Lee Murray's foray into writing began with chick-lit, but she quickly realised she wanted to explore deeper, meatier themes. Photo / Andrew Warner
THE easily-unnerved and frequently-frightened don't have anything to fear from Lee Murray in person.
It's what lurks in the dark recesses of her mind that cause palpitations and trepidation.
Standing just 1.5m tall and with size 35 shoes - about the same as an average eight-year-old - she speaks softly and dresses in colour. Put a blank page in front of her, however, and that free-flowing niceness disappears.
The full-time Tauranga author-editor spills grotesque, dangerous and out-of-this world-ideas onto her computer in the large home-office that she shares with husband David, a physicist. It's entirely fitting that her desk is adorned with a writing trophy shaped as a bronze, devil-horned head.
The office bookshelf is stacked with books to be autographed, the rest of the office and home peppered with awards and art from her books. It traces the arc of a long and successful career.
At 53, she is New Zealand's most awarded science fiction and fantasy writer and can claim 12 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, two Australian Shadows Awards, and is a double Bram Stoker Award-nominee.
She is the only person in the world to have reached the final of horror's premier literary award - the Bram Stoker - twice, and one of only three New Zealanders to have ever been nominated, alongside Marty Young and Taika Waititi.
She's best known for her Taine McKenna adventure series, and the supernatural crime-noir series The Path of Ra (co-written with Dan Rabarts) which has got "nibbles" from interested television producers.
Murray has also written several books for young people and is the editor of 10 dark fiction anthologies. Her latest book for pre-teens, Dawn of the Zombie Apocalypse, will be released in October.
Her writing tends towards darker material, partly informed by suffering from severe depression and anxiety.
"A lot of horror writers are depressed, probably proportionately more," she explains. "But horror writers are also inherently cheerful. You meet them, and you'd never know, but actually, the incidence is extremely high.
"When you explore something dark, there's always going to be that element of hope, and perhaps that's why we do it - to find a way out."
When you explore something dark, there's always going to be that element of hope, and perhaps that's why we do it - to find a way out.
Well-connected globally, Murray has been instrumental in developing a new programme through The Horror Writers Association around mental health. She also wrote a personal essay about her own experiences that was published in a book about writing and anxiety, for Victoria University Press. The book is now being considered for a documentary film series.
Before becoming an author, she was a research scientist and New Zealand Energy Advisor to the OECD in France. She feels that writers in New Zealand aren't valued enough and should have been acknowledged in the country's new, world-first "wellbeing" budget, which seeks to focus on poverty and mental health.
"Story is absolutely fundamental and essential for our wellbeing. To say it's something writers do because we love it, is to belittle what we do."
Her most significant readership is in the United States and her publishers are all overseas. "I can't get support from New Zealand publishing or funders - I've had 37 funding applications declined."
She shrugs. "A good book is a good book. Does the genre really matter?" She suspects science fiction and fantasy isn't deemed "serious literature".
She adds that Kiwis who write full-time are usually those who can afford to or are retired. Most writers earn just $12,000 a year from their books; Murray typically earns less than $2 from every sale.
"People raising young families are so busy making a living that there's a whole horde of voices not being heard. If we lose that, we're going to lose a record of this time in our history."
Craig Gamble, publishing manager at Victoria University Press and a member of Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Council, says New Zealand publishing has always embraced a wide range of books and authors.
"I think it's one of our strengths, and recently publishing a diversity of voices has been one of the focuses of PANZ's work within the industry. At the same time, the small size of the New Zealand market has meant very tight margins for publishers and authors so authors will naturally seek bigger readerships and publishers overseas. That's always been true and many have done this with great success, especially in genres such as romance and fantasy."
As well as contributing to our country's literature landscape, Murray is co-founder of Young New Zealand Writers, which provides publishing and writing opportunities for intermediate and secondary school students. This year they published two New Zealand Youth Laureates.
Author and fellow New Zealand Young Writers founder Piper Mejia, says Murray has endless energy and gives her time selflessly.
"No question is unanswered and no request for help unaided. She is an inspiration to young writers as she validates and empowers them to trust their own voice."
Murray also hosts workshops, edits and critiques writing, and is a mentor for the New Zealand Society of Authors, and Tauranga Writers - the country's longest-standing writing group.
Her Path of Ra collaborator, Dan Rabarts from Wellington, has worked with Murray since 2013 on committees, panels, stories, and editing projects. Together they co-edited the award-winning anthology Baby Teeth: Bite-sized Tales of Terror of which proceeds go to charity Duffy Books in Homes.
Rabarts, who works full-time in corporate security, calls Murray "driven". "She sets these goals for herself and she never wants to fall behind."
He says there are some long-standing divisions in genre-writing, which makes it harder for them to get their work noticed.
"(It's) really interesting because all we have to do is look at New Zealand's film industry and see that when it took off, is when we started supporting and embracing fantasy.
"
Hercules
, followed by
Xena
, followed by
Lord of the Rings
… it just exploded. It's taken a long time for the literary market or for the funding bodies to make that connection, which is a bit of a shame."
Echoing that is Tauranga author Sharon Manssen, who is also the New Zealand quality environment and sustainability manager for Aurecon.
Manssen says it's rare for someone of Murray's writing calibre to stay attached to a community writer's group once they're collecting multiple awards. Her mentorship has been both amazing and a "reality check".
"For anything creative, New Zealand is such a small market. It doesn't have that same value attached to it by society," says Manssen, who is writing the third book in her Young Adult (YA) fantasy series, The Realm Trilogy.
"I do feel like her star is starting to rise and she will hit the big time, but it should be easier."
Taking up a penmanship
MURRAY's foray into writing began with chick-lit, but she quickly realised she wanted to explore deeper, meatier themes.
"It naturally led me down darker paths," she says, with a wicked gleam.
"I love horror, and horror is like romance - it infiltrates lots of genres."
When it comes to speculative fiction, it allows her to ask "what will the future look like?".
"It's a way of testing the waters. In the old days, we had Maxwell Smart with his shoe-phone… that was a big deal in the 1960s. Now everyone has (a modern version of) a shoe-phone."
Her overseas readers are particularly interested in the Maori mythology in her stories.
Into the Mist is set in the Urewera forest and incorporates a taniwha. She envisages the main character as a doppelganger for rugby player Sonny Bill Williams.
The idea for the book came to her while she was running on trails with girlfriends.
"We were talking about how lucky we were to run in New Zealand and not come across any beasties. I thought: 'What if there was something in the forest that could eat you or attack you?' I went home and opened this file and wrote 'Global Blockbuster', and that's how that book came about."
Hamurana's Angie Belcher, a travel writer, and writer for children says Murray's created a wider awareness of speculative fiction both here at home and internationally.
"It's often hard to conceive that this gentle, petite woman can write such heavily researched, action-packed, and suspenseful novels. She has a huge future and is a name to watch.
"I'm totally convinced that at some stage a film director will pick up her Taine McKenna series and make a blockbuster. Her latest book Into the Ashes (the third in the series) is gripping and so relevant to geothermal and volcanic activity occurring around us."
I'm totally convinced that at some stage a film director will pick up her Taine McKenna series and make a blockbuster.
Secondary readers or "beta readers" provide feedback on Murray's manuscripts and "sensitivity readers" provide advice on things like mythology. She also uses an "ensemble" cast to share multiple viewpoints.
"You're (then) allowing your reader more autonomy to interpret the story. Look at Game of Thrones and how everyone was so upset by the finale… people get very engaged in the characters and they don't like it when the author does something that they think they shouldn't have done."
Murray herself has always sat outside the norm.
Born in Putaruru, she had congenital hip syndrome and was in plaster for most of her first year. Doctors told her parents that she'd never walk, but she went on to run 25 marathons and a couple of ultra-marathons.
At age 7, she fell into a milking machine while on a school farm trip, and her pigtails got picked up in a flywheel and were ripped out at the roots.
Spoken like a true unnerved, horror writer she says: "I knew I was going to be okay". Her father, an ambulance officer, was with her at the time. She spent a fortnight in hospital.
Her dad, formerly a banker, was chief executive of St John Ambulance in Hamilton, and it's where Murray did most of her schooling and met David.
After university, the couple went to the United Kingdom for a year, France for seven years, the United States for four years, before finally resettling in New Zealand.
Lee didn't take up writing full-time until her two children - one of whom has ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome - were at school. David encouraged her to give it a go. She did some writing courses and jumped in. Ten years later, she's still learning as writing evolves. In 2019, readers want to jump to the heart of the action, she says.
"In Wuthering Heights (published in 1847), the first chapter is essentially the atmosphere of the moors - dark and grey and misty - to give you the gothic flavour.
"Nowadays, readers haven't got time for that. Just put me in the murder! Just, let's get there!"
Does she find that sad?
"It's just different. Modern readers are more time-poor, so there's none of this five pages of description. We want to know the character immediately, so the setting has to fit around the story. Then you need to place the reader in the character's head."
Murray, who reads an average of three novels a week, says she's a hard worker as opposed to someone with a natural flair for the pen. It can take her all day to write 1000 words.
"A lot of people say: 'You spew it onto the page and then you edit it later'. I don't do that. My pages always go through an edit, but they're usually nearly-finished when I pop them out there."
Somewhat of a perfectionist - sources say her editor's red pen is legendary - she lives by the Dr Seuss quote: "I mean what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 per cent."
"If someone asks me for something, an article, I deliver. That's me, that's how I live."
Becoming a double Bram Stoker Award-nominee is her biggest writing accomplishment to date, but she's certain that her life's pinnacle remains unwritten.
"Just watch this space."
Family say there are two people who may have information but are yet to be located.