Steve Redwood’s debut comic fantasy novel, ‘Fisher of Devils’, not only came with recommendations from established authors such as Richard Morgan and Rhys Hughes, but also earned enthusiastic reviews in such places as The Third Alternative. High praise, however, failed to translate into high sales. What makes him think the same won’t happen with his second novel, ‘Who Needs Cleopatra’?

Well, yes, Richard did indeed compare the book to what Pratchett, the Farrelly Brothers, and Milton might have come up with if ‘completely wrecked on tequila slammers and cheap amphetamines’, but who knows whether he’s actually a fan of those people, or approves of drugs! But a lot of people have been very generous in their appraisal of the book, though ‘Fisher of Devils’, like thousands of others of equal or better quality, never so much as got a sniff at a bookshop. So, first, people would need to hear about it. You, me, everybody in the small press, is faced with this initial hurdle. I think we exaggerate the power of the web: I very much doubt if more than 100-200 people ever even see a reference to the average indie book. Then, even at this level, there’s a vast choice of bloody good stuff. Well-respected and established former ‘midlist’ writers are also now having to turn to the small press, because all the money and resources of the big publishers are being hurled at the manufactured best-seller. So our hypothetical 200 people have a glut of goodies to choose from. The only thing that might swing it for you is if some of these are already friends or fans and/or you get a lot of superb high profile reviews. But even that isn’t necessarily sufficient: look at the hundreds of glowing reviews Rhys Hughes has received, over many years, and with people like Mike Moorcock claiming him as Wales’ most original writer, and still his sales are nothing like they should be.

Well, that’s partly answered the question you didn’t ask!

Why won’t the same happen with ‘Cleo’? Well, realistically, it probably will. If I am slightly more optimistic, it’s because since ‘Fisher’ I’ve been published in a couple of well-respected and award-winning anthologies (including a certain mythological one – some Bull or other – you might know about!) and the fact it’s a second novel might make people foolishly assume I’m a novelist! Another reason ties in with my new publisher.

You mean Reverb? How are they any different to the other trendy indie presses flooding Amazon. More to the point, what are they intending on doing to promote your book(s)?

The major difference is that the first four novels have been launched simultaneously (anyone interested should glance at www.readreverb.com), and if they sink, Reverb might well make glubbing noises, too. Whereas Prime (publisher of ‘Fisher of Devils’) already had an impressive list, and were pushing other writers, with little time or money, and seemingly little interest, for marketing what was already an anomalous title on their list - although I should add that now they are talking about ‘re-issuing’ it with a new cover, etc. Reverb are depending on us as much as we are depending on them.

Because of this, there has been much more contact between writer and publisher. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, they put an incredible amount of time into editing the novel, and the result is that what I casually assumed was already a perfect novel (‘smiles disarmingly’) is now indeed a bit closer to being that.

In addition, they have already invested all their pocket money (and probably their girlfriends’ and grandmothers’) in sending out review copies to anyone who just might be interested, as well as getting in touch with the trade press (both editors have previous media experience) and all national newspapers. They are in touch with all the chains (Ottakers, etc.), with real hopes of getting physical shelf space. They are also in touch with agencies representing European markets. They are doing a whole lot of other things which I guess I should not talk about here (kidnapping Patty Hearst? That was nothing…!). For instance, they were behind the ‘Website of the Week’ (The Times), Who Should You Vote For? (sic) http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/pressindex.php which is now using the same techniques on Big Brother and other political questions. They are even giving away books to anyone who gets their friends to sign up to the Reverb mailing list (see the ‘ Win a Book’ section on Reverb website).

In other words, they seem to be fully aware of the enormous obstacles, and have put everything they have into both aspects – the actual production of the books, and their subsequent advertising and distribution. Even the uncluttered design on white background – rather impressive in solid form, but looking, I admit, a bit anaemic on Amazon – is a deliberate ploy to make Reverb books instantly recognisable.

So, the short answer: Reverb are putting their mouth, money, and faith in the same place. (Rash creatures!)

Supporting you, you mean? There's a note from you at the end of ‘Who Needs Cleopatra?’ stating that—irrespective of your characters' meddlings—historical fact has been adhered to as much as possible. How much research was involved in writing the book?

Quite a lot – and that was the enjoyable part! Because of the episodic nature of part of the book, I opted for one- or two-page ‘introductions’ to the time travel trips, hopefully of intrinsic interest but ‘novelised’ through the narrator’s focus, and otherwise I simply pecked at my notes like a sparrow. I guess most research was on Leonardo da Vinci, and, although little of this appears in the novel, it was precisely here (the notebooks and the missing notebooks) that I saw how to turn what might have been merely a series of short stories into a real novel. Rasputin gave me problems (well, he was like that!): his daughter’s biography was useful on domestic details, but I couldn’t use certain material from his assassin’s autobiography because, astonishing though it seems, Yusupov has descendants living in Greece, who might - we couldn’t find out - hold copyright. For the Mormons and Roswell, God bless the Internet! Everything Joseph Smith ever wrote can be found there (but preferably not read!), and as for the thousands of lunatic Roswell theories… well, it wasn’t easy to come up with a new one! And, of course, the Bible’s always been a great source of high jinks and fantasy.

As you’ve noted, you've had a smattering of well-placed short stories appear over the year so far, such as in The Thackery T Lambshead Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases (alongside Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Liz Williams, Jeff Vandermeer, Neil Gaiman, etc.) and The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy (Tom Holt, Robert Sheckley, Steve Pirie, Neil Gaiman again). Great timing in relation to the new book, only I get the impression everything with Reverb happened in a short time. Do you think your previous successes helped win over your new editors, or would they have been as keen on ‘Cleopatra’ without the string of credits trailing behind you?

That’s something I haven’t dared to ask them! But is ‘Cleopatra’ not beautiful and exotic enough to be loved for herself? Yes, the whole thing did happen very quickly, final acceptance within a week or two of initial contact. I really don’t know about the influence of the ‘string of credits’ (this particular ‘string’ is about as long as the ‘stumpy’ Manx cat’s tail; though it does now also include being in another anthology edited by the amazing John Grant of the Clute-Grant Encyclopedia of Science Fiction fame, and another in – Oi, don’t pull the plug on me! Drat!. Maybe more to the point is that I recently found out that one of the publishers is a big SF fan! I think what might have influenced them more than my dubious ‘successes’ is that Cleo should appeal (or not appeal!) as much to mainstream readers as to SF lovers. Reverb is looking beyond genre labelling.

‘Fisher of Devils’ was tidied up with the neatest of endings, but ‘Who Needs Cleopatra?’ concludes with a few loose strands. (Who is Moroni? And the Beckett-inspired waiting-arounders?) Plenty of scope for a sequel. Is this on the cards? If so, ‘Fisher of Devils’ was a lifetime (my lifetime at least) in the making and the new book flowered from a ten year old short story, yet both have been released within a couple of years of each other. Have you a stockpile of completed novels already written and waiting in the attic?

No, my own original story (‘Bertie’s Finest Hour’) is only about six years old, though Moorcock’s ‘Behold the Man’, which gave me the idea (why must it be Christ who was replaced?), is thirty-five years old – but very very different in purpose and tone. So, no stockpiling – indeed, I think I have only two or three short stories unpublished. And notes towards no more than another dozen or so. I don’t consider myself a writer, but a person who in between bouts of depressed laziness sometimes writes.

I do have a sequel in mind, but this depends on sales. If they’re as bad as for ‘Fisher’, it’s simply not worth the effort writing a continuation. I can spend my time better reading. As you yourself know, writing is bloody hard work. ‘Fisher’ was deliberately a closed circle. ‘Cleo’ is finished – there are plenty of indications as to who Moroni and the scruffs might be – but, yes, I did leave enough open to allow further adventures – in the future. In that sense, ‘Cleo’ is exactly half the circle: the past half. With that possibility in mind, I consciously ‘humanized’ the baddies (and even the narrator) towards the end so that any sequel could have a different tone. I notice an Amazon reader accuses ‘Cleo’ of not having the emotional depth of ‘Fisher’, and this is true, though I hope I have given enough hints that ‘Cleo’s’ narrator isn’t totally beyond redemption, either! Although it would be set in the future, the great advantage of time machines is you could yank previous characters from the past. Not too many clues, but if you thought a tough nut like Mabel would take her fate lying down (or only lying down)… and we still need Cleopatra.

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Neil Ayres publishing credits in print include his novel, ‘Nicolo's Gifts’ and short stories in Aesthetica Magazine, The Elastic Book of Numbers, Orphan Leaf Review and Jupiter. Online some of his fiction can be found at Farafina, This Is It, Simulacrum, 3LBE, Midnight Street, Poe's Progeny, Trunk Stories and A Dick & Jane Primer for Adults. He helped edit and launch the Book of Voices for Sierra Leone PEN and Flame Books, and edited the chapbook collection The Minotaur in Pamplona for D-Press. Neil is also the author of a collection of literary short stories and flash fiction.

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© 2005 Laura Hird All rights reserved.