Interview with Author Nemma Wollenfang

December 2021

Hi, Nemma. Can you tell us a little what your story, "Dream Eater," is about?

"Dream Eater" revolves around an ancient, filthy, crow-like critter that consumes dreams. He's a rather jaded, bitter creature who hates humanity and is shunned by everyone and everything. When a human woman shows him the smallest slice of kindness, his attitude begins to alter. He becomes enamoured of her and instead of eating her dreams, he roots out her unpalatable nightmares. This provokes a positive transformation. It's a bit of a "bah-humbug"-scrooge reclamation type story, that I really enjoyed writing. It even has theme music, so to speak. Well, I was listening to Chelsea Wolfe's "Feral Love" on repeat while typing away.

How did you come up with the idea?

Your guess is as good as mine. You know that peculiar place between quasi-dreaming and misheard song lyrics? I think it came from there.

What is its message for the reader?

I suppose it's a "Be kind" story, essentially. There's a bit of a raw back note, which I won't go into in detail, but like many, I'm one of those people who sees a stray in distress and wants to help, rather than knock it aside and cause further harm.

What is your inspiration for writing as a whole?

Reading other people's fabulous works and thinking, "Wow, I wanna do that too!" I suppose it's a bit of escapism when I really need it too. But there's also something very appealing about creating and moulding your own worlds. Perhaps all us writers have a bit of a God complex.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Like where you're from?

I come from the gloomy windswept North of England. It rains a lot here. It's raining right now. When it's not raining, I like to ramble about the countryside. There are a number of preserved old houses within travelling distance. Many are used on film sets--there are three Pemberleys! I had a phase of searching out ancient Neolithic stone circles and burial sites too (but most of those are way away from where I live). I've also volunteered in some form or other of animal rescue my entire life. I even did a veterinary Masters in Vector Biology and Parasitology--which comes in handy when dealing with wild or domestic casualties.

What about your writing background?

My writing can run the gamut from real-life non-fiction to epic high fantasy, and everything in between, although I mostly adhere to speculative fiction. I especially like adding a romantic twist to spice up a storyline. Professionally, I made my first SFWA-qualifying sale in 2015 with Flame Tree Publishing. My work has appeared in several of their Gothic Fantasy volumes since, as well as a range of other markets like: Abyss & Apex, Cossmass Infinities, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. I've even won a few prizes. In 2019, I became a recipient of the Speculative Literature Foundation's Working Class Writers Grant for my in-progress novel, which also reached second place in the Ink & Insights Novel Award that year. This is the current "big thing" I'm working on.

Where can listeners find more of your work?

Facebook is where I hang out most frequently, but if you're interested in more of my writing I have a pretty awesome Amazon Author Page, and you can check out my website.

Any new work we should keep an eye out for?

The Imperatrix series is one of my favourites. It's space opera action-adventure and follows Daire, a hitman-for-hire, and Empress Ataraxia of the Yii Dynasty. There are currently three stories out in the series. This year, the third instalment "Imperatrix, Tertius," made its debut in Beyond the Stars: Across the Universe, which reached #1 on the Amazon Bestseller list. And the first two are due to be included in the Writers of the Moon Initiative as part of Astrobotic's Mission 1 payload. Hopefully launching in 2022. They might be going to the actual Moon in memory card form!

If you have more of a dark leaning, though, then my story, "Matchbox Daemons," may be to your liking. A contemporary horror about a group of school children who become embroiled in a dangerous game. It was released in August 2021 in Cootie Shots Required: There are Things You Must Know by Broken Eye Books.

Or, on the lighter side of things, Speculatively Queer recently released It gets Even Better: Stories of Queer Possibility, which includes my story "Weave Us A Way," a high fantasy about embracing identity.

(And just for Juli's curiosity: What are you reading now?)

Dune!

I've never read it before, and with the remake released I thought it was long past time.

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Editor's Note: If you enjoyed this story, you might be interested in reading the whole anthology, Things With Feathers: Stories of Hope, with many more great stories. It's available on Amazon (ebook/print) and is free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

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