Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I do not know how many books I have written. I lost track several years ago. There are four currently available from traditional publishers with six more on the way.
The Marten Hoyle Project (the initials of which stand for Mental Health Problems) is the name assigned to a Literary Endeavor based in the psychological setting of the Eglantine Home for the Poetically Unsound in Mettray, USA. The Project is held anonymously by the Voice of a being known as Vate C. Carmen.
Hoyle suffers from the disease, schizophrenia but considers the Voice of “Vate C. Carmen” (a genderless hallucination which has been with him since earliest childhood) to be the source of his creative output.
Born on April 15th, 1988, in Spokane, Washington, Hoyle began writing at the age of six. He began writing poetry regularly at the age of fourteen when he discovered both the Holy Sonnets of John Donne and the musical achievements of Pink Floyd.
Hoyle has been consistent in his output of prose and poetical works for nearly thirty years. His first professional publication was an epic poetry trilogy titled Symphoniya de Toska that was released from Wheelsong Books in 2023, and later that same year his first novel, Voces Animarum was published by I Ain’t Your Marionette Press.
Consisting primarily of written works, The Marten Hoyle Project produces visual as well as musical media to accompany the compositional endeavors, which Hoyle considers to be “Literary Symphonies.” Voces Animarum is the first book in a series of such “symphonic literary movements” titled Filii der Bedlam, all of which are scheduled for future release from I Ain’t Your Marionette Press.
Known themes in the Literary Endeavor of “Marten Hoyle” include melancholy, suicidal ideation, death, loneliness, isolation, philosophical theory on the subjective nature of reality, and insanity. The works of Marten Hoyle have been compared to those of such literary giants as Edgar Allan Poe, Leo Tolstoy, H.P. Lovecraft, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, and William Shakespeare.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The first novel to be released was Voces Animarum. It was inspired by my own schizophrenic “journey.” And I use the word “journey” for lack of better terminology. The idea came to me of what would happen if a mental patient was told to dispose of his medication, and the environment in which he was interred became a warped hellscape.
The blurb of the book reads as follows:
A letter—anonymously penned, details a journey through a landscape of terrifying possibilities. Voces Animarum welcomes you to walk the thin line between reality and nightmare. But, don’t think for a moment that Vate C. Carmen is going to allow you to simply walk a straight narrative line. No! At moments, the reader will be directed to step into the evils of one realm, and then into the horrors of another. Sometimes, the reader will be directed to both places simultaneously…and, be sealed within an echo chamber of tortured souls. For some, this is familiar territory. It is a sphere traversed by a psychologically sensitive minority.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I don’t see anything that I am doing as strange or unusual, which is possibly why I am considered totally insane to those who do not comprehend it.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Milton’s Paradise Lost, the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Les Fleurs du Mal; anything by Jean Genet. The list is quite broad to be honest, but those are the few that come immediately to mind.
What are you working on now?
The soundtrack for the second novel in Filii der Bedlam (The Children of Bethlehem), which is titled Brother of Death…a book about a young man who assists in his lover’s suicide following a terminal illness. I also am working on the series as a whole–the soundtracks for each individual novel in the group of works.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
https://www.deviantart.com/martenhoyle
I give about 99% of my work away for free as (from what I am led to understand) the majority of my demographic has no means by which to purchase my material. I don’t really know or care about promoting my work, I only care that people are reading it.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
No. Not really.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Art is a survival strategy.
What are you reading now?
Shirley Jackson’s The Road Through the Wall. I am also reading this as I type it.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The soundtracks for the series of Filii der Bedlam. I am quite particularly excited to work on the fourth novel, Algea Miseria–which is already completed, and two of the book’s songs/music videos are available on YouTube as well as TikTok.
What is your favorite book of all time?
I don’t really have one, but if one must be chosen it would be The Miracle of the Rose by Jean Genet.
Author Websites and Profiles
Marten Hoyle Website
Marten Hoyle Amazon Profile
Marten Hoyle’s Social Media Links
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