About
Hello. My name is Emma Jane Davies.
I write fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales. Sometimes I write mainstream fiction, as I have delusions of being literary now and then. But I’m not a snob. I’m equally as happy delving into the dubious world of lurid skiffy pulp.
My favourite books and stories are fairy tales, mythpunk, fairy tales, fables, fairy tales, space opera, the occasional character-driven urban fantasy, certain kinds of rare feminine epic fantasy books, and fairy tales. I’m not averse to good romances with strong plots (I am averse to bad ones). I’m an upbeat, pretty-flowers-and-butterflies kind of girl, though my fairy tales are in the habit of turning dark. Gritty horror and crime novels aren’t really my cup of tea, though Stephen King is a damn good prose writer and storyteller.
Some of my favourite writers include Angela Carter and Catherynne M. Valente, who write fairy tales, fables, and mythpunk, science fiction and fantasy writer Tanith Lee, romantic dark/urban fantasy writer Anne Rice, gothic horror writer Poppy Z. Brite (now known as Billy Brite), and fantastical alternate history writer .
From this, you can probably deduce that I’m a bit of a poet and a romantic. I like well-written, beautiful prose. Not too florid though, I prefer prose that is spare, with crisp visual imagery and clear, unambiguous meaning.
Some of my favourite movies include Star Wars, The Labyrinth, Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Fifth Element. My father raised me on a diet of pulp science fiction classics and sci-fi comedy like Hitchhiker’s Guide. My mother was a feminist. I put my own precociously politicised spin on my inner world. I spent my teenage years writing about clever princesses, witches battling wizards, female jedi knights, female vampires, and girls from outer space with cute, furry alien sidekicks, rescuing men from various self-inflicted troubles.
I won’t say that I’m a “feminist writer”, as that term is oft abused by those with genders and agendas, and I have no desire to preach. I am, however, a rather woman-centric writer and I like to play with gender, sexuality, culture and ethnicity. I like to read and write certain kinds of colourful books where women use their resourcefulness, intelligence, and (occasionally) brute force, to solve their problems. I like proactive, unique female leads with strong, quirky, realistic characters. However, I cannot, and will not, abide sassiness. There is far too much of it going around.
