My Bookish Ways interviews Gemma Files

My Bookish Ways has conducted an interview with Gemma Files, author of The Hexslinger Series.

Check it out!

And check out her Hexslinger books A Book of Tongues, A Rope of Thorns, and A Tree of Bones!

Weird Fiction Review interviews Gemma Files

Gemma Files, author of the Hexslinger trilogy, sat down with Weird Fiction review to discuss her story "Blood Makes Noise", her outlook on horror and when weird is too weird.


WFR: What do you think is the appeal of weird fiction generally? The scare? Catharsis? Something else?
Files: For me, the appeal is the idea of creating something that will make the person reading it look over their own shoulder uneasily, but also feel as though they recognize it on some inmost level…to create an unnatural concept which nevertheless seems part of of the natural order. You never saw it before, but the minute you do, you realize it’s always underlain everything. So emotional catharsis, yes, but better than that, a sense of completion which dissolves upon closer examination. The closest we can come to a primitive religious experience, maybe — a true Mystery, in the ancient Greek sense.

Read the whole interview! 

The Hexslinger books include A Book of Tongues, A Rope of Thorns, and the final volume, A Tree of Bones, releasing May 15.

Sequential Tart interviews Gemma Files

ST: What kind of feedback have you had from gay male readers about your m/m work? Has this affected your approach to gay characters or scenes?

GF: Actually, thus far, it's been incredibly pleasant and supportive. I've gotten kudos for being "realistic", which is always nice (maybe it's all that talk about lube during the first Chess / Morrow scene). Being pretty firmly het and cisgendered female in real life, I do worry about appropriation and fetishization, obviously, so I try to do my research, and not to let my own particular kinks run away with me. I also put in the time trying to make my characters as three-dimensional as I can, because to be frank, one of those kinks is the push-pull of interaction between complicated, demanding, potentially violent and/or morally conflicted people.


Read this and more in Sequential Tart's in-depth interview with Gemma Files, author of the Hexslinger trilogy.

Part 1
Part 2
And learn more about the Hexslinger books, A Book of Tongues and A Rope of Thorns.

Women in Horror Month Feature: Gemma Files

Throughout February, ChiZine Publications is celebrating Women in Horror Month (http://www.womeninhorrormonth.com/) by profiling our female authors and staff.

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Though she was born in London, England, Gemma Files is a Canadian citizen, and has lived in Toronto for her entire life (thus far). Gemma has published two collections of short stories and two chapbooks of poetry, including Dust Radio, from Kelp Queen Press. Her first novel, published by ChiZine Publications, was A Book of Tongues: Volume One in the Hexslinger Series and it was released in April, 2010. The second Hexslinger book, A Rope of Thorns, was released in 2011 and coming up in May 2012, the third is A Tree of Bones.

How did you get started with your writing?

I graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Magazine Journalism, so that was sort of the beginning of my professional writing career; but, I was first published at the age of 9. I sold a poem called "Earthquake!" to Cricket Magazine, and wrote a play called The Revenant in high school which was later performed at Brock University. The whole time I was writing articles and movie reviews for Toronto local eye Weekly, I continued to write and place short stories. My first official sale as an adult was to the now-defunct Canadian Horror anthology series Northern Frights (ed. Don Hutchison), with "Mouthful of Pins."

How would you describe your writing?

Hmmm. "Lush," I hear a lot. "Poetic." Also "overwritten," "meandering," "obscure" and occasionally "pornographic." I like to think that my strengths lie in dialogue and characterization, but my urges are always to the dark and creepy-sexy. I far prefer antiheroes to heroes. Paula Guran once said that my characters were mainly monsters rather than victims, but I managed to evoke some sympathy for them anyhow. I think that's a fairly good description of what I'm generally after.

Who are your influences?

Tanith Lee, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Kathe Koja, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Poppy Z. Brite, Gwendolyn MacEwan, Susan Musgrave, Marjorie Bowen. More recently Sonya Taaffe, Nadia Bulkin, John Connolly, Jeff Long, Amanda Downum, John Langan, Laird Barron.

Why do you write horror?

Because, like Yukio Mishima, my heart's inclination has always been for Night, and Death, and Blood. Less facetiously, however, I think it began because I knew I didn't know enough about science to write science fiction and fantasy always somehow seemed too goddamn "happy" to interest me. Horror had a certain psychological realism, a rooting in the real world of shared fears, a consequential heft and weight. Then again, I tend to think of what I do as more like opera than anything else, so sometimes I just don't notice how grotesque it's actually gotten.

Horror's top creature features: who would you date, marry and kill?

I have a certain attraction towards mad scientists, but most of them would make absolutely lousy lovers, so--I could see going on a double-date with Herbert West, Re-Animator and his sidekick Dr Dan Cain (from Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator), because if nothing else, I could A) count on getting sex from Dan and B) might also be able to get Herbert to let me watch them make out, even if he wouldn't touch me himself.

In terms of marriage, I can't think of anyone more loyal and romantic than Im-Ho-Tep/Ardeth Bey, as played by Boris Karloff in Karl Freund's original The Mummy.

Even though he's my favourite monster, is quite handsome and has a sexy voice to boot, poor Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) from James Whale's The Invisible Man is just so butt-ass chemically insane that it'd be better by far to shoot him the minute you figured out where he was standing, or at least run away screaming when he started to talk.

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“Potent mythology, complex characters, and dollops of creeping horror and baroque gore establish Files's Hexslinger series as a top-notch horror-fantasy saga.”

—Publishers Weekly

Hexslinger one of the best series of 2011

The Hopeful Librarian's Jen lists her favourite books and series from 2011. Here's what she had to say about Gemma Files' Hexslinger books:
" I picked up A Book of Tongues on a whim from the library and was just sucked in to this wonderful, dark alternate Old West... this is one of the most creepy-fun series I’ve read in a long time. If anything, Rope of Thorns improved on the first installment."

Read the article.

Learn more about A Book of Tongues and A Rope of Thorns.

Gemma Files interview on Locus

‘‘I have always had an urge towards the horrific. Often I say that horror is a ghetto inside a ghetto inside a ghetto, in terms of genre. There are science fiction people who like fantasy, and fantasy people who like science fiction, but there are not a lot of fantasy or science fiction people who like horror. On the other hand, there are horror people who like both science fiction and fantasy, and I’m one of them. (I don’t love all of it.) But horror is the place where people won’t go, the place where suddenly things aren’t good any more." - Gemma Files

Read this and more on Locus!

Gemma Files is the author of the Hexslinger books, which currently include A Book of Tongues and A Rope of Thorns.

Gemma Files to read at Fantastic Fiction

Fantastic Fiction at KGB is a monthly reading series held at the KGB Bar in Manhattan, showcasing the best writers in speculative fiction. This month, they'll be hosting Gemma Files, author of the Hexslinger books. Admission is free, so if you're in the area, be sure to drop by!

Where: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, Manhattan, NYC
When: Wednesday December 21, 7pm

More info can be found here.

And info about the Hexslinger books can be found here and here.

A Book of Tongues nominated for a Spectrum Award!

Gemma Files' A Book of Tongues has made the shortlist for the 2011 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. These awards recognize outstanding horror, SF, and fantasy works with significant LGBTQ themes. Congratulations, Gemma!

Click here to see the complete shortlist.

Click here to buy A Book of Tongues.

Rope of Thorns is "everything you hope for in a sequel"

The Turned Brain loved Gemma Files' latest Hexslinger novel: "Really 'Rope of Thorns' is everything you hope for in a sequel, but so rarely get. The plot is advanced, a greater understanding of characters is granted, new and interesting characters are introduced. Files' prose remains a delight to read, the cadence of her sentences captures the wild west setting perfectly, and the images she paints are a fascinating mix of frontier practicality and magic bred surrealism."

Read it here.

Order A Rope of Thorns here.

A Rope of Thorns review in Library Journal

Library Journal writes: "Filled with antiheroes, sacrificial victims, and supernatural beings, Files’s latest is not for the squeamish but should delight fans of gothic Western fantasy and Central American myths."

Read the review! (scroll down, it's the fourth review on the page)

Learn more about A Rope of Thorns!

Another Publishers' Weekly review...

...This time for Gemma Files' A ROPE OF THORNS.
" Potent mythology, complex characters, and dollops of creeping horror and baroque gore establish Files's Hexslinger series as a top-notch horror-fantasy saga."

Read the review.

Order a copy of A Rope of Thorns.