REPROBATION by Catherine Fearns ***Interview with the Author - Find out how she chose her title -- Giveaway***
Crime Thriller/Mystery
Date Published: 16th October 2018
Publisher: Crooked Cat
Are You One Of The Elect?
Dr. Helen Hope is a lecturer in eschatology – the study of death, judgment, and the destiny of humankind. She is also a Calvinist nun, her life devoted to atoning for a secret crime.
When a body is found crucified on a Liverpool beach, she forms an unlikely alliance with suspect Mikko Kristensen, lead guitarist in death metal band Total Depravity. Together, they go on the trail of a rogue geneticist who they believe holds the key – not just to the murder, but to something much darker.
Also on the trail is cynical Scouse detective Darren Swift. In his first murder case, he must confront his own lack of faith as a series of horrific crimes drag the city of two cathedrals to the gates of hell.
Science meets religious belief in this gripping murder mystery.
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Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m an author from Liverpool, UK, I’m 40 years old and I came to writing fairly recently. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in history, I worked as a risk analyst for a number of public institutions. I then had four children and retrained as a breastfeeding counsellor and postnatal fitness instructor. I have lived in Italy, France and the US, but I currently live in Geneva, Switzerland. When I moved to Switzerland I began working as a music journalist, and that’s when I discovered my love of writing. It’s been a meandering route but I’m very happy with where I am now!
Tell us about your newest book.
Reprobation is my debut novel, and it’s a crime thriller set in Liverpool. It weaves together themes of religion, genetics and music, and it has a slight supernatural twist. I’m delighted that people seem to be really enjoying it, and it has become an Amazon bestseller in several categories.
Is it available now?
Yes – from Amazon for Kindle and in paperback, and also in selected bookstores.
Have you published any others?
My second novel, Consuming Fire, will be published on February 6th. It is the sequel to Reprobation and is also published by Crooked Cat Books.
How long have you been writing?
I only started writing three or four years ago. On the one hand, I can’t believe it took me so long to find the career I love. On the other, perhaps it happened at the right time in my life.
What inspires your stories?
I think my books are unique as crime thrillers, because they work as both straight police procedurals and supernatural suspense thrillers. The reader can take the practical explanation for the crimes, or he/she can wonder whether there might have been other forces at work. I want to develop this idea of the unknowable, of the hidden world beyond our own. In Reprobation, the cynical Detective Inspector Darren Swift begins his gradual journey towards an acceptance of the occult.
Titles are tough. How did you come up with your title?
Reprobation refers to the religious doctrine of predestination; the Reprobate are those who are destined for damnation, as opposed to the Elect, who were chosen by God at the beginning of time. The word ‘reprobation’ also means censure, disapproval. I considered a number of titles for the book but this one stuck early on.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
Around the time I moved to Switzerland, I was at a difficult crossroads in my life. I had been a trailing spouse for fifteen years, changing job and country several times, and now I was a stay-at-home mother of four small children, in yet another country where I didn’t speak the language. I really didn’t know who I was any more. I suppose it was the sort of early midlife crisis that many mothers go through. I began writing a blog, as a sort of diary, and I found it incredibly cathartic. The blog led to me getting work as a music journalist, and that’s when I developed the confidence to try writing stories. I was lucky to find a great offer from the publisher Crooked Cat soon after submitting my Reprobation manuscript.
Is theme an important concept in your stories? If so, is it personal for you, or something you feel strongly about?
The main themes in Reprobation are religion, music, and genetics. I am certainly fascinated by all three, and I hope the book gives readers a lot to think about. I probably come up with the theme before I come up with the story. But ultimately the story and the characters have to be paramount.
What do you look for most in a book when you’re reading, and how do you incorporate that into your own writing?
I need something to pull me in. It doesn’t matter whether it’s dialogue-driven or descriptive, high-brow or popular, I want effortless engagement, I want to forget the author is there in the background, and I try to achieve that with my own writing.
What can we expect to see from you in the future, any books on the backburner?
The sequel to Reprobation is out 6th February and it’s called Consuming Fire. I can’t wait to find out what people think of it! I’m currently writing my third book, which has a working title of Sound, and that will hopefully be published this summer.
Is there anything you want to add before we close our interview?
Thank you so much for having me, it’s been a pleasure to answer your questions! I love to hear from readers, so if anyone has any questions about Reprobation they are very welcome to contact me via my website or my twitter account. If you’re in a book club, you can find some book club discussion themes on my website too. Thanks again!
@metalmamawrites
Thank you for being with us today. Good luck with your new book.
About the Author
Catherine Fearns is a writer from Liverpool. Her first novel, crime thriller Reprobation, was published by Crooked Cat on October 16th, 2018. Her second, Consuming Fire, will be out in February 2019. As a music journalist, Catherine has written for Pure Grain Audio, Broken Amp and Noisey. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in Toasted Cheese, Succubus, Here Comes Everyone, Offshoots, and Metal Music Studies. She lives in Geneva with her husband and four children.
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