#Author #Q&A with @Rio_Youers author of ‘The Forgotten Girl’

Hello, and welcome to another Q&A,this time with the fabulous Rio Youers!

He kindly (indulged) answered my list of questions as he continues his virtual blog tour promoting his new paperback book release, ‘‘The Forgotten Girl’

Out now, from Titan Books, this is a supernatural mystery thriller that you will not want to miss!

She possesses a unique and powerful ability. Just like we can erase data from a computer hard drive, Sally can erase memories from a person’s mind.

A dark mystery unfolds in Rio Youers’s riveting tale, for fans of Paul Tremblay and Joe Hill.

Abducted and brutally beaten by a group of thugs, street performer Harvey Anderson is convinced he’s a victim of mistaken identity when they demand to know the location of his girlfriend, Sally Starling.

Harvey Anderson has been single for years. She dominated my dreams. Sometimes as a lover, more often as a scared, lonely girl running from something that slathered and swooped. I woke with her name on my lips, clutching the empty half of the bed, knowing beyond all doubt that she should have been next to me. Aided by his thugs, a sinister man known as “the spider” has tracked Sally to Harvey. He has pursued her for nine years, desperate to possess her remarkable talents.

Yet emotion runs deeper than memory, and so Harvey goes looking for a woman he loves but can’t remember, and encounters a danger beyond anything he could ever imagine.

How can you not want to read this book after that synopsis?!

Take it away Rio!

 

Question 1- What moment or piece of feedback made it feel like ‘Yes, I have arrived’ as a writer?

 

I’m not sure if I’ve had that moment. I’ve achieved a great deal within this industry, and hit many of my goals, but there’s still so much left to achieve. I think, if I ever hit a point where I don’t have to worry whether or not my next novel will find a home, that will give me the kind of security I’m looking for. But it’s a grind, the industry is unforgiving and hard, and I have a long way to go.

 

That being said, unboxing my first hardcover from a big-five publisher was definitely a highlight for me.

 

Question 2-Sell the wary reader ‘The Forgotten Girl’ in one sentence !

 

The Forgotten Girl is a fast-paced, psychological thriller in which our unlikely hero, Harvey Anderson, sets out to find a woman he loves, but can’t remember.

 

Question 3-You have mentioned in interviews being a fan of the ‘Pan Books Of Horror’-do you have a favourite volume or story ? They had some really chilling covers and are a great way of viewing changes in  20th Century Horror fiction as well as launching careers! My collection went missing in a house move and I’m still not over it…

Would you consider curating a collection ? And what would the theme be?

 

You know, I read a lot of them when I was a kid – ten, eleven years old (a long time ago). I remember the covers and a few gruesome scenes from certain stories, but very few of the titles. I mostly recall them with a kind of wistfulness and nostalgia.

 

I reread a few of the volumes in my early twenties, wondering if they were as good as I remember. In short: they were not. I found the stories to be badly written and unengaging. Hey, that’s just my opinion; I know that there are a lot of diehard Pan Books of Horror fans out there, and I salute them. What I really remember from this reread is that one of the stories contains my favourite bad sentence of all time: “The journalist’s grin was a tribute to loving dental care.” I laughed my ass off when I read that.

 

I should say, though, that The Pan Books of Horror, along with the Hammer Horror movies I used to watch on late-night TV, were incredibly important in forming my early love of horror. They paved my way to Stephen King, James Herbert, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, Clive Barker … the storytellers who made me reach deep with my own writing, and work to be the best I could be. I owe a lot to the Pan Books of Horror. No doubt about it.

 

Would I curate a collection? Maybe one day, if I ever found the time. But as of right now, time is in short supply.

 

Question 4-As a reader I am very excited about your next book,’Lola On Fire’, -any hints as to when it might be released?

 

Lola on Fire is a balls-to-the-wall crime thriller, with plenty of action and violence. It’s Kill Bill meets John Wick, with a splash of Elmore Leonard thrown in for good measure. I had a great time writing it, and the early feedback from my trusted beta readers has been incredibly positive. In fact, they say it’s my best book to date, which is very nice to hear.

 

In regard to when it will be released … there’s nothing I’d love more than to be able to answer this question. It’s currently with my wonderful and experienced agent, and—at the time of writing—he’s about to begin the submission process. But the blunt and unfortunate truth is that it may never be released. We’ll just have to see.

 

 

Question 5-Do you create soundtracks to write with or do you prefer complete silence? To the point where even the sound of your own breathing annoys you?

I do create soundtracks. I find that everything I write—even short fiction—has a theme song, something that fits that spirit of the story and carries the writing along. My novels usually have three or four songs that I play on a loop. For Westlake Soul, I listened to “Memphis Guitar Soul” by Anders Lewin and “Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)” by Eels. For Halcyon, it was “Good Morning Freedom” by Blue Mink, and “Woman Woman” by Awolnation. And for The Forgotten Girl, I listened to a cover of the great funk tune, “TSOP”  by Dexy’s Midnight Runners (you remember them?) and “Fight Test” by The Flaming Lips.

I sometimes listen to music while I’m writing, but these songs, and others, keep the work vivid in my mind when I’m not hunched over my notepad or sitting at my computer. So I listen when I’m driving, or doing the dishes, or whatever, and the book, the characters, are never far away. I like that.

I like silence, too. Most of The Forgotten Girl, and Halcyon for that matter, was written in a very quiet parking lot—away from all distractions—with my laptop balanced on my knees. Conversely, most of Lola on Fire was written in a loud, smoky, crowded bar in Vienna’s first district.

 

Question 6-‘The Forgotten Girl’ is a powerful, character driven suspense novel about an ordinary man, Harvey, finding himself in extraordinary circumstances-he has his memories of love stolen by the eponymous girl, Sally Starling. With a cracking opener, Harvey finds himself pitting his wits against some truly nasty villains who will stop at nothing to find out what he knows. By wiping his memory of her, has Sally saved him or doomed him? Who do you think memories really belong to?

 

Sally Starling is an incredibly powerful young woman who has the power to remove memories, and she is being hunted by a cruel, narcissistic tyrant called Dominic Lang. So yes, Sally is genuinely trying to save Harvey. Her dangerous past—and Dominic Lang—catches up to her, and she is forced to run. By removing herself from Harvey’s mind, she is hoping to remove the danger of her life from his, and eliminate any chance of him following her.

 

But although Sally removes Harvey’s memories of her, she can’t delete his emotions. So Harvey, still feeling something inside, sets out to find her. In this sense, Sally has doomed him.

 

So the answer to your question is: both; Sally has saved and doomed him. I think that’s one of the things that makes the story so compelling.

 

Who do I think memories really belong to? You know, it sometimes seems that we have a kind of rental agreement with all our memories. Some—most, in fact—are short-term. Others last a little longer. Memories are temporary, and apt to fracture. It’s the moments we possess. They’re fleeting, but they’re ours.

 

Question 7-Was ‘The Forgotten Girl’ the original title of the book?

 

No. I struggled for a long time with the title for this book. I even had my beta readers—Joe Hill and Sarah Pinborough among them—volunteer suggestions, along with my editors, but nobody could land on anything truly kickass. One of the original titles was Remember Me, but that felt a little too Nicholas Sparks. Another was Red Bird, which I really liked, but my editor at the time did not. Another still was To the Flame. St. Martin’s Press even printed off a few early ARCs with this title. After much frustration and back and forth, we finally landed on The Forgotten Girl.

 

I was reluctant to go with this to begin with, because every other book had the word “girl” in the title, and I didn’t want anybody thinking I was jumping on the bandwagon. But, you know, the title fit, and pub date was fast approaching, so I went along with it.

 

Question 8-You and Harvey share a love of playing guitar, have you ever busked, and if so, what was it like?

 

Yeah, sure. Back in the day. My repertoire wasn’t broad. I did tunes like, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Redemption Song.” It was fun. Made chump change, but I didn’t do it for the money. The story of my life.

 

I’m in a band now. It’s relaxed and we jam well together. I’m no Jimmy Page, not by a long shot, but playing guitar has always been a great way for me to relax.

 

 

Question 9-What’s the one book that you would urge people to read?

 

Too many answers to this question, and it’ll likely change again tomorrow. But right now it’s 1984 by George Orwell.

 

Question 10-Your covers from Titan are really striking! Did you have a hand in designing them at all?

 

I didn’t, and I’m more than fine with that. When you have Julia Lloyd designing your covers, you know you’re going to be very satisfied with the results. I think Julia is amazing, and consistently produces incredible work. I’m blessed and grateful to have had her design my covers for Titan Books. With both The Forgotten Girl and Halcyon, she knocked it out of the park.

 

Question 11- I checked that both of these are vegetarian friendly, it’s an ongoing debate in my house about dunkable snacks.This is a tiny straw poll of authors biscuit choices- Jaffa Cakes or Jammy Dodgers? Either, both or neither?

 

Okay, this is serious, and an understandable source of debate. The truth is that neither are great—or even good—when it comes to dunking. The Jaffa Cake gets way too soggy. This is a cracking biscuit in its own right, but its appeal lies in being able to scarf maybe a dozen of them in one sitting, not in its dunkability.

 

The Jammie Dodger is more dunkable, I think, but it’s not exactly a Hobnob, is it? The jam presents way too many complications. It gets too sticky and you’re sucking it off the backs of your teeth for the next twenty minutes. Again, a cracking biscuit, but not a dunker.

 

If I was forced to choose, I’d go with … the Jammie Dodger. But let’s face it: your Chocolate Hobnob is the best biscuit for dunking, and I’d go toe-to-toe with anyone who says differently.

 

I do remember Dexy’s, their cover of ‘Both Sides Now,’ is on heavy rotation atm on my Spotify playlist that kept me sane during the writing of my dissertation-and rewrite after it failed first time-and I would totally agree on the Hobnobs too!

Really really hoping to see ‘Lola On Fire’ on bookshelves , some day and in the meantime I would absolutely urge anyone and everyone to pick up a copy of ‘The Forgotten Girl’ with a ‘Halcyon’ chaser.

Both a fantastic books with killer hooks that reel you in…perfect for a bank holiday!!

 

About the author…

 

 

RIO YOUERS is the British Fantasy Award–nominated author of ‘End Times’ and ‘Point Hollow’. His short fiction has been published in many notable anthologies, and his novel, Westlake Soul, was nominated for Canada’s prestigious Sunburst Award. Rio lives in southwestern Ontario with his wife, Emily, and their children, Lily and Charlie.

 

Links-https://rioyouers.com

Twitter @Rio_Youers

@TitanBooks