Constantine: I'm influenced by many things, but I suppose Pre-Raphaelite art is one of my main inspirations. All the pictures have a story to tell. As for music, I tend to have a "sound-track" CD for each book I write. Listening to it helps me visualise the world I'm creating. My taste in music is very varied, from classical to techno-dance. Examples of soundtrack CDs are Aion by Dead Can Dance for Burying the Shadow, Let Love In by Nick Cave for Stalking Tender Prey, and Leftism by Leftfield for Scenting Hallowed Blood.  

Crescent Blues: What do you think about the current state of the Goth music culture? Is it growing, dying, stagnating, changing or what? Are there any particular musical trends right now that excite you? 

Constantine: In England, Goth is in the doldrums. It doesn't really exist any more and any bands that are still clinging to the wreckage seem very derivative. Nothing new is happening. In the States and Australia, and parts of Europe, Goth continues to thrive. To be honest, I don't really have much contact with that scene now, not since I stopped working with bands. The music I listen to most now is alternative dance, I suppose. 

Crescent Blues: Have you ever read a book that was so in tune with the way you think and what you strive for in your writing that you found yourself saying, "Damn, I wish I'd written that!" 

Constantine: Oh yes! When I first read a book by Helen Dunmore (which was A Spell of Winter) I just adored it. She's more of a mainstream than a fantasy writer, but her writing style, her ideas and the sensuality of her work are just brilliant. By sensuality, I don't mean sex, but just the way she invokes all of the senses through words. You can almost taste, smell and hear her prose. Similarly, there's Kate Atkinson, who wrote a fantastic book called Human Croquet. These women are superb authors. I'm in awe of their skill and hungrily await their new novels. In the fantasy genre, I love Tanith Lee's work. She has inspired me for years, even though I think what we do is very different. 

Crescent Blues: How have the things that influence you changed over the years? 

Constantine: I don't think they have much. I'm still inspired by good movies, good books, good art and good music. 

Crescent Blues: How does one of your works begin? Can you trace the genesis to one particular thing: a character, an image, a phrase? 

Constantine: It's been different for every book. I might see a TV documentary (as with Thin Air that's just come out in the UK), or I might see a movie that inspires creative ideas, or read a non-fiction book or a newspaper story. It might just be a feeling, a color, a dream, something I see during a journey, or a conversation overhead in the street. Anything can spark off a story.  

Crescent Blues: How much are your characters inspired by real people? If we met your friends, or watched your favorite movies or bands would we see the real life models for some of the Wraeththu or Grigori? 

Constantine: There are bits of people I know in my characters, but I don't think they're recognizable as such. The only time friends appeared in my work as characters in themselves was in Sign for the Sacred. That was a deliberate act, and had their approval.  

Crescent Blues: What's your writing process like? Do you plan a great deal or work more spontaneously? 

Constantine: It's a bit of both. I generally have a synopsis for the whole plot, but that tends to change as I write, and the characters come alive for me.  

Crescent Blues: Similarly, how do you see your work developing in the future? Do you have a definite idea of where you want to go with your art, or do you prefer to let your direction evolve spontaneously? 

Constantine: I don't have a definite idea of where I want to go, and wouldn't really want to have. I've got about half a dozen synopses for novels that I want to write over the next few years, but they may be put to one side in favor of new ideas. I certainly want to do more non-fiction, along the lines of Bast and Sekhmet: Eyes of Ra, which I've just finished writing with a friend, Eloise Coquio. I've also written a self-development book with Debbie Benstead, called The Inward Revolution, which was published in the UK last year. Both of these books are being shown to American publishers at the moment, so here's hoping they find a home over there. 

Crescent Blues: What do you hope to achieve that you haven't yet achieved? 

Constantine: I would like to see a movie of one of my books one day, but I appreciate that the finished article would undoubtedly be very different from the novel.  

Crescent Blues: Imagine that someone has never read a Storm Constantine book -- how should they begin? Not just which book should they choose, but what is the perfect atmosphere in which to read it? (I thought silk velvet cushions, rose incense, and wine in exotic glass goblets might be a good start...) 

Constantine: I love your suggestions, although the incense I'd go for would be more of a sandalwood/patchouli mix rather than rose! However, that said, I like to think people can get into my work in more mundane settings in order to escape from them.  

A lot of my readers take my books on the train to work with them, or read them in their lunch hours. To me, a novel should create a kind of virtual reality, so that people can become totally immersed in it, with nothing jarring to jolt them back to reality. Curling up to read in exotic surroundings is the ultimate bliss, but a good book should be able to transport the reader beyond the physical realm. This is what I aim for and which I hope I achieve. 

I'd just like to finish with news concerning my books in America. [Publisher] Meisha Merlin will bring out Scenting Hallowed Blood, the second volume of the Grigori trilogy this summer, and a limited edition collection of my short stories, called The Oracle Lips, is due out imminently from Stark House Press. There's a possibility that some of my back catalogue novels will be published in the States, but at present I have no definite dates for this. A major American publisher is currently negotiating for Sea Dragon Heir, but superstition forbids me to say more until the contract is in the bag! 

I have an official Web site, which gives information about all forthcoming projects and appearances. I read all the messages in the guest book on the site and respond personally to any questions from readers. 

Donna Andrews

Donna Andrews is the author of Murder with Peacocks, which won the St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Award in May 1998.