Interview with Steve Jensen, author of The Poison of a Smile

I am truly delighted to be interviewing the mysterious and elusive Steve Jensen (or should we call him J D Salinger) today.

A warm welcome to my blog, Steve.

Can you tell us more about The Poison of a Smile?

The Poison of a Smile began life as traditional ghost story, but changed once I started writing. At first, the action centred around a haunted manor house and, despite all occupational hazards (clichés etc) of that type of story, I still intend to write a standard ghost story soon. As for The Poison of a Smile, I found that I didn't need to reveal the characters as ghosts, or vampires and suchlike; my villains possess some of these creatures' traits, but they bend the 'rules' on a whim. They are a law unto themselves, and recognise no boundaries between life and death; they have the quality that Peter Straub has his anti-heroine Eva Galli taunt her victims with in the novelGhost Story: 'Could you defeat a cloud, a dream, a poem?

The creation of that Mistress of Death, Alatiel, which gave the story a new and vital impetus. She is everything her admirers desire, and everything her victims dread; she confronts them with themselves, and what they see is terrible.


The plot reminds me very much of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood in that it is about a group of artists, models and their tangled relationships. Were you thinking of them when you wrote your novel?

I was intrigued by what I view as the ambiguous mindset of male artists, particularly those within the Pre-Raphaelite circle of the Nineteenth Century. I was struck at how idealistic, yet callous, some of these men were in their attitudes towards women. Although, as a human being, I'm appalled at the casual way these people stereotyped their women as saints or whores, goddesses or demons, I'm nevertheless fascinated by this extreme idealisation. For example, Alatiel bears some resemblance to Rose La Touche, the very young girl that the middle-aged art critic, painter, and champion of the Pre-Raphaelites John Ruskin fell in love with. Ruskin's 'love' was, to him, pure, noble, ideal; yet note how his description of ten year-old Rose is literally critical, as if she were a statue, a portrait, or a thoroughbred horse; note how condescending the tone is:

"Presently the drawing room door opened, and Rosie came in, quietly taking stock of me with her blue eyes as she walked across the room; gave me her hand, as a good dog gives its paw, and then stood a little back. Nine years old, on 3rd January, 1858, thus now rising towards ten; neither tall nor short for her age; a little stiff in her way of standing. The eyes rather deep blue at that time, and fuller and softer than afterwards. Lips perfectly lovely in profile; a little too wide, and hard in edge, seen in front; the rest of the features what a fair, well-bred Irish girl's usually are; the hair, perhaps, more graceful in short curl around the forehead, and softer than one sees often, in the close-bound tresses above the neck."


Of course, the whole affair ended tragically - Rose died suitably young of 'madness, anorexia, a broken heart, religious mania or hysteria'; suitably for John Ruskin, that is, because imaginative men like him find it easier and more refined to love an ideal rather than a person. Ruskin's Dante-esque obsession ruined his mind (he began to imagine Rose as Saint Ursula, and to see the girl's profile in 15th-century art featuring the Christian saint. Again, though I'm highly critical of Ruskin's treatment of Rose, it was certainly Romantic...but divorced from genuine romance, not to mention reason.


Do you have a background in art yourself?

No. As it happens, I'm disastrously lacking in artistic talent. As much as I love art, and wish I were capable of creating it, you could say that I'm equally as interested in its psychological aspects.


How important do you think art is in society?

It's utterly crucial, I believe, and yet it's being marginalised more and more. Important works of art are now, perhaps, only viewed as motifs of a century rather than as something impacting upon it, as was the case in the past. I'm one of those philistines who believes that our times are lacking in great art - this is the Plastic Age, and its art reflects our throwaway culture very well. But it is what it is - soulless, bereft of grandeur and enthusiasm. Irony is played-out, yet it's the only game in town.


What is your writing method? Do you have to fit writing in here and there or do you have a definite structured day?

I'm terribly disorganised and have few set methods. Spare time is at a premium too. I outline briefly, and work when the mood takes me. This isn't laziness though...I don't believe you can 'force' inspiration and produce something of a decent standard.

Where is your book available to buy? Have you any other books published or in progress?

The Poison of a Smile can be sampled, and purchased, from Amazon:

Amazon UK (Kindle), priced at 49p:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0045OUQS8/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk


Amazon US (Kindle), priced at 80c:
http://www.amazon.com/Poison-Smile-ebook/dp/B0045OUQS8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A7B2F8DUJ88VZ&s=digital-text&qid=1302858184&sr=1-1


Amazon US (paperback), priced at $7.99:
http://www.amazon.com/Poison-Smile-Salazar-Book-One/dp/1453856870/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1286869740&sr=8-7


Presently, I'm writing Ariele Winter, A Ghost Story:

'Ariele Winter is dead but she cannot rest.
Her father Joseph waits for her to return to him.
Her sister Celeste dreads the coming of night.
Ariele's family have never sought her killer...
But is she really dead? And if so, who is tormenting her sister into madness?'

I hope to finish the book this summer. Thank you for this opportunity, Catherine.

I'm pleased to finally be able to interview you, Steve. Best of luck with your writing career.

Night Publishing and Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel

Because the Night …...

There has been an extremely interesting development in the book world – the prestigious hotel group Radisson Edwardian have set up a book club whereby they give all their guests at their Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street hotel a courtesy book of the month.

Why Bloomsbury? Well, based on the Bloomsbury literary group of the early 20th century, as you might suspect.

It a bit boggles the mind how the literary editor of the Radisson Edwardian Book Club, Chris Moss of trendy London guide Time Out, chooses a book to meet the tastes of all 14,000 guests who stay there each month, but it has to be a lovely idea for people like us who enjoy a good book and, it has to be said, a good hotel, starving authors that we are.

There you are, you arrive at the hotel tired and in need of instant relaxation, the TV doesn't appeal, you've seen all the movies, what you need is a good book – hey presto, here it is and, if those guests are exceptionally lucky, it will be a Night Publishing book too.

Oh come on, nobody gets that lucky.

Funnily enough, though, that is why Night Publishing is so-called. It was originally set up to supply fun business books to business travellers in hotels – not the stuff that you hang on your wall as a trophy in the unlikely pretence that you have actually read it - all ten pages that matter out of 500 anyway - but really entertaining business-related books like Matt Beaumont's 'Company' or Maxx Barry's 'Syrup'.

Well, that idea never took off – why would a hotel be interested in offering its guests books? - but it lingered on in the publisher's name and in its Relax at Night book showcase brand: http://relaxatnight.weebly.com.

Full circle. Here is the Radisson Edwardian Book Club keen to indulge its guests in a good book like T.S. Elliot's poems (they really want you to have a good night's sleep, those guys) or 'A Room With A View' (geddit?), and here is Night eager once again to step up to the mark to supply them at least occasionally with just the sort of book that will make their guests happiest, a naturally talented and tasty treat from a much cherished free range author.

Happy ever after.

And what books are Night suggesting first to the Radisson Edwardian Book Club?

Well, there is Charlotte Castle's 'Simon's Choice', the broad appeal family drama which asks “Would you accompany your dying child to heaven?”


Then there is Danny Bent's 'You've Gone Too Far This Time, Sir!' chronicling the everyday adventures and misadventures of Danny Bent as he cycled 10,000 miles from London to Chembakolli in Southern India with a very sore bum and chased across mountain tops by a masked robber on horseback (headline - 'Vicious bum chases aching bum').

Third suggestion: 'The Bookie's Runner', Brendan Gisby's seminal portrait of a man of no importance - his father - who thought he had worked out how to get one big win on the horses before he died, and he was right, but …...

And then the truly outrageously good, as-Jane-Austen-would-have-written-it-if-she-had-been-born-in-Atlanta-Georgia, 'The Wilful Daughter', where a successful middle-class blacksmith is absolutely determined to marry off his five eligible and beautiful daughters to the right suitors in the appropriate order, and his fifth, most attractive and wilful, daughter is equally set on having it, and the man she loves, her way.

Finally a lyrical fable, a plea for friendship across races, however unlikely that might be, a book for all ages and all time, George Polley's 'The Old Man & The Monkey'.

Hell, I would stay in the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street just to read those books.

Winner of the Night Publishing March/April poll

And the winner is... Laura Robinett, with 'Glyptic', after a really tough race. Congratulations Laura!

The Synopsis of Glyptic:

Athena is a local tattoo artist. Around a year ago she was in a brutal accident that killed her parents. With no memories of her parents, her childhood, or the accident itself she starts her new life from that day forward. Derek, a family friend took her under his wing at his tattoo shop and from there she took off as one of the shop’s best artists.

Derek and the rest of the tattoo staff are as close to a family as she has ever known since the accident. But there is something about them she just can’t put her finger on. The odd symbols tattooed on their bodies are unlike anything she has ever seen and nobody will give her a definitive answer as to what they stand for.

One day after tattooing a design on a girl that was picked from a book bearing the same strange symbols, her life is changed forever.

Or is it only getting back on track?


Laura's current author site is http://www.ryuyume.com