My Interview with Rayne Hall
Hi Rayne and Good morning from me. Love your author photo.
Karen, my answers are in British English. Feel free to change to American if preferred.
No, British English is fine.
First some questions about your involvement with the short story group.
How did you get involved with the short story group?
I loaned one of my previously published short stories – the vampire story “Night Train” – to the “Out of Darkness” horror anthology.
How many of the short story books do you have a story in and which ones?
My stories have been published in many anthologies, magazines, and collections, but if you mean this group’s books, then only one: Out of Darkness.
Can you give us one sentence describing your story, so we know a little bit about it?
Night Train: The train is about to enter a tunnel… and there are vampires on board.
If the short story group puts out another collection, will you submit a story again?
Perhaps.
Okay, now for the hard part.
Tell us about your writing habits. Do you write every day?
Yes, of course. I write daily at my desk, and I also carry my notebook with me wherever I go and write in coffeeshops and on the beach.
How long have you been writing?
Let me see. I wrote my first story when I was about six years old. I told the teacher that the stories in the school book were stupid and I could write better ones. She challenged me to write a story about a letter’s adventures from writing to delivery. When I handed it in, she was startled that a six year-old could write so well. Of course, she didn’t know I’d had the help of my older sister. From then on, when the other kids had to read the dull pieces for their homework, she often assigned me to write stories, and I soon learnt to do it without my sister’s help.
When I was 15, I sold my first piece of writing, a poem. I’m 49 now, so I’ve been writing for 43 years, and writing for money for 34 years.
How many books do you have out?
I’m not sure how many books I have out at the moment, because I write in different genres under different pen names, for different publishers as well as indie publishing. With some books, it’s not clear if they’re currently out or out of print, and then there’s the question if co-authored books count, and whether to include books published under different pen names.
Here are some of my ‘definitely out’ books published as Rayne Hall:
Storm Dancer (dark epic fantasy novel)
The Colour of Dishonour: Stories from the Storm Dancer World
Thirty Scary Tales
Six Scary Tales Vol. 1
Six Scary Tales Vol. 2
Six Scary Tales Vol. 3
Six Scary Tales Vol. 4
Six Scary Tales Vol. 5
British Horror Stories
Six Historical Tales Vol. 1
Six Historical Tales Vol. 2
Six Quirky Tales Vol. 1
Writing Fight Scenes
Writing Scary Scenes
Writing About Villains
Writing About Magic
The Word-Loss Diet
Perhaps you also want to include the Ten Tales books. I’m the editor, and have contributed the introduction and one story to each – does this count?
Sure, why not. 🙂
Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts
Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires
Scared: Ten Tales of Horror
Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates
Spells: Ten Tales of Magic
Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies
Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance
Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft
Do you have a favorite one that you have written? Why?
“Storm Dancer” is a dark epic fantasy novel. I love the troubled hero Dahoud with his dark secret, the exotic setting inspired by cultures of the ancient Middle East, the disturbing topics it raises, and the exciting story. It’s not a book for everyone, though. Some readers find it too dark for their taste.
What’s next for you? Are you working on another book? Tell us a little about it.
As usual, I’m working on several books at once. Right now, I’m revising a steampunk story about a werewolf in a funicular railway car and a fantasy story about an introvert dragon. I’ve started another book for my bestselling series of writing craft books for authors, a practical guide titled Writing Dark Stories. I’m also writing a sequel to my bestselling dark epic fantasy novel Storm Dancer. And of course I’m writing more horror stories! I like having several projects on the boil at once, so I can switch between them and never get bored.
What do you do to relax when you aren’t writing?
When the weather permits, I enjoy long walks along the seafront and sunbathing on the beach. Alas, I live in England, where we have more rain than sunshine. I also like studying ancient history, container gardening and of course reading.
Wow, with all of those books, I don’t know where you would find the time but, any other creative pastimes?
Bellydancing and gardening are my passions, and I’ve written many stories about them.
I’m addicted to book cover design. For this, I commission artists to paint original pictures exactly as I want them. This is a wonderful creative collaboration, melding the artist’s vision with my own. It’s also great fun. I can tell the artist “Yes, I like the picture so far – but could you please make the hero’s eyes darker and his shoulder broader, and open two more buttons on his shirt?”
Doesn’t Dahoud (the guy on the Storm Dancer cover) look great?
Yes he does! 🙂
If you would like to know more about Rayne; you can find her at the following places.
Twitter (Twitter is my most active social network)
- Posted in: interviews ♦ short story group ♦ Uncategorized
- Tagged: interviews, karen einsel, karens different corners, rayne hall, short story group
karensdifferentcorners 
The author photo isn’t actually a photo. It’s a painting by the artist Fawnheart. An artist’s impression. (I like it much better than any photo.)
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I knew it wasn’t an actual photo, but it is what you use to represent you. 🙂 I used to use a purple iris and when I would be asked to do interviews I would get; A flower? Really? You want me to interview a flower? Yup! Talk to the flower! 🙂
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Rayne is such a wonderful person and I love her book and her tweets! Lots of love, Emily
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