THE MMI AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ML RAYNER

Savannah talked to Crystal Lake’s ML Rayner from across the pond!

It’s the return of our MMI Author Spotlight, and what better way to welcome this series back than everyone’s favorite Brit-ML Rayner! Recently signed by Crystal Lake, Rayner has three solo novels, with a fourth on the way. Let’s dive into what this old curmudgeon has to say about his career thus far.

Q: What do you want readers to know about you as an author?
That I’m a miserable, antisocial old grump!

Q: What inspired you to start writing? When did you start?
I wanted to start writing in my teens. I loved reading, so I thought there was nothing better than sitting down and writing. The problem was, I had no experience with writing. I tried, but I never managed to get a solid page down that flowed the way I wanted it to. So, I gave up on it.

Then, in 2014, I went on a camping trip to the Scottish Highlands, something I did once or twice a year. When I returned home and looked back on my time there, I thought it would be a great setting for a story. I had also been reading several books on history at the time, a big interest of mine. When I combined the historical topics I was reading about with the location I had just visited, a story just seemed to ignite in my mind.

That said, the development was anything but fast. I spent over four years writing that first book, a book that ended up being only 280 pages long. I guess I didn’t take it seriously at the time, or maybe I just had no idea what to do with it once it was complete. When it was finished, it sat in my documents for two years, largely forgotten.

It wasn’t until 2020 that I opened it again, rewrote a few sections, and finally released it to the world.

Q: What works do you currently have available (solo and anthologies)?
Echoes of Home: A ghost story
Wretched: An Echoes of Home Story
Amongst the Mists
Bloodline: Co written with Jim Ody

Anthologies

Loch Lament – Fuck around and Find out
Welcome Home – Screams from Beyond the veil
Worst Halloween Ever! – Bloody Hell
Thistle – Books of Horror vol 4

Q: What was your gateway into horror?
I grew up on classical horror, such as Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley. It wasn’t until I reached high school at age 12 that I borrowed Stephen King’s Misery from the school library. A modern-day horror reader was born.

Q: What are your favorite subgenres of horror?
Isolation
Ghosts

Q: If you didn’t write horror, what other genre do you think you’d be in?
Most likely Historical non-fiction. I’m still a big classical reader at heart. I find it much more fluent to write time period pieces than contemporary.

Q: What’s on your TBR? Anything coming out soon that you’re looking forward to?
Michelle Paver’s: Rain Forest.

Q: What are you working on now?
A short novel exploring the fragile line between fear and imagination. Centered on a young girl haunted by her deepest childhood fears, and a mother who tells comforting bedtime stories to help her overcome them. But as the tales grow darker and reality begins to blur, the question remains: are the stories just stories…

Q: Where can readers follow you and find your books?
The usual places.
Amazon or any main chain bookstores.
I mainly use Facebook. I have little time for the rest of Social media. I also have a Patreon account where I can dedicate time to member and share updates of my works in progress.

Savannah R. Fischer is the permanently exhausted pigeon in charge of two well-loved chaos gremlins. When not with her family, she can usually be found in her cave, wrapped in an oversized blanket and dreaming of spinach puffs. She wants to show her gremlins that they can do hard things, even when it’s scary, like pulling the wrong lever and ending up in a pit of alligators. No llamas were harmed in the making of her works of horror.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.