From as far back as she can remember, Beverley Lee has always been in thrall to the written word. Her earliest memories are of books and how they made her feel. She spent most of her formative years with her nose between the pages, or at the local library, devouring books, and losing herself in the worlds of fantasy and adventure. She was that child who would always try to find Narnia at the back of any available wardrobe. Even now the smell of paper in a bookshop makes her feel like she is eight again.
Her writing journey began at the age of seven, when she created terrible, but enthusiastically written, cliché ridden pony stories, complete with illustrations, for her long suffering teacher. But she can’t remember a time when she didn’t make up stories in her head, even when there was no chance to write them down.
The closest thing to magic that she knows is creating characters and new worlds that never existed before. She loves the way the images and voices take form, and the way they take on a life of their own as the words spill out. Beverley is very much drawn to the darker side of fiction and the shadowy place between light and darkness where nothing is quite as it seems. She loves flawed characters – they have a depth and a tantalising wealth of possibility.
Inspiration comes in many forms – a snippet of conversation, a stranger on the street, a song lyric fleetingly heard. Life is inspiration. The very best story is the one you have to tell.
She is a people watcher, a dreamer, a lover of nature and simple things. She collects feathers, picks up seashells and likes to run her fingers over old stone. There’s history there. Stories just waiting to be discovered.
The best way to grow is to support other people and she is passionate about helping other writers as they begin their journey.
SF & S: Beverley, thank you for making time for this interview! It is always a pleasure.
Beverly Lee: Thank you for having me! I’m thrilled to be a guest on the ever fabulous scifiandscary.com
SF & S: I really enjoyed The Making of Gabriel Davenport because you have created a story with different supernatural elements (I won’t go into more detail and spoil it for those that need to pick it up). How did this concept first come to you?
Beverley Lee: I had a vague idea for the story years ago, when I saw a TV show about an old stately house used as a paranormal research centre. I penned a few thousand words about a house that dealt in those things and stuck it in a drawer. Four characters emerged from that very badly written part draft, characters that would go on to be Gabe, Carver, Ollie and Clove.
The actual first few scenes in Gabriel, as it is now, were written for a competition for new writers, but I never sent it in. About six months later, I pulled it from my files and started playing with it again, and this time the whole story took over and demanded to be written.
SF & S: Like me, you started later with your writing career. What prompted you to pursue writing? Do you think you could have written this series earlier in your life?
Beverley Lee: I’ve always written stories, either in notebooks or in my head. My poor primary school teacher had to put up with dozens of awful cliché ridden pony stories, complete with illustrations! But the push to actually put pen to paper came when a personal event destroyed my life and how I thought it would continue. As I picked up the pieces I started to think ‘maybe you can write a novel’, but I had so much fear and self-doubt that it wasn’t until 2015 that I decided that if I didn’t do it now I would forever be looking back and thinking what if.
I don’t think I could have written The Making of Gabriel Davenport without all the events life had thrown at me. To write a character-based story with many point of views you need to understand people, and how they act in certain situations. You need to be able to delve deeply into their heads and pull out all of their emotions, even the twisted ones they want to keep hidden. Age has given me that insight (I hope!)
SF & S: When I first moved to England, I could not get over how atmospheric and dark parts of this country could be. Are there any special places that inspire you or inspired the village in The Making of Gabriel Davenport series?
Beverley Lee: The village of Meadowford Bridge is completely fictional, but I used fragments of the places around where I live in certain scenes. The church, St. Jude’s, (renamed, as I liked the idea of the irony of using the patron saint of hopeless causes) is the church in the next village, complete with lychgate. The winding hill Olivia encounters in the thunderstorm is the switchback road I drive down quite often, and the rear landscape seen from The Manor is based on a view from a National Trust property. Wherever I am I’m always looking for details to use, as I believe having factual settings mixed in with the fictional, grounds a novel.
Ancient woodland, historic places, old graveyards – these are the places where I gather the crumbs to feed into the darkness 😉
SF & S: You have one hundred and fifty reviews on Goodreads! Congratulations! What was your goal when you first began writing this series?
Beverley Lee: Thank you so much J I wanted to make people feel like I did when a book transports me away from the real world and into its pages. I wanted them to finish reading and want to sit down with the characters and ask them why and how and what if. I am extremely lucky to have had my hopes granted.
And I wanted to rewrite the vampire myth a little, adding my own creation of politics and hierarchy and communication, whilst still staying true to some vampire roots.
But I will blame my characters entirely for insisting that I carry on past book one. When I started out it was only ever supposed to be a standalone!
SF & S: Not only do you write horror, but you are active with Bookstagram. What makes you pick up a book?
Beverley Lee: What writer doesn’t love a community that lives and breathes book? J Usually, it’s word of mouth recommendation. I’ve discovered so many wonderful authors that would have simply slipped past me if not for bookstagram. There’s an incredible talent in the indie and small press world, and it’s such a shame that the majority of the reading public will never get a chance to discover them.
If I’m out and about and I see a book, it’s the cover that grabs me first. Then I read the back blurb and the first page, before deciding. But really, I have a tbr *mountain* at home so I shouldn’t be buying any extra. Not that that stops me!
SF & S: Let’s talk vampires. I am obsessed as you know! Why vampires? Are your characters completely imagined or influenced by real individuals?
Beverley Lee: I’ve always been obsessed by these dark creatures of the night. There’s just something about a being that can live forever as long as it drinks blood, the thing that keeps us, as humans, alive. Most of us fear our own mortality; vampires give us an insight into a dark world where this fear can be crushed.
I sometimes wonder if it’s because vampires are usually lone creatures, but yet they are not lonely. Is it because we ourselves want an existence where we don’t have to fit into a stereotypical group or way of life? Vampires have a freedom we crave.
A long time ago I read The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice and the way she writes her vampires as emotional and sensual beings really resonated with me. My own vampires carry those characteristics – they experience human feelings, but it’s still the need for blood that drives them and over rules any morose thinking on ‘taking lives’. Savage sensuality, with heightened perceptions and the tortured need for blood. What’s not to like? 😉
And, no, very sadly, my vampires aren’t influenced by real individuals.
SF & S: Top five vampire characters in a book or film.
Beverley Lee: Lestat de Lioncourt – The Vampire Lestat
Armand – The Vampire Chronicles
Dracula – (Gary Oldman – Bram Stoker’s Dracula)
Silas (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman)
Eve – Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive)
SF & S: What are your personal beliefs in the supernatural? I remember you telling me a VERY creepy encounter you had!
Beverley Lee: Ah, yes, that has to make it into a book one day, don’t you think? 😉 I don’t necessarily believe in the existence of magic and supernatural powers as I write them, but I do believe things exist that we can’t explain with science. And some people are more tuned into these vibrations than others.
Ancient places, especially, have a certain feel to them, and I believe that things can bleed through if you are perceptive enough, and leave your mind open to the possibilities.
SF & S: Halloween is just around the corner! What does your typical Halloween night involve?
Beverley Lee: I have grandchildren, so I’m either out trick-or-treating with them or I have a huge basket of sweets and chocolate at home, waiting for small guests. I leave a carved pumpkin outside and sometimes I dress up, although this seems to scare the adults more than the children!
Then I’ll either put on a favourite movie or read until midnight.
One of my favourite Halloween’s was spent in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and that’s the very best place to be.
SF & S: Self-promotion time! How can people connect with you and tell us about the series! Any other projects we should look out for?
Beverley Lee: All my books and where to find them are listed on my website https://beverleylee.com/ where you can download a free short story, a dark and twisted fairy tale, by signing up to my mailing list.
My favourite place to hang out is on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/theconstantvoice/
But you can also find me on –
Twitter – https://twitter.com/constantvoice
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14969899.Beverley_Lee
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/beverleyleeauthor/
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.co.uk/theconstantvoice/
In a nutshell, the Gabriel Davenport series is about a boy hunted by darkness, thrown into a world of buried secrets and terrifying new realities. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s about love and loyalty, and the courage to face impossible situations with your head held high. It’s about who you call family, whether that be human or vampire, and what you will sacrifice to save them.
It has vampires and demons, witches and ghosts, mythology and creatures raised from the dead, but it will make you question everything you thought you knew about them.
It’s a banquet of horror and darkest fantasy, all wrapped up in a black ribbon, and waiting on your doorstep 😉
And there’s a new project, scheduled for release early in 2020. The Ruin of Delicate Things – a story of loss and grief, revenge and introspection, all set against a background of a haunted house and a still, dark lake.
The Making of Gabriel of Davenport
In a house built on truth something lays hidden.
Beth and Stu Davenport moved to Meadowford Bridge to give their young son, Gabriel, an idyllic childhood. But one night, their dream is shattered by a hidden, ancient darkness– and their lives are forever changed.
Years later, Gabriel goes looking for answers about his mysterious past. Soon, his life begins to unravel as he discovers that the people he loves and trusts most are harboring sinister secrets of their own. As the line blurs between darkness and light, Gabriel must confront the terrible events that destroyed his family all those years ago.
His choice: continue living a lie in blissful oblivion, or give himself over to a terrifying new reality. The darkness awaits.
You can find The Making of Gabriel Davenport through Beverley’s website directly or via the Goodreads page
V. Castro is a Mexican American writer living in London. She is the author of Maria The Wanted and the Legacy of The Keepers and the forthcoming erotic novella, The Erotic Modern Life of Malinalli The Vampire. When not caring for her children she is writing, exploring London and watching way too much telly. www.vvcastro.com
