Tell us about your book.
Cupid’s Scythe is a single author anthology made up of three novellas, eight short stories and a handful of poems.

In the main novella, Cupid’s Scythe, from which the book’s title is derived, Cupid and the Grim Reaper swap roles, and in turn the tools of their respective trades of Love and Death – the results are sometimes catastrophic and often unexpected. With the Reaper in the business of all that is amorous one woman’s wish for love at first sight is granted, but is a wish granted always a dream come true? Despite the exchange of responsibility both Cupid and The Grim Reaper unavoidably maintain aspects of their true characters but a warping of self takes place. Mischievous Cupid, now wielding a scythe in place of his bow and arrow, becomes power crazy, a demi-god gone semi-mad.

The real central characters in Cupid’s Scythe are Love and Death, with strong supporting roles played by the archetypical Cupid and the Grim Reaper. An imagined contemporary England, a sort of dirty seaside dystopian version of London, provides the story’s backdrop. The year is 2004 and the astronomical spectacle that was the Transit of Venus plays a significant part. Magical realism aspects come into play when the mythological guardians of Love and Death, now masquerading as one another, make their appearances. Four women hold four very different beliefs about love: Amy doesn’t believe in it. Bryony hopes for love at first sight. Christina thinks that love should be forever. The fourth woman, Daryl, considers it an incurable condition that can lead to madness.

What genre is it?
I don’t think I write in a particular field, as such, so I suppose you could say I’m cross genre. There’s certainly a strong gothic/magical realism element in Cupid’s Scythe, but in The Unholy Trinity of the Head, one of the short stories, I accidentally ventured into the realms of Science Fiction while some of the other novellas and tales have a more vintage traditional feel to them, a little like fables. Precious, another short, definitely fits into the horror category, but I don’t think I’m as horrific as people expect me to be.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
People who want to be satisfied quickly! A novella can be devoured in a day, a short story in an hour, in fact one the shortest ones is probably a five minute read. Intelligent, imaginative readers, male and female. I don’t write specifically for a gender or demographic. I just write the sort of stories I myself would like to read. I would say that my tales are not for the faint-hearted or weak of stomach.

How long did Cupid’s Scythe take to write?
Oh, I don’t know. I actually started it in 2004, the year in which the story is set, but I stopped half way through as I was ghost writing professionally at the time. To be honest, writing in the voices of others affected my ability and even desire to write in my own. It was one of those ‘manuscript under the bed’ situations.

Cupid’s Scythe would have remained unfinished had it not been for my having a very insistent and inspiring muse who rides the back of my psyche as if it were a horse. He is responsible for the resurrection of many of the old tales and for the creation of the new ones.

What was the most challenging part of your creative process?
Maintaining what is seen as normality is always the most difficult part for me. When I write I am very much in that world, living closely with my characters, and I find it difficult to take day to day life seriously or even to comprehend it fully sometimes. It’s not easy to go from an environment in which an angelic looking boy is wielding a nine foot scythe to one where dishes must be washed or conversations about what was on TV the night before are taking place. That’s the hard bit, pretending to still be in the here and now, when I’m not. I’ve made myself look mad now, haven’t I?

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’ve been described (in the writerly sense) as a witch and I like the idea that words and stories are magickal. I’m ever so slightly wicked sometimes too so ‘ink witch, villainess authoress’ is what I would put on my passport if I could. I’ve a deep love of short stories and novella length works. I think in today’s zooming-fast world, bite size fiction has a place. I like to write tales that the reader can devour in an hour or a day but which feel expansive in terms of environment.

In Cupid’s Scythe we travel from the hearts and minds of the main characters to small town, to city, to the heavens and hells, all across the universe even, so the story feels big. I never deliberately look to include particular themes or subjects in anything I write, it’s usually only upon reflection that I notice that my work is peopled with odd aunts, supposedly ugly people who are in fact quite beautiful, grandfather clocks, the colour red, and ravens. The latter are of great interest to me, I find them fascinating birds which only goes to enforce the somewhat Gothic image I have. I also live with black cats so wearing less eyeliner does little to de-goth me. In any case I feel Goth is often indefinable, rather than contrived – an inner thing/essence outwardly displayed. Having said that, I find it impossible to wear colour and only ever don black clothing – this possibly has more to do with laziness – at least everything always matches. I also rather like the idea of having wardrobe that might lead to a dark Narnia where one might meet a particularly shadowy version of Mr Tumnus. I don’t think all my stories are especially dark although some fit the horror category and I’m aware of the darker sensibilities in them. Really the main focus of most of my writing would be what I call the small enormities of life: Love, Death, Sex. I write every day. I cry every day. I laugh every day. I always write the last line of any book or story first. I don’t know why, it’s always that final statement which is sewn as the seed in me. I then have to write the story that appropriately leads to that final line. I don’t always know for sure what path I will have to take to do so, though. I was born in 1964 but I feel like a thousand year old child sometimes.

Have you got a blog where readers can keep up with your work?
Yes, I have – http://www.hallucinerium.blogspot.co.uk/ – but I haven’t said much on it for ages.  I’m also on Twitter as @VenusDeMileage and the book tweets excerpts of itself as @CupidsScythe. In addition, those who are interested can find out what size boots I wear for writing on my author page at Amazon.

Where can we buy your book?
People can buy Cupid’s Scythe at Amazon.

What’s next?
I’m currently working on a novella for the next collection, called Thornbeetle.