Novelist Martha Dunlop joins the blog today and we’re chatting about the first two books in her urban fantasy Starfolk Trilogy, The Starfolk Arcana and Starfolk Falling.
During her virtual book tour, Martha will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!
The books will be $0.99 during the tour.
Bio:
Martha is a dreamer and lover of stories who likes nothing better than spending her days getting to know the characters in her head.
She is a tarot card reader and reiki master, and loves to chat reading, writing and all things mystical on social media, as well as posting pictures of her fellow pack-member, Bertie the Cavalier.
Martha is a fiddle player who fell in love with traditional music, particularly Irish, and is also teaching herself to play the Irish Bouzouki. She played her way through her English degree at York and remembers that time as much for the music as the books.
You can keep up with Martha’s news, book releases and extra content at marthadunlop.com.
Hi Lisa, and thank you for having me on your blog!
Hi Martha, it’s great to have you here. Please tell us about your current releases.
The Starfolk Arcana and Starfolk Falling are about Beth, a woman who finds herself responsible for stopping a celebrity who is whipping up panic by spreading fake stories of paranormal attack. She can’t understand why people believe Amelia’s obvious lies, but when she meets Jonan, the man with the violet eyes, she starts to understand there is more to her ability to see through Amelia’s manipulations than she’d realised. As her destiny begins to unfold before her, Beth finds herself caught up with a group of people who feel like home, but they come with their own family feuds and deep rifts that she didn’t bank on becoming a part of. And when she is targetted personally by Amelia, and discovers the hard way that she is not immune to The Fear, everything changes. She now has no idea who, or what, she can trust.
What inspired you to write these books?
I wrote The Starfolk Arcana in 2016 against the background of a turbulent political environment and the rise of personality cults. This was a time when mental health was becoming increasingly challenging for many people and it is a huge focus in these books.
Amelia, my antagonist, uses charisma to draw people to her, and then scares them into believing they need her help and protection. She sells them fake stories of supernatural threat that they can’t disprove, and then promises to keep them safe as long as they stick with her. In doing this, she draws them into her own shadowy world which becomes known as The Fear. This is a level of panic that strips people of their ability to make healthy decisions and leaves them reactive and on edge. What’s more, Amelia does more than tell stories. Whilst Beth and Jonan use their psychic abilities to help and heal people, Amelia uses hers to draw people deeply into The Fear, and to strengthen herself by draining their energy.
I think we all know people who do this unconsciously, they’re often known as psychic vampires. But Amelia is ultra-conscious about it and very scheming. This makes her far more dangerous than most people realise, as long as she doesn’t fall prey to her own Fear creation.
An excerpt:
A single spotlight illuminated an empty chair in the middle of the dark stage.
The booming silence gave Beth the uncomfortable feeling of being too small.
A crash from backstage echoed around the cavernous space. Someone in the audience squealed. Nervous laughter followed as people shuffled and muttered.
A chill ran down Beth’s spine. She peered around her but didn’t pick up anything except the undefined shapes of her fellow audience members. They had presumably chosen to be in this place. She wasn’t sure whether she envied them that, or pitied their naivety.
Shaking off her unease, she checked her watch, angling it to catch the glow of the nearby spotlight. Why couldn’t Rose have just told her what Amelia planned to say? Surely she didn’t expect to recreate this farce in the middle of a swanky charity dinner? Or maybe she did.
Someone dropped into the seat next to her. She had been given two tickets and was only using one. That seat should have remained empty. She didn’t turn around. She wanted to get out of this place as soon as she could. Making contact with her co-sufferers would only prolong the experience.
‘Beth?’
The familiar voice made her heart leap. She closed her eyes, trying to calm the natural response of her body. ‘What are you doing here, Jonan?’
‘I wanted to be another pair of ears to hear what Amelia has to say.’
‘You didn’t trust me to report back?’
‘That wasn’t what I said.’
What exciting story are you working on next?
At the moment I am working on the third and final book in The Starfolk Trilogy and I am really excited to bring these characters to the end of their story. I have been living in these stories for a long time now, and the world, my characters and I are very different now. So, I’m enjoying bringing the present into this third book, as Beth, Jonan, Amelia and the others work their way towards the final climax. There will be some surprises in this book, particularly for anyone who has read my standalone novel about a woman who astral projects as a tiger, Wild Shadow.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Books and reading have been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember, so writing was a natural extension of that. I think I started thinking of myself as a writer at school, as I focused so heavily on my writing skills. Then I worked in PR and writing was always my greatest strength. It was then that I finally started focusing seriously on fiction and started hankering to call myself an author. But the term, writer? I feel as though I have always been that.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write most of the time, but I also do some freelance PR and even a bit of tarot reading!
My work day usually starts with a dog walk. I’m not a morning person so it takes a while for me to be able to do anything creative, and I like to get the more routine stuff done first. Once all of that is out of the way, I’ll get myself a hot drink and settle down in my writing room to get a bit of admin done. I usually aim to start writing at about 11am. Sometimes I manage that, sometimes I don’t. It depends how many balls I’m juggling on any given day. But 11am is the time I know my writing brain and I can start to cooperate.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My book ideas all start with a single character. So far it’s always been a woman, and she turns up alone and without a story. We live together for months, and I find out just a little bit at a time, until I finally know enough about her, and her people, to start exploring her story. This process is pretty slow, and if I look too hard at her, she dissipates. So it always takes place in the background while I’m working on another book. While I’m writing, I love to read out the words as I type, and I often sit making odd expressions at my computer screen, testing out whether the things I’m writing are physically possible!
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Well, a very early version of me wanted to be a hairdresser. I’m pleased she wasn’t on deciding duty on any significant days, because adult me is terrible at doing grown-up hair. It turns out my skills stopped developing at the pony tails and French plaits stage. Later me wanted to be a Priestess of Avalon and seriously wished that was an actual thing. Honestly, I think out of all the jobs I hankered after over the years, that is probably the closest one to me in my writing cave.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
If you like the sound of The Starfolk books, there is a free prequel short story for everyone who signs up to my newsletter. So if you’d like to know what really happened the night Amelia claims to have seen a Soul Snatcher, you can find out by signing up here! https://www.marthadunlop.com/index.php/subscribe/
Thank you so much for having me on your blog. It’s been really lovely to chat to you.
It’s been a pleasure!
Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon
Thanks for hosting!
I have never read an urban fantasy novel before – this will be my first. Best of luck with the book tour.
I hope you enjoy it, Michele! x
Thank you so much for having me, Lisa! x
Great interview and fantastic excerpt, The Starfolk Trilogy sounds like a trilogy that I will enjoy reading and I like the covers! Thanks for sharing them with me and have a spectacular day!
Thanks, Eva! I’m delighted that you like the sound of The Starfolk Trilogy! I hope you enjoy them. Have a lovely weekend! Best wishes, Martha x
Thank you for sharing your interview and books’ details, I have enjoyed reading about you and your work and I am looking forward to reading your stories
Thanks, Bea! I hope you enjoy the books! Do come and find me on social media. I love to chat books there. Best wishes, Martha x
Looks like a very interesting book.
Thanks, Sherry!
How do you handle writing slumps?
That’s a great question, Tracie! Honestly, I tend to find that writing slumps mean the scene I’m working on isn’t right. So I’ll usually look at whether I can ditch or change it to make it more exciting! Best wishes, Martha x
Here’s an amazing weekend and thanks so much Martha for the insightful response to the in and outs of the writing process! Much success to you!
Thanks Tracie! x
Do you have a favorite space to do your writing?
Who is your favorite character that you’ve written?
Do you have a favorite genre you like to read?
What inspires you?
What is your favorite movie?
Hello! I see that you are a tarot card reader- me too! What’s your favorite deck you like to work with?
Intriguing excerpt, can’t wait to read this!
What is a surprising fact about you?
Who inspired you when you were growing up?
Did you always want to be a writer?
Is there a writer you’d ever want to collab with?
If you weren’t a writer, what would your occupation be?
When you’re writing a book, what does your workday look like?
Is there a character you’ve found really difficult to write?
What famous person would you find it inspirational to meet?
What is your favorite place that you’ve visited?
Do you have a favorite character from a movie or tv that you wish you could incorporate into your books?
What is your favorite way to relax?
What is the best book you’ve read so far in 2022?
If you celebrate, how are you spending your fourth of July?
What story of yours did you find it difficult to write?
What’s your best memory from 2022 so far?
What are you looking forward to the most in the second half of 2022?
What fiction tropes are your pet peeves?
What is your favorite setting to write in?
Do you have any more books you are planning to release this year?
If one of your books was made into a Hollywood movie, who do you picture portraying the main role?
How much writing do you do in a day?
Do you have any other new books planned for this year?
What’s your favorite book series by another author?
How long have you been a writer?
What is the best thing about being a writer?
Is there a particular event or moment that inspired you to be a writer?
What has been your proudest moment as an author so far?
What book are you currently reading?
What books do you recommend starting out with for your backlist?
Which of your characters do you relate to the most and why?
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
How do you select the names of your characters?
What part of the book was the most fun to write?
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?
Have you read any of the old classics? What did you think of them?
What do you think makes a good story?
What author do you look up to the most?
What book are you the most proud of writing?
What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
What is a significant way your book has changed since the first draft?
Hope you have a great Friday and weekend!