Interviewing C A Yates
Helloooo!
Over Xmas I reviewed the great fun short story collection We All Have Teeth by C A Yates which is funny, sharp, strange and compelling tales from SF to fantasy and horror. Chloe kindly agreed to chat to me about the collection, writing short fiction and future work!
How would you booktempt We All Have Teeth?
It’s like the bastard child of Dame Angela Lansbury and Jack Burton got all jacked up on the ‘shroom, stole a motorcycle, got hungry after their adventures, cooked the bike, luxuriated in its hot vegan meat, but it was so good it was like they could see right through the fabric of the universe, so they started writing dodgy prose poems about love, vengeance, and the end of the world. With singing fish. And some demons, as well as other stuff like nightclubs, B movies, and butterflies. In an improbable nutshell. I mean, I’d read it.
Although this collection is very varied crossing all the genres there is a theme of fighting back and not giving in that comes across again and again. Why do you explore this so often?
Do you know what? I hadn’t thought about it until you mentioned it. I guess I’m working some stuff out! I wish I had a cheerful answer but, to be honest, it’s how I’ve come to see the world. My everyday life is a bit of a battle because I live with chronic mental illness, I’m agoraphobic, and some days are a ballache. My brain tells me on the ever-so regular that I’m a massive waste of time and space, so that’s my baseline. I have to get through the day fighting that “reality” and I want to kick it in the face by making something better out of my life. So, maybe it’s that.
Many of the tales have a distinct voice – how do you find the character for narration and what do you enjoy about using it?
My way into a story is most often through a character and they can come from anywhere: a name I’ve read in an article, a physical feature, a line in a song, a memory, whatever. Once that thing clickety clacks and I can start to hear their voice in my head, if that doesn’t sound too pretentious, I’m good to go. They tend either to be avatars of me or an embodiment of a point I want to make, or maybe even an exercise in seeing things from someone else’s point of view. It’s like trying out a new skin and it’s fun to let loose in it. Maybe we shouldn’t go as far as Kitty does though, eh?
How did you feel looking back at the selection of stories in the collection?
I wrote the stories over a long period of time, years, and that period of time? Hands down the worst of my life. Real rock bottom stuff. So I look back at those stories and I feel proud of myself. There were times when I genuinely thought, sometimes hoped, I was going to turn to dust, but I’m still here, I got through that awful stuff, and I wrote stories that someone published and let loose on the world. Those Foxes are crazy beautiful! So yeah, I’m Really Fucking Proud. Which is hard for me to say, but fuck yeah, Womble! I did the thing!
What else can we look forward from you in the future and where can we find out more?
I’m working on a novel, something that doesn’t quite understand what it is yet, but will be filthy and dark, while also being nice and upbeat… and that, even if I’m the only one who thinks so, sums up my work quite nicely. I’m going to write some new short stories too so you’d best watch this space.
As to other stuff, you should check out the anthology Dreamland from Black Shuck Books, edited by Sophie Essex. My story in there, ‘Fill The Thickened Lung With Breath’ is one of my favourites, and the other stories in it?! OO LA! It’s got people like Julie Travis, Priya Sharma, Laura N Mauro, Penny Jones, Selina Lock, Rachel Knightley, Charlotte Bond, Jo Thomas, and they’re just the ones off the top of my head. I was blown away when my sub was accepted. I also edited an anthology, The Fox Spirit Book of Love, last year. It’s got stories from James Bennett, Dolly Garland, Jenny Barber, David Tallerman, Geraldine Clark Hellery, Alec McQuay, and a host of others you need to discover. It was my first gig as an editor and I had such a great experience. It’s a drop of goodness in a world that wants to stamp finer feelings out. Elsewise, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram via @shloobee and my website is www.chloeyates.com.
If there was one book (not your own) that you wish you could get everyone to try and read what would it be and why?
One?! I had no idea you were a monster, Matthew (blogger’s note – see I can still fool people). Okay then, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I’m not sure it’s particularly obscure, but if you haven’t read it you really should. Wonderfully dark and marvellously written, of course, but for me it’s special because of its depiction of Constance’s agoraphobia. It’s so en pointe, not the narrow, hysterical view of it you usually get in popular culture. It’s presented so calmly, matter-of-factly even, that as an agoraphobic you know immediately this writer understands. I didn’t know when I first read it that Jackson suffered from agoraphobia, and at the time I didn’t have a name for what I was experiencing either; I just thought I was being ridiculous. When I found out about Jackson, it made perfect sense and a lot of things clicked into place. That it’s a wickedly glorious book makes it all the more powerful for someone like me and hopefully it’s a bit of an eye opener for other people.
