Every other Monday, we introduce you to a writer from the Writers’ Mastermind. Today we are thrilled to have Black Historical Fiction, Poetry, and Urban Fantasy Author, Yecheilyah Ysrayl.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where are you now? What has your life been like?
Sure, thanks so much for having me. My name is Yecheilyah (e-see-li-yah), and everyone calls me EC for short. I am an Author, Book Blogger, Poet, and Publisher from Chicago, where I was born and raised. In 2009, I left home for Louisiana and then, in 2017, transitioned again to Georgia, where I now live with my husband. As you can probably tell, I love to travel and look forward to doing more International travel when the world opens up fully. Life has not been easy, especially with the loss of my mom last year, but I can’t complain. I am thankful for the good that encourages me and the sufferings that shape me.
What kind of stories do you write?
I write Black Historical Fiction, Poetry, and Urban Fantasy. I have also written Inspirational Non-Fiction.
What sets you apart from other writers in your space?
Everything I write has a black historical theme embedded, and I believe this sets me apart. Black history is my passion, and I write to restore black historical truth regardless of genre. This summer, for instance, I am releasing my first Urban Fantasy novel. The plot focuses on the mysterious killings of black men by supernatural forces attacking them for their power. In Greek Mythology, Paschar (push-shar) is the God of Vision. In my story, though, Paschar is a Black Woman Goddess. So, while the book has traditional fantasy themes, it is not without Black/AFAM representation. The depiction of Paschar on the cover is of a very dark-skinned woman. This was intentional.
What drives your writing? What do you mean to accomplish with your stories?
What drives my writing is my love for truth, historical accuracy, and self-expression. When I sit down to write, I hope my words will free someone from the limited ways the world teaches us and programs us to think and feel. Whether it is poetry or fantasy, or historical fiction, I hope people can walk away from my stories with a fresh way of seeing the world. I want people to know it’s okay to be different and to think differently. I hope we become brave enough to defy the norms, regardless of public judgment and persecution.
Who are you favorite writers and books? What are your other creative influences?
Some of my favorite authors and books are a mix of both new and old-school writers, such as Underground Railroad and The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and the Logan Family series including Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor. I am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, and I could go on forever, so we’ll stop there.
I love music, so my other creative influences come from my favorite soulful R&B artists like Lauryn Hill, Musiq Soulchild, Whitney Houston, Kenny Lattimore, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, and more.
Do you write in silence? Background noise? Or music? What kind?
Silence. I can listen to 90s R&B if I am working on something that is not writing, say researching or updating my website, but I can’t listen to anything while I write, so it’s the quiet for me.
What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
When I am not writing, my favorite thing is reading, traveling, and binge-watching my favorite TV shows. A fun fact is that though I am a movie buff, I watch little TV during the day. Most of my TV time is in the evenings with the hubs and on the weekend. This makes it much more exciting when I watch a favorite or new show, which I only end up writing about as a review.
Who is your current celebrity crush?
Hmm. Let’s see here. One of my favorite TV shows now is This Is Us, so I would have to go with Randall. I mean Sterling K. Brown, lol.
Why do you think it’s important to write fiction?
Writing fiction is important because it’s one of the most exciting and effortless ways of informal teaching outside of movies, film, and theater. We learn a lot from reading, and fiction explicitly takes the form of edutainment, educating through entertainment. We write what we do not say out loud.
Reading novels makes us curious and can force us to change in ways we never imagined. I don’t think fiction encourages us to escape the pressures of our reality more so than it does to help us understand it better. Although we are reading something that is part of someone’s imagination, the truth is often stranger than fiction. That is to say, the truth of the world can sometimes be much wilder than anything that we can read in books. But it is through reading fiction in the first place that we pay attention to the world enough to see that.
So, it makes the authors of fiction that much more critical because we are not merely throwing words to the wall; we are potentially shaping and changing how people think. This can have powerful or detrimental outcomes depending on the information being put out there.
Who would be the best writer, alive or dead, to tell the story of your life?
With her experience with trauma and success, with her mastery of language and delivery, with her intelligence and compassion, with her love for people and poetic wisdom, I think Maya Angelou’s voice would be influential in my life story’s narration if she were alive.
What are you working on right now?
Right now, I am preparing to release my first urban fantasy novel, “The Women with Blue Eyes: Rise of the Fallen.” The story is about the mysterious murder of only black men and one woman’s discovery that the serial killer is beyond this realm. Readers can learn more about the book and preorder it now at yecheilyahysrayl.com.
The Women with Blue Eyes: Rise of the Fallen
When Tina’s nephew, Ronnie is killed, she is left to care for his siblings and to solve a series of mysterious murders involving only black men. Investigating each murder thrusts her and her team into a world of deities, demons, and fallen angels, leading Tina to battle a serial killer beyond this realm.
Every other Monday, we introduce you to a writer from the Writers’ Mastermind. Today, we have S.M. Fedor, a dark fiction author to watch!
Meet S.M. Fedor
S.M. Fedor writes fiction that is soaked in neo-noir, the new-weird, cosmic & body horror—with no qualms about mixing genres. S.M. Fedor has previously appeared in Burning Love & Bleeding Hearts, Festival De La Bête Noire, and the forthcoming Fall 2021 anthology: Mickey Finn volume 2. His work has been described by readers as transgressive, hallucinatory, existential, strange, uncompromising, sinister, and visceral.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where are you now? What has your life been like?
I am originally from Chicago, spent a few years in L.A. & Vancouver for work, and have been living off and on in Montreal for the last 6 years. Based on my twitter & FB feed, my life revolves around cats 90% of the time. 95% cat-life would be more accurate if you knew me in real-life.
What has life been like? It gets complicated, usually from a mixture of my own foolish shenanigans, health issues, and wild dreams 😀
2. What kind of stories do you write?
Neo-Noir/New Weird
3. What sets you apart from other writers in your space?
I think the pathos in my stories are driven inner complications/conflicts that are uniquely my own. The emotional turmoil can produce ideas that can resonate with readers, even if they don’t agree or fully relate to the source concepts.
4. What drives your writing? What do you mean to accomplish with your stories?
I tend to be reserved and am not one to voice my thoughts and concerns. Conversations beyond the generic social getting by are a challenge for me (and even those “how you doing?” coffee break chats at work are avoided if possible!) Writing gives me the outlet to release all those squashed and bottled thoughts in a positive manner.
5. Who are you favorite writers and books? What are your other creative influences?
Too many to list and many are long gone, but I’ll mention a few newer, still active folk: Gabino Iglesias, Peter Watts, Ed Brubaker, Matt Cardin.
6. Do you write in silence? Background noise? Or music? What kind?
I’m a music person, though many would call it noise 🙂 Lots of doom jazz & film scores for general reading and writing purposes, but I mix it up depending on what I’m writing.
7. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
The day job is working in visual effects for film & TV. I’m not sure it’s my favorite thing to do, but it’s often what’s happening.
8. Who is your current celebrity crush?
That’s not really my thing. I guess when I was a teen it was Fairuza Balk and Christina Ricci.
9. Why do you think it’s important to write fiction?
As mentioned earlier, it’s one of the few ways I can effectively(?) communicate feelings and thoughts, work through various concepts. Whether they are important is a whole ‘nother question that I don’t think is for me to answer 😀
10. Who would be the best writer, alive or dead, to tell the story of your life?
Hmm…I guess I’d like to see Haruki Murakami’s version of me. Things are often slightly surreal. There’s random chapters on how the cat’s day was and he’d probably enjoy exploring the doom jazz soundtrack.
11. What are you working on right now?
As of this moment, I’m shopping around a couple of shorts, working on about 4 more for various anthologies, and am taking much longer than I hoped to on my debut novel. Hopefully fall/winter 2021 and 2022 will have more opportunities to be read wider.
Every other Monday, we will introduce you to a writer from the Writers’ Mastermind. Today, we have Joseph Sale, a novelist and editor (aka The Mindflayer).
Meet Joseph Sale
Joseph is a prolific novelist and editor. His first novel, The Darkest Touch, was published by Dark Hall Press in 2014. He is published with The Writing Collective and has authored more than ten novels, including his Black Gate trilogy, and his love-letter to fantasy: Save Game. He grew up in the Lovecraftian seaside town of Bournemouth.
He edits non-fiction and fiction, helping fledgling authors to realise their potential. He has edited some of the best new voices in speculative fiction including Ross Jeffery, Emily Harrison, Christa Wojciechowski, and more. His short fiction has appeared in Tales from the Shadow Booth, edited by Dan Coxon, as well as in Idle Ink, Silver Blade, Fiction Vortex, Nonbinary Review, Edgar Allan Poet and Storgy Magazine. His stories have also appeared in anthologies such as You Are Not Alone (Storgy), Lost Voices (The Writing Collective), Technological Horror (Dark Hall Press), Burnt Fur (Blood Bound Books) and Exit Earth (Storgy). In 2017 he was nominated for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ prize.
He is obsessed with Attack on Titan and Community.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where are you now? What has your life been like?
I’m Joseph Sale, sometimes called The Mindflayer, and I’m from Bournemouth, a little seaside town clinging to the southern coast of England. It’s a strange place, at once beautiful and Innsmouth-esque. Now, I’m a little further north, in the historic town of Winchester, where one of the many alleged round tables of King Arthur resides (I have to say, it’s bad-ass; it’s hung up on the wall of a castle, and makes for a pretty imposing talisman). My life has been a series of incarcerations and liberations; imprisonment in an awful school in which children were being brutalised on a daily basis – then freedom from it. Incarceration in meaningless work, then liberation from it. And finally, the incarceration of my own limiting beliefs and – though hard won – a mental liberation. The strangest and most wondrous thing about my life is that after twenty seven years, it has only just begun.
2. What kind of stories do you write?
I am fascinated by encounters with the divine, the indescribable, the ineffable, the demonic, the eldritch, and how these experiences change who we are forever. As a result, the genres I write in vary greatly, but there is always a theme of the supernatural, or supra-normal. Sometimes this takes the form of cosmic horror, and there is a lot of horror in my work, but fantasy is equally if not more important.
3. What sets you apart from other writers in your space?
This is a tough question to answer without slipping into ego. However, I think what separates my work is style and form, and then the flood of emotion that bursts through that. Most writers, I find, are writing the story as it manifests in their head; they’re “setting it down”, which is awesome. However, because I’m a freak and a weirdo (cue Radiohead song), I’m more approaching the writing from, I guess, a poet’s standpoint: how is X or Y word going to affect the reader? How can this sentence mimetically embody the meaning of what I’m trying to say? For me, language is not a means to an end, it is the end.
4. What drives your writing? What do you mean to accomplish with your stories?
Words are a form of magic, an incantation, and they should be used as such to cast an emotionally healing spell upon the reader. My hope is that, in reading my stories, people will see not only an emblem of their own condition, but a way to become liberated from it, even if momentarily. The Greek word for this is catharsis, and I think it’s certainly my ultimate aim. I don’t always achieve it, but it’s always what I’m striving for.
5. Who are you favorite writers and books? What are your other creative influences?
There are so many favourites it is hard to know where to begin! In terms of big names, I love the phantasmagorical wonder and horror (and also eroticism) of Clive Barker’s mythopeic epics. Barker is surely a prophet, glimpsing a universe beyond our mortal bounds.
I adore the heartfelt, spellbinding narratives of Grady Hendrix. His My Best Friend’s Exorcism is, in my mind, one of the greatest novels ever written.
I’m a big fan of the classics too, and Edmund Spenser is an overlooked genius of the Elizabethan era, whose fantastical epic The Faerie Queene was a huge inspiration for my upcoming project Virtue’s End.
In terms of indie writers, well, now there are so many names I am surely going to miss a few, but I think the indie scene is really where there is an abundance of talent and some of the most exciting literature emerging. My favourite authors here are Christa Wojciechowski (your good self), surely one of the best writers alive today, indie or not: psychological insight, supple and beautiful prose, characters one adores, and fathoms of depth. Ross Jeffery is a phenomenal writer, though I am biased as I’m his editor! I also love Dan Soule, a truly classic horror author; Iseult Murphy, whom I’ve already mentioned; S. C. Mendes, who writes phenomenal occult thrillers; Nikki Noir, who writes erotic, occult horror (it’s as incredible as it sounds); the mysterious Gordon James, a Writing Collective author, and criminally underrated; I also love the YA fantasy epic Hecctrossipy by Bia Bella Baker. She’s a master world-builder.
There are so many more, but to list them all would take up a book’s worth of space!
6. Do you write in silence? Background noise? Or music? What kind?
I used to write to music, but I generally find that now I use music to kind of “hype up” for writing a specific scene, and the writing itself takes place in silence. Music is a very important part of who I am, I think. I listen to an eclectic range, from Tupac to Avenged Sevenfold to the gorgeous baroque of J. S. Bach and Vivaldi. I wrote the entirety of the final Black Gate book listening to “Et In Terra Pax”, which is arguably one of my all time favourite pieces of music. That was an instance the music was on. Because there were no words to distract me, I could just let the melodies wash over my ears, and hypnotise me into the trance I needed to be in to see and feel the ending of the story.
7. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
Nerd stuff!! I love to play video games, Magic: The Gathering, and to paint miniatures. But if I had to say one thing: I am a Game Master and have created my own unique RPG system known as Dead World: Desecrated Empires (which for the first time ever is being released onto the world July 2021). We play over Zoom (it was a godsend during lockdown!) and have sessions every week. We’ve occupied this fantasy world for so long, it feels real to us in the same way that a regular holiday destination does to others.
8. Who is your current celebrity crush?
Oh no. Don’t do this to me. Last time I played this game with my wife she almost killed me… Okay, well, they say honesty is the best policy, right? Alexandra Daddario would have to be my crush. I think she’s an amazing actress with charisma overload; she was mesmeric in We Summon The Darkness as a psychopath with serious, serious daddy issues, and in True Detective she managed to make a character who could have been so forgettable absolutely iconic. Why are you looking at me like that? It’s her acting, dammit! That’s the reason for the crush. No other reason!
9. Why do you think it’s important to write fiction?
Where to begin? Narrative is a form of therapy, which is why even people without a creative bone in their body can get a lot of relief by simply journalling, speaking to someone about their problems, or perhaps even going so far as to write a biography. But fiction trumps non-fiction and biography in one key way: it allows us to use the power of imagination to visualise an alternative outcome. In other words, we can, quite literally, re-write the narratives of our lives. It is not easily done, I hasten to add, but when it is achieved, this can be more potently healing than merely chronicling or “reflecting”. Reflecting is key, because it leads to self-awareness, the first step of any true healing or awakening. But in and of itself it’s “dead” because it lacks movement or transformation. Fiction allows us to transubstantiate the stale and rotten bread of our lives into the living flesh of Christ. It is only by taking this final step, of removing the veil and worship of “reality”, that we can transcend our fears and reach true healing. When we do this, we become something greater.
10. Who would be the best writer, alive or dead, to tell the story of your life?
Oh that’s an interesting one! It would have to be someone very good at writing the supernatural, let me tell you! Someone like Barker would probably be a great fit, because he would understand the British cultural elements, the frustrations with the hierarchy and classism of our society, the friendships and loves formed from striving in the gutter, and the encounters with the divine. But equally I think someone like Ross Jeffery would do an amazing job. He regularly visits Bournemouth, so he understands a little bit of the lingo and feel of the place in which I was raised, and he also has a great feel for the supernatural and the spiritual.
11. What are you working on right now?
So many things! I always tend to be two or three books ahead of myself. My next release will be announced in full soon, but suffice to say it’s a short novel called The Tunnel, about a camgirl going up against a gigantic two-tonne killer crocodile on a murder-rampage in London. I’ve got Desecrated Empires, my RPG book, which is now in proofing stage and coming out July time. I also have my occult fantasy epic, Virtue’s End, which may come at the end of 2021, or early 2022. I am still editing this. It’s vast in scope, and undoubtedly the most ambitious and beautiful thing I’ve ever done. Finally, I’m working on a new book which might become a series, quite daunting but exciting. I am not entirely sure what it is going to become yet, but it has supernatural and occult elements…
DARK HILARITY
Tara Dufrain and Nicola Morgan are eleven year old girls growing up in the ‘90s, obsessed by Valentine Killshot, a metal screamo band. In particular, they’re enamoured by the lead singer, the mysterious yet charismatic Jed Maine who bears the epithet “The Cretin”. In Jed’s lyrics, he describes a world beyond the Dark Stars that he hopes one day to reach. The girls think it’s all just make-believe they share together, until a freak, traumatic incident makes this world very real. As adults, Tara and Nicola try to come to terms with the devastating catastrophe that changed their lives growing up, but to do so they will have to step once more into Jed Maine’s world, and confront the man who took everything from them. Dark Hilarity is My Best Friend’s Exorcism meets The Never-Ending Story, a fantasy that explores addiction, depression, and the healing power of friendship.
Each week, we are going to introduce you to a writer from the Writers’ Mastermind. Today, we have Bia Bella Baker, author of YA Sci-fi Fantasy Hecctrossipy, which is FREE on Amazon for the next 3 days!
Meet Bia Bella Baker
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where are you now? What has your life been like?
I was born in Rahway New Jersey, and ended up clear across the country in St. Cloud Florida. As for what my life has been like, I’ve been around for 41 years, so I wouldn’t be sure where to begin. Rest assured, I’m not about to ramble. So here goes the condensed version—attending a boarding school for misfit kids, adventures in experiencing a hodge-podge of volunteer jobs, a ridiculous love-life, and several self reincarnations—but all the while, I always aspired to write.
2. What kind of stories do you write?
For now, I’m a young adult sci-fi & fantasy writer, but I have a pretty loaded multi-genre backlist.
3. What sets you apart from other writers in your space?
With two million or so books being released every year, I honestly didn’t count on my HECCTROSSIPY series being all that original, but others told me how unique it really is. I realized this too, when I searched the digital bookstores for other books in the YA sci-fi & fantasy genre like mine. The others I found, where the story takes place on a different planet, still have the expected science fiction or fantasy tropes, like political conflict, battles, and magic. The first novel in my series has neither of these things. The people of Velva Leena have a hive mentality. There are problems on their world, but they don’t involve war and politics. Strange and unexplainable things do happen on this planet, but there’s an organic explanation for everything.
My series is more like a teen drama that happens on a different planet. It could still be counted as sci-fi because it’s all about extraterrestrials and their very non-Earth-like culture, beliefs, their way of life, and their physical abilities that us humans don’t have, but it’s no Star Wars or Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It could be counted as fantasy, because there’s mythology involved, and folklore, but you’re not going to find any sprites and unicorns, and stuff like that. There’s also a bit of paranormal. Before the first book was published, I wasn’t even sure what genre to put it in.
The second book is going to be even more of a cross-genre mutant hybrid. There’s still the soap opera type stuff going on, but with more of a pre apocalyptic theme to it. Then add in a flare of murder mystery. The second book will also focus more on my characters’ personal and spiritual growth, especially with my main character, Artheena. Her psychic ability is getting sharper, which adds more of the paranormal element. There is also a new thing going on, what would seem to us Earthlings, like religious fanaticism. Yeah, you get the point. So far, at the time of this interview, my series is still very original.
4. What drives your writing? What do you mean to accomplish with your stories?
I just love it. Simple as that. I love the escapism. I love being other characters and experiencing what they experience. It’s so much fun to come up with dramas and new worlds, and just let my imagination go berserk. Writing about made-up planets is one of my favorites.
What I mean to accomplish with my writing is, to entertain people with compelling stories that are life-like enough to make them feel like they’re part of the experience, and that they feel they know the characters personally. The goal is to make my stories immersive enough to hit an emotional nerve, or stimulate the senses and imagination, and most of all, I love to take readers on a plot twist roller coaster. I would love for readers to get the same escapism enjoyment out of reading my books as I get with writing them.
And of course, of course, my dream is to make a good living off of this.
5. Who are you favorite writers and books? What are your other creative influences?
Sorry, but I’m going to be vague and generic with this one. I read so many different authors of books of all kinds of genres, I can’t point out a favorite. My creative influence is sugar. If I’m not watching my sugar intake, it has a weird imagination trip, hallucinogenic effect on my brain.
6. Do you write in silence? Background noise? Or music? What kind?
I have to cancel out the world around me, when I write, and make my work area as under stimulating to the senses as possible. My room has to be dark, and with the door closed, and I have to have an oscillating fan on for white noise. My sense of concentration is that flimsy.
7. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
I love pole-vaulting and cross-country skiing and scuba diving. I design clothes and accessories for pets. And I love to experiment with making new and unique flavors of marmalade and fruit compote, which I give to the poor children. Seriously, for real, I’m so freaking boring with hobbies. When I’m not writing, I love to read, explore Apple Music, browse on-line stores, and watch crime investigation shows.
8. Who is your current celebrity crush?
Hahahaha! How did this question end up in an interview about writing? I haven’t had a silly, dreamy, real celebrity crush in so long. Since I lost most of my vision, I only had fleeting feelings of just “kind of having a thing” for this or that guy, and they were all singers. But I didn’t consider them actual crushes. They were a voice that sounded hot, for a song or two. Or they had a passionate way of delivering a song, that gave me the chills in hidden places. Once I heard their song that got to me, enough times, the feeling would fade away.
Real celebrity crushes, for me, were visual. If I knew what he looked like, the crush was just more there, because I could fantasize about him, and ogle at pictures of him. Unlike my fleeting crushes on a singer’s voice, the visual crushes lasted for months. I used to even feel giddy and jittery when one of my celebrity crushes came on TV.
9. Why do you think it’s important to write fiction?
It’s important to write fiction, because it’s my favorite thing to do in the world, and it gives me a greater sense of purpose. If life started really getting sucky. Like, if my parents died, and I got bogged down by elephantitis in the left leg, or something. As long as I have my computer, and an overactive imagination, I’ll get along just fine.
10. Who would be the best writer, alive or dead, to tell the story of your life?
That would have to be me, because I’m such a loner who stays kind of hidden away a lot. If anyone wanted to write about my life, it would turn out a book that was based on a true story, because they would have to make up a bunch of stuff to fill in the blanks.
11. What are you working on right now?
Right now, I’m working on the second book in my HECCTROSSIPY series. It’s going to be called The Will of the Dark Creator, which I’m hoping to get released before the end of the year.
HECCTROSSIPY: BOOK ONE THE LEGEND OF THE LAND (VELVA LEENA 1)
The alignment of the three moons is a sign of positive changes to come… But the moons never promised that such changes will happen to everybody… On the pre-industrial planet of Velva Leena, two sisters eagerly anticipate the Hecctrossipy Festival, Continent 15’s yearly tradition that celebrates the victory over a legendary evil monster, who had the power to manipulate the elements, and create chaos.
Artheena is smart, talented, beautiful, and blessed with multiple gifted abilities. Mell May, on the other hand, is simple and average. Both are in love with Leeandro Paul, a celebrity heart-throb who has an intriguing way of turning the leaders of the land into his followers.
Artheena has a premonition of marrying him, during the alignment of the three moons. While on her quest for true love, she gets caught up in unexpected adventures, embarrassing situations, and experiences beyond her wildest dreams, including an outrageous contest that challenges Continent 15’s strict, conservative social standards.
Through it all, Artheena and Mell May’s close bond is also challenged. When the festival comes, the sisters have the time of their lives… Until Leeandro Paul makes an announcement that shocks his fans. An unimaginable secret is revealed, that might tear the two sisters apart for good.
