We chat with author Kim Newman about Model Actress Whatever, which is set in an alternative 2020s London and is an entertaining, darkly humorous superhero tale is packed with Newman’s trademark wit, and comes with wickedly sharp edges.
Hi, Kim! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi, ND. I’m an author, critic and broadcaster, based in London. My books about film include Nightmare Movies, Kim Newman’s Video Dungeon and BFI Classics booklets on Cat People, Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit. My fiction includes the Anno Dracula series, the Drearcliff Grange School novels, The Night Mayor, The Quorum, Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d’Urbervilles, Angels of Music, A Christmas Ghost Story, Something More Than Night and Model Actress Whatever. I’ve written for television (Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema), radio (Afternoon Theatre: Cry-Babies) and the theatre (The Hallowe’en Sessions), contributed many commentary tracks and extra features to BluRay releases, and directed a tiny film (Missing Girl). My website is at www.johnnyalucard.com and you can find me on Instagram @kimnewmanannodracula and on Bluesky @annodracula.bsky.social
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
As a child in the 1960s, I was lucky to get caught up in many storytelling media – books and comics, but also films, TV, music, radio and the theatre. I also had crazes for the Biggles books, Molesworth, Mad Magazine, Marvel Comics, TV shows (Dr Who, Batman, The Avengers, Gerry Anderson) and fantasy films (Ray Harryhausen, James Bond, 2001, Planet of the Apes).
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: C.S. Lewis’ Narnia novels and Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Either Dracula by Bram Stoker or The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler – which oddly have very similar opening chapters.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Misery by Stephen King. I think you have to be an author to get this – the scene where she makes him burn the only copy of his just-finished novel is worse than the bit where she cuts his foot off.
Your latest novel, Model Actress Whatever, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
You’re in for an adventure.
What can readers expect?
A new reality, where the Beatles didn’t split up but recorded an album which opened the way to a colourful, magic 21st century Britain populated by enlightened, empowered folks who do their best or their worst to get through the night. Our lead character, Christine Chambers, is appearing in a soap opera and trying to get a media career started during her gap year – then she develops super powers after dark and her aunt tells her that she’s heir to a tradition of high-flying heroics.
Where did the inspiration for Model Actress Whatever come from?
My memories of certain fun things from the 1960s – music, comics, television – and a desire to reimagine them in a 2020s context. The idea has been percolating in my head since the Millennium but I began working on the book just after lockdown, which made me try for something expansive, exuberant, and bright. I thought we could all do with some cheering up. As the title suggests, I wanted to explore the world of minor celebrity – with fond indulgence, but also a sense of the ridiculous.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
All of it. My prospectus was to have fun with the book. It’s full of big, strange people… so far, readers have responded especially to the heroine’s best friend, Loulee Ling – the Ghost Lantern Girl, but I particularly like the many, many incidental or one-scene characters. I could happily do spinoff stories or books about, say, the mysterious Poltergirl or hippie wizard Magic Ian. I’ve commissioned mock-up comic book covers from artist Paul McCaffrey – and an animated book trailer to give a feel of the highly-populated world of the book.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
The book took longer than my usual – just as I was ready to write the finale, I came down with covid and had to take a break… and for scheduling reasons it made sense to write a novella (A Christmas Ghost Story) to take MAW’s original publishing slot before getting back to finish the book, which meant reacclimatising myself to a world with its own distinctive tone of voice and vocabulary. Probably the biggest challenge was keeping the whole world in my head for the entire period of writing.
What’s next for you?
I’m just finishing Mystery at Christmas, a novella which follows my A Christmas Ghost Story. Next up is a contemporary ghost/horror novel called Rotten Row and a follow-up to my Professor Moriarty book The Hound of the d’Urbervilles.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
This year, I’ve very much enjoyed Bridge by Lauren Beukes and Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi (newish) and have been reading a lot of vintage crime by Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Michael Innes, Edmund Crispin and Ruth Rendell. My To-Be-Read pile is the size of a 1950s fridge.
