For this third edition of the semi-regular feature Living With The Writer, we welcome our first husband to the hot seat. Today we talk to Dave Fenn, husband of Jaine Fenn who has two books (Principles of Angels and Consorts of Heaven) published through Gollancz. Dave is a rather private person, so we express our gratitude that he was willing to spill some details about his life with Jaine.

Gollancz have very kindly put up three copies of Jaine’s latest book, Consorts of Heaven, for a UK giveaway! Please leave a comment for Dave in order to be entered into this giveaway. For those US readers who wish to put your names forward – if you are successful, you can pick a book from the FanLit stacks. Please make sure you say whether you are US or UK based!

AMANDA: Hello and welcome to FanLit! Thanks for agreeing to be another Living with The Writer victim. How are you today?

DAVE: Not too bad this afternoon. Jaine’s back in the garret working on the next book while I enjoy the Spanish Grand Prix.

AMANDA: First of all, can you please introduce yourself in your own words?

DAVE: Well I’m Dave and for three days of the week I’m a quality manager for a small engineering company. One day of the week I spend with the South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service which lets me get out in the green and helps keep me fit. I also do some volunteering for SUSTRANS looking after a local section of the National Cycle network.

We try and spend the later parts of our evenings together and a reasonable part of the weekend, but it depends on how the writing is going. So I started playing an online science fiction game, EVE, with some of my friends to keep me occupied when Jaine’s busy.

AMANDA: How did you and Jaine meet?

DAVE: Jaine and I met within a few weeks of our first year at college. We had some friends in common and both joined the science fiction society. It seemed like we hit it off almost immediately and we’ve been together ever since.

AMANDA: Did you know that Jaine was an author prior to your meeting or was it something she dropped on you afterwards?

DAVE: It was clear Jaine was into writing from the beginning. But she had to concentrate on the essays necessary for her degree during our early years together. So early writing from Jaine came as role-playing scenarios for our friends at college, which needed less polish.

AMANDA: What is your personal interest in fantasy and science fiction?

DAVE: I started reading science fiction and fantasy when I was seven, so it seems like it’s always been part of my life. I’m more into science fiction than fantasy these days, but I still have room for both. I also like science fiction and fantasy movies and have a reasonable collection.

AMANDA: Have you enjoyed attending conventions as the attentive husband, or is it something you prefer to skip?

DAVE: I greatly enjoy conventions, though rarely as the attentive husband. You see Jaine and I have attended and even run conventions from our first times together. Jaine being a recognised author is quite a new innovation. We are both recognised by a lot of British fandom in our own right, having been around so long. So conventions are for me a time to catch up with old friends that I maybe don’t see that often elsewhere.

What has made a difference for me is that more people in the business side of Science fiction now recognise me at conventions. In particular I get to meet authors more often and less formally than before.

AMANDA: What is your favourite part of Jaine being a writer?

DAVE: It’s great that Jaine is a published author and is seeing her dreams fulfilled. She’s been telling her stories to a smaller audience for years. But now she’s finally getting the wider exposure she’s worked hard for. But truth to be told, the best thing is finally to be able to read the stories in print and see the smile on her face when each new book comes out.

AMANDA: How does the writing fit around your daily lives?

DAVE: Jaine has a day job in the mornings, but gets down to work after lunch. She tries to stick to a word limit each day which means that we usually sit down to share dinner about eight. To offset this we try and find more time together at the weekends, but this varies depending on how the writing is going. Overall though, it works for us. But we’d both be happier if Jaine could give up the day job.

AMANDA: What is the hardest part of being the partner of an author?

DAVE: The hardest part is not being to help when the writing isn’t going well. At these times Jaine has to put in more hours and it’s stressful for both of us. Most of the time, however, Jaine is able to write quite freely so it’s not normally a problem.

AMANDA: If so, do you perform test reader responsibilities and advise on plot? If not, do you read Jaine’s books once they’re released?

DAVE: I often act as a sounding board for Jaine’s ideas, and as a sanity check on the science. My interest in maths and physics comes in handy on these occasions and I keep myself up to date with reading and occasional study with the Open University. However, the plot is all Jaine’s, even if she does insist on exploring the latest ideas with me over pizza whenever she thinks she’s stuck. But it’s more like the cardboard analyst, as she usually already knows the answers but needs to convince herself.

AMANDA: Thanks so much for agreeing to talk to us today!

Jaine Fenn’s website can be found here. The third book in her series, Guardians of Paradise, is due in September 2010 from Gollancz. Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win Consorts of Heaven (UK) or a book of your choice from our stacks (US). (Tell us where you’re located.)

Photo of Dave and Jaine Fenn are courtesy of James Cooke.

Today we welcome Skyler White to FanLit! Her debut novel, and Falling, Fly (reviewed by me) hit the shelves in March, and her second, In Dreams Begin, will be released in November. Comment below for a chance to win a copy of and Falling, Fly. Ms. Skyler will personalize and send a copy to two lucky FanLit readers!

KELLY: On your website, you mention that you’re involved in ballet and have a master’s degree in theater. Have your experiences on the stage (and backstage) affected your writing? If so, how?

SKYLER WHITE: I started taking ballet when I was really young, as an antidote to a ridiculous level of childhood energy which would now almost certainly be diagnosed as ADHD. Wish I’d found something as effective for the attention part of that! I still dance (although not ballet … ack, the mirrors! the tights!), but I don’t think I could put the hours in on my rear writing if I didn’t have dance as exercise and release. I don’t think it impacts the content of my writing though, just my ability to write.

My experience in theater probably does work its way into my writing though, if for no other reason than I studied a lot about the writing of plays. Also, working with actors puts you in very close contact with a wide range of personalities, which is useful for a writer. And I was a stage director, so it was my job to read the plays and visualize them. Trying to imagine what actors and set and staging would look like, how to dramatize a moment physically or stage it symbolically, that all was very useful training. And the theater company I worked with most was founded by three deeply passionate and very different people. Learning to negotiate with the other two and communicate with my actors taught me a tremendous amount about collaborative work, because no matter what you hear, writing, in my experience, is NOT a solitary profession. You have early readers and an editor and a copyeditor, and eventually critics and readers whose opinions and ideas can hugely improve your work and encourage (or discourage) your efforts. I think theater taught me to value that over almost everything, and how to take criticism and how to defend my choices.

KELLY: One of the things I noticed while reading and Falling, Fly was that many of your angelic characters have literary names (Olivia, Ophelia) and many of your mortal characters have religious names (Dominic, Adam). I found this really thought-provoking! May I ask what inspired this choice? (If it’s not too big a secret, that is!)

SKYLER: Oh, I’m so impressed! I don’t think anyone’s caught that yet. Yup. It’s a little game I was playing with myself. Madalene, too – her spelling is Magdelene (as in Mary) without the “g” (which belongs elsewhere, as you know!) Peter and Paul are Dysart’s disciples, although I gave him a literary name (the psychiatrist from Shaffer’s play ‘Equus’) and the boy in the bar is Jacob, because he wrestles an angel … I’m getting carried away, sorry. But yes, I’m playing with the lines because the stories are immortal, and humans are divine.

KELLY: Hmm, yes, I do believe I’ve seen that “G” somewhere. Another fascinating element is the way L’Hotel Matillide is constructed so that no energy is wasted; there are cogs and gears to recycle things like fidgeting into usable energy. To me, that’s both a really original creation and a logical extension of the way Hell’s denizens feed on energy in other respects: blood, sexual desire, etc. How did that idea come to you?

SKYLER: I don’t really remember specifically, but you’re spot on in the general vein. The crucial idea for me was that Hell is fueled exclusively by humans. There’s no organic, nature-based driver behind it. It’s all us. We make and maintain it ourselves.

KELLY: Can you tell our readers about your upcoming novel, In Dreams Begin?

SKYLER: Happily! In Dreams Begin inhabits the same story-world as and Falling, Fly, and there are some important character and plotline overlaps, but In Dreams Begin is a dark time-travel horror/romance based on my personal history and the occult movement of the late Victorian era. Laura, a contemporary graphic artist, wakes up on her wedding night channeled into the body of Maud Gonne, the famous Victorian beauty, Irish revolutionary and amateur occultist who may have been part faerie.

In Maud’s body, Laura, our modern, professional woman, while still coming to grips with Victorian rules and outfits, meets WB Yeats, the Irish poet. He’s wildly romantic, ridiculously passionate, and she, of course, falls (rather embarrassingly) in love with him, only to wake up back in Portland. The story tracks Laura and her new husband over two weeks, and Laura, Yeats and Maud Gonne over almost thirty years, all completely obedient to actual history.

Yeats really was involved in the occult. He and Maud Gonne really did have a marriage “on the spiritual plane,” and Maud was, at the time, in the Irish countryside, widely considered to be of the Sidhe, a kind of faerie known for spiriting away the souls of wives on their wedding nights! It’s been a tremendously fun project to work on because history kept handing me such amazing stuff, allowing me to explore body-image, feminism, fidelity and about six different kinds of possession across a hundred years, through several perspectives and all echoed in lines from Yeats’s published poems and Maud Gonne’s autobiography.

My editor at Berkley has done an amazing job securing rights for me, so I’m going to be able to include the most relevant quotes and historical annotations in the manuscript, which is very exciting! In Dreams Begin is due out November 2.

KELLY: In your interview with SciFiGuy, you mentioned that you always have four books going at once. What are your current four?

SKYLER: I’m just reading three at the moment. I’m still reading Rimbaud, plus The Gaudy Night and Elif Batuman’s The Possessed (which is wonderful btw!)

KELLY:And finally, a silly question: and Falling, Fly features a literally hellish hotel. What’s your most hellish hotel experience (or travel experience in general)?

SKYLER: That’s a great question! I was doing some research for In Dreams Begin last summer, traveling mostly in Ireland with a few days in London, but I had one thing I really wanted to see in France. In Samois-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, in the same graveyard where the legendary gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhart is buried, there’s a little memorial chapel where Maud Gonne buried her first child, Georges, and where she, with her married French lover, one Halloween night, tried to re-incarnate him, and conceived her daughter Iseult instead. When history gives you something like that, you put it in your book! But I didn’t know what the chapel looked like or how it was constructed, and I’d tried to write the scene without that information and just couldn’t do it. So I booked two nights in France: an expensive one in Paris (because they all are) and, to make up for it, a remarkably inexpensive one in Avon, which is as close as the trains get to Samois.

I don’t speak French, and I’ve never traveled alone in a country where I don’t know the language, but I had amazingly detailed directions given to me by a total stranger on a web travel site. Following those on blind faith (or foolishness), I took a bus to the train station. At the train station, I realized that one cannot just assume that there will be trains going where you want at a time convenient to you. I waited several hours and finally got on a train. The pre-recorded stop announcements are all given in very fast French, and it’s too dark out the train windows to read the station names. I got off the train at a desolate stop, completely uncertain I was in the right town. This was where it got hellish.

My directions from there were to walk to my hotel, a mere five minutes’ walk away. But it’s dark, and there’s construction that Google Maps hadn’t shown, and I had to go to the bathroom. I had no idea which street to take. All the roads were empty, so I struck out with my rolly-bag down the first street that radiated from the train station. I walked ten minutes without seeing anything, turned around, and walked back. I did this down each of the next three streets, including one with loitering French youth watching me from a dark parking lot, talking loudly, possibly to me, possibly not, but certainly watching me and my very loud rolly-bag rolling down the street past them and then back up the street.

Nervous, tired, frightened and having to pee like never before in my life, I finally hit on the right street, found the hotel and discovered it locked up tight. The lobby is dark. But there was a large ATM-looking thing by the door, and after much cursing, digging through folders for confirmation numbers, guessing at the French, and bouncing rapidly from foot to foot, I got a little printed receipt with a door code on it. It unlocked the lobby door and my room door, and my rolly-bag tripped me in the final mad dash for the bathroom.

It was a terrible hotel room, complete with bunk beds, blood stain on the floor, and screaming Armenians down the hall. I sleep well and long anyway. The next morning, I managed to convey to the lobby guy that I wanted to leave my suitcase with him and come back for it that afternoon. I headed confidently back to the train station, where I discovered that buses, like trains, are not scheduled to please me. There are two to Samois. One at 8 AM, one at 4. If I waited for the four o’clock bus, there won’t be another back to Avon. So I got directions from the very lovely French woman at the train station who keeps shaking her head and saying “You understand not!” to me. I assumed she was referring to my pig-headed insistence on walking the five kilometers to Samois rather than waiting for the bus, and off I went. Hell-free again. It was a gorgeous walk along a road through the woods of Fountainbleau – Maud and her dog Dagda were fond of walking here – so I was checking through the tree-trunks for their ghosts. The weather was perfect – sunny, but not too hot – and I was happy and relaxed with hours to explore the graveyard and catch the bus back.

Samois was one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen. I stopped into a pub to use the restroom (amazing how critical the most basic things can be when you’re traveling) and had a gorgeous espresso from an ancient copper machine behind the bar, much to the amusement of the two old men drinking beer who kept lifting their glasses to me and grinning, as though they’re on to something really clever that I’m just too slow, or too American, to understand. I found the cemetery and Django’s grave with no trouble, but the one photo I’ve seen of Georges’ chapel is definitely not his. There was someone else’s name on it, complete with pictures of the married couple buried there.

The only other chapel in the graveyard had no name on it, but peering through the grate in the front door, I can see it had rusted, hinged metal doors in the floor, which jibes with Yeats’ description. I was grateful that there was no one around to watch me, though, because it took me three running jumps to get a hand on the ledge of the window in the back wall. After that, barely holding on with one hand, I poked my camera, lanyard firmly around my wrist, into the crypt to get a glimpse of the opposite side that I can’t see through the much more conveniently located door window. Maud paid for the grave to be maintained in perpetuity, and she would not be happy with the state of things. There was a shovel and bucket in the chapel, and the little altar has collapsed. It made me sad, this big empty, ruined thing marking her grief and her lost child. I tidied it up as best I could, and left a little paper heart for Georges.

I found the bus stop in Samois, but it was hours from due, and the day was still gorgeous, so I walked back to Avon to find the lobby locked up tight again. I found a cleaning lady who spoke about as much French as I do, but no English. We gestured wildly to each other, miming suitcases and desks and men who should be standing behind them, and eventually she called someone and went back to cleaning rooms. After about ten minutes, the guy who took my rolly-bag that morning re-appeared, unlocked a room behind his desk and returned my luggage. I took a stunningly well-timed train back to Paris feeling like locked doors, blood stains and missing desk guys aside, the hotel in Avon was worth it.

I hope you felt the same about your visit to the hotel I made up in Ireland!

KELLY: Absolutely! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us.

Skyler White is author of dark fantasy novels and Falling, Fly (Berkley, March 2010) and In Dreams Begin (Berkley, November 2010). She lives in Austin, TX. Learn more at Skyler White’s website. Comment below for a chance to win a copy of and Falling, Fly. Ms. Skyler will personalize and send a copy to two lucky FanLit readers!

Another of Gollancz’s heavily promoted debut authors is all set to release his book Wolfsangel on 20th May (reviewed by Amanda). In celebration of that, we’d like to introduce you to M D Lachlan! He sits down and chats with us about research, Norse mythology, and whether Lad Lit is an appropriate genre tag…

We have a giveaway linked to this interview: three lucky UK readers can get their hands on a copy of Wolfsangel by leaving a comment for M D Lachlan below. That’s right, folks, it is a UK-only giveaway this time round – but US readers who wish to leave a comment will be entered into a drawing to win a book from the FanLit stacks. Please specify whether you are a US or UK reader in your comment!

Amanda: Welcome to FanLit – how are you today?

Mark: Very well. Beset by my children, like Boromir by the Uruk-Hai, but apart from that well.

Amanda: First of all, can I ask you to describe Wolfsangel in your own words and suggest why readers of FanLit may like to buy it?

Mark: It’s a new take on the werewolf myth, Norse mythology and magic itself. It’s a historical fantasy set in the early 9th century that involves Vikings, werewolves, witches and dark, strange gods. I’ve been told it’s something very new in fantasy – particularly the view of the werewolf and of magic. If you enjoy a page turning adventure interspersed with some extremely odd and sinister magic, this is the book for you! It’ll give you the werewolf as you’ve never seen the creature before! Also, it’s got terrific reviews from a host of authors you might know – Joe Abercrombie, Mike Carey and many others. It’s just starting to get reviews in the mags and blogs and, so far, they’ve all been great too.

Here’s one I really liked from Wertzone:

‘(A) primal force ripped screaming out of the annals of Norse mythology, drenched in blood and tragedy.’

Amanda: Wolfsangel is not the first book you’ve had published – you have also written in the genre of “Lad Lit”. What prompted the move into genre fiction, and do you intend to publish anymore under Mark Barrowcliffe as well as M D Lachlan?

Mark: I’d argue about the ‘Lad Lit’. I’d just call my earlier books comedy. As lots of critics noted, my work actually bore no resemblance to stuff like Nick Hornby and Mike Gayle. That said, the tag brought me a few readers so I shouldn’t complain about it. Yes I do. I have something that I’m sort of toying with but I’m worried it’s a bit too dark a comedy for a mainstream audience. Or even any audience. It’s the funniest thing I’ve written but a little bleak.

Amanda: Are you noticing differences between speculative genre readers and those who read your previous novels?

Mark: I meet speculative genre readers, which I never did my mainstream readers, though not for want of trying. Speculative readers are much more engaged than mainstream readers, much more ‘fannish’ – and that’s a good thing. Any writer wants people who engage with their work in a passionate way and there are no better fans than SF&F fans for doing that.

There are many more chances to meet them than mainstream fans especially through conventions. They’re also frighteningly well informed, so – because my stuff is rooted in real mythologies – I need to make sure it’s very accurately portrayed.

Amanda: In Wolfsangel, the level of historical detail is key to the authentic feel of the novel: did you do a lot of research for the novel? What did this involve? Were you never tempted to write purely historical works?

Mark: I grew up as a Norse mythology nut and knew a lot about the Viking period anyway. I re-read the Edda – the ancient Norse myths that were recorded in 13th century Iceland and I re-read a lot of the sagas. They’re important to give you the feel of what you’re trying to write – that weird Viking mix between a hale and hearty barnstorming approach to life with something much darker and more disturbing lurking beneath.

What kills you is the detail. How extensive was the deck on an early longship? What did an early Celtic Christian monastery look like? What was a monastic church made of, stone or wood? I tend to just write it as I imagine it but read lots of history books as I’m going along and amend accordingly. When I try to describe something I don’t know about, I’ll look it up. I also used a lot of books written by re-enactors because they have practical detail in – like the practice of having a cooking fire on a ship on top of the ballast stones.

Fantasy is in my blood, I grew up obsessed by it, so it didn’t occur to me to write pure history. I don’t plan what I do anyway. This story sort of popped out of me when I was writing something else – it suddenly emerged on the page. I didn’t make a conscious decision to write it. The Viking story arrived first as the backstory in a WWII adventure – the history of an immortal werewolf. Hopefully the series will eventually go forward in history to WWII and beyond into the present day. The WWII story is written and I’m pleased with it. The present day story is planned and that’s quite exciting too.

That said, I have a YA idea which is straight history.

Amanda: Linked to this, how did you find it trying to balance between historical accuracy and the needs of the story?

Mark: Not hard. I was worried that there’s a love story in this and that it might not be strictly historically accurate to put one in. Did people think in terms of love before the chivalric period? I think the answer is ‘yes’ from the research I’ve done.

Often a historical point can drive the plot. Longships, for instance, weren’t much cop in a storm, so the Vikings would beach in bad weather if they could. Also the correspondences between Finnish mythology – which features in Wolfsangel – and Norse Mythology gave me some creative food for thought.

The fantastic elements are derived from real historical sources and anything we don’t know – the berserker practices, for instance, I’ve filled in with educated guesses. Because it’s a fantasy you can take more liberties than in a strict history – Authun’s Moonsword, for instance is clearly an Arab scimitar. The true scimitar arguably doesn’t really appear for several more centuries – though it probably existed in crude form at around this time. Wolfsangel is a magic story, though, and the presence of the blade may be explained in later books…

You can’t take too many liberties because you lose authenticity so I’m always scrupulously attentive to the history. It actually makes things easier. Pure fantasy authors have to make stuff up when it comes to their world an make sure it all fits together. I just have to find it out and can concentrate on character and plot. It’s using a different part of the brain so you’re directing less of your creative effort to world building.

Amanda: Regarding the locations used in the novel, did you visit the Scandinavian countries to get a feel for it? If not, is this an area of the world you would like to visit?

Mark: Yes, I did. I got The Times to send me out to Norway to do an article on The Troll Wall, which features in the book.

It’s a stunning country and The Troll Wall is an amazing phenomenon – a mile high vertical cliff. I went to the top of it and I’m still shaking. The Norwegians are great fun too – nuts, as the above article says. If you get a chance to go to Norway, go. You’ll have to sell your house to buy a cup of coffee but it’ll be worth it.

Amanda: Linking Vikings and werewolves is an inspired idea (particularly given the heavy presence of wolves in Norse mythology): did you have an epiphany moment where it came to you fully-formed or were you working it out gradually in your head?

Mark: Actually I was worried it was a bit of an obvious one. The whole culture is shot through with werewolf stories. I’m really surprised it hasn’t come up before. The quote at the start of the book comes directly from a saga: ‘Brother, you cannot talk about me like that, scolding a noble man, for you ate a wolf’s treat, creeping to dead bodies with a cold snout, being hated by all.’ Of course someone may have combined Vikings and werewolves before. I clearly haven’t read every fantasy novel ever written. My epiphany moment was when I realised who the werewolf was, so to speak, how he fitted into the wider Norse myth.

Amanda: Just a cheeky question: do you prefer Odin or Loki?

Mark: Loki, by far. He’s the only Viking god who isn’t also a god of war. Odin, god of the hanged, poetry, madness, magic and war. Thor god of thunder and war, Freyr, god of fertility but battle-bold. Loki’s a trickster figure but he plays his tricks on the gods. He tends to help humans. Odin is mad, unknowable, treacherous and strange.

Amanda: The use of the ‘Wolfsangel’ rune in the book is another clever touch, but, when you introduced it, were you aware of the more negative connotations it has been given in recent times? Was this a concern? Has the book been translated into German yet? If it hasn’t, is there an intention to change the symbol used?

Mark: I knew the rune from seeing it in a book when I was a kid and its three meanings (which are in Wolfsangel, I won’t put the spoiler in here) fascinated me. Its origins are obscure – it bears similarity to an ancient Viking rune but also to a mason’s mark of the 13th century.

When I was researching the book I did come across its unpleasant adoption by a small number of Nazi units in WWII and, subsequently, by a small number of neo Nazis. I was mortified because that rune was part of my imagination from a young age. I thought long and hard about putting it in.

The first thing that made me think I was justified in using the symbol in the book was that it is still used in Germany today – in the coats of arms of various cities. Its Nazi connotation isn’t strong enough even in Germany to warrant its removal. The German publishers certainly haven’t raised it as an issue. I have checked the German law on the rune and it relates to its context. If you’re using it as a symbol of a repellent ideology, it’s illegal. Any other use, the law allows.

Secondly, I don’t think we should allow the far right to hijack an entire mythology and make it theirs. The Nazis ransacked Norse mythology and history and turned it to their own aims. Some of this history is unreclaimable. The Swastika, for instance, which in its runic use is speculated to be a symbol of the thunder god Thor, can never be used free of the vile connotations given to it by Hitler.

Many other lesser known runes, though, were adopted by the Nazis either directly or in slightly adapted versions. Notorious, of course, is the S of the SS – the so called Sig rune which appears to have been adopted from a rune of the Viking futhark – but other runes were appropriated too – the Hagal rune, for instance, which appears on the inside of the ‘death’s head’ ring of the SS. There are many, many other examples. The whole Norse pantheon was used, and even worshipped, by the vicious fruitcakes of the Nazi high command.

So you have a choice. You say ‘this mythology is entirely contaminated and I’m never going to use anything of it’. Or you say that the Nazi view of the mythology was itself a corruption – and not a very subtle or imaginative corruption at that – of what we know of Norse mythology and you reclaim it. I didn’t set out to make any political point in Wolfsangel but I did set out to give my individual vision of Norse mythology, which is a million miles removed from that of the Nazis.

The Nazis focused very strongly on the warlike qualities of the Norse gods. There are other much more complex strands both in the figure of Odin – king of the Viking gods and the trickster figure of Loki. I bring them out.

Plenty of other writers have written stories involving the runes and they seem satisfied too that the mythology is out of the Nazi’s shadow.

So, in short, I did think about my use of the Wolfsangel rune but I decided that if I couldn’t use that then I couldn’t really use any of the mythologies or symbols the Nazis raided. We’re not talking about the swastika here. The Wolfsangel rune’s Nazi associations are not widely known outside the closed and idiotic world of the extreme right and so have little chance of causing offence.

Also, ordinary and flawed humanity is shown as a valuable thing in Wolfsangel – a view that undermines any Nazi ubermensch posturing.

This was explored when Wolfsangel had a WWII component. The main character in the WWII story is an aristocrat and describes the wolf’s head that is his family’s crest as ‘one of those many venerable symbols the Nazis have so presumptuously appropriated’.

Just a word on the Vikings whose mythology the Nazis lifted. To my mind the Vikings were a very inclusive race. OK, they did a fair bit of plundering and sacking but, if you read the contemporaneous history – people like the Franks under Charlemagne weren’t shy around a bit of bloodshed either. Vikings showed themselves keen adapters of other cultures – the Viking warriors who settled in Northern France had lost most of their language and much of their cultural identity in a couple of generations and become the Normans. The Varangian guard served under the Byzantine emperors and Vikings founded modern Russia. In every place they appear to have adapted local customs and intermarried. Something of a blow to the racial purity brigade.

Amanda: With hindsight, is there anything about Wolfsangel you would like to change?

Mark: Not really. I’ve had the chance as there is a big delay between handing the book to the publishers and it coming out. I’ve read the book many times as it goes through the production process and if there was something I wanted to change then I would have done so. Oh, yeah, the Mini Cooper in chapter four. Only joking.

Amanda: How goes the writing on the follow-up to Wolfsangel? And, roughly, when can we expect to see it?

Mark: Extremely well. You’ll see it next year in May. It shows what publishing schedules are like – my deadline is this June. It’s a belter, I think.

Amanda: Are you prepared to offer our readers any hints about what to expect in the next book?

Mark: Can’t say too much without giving away the plot of Wolfsangel. It’s more of a thriller than Wolfsangel, though the signature strange magic is still there. My model was an early medieval 24 with a werewolf instead of Jack Bauer. It’s set 100 years after Wolfsangel and features some characters who have turned out well. Prepare for shocks! It’s given me a few surprises writing it, which is a good sign.

Amanda: Are you still involved in journalism? Which publications are you writing for at the moment?

Mark: I am involved. I’ll write for anyone who will pay me within reason! I write for the national press and magazines, when they ask me.

Amanda: Can you tell us briefly about which events and conventions you are planning to attend this year (after your enjoyable report about Eastercon)?

Mark: I’m going to Alt.Fiction and The UK Games Expo

Amanda: Thanks so much for allowing us to talk to you! Any last words for the readers?

Mark: Last words? Do you know something I don’t? Just do let me know what you think of the book if you read it!

Mark’s website can be found here and he is also on Twitter as @mdlachlan. Read Amanda’s review of Wolfsangel and don’t forget to leave a comment to win a book! (Wolfsangel for 3 UK readers, a book from our stacks for a US reader).

Here we are with the second edition of Living With The Writer, a semi-regular feature where I grill the partners of those authors that entertain us with their speculative fiction. My guest today is a very special one: I’d like to introduce Deborah Beale (a name that may well be familiar to some of you), otherwise known as Mrs Tad Williams. Read to the bottom to find out details of some very lovely book giveaways, courtesy of Deborah!

AMANDA: A very warm welcome to you, Deborah, and thanks so much for agreeing to conduct this interview for the readers at FanLit. First things first, can you introduce yourself in your own words?

DEBORAH: I’m a woman who works in a room of her own in California, with a glorious view of a hill. I’m someone who always tries to live every moment to the maximum because that way there can’t be any regrets. I’m obsessive and perpetually uncomfortable in my own skin. I have more desire than I have time and energy, so it cheers me up to think about how eternal it all is. I have laughing Buddhas on my desk. I have two growing kids and we’re all beginning the teen years, which is frightening and huge and already quite a rough passage. I run the business that is the backbone of Tad, Inc. I write with Tad – we collaborate on a series of children’s books. I write a whole bunch of stuff on Twitter. Tad and I live entwined lives.

AMANDA: If it isn’t too personal, can I ask why you’re not Mrs Williams?

DEBORAH: I’ve never used Williams and styling myself ‘MrsTad’ for Twitter is the first time I’ve ever used Tad’s name in connection with me! I’m quite enjoying it! I have a thing about patriarchal naming (and Tad does, too) so I’ve never been able to do it before in good conscience (and, besides, in the sci-fi and fantasy world my name has a little bit of recognition, so I’m not about to jettison that!)

AMANDA: Would you tell us a little about a typical day in the life of Tad Williams and Deborah Beale?

DEBORAH: I’m up early, between 6 and 7, and Tad’s up late, around 10 or so. We have separate offices right now but I’ll be back in the big office when my mum comes to stay from England – she’ll reclaim this room for her own. I like to work early when my energy is best. Tad has no settled time of day right now, other than not in the morning. I spend blocks of time online, juggling all the business pins, but if I’m sunk in writing something (at this moment in time I’m between projects) then I prioritise the writing and do my best to cut off from things and get work done. For parts of the day Tad either plays basketball, or lies on the bed or a sofa, thinking. The thinking is critical to the writing process; at some point he has done enough work in his head to go and nail down his 12 pages a day (sometimes in only an hour or two), which is what is happening right now, being his meeting-the-deadline speed, and is quite intense. At some point in all of this the kids come home from school and dinner happens. There are also homework struggles and chore issues round about this time, and bathing issues too – the kids not the parents! Tad is then the hero who puts the kids to bed whilst Mom reads and crashes out.

AMANDA: How did you meet Mr Williams? Was this as a result of your work in publishing (Deborah was one of the founding members of the Orion Publishing House)?

DEBORAH: I was Tad’s British publisher, and after a while we fell in love. It was neither politic nor wise, and involved a two-year hell quest to achieve our fairy tale ending.

AMANDA: Since we’re talking about it obliquely, how did it come about that you were a founding member of Orion? Was this something you always wanted to do or did you fall into it rather by accident?

DEBORAH: Oh, well, when I was a kid I wanted to write, but the wind blew me sideways on that one. So then I pursued book publishing, because I’ve always been (as my niece calls me) a books fanatic. I chased my breaks and I worked hard. I didn’t get much of a break at first, one result of which was I ended up working with and sometimes writing all kinds of non-fiction and fiction books whilst thrashing my way around the industry. In the end that turned out to be a blessing. Then my break came, working for Anthony Cheetham, who is a publishing entrepreneur; and when he plus his wife Rosie Cheetham (now de Courcy) and his business partner Peter Roche started up a new company, they asked me to join them. Which was heaven and hell all combined, as is, I imagine, any start-up venture.

AMANDA: Why and when did you take the decision to move out to the States?

DEBORAH: After the Grand Adventure of the Orion Publishing Group, I was at a point where I felt I had done a great deal and wanted to stop and have children. And, basically, learn to write too.

AMANDA: And you seem to have learnt very well to write, going by the fact you and Mr Williams are now collaborating! How long have you been doing this, and does it fulfill the dream you had as a girl to become a writer?

DEBORAH: Our Ordinary Farm books started in the middle of the aughties, I think.

Nothing would fulfil the dream I had as a child, short of a Pulitzer, and Oscar, and all them awards (and the money, ha!) If I had really been able to follow that particular dream, then I would have ended up a journalist, because I think that is where my particular strengths are. But then I would have been unlikely to meet my amazing man, so what kind of life that would have been, who knows… I have the writer’s life now, any which way, and before that I had an astonishing life as a London media-chick with a bit of a brain. Nothing about the London life was accidental, and I had to be brave and overcome quite a few things: ultimately the whole damn enchilada’s been wonderful, despite life’s woes.

AMANDA: Have you been one of Mr William’s test readers since the early days? If so, do you wear the hats of both ‘publisher’ and ‘partner’ and how do these conflict when offering advice?

DEBORAH: Being involved in Tad’s work as a reader/editor – that tends to be sometimes yes, sometimes no (and I have to say that Tad’s editors at DAW, Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert, are the BEST). It depends on what else is going on in our lives. I had less involvement with Shadowmarch, but probably more with Otherland. The upcoming ‘Angel Doloriel Books’ (working title) I had more involvement with at a conceptual stage: I’ve never done that before – it took the form of us working together with Tad’s initial synopsis.

Business and personal don’t often clash for us, but when they do there can be lots of hurt feelings and pouty faces for everyone, ha.

AMANDA: Since you are both busy working on respective projects at any given time, do you ever find it difficult deciding who takes priority?

DEBORAH: I don’t think we ever have clashing priorities. Our interests are all wrapped up in each other. We don’t have anything in the way of power battles, either. We do have occasional flaming yelling arguments that upset the kids and the dogs and cloud everything till they’re resolved. I suspect we exert gravity on each other, as we live and grow and change; sometimes we pull each other over, sometimes we’re running hand in hand through the daisies.

AMANDA:When do you feel proudest of Mr Williams?

DEBORAH: Ooh, I get all squidgy when he pulls off a cool speech. There was a moment in Germany when he was accepting the Corinne Award, which is like a national book award in the US, or maybe a Whitbread in the UK (except I think that’s gone now). And Tad, doing his speech in German, live on national TV, stepped on his own joke. Which actually worked to make it even funnier, fortunately (a line about Schwarzenegger’s mangled English being the model for Tad’s German).

There are a lot of moments like that that go by me, if I’m touring with Tad, or at a convention with him. It’s a lot of fun. He’s a grand performer, and when he’s up there having a good time, well, it’s the best. I’ve seen him reduce a room of thousands to helpless laughter.

AMANDA: With regards to the travel: has it been extensive? Do you always travel with Mr Williams? How does this affect family life?

DEBORAH: Sometimes I’m with him, sometimes I’m not. Sometimes we travel as a family. Sorry, I don’t have anything interesting to say – except that I’m hoping to take our kids to Montana this year to visit Christopher Paolini and family, because they kindly invited us and it will be good for the kids to see a successful writer who isn’t their father!

[Deborah told me that this dragon eye was doodled on their message board by Christopher Paolini!]

AMANDA: Finally, what are the upsides and downsides of being the partner of such a well-known and beloved fantasy author?

DEBORAH: There’s a Michael Marshall Smith novel ‘Only Forwards’ (which in itself is a killer title and a bit of a mantra round here!) I seem to remember there is a room in the novel where the gravity is adjustable. I think about that room and imagine what it would be like to live with -  lightweight over here, much heavier over there. Living with Tad is a bit like that for sure. Funnily enough, I think I’ve only recently discovered this, which is a bit of a while into the process, ha!

The upsides most definitely include him. It’s living with a man who has this incredible mind. Tad’s my buddy and we do it all together.

AMANDA: And on that note, which brought a slight lump to my throat, can I just say thanks so much for your honesty and eloquence. It’s been fabulous having this insight into the working life of Tad and his amazing wife.

I hope you all enjoyed that interview! It would be great if you could leave messages for Deborah showing your appreciation for her time – she posts under the name @MrsTad on Twitter and I’m sure would appreciate the additional followers!

As mentioned above, Deborah has also kindly provided a couple of book giveaways to accompany this interview: you can either request a signed copy of The Dragons of Ordinary Farm or a set of the Shadowmarch books currently released (that being Shadowmarch, Shadowplay and Shadowrise!) Please leave a comment and mention which drawing(s) you’d like to be entered into.

Today we welcome Blake Charlton, debut author of Spellwright, into the chair to talk about bullying, doorstop tomes, and Internet presence! Have a read of the interview all the way to the bottom to find details of a Spellwright giveaway.

AMANDA: Hi Blake and welcome to FanLit! Let’s get down to some serious questions straight away: It is no secret at all that you suffer from dyslexia – in fact, you’re loud, proud and very supportive of all those organisations helping to assist the people who are afflicted by this disability. Was there a particular moment when you first realised you were different from the other kids? Or was it something picked up by your parents?

BLAKE: I clearly remember waiting after class while my grandmother was called into a conference, maybe in first grade, possibly the end of kindergarten. I’m not sure how, but I knew it was because I wasn’t able to do some of the basic things other children did. My mother tells a better story. I don’t know if it’s true, but mothers are insistent in these matters. According to her, there was a reading exercise that involved reading cards with simple words on them to the class. Apparently I would watch the other children, memorise the order of words, and then repeat it when it was my turn. No one, it seemed, had picked up that I couldn’t read… until one day I accidentally dropped the cards. I saw that their order hadn’t changed, and so picked them up and started “reading” them. The problem being that I was holding them upside down.

Not far into first grade, I was pulled out of the classroom for extensive testing. By then, I knew something was up. At the time, I was mortified at being identified as different. But now, I realise how fortunate I was to have been diagnosed so early. I’ve heard other Learning Disabled folks talk about “generation zero” as being the first wave of students who were tested and diagnosed early on. I feel very fortunate that I was among that number.

AMANDA: Speaking of being identified as different – we all know kids can be cruel: did you find yourself marked out by them or bullied?

BLAKE: Riding the short bus was a drag, and a lot of the children in non special-ed classrooms would mark us out when we were getting off of the bus. I had it easy compared to some of our peers who used wheelchairs or other assistance technology. Being visibly different made them easier targets. But, as you note, most everyone is at sometime subject to the cruelty of children; the harder part for younger disabled people, I think, is how we mark ourselves internally, how we separate ourselves from “normal” children. It’s a subtle process, and (for me at least) took a long time to recognise.

AMANDA: Do you have any advice for parents whose kids are reluctant readers?

BLAKE: The particulars of the case would help. But generally, I can suggest letting younger children see you read and telling them how much you enjoy it. For older children – always the trickier ones – it might be helpful to change media and material. Some people are visually wired and want to hold a book, while others love being read to and audiobooks. Perhaps offer to buy a few downloaded audiobooks for the child’s iPod or phone. I’m a big fan of comic books (though I sadly don’t have time to read any myself lately) and think any child who shows interest in comic books should be encouraged. Books similar to the comic books might be suggested.

AMANDA: Taking a small sidestep, and dealing with the way in which your dyslexia affects your writing, do you find a need for more alpha/beta readers to approve first drafts?

BLAKE: Probably yes? I’m not sure how many readers other authors go through. I do know that when proofing a manuscript, I need another pair of eyes to catch errors involving homophones (words with different spellings but the same sounds e.g. carat, caret and carrot). I’m extra nice to my proofreader friends right before I have to turn in a manuscript.

AMANDA: Finally on the subject, and just for fun, do you have any favourite or loathed words (in terms of meanings or just how damn hard they are for you to spell)?

BLAKE: Just one? I’m breaking into a sweat just trying to narrow a list down to ten favorite words. If I have to – and given that I’m currently piecing all the different parts of an early draft together – I’ll pick the word “concinnity” n. harmony in the arrangement or interarrangement of parts with respect to a whole.

My least favorite words are all determined by illogical orthography. One might suppose that any word ending in -ough should end in the same sound. But we have dough, bough, enough. The ‘ff’ sound at the end of ‘enough’ in particular makes me rant about English words being stupid. But of course, modern English has borrowed plenty of words that drive me insane. Chief among them is ‘bureau’ from the French. I actually just had to Google search my approximation of that word to find out how to spell it.

AMANDA: Let’s deal a little with the book itself – it’s been receiving some glowing reviews including one from our very own Robert T. In fact, Robert wanted to ask the following question: Spellwright has one of the most imaginative and complex magic systems I’ve ever read in a fantasy novel. Where did the idea for it come from? How did it evolve over the years?

BLAKE: During my days as a rabid pre-med undergraduate, I spent an obscene amount of time in the library thinking about two things: chemistry and English literature. Years struggling with dyslexia had given me a sense of how fragile written language is, how easily its meaning could be corrupted, and how illogical and imprecise it is. And yet my love of fantasy had shown me how beautiful it could be. Tolkien was fond of saying that he created Middle Earth for his dreamed-up languages, not the other way around. Meanwhile, my studies in biochemistry revealed how biopolymers ( like nucleotides in DNA and polypeptides in proteins) form something analogous to a written language. In a sense, they consist of letters and words that might be translated or transcribed. They might be rendered useless or harmful by a misspelling – a mutation.

In one particularly dull English class, I began to wonder what if written languages were more like molecular languages? What if you could peel a paragraph off the page and make it physically real? Could you pick your teeth with a sentence fragment? Thrust a sharply worded invective at an enemy’s throat? How would physical language shape culture, technology, history?

As my daydream grew I escaped my cold, pre-med self and remembered the wonder that only good speculative literature imparts. Tolkien created Middle Earth for his languages; could I imagine a world built by – not around – its languages? Instantly my disability provided the answer.

AMANDA: Do you think there is a particular importance to creating a unique and comprehensive magic system?

BLAKE: It’s a fine point, but rather than particular ‘importance’, I’d say a particular ‘potential’ to creating a unique magic system. The creation and adherence to such systems is rare, partially because it is difficult to do, partially because it is not necessary to write a deeply moving or entertaining book. Whatever magic-system an author creates, the plot and characters are going to be more important. That said, in the creation of a comprehensive, megawatt magic system the author may create an analogy for the scientific laws that govern our existence. That allows the author to write about something that is simultaneously strange and familiar.

Dune is about traveling across vast stretches of space, and the addiction to petroleum that allows this to happen. Robert Jordan‘s One Power is at once about a male and a female magic and about the battle of the sexes. In creating an original magic system an author creates a literary space in which a story can be told with multiple layers of meaning.

There’s been a rise of little-magic-much-brutality-moral ambiguity fantasy. It’s great and gritty stuff. Most often in such books, magic is scarce or unpredictable. The sympathetic characters rarely (if ever) live very long or succeed. It’s an interesting development because rather than creating a comprehensive magic system to explore different layers of meanings, it proposes a diminished or random magic system to explore meaningless. I love reading these gritty fantasies. But I’m very happy to write classic, megawatt magic system fantasy. Not too many other people are doing it right now, and it allows me to explore big flashy ideas like language, meaning, and the fundamental components of life.

AMANDA:You spent nearly 10 years writing and developing Spellwright . Will you be able to keep a tighter schedule for Spellbound ?

BLAKE: Most definitely. In fact, I have a ticking time bomb under me called student debt. I have the rest of this academic year (the medical academic year starts in June) to write full-time and then another full academic year as a research assistant for the Stanford Department of Internal Medicine. I HAVE to finish both books in the trilogy before then or I think the federal government turns me into a goon. What’s more I learned a lot from writing that first novel over and over again. I’m much better at stream lining the described technical aspects of my magic system. Of course my work will need revision, and of course I occasionally head down the wrong path, but I do this less frequently than before.

As I write this, I have 85,000 words of a Spellbound first draft and expect it to run ~140,000 words. The hardest part, actually, is the surprising amount of time a newbie author must devote to self promotion: online interviews, emails, blogs, Twitter, bookstore appearances. I’m told that declines as one gets further away from publication.

AMANDA: Are you worried about a sophomore slump?

BLAKE: When I was ending Spellwright, the fear of a sophomore slump was all I thought about. As a reader, I am most likely to stop following an author if the beginning of the second book is slow. I’m not sure why, but I think many other people do likewise. The beginning of a second book is a difficult point for a new novelist. You have your whole life to write your first novel; for your second, you have a year.

So, with the end of book one, I came up with a strategy: instead of ending it right after the climax, I extended the narration to cover the emotional repercussions that the wild events of the book would have on the protagonist. While doing this, I was able to position all the characters into the places I want them to start book two. Some have criticised the end for being drawn out by 10 pages or so. It hasn’t yet been a major criticism, but it is a valid one. I deliberately chose to lengthen the ending so that I could start off book two with a bang.

It might be a little early to say – drafts change – but as of now, I’m really excited about how the strategy has worked out. Book two comes charging out of the gates and gains speed. It’s a chance I’m taking: draw out the end of book one to help keep a reader hooked during the transition to book two.

AMANDA: Spellbound is the second book in the trilogy. Are you worried about ‘middle book syndrome’?

BLAKE: No. The Spellwright trilogy uses much of classic fantasy; however, the employment of a single, continuous, ever-expanding narrative is not one. Spellbound takes place nearly a decade after the first book and concerns the pivotal political and military events that take place over the course of a few hectic days.

All the books in the series are epic fantasies. However, each book adopts a different main theme and employs elements of different plot structures. So, for example, Spellwright concentrates on a “coming of age” theme and employs murder mystery elements. Spellbound concentrates on a romantic theme and employs the plot elements of a political thriller. As of now (and could very well change in the writing of the book) Disjunction will examine the themes of rebellion and redemption and employ elements of a war narrative.

By keeping each book’s time frame narrow, I ensure that each book tells a complete story that encapsulates the most important parts of the trilogy’s story. More important, for each book, I can keep the speed of the story very high.

AMANDA: Your novels appear slim on the bookshelves in this day of the fantasy doorstop tome! Was this a conscious decision?

BLAKE: Very much so! Part of that is practical: medical school forces me to write fast and write short. Well, short for epic fantasy. When working on Spellwright, I spent a lot of time thinking about how mystery novels are plotted and paced. Epic fantasy likes to use the quest travelogue – usually as a party that splits up to show the reader an entire continent, or as a steadily growing party making a B-line for Ye Olde Centre of Nefarious Power. There’s also, maybe, a number of authors who, disliking the quest motif, are writing excellent fantasies that wander around without a unified purpose. I think there’s life yet in the contained classic quest stories, especially when we look for cross pollination with other genres.

AMANDA: You are getting quite the reputation as being one of the friendliest authors on the Interweb – are you seriously this nice in real life? Or is it all a front?

BLAKE: It’s all a front. I never log onto the Interweb before my morning coffee. Beforehand, it’s not too pretty.

AMANDA: How do you feel about the interaction between author and reader these days?

BLAKE: I think social media has created a wonderful environment for reader/author interaction. From an author’s point of view, it provides invaluable feedback and a fair dose of inspiration – discovering so quickly and so directly that a work has an effect on a reader helps you keep your hands on the keyboard. It’s also a lot of fun. The readers I’ve interacted with so far are all interesting and often very funny people.

But there’s a fine art to being an author on the Internet. I certainly haven’t mastered it yet. There are plenty of online pitfalls. A vicious critique can put you creatively out of commission. You can spend too much time blogging, tweeting, emailing, and so on and not enough time writing. But, over time, one can learn to aggregate and filter the information. I am worried by those readers who are not vocal on the Internet. I think one has to remember that there is an inherent sampling bias (to hit you with a medical research term) to internet reader/writer interaction. But, even so, I’m optimistic and having a lot of fun.

AMANDA: Sadly, we’re almost at an end! But I’ll just ask one more question: what do you do when not being a med student or writing? Or do they fill all the hours in the day?

BLAKE: With those two masters, there’s not much time for anything else! Social life is kept to the minimum level that keeps me sane, no TV, no movies. The long hours of writing can get lonely, though I have been fortunate enough lately to make writing dates with the local, lovely and witty steampunk princess Gail Carriger. However, as lonely as writing is, medicine is intensely social – patients, peers, physicians, all in an emotionally charged atmosphere. The two of them make a good counterbalance.

AMANDA: Thank you so much for stopping by and asking our questions in such a thorough manner!

Blake Charlton’s debut novel Spellwright is already released in the US, and is being released in the UK on 27th May 2010 (Read Robert’s review and listen to the first 4 chapters). You can learn more about the author at Blake Charlton’s website and follow him on Twitter: @blakecharlton

As mentioned above, Blake has kindly provided THREE copies of Spellwright - leave a comment for us saying just how much you adore Mr Charlton and you will be considered! (US only, sorry!)

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re fans of Guy Gavriel Kay, and Rob and Stefan recently reported that Mr. Kay’s newest novel, Under Heaven, which releases today, is definitely up to par. (Comment below for your chance to win a copy.) While striving to suppress his enthusiasm about speaking with his favorite fantasy author, Rob was recently able to chat coherently with GGK about his newest work

Robert Rhodes: As with your previous books, I greatly enjoyed and admired Under Heaven. The setting of this novel is likely to be fresh to most Western readers. Which elements of 8th-century China and the Tang Dynasty first drew your interest? Which struck you as being particularly relevant to the present?

Guy Gavriel Kay: This book actually started taking a vague shape back in 2003, with my reading in and about the Silk Road. I thought I would approach China’s history indirectly that way. Ysabel hijacked the idea when we went to France in 2004 to work and live for a year, even though I thought I was going there to research and write that Silk Road book. And when I revisited the idea three years later, I had started to read Tang Dynasty poetry — one of the great, transcendent periods in literary history — and that got me going a little differently. As I began to focus my reading on the period, the richness of material and the amazing complexity of High Tang history began to engage me. One Asian Studies academic I came to be in touch with wrote me, ‘I always knew you’d get to the Tang.’ I wrote back, ‘I’m glad at least one of us knew!’

RR: Which character in Under Heaven did you first create or fully develop? What was your first image or impression of him or her?

GGK: I think in this case it was the main protagonist, Shen Tai. (It isn’t always a main character for me.) Primarily because one dazzling poem by Du Fu (the greatest of Tang poets, probably) gave me a starting point for the novel, by a mountain lake among the dead. I had to begin sorting out just who this person was, why he was there (though I never work all of that out at the beginning). I also knew, quite early, that I’d bring in a figure inspired by one of the other master poets, Li Bai, and that became the character of Sima Zian, ‘the Banished Immortal’.

RR: The valley of Kuala Nor seemed like a distinct, ‘sacred space,’ separate from the world at large, as is the cave of ancient paintings. What are your own separate or sacred spaces in the world?

GGK: Hmm, is it bad form to offer a mild dissent? Kuala Nor, a mountain lake and meadow, is a remote, physically beautiful place, but it isn’t sacred. In a real sense it is ‘unholy’, rendered so by the extreme violence imposed upon it by war. Tai’s actions as the novel begins have been an attempt to redress aspects of that violence, burying the long-dead, laying them to rest. Where I agree is with the notion that it is a removed, solitary place, apart from the hurly-burly of the world. (What I called the ‘dust and noise’ in the book.) That is the key contrast the opening offers, and the memory that lingers (I hope) through the story that unfolds when Tai leaves the lake. Personally, I think we all have our own ‘talismanic’ landscapes and settings, the ones that come to be deeply important in our inner lives, usually for very personal reasons. I began my writing career by ‘separating’ myself from the rest of my life in a fishing village on the south coast of Crete, not far from the Minoan ruins of Phaestos … and images of that village, the sea, the cliffs and hills above it are always with me, even today. It is where, I suppose, I started on this path as a novelist.

RR: On that path … when you write, do you listen to music? (I tend to associate your work with that of your fellow Canadian, Loreena McKennitt.) Or do you have any enlightening or bizarre writing rituals you’d like to share?

GGK: Loreena and I discovered, long ago, that we were at the same university at the same time, and even shared some professors … but we never knew each other then. I’m very comfortable being associated with her in your mind, and many readers share your thought. Her name has come up often as someone who might be perfect for music if some of the books were filmed. I tend not to listen to music while writing; I don’t want it to too directly infuse the rhythms of the prose (though I have colleagues who actively seek that effect in their work). Rituals? Oh, fine, you’ve been very polite so far, I’ll give you one. When I finished my very first novel (never published) in that village on Crete, I stood on the rooftop of the place where I was living and looked out at the sea and let out an absolutely primal shout that lasted awhile and disturbed not a few donkeys and Cretans down below. I do the same thing at the end of every book. In New Zealand, when I finished The Wandering Fire, the two year old son of the friends we were living with as I wrote came charging down the hallway into my work room to jump into my arms — Laura and his mother had warned him the yell might be coming that day. He’d been waiting for it. My sons, even when very young, came to wait for it as well, when they knew I was close to finishing. Does that story annihilate the jaded curmudgeon image entirely? May we pour a scotch, please?

RR: Soon enough! I understand that you intend to visit China but chose not to before or during the writing of Under Heaven. However, I believe you wrote Ysabel while visiting France. What prompts you to visit or not visit a place that provides the inspiration for a work in progress? Artistic intuition? Logistics? Or something in between?

GGK: I used to go away for focus and solitude, not for a direct link to the book I was doing. Tigana began a change, but it wasn’t planned out. (Don’t trust authors who say everything was thought through beforehand.) We wanted to live in Tuscany for a time, I had a book that took inspiration from Renaissance Italy, and then I got there and said to myself an equivalent of ‘whoa!’ … because it was so damned obvious how much it would help the book for me to be there looking out at olive groves and vineyards. But I hadn’t gone with that in mind. It was a belated revelation. For Arbonne, which came next,  we did go to Provence deliberately to register ambiance and context, but that was the only time it was so conscious. As I said above, Ysabel abducted me, when we got back to Aix-en-Provence after a decade away: the overwhelming impact of the place shifted the novel I’d gone there to write into one about where we were.

RR: A follow-up on the subject of places: in some of your earlier works, such as A Song for Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan, the world of the story features two moons, and there’s often a brief but poignant reference to Fionavar, identified in your Fionavar Tapestry trilogy as the first world and the Platonic form for other worlds. The world of Under Heaven, by contrast, isn’t explicitly linked to that broader cosmology. What, if anything, should a reader infer from that difference?

GGK: Not a whole lot, I hope. I always saw the Fionavar references as a small grace note, a wry nod backwards to that primal world notion, a tip of the hat to early readers. Not any kind of cosmic unifying exercise. The two moons became a symbol of ‘we are not here’ and offered me some lovely chances at effects of light, legend, contrast. But I dislike being too predictable, and I suppose an element in the case of Under Heaven was a simple desire not to do what might have become too entirely expected. I’ll add that the figure who inspired my main poet character was notorious, legendarily, as a poet of the moon, and it struck me early that coming ‘back’ to our single moon might let me achieve a different set of effects with moonlight.

RR: This is simply an impression, but it seems your writing style, particularly in Under Heaven, has increasingly included shorter sentences and image-based fragments, which can create a more poetic than prosaic texture. At the same time, the main character, Shen Tai, aspires to write fine poetry, and his advisor, Sima Zian, “The Banished Immortal,” is a masterful poet. Why is poetry so deeply ingrained in this story?

GGK: I can’t even begin to decide if your impressions are right or not yet; the book’s too close still. I do know that for The Last Light of the Sun I made notes to myself about making the language harder, colder, less lyric (except in some specific scenes) to match the setting, by way of contrast to the earlier three books or so which had been more southern, decadent, sophisticated. For Under Heaven, one issue I was thinking about, in terms of language, was finding a balance between the very formal culture I was presenting and a very informal society I was presenting it to. Poetry is important in the book in part because it was so important in the Tang. It is literally true, not my invention, that examinations for the higher ranks of the court’s civil service required demonstrating a skill in poetry. It was regarded as a core dimension for civilized men. And often for women, too, at that level of society. The same is true, incidentally, of music.

RR: Sadly, music’s been the bane of my own civil service career. But let me ask a question as a writer: many modern writers attempt to captivate readers by techniques such as rapid-fire action sequences or other plot points, or a close viewpoint that highlights the immediacy and all-encompassing importance of the ongoing events. You often seem to take a different approach. For example, you often use a more distant, omniscient-author viewpoint that may interrupt the main storyline with a section focusing on a minor character or historical feature. Similarly, you make it clear — by describing the legacies of deceased characters, such as Shen Tai’s father and the previous prime minister, and providing hints as to events after the novel’s end — that the story in Under Heaven is part of a greater whole. What are the benefits of using this broader narrative?

GGK: ‘Benefits’ is a loaded word here, because it can be argued that for readers searching for a certain kind of escape in fiction there’s actually a detriment here. Bottom line for me, I guess, is that I’m trying to serve story, themes, characters — and by extension my readers — as well as I possibly can, taking a long time with each book. In pursuit of that, I’m really aware of what I call the ‘architecture’ of a novel, the overall arc and shape of it, and sometimes those rapid-fire openings you cite can mangle the shape and arc badly, however much a reader might be used to them from other media. I know I can be seen as contrarian in this, by conventional genre standards. As for what I sometimes call the long-focus passages … I am endlessly interested in having the books cross lines of class and society, offering both an intimately personal scale and a very large one. Taking the long view, the historical one, plays a role in shaping this … and in the case of Under Heaven it happens to suit the tone and style of Chinese history-writing very well. I like placing what might appear to be a huge tale in an even larger context … because that’s how we live our own lives. We have a context.

RR: Many of your characters, in this and other novels, are well-born, well-educated, and able to participate in extremely subtle or nuanced situations and dialogues. In our age of sound bites and direct, even blunt, forms of communication, such as text messaging, is subtlety declining in conversation and relationships? And do you ever take modern communication aspects, or developments such as e-books, into account in your work?

GGK: Interesting angle on that issue. Let me try this, by way of Tennessee Williams: I have always relied on the intelligence of strangers. I’ve made a career, for better or worse, assuming that those elements of our culture, and those writers, that treat their readers (or watchers or listeners) with a measure of trivialization may well reap a commercial benefit (Dan Brown, anyone?), but they are usually surrendering a creative one. I’m trying (again, for better or worse) for more. I’m at-ease assuming that readers are simply more willing to be stretched, engaged in more complex ways, than these other writers are. The sped-up elements of our culture you mention do put pressures on writers, editors, filmmakers to hit hard and fast (and on readers to expect it!), but my sense is there’s a legitimately large world of those who aren’t entirely (or always) satisfied with this, who find a sense of being rewarded when a writer treats them as adults by offering characters in a story that works (or tries to) on that level.

RR: No doubt your readers agree. With the partial exceptions of The Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel, your works are set in pre-industrial times. Have you considered setting a story in a futuristic age?

GGK: As I always say, and it isn’t just a posture … I never know what will come next. You’ve mentioned two (or four, depending how you count!) books that incorporate modern characters. That’s not inconsequential, I hope, in this regard.

RR: Very true. At the beginning of your career, you assisted J.R.R. Tolkien‘s son, Christopher, in the editing of The Silmarillion. Have you had the opportunity to see Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings?

GGK: Yes.

Oh, fine. Not the place for a cute answer? I thought they represented honourable filmmaking, an attempt to grapple with the limitations (and strengths) of film adaptation, and the demands of a huge budget with the requirement to have a huge audience to justify that.

RR: Are you at liberty to discuss the status of any cinematic adaptations of your own works?

GGK: There are no non-disclosures in place, if that is what you mean. (Courteous question, thank you.) At this point I tend to describe the Hollywood interaction as a low-grade fever. There’s pretty steady background noise emerging from various possibilities, but nothing has become … music yet, to push the metaphor. I speak regularly with my L.A. agent (because he hates emailing!), and he fields ongoing discussions down there. Hollywood at this moment is an anxious, stressed-out place, and the big-budget projects being greenlighted tend to be those where sequels and/or huge guaranteed reader bases (Twilight, Harry Potter) can be assumed. If I were a betting man, I’d bet something will happen, but I wouldn’t bet the mortgage.

RR: And finally, do you presently have a favorite Scotch you would recommend to your loyal readers?

GGK: Oh, Lord, a variant on the favourite child question! So many distilleries, so little time. Hmm. I’ll bypass some of the well-known names (Macallan, Highland Park) that I love and mention one called Springbank, in Campbeltown. Goes back to early 19th century and is just wonderful. And as a small bonus for asking engaging questions, I’ll shift gears and mention a drink we were just introduced to in Bermuda this winter by a bookseller there. Called a “Dark and Stormy” (great literary cocktail name!), it is dark rum — technically it has to be Gosling’s Black Seal Bermuda Rum — and ginger beer, with a lime wedge. With summer coming, it is awfully appealing. Go try.

RR: Checking airfares to Bermuda right now. Thank you, Guy, for visiting us. I enjoyed learning more about you and your works, and I know our readers will, too. Till next time, cheers!

Dear readers, we’ve got a hardback copy of Under Heaven to give away. Comment below for a chance to win!

Today I’d like to welcome Joe Abercrombie to Fantasy Literature. Joe is the author of The First Law Trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings) and the stand alone work Best Served Cold. His next book is titled The Heroes and is set to release the first quarter of 2011. All of his work has been popular and highly regarded, especially here at FanLit. I was excited to get the opportunity to talk with Joe about himself and his work. Pyr Books has also agreed to give away a full set of The First Law Trilogy to two lucky Fanlit commenters! So be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win.

Justin: Thanks for stopping by, Joe. It’s an honor to have you with us. Let’s get started… We’re interested in your “getting published” story. Will you tell us about your experiences in getting The Blade Itself published?

Joe: Once I’d finished a draft of The Blade Itself that I was happy with I set about trying to get it published in the usual fashion – sending a letter and 50 sample pages to agents specializing in sf&f. Spent about a year collecting photocopied rejections. Then a friend of mine who knew I was doing it and worked for an educational publisher found himself on a desk editing course with Gillian Redfearn, who had just then started as an editor at Gollancz. He persuaded her to have a look at it, she liked it, asked to see the rest, and I got an offer a week later. I was pretty thrilled, as you can imagine, but things move slowly in publishing (after the initial interest), and the first book didn’t actually come out until over a year later, by which point I think I was already starting on the third book.

Justin: So the “read my friend’s manuscript actually worked?… nice! What’s the biggest adjustment you’ve had to make since becoming a full-time writer, besides the additional garage for your new Ferrari collection, and the boarding house for your mistresses?

Joe: The toilet seat carved from a single enormous diamond is cold when you first sit down on it. But it soon warms up. In all honesty it’s been a slow and steady shift from a not very serious hobby, to a serious hobby, to getting a contract and obviously taking it more seriously, to it being a part-time job, to it being a full-time job, over the course of about six or seven years. So in a sense I’ve been adjusting steadily the whole time, and I still am.

Justin: Do you have a certain ritual before getting into the writing frame-of-mind? Like Yoga, blood sacrifice, or just some quiet alone time?

Joe: Not really. I have two little girls these days, so there’s no time for rituals outside of the endless round of feeding, playing, putting to bed. Oh, I do have a desk that’s on motorised legs, though, so that I can sit or stand at it. I usually sit to do revision and e-mail, then stand for the actual nitty-gritty of the writing. So maybe motoring it into the standing position would count…

Justin: I need one of those in my cube at work. Being able to adjust the height for proper napping would be great. Anyway… I’m super pumped about the next book! How far along is The Heroes?

Joe: I’ve just finished the first draft of the fourth part of five, and it feels like it’s coming together pretty well. There’ll be a fair bit of editing and revision to do, as there always is, but the current release date of February 2011 looks good still.

Justin: Very nice, it’s always a wonderful to see a talented and prolific writer. Those two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I know you try to do something a little different from book to book. What’s The Heroes going to bring to the table that will set it apart from the rest your work?

Joe: Well, in some ways it will be pretty similar. It features quite a few characters from The First Law, and I’d like to think it has a similar mixture of awful yet lovable characters, bladder-loosening humour and bowel-loosening action. But this time around it’s very focused in terms of time and place – the book covers the events of a single battle, so the vast majority of it happens in one valley over the course of three days. It follows six characters on both sides and at different levels of command, and their paths converge and cross in various surprising, hilarious, and horrible ways. So it’s an attempt to do a classic war story in a fantasy setting, really – A Bridge Too Far meets Lord of the Rings – and get across a sense of the epic scale of a great battle while still telling some human stories within it.

Justin: Speaking of Lord of the Rings, has anyone approached you about translating one of your books to other media, like film, or television, or even a graphic novel type of thing?

Joe: A couple of people have approached about one thing or another, but inquiries are many and results are few. I’m not holding my breath.

Justin: John Malkovich as Bayaz… what do you think?

Joe: I can see that. Perhaps he’s a little too overtly clever and sinister though? Might you want someone who comes across a bit more like your bluff but pleasant uncle? Who looks like the friendly local butcher you wouldn’t want to cross. Then the dark side might be a bit more surprising. Bob Hoskins, maybe? Wouldn’t have been my first choice either, but I once saw a photo of him, bald, with the beard, and he looked perfect.

Justin: Super Mario as Bayaz? I’ll have to do some serious google image searching now. I can only imagine the results I’m going to get from looking up “Bob Hoskins’ beard.” Speaking of strange, what’s the strangest thing you’ve gotten from a fan? I love asking this question! Seriously, I send you guys fans send you guys all kinds of strange things.

Joe: Can’t say I’ve received anything particularly strange. Now I’m disappointed. A couple have sent me pictures inspired by the books, of varying quality. But to be honest I’m always shocked and delighted when anyone reads the books and likes them. I need nothing more. Apart from the money, of course.

Justin: US fans feel sorely neglected by the lack of your presence. Any plans to change that for The Heroes?

Joe: I’m hoping to make it over to the US this year, probably the east coast in the fall, but it’s a long way from confirmed, and I wouldn’t want to jinx it. Can you imagine the public outcry if I offered dates and couldn’t arrive?

Justin: This is a little off topic, but I feel the need to ask, since I know you’re a gamer: so is it Xbox 360 or PS3? Personally I haven’t been able to stop playing Trials HD for the 360… I just can’t quit. Annoying friends keep beating my scores… it’s driving me crazy. What games have your attention at the moment?

Joe: I’ve got a PS3, not out of the spiritual conviction that some gamers seem to have, but just because a friend of mine has an Xbox so exclusive titles I tend to play with him. Plus I never really enjoyed the sense that there was a helicopter taking off in the corner of the room while playing. Recently very much enjoyed the old school roleplaying style of Dragon Age, and the newer school action one of Assassin’s Creed 2. At the moment I’m playing Bioshock 2, looking forward to the latest Final Fantasy and Red Dead Redemption later in the year. There have been a lot of excellent games about lately – feels as if the latest generation of consoles have finally come into their own. Probably just in time to be replaced by a new generation. You know, like with fantasy authors.

Justin: You have to watch those upstart fantasy authors, you know the type. They think they can make fantasy all dark and violent… the nerve of those guys! What If I’m currently not reading the latest from Joe Abercrombie, what else should I be reading? Any particular book that you think readers should pick up?

Joe: Older books by Joe Abercrombie? This may be disappointing, but I must confess to not reading a lot these days, and most of what I do read is non-fiction of one kind or another, particularly a lot of history. But I’m currently reading and very much enjoying George Pelecanos’ The Way Home. As far as sf&f goes I liked Finch a lot, Jeff Vandermeer’s latest.

Justin: I remember something you wrote once jokingly that someday you will have to explain to your children about the content of your books. Seriously, what are you going to tell them?

Joe: Within these covers you will find all you need to know about life.

Justin: Their therapy bills are going to be high… Next Question: Ok, You, Brent Weeks, Pat Rothfuss, and Sam Sykes are locked in a 4-way duel to death, who goes down first?

Joe: Have you seen the size of Sam Sykes? I would try and talk Rothfuss and Weeks into bringing the giant down together, then aim to mop up the survivors…

Justin: Any words of encouragement for aspiring fantasy writers?

Joe: And contribute to my own extinction? Never.

Justin: Thank you, Joe, for giving us some of your time. I enjoyed the interview a great deal. Best of luck on the future release, and I’m sure we’ll see you again soon!

FanLit readers, learn more about the author at Joe Abercrombie’s website. Be sure to leave a comment below for a chance to win one of two sets of the First Law Trilogy! Check back in a week’s time to see who won.

[Note: Amanda (who lives in the UK) has previously published this interview with Sam Sykes at her personal blog.]

Gather round, people – I’m slightly nervous to present interviewee Sam Sykes – self-styled ‘Angriest Man Alive’ and debut author of Tome of the Undergates (to be released by Gollancz on 15 April 2010 in the UK). Sam has already conducted an interview with Aidan Moher, over at A Dribble of Ink where they discussed… well, video games and cover art and other such boy things. After reading (and reviewing) his book I wanted to try and draw out a little more about the man behind the book and how he went about writing the death and mayhem that fills the pages of Tome. As usual, we’ll give away a couple of books to commenters. So, without further ado…

Amanda: Welcome, Sam! How are you today?

SAM: Suitably irritated and full of meat, thank you.

Amanda: That’s, ah, good to hear… Let’s kick off gently and ask first about what constitutes a typical day in the life of Sam Sykes!

SAM: Assuming I’m lucky enough to have made it home last night, I typically pull myself out of wherever I fell on the floor. There are many soft things on the floor. Some of them are moist. I avoid those. I quickly pull down the blinds and peer through; the sunlight usually burns my eyes, so I try to sleep until five or six in the evening. Frequently, I find the police out there, looking for me. They’ve caught onto the fact that I laid a false trail in the woods where they chased me. They are persistent. They have hounds with them today, sniffing the earth. I am not worried. I evaded hounds before. Hounds, bullets, the shrill cries of the enemy, the hushed whisper of their gun barrels brushing against the leaves as they leveled their weapons at me, and took aim and–

What?… No, that’s not the story to Rambo. That’s my life! Rambo copied ME!

Amanda: Just a normal everyday life then! Seriously, what gives with calling yourself the ‘Angriest Man Alive’?

SAM: You’d be angry, too, if you’d seen what I’d seen, if you’d smelled what I smelled.

Amanda: Ha, so much for getting the inside scoop on the man who parades as a ninja in most of his author photos! Let’s try this: part of your reputation comes from your lively banter on the Internet with your readers. How do you feel about the greater interaction between authors and readers these days? Does it help or hinder? Is it something you enjoy?

SAM: It’s a treat for me, really, because I love attention. That may come off as crass and shallow, but it’s basically true. I like it when people are interested in my book and myself. And I like helping them find out whatever they want to know about it. It’s just an immense treat to have someone interested enough in you to seek you out and ask questions, so naturally, I’m happy to answer them. These days, one doesn’t sell just a book, they sell the author with it. This has created, in my opinion, one of the best and most accessible network of authors ever.

I’m not sure an aspiring author can even go without a web presence because of it. The internet has been the de facto form of communication, hype and delivery for ages now. If there was an author out there who got by solely on verbal word of mouth, I’d very much like to read his book.

Amanda: I honestly can’t think of an author these days that doesn’t have at least a website (even if they don’t mouth off, starting feuds all over Twitter with other authors). Two questions there: fancy giving us some hype about your new website www.samsykes.com and extended plans with it? And exactly how many authors do you now have on your black list?

SAM: Well to address the feuding, and I could get in severe trouble with my publishers for telling you this, it’s not so much personal as professional trash talk. You see, the publishing world is not unlike the movie Highlander, with various authors competing with each other for the spot of supremacy. However, as a lot, we tend to be pasty, underexercised and apathetic, so our sword-slinging duels to the death tend to rage in semi-polite insults over email and twitter that occasionally degenerate into “yo mama” contests.

Feuds are divided into “blood,” “formal,” and “spit.” Blood feuds are soul-deep contests of anger that rage between myself and other people who probably wonder what the strange man sending them angry emails are about. Formal feuds are undeclared states of perpetual aggression based on envy and spite that I have running with currently every other author in existence. The sole spit feud is pretty much me and Adam Roberts trying to spit in each others’ mouths while yawning.

As to the site, you might notice that, at a glance, it looks like any other jerk’s website, save for that little button up there saying: “LORE.” This is the solution I came up with for a professional quandary: I have a lot of world to share, but I don’t necessarily want to shove it down the readers’ throats in prose form (not that they wouldn’t appreciate it, but I find it can be a little irritating for readers to discover a history lecture in their fantasy). So, the lore tab is there for me to offer little tidbits, incentives and extras from the book without actively forcing it on other people.

Amanda: You’re keeping busy, for sure. But I guess you’re also busy at work on a follow up to Tome of the Undergates – how is the writing going?

SAM: Not bad, actually! At the moment, the book resembles the chubby, unpopular girl from one of those teen Cinderella stories. Right now, she’s laughed at, what with her pimply face, love handles and paint-covered overalls. But we will embark on a joyous 80′s montage, (set to something catchy, like “I Ran So Far Away,” I think) and we will make her lose weight, wear nicer clothes, put on make-up and maybe pad her bra a little and soon, the captain of the football team (you, the reading public), will fall desperately in love with her and you’ll realize perhaps she was this beautiful all along and the way she gorges her food and snorts when she laughs and covertly farts in your mouth when you yawn is just part of her charm.

Tempted yet?

Amanda: I think with a response like that, you’re rather lucky I’ve already read the first book and have therefore been sucked into needing to read the second! Since we’re indirectly talking about girls, let’s deal with this question. What do you think your debut novel offers to the female readership of SFF books? Did you think about a target audience as you were writing it?

SAM: This is kind of a tricky question, isn’t it? Women, I think, are pretty discerning in their reading and want interesting plots that affect them. The typical fantasy female character usually has two routes to go: either she’s totally head-over-heels in love with the male protagonist or she’s out to prove male society wrong and usually becomes something of an unintentional parody in the process. Hell, for those who also read YA (as the readership tends to blend a little), the new trend has become for females to not only be upstaged, but totally irrelevant in their own stories, being a sort of passive disease caught by the male characters.

I don’t really subscribe to that theory. I don’t particularly subscribe to the idea that women and men are all that different, actually, in terms of conflict. We handle our problems differently, maybe, and we react to them differently, but we have the same desires: to be loved, to have purpose, to not fail. In short: girls fart. Men fart, too. We’re all embarrassed by it, but we move on.

The female characters in Tome of the Undergates do exemplify this attitude, I think. One is a strong, confident woman convinced by her racial creed that her personal feelings are a symptom of a disease… who farts. Another is a woman questioning her role in society and whether she even makes a difference, while at the same time wondering if she can actually do good through the typical fantasy problem solution of “kill stuff.” And another is seven feet tall, purple and has a fondness for ripping off limbs.

None of those really factor in all that much, though. As I said, I think we all want the same thing out of a story: conflict, relationships, plot and probably one or two dismemberings. I’ve got that in spades.

Amanda: Having read Tome of the Undergates I agree with the fact that you are definitely writing in some strong female characters there! I think my favourite character in the book is Kataria – did you have a favourite while you were writing?

SAM: I know it’s kind of a cliche to suggest this, but I really do love all of them and I think that by having fun with each of them, the reader will also be in a position where a different point of view is something to love as opposed to moaning “oh jeez, another chapter with this character.” I think what made them fun to write was the fact that none of them are easily categorized, in my mind.

Lenk appears brave and practical, but is occasionally willing to sacrifice it all for someone else. Kataria is tough-as-nails and excruciatingly violent, but possesses a vulnerability that disgusts her. Asper’s strength is buried under a mountain of doubt and dread while Denaos has secrets one wouldn’t expect of a coward. Gariath, naturally, was one of the most fun because he simply doesn’t give a crap. And Dreadaeleon… well, I suppose if you combine the ability to spew fire and lightning with a self-loathing, insecure, annoying seventeen-year-old nerd, you can’t help but have fun.

Amanda: And I certainly did have fun! While I read about the dismembering and crotch-stomping, it did occur to me to wonder where your ideas come from? Did the book spring fully formed? Did you have any issues with the characters taking you in directions you weren’t expecting?

SAM: Well, most of my characters are mentally disturbed, so…

I mean, of course characters surprise you frequently. If they didn’t, why would anyone want to read them? If the hero always did the right thing all the time, no one would ever wonder what he was going to do when the village was burning and he had to save the orphanage or the bank. If the villain was out to do evil for evil’s sake, no one would ever watch what he was doing because he was obviously about to steal an orphaned kitten’s college fund or something similar.

Granted, it’d be really easy if they could follow that set pattern, but if it was really easy, there’d be no reason to read it.

Writing scenes is equally tricky and for less logical reasons. On occasion, I’ll have an idea that’s fully fleshed-out and meets all the criteria I need it to meet and is just exquisite in my head, then I’ll put it on paper and see it’s absolute trash. At that point, it’s fairly difficult to move forward, so I sometimes need to abandon it if it’s really giving me trouble and move onto something else. Other times, it’ll weigh heavily on my conscience for awhile and then I’ll get something out of the blue that totally inspires me and changes the entire course of the story.

There’s a scene, for example, where the character of Denaos, a cowardly thief with particularly black secrets, really came to life for me and probably for a lot of readers. That scene, originally, was totally clownish and stupid with vague, childish threats being made that only served to make the character even more of a parody than he pretends to be. Then I saw a torture scene on the HBO show Rome and thought: “fuck, that looks painful.” From there, the scene, even the character of Denaos, came clear as day to me.

Just goes to show how tricky, and utterly whimsical, this whole process can be.

Amanda: You seem pretty comfortable with being a full-time writer. Have you always wanted to be a writer, or did you dabble with other career paths first?

SAM: For a long time, I was actually a writer of a specific kind of romance subgenre known as “Presidents in Lust.” You can find my opus: “Coolidge on the Brink” under my pen name of Mavis Bernard. Before that, I bottled my urine and sold it to French-Polynesian Witch Doctors (if you’re reading this, Pierre, you owe me sixty francs).

Truthfully, I didn’t know if I always wanted to be a writer, but I did know I was too lazy and incompetent to do anything else.

Amanda: Well, since you mentioned laziness, do you find it easy to get up and write every day or do you suffer from procrastination? What leads you astray?

SAM: Pretty much everything. I’ve got this lovely situation in which I’m an author cursed with a short attention span. I’m frequently twittering, facebooking, farting about…wait, shit, is my editor going to read this?

AHAHAHA WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION I AM UNSURE I HAVE BEEN WRITING FOR PAST SEVEN YEARS NO STOPS NO BREAKS I PEE IN MASON JAR AND USE IT TO NURTURE FLOWER I AM A WRITING MACHINEMACHINEMACHINEMACHINEMACHINE

Amanda: So, moving rapidly on from the writing process before you get yourself in trouble (!), we’ve all had a chance to see the cover art of your book and I know you and Aidan chatted about it. What is your take on the differing opinions that have cropped up?

SAM: The cover’s a fun source of debate. Girls seem to like it, men seem to hate it. Perhaps our problems are quite different, after all? To me, it’s pretty hilarious. Griping over cover art is a time-honored pastime, right up there with arguing over whether urban fantasy is real fantasy and complaining about George R.R. Martin. I don’t even have a hooded figure on the cover and I still get lumped in with that oft-maligned (perhaps unjustly so) crowd. I truly look forward to the day where I set a trend and “wet, shadowy figure” becomes the hated grudge.

I don’t begrudge people their God-given right to complain, really. With absolutely no offense intended to the various bloggers out there, the ones that are typically the most vocal in their scorn, they are a very small percentage of the people we’d like to have read the book. Chances are, they’d read it, anyway, and just have some fun bemoaning it. So, I mean, it’s really a choice: do we try to attract 80% of the population or do we tailor it so that we aren’t crucified by Aidan Moher again?

One of these days, though, I’ll make a Special Bloggers Edition of Tome of the Undergates. Its cover will be a grizzly bear at a tea party with a robot. It’ll be meta as hell and I will finally achieve the love of the reviewers I so desperately crave.

Amanda: Well, that’s one way to deal with the detractors! It isn’t too long now until the release of the book in the UK. How excited are you and do you have plans for the book launch?

SAM: I actually have no idea what happens. I have placed myself at the beck and call of my publishers, who I hope are plotting to both expose me to a lot of media and keeping me out of jail for exposing myself to the media.

Amanda: Okay, last question: acknowledging the fact that SFF readers rarely buy just one book, tell us why everyone should rush out and buy yours?

SAM: It underscores a lot of familiarity with a lot of new and innovative stuff. It takes a neat look at a lot of fantasy tropes and does new and interesting things with them, really. It goes deep into the psychology and philosophy of an adventurer and dregs out the really nasty, unpleasant stuff in a really fun way. I think a lot of people who are bored of fantasy political thrillers and fantasy boys with uncommon destinies will enjoy it.

You may notice that sounded a lot like the response I gave at A Dribble of Ink. Well, there are two key differences! For one, this one is far more condensed and for two, I didn’t threaten to weld peoples’ anuses shut in the last one!

And I think that is an… unusual note to leave the interview on… Thanks so much for your time, Sam. Remember, people, Tome of the Undergates is out in April in the UK. I can guarantee that the book itself is just as depraved, aggressive and downright mad as the man himself – make sure it’s first on your list come April!
Today one US commenter will win a copy of Jim Butcher’s Changes (reviewed by Justin) and one UK commenter wins a copy of Jonathan L. Howard’s Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (reviewed by me.) (UK commenters, please indicate you’re in the UK.)

We’re pleased to welcome today one of the defining authors of epic and urban fantasy. Jim Butcher has thrilled fans for a decade and Beth and her husband Gert were happy to chat with him about his work. Mr. Butcher recently published the final volume of his high-fantasy series CODEX ALERA. The twelfth volume of THE DRESDEN FILES, entitled Changes, comes out today! So, two lucky commenters on this post will win a copy of Changes!

Beth & Gert: Now that you’ve finished CODEX ALERA (and what a finish, too), the question that springs to mind first is, what’s next? And have you thought about going back to Alera at some point?

Jim Butcher: I’m not quite sure what will be next. I’ll be making that decision after I finish writing the thirteenth book of THE DRESDEN FILES, sometime this summer.

B & G: How did you come up with the original idea for CODEX ALERA? We’ve heard rumours that it involved a bet on whether you could combine the Roman empire and Pokémon… is that true?

B & G: The bet was actually centered around writing craft discussions being held on the then-new Del Rey Online Writers’ Workshop, I believe. The issue at hand was central story concepts. One side of the argument claimed that a good enough central premise would make a great book, even if you were a lousy writer. The other side contended that the central concept was far less important than the execution of the story, and that the most overused central concept in the world could have life breathed into by a skilled writer.

It raged back and forth in an ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FLAMEWAR between a bunch of unpublished writers, and finally some guy dared me to put my money where my mouth was, by letting him give me a cheesy central story concept, which I would then use in an original novel.

Me being an arrogant kid, I wrote him back saying, “Why don’t you give me TWO terrible ideas for a story, and I’ll use them BOTH.”

The core ideas he gave me were Lost Roman Legion and Pokémon… Thus was Alera formed.

B & G: So it is true!    Okay, the next upcoming book of yours is Changes, the twelfth of THE DRESDEN FILES. The title seems apt; judging by what’s been let out so far, there are big things afoot. Even the title itself is a departure — previous books have all had titles of two words of equal length. It starts to seem like the series is entering its second phase. Is this an accurate assumption? And what changes will this entail for readers?

Jim Butcher: I would actually call this the series’ third or even fourth phase, if I was going to use words like “phase” to describe the progression. I tend to work on a event-by-event basis.

I decline to ruin anyone’s fun by describing what changes will be entailed for the reader. But Changes is certainly a significant milestone in the story.

B & G: THE DRESDEN FILES feature a large and well-developed cast. Are you planning on putting out any more novellas exploring this cast, in the vein of Backup?

Jim Butcher: I’ve already written one for Murphy, which will appear in Side Jobs, the first DRESDEN FILES short-story collection. But as far as single novellas go… no, I’m not at all sure I’ll be writing any of those again. A number of fans were extremely upset with Backup for a number of reasons, and their reaction has made me more than a little wary about pursuing more of the same.

B & G: Something a lot of readers enjoy about THE DRESDEN FILES is that while the books stand alone, they also build a larger story — an overall arc. Now, you’ve previously mentioned a plan involving twenty books capped by an apocalyptic trilogy. How is that plan holding up so far?

Jim Butcher: I’m a couple of books behind my original outline. At this point, I’m telling everyone that the series will be twenty-ish books, followed by a trilogy. The net result is that there will probably be at least a couple more “case” books, like we’ve seen so far.

B & G: You’ve put out a writing guide to help aspiring authors. Any chance of seeing more of this, perhaps a full-sized guide book of your experiences and what you’ve learned as an author?

Jim Butcher: It’s one of those things I sincerely intend to get around to doing, one of these days — which is not quite the same thing as “never” but it might be close.

Honestly, all of the craft I know is essentially the same material explored by Jack Bickham and Dwight Swain, only dumbed down to the level where I was able to understand and apply it. The work of both of them is available from a number of vendors. I would encourage any aspiring writers to check out what Bickham and Swain have to say, rather than waiting for me to get organized enough to write the Denny’s menu version of the same material.

B & G: Speaking of other authors… In academia, you know you’ve achieved something when your article is quoted by someone else. It’s rarer to see quotations like this in fiction, but how do you feel about this? Would you call it an accolade to have a book of yours mentioned by someone else’s fictional character?

Jim Butcher: Absolutely! Writers are one of the toughest audiences to please, and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside to get a shout out from your fellow professional storytellers.

B & G: A topic that has garnered a lot of discussion recently is the relationship between authors and fans. Do you think you have “responsibilities” towards your fans?

Jim Butcher: Frankly? I don’t have any responsibility to the fans, beyond writing a book. They, in turn, don’t have any responsibility to me, other than acquiring the book legitimately.

Of course, I also think it’s professionally and personally stupid to leave the writer/fan relationship at that. It’s smart for me to produce books in a timely and regular fashion, just like it’s smart for me to provide the means of getting a book autographed. It’s smart for me to appear in public occasionally, and get to actually meet the readers face to face, and to be as friendly and courteous as I can when I do. It’s smart for me to tell a fun and satisfying tale. It’s even smart for me to talk with fans about the story thus far, and to hear their opinions on various characters and story events. And I try to do all of that, whenever I can.

To me, a fan/writer relationship isn’t about obligation, about who owes what to whom. It’s about giving, and it’s about pride. I try to give the readers my best effort with everything I write, and every time I finish a project, I want it to be something in which I can feel proud.

But to any fans reading this — don’t worry. I don’t expect anything from you guys beyond acquiring the book legitimately. I’m low maintenance.

B & G: Your author bio mentions you’re a martial artist. Would you tell us more about that?

Jim Butcher: I’ve always preferred the term “martial arts enthusiast.” “Martial artist” implies that I am a skilled and dedicated practitioner. “Enthusiast” just means that I really, really like them. And it’s by far a better description.

I’ve trained in Ryukyu Kempo, Shorin Ryu, Tae Kwan Do, a little Aikido and a little Kung Fu, but it’s not as though I’m a master — or even a serious student — of those arts. Mostly I just punched or kicked stuff, sparred with others in the class, cracked jokes at inappropriate moments, and generally enjoyed myself.

B & G: Okay, Beth always likes to ask: Is there one question you wish somebody would ask you, but nobody ever does? If so, what is it, why, and what is the answer?

Jim Butcher: Not so much! See above, re: low maintenance… But seriously, I just take the questions as they come, rather than grinding gears in my brain thinking of the question I want someone to ask.

Except, of course, when I’m telling knock-knock jokes. If I don’t get the courtesy of a “Who’s there?”, we may have to throw down.

B & G: And Gert especially wants to know: Is it true that Butters is next in line for becoming a Knight of the Cross?

Jim Butcher: I always answer this way to questions about the future storylines of the series: that I refuse to answer on the grounds that it will spoil someone’s fun.

Besides, I take perverse glee in sing-songing, “I’m not gonna tell you, I’m not gonna tell you!” It’s like heroin for writers!

This year, particularly, promises to be chock-full of writer heroin…

Thanks once again to Mr. Butcher for stopping by!  Remember: two lucky commenters will win copies of Changes. But don’t let that stop you from buying it!

By [the_author_posts_link]

I recently had the great pleasure of dining and talking with urban fantasy author Jaye Wells, whose Mage In Black hits shelves today. In fact, in our two-book giveaway, one lucky commenter on this interview will receive a free copy of Mage in Black while a second will receive a copy of Red-Headed Step Child. So, be sure to comment below.

Ms. Wells is one of my favorite new urban fantasy authors. Her books are driven by action and suspense and spiced with humor and remind me of the popular series by Jeaniene Frost and Karen Chance. To be honest, though, I was a bit nervous about a face-to-face lunch with Ms. Wells, because during my research, I stumbled across reports of her stunningly brutal brawl with fellow Orbit author Nicole Peeler.

SB Frank: [sits to order] Out of curiosity, are these violent tendencies something that happen frequently when you’re out in public with fantasy authors, or, say, um, fantasy critics?

Jaye Wells: [laughs and picks up a menu] No, no, I only assault other fantasy authors who deserve it… [Rants for several minutes about why Nicole Peeler deserved it for daring to disagree with her]. My point is that critics are perfectly safe… unless, of course… [Laughter snaps off suddenly. Eyes transform into sharpened gimlets.] You liked my book, didn’t you?

SB Frank: [gulps] Ha, ha. Never fear. You are in no danger of getting a bad book review from me! [On a completely unrelated note, see my four-star review of Mage in Black here].

[Still, despite my initial nervousness, I had a good feeling that I was going to like Ms. Wells because I’d read on her website (www.jayewells.com) that she had “decided to leave the facts behind and make up her own reality.” Those who know me know that I have extensive personal experience with this particular lifestyle choice. In fact, it is somewhat of a Frank Family tradition, though unlike Jaye we are merely dedicated amateurs, not paid professionals. Ms. Wells’ website also claims that she has a life-long fascination with the arcane and freakish. So, I asked her about this.]

Jaye Wells: As far as I can tell, my fascination has two sources. The first is that I’m a recovering Catholic. No offense to any believers out there, but being raised in a church that actively employed exorcists had an interesting effect on my young, overactively imaginative mind. For example, I used to believe a vampire waited outside my window at night for me to go to sleep. It’s funny to think about now, but back then it caused many sleepless nights. But I guess at some point in my life, my fear turned into fascination. In high school, I discovered Anne Rice‘s Vampire Chronicles and just couldn’t get enough of them. They’re not horror, per se, but seeing heavy Catholic undertones used to portray monsters as heroes shifted something for me.

The other source of my twisted sensibilities is that all the men on my dad’s side of the family were involved in emergency services. My dad was mainly a fireman, but he did consider becoming a mortician at one point. In addition, both my mother and father were involved in the police reserve force when I was quite young. Therefore, I spent a large portion of my youth around people with unique perspectives on things most people find uncomfortable. Gallows humor is pretty common as well as spinning good yarns for entertainment. I remember spending hours around my grandmother’s table listening to the adults crack wise and share tales about their exploits. I maintain that this early exposure to dark humor was critical to the development of my own sick sense of humor and fascination with the darker sides of human nature.

[Wells’ twisted sense of humor comes out early on in Mage in Black, when Wells’ protagonist, Sabina Kane is assaulted by vampire assassins in a convenience store. Throughout the novel, the humor was well developed, a balance between witty narration, clever dialogue, comical situations, and great character interactions.]

SB Frank: Let’s move to the inevitable where-do-you-get-your-inspiration-from question. You claim that you take inspiration from objects as mundane and diverse as porch lights and wine bottles…

Jaye Wells: You know I think part of this just has to do with how my brain is wired. It’s not really a conscious effort to find ideas anymore. My mind just tends to make odd connections between seemingly disparate items. For example, the porch light you mentioned. I was driving by an apartment complex one night. Outside one of the doors, someone had replaced their regular bulb with a red one. For some reason it fascinated me. Now, probably the person did it because that’s all they had or because they thought it was cool. But to me it became a secret signal, like they used on the underground railroad or something. Since most of my stories tend to include a vampire, I started thinking about a vampire on the run, desperately looking for this red light and the safety it symbolized. That idea was the inspiration for a short story I wrote called “Red Life.”

That said, I always try to warn new writers not to fixate too much on ideas. I see sparks of ideas everywhere. Most writers do. It could be a conversation, a news story, a soup label, whatever. But ideas matter much less than execution when it comes to story. That’s what non-writers don’t get when they ask “Where do you get your ideas?” We get them everywhere. What they really want to know is, “How do you do that?” And the answer to that question is, you sit your ass in the chair and flesh out the idea and characters, you type and revise and then do both some more until you have a story. Ideas alone are worthless.

SB Frank: You (as do several other fantasy authors) place a great deal of symbolic significance on the apple. I get the whole Garden of Eden thing, but what I’m wondering is: why fruits and not vegetables? Sure, I mean fruits are sweet and tempting and kids would rather rip their own heads off than eat vegetables, but it still hardly seems fair. If you were going to pick a vegetable to be the symbol of loss of innocence and whatnot, which vegetable would you pick, and why?

Jaye Wells: Hmm, loss of innocence? Has to be asparagus. Beyond the phallic and aphrodisiac implications, there’s the whole unfortunate, um, urination issue. Asparagus is a lot like evil, I guess. It’s fun when you’re eating it, but you’ll pay the price later.

SB Frank: Hm… Darn. I had this idea for a children’s book with a magic asparagus. Now, I may have to choose another veggie… Changing subjects, I understand you’re currently contracted for three books in the Sabina Kane series. What else is in the works?

Jaye Wells: Even though I pitched the series as a trilogy, as I’ve gotten deeper into Sabina’s world I’ve realized there’s just too much there for only three books. I’m hoping that once I turn in the third book, Green-Eyed Demon, that my publisher will want more. Other than that, I have another urban fantasy series bubbling on the back burner. I can’t really talk about it yet, but it’s got major elements we haven’t seen yet in the genre.

SB Frank: Well, I for one can’t wait. Thank you so much for joining us today at fantasyliterature.com!

Readers, be sure to comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of Mage in Black or Red-Headed Step Child.

By [the_author_posts_link]

Fantasy evokes a lot of emotions from me.  Giggling usually isn’t one of them.  But I giggled through much of Soulless, the first book in The Parasol Protectorate by the peerless Gail Carriger.  After being properly introduced, Ms. Carriger politely assented to being interviewed for the benefit of our dear readers.  The transcript of that conversation follows.  Ms. Carriger has also generously donated a signed copy of Soulless (reviewed by me) to be donated to a lucky reader, so leave a comment or question for her and you may be the lucky winner!

Ruth: Usually when talking about new authors, I can compare them to other authors that are well known. Your work can be described as “What would happen if P.G. Wodehouse and Jane Austen decided to write urban fantasy together.” What was the inspiration for that unusual combination?

Ms. Carriger: I love Wodehouse and I love Austen, and the Victorian era falls in the middle time-wise and suits steampunk, so it just kind of happened organically. It’s what I wanted to read, but couldn’t find, so I figured I better write it. I still can’t believe others wanted to read it also. To me, that’s the unusual part.

Ruth: I found the difference between the vampire and werewolf societies in Soulless quite interesting. Were they based on historical civilizations?

Ms. Carriger: The werewolves are based on wolf pack dynamics mixed with the British Regimental system of the day (which aren’t so very different if you look into it closely). The vampires are based on wasp hive dynamics mixed in with some early Renaissance ideas on espionage and politicking.

Ruth: You have werewolves and vampires as an established part of British upper-crust society. In your version of the history of British Empire, are any of the big names from the past supernatural? I think Henry VIII as werewolf might explain a few things.

Ms. Carriger: I don’t think King Henry was a werewolf (though he’d make a very good one) but the supernatural was the real reason for his break with the Catholic Church. I (so far) have kept away from any really big historical names. But in the third book, Blameless, there are 2 more minor names that students of history may get rather excited about, one from Roman times and one from Elizabethan. The vampires pretty much ran the Roman Empire so I’d cast a jaundiced eye at those trixie Caesars.

Ruth: The whole vampire v. werewolf dynamic in urban fantasy is almost overplayed. Beyond the historical setting, what sets your take on the supernatural apart from everything out there?

Ms. Carriger: There’s no magic. None at all. Instead, Victorian scientists are struggling to understand vampires, werewolves, and ghosts using the scientific standards of the day. This results in steampunk gadgets and crazy theories centered about the existence of the soul. In addition, Soulless is very lighthearted in its approach to the supernatural, some might even say silly (e.g. newly minted vampires suffer from fang-lisp). Also the werewolves wear opera glasses and the vampires are gay – well not all of them, but still… did I mention silly?

Ruth: You excel at silly. I giggled through significant portions of Soulless. Do you ever write something and think, “Nope, that’s too silly”?

Ms. Carriger: No, which may be a fatal flaw. I’ve actually been called to task for a particularly ridiculous scene in the second book. So I just made the character in question drunk.

Ruth: Octopodes play an important, yet unexplained role in Soulless. You have promised elsewhere that all will eventually be explained about the mysterious presence of the cephalopods in the books. Did you choose them because of a personal fascination with the animal, or is it strictly professional?

Ms. Carriger: Oh, it stems from a totally unprofessional obsession with invertebrates in general and octopodes in particular. I love how smart, and cute, and squishy, and tasty they are. They are everything good rolled together in eight-armed glory. When I write it is more a matter of making sure the story has a place for an octopus, than making the octopus fit into the book.

Ruth: Have you ever been fishing for octopus? What’s your favorite way to eat them?

Ms. Carriger: I’ve never fished for octopuses. One of my professors used to wax poetical about his Greek fishing village and how they whack dead octopuses against the streets to tenderize them and hang them out on clotheslines. “You know you’re in Greece,” he used to say, “When you wake up to the sound of an octopus being slapped of a morning.” Coincidentally, my favorite way to eat them is Greek style – grilled with lemon, olive oil, and fresh oregano. Heaven.

Ruth: You have the next two books in The Parasol Protectorate coming out this year. What are your plans after that?

Ms. Carriger: Funnily enough, my agent asked me that same question recently. As a result of some discussion and thought, I now have two secret projects in the works, and one additional not so secret project that’s for my own amusement – the history of Alexia’s scandalous father. I’ve also got two shorts on my plate: a non-fiction steampunk piece and a paranormal romance story. 2010 is going to be a busy year.

Ruth: Those are a lot of different writing projects. How do you keep them straight? Do you outline everything in advance or just jump right in to the story and see where it takes you?

Ms. Carriger: Militant outliner. Sometimes a story will start without me. As in, I’ll wake up, sit at the computer, and just start typing. Then I have to force myself to stop and bang out an outline or neither of us have any idea where we are going. I don’t like to ramble – except in interviews (apparently). As to keeping the projects distinct from each other, that can get difficult. Usually, I pick something for the week and try to just work on that, but other projects may crowd in and want to be worked on instead. It can get very discombobulating.

Ruth: Do you ever have characters who just won’t go along with the outline? What do you do in those circumstances?

Ms. Carriger: All the time. I pretty much just let them do what they want, they usually know what is happening better than I do. Sometimes I have to cut them out later, but usually it has some sort of plot twist relevance near the end. I love it when that happens.

Ruth: Can you give us any clues as to what Alexia might be up to in the next two novels?

Ms. Carriger: Well, there are werewolves in kilts in the second book, and Italians in nightgowns in the third.

Ruth: How involved were you in the creation of the Alexia paper doll website? I haven’t had that much fun since playing with Barbies in grade school. I think I may have actually squealed when I realized you could change her hair by clicking on it.

Ms. Carriger: Did you see her hair falls down when you put on her nightgown? And you can change her facial expressions too! It was Orbit‘s idea but they brought me in on it early on. Every outfit, background, and clothing option comes from Soulless. I prepared a full on dossier with images and other information for the lovely woman who designed it. You can download the dossier, if you like, from my website. It’s in the DVD extras section, under People, Places, & Plot.

Ruth: Do you have a favorite BBC miniseries? Something you watch when you need inspiration?

Ms. Carriger: I would say Cranford is my favorite, although I can watch both the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice (long version) and their North & South over and over and over again. Regency House Party is also brilliant.

Ruth: Assuming you could meld time and books, do you think Alexia and Elizabeth Bennett would have been friends?

Ms. Carriger: You know I think they might. Difficult to tell; I imagine Alexia is rather forward and hard to get along with.

Ruth: You have quite an extensive DVD extras section on your website, and your blog is a wealth of interesting and amusing information. Do you feel maintaining a web presence affects the work you do as an author, and if so, how?

Ms. Carriger: Currently, it seems monumentally detrimental. I blame Twitter. But mostly I think it’s been positive. People have been really kind about interviewing me and reviewing Soulless. I do feel like it’s part of my job. I’d say I spend half my day online, at least.

Ruth: You’ve coined the term “bustlepunk” to describe your work. How successful have you been in getting bustlepunk recognized as a sub-genre?

Ms. Carriger: Oh, that wasn’t me, that was M.K. Hobson. I like the term, and I’m all over accepting it, but I do think bustlepunk falls under the larger umbrella (or should I say parasol?) of steampunk, and until steampunk really becomes a well-known genre it seems needlessly complicated to subdivide it further. In addition, Soulless already labors under so many different labels, it seems a tad silly to add yet another to the mix.

Ruth: Are there other writers doing steampunk or bustlepunk right now that you particularly enjoy or recommend?

Ms. Carriger: Sadly, I am the victim of WBD (writer book deprivation) – I rarely have time to read anymore because I have to write. When I do read, I try to keep to books outside my genre, so as not to be influenced unduly. However, I have heard some great steampunk short stories. I caught J. Daniel Sawyer‘s “Cold Duty” recently, and loved it.

Ruth: What is it about steampunk that attracts you as a genre as a writer? Are there conventions of the sub-genre that you don’t like or want to subvert in some manner?

Ms. Carriger: I like the future as the Victorian’s saw it, full of manners, proper dress, organization, and ridiculous gadgets. It’s a world very open to the bizarre, and one that happily mixes science with the supernatural. The 1800s spawned gothic literature, which, in turn, spawned romance, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, so there is a wonderful circularity to writing steampunk now-a-days.

Certainly I’m subversive. Steampunk sometimes forgets how outlandish, colorful, and absurd the Victorians were, and how optimistic their ideas of progress and world domination. There are very few of us writing light-hearted fancy dress steampunk, and I’m really hoping that changes. The more ridiculousness the better!

Ruth: How much research goes in to writing in a historical setting like this?

Ms. Carriger: A whole lot. I spend at least half of my writing time doing research. Which I to say, if I wrote in a contemporary setting, I would write 2x as fast. But I do love the research and learning new things, my head is now full of exciting facts like the difference between a hassock, a tuffet, and a pouff.

Ruth: Okay, so what is the difference between a hassock, a tuffet, and a pouff?

Ms. Carriger: They are all basically the same thing: a footrest or stool that is covered and padded. In Victorian times the following distinction was drawn: a hassock is more likely to have feet and be square, a tuffet is usually round with feet like a covered stool, and a pouff is round with no feet.

Ruth: Do you end up collecting a lot of historical odds and ends in your research? I have a mental image of your home looking like a cross between the Smithsonian’s costume collection and a mad gnome’s workshop.

Ms. Carriger: Actually, I am so sorry to debunk that charming notion. And while I have some nice vintage jewelry, a few costumes, and some old books, I actually prefer to live in a very modern environment, all clean lines and neutral colors with modern art and no clutter. You’d never guess would you? However, I have quite the collection of octopus jewelry. It began years ago and only escalated after the publication of Soulless.

Ruth: There’s a significant amount of romance flowing throughout your stories. What’s the difference between writing an action scene and writing a sex scene?

Ms. Carriger: The action scene is about a billion times easier to write. I love action and dialogue, embarrass myself when writing nookie.

Ruth: Some authors are very down to business, and others have certain routines they must follow. Do you have a specific ritual to writing? A favorite pen, a specific chair, a tiara?

Ms. Carriger: Yes, very ritualistic. I have wrist supports I strap on, and a little egg timer I use (20 minutes) so it’s a bit like some kind of armored marathon. Then I reward myself with tea and sometimes chocolate.

Ruth: Writing in a British setting, I imagine you must be quite an expert on teas. Do you have a preferred tea? Bag or loose leaf? Pot or by the cup?

Ms. Carriger: Oh, just a tea dilettante, I assure you. But I do have a keen interest in the proper execution of the perfect cuppa. (Warming the pot, milk first, tea cozy a moral imperative, etc.) I do have a preferred tea, but it’s hard to find, it is Twinings English Breakfast Gold Label (black box), and it has to be imported from England. It’s mild in flavor but very strong in punch. Method of distribution depends on the company. For myself a bag and mug will do, and I usually default to a daily tea like PG Tips, rather than the Gold Label. For casual visitors its the good tea in a proper pot, but bagged. For formal occasions, and my mum, it’s loose leaf in a pot and some kind of biscuit – the whole ritual. However, and I am unswerving in this, you must, must, must use whole milk.

Ruth: Milk chocolate or dark? And do you prefer things in your chocolate or do you like it unadulterated?

Ms. Carriger: Dark chocolate with red wine or milk chocolate full of lots of stuff. Bits of toffee, coffee beans, mint, raisins, nuts, you name it, I like my chocolate with serious personality.

Ruth: If you could write in any other author’s world, would you? And which world would you choose?

Ms. Carriger: Probably not. Although, I wouldn’t entirely rule it out. There are some worlds that I wouldn’t mind playing in from a seriously farcical direction. But the owner of the world would have to be open to their creation begin made fun of. A friend of mine runs the The Metamor City Podcast and I keep threatening to write something ridiculous about were-beavers for him.

Ruth: Finally, besides eating your cat, what is your zombie plan?

Ms. Carriger: Well, I have this vague idea of escaping to Alcatraz island, depending on whether the zombies can travel under water or not. Otherwise, I plan to head out to the coast to some obscure fishing village: isolated, ready food source, and one can always take to the ocean if necessary.

Enter to win a signed copy of Soulless (reviewed by me) by leaving a comment or question!

Kelly Lasiter recently interviewed Marjorie M. Liu about her recent projects. Read Kelly’s reviews of The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls on our Liu page.

Kelly: The Hunter Kiss series grabbed me from the first sentence of The Iron Hunt: “When I was eight, my mother lost me to zombies in a one-card draw.” I love that line, and I’ve been wondering ever since… how did that sentence first come to you?

Marjorie M. Liu: My mom was the inspiration, actually. She doesn’t play cards, she’s not into zombies, she would certainly never gamble away her child. — but when I was a kid, my mom and I would go for long drives and have ‘big adventures’ together, which I suppose influenced the opening prologue — this idea of a mom and daughter in the car, on the open road. And I was sitting there, thinking about that, thinking and thinking — about the book I wanted to write, which did have zombies in it — and what would be the worst, weirdest thing that could happen to a mother and her child. Losing a kid to zombies, in a game of cards, just came to me.

Kelly: One of the things I love about the Hunter Kiss series is the relationship between Maxine and Grant. I’ve seen a lot of urban fantasy novels where romantic tension is generated by the frequent addition of new partners. I can’t help but think that you’ve taken a more difficult route – but also a more emotionally moving one. What’s your secret to keeping the spark in a fictional relationship?

Marjorie: It’s not that I don’t like romantic triangles — when they’re done right, there’s nothing better. But it seems to me that not every woman, and not every man, is going to always be pulled emotionally in different directions. Sometimes you just meet someone, and it’s good, and right, and you don’t mess with it. That’s how I feel about Maxine and Grant. Of course she’s going to feel emotional ties to others — but emotional ties aren’t the same as romantic love. Maxine loves Grant. Grant loves Maxine. It wouldn’t make sense to write them any differently.

But you’re right — it is more difficult to maintain. Romantic tension is one of the things I love about writing romance novels, but in that genre, there’s a new couple in each book. Nothing really has to be maintained — just generated. In the Hunter Kiss series, which follows the same couple through multiple stories, you have to find ways to create that slow burn that just gets hotter and brighter as time goes on. I don’t have a secret for doing it — I just really get into the characters, and try to imagine what would make them afraid, what would turn them on, all the little gestures that carry that love and tension between them.

Kelly: The third Hunter Kiss book, A Wild Light, comes out in August. Are there any hints you can give us about what lies ahead for Maxine?

Marjorie: It’s not an exaggeration to say that everything changes in this book. For Maxine, for others. Readers will learn more about the prison veil, the demonic army, the Avatars… and Maxine herself. What is she, exactly? Who is she supposed to be? And can she handle what she discovers about herself? All those questions will be answered — mostly.

Kelly: I can’t wait! … Okay, let’s talk about your comics. How does writing novels differ from writing comics? How are they similar? How does your work in comics affect your novels, and vice versa?

Marjorie: I say this all the time, but it’s true: the difference isn’t all that huge, because it’s still storytelling. Writing novels is harder, because they’re longer, and you don’t have an artist to rely on when you need to convey emotion, a scene, the world itself. I have to spell that out. But writing novels is more satisfying, too — because you’re fully immersed. You’re there.

That, and you OWN what you create. I love writing comics, but I’m borrowing those characters. They’re not mine, and I always keep that in mind.

When writing comics, the emphasis weighs more heavily on dialogue (at least, for me it does). That’s where I try to start, and then I fill in the visuals, and break down the pages. Each comic is only 22 pages long, so it’s like writing a short story each time — every word and scene counts.

But what I love best, besides getting to write Wolverine and Daken, and the Black Widow — and hey, for a brief time, the Fantastic Four — is the art. Oh, man. It is a crazy beautiful thing working with such talented artists, who just take those words and then spill them out in such lovely ways. I never get tired of it.

Do the comics influence the novels, and vice versa? I’m not sure. I would say, in a way, that the novels influence the comics more so than the other way around, but it’s hard for me to say at this point. Ask me again in a couple years and I might be able to give you a better answer.

Kelly: Since we’re talking about influences, let me ask the obvious question, but one that I actually really want to know the answer to: What writers have most influenced your work?

Marjorie: Too many to name. I’m a firm believer that everything I read influences me to some degree. But I remember the writers who made me look at words and stories differently: Isabel Allende, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, Charles de Lint, Frank Miller, Kelly Link, Sara Donati. I’ll remember others later, I’m certain, but those are the ones who come to mind, first.

I have to add, though, that I had a professor in undergrad — Peter Fritzell — who also changed the way I looked at writing. He taught a course in non-fiction essays, and I learned more under his tutelage than at any other time in my education.

Kelly: Okay, we talked about novels and comics, so on to games: In April, Passionfruit Games is releasing the game Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, based on your romance novel Tiger Eye. I’ve been a fan of adventure/puzzle games for some time, and the ones I like best are the ones that combine the mystery with character development and emotion. Between that and the fact that I thought the novel was lots of fun, Tiger Eye sounds right up my alley! What can you tell our readers about the game?

Marjorie: First of all, thanks! The game follows the novel very closely — which means it’s about psychic Delilah Reese, who purchases an ancient riddle box in Beijing’s dirt market, and discovers that it contains a (gorgeous) shape-shifting warrior, Hari, who has been cursed to exist in the box, and serve as a slave to whomever opens it. Dela, of course, isn’t interested in making Hari serve her, and the two set out to break his curse — and stop the people who are hunting them for the box, to obtain its power.

The game designers (an award winning team) did have to tweak some sections here and there, in order to fit the game structure — but if you’ve read the novel, you’ll recognize the scenes — and if you haven’t read the book, you’ll still know exactly what’s going on, and hopefully, you’ll be drawn in by the romance. We really worked hard to keep Hari and Dela’s relationship a central part of the game — but having said that, this is for all ages. Mostly. I think there might be some naked ass.

The game itself is structured around puzzles, hidden objects, thought-games — literally, in some cases, as every time Dela uses her psychic gifts, the player plays a “psi” mini-game. The designers (to steal their words for a moment) mapped out scenes that took place in the book, and then translated those events into game form — so that when Dela buys the box from another character in the novel, there are puzzles that the player has to solve first before continuing onward.

It’s been wonderful fun. If folks want to learn more, they should head over to the Passion Fruit website.

Kelly: That sounds like tons of fun and I will definitely be checking out Tiger Eye! Okay, one last thing I’d like your opinion on: Where do you see the urban fantasy genre going in the next few years?

Marjorie: My only expectation is to be surprised. I’ve given up trying to predict anything — except that there will be great books published. I know this. And great books sometimes create their own trends.

Thanks to Marjorie M Liu for taking some time to chat with us! And speaking of zombies, comment below for a chance to win David Dunwoody’s Empire: A Zombie Novel. If you don’t want that book, you can pick something else from our stacks.

by Amanda

It occurs to me that there are very many interviews with fantasy authors to be found on the Internet – this very site conducts many of them, and I’ve enjoyed every one! However, few people bother to talk to the long-suffering partners behind those who create the books we know and love. It is fun for us to dip into the fantasy worlds created by these authors – but how must it feel to the people who dwell in them full-time? With this in mind, I decided to create a feature called Living With The Writer, where we talk to those significant others.

First up is Michaela Deas, wife of Stephen Deas who wrote The Adamantine Palace, one of the  great debuts in 2009 (John’s and Robert T.’s review of this book can be found here). Let me know how you like this new interview series, or comment on the interview below for a chance to win a book from FanLit!

Amanda: Hi Michaela, welcome to FanLit! To start, how about introducing yourself and giving us an insight into your situation while ‘Living With the Writer’? I can quite believe that looking after an author becomes a full-time occupation, but I’m guessing that this is not all you do!

Michaela: Hmm… Glamorous wife of a successful writer who is planning world domination?! No… wait… damn, now I’ve given our plans away! How about: German wife, part-time muse and PA of a fantasy author, domestic slave to our two small boys and can opener for three mad cats? Trust me, being married to a writer who indulges in a day job on the side is not as exciting as it sounds!

Amanda: To be honest, it sounds frenetic! Tell me a little about being a part-time muse to a writer – what are the perks and what are the lowlights?

Michaela: It is seriously cool getting to meet loads of authors. And let’s not forget all the lovely folks at Gollancz! They have been so very welcoming and nothing short of awesome since Day 1 and they really didn’t have to: after all, I am not one of their writers, Steve is. They have very generously included me in everything and have happily put up with me being part of “Team Deas” from the start. Also, there is the ever-increasing stream of ARCs that I get to enjoy thanks to Steve being published by them. It means that, although one day we might have to move to a substantially larger house in order not to be swamped by books, I get to enjoy some novels way before release (I mean, how great are Horns and Wolfsangel?!) Obvious lowlights? None detected so far!

Amanda: You seem to have a great relationship with the people working to get Stephen published. Would you say that extends to other authors as well? Do you regularly meet up with them?

Michaela: Not regularly, no, but there are an increasing number of book launches and pub get-togethers that we get invited to. These are usually great fun and a very welcome way of meeting new authors, making new friends and catching up with some old ones. It doesn’t feel as though we’ve become “real” friends with other authors yet, but we haven’t been on the circuit for long enough for something like that to truly establish itself. We have met some wonderful people along the way so far! I mean, I had dinner with Pat Rothfuss, an evening out with Robert V.S. Redick (who is probably one of the nicest people one could hope to meet), shared takeaways with Richard Morgan and Joe Abercrombie. C’mon, what’s not to like?    By the way, Steve reckons I’ll get more attention at Eastercon for all the name-dropping on here than he will from writing books!

Amanda: Let’s backtrack slightly and pick up on something interesting you mentioned: German wife. Are you German by birth? Did you live there until meeting Stephen? Do you miss it?

Michaela: Yes, born in Hamburg – never lived anywhere else prior to coming to the UK. These days I don’t miss Germany as such (and wouldn’t go back to live there again now), but I do miss my big circle of friends. There is a history there with some of them that cannot be replaced. A few of the friendships go back over 25 years and that level of intimacy would probably take a similar amount of time to achieve over here with newly-acquired friends.

Amanda: Okay, I’ve had a read of Stephen’s website www.stephendeas.com , and he very sweetly mentions meeting you as one of his life highlights. I’m intrigued to find out how you met – especially taking into account the fact that you’re German by birth!

Michaela: There is a persistent rumour that I am actually Steve’s continental mail order bride that he had shipped over to henceforth do his bidding! Well, there is a grain of distorted truth in that, apart from the fact that we met as friends on-line and I boarded a plane rather than walked the plank! And, between you and me, I am obviously in charge now!

Amanda: Well, obviously! That is a lovely story: did you have a common interest that enabled you to meet on-line or was it just kismet? How long have you been together now?

Michaela: It’s nine years this year – and I’d do it all again tomorrow! Steve’s profile page stated that he could legitimately call himself a rocket scientist, had set fire to Wales (twice!), and believed in fairytales and myths. That was me sold! Plus, his taste in music identified him as an old rocker and aging Goth – just like myself. I had to get in touch!

Amanda: So, were you aware of his writerly ambitions right from the get-go, or was this something he revealed gradually? What were your thoughts when he told you: positive? Or skeptical that someone could make a success of writing fantasy fiction?

Michaela: I was very much aware of his writing from the word go, and I remember being really quite impressed by it. Not just the quality of what he was producing, but the fact that he had this amazing imagination and the tenacity to continue writing and chasing his dream to one day be a published author. Humour and intelligence are something I find very attractive in people. Make me laugh and I’m yours! Well, almost…

Amanda: Now you’re giving away secrets! Let’s move on to some questions dealing with the creative process of Stephen’s books… There have been some well-known husband/wife creative teams in the fantasy field. Have you been greatly involved in Stephen’s creative process? Does he bounce ideas off you? Are you one of his test readers?

Michaela: Erm, pretty much yes to all of the above. More with some books than with others. For example, we spent a weekend drinking tea in the kitchen and going for walks in the countryside while plotting the initial ideas/outlines for The Adamantine Palace. He asks my advice on most things and frequently suffers my scathing remarks when something isn’t quite right with what he’s written. More often than not, his editor agrees with me!

Amanda: During the writing process, how much support does Stephen require? Does this differ depending on whether he is just starting out with a first draft or whether he is at the “business end” of the book?

Michaela: We do bat ideas for new synopses about a lot. Also, the closer deadlines get, the more he will ask for evenings off and nag me to get on with proof reading his drafts so that I can give him my views on them. So, I guess it gets more work intensive at the start and towards the very end for me. In the middle he quite happily shuts himself away somewhere and all I hear is the relentless clacking of keys interrupted by occasional demands for tea and tubs of ice cream!

Amanda: When Stephen is deep in a novel, do you feel as though you have to make sacrifices for his art?

Michaela: Writing books is essentially a lonely art form as is all the paraphernalia that comes with being published, and so it does eat away at the time we have as a family. To be honest, it doesn’t impact on us that much because he simply isn’t successful enough for it to take up too much time – yet, anyway!  [AR: Michaela remains confident that this will change soon!] And, to be perfectly frank, I do enjoy evenings on my own when I can watch my way through episodes of “Dexter” without having to feel guilty about abandoning him! One thing I have to say, though: it does get a bit irritating sometimes when you’re trying to have a “normal” conversation with him and his mind is constantly occupied with nothing but plotlines, character descriptions and guesstimating the next advance payments!

Amanda: You have a strong Internet presence and have commented on blogs that reviewed Stephen’s debut novel: how do you feel about the reviews he has received? How do you personally cope when there are less than brilliant reviews?

Michaela: It’s tricky. On the whole I agree with the criticisms that have been made and I obviously love it when someone has really enjoyed the book (especially when they’re not friends or family!) And I try not to take bad reviews too personally but I don’t always succeed. Maybe because the whole thing still feels kind of unreal. I’m still waiting for the day when Simon Spanton (his lovely editor) rings up and cackles down the phone, telling us “you didn’t really think we were serious, right?!”

Amanda: From chatting to some other authors, I don’t believe you’re alone in that last sentiment! Finally, let’s finish off with Michaela Deas, rather than wife of Stephen. What are your current ambitions, hopes, dreams? Do you have any latent burning desire to be a novelist?

Michaela: My current dreams and ambitions are very simple and basic ones, I reckon. For all of my family to stay in good health, for Steve to be able to continue doing what he loves and hopefully be able to write full time in the future. I can’t wait to take the kids traveling, which is something that both Steve and I really enjoy. And I would love to go back to work at some point – but the right kind of job that fits around everything just hasn’t come my way yet. Something with people and books would be great – Gollancz, I’m looking at you here!

Do I have aspirations of tormenting the world with my own literary exploits? No, not at this point. People have been nudging me about this for some time now. Simon Spanton, for example, told me at the recent SFX Weekender that he wouldn’t be surprised at all if I submitted my own manuscript within the year. Let’s just say that right now there is no story burning to be told but one should never say never…

Amanda: Thanks so much, Michaela, for taking the time to respond to these questions! I know you were somewhat bemused at the request, initially, but I think it’s deeply interesting to hear about “living with the writer.” You’ve certainly given us some insights! For those interested, Michaela has indicated that she would be happy to answer any follow-up questions people might have via Twitter – her username is @adamantine_lady

And thanks to everyone for reading – I hope that this feature was of interest! How about letting me know your thoughts and suggesting possible other candidates that I can harass… ah, contact?    Comment below for a chance to win Adrian Phoenix‘s Beneath the Skin, or some other book from our stacks.

By [the_author_posts_link] (SB) Frank. Today, we are pleased to welcome fantasy author Rachel Vincent. Rachel is the author of two outstanding fantasy series: SHIFTERS and the YA series SOUL SCREAMERS. Shift, the latest novel in Rachel’s Shifter’s series, starring werecat Faythe Sanders, which went on sale this week. Please join us today in welcoming Rachel and be sure to comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of Shift, which she is graciously donating.

SB Frank: In your SHIFTERS series, I really enjoy how Faythe is constantly challenging traditional female role models in the Pride. In Prey, I think it was, Faythe finally began to understand and accept the vital role that her mother had played in the Pride despite not having a formal position except as the Alpha’s wife. As the pride politics turn deadly, does her mother’s role in the pride continue to grow and expand? Or how do you see that playing out?

Rachel Vincent: Yes, I think it does. She’s always had a vital role; she’s just been content to play it behind the scenes for most of Faythe’s life. But in the first chapter excerpt of Shift (available on my website) we get a glimpse at how strong Karen Sanders can be, and where Faythe gets her mouth.

SB Frank: Do you see yourself as a champion for female independence in other areas of your life besides your writing?

Rachel Vincent: Oh, I don’t see myself as a champion for anything. My job is to entertain. But if you’re looking for more than just an exciting read, the SHIFTERS series can be read as a commentary on gender and racial equality and the importance of fighting for both. Or, it can just be read for fun.

SB Frank: I understand that you have two cats, Kaci and Nyx. Do their personalities or quirks ever find their way into your fictional werecat characters?

Rachel Vincent: No, not really. My werecats are cat instincts, human brains, and a mix of social norms. My house cats just want to eat and lie around all day. Nyx is very cuddly, though. And Kaci’s very stately and standoffish.

SB Frank: Aw. They sound adorable. We’re huge cat lovers around here. Your website, www.rachelvincent.com, says that you are a recent transplant into the deep south. I personally am a US expatriate now living abroad in Texas. Where are you transplanted from? And how do you like living in the South?

Rachel Vincent: I lived in Oklahoma for the first eleven years of my adulthood, then spent almost a year in Louisana, which is where I lived when I wrote that bio. But now I live in San Antonio, and I love it! There’s a great mix of cultures, generally warm weather (though I’m expecting a sweltering summer), and soooo many restaurants to choose from. And there’s a Godiva store three miles from my house. What more could a person want? 

SB Frank: I know that San Antonio is one of our family’s fun vacationing spots, though we haven’t hit the Godiva store yet.  In addition to your werecats novels, you also have a very popular YA series, SOUL SCREAMERS, with two books released so far, My Soul to Take and My Soul to Save.  Do you find it difficult to write for a YA audience? More satisfying?

Rachel Vincent: It’s not that the YA audience is more difficult to write for, but since I’m newer at writing YA than writing for adults, I want to make sure I get it right. So a lot of extra time, energy, and stress goes into my YA novels, and I stress a lot more over the reviews.

SB Frank: Ah, those YA reviews, I get them in my household constantly, and it can be quite stress inducing …and at times strident.  So, what’s next for you? Do you plan to continue these series for a while or to move on to another project?  Anything exciting in the works?

Rachel Vincent: The SHIFTERS series draws to a close this October, with the release of Alpha, the sixth and final book. But the SOUL SCREAMERS will continue (I’m currently contracted through book 5) and I have a new adult series coming up next year. So… I’m definitely staying busy.

SB Frank: Wow. Congratulations on all the great news. I, for one, am rushing out to read Shift and have the the SOUL SCREAMERS on my to-read list.

And for our visitors today, remember to comment on today’s post for a chance to win your own copy of Shift or if you can’t wait that long, buy it now and we’ll let you choose an alternate prize from the Fanlit Stacks. Justin will announce winners next week.

by [the_author_posts_link] (SB) Frank

We are pleased today to welcome Anton Strout, author of the Simon Canderous urban fantasy series.  His latest novel, Dead Matter, goes on sale today. Mr. Strout has graciously offered to give away two novels to commenters on today’s post. Winners can choose between any of his novels:

SB Frank: Welcome Anton! On your website http://antonstrout.com, you have the most intriguing factoid. You write that you are the co-creator of the faux folk musical Sneezin’ Jeff & Blue Raccoon: The Loose Gravel Tour (winner of the Best Storytelling Award at the First Annual New York International Fringe Festival). Can you tell us a little bit about the musical, about the festival, and about the award?

Anton Strout: The NY Inter Fringe Festival is a downtown arts festival that happens in every conceivable venue that can be claimed.  It’s guerrilla theater at its finest, hundreds of shows every hour of the day… Sneezin’ & Blue are two faux folk heroes bases on old school folkies like Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and the Guthries, Arlo and Woody.  They’re modern day folk heroes who spend more time telling a story and tuning their guitars than actually getting to a song.  I play Blue, who was given his name out on the Pueblo, sort of an animal totem name.  He’s an eager to please guitar playing sidekick, and he must be doing something right because they took the Storytelling award.  Other notable shows to come out of the Fringe are Rent and Avenue Q, I believe.  Sadly, to date, Sneezin’ and I have not been asked to be on Broadway.

SB Frank: On the subject of Broadway, you also say that you’re a sometimes actor and sometimes musician. Can you tell us a little about both hobbies?

Anton Strout: Sure.  When I moved to Manhattan fifteen years ago, I came here from small town life in Western Massachusetts.  I went to college for English and Theater. I always knew I wanted to be in New York City, with my small town boy mentality of “I’m gonna BE somebody!”  I wasn’t sure if it would be acting, music or writing, but I knew I wanted to entertain somehow.  So I dabbled in a bit of everything.  I’ve played a lot of instruments over the years, most of them mediocre-ly but I was a pretty good guitarist so I was in several bands.  Also acted a bit in off Broadway shows… but it was the writing that really stuck out of everything.  I enjoy the rejection cycle of it better.  With acting, you audition constantly and face constant rejection.  As a writer, you can go for a long time writing something before you have to deal with potential rejection.  That suits me better.  Not that my writing gets rejected all that often nowadays….

SB Frank: The third novel in your SIMON CANDEROUS series, Dead Matter, comes out today. Have you got any celebratory traditions that you do on book release days? Drinking champagne, dancing naked in the streets, checking out Amazon sales rankings?

Anton Strout: After reading/seeing Paul Sheldon’s rituals in Misery, I decided not to have any traditions, lest I be kidnapped by my “number one fan,” taken to a secluded location and forced to write fan fiction of my own books under threat of hobbling.  In truth, I get so busy with promoting the new book, turning in/ revising the next book, writing proposals for new books that it’s hard to find time to celebrate!  I try to throw a party for all the people who worked on the book for the past year at my publisher, but even that gets kinda crazy to put together.  I do find time to obsess over the Amazon sales ranking, though.  I’m convinced it is a random number generated just to mess with the rampant insecurity that most authors have.  I’m thinking of cutting off my Refresh button finger because of it…

SB Frank: So, Simon Canderous, the protagonist of this series, is a psychometrist who works for the NY Department of Extraordinary Affairs, Other Division. Throughout this wacky series, he has to defeat red tape and the forces of darkness, when the latter are not crushing on him, that is. For those of our readers who may not be as familiar with the series, can you give us the flavor of what you’re going for? And while you’re at it, can you give us a preview of Dead Matter, which I understand has recently been rated with 4.5 stars by the Romantic Times!

Anton Strout: I came to New York in the mid 90s, and like the character Jane Clayton-Forrester in my books, I did a lot of temp jobs working in corporate America.  It’s so mundane and filled with all the red tape and trappings of business culture.  I started to wonder what would happen if it were overlayed on a world that had to contend with fighting ghosts, demons and cultists.  Some have called the series a blend of Ghostbusters meets Men in Black, and I think that’s a fair comparison, except I’d say there’s a bit of corporate droneship and paperwork from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil thrown in as well.  I’m both thrilled and saddened when people tell me they totally either totally get or actually work in the office environment that the Department of Extraordinary Affairs functions within.

SB Frank: Myself, I’m almost reminded of a Dilbert comic strip or the enigmatic movie, Office Space, which I somehow thoroughly enjoyed.  Going back and forth between battling evil monsters and then filling out the paperwork justifying why you did it, is a riot. Thank you so much for visiting today. We wish you the best of luck with today’s release.

Remember two commenters will receive their choice of an Anton Strout novel, or if you prefer, we’ll let you choose an alternative from our stacks. So be sure to comment. I’ve just finished reading Dead Matter and think fans of funny, urban fantasy will be greatly entertained.

by [the_author_posts_link]
We’re big fans of C.S. Friedman (see our reviews here) and are pleased to present this interview which was conducted for FanLit by our friend R.K. Charron. Thanks, RK! Commenters will be eligible to win the audiobook version of METAtropolis which was edited by John Scalzi.

At age 14 she began to design an interstellar universe complete with warring nations and a 10,000 year history. This work would later become the core of the background material for her first published novel, In Conquest Born. And then one day in 1983 “it” happened. She had spent the whole night in a writing frenzy, turning out 30 pages that (in hindsight) were clearly inspired by the bitterly cold, ice-bound Rochester winter. She looked at them in the bleary light of dawn and read them again and thought, “Damn, this is good. This is good enough to sell.” (Chapter 11 of In Conquest Born).

Moving to Winchester Virginia, to teach at Shenandoah University, she set aside a summer to turn her stories into a novel which she could submit for consideration. She finally submitted In Conquest Born to DAW books, and waited for her rejection to come in the mail… It didn’t. DAW loved her book and she loved DAW and she has been writing for them ever since. Celia teaches Creative Writing on the side. She always welcomes new opportunities to teach in the Northern Virginia area; interested parties should contact her.

The Madness Season

C.S. Friedman: Thank you so much. I enjoy mixing genres, and of course I pride myself on strong characters. Most of my books are character-driven, in that I come up with a vision of who my main characters are and what their trials are going to be, then craft the rest of the book around that. If a reader does not care passionately about your characters, they won’t really care about the book.

I am working on a short story that will not only be exciting in its own right, but offer some interesting glimpses into Tarrant’s history. Very exciting project, that I am sure will thrill my fans. Unfortunately, I’m behind schedule on writing, so I’m not quite sure at this point when it will be finished. Keep an eye on my web page for updates, and sign up as a fan on Facebook (under C.S. Friedman, not my first name) for announcements.

R.K. Charron: In THE MAGISTER TRILOGY there is a consequence to magical power. How did you create the concept?

C.S. Friedman: My COLDFIRE TRILOGY dealt with a magical system in the throes of transformation, with various parties attempting to bind the fae to patterns which would render it unworkable. Many of them believed that if the cost of magical power were high enough, it would spell the end of sorcery. Which begs the question… is that true? Under what circumstances might a man be wiling to make that ultimate sacrifice? Could a savvy, selfish sorcerer find a way around the system? I have unshakable faith in Man’s dark genius, when it comes to finding loopholes in nature. Searching for the loopholes in this case, as a sort of creative exercise, I realized I had the makings of a truly epic story.

R.K. Charron: The Wings of Wrath, book two in the MAGISTER series, has just been released in paperback. (Yay!) Can you tell us about book three, Legacy of Kings?

C.S. Friedman: Well, it will be intense, dark, and surprising. Some things will be revealed about my characters and their world that I know my readers do not see coming, which is perhaps the hardest thing to do, in a field where fans take pride in second-guessing you. Story-wise, Volume III is the culmination of many threads, all centering around mankind’s need to destroy the Souleaters before they can establish themselves in the human kingdoms. What happens when the people who must save the world are, by definition, the most selfish, callous bastards in existence? What confluence of events would be necessary to convince the Magisters to risk their own lives for the welfare of others? Mix that with Salvator’s discovery of his own religious destiny, Gwynofar’s confrontation with a Souleater queen, Siderea using seduction to shift the tides of war, and Kamala discovering at last what her true nature is — and with it her true potential — and you have a pretty potent mix of story elements.

R.K. Charron: I love how solidly built your worlds are and your DM Rule. How long does it take you to create a world before you write the story?

C.S. Friedman: Two years. Bet you didn’t think the answer was that straightforward

I start working on world creation while I’m doing the book before that, then it generally takes a year to work out the kinks. I’m trying to get it down to less time, but when you specialize in creating worlds that are known for their complexity and detail, as mine are, it’s a hard process to rush.

I apply the DM rule by designing a system, figuring out how the rules can be broken, and generating a story from that. It’s a great creative exercise. THE MAGISTER TRILOGY is the first work I’ve ever created where the magical element is virtually unlimited in potential, which is the ultimate challenge. I can’t tell you how many time is have to stop myself while writing these books to ask myself the DM question: “If sorcery can do this so easily, why is anyone bothering to do it by more mundane means?” Inevitably that generates ideas that add good stuff to the story, but not before I have beaten my head against the wall a few times.

My first novel, of course, was 12 years in the making, as I’d been working on that world since I was 13. But if I took that long now, my publisher would kill me

R.K. Charron: Was DAW your first choice for publisher?

C.S. Friedman: Yup. No literary reason. I had a friend who knew Don Wollheim and offered to turn in my manuscript to them. That said, I consider myself very fortunate that happened, as I found a brilliant editor in Betsy Wollheim, and she has contributed immeasurably to my artistic career. DAW also keeps an author’s books in print for as long as people want to buy them, which is not a common arrangement. So I never have to worry about my readers being unable to get hold of my earlier work.

R.K. Charron: After reading your bio on your website, I’ve got some “personal” questions. First, you studied costume design in college. Do you still keep a hand in that?

C.S. Friedman: I burned out pretty badly after designing 100 shows in a highly stressful environment, and now I only make costumes when I need one, or when a friend needs help. However, I have taken up lampwork, and am producing jewelry and accessories featuring hand-crafted glass beads. It will eventually be available for viewing (and sale) at www.glassfantasies.com …but the web page is also behind schedule right now, so it’s not up yet. I’ll post a note on Facebook when it’s ready. (Click images to view larger image.)

I find that playing with molten glass satisfies many of the same creative urges that originally moved me to take up costuming, only in this case I can play with color and composition directly, without the need to spend hours making patterns and fitting actors, in order to create anything. Not to mention, one wrong move could burn down the house, which is always exciting

Juno guards the C. S. Friedman library

R.K. Charron: There are a lot of authors putting playlists in their books now. Do you listen to music when you write?

C.S. Friedman: I do, but I find most music distracting; even when I’m not consciously listening to it, it affects my use of language. So I’ve collected a number of pieces, down through the years, that don’t do that, and I generaly put one of them on when it’s time to work. Many chapters have been written with Mike Oldfield’s Incantations playing in the background.

R.K. Charron: And most importantly, I’m wondering about your “hirsute writing assistants.”  How are they?

C.S. Friedman: My mom’s cat Coco left us on Christmas morning, alas, and is now editing manuscripts in heaven. I have a new housemate, a sweet grey Maine Coon type named Juno, who was adopted from a hectic and stressful environment. She is adapting well and, after seeing how Tasha lies between my arms while I type, decided that seems like a good thing for cats to do. Unfortunately, she’s almost twice the size and weight of my typing kitty, and we haven’t quiet worked out the dynamics of that yet. She may have to settle for curling up on top of the computer…

by [the_author_posts_link] (SB) Frank

We are pleased to welcome with us today Katie MacAlister, author of many urban fantasy novels, including both the Silver Dragons and the Aisling Grey series, which are two of my favorite funny, light-hearted fantasy romance series.  Her latest novel, Steamed: A Steampunk Romance hits shelves today. Katie will be stopping by throughout the day to respond to comments and questions, and we’ll be giving away two copies of Steamed. So, make sure to thank her for stopping by for a chance to win.

SB Frank: Welcome Katie, let’s start off on the topic of humor in fantasy. Can I ask who are some of your favorite funny fantasy authors or series?

Katie MacAlister: I tend to lean toward books that mix fantasy with other elements, like mystery, romance, etc. Some of my most beloved authors do that with ease — people like Charlaine Harris, Judith Merkle Riley, and a mystery writer who wrote a very humorous series that blended fantasy with wacky characters: William Marshall’s Yellowthread Street series.

SB Frank: Hm… I’ve never read Marshall. I’ll have to add it to my reading list. Out of the scores of novels and stories you’ve written, do you have a personal favorite character or series?

Katie MacAlister: Usually I’m fickle enough that I am most smitten with the characters in the last book I’ve written. However, there are a couple of characters that I have an abiding fondness for, and usually it turns out that those are the characters that I wrote to satisfy myself: Jim the demon dog from the Dragon books, Christian from Sex and the Single Vampire, Jack from Steamed, and Baltic from an upcoming Light Dragon book.

SB Frank: Ah, Jim, the demonic Newfoundland. He steals the show for me, too. What is it that you  like most and least about the act of writing a novel or story?

Katie MacAlister: World building is the best part of writing, hands down. I love creating a new world, working out a mythos that makes sense, and indulging in my (sometimes unbridled) love for research. I will happily research mythology of various cultures for weeks while setting elements into place in my worlds.

The least favorite part of writing is a tossup between plotting an outline, and entering the edits that I’ve made on a hard copy. Honestly, there is nothing more tedious than going through a printed manuscript, and entering all the edits into the Word file. It’s mind-numbingly tedious and usually makes me so sleepy, I have to stop and go do something else.

SB Frank: Wow, I was actually expecting your favorite thing to be creating your trademark wacky characters, though they are often tied up in the world setting and it’s clear you have fun with that, too.  I understand that you got your start as an author by cutting your teeth on a software book. Were you a software expert prior to becoming an author? A technical writer? How did that come about?

Katie MacAlister: Alas, I was experienced in both reviewing and beta testing software, although I wasn’t a writer. One day a publisher asked me to write about my field of knowledge, and giddy with delight, I accepted. Although writing the software books was pretty dull, I am grateful for them because they made me realize that I really did want to write fiction, instead.

The day that the first software book was finished, I swore I was going to write a romantic historical mystery, and that’s exactly what I did. By the time I was done with that, I realized I had absolutely no knowledge about how things worked in the fiction world, and set about educating myself. But I knew I wasn’t going to go back to non-fiction — I just had far too much fun building worlds and tormenting characters to return to that.

SB Frank: Speaking of tormenting characters, Steamed has two main characters, Jack Fletcher and Octavius Pye, who alternate as first-person narrators. Was it fun to write both sides from first person? Is it something you’ve done before? Something you plan to continue? Do you have a contract or release schedule planned for other novels in the series?

Katie MacAlister: When I set about writing Steamed, I knew I wanted to have both narrator’s perspectives in the book, and actually started writing it third person to accommodate that. But it just made both Jack and Octavia too distant, so I switched to dual-first person. I mentioned this to my editor Laura, and she was hesitant about the idea. She felt readers that would be confused about the dual voices, but I knew that Jack and Octavia’s voices were going to be distinct enough that readers would be able to tell right away who was narrating each chapter.

So I toddled off and wrote the book, and waited to hear what Laura thought of the dual POVs. Luckily, she fell as madly in love with Jack as I was, and she actually wanted more scenes from his POV. So I went back and adjusted a few things, added some new Jack bits, and voila! It worked.

We did ask the lovely production team to make some custom elements for the chapter heads so that it was clear before the reader even got to the text who would be narrating a chapter.

I’m really pleased with the results of the dual POVs. I’ve always worked hard to make readers feel like they knew what a hero was thinking in a solo first person book, but there is an inevitable amount of distance that comes from filtering events through one person’s eyes, so this gave me the chance to really bring Jack straight to the reader.

I’ve done one other male first person POV book — “Stag Party” in the Ain’t Myth-Behaving anthology. I loved writing for the hero in that book so much, and his voice was so strong (I had intended to write it from the heroine’s POV, but he just took over), that I wanted to repeat the experience with Jack.

As for whether that will continue in subsequent steampunk books… it’s quite likely. I’m not sure at this point if the next book will be a continuation with Jack and Octavia as main protagonists, or if they will be secondary characters as the storyline continues to unfold, but there will be more steampunk books. In fact, I really need to sit down and write out an outline for one, because that’s going to be the next book I write. Urgh. Plotting!

SB Frank: There always seems to be a dearth of romantic comedies starring zombies, but in the recently released My Zombie Valentine, you manage to fill the void admirably. I especially love when the man-eating head goes home with the precocious… heh heh …anyway… Oh, yes, is this a continuation of a character from previous short fiction? A story you plan to continue either in short fiction or in a future novel?

Katie MacAlister: Bring Out Your Dead was originally published in the Just One Sip anthology, published some years ago. I wrote it because readers were clamoring for the villain in a couple of my vampire books to have his own book, but he really wasn’t cooperating so far as a story was going. I really had intended to match him up with a secondary character in Sex and the Single Vampire, but she absolutely refused to let me do that. So I found someone else for Sebastian, incorporated some characters from previous books, and hoped that would satisfy the readers who wanted his story.

Unfortunately, when Just One Sip came out, I got letters telling me they wanted more Sebastian, so I keep bringing him back in secondary roles, just to satisfy them.

As for the revenants… I get requests for them to make a reappearance as well. I’m not sure that’s wise, given that I’ve just written a story that will launch a new series featuring liches and necromancers, and everyone knows zombies and liches don’t get along.

SB Frank: I know I always try to keep mine separated.  Honestly, I never even realized that Sebastian was the same character until you said that, though it’s obvious in hindsight.  Now, I have to go back and reread the story.  My Zombie Valentine. Well worth reading. Thanks so much Katie for stopping by today and throughout the day to respond to comments and questions as well as for donating two copies of today’s released fun-filled steampunk adventure (that I enjoyed reading very much): Steamed, for two lucky commenters to this post.

By [the_author_posts_link] (SB) Frank

Please welcome today, Caitlin Kittredge. Caitlin is the  author of two popular urban fantasy series: BLACK LONDON and NOCTURNE CITY and the co-author with Jackie Kessler of the ICARUS PROJECT. She will be stopping by throughout the day to respond to fan questions and comments and to give away a copy of Street Magic and Demon Bound. So, please make sure to thank her for stopping by and let her know which novel you prefer to receive.

SB Frank: Caitlin, you are a self-confessed rocker, but I note on your website at www.caitlinkittredge.com that you also play the violin. When did you start playing? How often you play now? And with whom? And what type of music, groups, concerts, you enjoy? [I’m pausing a moment here to picture you playing in a blue-grass band and wearing a shaggy gray beard].

Caitlin Kittredge: I actually haven’t played since college, but I was a classical violinist for ten years before that and I also played Irish folk music. The folk music was way more fun – I played at a lot of dances, in folk bands, all that. Unfortunately, I fell out of playing before the resurgence of folk-punk, or I would have been all over that.

SB Frank: What are your favorite rock groups and bands? What would we find on your iPod?

Caitlin Kittredge: I have a lot of single-artist playlists since I tend to get in a groove, and I also make playlists for my novels and characters for a “mood” when I’m writing. Off the top of my head, the stuff I put in heavy rotation includes the Pogues, Dropkick Murphys, early Bowie, Nick Cave, Lazy Cowgirls, some Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys and, because I am a child of the 90s, Nirvana and Green Day.

SB Frank: Nirvana, huh? Well, your bio does say that you acquire bad habits. Speaking of which, other than Nirvana are there any notable bad habits you’d be willing to share?

Caitlin Kittredge: Procrastination! I am a world champion putter-offer. But I’m trying to collect good habits to balance that out.

Another bad habit is getting into internet slapfights with people who don’t appreciate my musical nostalgia.

SB Frank: In addition to your two urban fantasy series, BLACK LONDON and NOCTURNE CITY, I understand that you and Jackie Kessler are coming out with the ICARUS PROJECT, starting with Black-and-White, which your website describes as part of the genre superhero fiction. Can you tell us a little about the project?

Caitlin Kittredge: The ICARUS PROJECT is a set of novels set in a dystopian future, where superheroes keep the peace but are really controlled by a mysterious and far-reaching corporation that may have been responsible for the hero’s very creation. The story follows Jet, a hero who uses shadow to fight crime, and Iridium, a hero-turned-criminal who rebelled against her corporate masters and is trying to set the rest of the heroes free – but both of them have hidden motives and a villain that’s much worse than either of them has started to threaten their lives.

SB Frank: Sounds great. I understand that as a teenager you wrote an epic fantasy: sword, sorcery, elves…  Do you have any plans to reenter the sub-genre, either retelling that story or coming up with something new?

Caitlin Kittredge: I don’t currently have any plans… my tastes have changed, but I’m not a one-genre writer, so who knows where ideas will take me in the future?

SB Frank: As the title suggests, your BLACK LONDON series takes place in the UK. You seem to know a lot about the area including a lot of British slang and curse words. Have you lived in the UK for a long time? Or, if not, how did you pick up on all of this?

Caitlin Kittredge: I’ve never lived in the UK, although I’ve spent a lot of time there as a visitor. My ancestors were English and came from Sussex in the 1660s, so they weren’t terribly helpful. Honestly, I watched a lot of English non-fiction programs (reality shows and the BBC world news and the like) to pick up speech patterns and idioms, and then I turned a few of my Brit friends loose on the manuscript of Street Magic to tell me where and how I’d screwed up. Now I like to think I can fake it pretty well.*

SB Frank: You have a great imagination for dark characters/creatures, and I also notice you refer quite frequently to mythology and legend. I’m wondering how much of this stuff comes straight from your brain and how much comes from research. How do you go about inventing a monster or a world setting?

Caitlin Kittredge: I like to use research as a jumping-off point more than gospel. I tend to find something interesting from folklore (for instance, I used the legend of the Black Dog in Demon Bound, a mythological dog that’s said to follow travelers on dark roads and also take souls to the underworld when their time is up.) I started with the idea of the spectral dog – kind of a scent hound for Death – and ran with my own ideas of how that might work in a modern setting from there.

If you see something really weird and effed up in one of my books, though, chances are it was all my idea because my brain can be a strange place.

Caitlin will be stopping by throughout the day to respond to fan questions and to give away a copy of Street Magic and Demon Bound to two lucky commenters.

Joining us today is renowned artist Chris McGrath. Chris is responsible for some the best cover art in fantasy today. He’s done covers for Jim Butcher, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, David Gemmell, and many more. Seeing his art alone is usually enough to make me buy a book. In honor of Chris’s visit we’ll also be giving away a copy of Justin Gustainis’ Evil Ways (Chris did the cover). So with out further delay….

Justin: Thank you Chris for coming by. I’m really excited to have the chance to talk with you. I see your artwork everywhere and it never ceases to impress. What is the process you go through to create one of your covers? How much of the process is done on the computer? How much is done before getting to the point where you are working on the piece digitally?

Chris: After the publisher commissions me for a cover, I usually get a break down of the story from the art director and editor. They tell me what they are looking for for the cover and from there I begin the sketch phase. Sometimes a manuscript is provided, but that seems to happen less and less these days. The sketch phase is usually the hardest part for me nowadays. After you’ve done 9 years of covers it gets hard to come up with new ideas, especially when you are collaborating with a publisher. Some companies give you more freedom than others and the bigger the title, the less room you have to play a lot of the times.

Sometimes an idea comes to me quickly because the project already has an interesting story concept and setting. Other times I go through tons and tons of sketches before I’m satisfied with something. The media for my sketches is anything from a pen drawing to using my wacom tablet in Photoshop. After the sketch is chosen by the art director I can get going on my final version.

Justin: Is it just Photoshop you use to create the final piece once your sketching is done?

Chris: I just use Photoshop. I basically use it in the same way that I use oil paint. The rules of drawing, tonal value, and color still apply. I tried to learn some 3D stuff a few years ago but it was too time consuming and really boring. For me it’s just easier to use the same process as when I was painting.

Justin: Are you actually a fantasy fan? What have you read recently that you really liked? (Or SciFi, for that matter.)

Chris: I like fantasy. I’m a huge fan of Haruki Murakami. His book Kafka on the Shore is a true work of art to me, and one of the best books I’ve read along with The Wind-Up Bird. Fantasy fans should check him out. Jeffery Ford is also awesome. I really loved The Well Built City and The Portrait of Mrs.Charbuque. Brandon Sanderson is great, too. As far as SciFi goes, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion books are right up there with Dune for me. Jeff Vandermeer‘s Veniss Underground was really beautiful. These are just to name a few. My SciFi and fantasy list goes on and on. Oh yeah, the Elric saga was an early favorite of mine.

Justin: Some really good books in your list. On the topic of favorite books, some my personal favorites are the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. That’s a series I believe you are familiar with. As a Dresden fan I am required by law to ask this question, which I know is one that you have gotten a lot: What’s up with the hats on Harry Dresden covers, and how much crap do Butcher fans give you over it? I’ve never seen a book signing where Jim doesn’t get asked that question. He always says the publisher has Chris put the hat on Harry.

Chris: The Butcher fans have been very kind to me. They could rip me apart, but for some reason they seem happy with the covers for the most part. They have even come to accept the hat. But I do see a lot of questions on the forum regarding the hat. I try to answer that and the staff questions when I can, but it seems that the older forum members take care of that these days. I’d like to say “Thanks!” to them. It gets tiring. I know how Jim feels. But one last time  yes, the publisher wanted the hat on Harry because it has a more eye-catching and iconic look, even though it was a mistake at first. But it seems to have worked and it does look more mysterious.

Justin: Thank you for answering that one.  I’m sure it never gets old and, for what it’s worth, I like the hat. Speaking of cover art direction: I know that most authors don’t get much say in their cover art. In your experience when working with a publisher to do a cover, how involved does the author get?

Chris: Most of the time the author does not have any say in what goes on a cover. Some of the bigger authors have some input and have it in their contract to do so, but most of the time it is up to marketing, the art director, and editor. In the end you want to have an attractive package to make potential buyers stop and pick it up. That’s why a lot of the time there are a lot of liberties taken with the actual story. As long as the cover captures the mood and feeling of the book, the inaccuracies of the details are OK just as long as you don’t go too far off the mark.

Justin: Have there been any particular covers that were extremely difficult for you?

Chris: There are many. KOP and Midwinter to name a couple. The difficulty happens when I’m not totally satisfied with my approved concept, so during the time I’m working on it I try to improve on the idea and that’s when I start going in circles. Also, if I do not have a clear idea and don’t plan properly, I can get myself in trouble. The cover usually ends up taking much longer and stressing me out when this happens.

Justin: There is a ton of bad fantasy art out there, so tell me, aesthetically, what makes you cringe as an artist? And, what gives you a good shiver?

Chris: I’m not one for throwing stones, so maybe I should keep quiet on that one. But I will say that good drawing and painting skills will always attract me. When an artist does something that is tasteful and well-crafted, with a good understanding of what they are trying to achieve, it’s commendable. Class and good taste are everything.

Justin: Nice dodge. I know you have to hate those pictures of furries, the crudely-drawn man-tiger with a six-pack… everybody hates those… Anyway, I want to know a little about you before you became one of the biggest names in cover art. So, before cover art, how did Chris McGrath keep utilities paid? Was Ramen noodles a major staple of your diet? Was there any particular moment or breakthrough in your career where you finally were able to think … “I can do this for a living”?

Chris: Yes. There were many hungry nights after college. I didn’t have my portfolio ready when I graduated, so I spent the next three years developing my portfolio in traditional media (oils). Then around 1998 I was introduced to Photoshop. I was pretty slow at painting and realized I could never make a good living at it because it took 4 to 6 weeks for me to finish one piece. So PS became more attractive to me. I spent some time learning the software on my own — basically applying the same rules of what I new about oil paints and drawing and gathering reference. It all works the same in the end. To pay my bills I gave guitar lessons and worked a couple of days a week at a doctor’s office doing medical drawings. That wasn’t too fun and I felt like it was never going to end.

Finally I finished my digital portfolio and started to show it around in 2001 (from 1998 to 2001 I did a lot of life drawing as well) I got my first job with Ace books (Penguin Putnam) and it was funny that they wanted me to do an oil painting for them instead of a digital piece. The cover’s title was called “The King”. You can find it in the Drawings section of my website. After that I got a commission from Random House for a Babylon 5 cover, so things were looking pretty good at that point, or so it seemed. Then after those two jobs I didn’t get much work. I got maybe 4 jobs my second year, then around 8 my third year. Then in 2004 I got about 16 jobs and in that mix was Dead Beat for the Dresden Files and Nightlife for the Rob Thurman series. Those covers hit the shelves later that year and after that it became a full-time job. I guess I did the right kind of cover at the right time. The urban fantasy market really took off and I was lucky enough to be doing covers for the top authors that were driving the field. So those two covers really solidified my career.

Justin: Any words of wisdom for budding fantasy/SciFi artists?

Chris: The main thing is is not to give up. It’s really tough and very trying at times before you have a full-time career. But if you really feel you have talent to make it, you should hang in there. It really does come down to that. I was very stubborn and figured I couldn’t do anything else, so I was willing to take the heat and starve a bit before it all worked out.

Justin: I know you’re a busy man, so I won’t keep you further. Thanks again, Chris, for stopping to chat with us, it was an honor to have an artist of your caliber visit us here. If fans want to check out more of Chris’s work, or purchase prints, please head over to his website at www.christianmcgrath.com. And if you want to win a copy of Justin Gustainis’ Evil Ways, leave us a comment.

By [the_author_posts_link] (SB) Frank

We have with us today, Karen Chance, author of two extremely enjoyable fantasy series that I count among my personal favorites.: the Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Basarab series. Karen has graciously agreed to stop by throughout the day to answer fan questions, and we’re giving away two more copies of Midnight’s Daughter the prequel to today’s newly released Death’s Mistress, so please make sure to comment or ask questions. 

On her website,  www.karenchance.com,  you can read some of her short stories and learn all sorts of gossipy things about Karen, including her penchant for giving advice about relationships with vampires. Loyal readers may recall that just before Christmas, I posed some open questions to Karen on behalf of a, um, friend who suspects that my, err,  that is, his wife has a side relationship with Santa Claus, who is almost certainly a vampire. See discussion here.  We start our interview on that topic:

SB Frank: First, can you confirm or deny that Santa Claus is indeed vampiric?

Karen Chance: Right, and be put on the naughty list for good? I’m already there far too often as it is.

SB Frank: Hm, good point. What does your husband or signficant other, if any, have to say about all these vampire relationships you apparently have? Are there some vampires who he’s happy to see come around? Some vampires (eg: Santa Claus, as a random example) with whom he forbids you to relate at all?

Karen Chance: I don’t have a husband. And if I did, he wouldn’t forbid me to do anything, or the walking undead would be the least of his problems.

SB Frank: My wife said something very similar to me recently, but in regards to remembering to do something or other, I forget exactly… What do you say to suspicions that some husbands have that vampires might be repeatedly mind wiping them every December? Is this an actual vampire ability? And are there long-term effects of repeated mind wipage? For instance, I notice that my friend frequently forgets where he puts things, and I (and he) are quite convinced this these memory lapses are ultimately somehow the fault of vampires. (Not that we’re bitter or anything).

Karen Chance: Frequent mind wipes are certainly a vampiric ability. Forgetfulness is not usually a side effect, though. Paranoia, on the other hand…

SB Frank: And what advice do you have for spouses (such as my friend) who suspect that their spouses may be having a side relationship with a vampire?

Karen Chance: Ask them for investment advice. Seriously, those suckers have hella stock portfolios.

SB Frank: Well with the relationship advice out of the way, let’s turn to fantasy fiction. I recently had a chance to read an advance copy of Death’s Mistress, which is probably my favorite UF novel of the year. The mystery has a stunning ending. There is suspense throughout. The characters are original and fun. My only beef was I had to keep setting the book down because I was laughing too hard during the funny scenes to keep going…Like the part where headless Ray somehow ends up driving and knocks his own head under the car (long laughter pause)*wipes tears from eyes* heh heh. Anyway, I am praying that somebody picks up the option to make this series into a blockbuster movie. So, first question. Where do you come up with this stuff?

Karen Chance: Mostly it’s about the needs of the plot. All of my books have a mystery component. And when writing mysteries, it’s considered bad form (as in, the readers will kill you) if you don’t leave adequate clues along the way. But making these clues too obvious risks ruining the book for people who like to be surprised. So I use misdirection to keep anyone from noticing the more blatant clues being laid. Or, at least, that’s what I tell people. It’s also fun to do something outrageous now and then just for the hell of it.

SB Frank: What does a typical day look like when you’re writing?

Karen Chance: Typical night, actually, since I’m barely conscious in daylight and certainly not creative at all before the sun goes down. Anyway, I never know how to answer these types of questions. The truth–I sit at a computer and make up lies–tends to put people off. It shatters the mystery somehow. I suppose I need to make up a good story about making up my stories, but I haven’t yet. Probably that whole laziness thing coming into play again.

SB Frank:  Has anybody started talking with you about movie rights yet?

Karen Chance: Ha ha ha, no. I don’t think too many people have even heard about the series, and I’m absolutely sure that Hollywood remains blissfully unaware.

SB Frank I understand (again, from your excellent website www.karenchance.com) that you lived and taught in Hong Kong. Did you enjoy living there? Any adventures to share or things that affected your writing?

Karen Chance: I liked a lot of the people I met in Hong Kong, but the city itself wasn’t really my thing. It’s huge, with something like 13 million people, and I’m more of a country girl at heart. I have to admit to feeling a little claustrophobic at times. I was also going thorough serious Tex Mex withdrawal, as it’s not a cuisine HK has chosen to embrace yet. As for adventures, there was that time a bunch of us were caught down by the docks with the diamonds and the four hundred crates of bootleg Ortega, but then, I’m not really allowed to talk about that.

SB Frank:  I lived in Tokyo myself for many years, and so I totally get where you’re coming from with the whole bootleg Ortega thing.  I hear you have an advanced degree in History. Does that help you when Cassandra travels back in time? Or put differently, do you find yourself researching things you want to write about or writing about things you know from research?

Karen Chance: A little of both, I suppose. Anyone who suffers through a graduate degree has mountains of old notes lying around getting moldy, so it’s nice whenever I can find a way to utilize them for something. But it’s also great to be able to research a subject just because it’s interesting, something I rarely had the opportunity to do in university.

SB Frank: Yes, my own dissertation was on the that famously scintillating topic: the retirement practices of Japanese bureaucrats. If you’re running out of moldy notes… No? Well, then, next question… Death’s Mistress (which releases today!!) is the second novel in the adventures of Dorina Basarab. Many characters repeat between the two series. But what I’m wondering is if you ever envision a novel-length adventure between the two protagonists.

Karen Chance: I’d like to answer your question, because it’s one that comes up pretty frequently. I also get asked when I’m going to do a full-length novel with Lia, the part werewolf character from my short stories, or Claire, one of the secondary characters in the Midnight Daughter series of novels. But I have to tell you the same thing I tell everyone else: despite the common perception, authors decide exactly squat all about which books get published, when they are published and in what format. I get a little input on cover art and back cover copy (although I’m not allowed to write it) and occasionally marketing decides to use one of my titles. But that’s about it. So the only thing I can say about your question is that I do plan for the two to meet eventually, but I can’t promise anything about the format.

SB Frank: You’ve had a fair number of short stories coming out in anthologies recently. Do you prefer writing short stories to novels? In your mind, what is the biggest difference to approaching a story versus a novel?

Karen Chance: I find short stories to be the hardest type of thing to write. In one tiny story, I have to fit all the aspects of a novel: plot, characterization, dialogue, world building, etc. I probably spend four times as long doing a short as I do writing a comparable number of pages in a novel, and I’m paid far less for it. I think my paycheck for the first short I ever did was something like $200, and it took me over two weeks to write. But the hope is always that someone will like what they read and go check out the novels.

I suppose the main difference in my short stories and my novels is that the shorts have a single plotline and fewer characters. There’s no other choice, considering the length. This makes them a little more straightforward than the books, without as many layers. Also, unlike the novels, they aren’t really building on a large meta story, and don’t have to carry that burden.

The strange thing is, I always really like my shorts when they’re finished and tend to be absurdly proud of them. Maybe because of the huge amount of effort that went into them. So, I suppose the answer to your question is, I like short stories fine—except when I’m writing one!

SB Frank:  Remember, Death’s Mistress, the second book in the Dorina Basarab series releases today. And it was the most entertaining fantasy novel I read in all of 2009. If you are remotely interested in funny, thrilling, fantasy adventures that weave epic and contemporary elements into action-packed stories, then I highly recommend you buy it now!!  Karen will be stopping by today to respond to comments and questions and we’ll be giving away two copies of book one in the series: Midnight’s Daughter, with winners announced on Thursday.

We’re pleased today to have a guest blog by up-and-coming fantasy author Rinda Elliott.  I ran across Rinda on Twitter and read some of the samples of her work (which you will find links to at the bottom of the blog post) and  really thought she had a compelling, funny story, with great characters.  Check it out by clicking at the link at the bottom of the post.

Rinda Elliott: I’m honored to be a guest here at Fantasy Literature. Thank you for the invitation!

Since I don’t (yet) have books of my own on the shelves, I’m going to instead give away a copy of my critique partner, Rachel Vincent’s, new book in her young adult series about bean sidhes! (Releases this week!) Just comment here and I’ll let the trusty RNG choose.

When I asked Stephen Frank what a “still on submission” UF writer had to offer readers here, he asked me to share the story of my journey to this point. It’s a LONG and BUMPY one. But hopefully, interesting.

I started in romance and submitted books on my own without an agent for years. Hit a few speed bumps, but got close several times. I even had one editor request rewrites on two books. It had taken several years of back and forth submissions with her to get to that point, so when she left the publisher before I got those rewrites back to her, I felt like I’d hit a pretty big roadblock.

During those submission years, most of the speed bumps were comments about my heroines being too strong. I wrote strong male protagonists, too, but they were smart enough to know when to stay back. I got notes about that ruining the romantic fantasy and also about my work being too, um… dark.

I grew discouraged and took a break. I still wrote, but mostly short fiction. I published stories in confession magazines for a time and I continued to enter writing contests — racked up a bunch of first and second place awards. I lived off the success of those contests. Then, after one horror story did particularly well, I bit the bullet and submitted it. It was an odd one — I call it my homage to the heavy on narration Lovecraft and Poe — but it was acquired by the very first magazine.

I took this as a sign that maybe I should try again.

Around that time, I picked up a book by Kim Harrison called Dead Witch Walking and a whole new world opened up to me. Here was a genre where my strong heroines and dark subjects would fit right in! Ironically, half the romances I’d written had fantasy or paranormal elements. My second completed manuscript featured a shape-shifting hero cursed because of his Viking ancestors.

The publishing bug hit me again. Hard. I already had part of a story written with a kick ass, mythic heroine and a smarmy vampire sprite sidekick. I ditched the sidekick since it was a little too close to Harrison and finished Dweller on the Threshold (DOTT). (Though, the sprite smarmed his way into book two, Blood of an Ancient.)

While working on DOTT, I met Rachel Vincent. She’d given me a crazy topic challenge and loved the result, so we became critique partners. Rachel invited her agent, Miriam Kriss, to speak at a mini conference our local RWA chapter held. The editor who came showed some interest in DOTT so when she returned to New York, Miriam pulled DOTT out of her submission pile and called me the next day. I had another wonderful agent take some interest in DOTT that very same week. After working so long at this, I’ll share that week was the most exciting week ever. I thought that was it. The years would finally pay off, and I’d have a book on the shelves within a year. Both agents were at the top of my list, but I went with Miriam since we’d just met in person and seemed to hit it off.

Here is where the title of this blog post kicks in. Yes, I worked for years to break in on my own, and yes, I took a break. But that desire to see your books on the shelves can be strong. When I took the plunge again, I knew it was for keeps this time around and I’d have to develop thicker skin. My two year anniversary with Miriam is this coming March and she’s still submitting my work — still believes in it. Having her back me up has kept the path well lit for me.

So, while waiting for DOTT to find a home, I wrote some short pieces (Sold one that will be out in an anthology in March, a couple of novellas and another book. In that book, I took my life-long love of Norse mythology and apocalyptic fiction and wrote the first in a young adult trilogy. It’s full of action, fantasy and romance. My faithful agent said I knocked this one out of the park, so I’m doubly hopeful now.

Tenacity, patience and drive. I believe those are the keys to success in this business. Yes, the desire to tell stories has to be there from the beginning, but to make it, you have to be willing to dig in to the next project while the last is out of your hands.

It hasn’t been easy, but I wouldn’t trade my journey. I’ve found a place in the world of fantasy literature and built up an incredible support system of authors and friends through groups like OKRWA & Romance Ink! I’m also a part of a wonderful group of authors called The Deadline Dames. We are nine urban fantasy authors who kick deadline butt and share what it’s like from the trenches. Check us out! And if you’re curious about the books I have on submission, I’ve posted long snippets of both. DOTT’s here, and the two from my young adult, Foretold, are here and here.

Hope you enjoy them and thanks again for inviting me!

SB Frank: Thank you, Rinda. Readers, remember to comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of the just released, My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent. Vincent’s YA series is on my to-read list because her werecat series is one of my UF favorites. Kelly reports that My Soul to Take, the first book in the series, is “solid.”

Today we’d like to welcome Nancy Holzner author of the mystery novel Peace, Love, and Murder, and of the urban fantasy novel, Deadtown which is on sale today at bookstores everywhere. Nancy will be hanging around after the interview – or at least checking in throughout the day to respond to your questions.  And we will be giving away a copy of Deadtown to not one but two lucky commenters. If you’re a fantasy fan, you don’t want to miss Deadtown; It’s a fun, fast read.

SB Frank: So, how does one go from being a medievalist with a Ph.D. in English to writing contemporary urban fantasy?

Nancy Holzner: A lot of medieval literature was the contemporary fantasy of its own day, with magic and monsters and dangerous quests where opponents don’t play fair. Even the saints’ lives I studied are full of conflict, danger, and magic (in the form of miracles). There’s nothing like a good virgin martyr legend for some slam-bang, larger-than-life conflict between good and evil.

But I didn’t go into academia thinking that I’d find good source material for my own fiction. I didn’t write fiction at the time, and I expected to become a career academic. (Now, I call myself a “recovering academic.”) But my early career choices were all about stories. Throughout college, grad school, and my teaching years, I always loved reading, thinking about, and discussing literature. It seemed like a natural progression to me to want to start telling stories and not just analyze them. First I tried writing something more literary, but it wasn’t fun. I was in an online writers’ group at the time, and we used to do short writing exercises in response to weekly writing prompts. Someone posted a prompt that gave me an idea for a mystery, and I ran with it. It sounds obvious now, but it was a big revelation to me that it could be fun to write the same kinds of books I read for fun. When I was working on the mystery, I read a lot of urban fantasy—couldn’t get enough of it. So after the mystery was finished, I jumped right into the project that became Deadtown.

SB Frank: Thus far you have two novels in two different genres, but both of these seem like they could turn into successful series. Do you see yourself settling into mystery and contemporary fantasy for a while, or are you more of a genre hopper?

Nancy Holzner: From where I stand right now, I expect to focus on fantasy. Deadtown is the first book in a series. The sequel will be out in about a year, and I’m currently plotting out books three through five. It’s been a blast writing this series — the characters are great company and I enjoy their world — and I want to see where Vicky’s story goes.

SB Frank: I love the teenage zombie sidekick in Deadtown. Was she supposed to play a major role right from the start? And how did you first get the idea?

Nancy Holzner: Tina actually showed up about halfway through the first draft of Deadtown. I was writing that draft knowing that my opening scene didn’t work and that I’d have to rewrite it drastically in revisions. When Tina blasted into the story, I knew right away that she’d be in Chapter 1, causing trouble for Vicky from the very first page. Later in my writing process, Vicky and Tina were having an argument, and Vicky complained about how Tina had messed up a job by following her into a client’s dream. As soon as Vicky said that, I thought, “Why are they talking about this? I need to show what happened!” — and I knew I had my opening scene.

As for where Tina came from, I taught high school for a few years. She’s not based on any particular student, but she could easily be friends with many of the students I’ve known. She combines the energy, interests, and strong emotions of a teenage girl with an outlook that’s all her own. It’s hard for me to say where I got the idea for a character, because it often feels like they’re already lurking somewhere in my psyche, waiting for me to notice them so they can step forward and jump into a story.

SB Frank: You mention on your blog that you have an idea for another fantasy series. Is there anything you can share with us about that?

Nancy Holzner: It’s still percolating, so it’s too early to say much about it. I can say that it’s set in the Catskill Mountains — home of Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman — and involves ghosts and strong magic.

SB Frank: Sounds like my type of novel. In your mystery novel, Peace, Love, & Murder, the protagonist, Bo (short for Rainbow) Forrester, returns home from serving in the military where his parents had lived in a commune. Are there any similarities between Rainbow’s parents and childhood and your own? What was home like for you growing up in Western Massachusetts?

Nancy Holzner: I grew up in a very stable and loving home. My dad was a clinical chemist and my mom was a special needs teacher at an elementary school. I was in the middle of three sisters. When I was in junior high, two foster kids came to live with us — one older than me and one younger, so I was still stuck in the middle. I love the Berkshires, where I grew up. It’s a beautiful, hilly region and in the summer there are tons of festivals — classical music, dance, theater. When I was growing up in a small town of about 6,000 people, I couldn’t wait to leave and head for the big city (Boston was my first stop), but now my home town is one of my favorite places.

So my upbringing was very different from Bo’s. I did a lot of research into communes of the late ’60s and early-to-mid ’70s to get a feel for what his childhood would have been like. There were communes around Ithaca, NY, where I live now and those are the loose inspiration for Bo’s home town of Rhodes.

SB Frank: While we’re on the subject of your personal upbringing, in Deadtown, women shapeshifters must give up their powers when they have children. Have you felt personal tension between mothering and a career, or was this inspired by more general societal trends and pressures, or something else?

Nancy Holzner: That’s an interesting question. I met my first husband while I was studying abroad in London, and he and I got married and had our daughter while we were both still in college. She was three when I started grad school. I’ve always assumed that I’d combine motherhood with a career, and I approached parenting and building a career from that perspective. It wasn’t easy, but it was a challenge I accepted right from the start and simply dealt with from one day to the next. (It wasn’t easy for my husband, either, who was an engaged father and worked to support the family while I was earning my Ph.D.)

The limitations on shapeshifting among the Cerddorion stem from the mythology that serves as background to my story. One of the legends of the medieval Welsh Mabinogi tells the story of Gwion Bach, a shepherd boy who gained shapeshifting ability after drinking a potion brewed by the witch/goddess Ceridwen. She chases him, both of them changing their shapes, until she finally catches and eats him. Later, she gives birth to him anew. And after that, there’s no more mention of shapeshifting. My interpretation of this legend led to the shapeshifting restrictions in Deadtown’s world: Among the Cerddorion, the descendants of Ceridwen, only females can shift (since Gwion stole his shapeshifting ability from Ceridwen’s potion), and that ability manifests at puberty and disappears at the birth of a child.

I guess that the limitations on shapeshifting do reflect the difficulty of simultaneously raising children and having a career, but this wasn’t something I set out to write about. In Deadtown, Vicky comes to understand her role as a demon slayer as less of a career choice and more of a calling, a duty, that’s central to who she is. She accepts the sacrifice that comes with that calling. The fact that she accepts it doesn’t mean she’s free of conflict, though. She adores her niece and nephews, and she knows that someday, due to werewolf culture, Kane will want children. But I see Vicky’s conflict as one that’s broader than the gender-specific one of career vs. motherhood. I hope it will resonate with anyone who’s had to make difficult choices.

From Kat: That cover art is AWESOME! Did you have any input into the design?

NH: It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Before the artist set to work, I had a couple of conversations with my editor how we pictured Vicky and scenes from the book that might inspire the cover. But that was it. When the cover was done, the editor sent me an email with the subject line, “Prepare to be WOWed!!!” and the cover art attached. “Wowed” doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction. I think I screamed; I know for sure that my husband (we both work at home) called out from his office to ask what was going on. I had to wait a few weeks until the cover was finalized before I could share it. That was hard! The cover artist, by the way, is the very talented Don Sipley.

From Lin George: I love the thought of old legends recreated for modern times. Was it difficult to work in the modern technology?

NH: The medieval Welsh tales of the Mabinogi inspired the background mythology for Deadtown, but it’s very much a contemporary fantasy. The medieval background comes into play more directly in the sequel than it does in the first book.

From Tia: I always like to ask debuts authors about their publishing story. Did you have to go through the whole agent query thing or did you take a more unusual route to publishing, such as contest wins, or getting noticed in a workshop? Let us know and inspire us!

NH: I became a nonfiction author — I write how-to and reference books — before I tried to publish a novel. I had an agent to represent my nonfiction, but she doesn’t handle fiction at all. So when I had a novel to sell (my mystery Peace, Love, and Murder) I had to start from square one and search for an agent who’d be interested in taking it on. That took several months, and when I found a fiction agent it took her about a year to sell the mystery to a small press. I still have two agents: one for nonfiction and one for fiction (and yes, they know about each other J).

The path I took to getting Deadtown published was a detour from the traditional route, though. I’d written the manuscript but hadn’t yet shown it to my agent. One day I was looking around the Ace/Roc website and saw that they accept direct submissions from authors. On a whim, I typed up a query and submitted it, along with the manuscript’s first ten pages, per the submission guidelines. I can’t tell you why I did this instead of going through my agent — I’m not usually impulsive like that. Maybe it was because I’d written this urban fantasy when I was “supposed to be” working on a sequel to the mystery. At any rate, when I received a two-book offer nearly six months later, my agent stepped in to help with negotiations. She’s a pro, and I do wish I’d involved her from the start. But at least I get to say that I made it through the slush pile. J

From Bill Capossere: Urban Fantasy is clearly such an omnipresent force now. How aware of what was already out there were you as you wrote Deadtown? Did it affect your writing at all, as in specific attempts to distinguish Deadtown from similar works or times where you thought what you had was edging too close to what had been done before? Similar, say, to epic fantasy writers who have all these stock tropes looking over their shoulders (the horse clan, the snarky thief, the gruff dwarf, the small band of thrown together questers, etc.). How do you keep things “fresh” and in marketing terms how do you convey that freshness to readers perhaps overwhelmed by the quantity of choices?

NH: I started writing Deadtown a little over three years ago, so the urban fantasy landscape looked somewhat different at that time. It was growing, for sure, but hadn’t yet exploded into the ubiquity you note. Back when I was writing the story, I was trying to touch upon some of the conventions of urban fantasy and do my own thing at the same time. For example, in Vicky’s roommate Juliet I play with the “sexy vampire” convention—not satirizing it, exactly, but having some fun with that trope. And my zombies aren’t like the zombies you find in most urban fantasy or horror fiction. For my main character, I knew I wanted a character other than a vampire or a werewolf, and when I remembered the Mabinogi’s shapeshifting story, it clicked. As I wrote, I wasn’t concerned so much about positioning my story in relation to others already out there as I was with following the story that was unfolding.

From RK Charron: Did your work as an editor help when rewriting your writing before sending it out and in anticipating the editor’s editing requests? Also, what is your “The Call” story?

NH: Working as an editor has definitely helped me to become more flexible about being edited. Sometimes. So far, the editorial process for fiction has been a lot gentler than the edits I go through when I’m writing nonfiction. For a technical how-to book, for example, the author review stage means that I have to review and fix chapters that have been marked up by the developmental editor, the copyeditor, and up to three technical editors. All those people are trying to “catch” problems and potential issues, and while I understand the goal is to produce a better book, it can be tough to plow through all the queries, changes, and revision requests. In contrast, for the novels I’ve written so far, even a lengthy editorial letter feels so much more civilized. I feel like I should be sipping tea from a porcelain cup and nibbling cucumber sandwiches as I read it.

Here’s my story about “The Call”: As I said in my answer to Tia’s question above, I submitted Deadtown’s manuscript directly through the publisher’s website. Almost immediately after I did so, my life was taken over by a nonfiction project — it was a big book, and my coauthor suddenly dropped out but the schedule couldn’t change. So for a couple of months I did nothing but work on that nonfiction project and sleep. I had no time to obsess about the fate of the Deadtown manuscript, although of course I wondered from time to time.

I finished the big project, and I still hadn’t heard anything back from Ace/Roc. Around the five-month mark after I’d sent in the query, I figured they weren’t interested. I was trying to decide whether to ’fess up to my agent that I’d submitted a query myself or just focus on a new novel when I got an email from Ace/Roc asking for the next 50 pages. I sent those, and the same day they requested the rest of the manuscript.

The next two weeks were hard. On the one hand, I was checking my email a zillion times each day. On the other, I knew that silence might mean that the manuscript was making its way through the acquisition process. I tried to keep a “no news is good news” mindset — every day that went by without a rejection was a good day. When The Call came, my husband answered the phone, asked who was calling, and told me the caller’s name, which of course I recognized. I quickly learned how to carry on a rational conversation, jump up and down, keep my voice reasonably steady, and make frantic hand signals to my husband, all at the same time. I was thrilled that she wanted to make an offer, but when she said “two books,” I nearly keeled over. Champagne flowed that night.

Stefan: Do you have any rituals or habits when you sit down to write? Anything you absolutely need, or absolutely can not tolerate?

NH: No specific rituals. I prefer to be in quiet surroundings, although I can usually tolerate some noise if I have to. I like my writing atmosphere to be conducive to concentration — good lighting, quiet, and a comfortable chair are pretty much all I need. Because I write for my day job too, I’m usually pretty good at sitting down and getting started. As long as I don’t get sucked into Internet-based distractions.

Stacey Stew: How long did it take you to write this book? Will it have a sequel? Do you like the Resident Evil movies?

NH: It took about three months to write the first draft. I was fortunate because my schedule allowed me to write full-time during those months. The second draft took maybe twice that long — if I’d been working on it full-time, that is, but I was back to squeezing in writing time on evenings and weekends. And it took maybe two weeks’ worth of polishing the final draft before I felt it was ready to send out.

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve never seen any of the Resident Evil movies. Cool video games, though.

Justin: I’ve noticed that a lot authors put a little piece of themselves into their main character (especially new authors). Did you do this with Victory Vaughn? If so how much of yourself did you put into the character? If not then was there any real world inspiration when creating Vicky?

NH: I think Vicky is very different from me. Some of her emotional reactions have their roots in my own experiences, but she’s the kind of person who charges in and acts, whereas I’m more likely to sit back and think things through (read: waffle ). When I have a story idea that clicks, it feels like the characters step forward from wherever they’ve been lurking in the shadows of my subconscious, like they already exist and now it’s my job to get to know them. In other words, I don’t feel like I build my characters so much as I discover them.

Van Pham: How did you come up with the idea for this novel? Who inspired you to write?

NH: The idea came from several different sources: medieval literature, a desire to use Boston as a setting, and a passing comment I came across on an agent’s blog about dislike for characters who “wrestle with their own personal demons” and wondering who besides you could (or would want to) wrestle with your personal demons. That made me go, “Hmmm . . .”

Raspberry: Where are you at in that picture of you?

NH: That photo was taken in a park on the shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of central New York state. (And there’s a great waterfall just up the road from it, too.)

Abou Monkey: How would you categorize Deadtown?

NH: I think Deadtown falls squarely into the urban fantasy category. It’s got a lot of action, some humor, and just a hint of romance. I worked pretty hard to build a credible and vivid alternative version of Boston.

John L.: Which authors would you say influenced you the most?

NH: That’s one of the hardest questions for me to answer, because I spent many years studying literature. I believe that people who read a lot soak up a lot of influence through sheer osmosis. So there’s about a thousand years’ worth of literary influences floating around in my head. But that’s avoiding your question. Mystery author Donald E. Westlake is an influence—I love his Dortmunder series. In urban fantasy, the authors who made me want write in the genre were Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, and Laurell K. Hamilton (some of her early books). Other urban fantasy writers I admire include Ilona Andrews, Devon Monk, and Faith Hunter (who writes a mean shapeshifter story).

Melissa My World: With growing up with books in hand, did you always want to be a writer of novels? Or did writing just start out as a fun pass time for you?

NH: From the time I was young until maybe halfway through college, I wanted to write poetry. I loved reading poetry and enjoyed writing it. Then I decided to pursue an academic career, and I stopped writing creatively. I focused on analyzing literature, learning about literary history, and writing academic papers. That’s fun as far as it goes, but writing about other people’s stories doesn’t come anywhere near the satisfaction of creating your own.

Kelly: I always want to know…what was the last really great book you read?

NH: In urban fantasy, I found On the Edge by Ilona Andrews both engaging and different. For quirky mainstream/literary, Nancy Mauro’s New World Monkeys is a lot of fun.

SB Frank: Thanks for visiting with us, Nancy! Readers, comment below for a chance to win a copy of Deadtown!

by [the_author_posts_link] (SB) Frank.

Dear Karen Chance: Thank you for agreeing to do an author interview at fantasy literature.com on January 5th. Normally, I start an interview asking about an author’s childhood, work habits and hobbies and the like. But during my research, I noticed that someone has written the most extraordinarily frank and well researched answers to these questions on your website at www.karenchance.com For instance,
• Place you grew up? The land of make believe
• Work habits: Astonishingly lazy
• Morals: Prone to relationships with vampires (note: this may be more implied than stated)
• Hobbies: giving relationship advice to women. You even have a section about why relationships with vampires are so great (written from a female’s perspective, I might add). It is this last point I wish to blog about today by way of an open question for you to answer during your interview at fantasyliterature.com on January 5th.

The situation: In recent years, a, um, friend of mine has begun to suspect that my wife that is to say, his wife, a) has an ongoing relationship with a vampire; and b) that the vampire is Santa Claus. And before you scoff at this like everyone else, let me, present my friend’s evidence, which I think every rational person will agree is quite compelling.

1. Santa Claus appears to be immortal.
2. He only shows up at night and in a very sly and sneaky way.
3. He has supernatural quickness and the apparent ability to mind wipe … my friend after every visit.
4. He dresses in the color of blood, which is obviously in case of splatters.
5. Just before he comes to town, my friend’s wife starts acting strangely: singing songs about joy, happiness and love, bringing live trees into the house, and eating lots of chocolate…
6. Most damningly, every year, Santa Claus gives lingerie to my friend as a present but invariably when he tries it on, he discovers that it is not even in his size but his wife’s! And then instead of taking it back to the store for an exchange (as would be the obvious next step), his wife insists on keeping it as a memento of Santa’s visit. And then she starts slinking around in it when least expected in a very distracting way. And so as you can see, my friend’s fears about Santa Claus are well founded indeed!

My first question for you – entirely on my friend’s behalf – is: can you confirm or deny that Santa Claus is indeed vampiric?

Second: If you have a committed boyfriend or husband, is your significant other an actual vampire? And, if not, is he as insanely jealous as, um, my friend? And are there some vampires who he’s happy to see come around? Or are there some vampires (say, Santa Claus, as a random example) with whom he forbids you to relate at all?

Third, What do you say to the suspicions entertained by some (certifiably non-paranoid) husbands that vampires might be repeatedly mind wiping them every December? Is this an actual vampire ability? And are there long-term effects of repeated mind wipage? For instance, I notice that my friend frequently forgets where he puts things, and I (and he) are quite convinced this is ultimately somehow the fault of vampires. (Not that we’re bitter or anything).

And fourth, what advice do you (or your husband) have for spouses (such as my friend) who suspect that their spouses may be having a side relationship with a vampire?

Stay tuned for the answers to these and other weighty questions when we post her interview on January 5th. Karen will be stopping by throughout the day on the 5th to chat and answer questions; so please hold your questions for her until then. Meanwhile, for today’s discussion, I’d like to hear from you: Is Santa Claus an actual vampire? Yes/no? Evidence? And what about other famous public figures? Have you never wondered whether certain pasty-faced politicians are literal as well as figurative bloodsuckers?  Tell us your thoughts for a chance to win another copy of Karen Chance’s Midnight’s Daughter (click here for Kelly’s excellent review). By the way, I just had the chance to read her forthcoming sequel: Death’s Mistress (in stores on 1/5) and am pleased to report that it was the most entertaining UF novel I read during all of 2009. And that’s a lot of books! I actually had to stop reading several times for laughter breaks during the funny scenes.

This morning I’d like to talk about author interviews and garage bands. Authors first, beginning with a reminder that Nancy Holzner will be stopping by later in December. Then, in January, we have visits from authors Karen Chance and Caitlin Kittredge. Kittredge, today’s topical victim, is is the best-selling author of two urban fantasy series: Black London and Nocturne City. In chatting with her about her upcoming visit, I’ve learned that Kittredge rocks and plays the violin. In fact, I have discovered that her musical appreciation is so vast that she even enjoys the stylings of that infamous Seattle garage band, yes, you guessed it, Nirvana. Yet while I am soooooorely tempted to throw stones, I suspect that I myself might live in a bit of a glass house, having practically memorized my mother’s double album of Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits in my own misspent youth.

On the day of the interview we’ll be giving away copies of Kittredge’s highly creative Street Magic and Demon Bound. But first we have a final copy of Meding‘s debut: Three Days to Dead to giveaway and, by the way – I haven’t talked about it much, but I’ve been enjoying this fantasy thriller over the last several days. It comes at you fast and never lets up.

Enter in one of two ways (or both):

1. Tell us: what questions do you have for Kittredge for her upcoming interview? Or

2. Tell us: what mockable music did you (or do you) listen to that may not be entirely mainstream, hip, or you know, possessing of any degree of musicality? For those seeking inspiration, Kittredge’s website can be found here.

We have with us today Mike Resnick. Mike  is one of the most acclaimed speculative fiction writers of all time and the author of hundreds of novels and short stories, most of which fall into the category of science fiction or fantasy (at least since the seventies).  He is also the editor of Jim Baen’s Universe and is famous for being a fan and conference goer. We are honored to welcome today this living Science Fiction/Fantasy Legend.

SB Frank: Thank you Mike for joining us. With 33 Hugo nominations, and 5 awarded Hugos, you are generally considered the most decorated writer of short speculative fiction. In your opinion, what is the key to a successful short story?

Mike Resnick: If you just count Hugos, Connie Willis and a couple of others are ahead of me. The Locus list, which you are quoting, counts not just Hugos but all major awards from all over the world.

In answer to your question, I think when all is said and done, a story must make an emotional impact on the reader. It must move him – to laughter, to tears, to fear, to sympathy, to anger, to something. If it makes him think, so much the better, and the author has written a better story for it – but if it doesn’t make him feel, then it fails as a story, even as it may succeed as a polemic or a technological crossword puzzle in prose form.

SB Frank: While it’s out there being evocative, your writing is also very cerebral – smart humor or smart fiction. You explore a variety of deep themes and make people think. In particular, you often write about Africa and the problems caused by colonialism. What do you see as the biggest current challenges facing that continent? And is there an attitude or misconception toward colonialism that you would you most like to change through your writing?

Mike Resnick: The biggest problem right now is a continent-wide corruption on a scale unimaginable to those who haven’t been there (and no, tourists have not been to the real Africa). Robert Ruark wrote an international bestselling novel about the Mau Mau back in the 1950s titled Something of Value. The meaning of the title is that if you are going to take away a people’s culture, you had better replace it with something of value or you’ve got a big problem on your hands. Fifty years after Ruark, we still haven’t replaced it with anything of value to Africans, and we have 40+ separate and distinct big sub-Saharan problems on our hands.

SB Frank: You have said that your Lucifer Jones novels are particular favorites of yours. Is this true, and if so, is there a specific reason?

Mike Resnick: I prefer writing humor to anything else, though of course my reputation is based on my serious work. And of all the humor I’ve written, which comes to maybe a dozen books and 90 or more stories in this field, what I most enjoy writing are the Lucifer Jones stories. They’re parodies of every bad B-movie I saw and every trite pulp magazine I read when I was growing up, and the language is a delightful cross between the purple prose of Trader Horn and the fractured English of Pogo Possum. Some of the story and chapter titles will give you a broad hint: “The Island of Annoyed Souls,” “The Clubfoot of Notre Dame,” “A Jaguar Never Changes Its Stripes,” “The Best Little Tabernacle in Nairobi,” and so on. They’re just a pure delight to write.

SB Frank: You are the executive editor of Jim Baen’s Universe, which is closing as of April 2010. The closing has been handled masterfully, but it still seems a sad thing for the industry as a whole. Is there anything you’d like to say about that? And, as a corollary, from your perspective, what are the happiest and unhappiest current trends in speculative fiction publishing.

Mike Resnick: Jim Baen’s Universe had a fine business model when Jim conceived it and started it, but that statement was invalid before the magazine was a year old. (I joined it in its second year.) The notion was to pay the major writers a quarter a word, three times the top rate of the digests, and to run a couple of hundred thousand words an issue – and against the competition that existed when the magazine debuted, against Asimov’s, F & SF, and Analog, it made sense to pay those rates, put together that many words, have sparking, moving covers by a top artist like David Mattingly, and charge $30 a year for a basic 6-issue subscription. After all, when you compared values, we were giving the reader more big names and more words than the digests for the same price.

But as it turned out, after we’d been in business for about a year, we were no longer in competition with the digests. We were in competition with Subterranean Magazine (which was running people like John Scalzi, Lucius Shepard, Elizabeth Bear, Joe Lansdale and myself in just about every issue), and Clarkesworld (which ran stories by Tobias S. Buckell, myself in collaboration with Lezli Robyn, and similar), and a dozen other e-zines that were paying pro rates and were free.

How do you compete with that? Suddenly a bunch of e-zines were almost matching our firepower (and in the case of Subterranean, totally matching it) and not charging a penny. Suddenly that $5.00 an issue didn’t look like such a bargain.

We had other problems. Asimov’s came back from a near-death experience thanks to selling a few thousand issues a month via Kindle and Fictionwise/Barnes/the “Nook”. But Baen Books felt that our going to Kindle or Fictionwise would abrogate our distribution agreement with Simon & Schuster, so that was a potential lifeline that was denied us.

Weep us no tears. We announced the ending far enough in advance so that no subscriber would be left with paid-for-but-unreceived issues, no writer would deliver a commissioned story only to be told that the magazine was full and/or couldn’t pay for it, and no serial would be cut off in the middle. We pioneered the way, and when I took a quick count tonight, there are, excluding Jim Baen’s Universe, 18 magazines paying pro rates, and 14 of them are e-zines.

SB Frank: That’s a dramatic industry change and a great help for authors. I know you write primarily in science fiction, but you have some outstanding fantasy titles as well. Do you have any favorite fantasy writers? Any writers of short fantasy fiction for our fans at Fantasy Literature to watch for?

Mike Resnick: I’m no stranger to writing fantasy, or to appreciating it. Among the classics, I most admire T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, which I find far superior to Tolkien or C. S. Lewis. I’m also a fan of Orlando Furioso. I believe that Unknown, with stories as diverse as Sturgeon’s “Yesterday Was Monday,” Williamson’s “Darker Than You Think,” Heinlein’s “Magic, Inc.” and Leiber’s Gray Mouser stories, was far and away the greatest fantasy magazine of all time. I love Lisa Goldstein’s “The Red Magician,” Jonathan Carroll’s “The Land of Laughs,” Arthur Byron Cover’s “Autumn Angels,” and of course you could do a lot worse than Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” Oh, and let’s not forget Jack Vance’s “The Dying Earth.” And while I have no interest in or admiration for paranormal romances, there is nothing wrong with the source: Bram Stoker’s still-brilliant Dracula.

SB Frank: Throughout your career, you have sustained a pace of several novels and I don’t know how many stories, dozens, I’d guess, per year. I am not sure if the inspiration is more impressive than the motivation. But I’d love to know how you get so many fabulous story ideas.

Mike Resnick: I get them from everywhere. One of my favorite sources is movies and plays that missed a better story (my answer to The Elephant Man was Sideshow), movies that should have been better (my answer to Don Juan DeMarco was “A Princess of Earth”), stories where I disagreed with the premise or ending (my answer to my friend Bob Silverberg’s The Second Trip was “Me and My Shadow”), and so on. Many came from my observations during our trips abroad: “The 43 Antarean Dynasties,” “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge,” some of the Kirinyaga stories, others. Some came from songs: “Distant Replay” came from “When or Where”; “All the Things You Are” even kept the song title; the last third of The Widowmaker paralleled Marty Robbins’ “El Paso”. Some come from reading, some from discussions, and some just pop into my head. I could give you the genesis of all 60 novels and 240 stories – but each would be different.

SB Frank: You’ve said that you have always wanted to write a Western. And while we were chatting about the interview, you mentioned that something was in the works. Can you tell us about it?

Mike Resnick: All my adult life I have been fascinated by Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo, and I have always wanted to write a novel about them – but as a newcomer to Westerns, I simply couldn’t afford to write it for a newcomer’s advance. Then a couple of months ago Lou Anders, my editor at Pyr, asked me for a “Weird Western,” and I agreed. The Buntline Special will feature Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, an Apache medicine man named Geronimo (he really was one), a vampire named Bat Masterson, the thing that used to be Johnny Ringo, and more. Perhaps it’s not the novel I’d planned on writing, but at least I finally get to put Doc and Ringo on paper. Well, phosphors.

SB Frank: What other books, stories or screenplays do you have in the works?

Mike Resnick: Always an awkward question, because the answer changes by the month. Books about to be published or written include Shaka II (November or December from PS in England; it’ll be in Subterranean Magazine next year); Starship: Flagship, the 5th and final Starship book, coming from Pyr in December; The Business of Science Fiction, a collection of the Resnick/Malzberg Dialogues that have been running for the past dozen years in the SFWA Bulletin, from McFarland; The Buntline Special, sometime next year from Pyr;  Blasphemy, an omnibus volume of 2 rather blasphemous novels (The Branch and Walpurgis III) and 5 short stories in which God or Jesus have speaking parts, from Golden Gryphon in summer; Masters of the Galaxy, a collection of my Jake Masters novellas; and Lezli Robyn and I have been asked to outline a YA trilogy for a new publisher and will be doing so in January.

In short fiction, I’ve got “The Bride of Frankenstein” in the December Asimov’s; “The Blimp and Sixpence” in the December Jim Baen’s Universe; “Shame,” a collaboration with Lezli Robyn, in the January Analog; “On Safari” in the upcoming anthology Gateways; a couple of anthology stories (and a trio of assignments) with Lezli Robyn; a novella called “Six Blind Men and an Alien” for Subterranean Magazine; 2 more Harry the Book stories; and a Lucifer Jones story in just about every issue of Subterranean Magazine.

Questions from the Fans:

DeeAnn: How have you utilized your love of dogs (I gather you used to breed collies) and your love of Africa to inform the storylines of your books and short stories?
Mike Resnick: Dogs first. Back in the 1990s I wrote a private eye novel titled Dog in the Manger, about a missing show dog that was just the tip of a very corrupt iceberg. In 2009, I had out a fantasy novel titled Stalking the Dragon, which had to do with a dragon show, and integrated much of how a dog show works. And I’ve used dog shows or their equivalents in a couple of short stories, “Royal Bloodlines” and “A Most Unusual Greyhound”, a pair of funny fantasies about werewolves.

As for Africa, it’s been a major factor in my career, probably the major factor. Kirinyaga consists of 10 sequential episodes; various parts have won 2 Hugos and gotten 8 Hugo nominations, and the book has garnered 66 major and minor awards and nominations (and is still collecting them). Ivory was a Nebula nominee here and a Clarke nominee in England. “Mwalimu in the Squared Circle” was a Hugo nominee; so was “Barnaby in Exile”. “Hunting the Snark” was a Hugo and Nebula nominee. “The 43 Antarean Dynasties” won a Hugo. “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” is a Hugo and Nebula winner, and has also won awards in other countries. I did a trio of novels — Paradise, Purgatory, and Inferno – that were science fictional allegorical histories of Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. I’ve written two major sf/African novellas in the past year: “Kilimanjaro” and “Shaka II”. So as you can see, my career would look a lot different without the Dark Continent.

Anorithe: Is he a trekkie or a Sci/Fi nut himself. I know he writes the stuff, but did he camp out for the new Star Wars films…does he go to Star Trek conferences, is Halloween just a day when EVERYone dresses up instead of just some people…you know.
Mike Resnick: I am not a Trekkie. I didn’t think much of the original series, and since I stopped watching network TV series about 25 or 30 years ago, I haven’t seen any other Trek shows and spinoffs. I thought the first two Star Wars films were good summer fun, nothing more; I didn’t like the third; and the three most recent were all-but-unwatchable. I don’t go to Star Trek conferences. I do go to about eight to ten science fiction conventions a year.

Ashe Argent: Before becoming an author. Mike Resnick was a book salesman, apparently selling steamy novels for men.
Mike Resnick: Nope. I wrote in the adult field under a variety of pseudonyms, and I edited some men’s magazine and tabloids, but I was never a salesman, only a writer and editor.

Anorithe: What are your pseudonyms you used ‘back in the day’? (i.e. 1960s/70s)
Mike Resnick: Sorry. Those – there were over 150 of them – go to my grave with me.

Anonymous: Have you ever been to Africa?
Mike Resnick: Yes. To Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, Botswana, Egypt, and 4 trips to Kenya.

Joe Scanlon: What is the worst book idea you ever had?
Mike Resnick: Whatever it was, I hope to hell I didn’t write it.

SB Frank: Anything else to share? Favorites?
Mike Resnick: My favorite writers in the field: Catherine L. Moore, Bob Sheckley, Alfie Bester, George Alec Effinger, Barry Malzberg, Ray Bradbury, James White, Cliff Simak.
My favorite writers outside the field: Raymond Chandler, Nikos Kazantzakis, Edward Whittemore, Alexander Lake.
My favorite collaborator (I’ve had 43): Lezli Robyn.
My favorite editor: I will answer that only when I quit writing.
My favorite publisher: ditto.
My favorite of my own characters: Lucifer Jones.
My favorite of my own books: The Outpost.

SB Frank: Thank you so much for this interview!

And thanks to all you readers for stopping by. We’d love for you to comment on this post either to respond to something said or just to share your appreciation with Mike.  Mike will see all of your comments.
We’re giving away not one but two novels in connection with this event: A signed copy of Midnight’s Daughter by Karen Chance - the sequel of which, Death’s Mistress, hits the shelves on Jan 05th.

We’re also giving away a copy of the just released Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding. Feel free to comment even if you don’t wish to enter either contest and check back on Thursday when we’ll close the drawings and announce winners during Ruth’s Thoughtful Thursday post.

On December 29th, author Nancy Holzner will be stopping by to chat about her fantasy debut, the much discussed Deadtown.  In preparation for that, we’re soliciting questions you’d like to ask Nancy. Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about her or her novels, you should check out her website. There are lots of fun events and games going on there, including previews of her novel. All questions submitted will qualify you for an entry in today’s drawing. We’re giving away a copy of Deadtown.  And while you’re here, comment on Ruth’s Thoughtful Thursday post for a chance to win Raider’s Ransom by Emily Diamand. Both drawings will continue through Monday, December 7th and will close sometime after 5PM, so check back to see if you’ve won and, of course,  to also check out Monday’s fascinating interview with Science Fiction and Fantasy Legend, author Michael Resnick.

By SB Frank.

In the innocence of my youth (note: aka up until a couple of months ago), I naïvely thought that a fantasy in which a supernatural being fell in love was called a “paranormal romance.”  When I started blogging, I proudly proclaimed myself a fan of urban fantasy and paranormal romance and invited people to send me reading materials. Yeah.

I soon got wise to the difference between fantasy and romantic fantasy and things settled down. But then a few weeks ago I received in the mail a hot-off-the-press paperback with a naked man on the cover that I’m 99.8% sure I never asked for. The unsolicited sex object was turned demurely so that his washboard abs rippled but his private bits were unseen, but he was very clearly starkers.   I instantly imagined the following conversations:

Pre-teen Pubescent Daughter: (in a tone of prurient curiosity) Daddy – why are you reading a book with a naked man on the cover?

Teenage Pubescent Son: (in a tone of abject mortification) Dad – why are you reading a book with a naked man on the cover?

Wife: (in a tone I refuse to even speculate upon) Hon, can I, um, borrow that book when you’re finished reading it? Or, you know, just the cover?

So, blame my personal sexual insecurities, but the book hit the trash unopened. I consulted with literary beefcake expert Mandi of Smexybooks who had this to say of the incident: “You tossed it? Poor naked-man cover!”

Yeah. Anyway, it seems clear that we all draw lines in different places.  So for today’s discussion, I thought I’d solicit you all on the topic of fantastic sex and whether (um, in literature only please) you can ever get too much.  Where do you personally draw the line? One commenter will win a copy of Nancy Holzner’s forthcoming Deadtown, which I have reviewed in advance and am happy to say is an excellent novel that I have no beef with. [Due to the Thanksgiving holiday this drawing/contest will remain open for an entire week and there will be no Thoughtful Thursday post. Instead, all comments to all blog articles that post this week, starting today, including book reviews, will qualify you for an entry into the drawing. Happy Thanksgiving. Check back next Monday at the top of the blog to see if you've won].

We have with us today, Lev Grossman, in addition to writing book reviews for Time Magazine, Lev is also the internationally best-selling author of The Magicians, Warp, and Codex. His Nerd World blog has recently relaunched as Techland.com. But Lev promises that a) he is still a nerd; and b) he will still be blogging about nerd culture.

SB Frank: I was looking at your website levgrossman.com, and I saw that you’ve written on some fascinating topics.  One article in particular that caught my eye was a piece “Catalog This,” that talked about the bizarre things that are sometimes bequeathed to libraries as part of the estates of famous personas, such as Dante’s ashes, etc.  If you could pick one bizarre item to bequeath to a library after your death, what would it be and why?

Lev Grossman: When I was working at the Beinecke Library at Yale, I used to take my ease at break time in a shabby old armchair in a part of the stacks that we called The Vault. It was only towards the end of my tenure there that I noticed the label on the chair in The Vault, which explained that it was Robert Louis Stevenson’s writing chair. Which I had defiled with my unworthy buttocks.

I wouldn’t leave my writing chair to a library, because it’s a boring Aeron chair. But I might leave my writing desk, which is this gigantic metal-clad industrial work bench that somebody salvaged from a dead factory in Allentown. Since it’s basically indestructible, it wouldn’t be any trouble to curate. And if nothing else they might get some use out of it.

SB Frank: I know I’ve always wanted an indestructible desk.  So, other than Dante’s ashes, what’s the most interesting thing you’ve written about in your nerd world blog for Time Magazine?

Lev Grossman: According to the WordPress stats, the most objectively interesting thing I ever wrote on my blog is a review of Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. Which I found a little austerely Norse and Wagnerian for my taste.

For me personally it was probably an interview with Parry Gripp, lead singer of Nerf Herder, one of the founding bands of nerd-pop. He’s one of my culture heroes.

SB Frank: Nerf Herder’s excellent, but, no offense,  I’ve got to go with Tolkien. I’d imagine that being a professional book critic gives you a leg up when it comes time to writing your own novels. But does it ever get in the way?

Lev Grossman: It gets in the way all the time. Working at Time is a full time job, so my novel-writing happens in the early mornings, late at night, and in spare moments on weekends. Being a professional critic is an unbelievably great job, so much better than anything I ever thought I could get paid for. But when it comes to writing novels, there is no day job so great that a novelist won’t find a way, in his petty, miserly little heart, to bitterly resent it sometimes.

SB Frank: Well, we’re all grateful that you persevere. Your most recent novel, The Magicians is still on shelves. Any good or exciting news to share?

Lev Grossman: That it’s still on shelves! And it’s selling well, by the standards of a non-famous author anyway. According to IndieBound, it was the #2 bestselling hardcover in fantasy and science fiction for most of this fall, at least in independent booksellers. I am a really happy author these days.

SB Frank: That is happy news. Congratulations! The Magicians has a somewhat rare realism of character, by which I mean that, you allow the protagonist, Quentin, to be a self absorbed and error prone, typical teen. He differs significantly from a Harry Potter type hero whose virtues more than offset his few character flaws. Was this realism something you deliberately set out to accomplish before writing the novel or something that happened along the way?

Lev Grossman: It happened along the way, mostly. Though I don’t think any novelist ever sets out to write an unreal character. I always felt that Harry — much as I love him — was in the end a little too good of a person. I corrected Quentin accordingly. Some might say I over-corrected.

SB Frank: Speaking of Quentin, in book three, of The Magicians, he and his friends encounter Fillory. I understand that you are considering a future novel set in Fillory. Is this true? And would it be a straight sequel or more of a spin off?

[Author looks shifty and mumbles something unintelligible.]

SB Frank: Aha, I see. Well what other irons do you have in the fire? Any other projects or plans you’d like to share?

Lev Grossman: My most exciting, ambitious project at this point is keeping my day job and thereby paying my mortgage. But when I can I’m working full tilt on that sequel-like project I was trying not to discuss in question 6. There have been some conversations with Hollywood people, too. But you never know if those are going to go anywhere.

SB Frank: I’ve noticed that myself about people from Hollywood.  So, may I ask, what are the best books you’ve read in 2009?

Lev Grossman: Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes, The Financial Lives of the Poets, by Jess Walters, D-Day, by Antony Beevor, Cooking Dirty, by Jason Sheehan, and Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

SB Frank: Before we close, I’m hoping you could answer a few questions from the fans:

From Michele: What was your primary or favorite Dungeons & Dragons role/character growing up?

Lev Grossman: I mostly played fighter/thieves. I liked the hardware, and I was always too greedy and impatient to go through the work of leveling up a spellcaster. I went though a bard phase, too. I may have gotten overly attached to that guy. We bent a lot of rules to keep that bard alive.

From Mike: What music would we find in your iPod or CD player?  And what video games, if you game?

Lev Grossman: I’m in a big nerdcore phase right now. I’m working my way through MC Lars at the moment. As for gaming — “if I game.” Please! I just finished Halo: ODST, and now I’m about a quarter through Borderlands. I picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum and Dragon Age: Origins in between, but they didn’t take.

From Shellie: What is the nerdiest thing that you have done in the past 24 hours?

Lev Grossman: On the way to work I was listening to MC Lars and playing Geo-Defense Swarm on my iPhone, while walking down the street. Yeah, I’m that guy.

Very nerdy, Lev. Thanks for the interview and thanks to all of you for stopping by. One commenter on this post will win a copy of Mr. Grossman’s The Magicians.  Comment directly on the interview or on the topic: Why I am a fantasy nerd. Er,  um, that’s why you’re a fantasy nerd. Winner will be announced on Monday!

We have with us today Ann Aguirre, National bestselling author of Science Fiction and Fantasy who is also the romance novelist, Ava Gray whose Skin Games hits shelves today. Ann has become one of the more popular fantasy and Sci/Fi writers of recent years. And we are very pleased to have her with us today. She has also graciously agreed to stop by and answer our questions today. So, after reading the interview, be sure to answer questions and let her know which of her books you’d like: Doubleblind, Skin Games, or Blue Diablo.

Q1: I was looking at your website and I see that you’ve been a former clown. Can you tell us a little about that?

Worst job ever, particularly seeing as I am mildly afraid of clowns. I would look in the mirror and scare myself. I still have residual trauma. But for the details of it, I worked at gas station grand openings, giving out free hot dogs and balloons to the kids. It’s the antithesis of awesome.

Q2: Later this month, we’re having two self-proclaimed fantasy nerds, Lev Grossman and Jim Butcher, visit. So we’re talking a lot about what it takes to be a “fantasy nerd” this month. Do you have any hobbies besides writing Sci/Fi and Fantasy that you think would qualify you as a fantasy nerd?

I don’t think I am a fantasy nerd. I prefer the term ‘gamer geek’, thank you. I’m not really into epic fantasy, unless it takes place in the confines of a video game. Which is why I’m currently stoked to get my copy of Dragon Age.

Q3: In Doubleblind, the Ithtorian society has a sort of yin yang feel to it: An ambitious, almost brutal at times, mode of social interaction, juxtaposed with a much softer, zen-like approach to architecture and physical environment, and mannerisms like the wa. Why did you choose to make them this way?

That’s how they are. The Ithtorians have a complex civilization with layers and eons of culture and custom.

Q4: The Kiss of Teeth were really unnerving. Dare I ask what inspired these creepies?

Nightmares? A few people have commented that the Morgut remind them of the Magog from Andromeda. I did watch that series for a couple of seasons so it’s possible I drew some inspiration unconsciously from them, but there are key differences in physiology and culture.

Q5: I hear that Hellfire, the sequel to Blue Diablo will hit the shelves on April 6, 2010. Where are you in that process? Does that date look solid? Any updates there for our urban fantasy fans?

Yes, the book is firmly set for April 6, 2010. I just finished copy edits, which means I have only the galley stage to complete before the book is ready to go. I also just turned in Shady Lady, so the first three books have been written at this time. There are some new characters and big surprises in store for my readers.

Q6: And what about Killbox, the next novel in the Sirantha Jax series. Is that still scheduled for October of next year?

There’s some good news about Killbox. It’s been moved up a month for a September 2010 release. So it won’t be quite a full year until the next installment.

Q7: In addition to the two series you write as Ann Aguirre, you also write revved up romance novels under the name, Ava Gray, including Skin Game, which hits stores today. Can you tell some of us who may not be familiar with those romance novels, what they’re about and how they compare to your Fantasy and Sci/Fi series?

The differences between my romances and my SF&F are two-fold: first, the primary focus is always the relationship and the beauty of falling in love, and second, the plot will come in to augment the relationship, not the other way around. Let me give you an example. In romantic science fiction, Jax and March are trying to stop a galactic conspiracy and they fall in love along the way. The romance is secondary to the conspiracy. In a futuristic romance, Jax and March fall in love–and while falling in love, they also prevent an interstellar war. It’s a slight but crucial difference.

My Ava Gray books are hot, dark, gritty and violent. I recommend them to readers of romance who are looking for something different, and for spec fic readers who like a strong romantic thread in their fiction. As to what they’re about, in most general terms, it’s about one person with extraordinary powers finding a mate and falling in love.

Q8: What other fantasy authors do you have on your bookshelf? What fantasy books and authors do you enjoy reading most?

Fantasy authors on my shelf right now include Lois McMaster Bujold, SL Viehl, Maria V. Snyder, Casey Daniels, Marjorie Liu, Eileen Wilks, Kat Richardson, Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Robin McKinley, Lori Devoti, Moira J. Moore, Jacqueline Carey, Mario Acevedo, Anya Bast, Kim Harrison, and there are more upstairs. These are just the names of authors I could see on my office shelves.

Q9: From TJ: Do you have in mind how the love triangle from Blue Diablo will end – or are you guessing along with us?

I didn’t know in the beginning. Now I think I do, but I don’t swear it’s right. Things happened in Shady Lady (book 3) that totally blew my mind, but I went with it because it was so obviously right. So just because I think I know the answer right now, it doesn’t mean I won’t change my mind, based on future revelations. This is a big adventure for me, too.

Q10: From Ramona: How many Corine Solomon books do you intend to write (I hope, as many as possible)? And, How is it to live in two parallel universes, one of Science Fiction and the other of Urban Fantasy? What do they have in common/different for you as an author?

Unlike Jax, where I am writing 6 books, no more, Corine has no set end date. As long as the publisher and readers want more, I will happily keep writing them. At this time, I’ve sold three books and those are written. I’d obviously love to do more, but demand will dictate whether or not that is possible. I hope readers will be totally enthralled by book three, making it possible for this to become a long-running series.

For me, it’s wonderful to have two such diverse projects to work on. I would get bored if I was married to one genre and one style. My voice is dictated by my characters, and writing both SF and UF allows me to flex my writing muscles. So that’s fantastic.

Corine and Jax are very different characters; they want different things. So there’s not a lot of overlap, I think. Jax lives for the thrill. Corine wants a place to belong. About the only thing they have in common; they are both survivors.

Q11: From Shellie: Which genre do you prefer to work in? And which of your characters is your favorite, or have you connected with the most?

I love the genre I’m with. *g* And I love all my characters when I’m writing them.

Thanks for having me!

Readers, what additional questions do you have for Ann? Remember, she’ll be stopping by to answer them!

Mike Resnick has been nominated for 33 Hugo awards, winning five. When he agreed to the interview, he noted that as a batting average, 5 out of 33 wouldn’t even keep him in the baseball minor leagues. Sure, Mr. Resnick.

Today, we pay tribute to a living Sci/Fi and fantasy legend who has graciously agreed to join us in December.  As our readers know, Mr. Resnick also writes excellent urban fantasy, and you can read our reviews of his John Justin Mallory Mysteries on our Resnick page.

The winner of today’s contest not only gets all three books (hardcover) in Kate Elliott’s Crossroads trilogy, we’ll also throw in a brand-new copy of Mr. Resnick’s Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks, which is on sale now. A second winner will receive a copy of either WorldCon Guest of Honor Speeches or When Diplomacy Fails,  donated by ISFiC Press on behalf of this tribute contest.

Here are the discussion rules: Every comment qualifies as one contest entry. Everyone gets up to two comments per day. The contest runs through Monday. To enter, you must do one of the following:

(1) Suggest a creative interview question; or

(2) Tell us one thing (only one thing per comment) about Mike Resnick or his work (e.g., The name of one of his Hugo nominated books or stories; or any other interesting factoid); or

(3) Tell us something you like about Mike Resnick’s fiction.

That’s it. Easy. Come back every day and enter up to two comments per day between now and noon on Monday, when the contest will close. Most of all, have fun!

[This is a lightly edited, retitled entry from my previous blog: urbanfantasyfan.com, reposted here with apologies for those who've already read it] Our next author interview at FanLit Frankly will be Ann Aguirre, currently scheduled for the first week of November.  Meanwhile, I am once again (previous attempt interrupted by the move) accepting questions for our mid-November interview with Lev Grossman, International bestselling author of The Magicians, Codex, and Warp. Mr. Grossman is also a book critic for Time Magazine where he also writes for their hip-to-be-square blog glorifying “nerd” culture: Nerd World. Grossman apparently feels that attending Harvard and Yale, writing about technology, playing dungeons and dragons as a child and writing fantasy novels are enough to qualify him for the distinguished title: nerd. Now, being a first-rate journalist, (note: this claim has not yet been fact checked), I found myself unwilling to accept Mr. Grossman’s claims of nerdhood at face value. So, I decided to investigate.

Admittedly, Mr. Butcher does also play, “a lot of role-playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and …… live-action role play where players beat each other up with boffer weapons.” (Aside: Is boffing other people truly more nerdish than not boffing them?)

Please submit your questions for Mr. Lev Grossman regarding his Nerd World blog, his personal nerd status, or, you know, if you want to be all prosaic about it, his books, especially his newly released, The Magicians. All questions considered for inclusion in interview and all comments will constitute an entry into our giveaway drawing of The Magicians.

by Angus F. Bickerton

Janny Wurts has become a favorite of several of the reviewers here at Fantasy Literature, and much to our delight, her epic series, THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW (“TWoLaS”) is back in print this year in America and Canada! With its return to North America, one of the most important fantasy series currently underway is once again available to readers of epic high fantasy the world over.

One of the great strengths of Wurts’ writing is that it is not mere escapism. Fantasy Literature reviewer Stefan Raets notes that “rather than the standard cotton-candy fantasy tomes you find nowadays, here’s a book that requires the reader’s full attention and engages it on several levels, from the gorgeous prose to the elegant narrative structure, to the real challenge of trying to understand many of the characters’ motivations.”

When asked about the similarities and the differences between TWoLaS and other big high fantasy epics like those of Steven Erikson, Robert Jordan, and George R.R. Martin, Ms. Wurts says “I admire all three of these writers for their spectacular gift of originality… We are all telling stories born of the imagination, to enrich the lives we touch with something ephemeral that lies just over the horizon of our known perceptions. My work differs because the characters change, the list of players won’t run into the thousands by book eight, but your awareness of the ones that come and go deepens, heightens, and evolves. They won’t be the same person they were in Volume I. I depart from the rest in that the god presence, and the wise with the powers of gods, are far too advanced to stoop to brawling violence, and the dark, gritty horrors and atrocities will be followed up by scenes balanced out in the light, the sublime, and the joyfully expansive. Some things will shine in dark places, and other things dark will emerge where the dazzle is stripped by startlement…”

TWoLaS has strong moral themes about personal responsibility and how someone’s perspective can easily be warped to destructive effect. After I mentioned to her that I noticed a striking parallel between George W. Bush’s War on Terror and some of the events in THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW Arc III: The Alliance of Light (which was written before Mr. Bush became president), Ms. Wurts refused to moralize over political issues. But she did suggest that “at any point, where doubt is absent, issues become carved into black and white. Those who embrace the “black” and the “white” without question become the ideological tools, to be used by whoever comes along and pushes the button of such blinded rhetoric. I wrote to illuminate and astonish, to open doorways and challenge our most rigid mythscapes. Story is as old as time, but our times require renewed perspectives. This is a story to dismantle stereotypes and replace ideology with understanding.”

Janny Wurts has mastered the ability to keep her readers guessing, despite their intimate knowledge of her characters. Fantasy Literature reviewer Kat Hooper writes about the one-shot novel To Ride Hell’s Chasm: “there were a few times that I thought ‘how are they going to get out of this mess?’ and I had no clue, and even if I’d had a clue, I would have been wrong.”

I asked how Wurts keeps her plot and characters fresh, and she explains “If you keep on breaking the glass box of what’s known, you get all sorts of angles to imagine from … Story characters stay creative because I allow them to breathe and change. They aren’t going to please me – they are going to be ornery, wayward and filled with astonishments. I keep them growing because I don’t ever put them in the same scenario twice, and if they encounter a repeat of past circumstances, they will display learning from the earlier experience. I don’t let them become cut-outs by rote, or static, or fixed. And that’s the delight – they have to surprise ME, or the scene is not worth examining. I may know where the story will lead. I let inspiration choose the unbeaten paths to get there.”

Long time Wurts fan and Fantasy Literature reviewer John Hulet feels that THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW “is probably the most poetic epic fantasy series out there. Janny’s use of the English language is so eloquent that it becomes almost like reading another language. One must acquire an ear for how she tells the story. Her pallet of adjectives and description is the result of her artistic spirit and opens up levels of nuance and image depiction that are truly unique in this genre.”

It is that unique style for which Wurts is known. She herself mentions that “people often observe they adjust to my style, given about five chapters to settle in. The effect isn’t just becoming accustomed. It’s about shifting the way the synapses fire, about altering how the brain thinks. Fight it, or hate it – the books were not written for the timid of heart, or anyone afraid to step beyond the boundaries of the familiar.” Hooper experienced this when she read To Ride Hell’s Chasm: “At first I thought that as the pace of the story got faster, Ms Wurts’ writing had become more succinct. But I went back and read some of the first half again to check my theory: No. It hadn’t changed — it was me … Ms. Wurts is an artist … she uses words like she uses her paint.”

Her use of words as paint has also been noted by Greg Hersom, another Fantasy Literature reviewer, who observed that “it’s as if she uses those same artistic instincts for light and color to create these awe-inspiring tales. She combines vibrant words with a unique prose that paints a story as much as tells a tale. Her writing has a spellbinding elegance that works perfectly for a fantasy story.”

Janny Wurts is known for employing a massive vocabulary. She has responded to the question “Why do I write the way I do,” in detail before, and relates that “I’ve read so many books that words and vocabulary became absorbed, as it were, through the skin, any one word is not the same as another. Each has a precise and different shade of meaning, and to me, that makes a difference. I prefer choosing the exact one for the occasion… There are other reasons. I am not just writing to entertain, but to provoke creative thought. I strive to stretch the envelope between what is known, and reach into the imagination – to bring the reader an experience more vivid than simply words on the page. It is fact, that if the thought process is slowed down, the impact is heightened. When all of the senses are engaged, imaginatively, both hemispheres of the brain come into synchronization. The result lends the story a sharper edge, and fine-tunes the emotional response. The result, I can hope, is a story that is made richer and more provocative. But the brand is my own, vibrantly distinct, and not dumbed down for the non-virtue of middling conformity. The result will spark passion, for or against. It won’t be bland, or tame, or attempt to please everyone.”

Hulet notes that “great fantasy, like THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW and (Steven Erikson’s) THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN is not easy reading, but it is satisfying in a way that simple fare can never be.

THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW currently stands at eight volumes: The Curse of the Mistwraith, The Ships of Merior, Warhost of Vastmark, Fugitive Prince, Grand Conspiracy, Peril’s Gate, Traitor’s Knot, and Stormed Fortress. HarperCollins is releasing these books, together with the one-shot novel To Ride Hell’s Chasm, in succession throughout 2009 and early 2010 in anticipation of a Fall 2010 release of the next book in the saga, Initiate’s Trial. Wurts reports that “I’ve got the Initiate’s Trial drafted up to the closing sequence of action…Once I get the story down, it takes me about 3-4 months working very hard to pare down to the final copy and finish the language. Since this book is the start of an arc, it’s critical to get it off right, because everything after will rest on this foundation … With only three total volumes to go, to complete the series, entire, the finish is within sight. The intent is to keep up the momentum, toward that explosive and building conclusion.”

Wurts promises to keep surprising us, saying “you thought you knew all there was to discern, from all the past volumes’ unfoldments. There will be a few explosive moments to come that will move all the markers. I can warn you that everything mentioned, before, will come back dimensionally larger. You will get dizzy, with views from new heights, and a breadth of connection in plain sight all along, once you’ve had the veil of your own preconceptions torn through (yet again, I might add.) It’s exciting!”

I interviewed Leanna Renee Hieber about her fantasy debut, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, a gothic Victorian tale filled with ghosts, magic, and romance.  Read my review of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker and learn more at Leanna Renee Hieber’s website!

Kelly: Percy Parker is an unusual heroine, both in her appearance and in her shy, timid personality. How did she first come to you? Did she appear full-formed, like Athena, or has she evolved over the years?

Leanna Renee Hieber: Yes, she’s very unusual and I can’t say I chose all her unusual elements, she essentially chose me. Miss Percy truly did appear to me- entering quietly, carefully, yet unmistakably into my mind. She stood in a Victorian gown inside Alexi’s finely appointed office, with so many of her particulars intact, and I knew I’d never be the same for having met her. Then I had to find out why she was the way she was. The joy and also the difficulty was getting to know her; finding moments, albeit small at first, where she gains strength and confidence. Finding the moments when she can be passionate and let her true beauty shine through. Moments of bravery, beauty and strength grow as the book progresses and most certainly continuing to grow in Book II and will continue further in Book IV. The choices of when to push her and when she remains passive were the most difficult parts of her journey for me, but there’s still so much more room for her and I am excited by how she’s unfolding.

Kelly: In addition to writing novels, you’re involved in theater as a playwright and actress. Do you find that your experience in the theater has an effect on your fiction writing?

Leanna Renee Hieber: It’s inextricable for so many reasons. The more I write, the more I realize how intensely my theatre background influences me. My books are movies in my head, very intense and detailed movies that put me in the seat of the cinematographer. Reviewers have called me atmospheric and lyrical and I think that comes from a desire to really ‘set the stage’ visually and emotionally.

• Dialogue is one of my favourite parts of the process and that comes from relishing and examining great dialogue in really great plays and films.
• Character development is directly tied to my theatre training because when I attempt to discover and elucidate character motivations, I have to get inside the head of my characters in the same way I would have to on stage. A reviewer mentioned that I never “forgot my characters” and Miss Percy Parker’s glasses, shrouds and accoutrements were given as an example. I try and use the details of when Percy dons or removes these items to dramatic advantage. This comes from thinking about how to use costumes and props in a show and make that relative to character.
• Also, working with an editor is like working with a director. That’s a familiar and engaging dynamic to me, rather than a threatening or strained one, and so I feel well equipped in that regard. It also helps to have been blessed by stellar editors.
• And lastly, extremely dramatic situations appeal to me. And I most certainly do not shy away from putting very dramatic situations in this book.

Kelly: What’s your favorite ghost story?

Leanna Renee Hieber: I’ve two, the scariest and the loveliest.

The one that gives me the creeps is the Black Dog of Newgate:

At the rear of charming Amen Court stands a large, ominous wall. Behind that wall once stood the formidable, feared Newgate Prison. The small passage of “Deadman’s Walk” remains. Prisoners walked this path to execution and were buried beneath it. Newgate ghost stories abound, but the most striking and incredible is The Black Dog. The black form of a hound traverses the top of the wall, slides down and into the courtyard before vanishing, bearing with it a hideous smell and the sound of dragging footsteps. The origin of this spectral beast is said to date back to the 13th century when a famine hit London and Newgate inmates turned to cannibalism. A portly scholar was locked up on charges of sorcery and eaten by inmates. A few days later a terrifying black dog appeared, panting, with red feral eyes, blood dripping from its maw, and began ripping prisoners limb from limb in the middle of the night. Terrified inmates killed their guards and escaped, only to be hunted down, one by one, by the Black Dog until the sorcerer was avenged. The dog returned to Newgate to be seen on the eve of executions and deaths, and continues to slink along the Amen Court courtyard, the smell of death in its wake. – The Guard reference this ghost as they discuss the dangerous Hell-hound they encounter in the book.

The one I find lovely is this:

In the graveyard of St. Mary’s Church in Wanstead, a lovely space of 18th century vintage, two curious figures appear.  First, a white skeleton is seen wheeling a cart bearing a coffin. The skeleton approaches a particular tomb and in response, a shrouded white spectre is said to arise. The two wraiths embrace. Supposedly they were a married couple who were for some reason buried in separate plots and eternally reunite their spirits in love. – This inspired the ghost waltz between the two former professors in the book, a sight that greatly moves my heroine.

Kelly: Can you give us a sneak preview of what lies ahead for Percy, Alexi, and friends?

Leanna Renee Hieber: Indeed!

Book II picks up exactly where Book I leaves off, keeping Percy and Alexi in the main focus but giving us more insight into The Guard as well. Book II (title TBA) will come out in May 2010. As it stands now, I’ve a novella in a Fantasy Christmas anthology of Dorchester authors slated to release in October 2010, my story will feature Rebecca and Michael and keep with the Strangely Beautiful world. Book III is a prequel, Book IV continues with the Rychman family legacy up until World War I.

Kelly: Is there one question you always wish someone would ask you, but no
one ever does? If so, what is it? And what’s the answer?

Leanna Renee Hieber: Hmm. “How real are your characters to you?”

One aspect I haven’t really discussed is how vibrant my characters are in my mind – it may sound odd but many writers agree that after a while you truly hear your characters and they are as close to you as family. It was a long journey towards publication due to the cross-genre nature of the book, and so within the 9 year process from ideas to seeing it on the shelf, I’ve had a lot of time with Percy and The Guard. Because of this, I essentially just take dictation from them as I sit down to write. I may give them a task, but they relatively easily supply the dialogue. And they, like their author, take direction well. They need a great deal of revision, of course, but I’ve never had characters so vibrant, and that’s why I knew that of all my various projects and artistic pursuits, the Strangely Beautiful series had to be my top priority.

Kelly: I love that your
 rabbit is named Persebunny.

Leanna Renee Hieber: *grin* I’m so glad you get a kick out of that, it’s terribly punny – but I love it.    She’s albino, I couldn’t help it. Of course we call her Percy for short.

Has fantasy been “chauvinistically slurred”?
Have we become cynical and abandoned a sense of wonder?
Have we forgotten our roots? Is fantasy serious literature?

[podcast=Gail Z. Martin interviews Janny Wurts about the perceptions of fantasy literature]http://gzmartin.audioacrobat.com/download/GailMartinJannnyWurtz.mp3[/podcast]

Gollancz authors Jaine Fenn, Alex Bell, Suzanne McLeod, Joe Abercrombie, Richard Morgan, and Alastair Reynolds discuss the difference between female and male SF & Fantasy writers.

After being enchanted by Jo Graham’s debut novel Black Ships and her new novel Hand of Isis, Kelly had some questions for Ms. Graham:

Kelly: One of the ways I can tell I’ve been truly captivated by a work of historical fiction is that I get the mad urge to go out and learn the real history behind the story! So, of course, I’ve been looking up Charmian, with extremely limited success. How much is actually known about her?

Jo Graham:  There isn’t much — just her name, really. Plutarch describes her as “Cleopatra’s hairdresser,” one of the “cabal of serving girls and eunuchs” who run Egypt, a state led by a woman and hence led into ruin. Plutarch is also the one who gives us the scene of Cleopatra’s death, and Charmian’s last line in Hand of Isis. To quote a translation of Plutarch, “Iras, one of her women, lay dying at Cleopatra’s feet, and Charmian, just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her mistress’s diadem. One that came in said angrily, “Was this well done of your lady, Charmian?” “Extremely well,” she answered, “and as became the descendant of so many kings”; and as she said this, she fell down dead by the bedside.”

That’s pretty much it! I had a lot of room to work with in constructing her life.

You’ve done a great deal of work in politics. How did your political experience influence your choice of Charmian as narrator, and the way she’s written?

The idea of doing a novel with the narrator as the personal assistant to a female head of state — it’s a fascinating premise, and I drew heavily on my own experiences, particularly working for the campaigns of female Members of Congress. And certainly Charmian’s work as an event planner is heavily influenced by the work I’ve done putting on large events because I can see the things that must have gone into some of the spectacles that the historians credit to Cleopatra.

Several of the major characters in Hand of Isis are the reincarnations of characters from Black Ships, and your next novel, Stealing Fire, will feature these same “souls” as well. How did this core of characters first come into your mind? What faces were they wearing at the time?

I’ve had this core of characters with me for a long time, more than twenty years since I first put any of it on paper. It’s interesting, because Black Ships is the first book published, and Hand of Isis the second, but actually Black Ships was my fourth book and Hand of Isis my sixth. The faces they were wearing in the earliest parts, the ones first written, were their 18th/early 19th century selves, books that I hope will be published in the future. So in a way I’m writing backwards — I know where they’ll go, and I’m writing how they got there.

Because of that, the cast isn’t always exactly the same from book to book — different ones of the “core” characters are featured each time. For example, Ashterah had a relatively minor role in Black Ships, but Dion is a major character in Hand of Isis. Xandros/Emrys has been a major character in both Black Ships and Hand of Isis, but plays a much more supporting role in Stealing Fire. In some ways I think of it like an ensemble TV show, where different episodes showcase different characters, giving first one development and then another, moving one plotline forward and then another.

My narrator, my viewpoint character, Gull/Charmian, stays the same however. This is her story, the story of her soul’s adventures. One of the things I think you’ll find interesting in Stealing Fire is seeing her incarnated as a man. Lydias has very different experiences from Gull and Charmian because he is born male, and it’s fascinating to write.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately, working on the research for what I hope will be the fourth published Numinous World book. J.M Cook’s The Persian Empire, Vesta Sarkhosh’s Persian Myth, Kaveh Farrokh’s Shadows in the Desert, Maria Brosius’ Women in Ancient Persia. From which you may surmise I’m probably doing Persia next! *g*

In terms of fiction, I recently devoured Elizabeth Peters’ Laughter of Dead Kings, the new Vicky Bliss mystery. I’ve been a Peters fan for a long time.

Is there one question you always wish someone would ask you, but no one ever does? If so, what is it? And what’s the answer?

If you could write professionally in anyone else’s world, what would you write? I would write the script for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie! That’s a job I could really get into!

Read Kelly’s reviews of Black Ships and Hand of Isis here.

FanLit’s own Robert Rhodes was recently interviewed by Jason M. Waltz, founder of Rogue Blades Entertainment (RBE). RBE publishes Return of the Sword: An Anthology of Heroic Adventure which includes Rob’s story “To Be a Man”. You can read Greg’s review of Return of the Sword here. This interview is reprinted here with Mr Waltz’s permission.

Jason Waltz: What drives your art? What forces you, rides you, hustles you, controls you until its latest needs have been met? What really drives you to create speculative fiction art, be it words or images?

Robert Rhodes: It seems to be in my blood. I’ve always been good with the written word and enjoyed stories of other worlds. In my better moments, I try to write for the classical reasons: to enlighten and entertain. If I do it well enough, I hope to brighten others’ lives.

If there was the possibility of becoming any speculative fiction character ever created (except your own), would you? Who? Why?

It would be tempting to become Aragorn: a noble, long-lived ranger and king with quite a queen. But the answer is actually “no.” I have a wonderful life, and an amazing wife and kids. I’m thankful.

If you could only take one author’s works compressed on an e-book reader on a “one-bag-only” one-way trip to another galaxy, whose works would it be and why?

Probably Guy Gavriel Kay’s. His fantasy works–after The Fionavar Tapestry, in which his reach may have exceeded his grasp at the time–are remarkable: fully realized, epic, lyrical portraits of the conflicts between heroic yet vulnerable men and women. He explores the human condition with unflinching insight but never fails to show its potential beauty and meaningfulness. That said, for largely the same reasons, my favorite book is Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis.

Why Vasili? What initiated his story and made you complete this particular tale?

Vasili’s story began with the thought or image of someone in his dire legal predicament at the story’s beginning. From there, I suppose I worked backward to learn more about him–as he was with and without the infamous Titania. Now, where did she come from? That question might be one for a psychiatrist … but she’s actually less complex than Vasili–Red Sonja’s big sister, perhaps?

In the privacy of your favorite writing nook, do you act out your protagonist’s actions? Do you know how to use his weapons? Do you wear his clothes? Do you talk like him?

Ah … no.

Quick: List your first thought as your answers to these questions about the future of genre fiction:

Printing Methods: Offset or Print-on-Demand?

Offset.

Reading Formats: Electronic or Print?

Electronic.

Book Tours: Physical or Virtual?

Physical.

Reading Habits: Dead, Dying, Alive, Growing?

Alive.

Length: Flash, Short, Novella, 1970’s novel (60k), 1980’s novel (80k), 1990’s novel (120k), 2000’s novel (150k)

1980’s novel.

Robert E. Howard, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, Louis L’Amour, Frederick Faust, Ian Fleming, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rafael Sabatini . . . the list could go on. Some lived long lives, some flared and burned out young. All lived life hard. All wrote pulse-pounding action-adventure, often dipping into the many different genres they share, yet each eventually establishing their name within a specific one. What do you believe you have in common with these authors, and what makes you so sure speculative fiction – heroic fantasy fiction to be precise – is your genre? Or is it?

I believe in the power of fiction to reveal who we are and who we can be. And I believe we can see these things most clearly and thrillingly in stories that lack the distractions of technology and history and that feature men and women confronting huge challenges directly with their bodies, wits, and wills. Fantasy fiction also suits my preferred writing style, which is probably more ornate than one usually finds in legal or political thrillers. If I continue to grow as a writer, I’ll probably attempt something more “literary” than fantasy fiction–to see what I have to say about this world as it is, not because fantasy fiction can’t be literary. Far from it, as the works of Kay or Patricia McKillip or Neil Gaiman (just to name three) can attest.

Thanks for taking the time to provide some insightful answers, Robert!

Robert Rhodes was among the 3rd Quarter 2008 finalists in the Writers of the Future Contest, and he co-authored with Howard Andrew Jones an essay on sword-and-sorcery in the newly released 4-volume Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading. Learn more about Robert at his blog Shadow, Light, & Steel.

An excerpt:

…Something rustled outside the glade. I craned my neck to look and saw, instead of wolves, a magnificent warhorse, an enormous black stallion with white forelegs and a blazon on its brow. At once my soul grew warm and irritated. I knew that horse.

That is, I knew its mistress. The stallion walked forward into the moonlight, and the massive shadow on its back became Titania – Titania and a man seated in front of her. His head lolled, chin upon chest, and one of her powerful arms encircled his waist. She guided the horse forward till it stood beside me, then vaulted down. The man swayed and fell. Titania watched him strike the damp earth with a thump; she gave a snort of laughter then came and towered over me. Her wild reddish mane, black in the dark-ness, eclipsed the moon, and I willed all thought and passion from my face. Except, I hoped, a measure of quiet dignity.

“A fair evening, Titania.”

She scoffed. “Vasili, you worm. Why the hell are you still here?”…

Kelly interviewed Maggie Stiefvater about her Young Adult fantasy novel Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception. Be sure to also read Kelly’s review of Lament. Learn more about Ms Stiefvater at her website.

Lament hearkens back to the old faerie legends, which were often tragic and often frightening, and not at all sugar-coated. How did you become interested in faerie lore, especially the darker stuff?

When you write about things like homicidal faeries, you get asked “why faeries?” a lot. And once I valiantly fight back the urge to answer, “Why not?,” I realized that I don’t really remember when my fascination with faerie lore first started. I do know that somewhere back in the swirling mists of my youth, I checked out a copy of Katharine Briggs’ lengthy and fascinating tome, An Encyclopedia of Faeries. She catalogs all sorts of lore about British faeries, most of them sounding feral at best and down right terrifying-will-eat-you-in-your-bed-and-then-talk-about-the-culinary-experience-at-otherworldly-dinner-parties at worst.

And I don’t know, it just sort of resonated with me. It felt more real than the Tinkerbell sort of faeries. Real magic ought to be like that, you know? Brilliant and beautiful and unexpected and completely untamed. Like nature.

Anyway, those who know me best know that I’m not really a pink fairy dust kinda girl.

Music plays a large role in Lament. Are you yourself a musician? Did you listen to any specific music while writing Lament?

Yep, I’m a musician. In college, I was a competitive bagpiper, which means I was not just a bagpiping geek, but the queen of bagpiping geeks. I also play harp, piano, tin whistle, enough guitar to get me into trouble . . . the thing is, once you tackle the bagpipes and come out on top (panting, bloody, but triumphant), all other musical instruments are pretty much inclined to bow down and do whatever you say.

I think highly of pretty much all musicians, with the exception of people who play the saxophone or the accordion. Those two instruments just ain’t for me. Sorry, all talented saxaphonists and accordion players out there.

I listened to a lot of Celtic music while listening to Lament (I know, you’re shocked — positively shocked — aren’t you?). From the amazingly traditional (Bothy Band, Lunasa, Susan McKeown) to the wishy-washily New Age (A Celtic Tale, Enya, Loreena McKennitt). I love ‘em all. Also, peculiarly, I listened to Shiny Toy Guns and the The Bourne Ultimatum Soundtrack. Whatever works, you use. No questions asked to the musical muse.

What writers are your personal favorites? What writers have influenced your writing? (And what’s a good book you’ve read recently?)

I should preface this entire answer with the disclaimer that I have only recently begun to enjoy novels where supernatural beings do not pop out of the woodwork or bodies don’t float by in the rivers or main characters do not get sucked into portals into other worlds where they may or may not encounter love, loss, and dragons. Plain old realistic fiction really has to be exceptional to have a hold on me.

So, with that in mind, my favorite authors have traditionally been Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones, and Dean Koontz — that sort of thing. Stand out books in the history of Maggie-read books have been The Time Traveler’s Wife, Good Omens, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Peeps, and Feed. I always add exceptional books onto my Goodreads page, if anyone’s interested in seeing what titillating me.

My latest find was John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines, which is quirky, funny, and really well-paced.

Do you have any advice for new writers just starting out?

I always say: READ! It’s the best way to learn how to write; read the good stuff in your genre of choice, because there’s no such thing as having too much knowledge. Also, be wary of critique partners. They can be either the best or the worst thing in the world. I am lucky enough to now have two critique partners who read and write fiction very similar to mine, and their perspectives are priceless. But there are thousands of excellent writers out there who just will not mesh with what you need as a critique partner — it took me a long time to realize that finding a good critique partner is as challenging as finding a good spouse.

Also, WRITE. You can’t get better unless you’re writing. Not thinking about writing or twiddling over what you have written — you have to be writing new words. It’s the sheer number of original words written that will make you get better at what you do.

Is there one question you always wish someone would ask you, but no one ever does? If so, what is it? And what’s the answer?

Yes. “May I give you this French pastry I am holding?” Answer: “Yes.”

Maggie Stiefvater’s next novel, a sequel to Lament, will be called Ballad: The Gathering of Faerie and is expected in fall 2009.

FantasyLiterature.net’s Kelly Lasiter recently interviewed Louise Hawes after reading and enjoying her book Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand (2008). You can read Kelly’s review here and learn more about Louise Hawes and her works in other genres at her website.

Kelly: Did you have a favorite fairy tale as a child? Do you have a favorite now? If so, what made/makes that particular story resonate with you?

Louise Hawes: Snow White was always a very special story for me. I think, even then, the idea of a large young girl and tiny men, that symbolic strength and significance of the feminine, made me feel I could accomplish anything. I still find this story is a very powerful, evocative lens through which to view gender—and hey, I like those odds, seven to one!

As a teacher of writing, what advice would you give to a writer just starting out? Any specific advice on YA writing in particular?

As the literary market gets tighter and harder, the best advice seems to be what it’s always been: write for yourself, not for your perceived notion of what will sell. If your book takes you on a journey you need, to grow spiritually and aesthetically, then others will find the trip worthwhile, too. As for YA literature in particular? Honestly, I never sit down and say to myself, “Now I’m going to write a YA book.” I simply go where I need to, where my issues are – and who doesn’t have a lot of issues around adolescence?!!

In Black Pearls, you retell classic fairy tales from new points of view, looking through the eyes of characters who are not the central figures in the original stories. Was there one “role,” one point of view, that you especially enjoyed slipping into?

I particularly liked inhabiting the enchanted body but decidedly un-spelled mind of the magic harp in “Evelyn’s Song,” my version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Perhaps because I got to make this character up more or less from scratch, I felt more freedom to go where I was drawn. And that was to the personality of a feisty, resilient young woman whose need to be free shapes this whole tale from beginning to end.

One thing I was struck by in Black Pearls: the ending of your Hansel and Gretel adaptation, “Mother Love.” I’ll try to avoid spoiling the story, but there’s a moment when Gretel’s father quietly doubts Gretel’s version of events, and right at that moment, I doubted it too! I wondered if maybe she’d spun a tale to avoid admitting a darker truth to herself. As the author, did you intend to have us question Gretel here? Because if you did, it certainly worked!

Your response is interesting, Kelly, and I guess it’s a bi-product of my goal to have readers question point-of-view in general. In most of the tales, and you’ve singled out the moment in “Mother Love” where this happens, one or more of the characters refer to the frame tale, the original version of the story we all know. The characters often tell us that the old story has gotten their history wrong, that it is nothing more than gossip (literally, “an old wives’ tale”. In the scene you mention, just days after the event, what really happened at the witch’s cottage is dependent on who’s recounting it (and who’s listening).

This is the same impression I hope you take away from the entire collection, the whole book. My re-imagined tales are meant to suggest that we are all the “main characters” of our own stories; that your good fortune can cause me endless grief, and course, the other way round, too. There is no “truth,” no fairy tale happy ending that ties up all the loose ends. There is only rich, roiling and confusing life seen through many pairs of eyes, felt by hearts beating in many different rhythms.

What book most recently knocked your socks off, and why?

I’ve been raving to everyone about Gary Schmidt’s novel, Trouble. It’s not fantasy, though Gary has done a fantastic version of Rumpelstiltskin (Straw into Gold). Few YA novels manage as expertly as Trouble does, to interweave and reconcile so many opposites: past and present, compassion and revenge, racism and acceptance, humor and grief. And Black Dog, the peanut-butter-eating, breaking-and-entering stray that joins the book’s plots and holds it together? I don’t think there’s ever been another literary canine as charming or incorrigible!

Is there one question you always wish someone would ask you, but no one ever does? If so, what is it? And what’s the answer?

What a great question! No one ever asks me for my National Book Award acceptance speech! (And you know every author has one ready : ) ) I won’t lay the whole, lengthy but glorious presentation on you now. But I will tell you that I intend to name at least three other authors (beyond my fellow nominees) whose books equally deserve the award. Publishing and awards are not an exact science; they’re more like the winds of chance, so if I get lucky, I want to bring some fellow writers along with me!

Kelly interviewed Justin Gustainis, author of Quincey Morris Supernatural Investigation: Black Magic Woman. Mr Gustainis’s second Quincey Morris novel, Evil Ways, will be released on Dec 30, 2008. Read Kelly’s review of Black Magic Woman here.

Kelly Lasiter interviews Chris Howard about his novel Seaborn. Read Kelly’s review of Seaborn on our Chris Howard page. The art in this interview comes from Chris Howard’s portfolio.

Kelly: Seaborn features two complex and fascinating heroines: Corina and Kassandra. Each woman is involved in a struggle to gain control of her own psyche; Corina has Aleximor, the necromancer who has possessed her, and Kassandra has the voices of her ancestors prodding her toward the goals they think she ought to pursue. Corina is very open to the reader emotionally—we know most of what makes her tick and what her inner landscape is like—but is unable to take action in the physical world throughout most of the book.

In contrast, Kassandra is always in motion, always doing things, but she keeps some secrets from the reader, so that we don’t always know exactly what she’s planning (though there are clues along the way). So…was one of the women harder to write than the other? More fun to write? Do you have a favorite?

Chris Howard: They were both fun to write, but Kassandra’s my favorite. What’s interesting, is that in talking to readers, I’ve found—a little unexpectedly—that some are Corina-likers, preferring Corina’s and Aleximor’s storyline, and others are Kassandra-likers, preferring Kassandra’s erratic behavior and power. For me, this is all Kassandra’s story: Seaborn, the next book, Sea Throne, and Saltwater Witch, a YA fantasy that takes place five years before Seaborn (under editorial consideration, but not yet accepted for publication). I left a lot open with Seaborn, but everything’s resolved in the next book, Sea Throne. I made it tough to always sympathize with Kassandra, but there should be a handful of “ah-ha” moments when readers realizes why she did or said something that didn’t quite fit—or even seemed very wrong in Seaborn.

Corina’s story was very challenging to write for several reasons. She’s in her head, but doesn’t really have anything physical for me to write about. I experimented in several directions trying to solve this, changing POVs (in a very early version of Seaborn, Corina’s in first person, while everything else is in 3rd), italics, lots of scene breaks. One way I chose to make this work was to give her her own space, which I also used to drive the plot—I like the way this turned out, hoping readers do too. Other challenges were that both Corina and Aleximor change radically though the story, and so much hinges on their motives and action and how one affects the other, and dealing with shifting POVs of two people, different genders, in the same head.

On the good side, I feel I really grew as a writer having to tackle these challenges. For the Corina-likers out there: she has some cool scenes in the next book, Sea Throne. She’s taken Thennas under her wing. We’ll see how it all ends up during and after editing, though. Things can change. (My editor wanted two more Kassandra chapters put into Seaborn).

Your writing makes great use of Greek mythology and history, and you also mention in your blog that you’re interested in Aristotelian philosophy. How did you first become drawn to ancient Greece, and how did you decide to incorporate your knowledge of ancient Greece into Seaborn?

I’m a software engineer, but I studied philosophy in school and totally hit it off with Aristotle. I studied Greek, ancient theater, Homeric sagas, Athenian politics, just fell in love with everything ancient and Hellene.

But that was years ago. Then I spent a few weeks in Greece, Turkey, several islands including Rhodes in 2001, and I think that’s what really sparked a deeper love of Greek myths and the myths of other Mediterranean cultures incorporated into the Greek myths. The Telkhines (or Telchines), whose stories I draw on for Seaborn, were originally the gods of Rhodes, from the culture of the island before the spread of a somewhat unified ancient Greek culture.

You’re an artist as well as a writer. Would you say that your art background influences your writing and/or vice-versa?

Drawing and painting influence my writing in so many ways. Writing would be more difficult if I couldn’t sketch characters, scenes, places, and action. I use painting to get me back into the story’s groove, help me remember what everyone looks like. A painting let’s me visualize the story before I write it. Some of my paintings capture a mood in a particular scene or of a particular character, and allow me to get back into the story when I’ve been at work all day. Without the art, the writing wouldn’t come as easily. I also think painting adds depth to a character that I can hold in front of my eyes and study. I don’t know if it’s a thousand words, but a picture that contains a piece of the story is a shortcut to getting words on the page.

This next question is sort of a new FanLit tradition: Is there one question you always wish someone would ask you, but no one ever does? If so, what is it? And what’s the answer?