One of the most genre-bending novels out this year is Your Brothers Blood from David Towsey. Like I mentioned in my review I was expecting something totally different with a book set in the zombie genre, they lend a hand to create a horrific, gruesome story. In Your Brother's Blood David Towsey changes the perspectives of a lot of elements, just for starters the main protagonist Tomas is one of the Walkin' (an undead yes) this change put the story into a completely different daylight, but moreover there is a strong current of humanness making you to abandon some of the stereotypical thoughts about this genre. Your Brother's Blood is a definite recommendation.
Read my full review here
Author Bio:
David Towsey is a graduate of the Bath Spa Creative Writing Masters
programme. He is continuing his studies as a Ph.D. student at Aberystwyth
University, where he lives with his girlfriend and their four cats.His first novel, Your Brother's Blood, is to be published in September 2013 UK, October 2014 US, by Quercus' imprint Jo Fletcher Books. The rest of the The Walkin' Trilogy will follow in 2014 and 2015. His short fiction has appeared in numerous markets, links to some of which are available on this site. He regularly reviews for critical journals, including New Welsh Review and the BSFA’s Vector.
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Hi David, welcome to The Book
Plank and thank you for taking you time to answer a few questions for us.
BP: First off can you give us a short
introduction of who David is? What are your likes/dislikes hobbies etc?
DT: I'm a
twenty-eight year old lecturer in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University –
where I've just finished my PhD. I used to play a lot of computer games,
specifically MMOs, but my job and writing has kind of taken over. I've been
into MMOs since I was fourteen and first got hold of Ultima Online. These days
I get my gaming fix through weekly games of Magic: the Gathering – we have a
pretty good community here in Aberystwyth. I try and keep active by playing
squash and swimming at least twice a week. If I could, I’d play golf regularly
too but it’s a little difficult at the moment.
BP: Your Brother’s Blood is your debut book,
when did you know you wanted to start writing?
DT: My first
serious thoughts about trying to become an author came at the end of my BA
degree. Until then I enjoyed producing short stories for seminars but didn’t
think I’d go much further with it. Friends were talking about what jobs they
wanted to do out there in the “real world”. So I had the choice of joining them
in the job hunt, or go back into education to work more on my writing. I felt I
still had a lot to learn and wasn’t confident enough to go about it on my own.
Working some dead-end jobs made the choice pretty obvious. The start of my MA
degree was when I knuckled-down and focused on getting better at the craft.
BP: The current zombie genre is quite well
established, however with Your Brother’s Blood you steered into a completely
different heretofore unexplored territory. What gave you the idea behind Your
Brother’s Blood?
DT: Your
Brother’s Blood is really the result of a few smaller ideas coming
together. That’s how I tend to work: bringing threads together of images or
character traits that appeal. The setting for the novel was inspired by a group
called ‘Transition Town’. A while ago my girlfriend attended meetings in
Aberystwyth. It's an organisation that, as far as I understand it, wants to
prepare communities for a major change in our modern lifestyle, such as oil
running out. This got me thinking about how the modern era might end, not in a
fiery apocalypse like you see in many SF novels, but a slow winding down.
It’s harder to say
where the Walkin’ came from. For some reason at the time I was thinking what it
would be like to live forever. It’s an idea SF/F novels and short stories have
dealt with before, but I can’t remember reading a particular book that started
me planning. Often living forever turns about to less than great. So that’s why
the Walkin’ don’t quite resemble traditional zombies – from the beginning they
were closer to cursed immortals than the shuffling horde.
BP: If you would have to sell your book in one
sentence, what would that be?
DT: Ha! Good
question. My editor says I’m terrible at condensing my ideas into snappy
one-liners. In my very brief experience, the publishing world seems to like the
‘X meets Y’ format. So Your Brother’s Blood is:
Part road-movie,
part zombie-western, that tells a story of love and survival as a family
struggles to stay together.
BP: Starting with writing a book is a daunting
task, how did you approach this? Have you learned anything that you will be
using when you write your next book?
DT: This book
was a very long, and at times steep, learning curve. I like to try things
first, blunder along making mistakes, and then go back and attempt to get
better and fix whatever I did wrong. So, without much planning or thought about
how it would turn out I wrote a draft of Your Brother’s Blood. After
more drafts and rewrites than I care to admit, with a lot of help from my agent
and girlfriend (who is also a novelist), I pulled the novel together. It wasn’t
the cleanest or easiest process but I learnt so much from making the mistakes.
Approaching the second novel in the trilogy I knew I wanted to have a strong
plan in place for the structure of the story. I was confident I had the voice
and style I wanted, but pulling the reader through the story was something that
didn’t come entirely naturally. I worked on it. I feel I’ve learned a lot since
starting on The Walkin’ Trilogy, and hopefully that will be apparent in the
next two books.
BP: What was your biggest challenge in writing
Your Brother’s Blood?
DT: The biggest
challenge by far was Black Mountain. It changed dramatically through all the
different drafts of the novel. I had plenty of ideas of how to show a Walkin’
community – a kind of utopia where people had all the time in the world to
pursue whatever interested them. But the problem was it didn’t fit the
McDermotts and their story. I knew from the outset that I wanted to tell Thomas
and Mary’s story in a very close, fixed way. I didn’t want to spend hundreds of
pages world-building. There are plenty of readers who enjoy that kind of
writing and plenty of novels that cater for them. I wanted to show the reader
the world as it impacted on my characters, and only then. Each different
version of Black Mountain just didn’t quite feel integral to the plot – so in
the end I cut it back until all that was left were the important bits. Black
Mountain casts a long shadow over the trilogy, for me and the McDermotts. One
day I’d like to give it the full story it deserves.
BP: Did you encounter any specific problems
during the writing?
DT: Maintaining
narrative tension was a problem I had to work through. This was mainly a
structural issue. Things like characterization and dialogue are the parts of
writing I feel I have a better handle on. But they can only go so far – the
reader can’t get bored by the plot because that’s when you lose them. Things
like Black Mountain and characters that were cut in later drafts were slowing
down the action. I don’t think anyone would describe Your Brother’s Blood
as “action-packed” but it is a novel that does clip along at a reasonable pace.
That wasn’t always the case.
BP: There are many different elements in Your
Brother’s Blood, that produce quite a diverse story from a compelling point of
view with Thomas and his daughter and the tension in the witch hunt with the
clergyman of Barkley. What was your favorite part to write of Your Brother’s
Blood?
DT: It sounds a
little grim, but I really enjoyed putting Thomas through some terrible things.
Walkin’ characters give me an opportunity to explore nasty moments in a
uniquely detached, self-aware way. From the very first chapter Thomas has to
deal with the physicality of his situation. Water rushing between his bones and
muscles, animals crawling inside him, fingers being torn lose, etc, are all
gruesomely enjoyable to imagine and write. If these things were to happen to
another character I would have to focus on the pain that would eclipse all
other ideas or feelings, but not so with Thomas.
BP: Your Brother’s Blood was published last
month, upon reflection, if you would be given the chance to rewrite any
chapter, would you do so? If yes which would it be and why?
DT: Tough question.
The answer is really: all of it. If I could, I’d write the whole thing again. I
doubt I’m alone in feeling like that. There’s something about seeing your work
in print that transforms sentences that looked great on the computer screen
into abominations. But I’m not sure if it would be a better book if I was able
to rewrite it. Sometimes you do more damage than good if you over-think things.
BP: The characters in Your Brother’s Blood all
come over as quite human and relatable. Did you base any characters or their
vices and virtues on real people?
DT: Well, I’m glad
that you think so. It’s certainly something I strive for in my work; in both
human and Walkin’ characters. Are they based on real people? Not directly. Like
most (if not all) writers, I borrow from everyone I meet. Little ticks and
character traits make an impression and I draw on them when I need to.
Sometimes it’s more conscious a process than others. I recently finished my PhD
novel which is much closer to a personal story than The Walkin’ Trilogy, with
characters and themes that are based loosely on real people. It might feel
different having that novel published…
BP: The world of Your Brother’s Blood lends
itself for further exploration in a sequel. Have you planned more books to make
it into a series? Or do you have other projects you wish to pursue now?
DT: Yes, it’s
definitely a world I’m really excited to explore more. At the moment there is
The Walkin’ Trilogy which tells the full story of the McDermott family. There’s
a good few narrative years between each book so the reader gets to see
characters like Thomas and Mary in different stages of their lives. Beyond
that, I’m planning another story in the same world, which I unfortunately can’t
talk too much about. I’m also interested in finding a publisher for my
PhD novel and I have a few ideas kicking around for SF novels. Like many
writers, I’m never short of an idea or two.
BP: Everyone enjoys fantasy on different level.
What do you like most about writing fantasy?
DT: That I can do
whatever I want. Realism feels limiting. I want undead characters. I want to
write about a world without technology. Fantasy (and SF) let me do that with a
readership that is not only ready, but excited to see different things.
BP: and just lastly, if you would have to
recommend 5 books, which would they be?
DT: That’s not
easy; ask me again in a week and the answer might be different. But right now: I
Am Legend – Richard Matheson, Woman on the Edge of Time – Marge
Piercy, Blood Music – Greg Bear, Starship Troopers – Robert A.
Heinlein, The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin.
BP: Thank you for your time David and good luck
with your future writing!