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Chaz has signed a contract for two novels centred around a strange country house in the north of England that affects everyone who comes into contact with it - some for good, some for ill - in different time periods. He says:
"Ideas don't go away. Nor moulder, nor die. I don't quite know how it works, but they stay dormant in some back corner of my mind, only waiting for the opportunity to flourish.
More than a dozen years ago, I wrote a longish ghost story about a strange dark house called D'Espérance, in a wooded valley in the north of England. That story - The Keys to D'Espérance - is set just after the First World War, and I always meant to write more. I wanted to make a series, where the history of the house would echo the history of England through the twentieth century.
Time passes, things change. An old friend asks if I'd like to write for this new list she's building - and there is D'Espérance in my head again, fresh again. We did a two-book deal in two days, and I'm excited. I get to write about the Second World War, and about the 'Sixties. And about my really, really scary house...
The "old friend" is Kate Lyall Grant, now commissioning editor at Severn House, says: "I am thrilled to be reunited with Chaz Brenchley whom I first came across at Hodder and who, I think, is one of the most talented - and underrated - British horror/fantasy novelists writing today."
The first book, provisionally titled House of Doors, is due for publication in September 2011.
The Return of Ben Macallan
Dead of Light eBook
When Benedict left home, it was maybe the first time he'd stood up to his family. It was also meant to be the last. No contact, he said, I'm disinvesting.
In all honesty, they weren't sorry to see him go. Ben had never had their talent, never had the family spark. When you run a city - especially the way the Macallans ran theirs - the last thing you need is a reluctant passenger.
When Dead of Light was first published, back in the nineties, the label "urban fantasy" hadn't been invented yet. So Chaz called it a supernatural thriller, and the bookshops shelved it with the crime novels, or the horror. It was, after all, about a family of gangsters running a city - only rather than using guns and muscle to keep the people submissive, they used the family magic. Magic in the city, what could be more urban fantasy than that? (Does it have romance in it? Well, there's a love story, certainly, but it's a Chaz Brenchley love story, so it's not your everyday paranormal romance).
And now Dead of Light is available as an eBook, in a variety of formats. Go to Book View Café (see below for more about BVC) to buy a copy, or to read the first few chapters free.
Or read more about Dead of Light.
Ben's first novel
Ben Macallan hasn't been idle since the events of Dead of Light (and its sequel, Light Errant: he has written a novel. What's more, it has found a publisher. Jonathan Oliver, commissioning editor of Solaris Books, has acquired the opening volume - Desdæmona - of a fascinating urban fantasy series from (oh, all right, then) pseudonymous author 'Ben Macallan'.
Jay finds people - runaways. He looks like a teenager, but he's not. He treads the line between mundane reality and the world of the supernatural, including the awesome Powers That Be. Desdæmona, who also knows the non-human world far too well, comes to him, searching for her lost sister Fay who did a Very Bad Thing involving an immortal before disappearing. This may be a mistake - for both of them. Not least because of those whose attention is drawn to them...
"Ben's urban fantasy novel is wise, witty and terrific fun," Jonathan Oliver said. "It's great to find a work that does something different with the genre while still managing to be a ripping good yarn."
Look out for Desdæmona in the summer of 2011
Coming Out
With the permission of Del Rey, Chaz'z US publisher, we are now able to reveal what Chaz has been doing for the past three years - in addition, that is, to writing some wonderful short stories. He has been winning rave reviews for his fantasy sequence, Moshui: the Books of Stone and Water published under the name of Daniel Fox.
The photograph shows him at a recent reading in San Francisco, wearing his Daniel Fox hat (bought especially for the occasion).
Dragon in Chains was published in January 2009; fantasy author Kate Elliott described it as "a compelling blend of high-stakes action, well drawn characters who I really cared about, and a gorgeously painted landscape," and said "This is the kind of fantasy I love to read." Order Dragon in Chains from Amazon.UK or from Amazon.com.
Volume two, Jade Man's Skin was published on February 16th; order your copy now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk.
Or visit Daniel Fox's web site to learn more (includes a link to a podcast of one of Chaz'z California readings).
Chaz in the Agony Column - links to a podcast of an interview with Chaz (scroll down the page...).
Book View Café
On March 11th, Chaz officially became a member of Book View Café, a consortium of authors in all genres who have come together to promote their work - and in particular to bring lost or neglected works to a new audience - using internet technology to offer both free and paid-for content. He says:
"It is of course really truly true that the world is changing, faster than may be entirely comfortable and not always for the better. For writers, there have been seismic shifts in career-path and access both ways, to the industry and to the reader. We're all still exploring what this means, and what the implications are.
"Some aspects, though, are just unequivocally good. When I was a teenager exploring science fiction, the classic stories were still regularly reprinted in collections and anthologies; I could listen to older fans talk about the roots of the genre, recognise most of the work they discussed and know that a little diligent searching would turn up anything new to me.
"No longer. Partly that's just a function of size - there is so much more SF these days, both backlist and new, nobody can keep on top of it all - but it's also a marker for how the market has changed. Only bestsellers stay in print, older work is seldom reprinted at all; what's true for novels is doubly true for short fiction. We are in danger of losing the heart of the genre, the stories that brought us to this place.
"Or we would be, if it weren't for the internet. Unequivocal good: we can recover, we can rediscover, we can share. Writers can bring lost work directly to their readers. Which is why I love sites like Book View Cafe, and why I'm thrilled to be invited to sit at a table in the corner and lay out some stories of my own. Just look at the company I'm keeping...!"
BVC seem as pleased to have Chaz on board as he is to be there: "We're very excited to have Chaz joining Book View Cafe," said Sarah Zettel, Book View Café's Managing Director. "He is a unique voice in both the fantasy and YA fields, and we feel he'll bring a fantastic new energy to the Cafe."
Photograph of Daniel Fox © Shannon Page