After a pernicious career in the darkest arts, Daniel Draym spends his decrepit final years dreaming wistful fantasies of world domination in the crypts of his inaccessible Antarctic citadel. His only regret is that the end days are arriving through no agency of his own.

Savouring a tumbler of vintage bile, he dips his quill in an inkwell filled with the blood of the last Sumatran rhino. He is about to cover reams of priceless vellum, scrubbed clean with pumice stones by underpaid minions, with his near-illegible scrawl. An inevitable sequel is in the making.

Honestly? The text above is featured on the back cover of my novel Dream Whisperer, and I have had some fun with it. Admit that it sounds better than ‘sixty-year-old Flemish retired banker wrote his first novel’. And anyway, I would never use the blood of a Sumatran rhino to write my books. It is too thick and clogs up my pen. 

You can find buy links on my author’s website. You can also order the book at your local bookseller’s.

Welcome to the Hive, Daniel. Let’s start with the basics: tell us about Dream Whisperer – why should readers check it out?

Because it’s a damn good read.

While the First World War rages, a terrifying monster is unleashed in a bombed-out Flemish village. It leaves a trail of death in its wake, and others like it may soon follow. Fleming, a man with a tragic family history and head of the Special Branch of the British Secret Service, is on the case. Guided by the formidable Mycroft Holmes, he races against the clock to prevent the enigmatic Dream Whisperer from opening a portal that will allow the Outer Gods’ return to Earth. The fate of human civilisation depends on the outcome of a heart-stopping battle of wits, magic, and brutal violence. If you think you know everything about the Cthulhu Mythos, this novel will set you straight. The Outer Gods may be gone for aeons, but they left behind a secret world order.

Dream Whisperer is an epic page-turner with a surprising mix of fantasy, historical elements, and Lovecraftian horror. For the keen-eyed reader, the story is peppered with references to pop culture tropes like Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, the Tunguska event, and much more.

Dream Whisperer is the first book in The Fleming Chronicles, a series of six. All the books can be read independently as each tells a separate story, but there is a common thread that builds up to the grand finale in the last volume.

Tell us a little something about your writing process – do you have a certain method? Do you find music helps? Give us a glimpse into your world!

I like to surprise myself. It is more fun and ensures readers will be surprised, too. If I already had the story all worked out in the rough draft, it would suck the creativity out of the writing process, and I would lose interest. Of course, I do create a storyline, but when I start writing, the story inevitably takes on a life of its own and quickly deviates from the outline. 

I do a lot of my research while writing. It adds variety to the process and leads to last-minute finds that push the story in new directions. Serendipity is more common than one would expect. The fun in writing is to marry serendipity with structure to deliver a tight story that keeps the reader guessing until the last page.

Inspiration is overrated. I cannot work on a story if I’m not writing at my desk — always on a big-screen iMac. I cannot read my own handwriting and make far too many corrections to work with a pen. I don’t have fixed working hours. Sometimes, I start early and work until dinner time, but often, I don’t start until after lunch. My output varies. I am not a fast writer, and I rewrite a lot.

Speaking of worlds, what inspires your worldbuilding? Do you have a magic system/s? If so, can you tell us a bit about it?  

I wanted to tell a story so deeply rooted in real history that it would be difficult for the reader to discern precisely where facts end and fiction begins — an outrageous statement when you know that Outer Gods, elves, and sorcerers play significant roles in the book. All the historical events that form the story’s background — including the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the battles in Flanders and northern France, and the burning of Thessaloniki — are accurate. The realism even extends to the names of the battleships and their captains.

The worldbuilding allows readers to understand that everything they have learnt about history obscures the fact that humans co-inhabit the Earth with many different sentient species of non-humans who reached our planet in the slipstream of the Outer Gods millions of years before the emergence of humankind. All the gods and creatures we know from myth and legend do exist, and their relationship with humanity is fraught with tension. 

So, unlike stories that require the reader — and the writer — to move into a completely new world, the world of Dream Whisperer is very recognisable… until the reader realises that nothing is what it seems.

Magic has a vital role in the second part of the book. The type of magic I use is based on nineteenth- and twentieth-century ceremonial magic. I mention Aleister Crowley, and the sorcerer fighting the Dream Whisperer in the Dreamlands is a thinly veiled version of the artist Austin Osman Spare, another important figure in ceremonial magic.

What (or who) are your most significant fantasy/sci-fi influences? Are there any creators whom you dream of working with someday?

I have read a lot of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror — but also all other kinds of literature. Reading is essential for a writer, even if you don’t wear your influences on your sleeve. I have a fondness for nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century horror and fantasy writers like Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Dunsany, Arthur Machen, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Gustav Meyrink, Robert W. Chambers, and, obviously, H.P. Lovecraft.

I like Lovecraft because he brought something entirely new to fantasy writing — the nihilist notion that humanity is but an insignificant dust speck in the universe, threatened by indescribable, god-like creatures that don’t even notice our presence, just as we ignore the bacteria in our guts.

I don’t consider Lovecraft an influence on my writing style, but I loved using elements from his universe and treating them irreverently. The Dream Whisperer is an avatar of Nyarlathotep. I paint him as a failed crown prince in the Outer Gods’ pantheon. His kin abandoned him on Earth when they left for other destinations. He is a frustrated character, quickly bored, and always looking for new excitement. To open the portal for the Outer Gods’ return, he must awaken five Sleepers, who turn out to be artificial beings called Cthulhus. The Dreamlands, Randolph Carter’s home, reveal themselves to be something unexpected. I can’t tell you much more, but it does show that Dream Whisperer is not a book for Lovecraft purists.

We see such varying opinions from authors when it comes to the time of editing their books. How have you found the editing process? Enjoyable, stressful or satisfying?

I enjoyed it. For me, it mainly comes down to reducing complexity — shortening sentences, cutting adverbs and adjectives, tightening the language, and eliminating unnecessary details. The text will already be well-polished when I write the final chapter. I do a lot of editing along the way. Rereading what I wrote the previous day is standard procedure, as is returning to random chapters I wrote weeks ago. 

For this second and revised edition, I had the pleasure of working with two experienced professional editors and was relieved their suggestions were not overly radical. I cut two chapters, added a new one, and moved a few existing paragraphs. The rest were details — nothing like the horror stories you sometimes read about writers being asked to rewrite half their book. 

The problem with editing is that the more often I read through a text, the more I develop a ‘blindness’ to my mistakes and shortcomings. Proofreaders who dare to tell me what they didn’t like in the story are essential, as is having the humility to accept their remarks… What also works well is to leave a text alone for several months. That way, I can read the book with ‘new’ eyes.

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped they’d portray?

I made the cover myself, so you cannot blame anyone but me if you don’t like it.

Can you tell us a bit more about your characters? Do you have a favourite type of character you enjoy writing?

Dream Whisperer has an extensive cast. Kirkus Reviews wrote that the novel is ‘a panoramic, detail-driven historical fantasy that delivers plenty of heroes to root for.’ It would go too far to discuss them all, but if you are interested, they all get a brief introduction on my website. 

The main character is Gorluin Fleming. His ancestors have been in charge of the Special Branch of the Secret Service since the reign of James I. His paternal grandfather married an elf, making Fleming a quarter-elf. His parents were murdered in India when he was only a few weeks old. Fleming grew up between elves and entered human society as a young adult. He doesn’t feel at home in either society. He broke with family tradition after dropping out of Oxford University. Fleming married and became a gentleman farmer in Yorkshire. When he returned from the market one day, he found his farm burnt to the ground and his wife and daughter dead in the flames. Assuming this new tragedy was no coincidence, Fleming decided to join the Special Branch and find out who was out to kill him and his family. Although Fleming is a ruthless secret agent, he is no womanising James Bond. He is an introvert, deeply scarred by personal loss and set apart from the rest of humankind by his upbringing among elves.

Dr Rebecca Mumm is a brilliant young French biologist sent by her government to act as a liaison officer with the Special Branch in the fight against the Dream Whisperer. After a rough start, she becomes Fleming’s trusted confidante. Like Fleming, Dr Mumm is an outsider. As a woman, her prospects for an academic career are poor, and her Jewish heritage confronts her with deep-seated racist prejudices. Moreover, Dr Mumm prefers women to men, which further isolates her in a country with far less enlightened sexual laws than France.

Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’s smarter, older brother, also known as M, is Fleming’s boss and so much more. M answers only to the king. He is the unelected mastermind who sets his country’s political agenda. All government officials defer to him. M’s towering intellect serves only one purpose: to protect the British Empire’s interests at all costs. He is an inscrutable and sometimes sinister force behind the throne, often feared and hated by his peers.

As you can see, my favourite characters are outsiders, people ‘who do not belong’. Seeing the world through their eyes puts it in a different perspective and invites us to reflect on topics that have always seemed evident and ‘normal’. 

If you were transported to your own fictional world, how would you fare and which of your characters would you choose to be your companion?

I would fare poorly, as I would be useless in the terrifying battles. However, the Special Branch of the Secret Service has an extensive library of weird and wonderful books, which could keep me busy for a long time. I would love to learn the languages of elves and other alien species. Professor Ove Eliassen, the Special Branch’s historian, would be an excellent guide. 

The world shifts, and you find yourself with an extra day on your hands during which you’re not allowed to write. How do you choose to spend the day?

I’ll give you a boring old man’s answer. I would spend it with my three grandchildren, who are still at that enviable stage where they can look at the world with wonder.

One of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?

Pigs are my favourite animals. So, I would probably choose Hildísvini or ‘the Battle-Swine’, Freya’s boar in Norse mythology. Wild boars are almost unstoppable, extremely fast and agile, which makes me guess that, unlike me, they would do well in battle. 

Tell us about a book you love. Any hidden gems?

It is hard to choose. 

If you are looking for something off the beaten path, I recommend Walpurgisnacht by the Austrian writer Gustav Meyrink. The slim novel tells the bizarre and apocalyptic story of a popular uprising in Prague in 1917. The rebels aim to overthrow the old German nobility in their castle above the Moldau and crown Ottakar Vondrejc, a poor violinist with a heart condition, as ‘Emperor of the World’. 

I like this because Meyrink mixes historical fact, myth, politics, and magic, just like I do in Dream Whisperer, although the two novels are in no way similar. The English translation is currently out of print, but Amazon offers a nice Kindle edition.

Can you tell us a little something about your current work(s) in progress? Have you any upcoming projects which you can share?

The Fleming Chronicles series consists of six books. I have written the first five and have an outline for the sixth — from which I’ll happily deviate. I expect to start writing the final volume probably next month.

The Fleming universe feels very much like home by now, and I think I will return to it to tell other stories set in different periods, using characters from mythology or legend and putting a new spin on them. I have one in mind that shows promise, but it is too early to tell.

I also have ideas for an alternative history novel, which may or may not contain fantasy elements. The notion that world history often hinges on singular events appeals to me. I have singled out an event that could completely change our world if it had not happened. The historical canvas is pretty clear, but I have yet to find a compelling story that makes the most of it. I don’t want to think about it too much right now because it would distract me from finishing The Fleming Chronicles, and I don’t want to be part of the illustrious club of authors who never finished what they started, much to their readers’ chagrin.

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

Good stories are always about the world we live in today. Readers will recognise the relevant themes. Democracy is in peril, our planet is under threat, and war is looming on different fronts. Many things we have taken for granted in the past half century are being questioned, and it seems the lessons of the past have been forgotten. I hope this book can serve as a reminder.

Thank you so much for joining us today!