A Horror World Conversation with Gabrielle Faust
By Steven E. Wedel

I first met Gabrielle Faust when she was interviewing me for Fear Zone last year. She threw me on the rack, stretched me, put me in thumb screws, scalded me with hot candle wax, beat me with a riding crop … No, wait. That was some other blonde.

Anyhoo, Gabrielle was very nice. I wanted to ask about her name, but since she was doing the asking, I didn’t. Now, however, the tables are turned.

Horror World: Gabrielle, thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Horror World. Tell us what you consider to be your most interesting characteristic.

GF: I wasn’t going to bring this up, but I’m actually a superhero. People wonder what I do in my spare time? Well, the cat’s out of the bag!

HW: Okay, now let’s talk about your writing. What made you want to write?

GF: Writing, and storytelling in general, has always been instinctual for me. My father was a songwriter and both of my grandparents, on my father’s side, were playwrights and poets. Thus, they began encouraging me to explore and pursue writing from a very early age. I’ve also been an avid reader since I was old enough to pick up a book and the idea of weaving entire worlds in which the audience can become entirely absorbed in has always enthralled me. To me art, music and literature, are the best gifts we, as human beings, can bestow upon the world.

HW: Do you remember your first piece of writing? What was it about?

GF: Well, according to my mother, and apparently she still has this little masterpiece tucked away in a box somewhere, my first “short story” was in first grade and it was about a “jive-talking turkey”. No, I’m not making this up. It was completely random and ridiculous and caused my father to fall out of his seat laughing. Later on I remember, in fifth and sixth grade writing fantasy “novels” with my friends, which would actually fill several thick spiral notebooks. They were incredibly detailed, encompassing an entire mythical world and an evil character named Kavarin that we modeled after Alice Cooper since one of the girls was madly in love with him at the time. Good fun! I’m sure there’s quite a bit of funny stuff I wrote between the jive-talking turkey and Alice Cooper, but those are the ones that stand out in my memory as “first pieces”…

HW: Why horror? A good Texas girl like you should be writing about cattle drives and hunky oilmen, right?

GF: Cattle drives and hunky oilmen are fine…so long as they are being besieged by hordes of ravenous vampires and werewolves! But seriously, horror has always been a part of my life since I was a small child. For me, the fascination with the study of the darker side of existence, reality and human nature greatly exceeds the lighter aspects of our world. When we probe the depths of the realm of horror as writers we are exploring pure, inescapable truth about the brutality of our inner natures, a brutality that is both terrifying and undeniable. Whether through stories of serial killers or vampires, topics of immortality, mortality, pain, suffering, fear, the supernatural, etc., the horror genre forces us to reevaluate our perception of good versus evil and right versus wrong in a way that very few other genres allow for.

HW: Tell us about ETERNAL VIGILANCE, your post-apocalyptic vampire series.

GF: ETERNAL VIGILANCE is the story of an ancient Scottish vampire named Tynan Llywelyn and his battle to save humanity from a vampiric god and the global dictatorship that desires to summon him. After a century-long Sleep, Tynan has awoken to find the world he once knew utterly obliterated by a brutal war of epic proportions. In a new apocalyptic society bitterly divided by magic and technology, the Tyst Empire has found that a hundred years of global domination is not enough to sate their thirst for power. They have discovered the secret of the vampire race and have designed a plan to seize their own sinister form of immortality with the help of an ancient vampiric god. The Phuree, a rebel uprising that has been engaged in a bloody war with the Tyst since the beginning of the new regime, have obtained the knowledge of Lord Cardone’s plans and have allied themselves with the remaining Immortal clan. The powerful Phuree oracle, Nahalo, has had a vision that in Tynan alone lies the power to defeat the vampiric god and the dictatorship. Cast in violence and conspiracy into the midst of a global war between magic and technology, mortals and vampires, in a new world he is still struggling to define, Tynan must make the harrowing decision to save the world he so bitterly detests or stand and watch as humanity is destroyed by a primordial evil beyond all imagining…

HW: What inspired you to write this series? And, did you know it would be a series when you started it?

GF: ETERNAL VIGILANCE actually began with a short story I wrote back in college. I never published the short story, but held on to it because I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else to the character I had created. A few years later I found the story and read again, but this time with a fresh perspective. From there the story simply began to mutate and evolve into the epic series it is now. At first, I did not foresee it being a multiple novel series, but by the time I was about half way through writing the first book I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to contain the entire story to a single novel. Not and be able to find a publisher for it…

HW: ETERNAL VIGILANCE is up for a Bram Stoker Award in the First Novel category. How do you feel about that?

GF: I am absolutely thrilled that ETERNAL VIGILANCE has made it to the prelim rounds of nominations so far! I truly was astounded when so many people recommended it for consideration and have been deeply touched by the support of my fellow horror writers. It has definitely refueled my drive to make the series the most unique and innovative vampire series I am capable of writing.

HW: The second book in the series is up for pre-order right now, right? Without spoilers, can you tell us what to expect in that one?

GF: Yes, the second book is currently available for pre-ordering via the Eternal Vigilance website (www.gabriellefaust.com/about-the-book). The official release will be in late March. If you are a fan of the first novel, you are going to love the second one! THE DEATH OF ILLLUSIONS picks up as Tynan journeys to face his destiny fighting the Tyst Empire and the Vicinus. In comparison to the first novel, which definitely has a dark metaphysical/philosophical feel to it with a lot of back-story build, the second is extremely fast-paced and packed with tons of action. I have also woven in a few extremely unexpected and uncomfortable plot twists, which I think fans will really be able to sink their fangs into. I am extremely pleased with the overall cybergothic result of the piece and am thrilled to see what the public has to say about it as well.

HW: You also have a collection of poetry due out this March. What can you tell us about CROSSROADS? Why poetry?

GF: Yes, CROSSROADS is currently scheduled for release in March from Houston publisher Seraphemera Books. This will be my second collection of poetry I have had published so far, the first being BEFORE ICARUS, AFTER ACHILLES in 2005. CROSSROADS is a collection of eight-four free-verse poems, which I wrote over the course of about three years. The first run will be of 300 handcrafted chapbooks, signed and numbered, with silk-screened dust jackets and a built-in black silk bookmark. As with all of my poetry, the ones I have selected for this book are reflections on my life and deeply personal. Poetry, for me, is like abstract painting. In a way, it is more technically chaotic and passionate than the form of a short story of novel, but it is also the art of simplicity. It is the concept of taking a moment in time, a memory, and distilling it down into ten or twenty lines, which embody and express it purely and completely, while still maintaining an abstract, multidimensional form. It is also a constantly evolving artform, without restraint or boundaries. With other styles of writing, the author is more restricted by guidelines and formats, but with poetry, anything is possible. It is very liberating…

HW: Besides being an author, you’re also something of a marketing guru. What are some of the tricks you’ve used to get attention on your books?

GF: Blogging has been key in my online marketing strategy. I always recommend to authors to start a blog and maintain it on a daily basis. The more you blog, whether about your own work or the work of others in the same industry you are in, the higher your Google ranking will be and that means more people who might otherwise not have heard of you will stumble upon your work and take a look. You don’t have to go out and hire an expensive public relations expert or spend thousands on promotional materials, you simply have to make your presence stand out from the hordes of other authors also competing for attention on the internet. The other tip I have is to stay current with the latest in online media. Whether it’s YouTube, BlogTV, or another program or website incorporate it somehow into your overall web presence. The more avenues and audiences you can tap into, the more readers you are going to gather in the end that might otherwise never know you exist.

HW: And you do graphic design and illustration. Is that still your day job? What got you started in that field?

GF: Technically, yes, graphic design is still my “day job” and I contract regularly with various different companies. I also continue to freelance as an illustrator for magazines and publishing houses for editorial pieces and book cover designs. My college degree is in graphic design and illustration. After college I spent nearly ten years in the advertising and boutique design agency world before pursuing my dream of becoming a published author. I originally was very passionate, and still am, about the graphic design world, but it is a cut-throat corporate world of extremely long hours without a whole lot of gratitude or recognition and, thus, I suppose you could say I burned out after a time. I have considered, at some point, returning to a permanent position as an art director, but am searching for a position within a magazine or publishing company where I can truly marry my passion for writing and design.

HW: How has working with a small press helped or hindered you? Do you have trouble getting bookstores to stock your books?

GF: Overall my experience with a small press has been very positive. The only true drawbacks have been distribution and working with big bookstores like Barnes & Noble. Stores like B&N still look down their noses at a lot of small and indie presses that do initial print runs under 10,000 copies, which I find absolutely appalling, especially in this day when the economy prevents companies from making such large scale purchases initially.

HW: Lots of women tell me they have a harder time breaking into horror than their penis-encumbered counterparts. Do you think being a woman has been an issue in your writing career?

GF: Honestly, I have not run into a lot of resistance to my gender in the industry. Perhaps I am coming into the industry at the perfect time when the rise of women in horror has been extremely significant over the past decade, especially the past five years. Then and again, the world of horror is definitely still a “boys club” and unless you know how, or want to play that game I could see where it could be hard. Personally, I was raised by bikers and musicians, and later spent a great deal of time in the punk scene, so the world of horror simply didn’t seem all that intimidating to me as a woman.

HW: You did a lot of traveling to promote ETERNAL VIGILANCE last year. What kind of reception did you get outside of Texas? And, do you think it helps an author to live on a coast?

GF: The reception overall has been overwhelmingly positive, both at conventions and bookstore signings. The public has been enthusiastically receptive of the series. As for living on a coast, I think it would probably be a bit more helpful due to the fact that there are a lot more arts and entertainment hot spots, cities that actively encourage and promote the arts, than in other areas. If you’re not living on one coast or the other, living in or near a large metropolitan city is the next best bet because it allows you a larger resource for bookstores and literature-centric events.

HW: Last year you were the guest of honor at Anne Rice’s Vampire Ball. How did that happen, and what did that honor entail?

GF: Yes, that was an incredible honor last year! I was truly surprised when they extended the invitation to me. I am a member of the Anne Rice Fan Club and was helping to promote the 2008 event when I received the email asking me to be the Guest of Honor for the Queen of the Damned Ball. With Anne Rice no longer active in the realm of vampire literature, they were searching for a new representative for the event.

HW: I suppose you’re biased the wrong way, but I have to ask: Which is better, vampires or werewolves? Why?

GF:  I have to say that, while my respect for werewolves has grown significantly over the past couple of years, I am still a die-hard advocate of vampires and the vampire genre. It is not necessarily that one creature is "better" than the other, but my preference tends towards the more refined and etheral of the two rather than the more heavy-handed beastial quality of the other. I'm more than certain that werewolf fanatics might disagree, but vampires, while equally powerful in their own unique ways, have a certain deadly grace and regalness that I find much more disturbing and intoxicating than the more brutal demeanor of the werewolf...

HW: Okay, I have to know about your name. Is Faust your real last name? How did you manage to be named after an angel AND a dude who sold his soul to the devil?

GF: My parents did chose wisely in my name, didn’t they? Yes, Faust is my real last name and I am actually a direct descendant of the Dr. Faust, which Goethe based his work on. As for my first name…I was named after a member of the Italian Red Brigade named Gabrielle. My mother was reading a book about this rebel group while she was pregnant with me and decided it was the perfect name…

HW: Well, I guess I’m done. Is there anything I should have asked? Anything you want to tell us while you have our full undivided attention?

GF: The second installment of the ETERNAL VIGILANCE series, THE DEATH OF ILLUSIONS, is currently available for pre-sale via my website (www.gabriellefaust.com/about-book-two). The official release date is set for late March at which time it will be available worldwide both through online retailers and local bookstores.

HW: Thanks again for your time, Gabrielle. We wish you the best of luck with all your writing. And I hope to see you again at Texas Frightmare Weekend this spring.

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