One of my aims for this year on Bart’s Bookshelf is to increase the number of interviews and guest posts I am able to post share with you. A few weeks back, during the Bloggiesta, I tweeted a call for interviews, one of the first to respond was Emma Newman, author of an upcoming YA dystopian novel, to be released in the autumn.

YA & Dystopian… Well it should come as no surprise that I was instantly interested! You can listen to the book, Twenty Years Later, right now! (Well once you’ve read this post of course!) As Emma is currently releasing a podcast of each chapter weekly on her site. I’m addicted.

To meet her characters, find out what her new publisher thinks of her podcast, and the quirky route they took to work with each other, and more. Keep reading.

Emma Newman: Starting with the tricky question first eh? I hate talking about myself! Suffice to say that I live in Somerset, England, and I am a writer. (I feel like I’m introducing myself at an addiction support group for writers… hey, that’s not a bad idea…)

I drink lots of tea, I write lots of words and I have far too many ideas. I run my own B2B writing business, but my heart is in fiction writing. I have officially won the prize for “Woman most disproportionately excited within the environs of Somerset”, a title I have held since September last year when I finally got a publisher for my debut novel Twenty Years Later. I’m uncertain whether I will ever stop grinning, but I have managed to stop cheering out loud now. It’s a long process of recovery… I take one day at a time. I run a short story club from my website too.

As for the novel, perhaps I should start with the blurb I have on the site:

“Gangs, blood oaths and loyalty test three teenagers searching for a kidnapped sister in post-apocalyptic London, unaware that as they unravel the mystery of her whereabouts, they are uncovering London’s darkest secret.

Zane, Titus and Erin discover the connection between a wheezing giant sighted in an abandoned hospital and the secretive gang holding Titus’ sister captive. When they learn the reason she was kidnapped is related to the disease that almost destroyed humanity, the rescue of one girl becomes the struggle to save many.”

Zane, Titus and Erin discover the connection between a wheezing giant sighted in an abandoned hospital and the secretive gang holding Titus’ sister captive. When they learn the reason she was kidnapped is related to the disease that almost destroyed humanity, the rescue of one girl becomes the struggle to save many.”

What I’d like to add to that is that the book is also about loyalty and adhering to oaths that are sworn by the protagonists under different circumstances, but end up changing the world around them.

Emma Newman: Zane is a true innocent. He has been brought up by his over-protective mother, spending his childhood in an idyllic garden in the centre of a terribly harsh post-apocalyptic London, filled with dust and bones of the dead and ruled by disparate gangs. As a result, he simply doesn’t perceive danger in the same way as his new friends, and always seeks to find the best in people. I love his story, as despite his mother’s best efforts to keep everything terrible out of his life, the world comes to him instead. And that takes it toll on him… but I won’t spoil the book by saying what happens!

Titus was brought up by his older sister, and when she is kidnapped he is lost without her. It takes him a long time to trust Miri and Zane when they take him in, but he eventually relaxes his guard. Titus is incredibly intelligent, has a photographic memory and can think with razor sharp logic. He can be ruthless when he needs to be too.

Erin grew up in terrible circumstances; with the Gardners, one of the most vicious gangs in London. As a result she is tough but brittle, and she too finds it difficult to form a close friendship with Titus and Zane. She is fiercely loyal to them once the bond has been established however. Erin is desperate to impress her father, who she has only known for a matter of days at the beginning of the book, and is torn between the pull of the gang that her father is in (The Red Lady’s Hunters) and the loyalty she has to her new friends.

What I love about all three is the way they influence each other. Through their friendship, Zane exposes Erin and Titus to compassion, whilst they in turn teach him that the world outside of his mother’s territory is dangerous and that people can be cruel. Titus brings logic and strategy to Erin’s raw determination, and drives the three to solve the mystery of his sister’s whereabouts. They are all so different from each other, but combined they form a powerful unit.

As for something that doesn’t make it to the book… hmmm, I’ll think about that…

Emma Newman: In short, that quirky route was Twitter!

People either bounce up and down or roll their eyes when someone mentions Twitter, I am one of the former.

Early last year I was followed on Twitter by another post-apocalyptic genre fan, and he mentioned a new press (@dystopiapress) in a tweet, before the press had even been launched. Over the following months I chatted with the founder over Twitter and formed a positive impression of him. When the press was officially launched and submissions were called for, I sent mine in. He requested the full manuscript three days later and a month after that the contract was on the table.

I had received almost 30 rejections from publishers and agents before that point, and it still amazes me that in the end, I secured a home for Twenty Years Later with a brand new independent press on the other side of the world. Without Twitter, it would have taken a lot longer for the press to hit my radar, and I feel that a personal connection was formed, so writing the query letter was a lot more pleasant as an experience.

Oh dear. I’m grinning like an idiot again…

Emma Newman: Well, I had already started to podcast the book before the contract came along, so I felt I had a commitment to the listeners who were already very keen on it. I explained my rationale behind starting to podcast to the publisher, and that I didn’t want to let people down. He listened, agreed that it wasn’t a threat to hard copy sales – and may increase them – and so the clause to continue was written into the contract. I was very pleased, I don’t know about surprised.

I’ve been listening to, and really enjoying the podcasts – you’ve got a great reading voice by-the-way – But what I’d like to know is that has recording the book affected the writing of it in anyway? Made it easier to find out what works and what doesn’t?

Emma Newman: Ooh, how lovely, thank you! The book was finished long before I started podcasting it, but even now I see things I would tweak in my prose. I guess that’s the curse of every writer. I could fiddle with it a hundred times and still see something the next time!

Reading it aloud hasn’t changed my idea of what works or not, but it has reconnected me with the world and characters, making the writing of book two a lot easier. Reading aloud is a critical part of my editing process by the way, so it’s been read aloud in several incarnations before – this is the first time it’s been recorded though!

Emma Newman: I love Bradbury, Wyndham, Orwell, HG. Wells and lots of other dystopian authors; I can’t attribute a single book as an inspiration as I am deeply in love with so many dystopian worlds. I favour Ray Bradbury’s attitude to inspiration; everything a writer is exposed to; films, books, real world experiences etc, goes deep inside and becomes a ‘creative mulch’ out of which stories grow.

Emma Newman: My Short Story Club is my solution to three great problems that writers have: procrastination, lacking ideas and having a readership. Every month I put out a call for prompts such as opening lines, titles or concepts. I pick a winner, write a short story from it and the winner gets to read it before everyone else. Then I e-mail the story to all of the members for free. There are just shy of 120 people in it now and it’s been wonderful. It has also reassured me that I can write under pressure, which is something I was secretly fearful of on the brink of becoming published.

The feedback they give me is fantastic and I love the stories that have been born from their ideas. It has also made the last few months the most productive ever in terms of my short story writing, and as a result I’ve been able to collate 11 stories together for my first e-anthology, mix of short stories and flash fiction. It’s called “From Dark Places” and is available from Smashwords. I am thrilled with the reviews and response to it so far.

The e-book was a real challenge as I had to make a huge psychological leap in actually asking people for money in return for my fiction. I put a great amount of effort into preparing the book, getting a professionally designed cover and creating a secret area on my website that contains notes on all of the stories that buyers of the book can access, so I feel they get good value for money.

My goal is to release one every four months, and then at the end of the year collate them into a print-on-demand version as lots of people have asked for that.

That just leaves be to thank Emma for stopping by to chat!

Emma can be found on: Smashwords | Twitter | Facebook | Blog

If you are an author or a publisher and would like to arrange an interview with Bart’s Bookshelf,  just use my contact from to get in contact!