJT: Murder By Death would be first, as it’s
one I rewatch a lot. Addams Family Values, definitely. The third would
probably be Franklyn, as it rewards rewatching as I seem to notice
something new each time.
MTI: Readers love
samples. Do you happen to have a story
excerpt you'd like to share with us today?
A sudden jolt wrenched me awake. Despite the discomfort of
the carriage, somehow I had managed to fall asleep on the wide red-leather
seat, although my dreams, nebulous as they were, hadn’t been pleasant. I seldom
remember the details of my dreams, but I could recall a shadowy figure looming
over me with a bloody knife in hand. I shivered at the thought, despite the
warmth of the day.
Clearly we had left the highway. From the way in which the
carriage rattled along, lurching and bouncing, the road that we now took hadn’t
been maintained in years. That meant we were likely drawing near to our
destination, which was deep in the middle of nowhere.
I was on my own in the carriage, the coachman being seated
up top. My parents had decided to send me away to stay with my cousins in the
country due to the war. Father was in the army and Mother was doing some sort
of important war work. Most of the servants had left to fight or work in the
factories. From what I recalled, it had been said that the country was safer
than the city. Not that I knew the details, it was also rather hazy. I couldn’t
recall ever having met Camilla and Cassilda; something about their names made
me think that they must be an obnoxious pair whom I would hate. I wasn’t
looking forward to my stay.
Feeling curious, I leant my head and shoulders out of the
carriage window. It was marvellous to feel the breeze on my face and whipping
back my hair. We were passing a bright-yellow field of rape that looked amazing
in the golden sunlight. The rape was the same colour as the dress I had on, my
best, the one Father had given me for my birthday, and of the bow in my hair.
It was also the colour of the house that came into view a moment later as we
crested a hill. It was an oddly garish colour to paint an otherwise grand
house. I had heard someone call it The Yellow House, but hadn’t really given
any consideration to what the name implied. I didn’t particularly like the look
of the building, although I couldn’t really pinpoint why.
My novella, The Yellow House, is available on the
Kindle and in paperback from Amazon
MTI: A truly
tempting sample! Thank you for this
insightful interview. Those who wish to
read more of Mr. Tyrer’s work can pick up a copy of Altered Europa!
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