Gabrielle Faust is a friend and fellow writer of mine who was caught in the fallout of Permuted Press Gate. I too was caught in the middle of this, although I did not participate in the drama but quietly backed out. Her fiction and her social media presence is also something to admire and worthy to emulate, especially if you’re a writer. What originally caught my eye with Gabrielle Faust was the subject matter of her fiction, which seems to draw a number of parallels with my own. Without further ado, here an interview with Gabrielle Faust!
- Considering you’ve worked with a few publishing houses or small presses included Permuted Press—what is your take on state of affairs in the publishing industry today?
These are scary and uncertain times in the world of publishing. For the past decade or so there has been a steady increase in the number of “small presses” which have not lived up to their end of contracts or acted negligently in the interest of the authors and their creative works. As a result more and more authors have begun to retreat from publishing houses altogether and embrace self-publishing, which up until the past couple of years still held a stigma of being of a lower quality and professionalism than traditionally published books. However, as the veil has been pulled away from the reality of self-publishing and authors become more educated as to what is required to self-produce high quality published books, they are finding a new power and self-confidence in the truth and facts. There is what I would call a “creative class revolution” in the works. While the future is still going to be a roller-coaster, it is exciting to see authors standing up for their rights and taking back control.
- How would you describe your philosophical or even religious attitude and how does it affect your fiction writing and artistic endeavors?
I am what the mainstream would label “wiccan” or “pagan”, but I prefer the term “universal spiritualist” as my beliefs about the universe and our place within it is much more metaphysical and philosophical than based in any particular mythology. I like to remain open to the addition to new concepts and philosophies that I may introduce to my own perspective and assist in my spiritual evolution. As for how my spirituality affects my writing and art, it is essential. Throughout my novels you will see various explorations of different spiritual belief systems, as well as a philosophical contemplation of the human condition, quantum mechanics, and what is referred to as the “holographic universe” theory…
- Gabrielle Faust is your name of course but are there any ties with the medieval legends of Faustus and his infernal pursuit for knowledge?
Actually, I am a direct descendant of the Johann Faust upon which Geothe based his famous play. We have a joke in our family that our great ancestor didn’t read the fine print in his deal with the Devil and thus, whenever anything goes bad in our lives, we say it’s the Devil messing with us and say “Thanks, Johann!” Ha! I would like to think that this aspect of my ancestry perhaps has an influence on my incessant pursuit for knowledge, but, then again, Johann was not exactly an upstanding person and quite mad, so hopefully not too much of that genetic imprint remains.
- Your fiction such as Eternal Vigilance and Revenge take on many religious ideas and concepts, including that of God, the Devil, Heaven and Hell, vampires, etc. In your opinion, do you think these are actual realities that shape up our universe or are they more symbolic or metaphorical in a Jungian way—or something else entirely?
I believe entities such as God, the Devil, Heaven and Hell are concepts, which embody far larger aspects of reality than the human psyche can truly comprehend. It is our way of breaking things down and personifying them so as to be relatable for the true “face” of these facets of the universe and our own existence would drive us mad if we tried to truly understand them. I believe that there are forces in this reality that are far more vast than such simple definition. They are what drive the forces of creation and destruction, which cannot exist without one another. As for supernatural creatures—there are many that will say that they do actually exist, in one form or another, and I say I will not disbelieve in something until it has been proven to not exist. I’ve seen things that would chill people to the bone that are wholly unexplainable. On the flip-side, as far as mythology is concerned, yes creatures like vampires, werewolves, etc., are constructs of different aspects of our own psyches, our fears and desires that are taboo or constrained…
- Any new projects in the works that we can look forward to in the coming months?
Right now I am focused on the re-release of the first trilogy of the Eternal Vigilance series through my independent label Nightshade Publications, all of which will be available by the end of December. The fourth installment, and the first novel in the next trilogy, Meditations on Darkness, will be released in early 2015. After that, I will be working on the fifth novel, as well as a selection of other stand-along novels. My other focus at the moment is the re-launching of the Nightshade Vampire Boutique, which I hope to have back online by the end of the year. Lots of exciting developments at the moment. 2015 will be an crazy year! :)
