INTERVIEW: BETH CATO

Today, I’m chatting with author Beth Cato. Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in Red Wing, Minnesota. She usually has one or two cats in close orbit. A 2015 Nebula finalist, she is the author of the cozy mystery CHEDDAR LUCK NEXT TIME as well as fantasy like A THOUSAND RECIPES FOR REVENGE. Her short stories can be found in publications ranging from Beneath Ceaseless Skies to Uncanny Magazine. In 2019 and 2022, she won the Rhysling Award for short speculative poetry. Her website BethCato.com includes not only a vast bibliography, but a treasure trove of recipes for delectable goodies. Find her on BlueSky as @BethCato and Instagram as @catocatsandcheese.

Photo Credit: Corey Ralston Photography (2013)

ANTHONY: Hi Beth! Thanks for taking some time to chat. Your latest release, which was an Amazon First Reads pick for September, is A House Between Sea and Sky. Tell us a bit about the plot.

BETH: It’s a cozy standalone set in 1926 Carmel-by-the-Sea in California. A grieving writer and a secretive silent film star are adopted by a sentient cottage with a dark past.

What inspired you to write A House Between Sea and Sky?

After I wrapped up my Chefs of the Five Gods series, I asked my then-editor what she’d like to see next. She said she wanted historical fantasy set in the real world. From there, I started mulling. I’m a native Californian, so exploring that setting feels right.

House is historical fantasy, much like your Blood of Earth trilogy. How much research did you have to do into the time period this book takes place in, and how did you go about that? (I loved all the details you incorporated about the Silent Film industry of the time, even the unsavory aspects of it.)

I spent a solid three months on research before I could even finish a synopsis, and then I kept researching through the writing and revision process. For me, worldbuilding really needs to come before fleshed-our characters or plot. Our world shapes everything. I was truly blessed to find a wealth of scanned Carmel 1920s newspapers on Archive.org, plus a tourism book that was published in 1925. There is a very special famous person cameo appearance in the book, and that person’s involvement determined the exact days of the plot. As for the silent film elements... I actually have a trunked novel I wrote a few years ago that I think is one of the best things I’ve ever written, but my agent wasn’t able to sell it. My main character in that book was a scenarist in 1923 Hollywood. I had kept the most interesting research books and had tons of information on my computer, so I was able to repurpose that material, which felt wonderful!

I would love to see that trunked novel be published some day! Without spoiling anything, I think it’s safe to say that Russian folklore plays a large role in the book. Was this folklore that you grew up with?

In my teens, I collected a number of century-old Andrew Lang Color Fairy Tale books and other mythology tomes that were discarded from my local library. (There’s a reason those Lang books get a mention in A House Between Sea and Sky!) I still have them all, too. That’s really the first place I encountered a broader variety of stories that were identified with their places of origin, and I was then able to connect creatures and elements to the AD&D books I was also reading at the time.

While I don’t think it’s ever explicitly stated in the text, I got the very strong feeling that Fayette is asexual/aromantic (although those terms probably didn’t exist in the 1920s), and thus her relationship with Rex is one of mutual respect and quickly-developing friendship, but nothing more. I think we still don’t see enough of this in historical fantasy (the lack of a romance between leads). I’m not sure I have a question here, other than “is my understanding of the character correct?” But would you like to talk a bit about how you approach representation in your books (which always have diverse casts)?

You’re 100% right. I wrote Fayette to be ace. I love a good main character romance, but I don’t think that should be a requirement even if it appeals to the big trend. People CAN just be friends. I want my books to be realistic, and for me, that means diversity is natural. That includes a spectrum of queer rep as well as different skin tones and ethnic backgrounds. By the way, the racism shown in this book was directly inspired by reading Jack London’s book The Valley of the Moon, which is partly set in Carmel, and is also horrendously racist with very particular ideas on who is a “real American.” So I guess my approach to representation is sometimes inspired by active defiance against a book that is over 100 years old!

I would love to know what your writing process is like, and if it varies when you delve into different genres (you know how much I loved your foray into cozy mystery/thriller territory, Cheddar Luck Next Time) or different story lengths (novels vs. novellas vs. short stories for instance).

I’m a hardcore outliner and researcher. Even for a flash fic, which is normally about a thousand words, it’s not uncommon for me to have a few sentences of outline to guide me! Poetry is the only thing I write spontaneously. So many of my recent fantasy books have been historical, and the research has been immersive. A Feast for Starving Stone had a 25,000-word outline, but that was also long because my characters were talking a lot in my head, and that dialogue was sketched in. Cheddar Luck Next Time was nowhere near as intense, but I still had to research details on running a cheese board business. The details on the many cheeses included were largely drawn from my own personal cheese log, which is over 200,000 words and is nearing 2,000 cheeses. Bird’s taste note on cheese are pulled from my own experiences.

Speaking of Cheddar Luck Next Time (which I reviewed HERE … is there any word on whether we’ll get to see more adventures of Bird and company?

I hate to be a tease, but I hope to be able to talk more about that soon!

I’ll take whatever teases I can get! What do you have in the pipeline/coming out next?

I do have one contract signed that I can’t talk about yet, and I’m in a very early research stage for something else. I’ve been very busy recently!

And my traditional final question … what is your all-time favorite book?

There is one recent stand-out for me, and that is The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. It’s really a suspenseful love letter to the power of children’s fantasy novels and how they can save lives. I recently read it again because I proposed it to a local book club, and the other members loved it so much that they all immediately picked up her second book, The Lost Story, which is also excellent. It’s a queer take on Narnia-style portal fantasies. Really, you can’t go wrong with Meg Shaffer’s books! Her third one will be out next year, and I can’t wait.

I am adding Meg Shaffer to my To Be Read list as soon as I finish posting this interview. Thanks again Beth!

MEGAN LAVEY-HEATON and ISABELLE MELANCON OF NAMESAKE - Interview

It’s a week for welcoming back previous interviewees! Today, I’m catching up with Megan Lavey-Heaton and Isabelle Melancon, creators of the webcomic NAMESAKE. It’s been a while since my last interview with them; we’d meant to do one during their second Kickstarter project, but that sort of fell through. So here they are to talk to us about how that went and what’s upcoming:

ANTHONY: You successfully funded the print version of Namesake Book Two not so long ago. How is the production process coming, and when will the book be available to the general public?

ISA: Production is pretty much over. I re-colored a couple of the pages, polished it up, added an extra story… and then Megan did all the book putting-together part. The toughest part for me is always to design the covers. And I had to design 3 this time. Whew! Since we had the hardcover version coming out with this Kickstarter too. But they turned out great too. The books should be available in August/September if all goes well, but we might open pre-orders before then.

ANTHONY: Are there plans already afoot for collecting book three in print form?

ISA: Book three is almost fully posted online, so as soon as that’s done, plans for the next Kickstarter will probably start.

ANTHONY: What’s your process been like for transferring from web content to the printed page? Did it change at all between books one and two?

ISA: Well, the pages have a pretty standard format, so making the jump from digital to print wasn’t that hard. I perfected my drawing techniques and scanning techniques, and Megan started doing allt he lettering in indesign to make the whole process go more smoothly. Our processes kinda changed about half-way into book one, so book 2 went considerably better.

ANTHONY: Where do we find the characters at the start of book two?

MEG: Emma is still entrenched in Oz at the beginning of book 2. We take a slight detour to check in on Alice and Lewis in the 1800s, then Ben, Elaine, Fred and the Calliope staff in the modern era, along with the introduction of some new cast members who will be very important in the future. For now though, most of this book tells the bulk of Emma’s adventure in Oz.

ISA: And Warrick’s backstory is revealed in book 2. Everyone loves a good tragic backstory.

ANTHONY: How much material will be in the print edition of book two versus the online edition? Any new special extras?

MEG: Book 2 contains Intermission 1 and chapters 6-10. We are about to start chapter 13 in the online edition. We have a book bonus story with Warrick and a Kickstarter-only story with Chiseri and Adora.

ANTHONY: Has your collaborative process changed at all since you started Namesake?

MEG: Not off the top of our head. The machine isn’t broken!

ISA: Nope, if anything, we just have MORE fun. Because the story is gradually becoming more engaging and creative.

ANTHONY: How about your individual creative processes?

MEG: I know for me, I have switched to doing the lettering of the pages in InDesign. Makes it vastly easier when it comes to creating the books!

ISA: I started doing more storyboarding and I have a notebook listing important visual details for all characters… to make sure I don’t forget anything! I plan to make character turnarounds too. It’s more of a process used in animation, but it helps not to draw someone off-model.

ANTHONY: Has the story continued to play out according to your original master plan, or has it taken any interesting side turns?

MEG: It’s definitely taking interesting side turns. For example, Selva has become one of the main cast when originally she wasn’t supposed to have much of a role beyond chapter 1. Nose is another unexpected developed character. We still have the master plan, but we’re letting the different stories develop organically and adjust as needed.

ISA: Characters change a lot, but the main plot stays stable. I think it’s nice that characters are kinda “telling” us who they want to be.

ANTHONY: What other projects are you both working on?

MEG: I’ll let Isa answer that one!

ISA: We have a couple of things we wish to start. I have a few ideas for graphic novels for kids and pre-teens, because it’s an age group I love to write for. Mostly fantasy stuff. Megan has a few ideas that are really exciting too, but she tends to write more for adults, with police mysteries and diabolical curses. I guess we’ll flip a coin and see who gets to choose first. On the short term, we plan to do a couple of short comics to try different things as a team.

ANTHONY: A slight tweak on my usual closing question: If you could only recommend one of the books your characters are based on/connected to, which one would it be?

ISA: Probably a complete book of Andersen’s works. I love his fairy tales. They are my favorites.

CURA TE IPSUM, Kickstarter Campaign - Interview

I’ve interviewed my friend Neal Bailey a number of times here on “Rambling On,” discussing the progress of CURA TE IPSUM, the fantastic “can one man save himself across the Multiverse” webcomic written by Neal and drawn by the incomparable Dexter Wee. About a month ago, Neal started a Kickstarter to publish a print version of Year Two of the webcomic, with lots of awesome perks for backers … and I promptly dropped the ball in regards to having him on here again to promote it. There’s still four days left and the campaign is going strong, so better late than never, right?

ANTHONY: Hi Neal! So, what’s new and exciting in the world of CURA TE IPSUM?

NEAL: Hey, Anthony! Honestly, that probably depends on your perspective. For the readers, we’re going into a section of story that’s going to be decidedly exciting. A big paradigm shift in the next few months, and the beginnings of the origin of the Dark Everett.

For me, what’s exciting is winding toward the middle of Year Five (I write… in the FUTURE) and finishing up this Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style novella I’m doing for the Kickstarter. It’s a lot of fun.

Also… HARDBACKS! We will have hardbacks, it looks like, thanks to this wonderful Kickstarter thing. 

ANTHONY: What made you feel now was the right time to run a Kickstarter for CURA?

NEAL: Honestly, going to cons and watching other independent comics make use of it with no ill effects. I used to write for the internet, and if I learned one thing writing for the internet, it was that if you do a thing and ask for money for it, you get nastygrams from people, for some reason. At least, you used to. That has changed now. As the medium grows, people start to understand if they don’t support a thing, it goes away, which sucks.
I was going to do one big Kickstarter, at the end of Cura, and try and recoup something, anything of the tens of thousands of dollars I’ve thrown into it. I saw Kickstarter as a trigger you could pull once, a fundraising tool to get a thing recognition and a printing.

Then I printed my own trades a few times, and realized I couldn’t continue to do it on my own. I debated options. Going two days a week (which would lead to pay reduction for Dex, which I didn’t want to do). Going to companies (I already have, and a few big ones passed on Cura). That’s when I started asking my other friends doing webcomics and they indicated that the model for Kickstarter has shifted. You’re not a fink for doing one once a year, it’s more of a situation like Kickstarter is a Previews for the indie world. People who like indie comics come, see things that need regular support, order it, and keep it going.

I realized I can do Year Two, and if the people like it, then it wouldn’t be the only hurrah. There is a matrix and community of people who will support a thing that you’re earnestly passionate about. That is quite a reassurance for a struggling writer, and I said to myself, what’s the worst that could happen, you fail? Then you just don’t produce the book, you keep making Cura, you don’t go into more debt, win-win. It’s really quite amazing.

ANTHONY: With only four days to go, you’re very possibly going to double your original goal. What are some of the perks backers can get if they sign on before the campaign ends?

NEAL: We’ve had two stretch goals so far, the first one is better paper, which I REALLY wanted to get for folks, and the hardbacks, which people REALLY wanted to get from me. I got a lot of messages asking for them. If we reach the $7,500 mark (and we’re darn close as of this writing) folks will have a hardback option.
The stretch goals after that are pure perks for folks. I’m going to set a new stretch goal the minute we hit that $7,500, if we’re that fortunate, but to be honest, I have been so overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that I’ve been floored. Anything after where we are now is just a way to make the book better… it’s already happening! Isn’t that fantastic?

The biggest perk that people will have if we do double our goal, outside of any material thing, is the secure knowledge that it’s setting up Cura for at least another solid year, and guaranteeing that trades will continue to be worthwhile and fought for. There isn’t much squeak between the costs and the pledges, but whatever squeak there is will go right back into the book and the comic. I went bankrupt five years ago throwing my own cash into my work, and I’m so incredibly glad that I have a support net here now to help keep this book going. It makes me redouble my efforts and believe even more in what we’re doing, as shallow as that might sound. It’s amazing what a little validation will do. My life is forever changed.

I’m going to try and manage some postcards and paper dolls, bookmarks, whatever I can manage to throw in as a bonus, depending on the final tally. This is really about the people who made this happen, and I want to reward them as much as I can for their good faith.

ANTHONY: You’re creating a “Choose Your Own Dimension” adventure for backers, right? Tell us about that.

NEAL: I used to collect all of the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, and when I was in elementary I was fortunate enough to have a writer of those style of books come to the school and explain the process. Since then it’s fascinated me.

Once I started doing Cura, early on, I realized that it would lend itself extraordinarily well to a Choose Your Own Adventure style narrative, and I started to write one, but I stopped, for several reasons. Firstly, I wanted to make it a comic, which I hadn’t seen before outside of a book that slips my mind, the title, but it was amazing. I am embarrassed that I don’t recall. That had issues, because Dex is busy, and asking him to do a hundred page comic while he’s already doing Cura and other stuff wouldn’t work. The story is narrative enough and a handful.

I set it aside. I kept thinking about it, but I set it aside, and in the meanwhile fleshed out all of the characters I’d already outlined. Then the Kickstarter came, and Greg Rucka suggested, when I solicited his advice on my Kickstarter, that I ought to do a Choose Your Own Adventure. Recalling my earlier idea, it sounded like it might make a great novella, and so here I am, writing it. It’ll feature almost every member of Cura and Nosce that we’ve seen so far, and some other characters we may never see. You’re every Charlie, and some of the choices you can make are pretty hairy.

I did make one change to the basic formula. As morality tales, CYOA novels seem to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. I like a more chaotic view of nature and nurture. Sometimes if you do the right thing, bad things still happen, and sometimes when you do a bad thing, there are no consequences. But sometimes it’s as you might expect, and I hope to keep people jumping.

Either way the dang thing is 15,000 words and climbing, so it’s not a minor perk, I hope. 

ANTHONY: I see this question a lot regarding Kickstarters: you’ve hit your funding goal, and passed it — why should I back it?

NEAL: That goes a bit to what I mentioned before, in my earlier answer. First off, the more books I can order, the longer Cura is supported, in multiple respects. I can go to cons and get physical books into the hands of people who have never seen it, which helps the readership, which feeds the book. I can offset the cost of paying Dex, because I believe in paying my artist even when I can’t afford it (and God, have I been stretched thin the last five years). Most importantly, however, every purchase is a vote of confidence that says this book is a thing worth fighting for outside of my own mind, which is critical. It will make my work better, which will in turn feed what I turn out, which will in turn reward those who buy even when the initial goal is met.

Also, another important factor is that the initial goal is the bare minimum to get the project done, the books alone, and anything after that is where things start to be about extra for keeping the wheels turning. Plus, y’know, perks! Stretch goals. There’s good for everyone if we can keep going.

I can unconditionally guarantee that not a penny beyond the goal will go to anything beyond Cura. Hell, if we made a hundred thousand dollars, after Cura was colored, made into a short film, got an app, got Dex a Syntique, or whatever the heck else could benefit Cura, I’d still take cash from my own wallet and put it into making the comic more.

I am a strange duck, in that I never wrote for profit (shhh, don’t tell editors). I write for love of the characters in the hopes that profit may come, that I may write for love of the characters, on and on and on. If I have a dry room and a pen, I’m good. The cash is all about the book, and always will be. If I needed money for my own fun or amusement, I’d go back to day labor moving cabinets with stoners.

i09.com described Cura as “an emotional crisis on infinite earths.”

ANTHONY: Dexter’s art continues to amaze and astound. Is he creating any special new art for certain pledge levels?

NEAL: Yes! We have just added a new “commission” level at the two hundred dollar pledge. He will make a custom tailored commission. Speaking as a guy who has several hanging in his own house, I can honestly say they’re quite a centerpiece for a geek like me. Plus you get the hardbacks and all the other goodies.

ANTHONY: How about for the book itself?

NEAL: We have an eight-page backup introducing an all-female group of Charlenes who will figure prominently in Year Four and Five. There’s a Filipina, several steampunk inspired designs, a black female Hank (Henrietta), and a few members that will likely surprise you. Let’s just say Mrs. Arntzen doesn’t always die.

The backup has been a lot of hard work while producing the regular pages, but it’s absolutely worth it, and probably one of the best arguments to get the trade or the PDFs.

ANTHONY: The print collections cover Year One and Two, but the webcomic is well into Year Three now.  Has anyone come to CURA from reading the print editions first?  Do you find a different reaction to the story (or characters, or pacing) between print-first readers and web-first readers?  Or even a difference in reaction for people reading it in print after reading it as each page first appears online?

NEAL: Absolutely, in answer to both questions. People have come to print first through cons, and there is a huge reaction when people read it day-to-day as opposed to in a big stream, both in print and digitally.

The comic is written with a very known sense that days are passing between pages. The comic leaps a bit, and I have wrestled with it quite a bit. Some people are annoyed by it, but some love it. I stand by it, in that it is supposed to bring that feeling of jumping around in space and time that these characters are going through. That said, the story is becoming more and more linear as it moves on, perhaps as I learn, perhaps as the ending becomes more and more clear.

Either way, thankfully, I haven’t received any email from anyone calling it a pile of turds. The readership, to a man and woman, have all been incredibly kind and respectful and awesome.

ANTHONY: What is it about the story of Charlie Everett that resonates so well with fans?

NEAL: I’ve been told it’s the fact that he’s optimistic, and also the tension of whether or not he will become the Dark Everett, but I don’t want to speak for the audience and put words in their mouth. Maybe that’s just the things I’ve heard that I want to be true, and for other people it’s that he’s dreamy, or they love tweed, or hey, shout out to the guidance counselors out there who need representation!

That is my tongue firmly in cheek, for the record.

I can speak for myself. Charlie resonates for me because I wanted to write from the age of twelve, twenty long years ago now, and everywhere I went it was like that Dewey Cox movie, a parade of family encouraging me to have a fallback, get a job, stop being such a lazy waste. A relative said, I quote, that I contribute in no meaningful way to my family, doing what I do.

I disagree. And Charlie didn’t. Charlie thought people like that were right for so long, and he cast it off, and even better, he did it for himself. He found hope, he found courage, and through that power. That’s what I see in him, and that’s what makes me love him.

ANTHONY: What glimpse can you give us into the near future for the CURA cast?

NEAL: I’ll be cryptic, and maybe a little scary. A latin demon. Origins. The smell of the person you love the most. Power beyond reckoning in the hands of a madman. The explanation of that moon. Junior’s origin. The House of Cindy. God, now I’m getting creeped out. Soon!

ANTHONY: And a twist on my usual closing question: What is Charlie Everett’s favorite book, and what would he say to convince someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

NEAL: Charlie’s favorite book is Richard III, and he would say that one should read it because even though this man, Richard, in attempting to find his way, becomes a terrible villain because of how he is perceived, he also says one of the most important things any human being ever has in history:

“Shall I live in hope?”

Charlie does, and you should too.

You can follow Neal and Dex on Twitter @nealbailey  @dexterwee. You can find the comic CURA TE IPSUM on the web. But most importantly, you can find the final days of the Kickstarter campaign and donate by CLICKING RIGHT HERE.  If you decide to back, please leave a note here letting me know you did so.

MAURICE BROADDUS & JERRY GORDON, authors - Interview

This week’s interview, delayed from last week due to lots of personal circumstances, is with Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, the editors of Apex Publications’ DARK FAITH and DARK FAITH: INVOCATIONS.

Jason Sizemore, Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon

ANTHONY: Before we talk about the new book you’ve co-edited, DARK FAITH: INVOCATIONS, I’d like to talk about the experience of putting together the first DARK FAITH anthology. How did that come about, and what did you learn from that process that influenced your work on the new volume?

MAURICE:  I host an annual convention called Mo*Con (http://www.mocon.indianahorror.org/).  Each year I invite a few horror, science fiction, and fantasy writers in, we hold the convention in a church, and we discuss topics related to genre and faith.  You tell people you’re having a convention in a church, all they hear is “church” and, again, there are preconceptions to what goes on there.  With the great line up of writers that we have regularly attending Mo*Con, we talked with Jason Sizemore, of Apex Books, about doing a Mo*Con anthology.  That project evolved into Dark Faith.  I guess you could say that I’ve always been fascinated with hearing people’s stories about faith, no matter where that story takes them.

I think every writer should take a turn behind the slush pile to see what an editor faces every day.  From the lack of professionalism, the inability to follow guidelines, to the ideas/stories they see all the time.  That was my first major take away lesson.  The second was that after we put together the original Dark Faith, we had a better idea of what kind of stories we were looking for.  Our writers did also, which was reflected in the (much better) slush pile.

JERRY:  Mo*Con gives people with wildly divergent views a place to discuss controversial issues.  The respect for ideas and emphasis on civil discourse at the heart of the convention went a long way toward winning me over when Maurice brought up the idea of doing Dark Faith together.

ANTHONY: What is the focus of DARK FAITH: INVOCATIONS, and does it differ at all from the intent or theme of the first volume?

MAURICE:  The focus honed in even more on the idea of faith.  That being said, I think the second volume is lighter in tone overall, even as it is still soul crushing.

Dark Faith 2: Invocations

JERRY:  Invocations is tightly focused on the testing of faith from a broad variety of belief systems (atheism to magic and everything organized in between).  The book does have more fun with the subject.  Imagine hunting giant Buddhas in a post-apocalyptic future or learning the secrets of the universe from a wish-granting vending machine.

ANTHONY: You held an open call for submissions for INVOCATIONS, correct? How many submissions did you receive, and how long did it take to whittle the slush down to your final choices?

JERRY:  We received just over seven hundred total submissions, enough to fill twenty-six anthologies.  It took about four months to whittle that avalanche down to a final table of contents.  From a process perspective, we went through four rounds of cuts:

Round 1 – Top 150 stories

Round 2 – Top 75 stories

Round 3 – Top 40 stories

Round 4 – Final 26 stories

The first round involved weeding out the amateur, semi-pro, and off-topic stories.  Once the easy cuts were made, thematic overlap, space constraints, and a whole host of editorial issues guided the rest.  I posted a detailed deconstruction of the process on my website (http://www.jerrygordon.net/2012/06/01/behind-the-scenes-dark-faith-2/).

ANTHONY: You’ve co-edited both volumes. What is your process for deciding the final Table of Contents and then story order? Have there been any violent disagreements? (I’m picturing Editor-Dome in Maurice’s living room right now…)

MAURICE:  The first time around was a lot easier.  The stories that worked REALLY worked and stood out from the rest.  This time around, there were so many GREAT stories that it was a lot tougher to get that final pool cut.  I really feel like at times we were team captains and we were choosing up members of our side until we hit our word count limit.  This whole process was made easier by judicious application of Riesling.  Another place where Riesling is your friend is in figuring out the order.  It becomes a lot easier to see a flow to the stories…

JERRY:  We had forty stories left when we met to decide the final table of contents.  We played with half a dozen potential approaches, discussing the merits of each story and how they might work in concert.  In the end, we took turns drafting stories like NFL players.  With each round we recalculated the word count, talked about the remaining stories, and made another round of picks.  The last few rounds were positively heart wrenching.  This is a small business, and putting on the editor’s hat means disappointing talented writers that also happen to be good friends.

ANTHONY: Do your individual editing styles differ when you’re working on an anthology of your own? What do you each bring to the table as co-editors?

MAURICE:  I do quite a bit of freelance editing, but my style doesn’t really change.  I’m looking for the best stories, ideas that intrigue me, or some ineffable quality that makes a story great.

I like to think that I bring a particular vision to Dark Faith.  It’s a project that’s close to my heart and who I am.

JERRY:  On the first book, Maurice set the initial vision and worked very hard to solicit a cadre of amazing writers.  I honed that vision and handled the logistics.  This time around we traded duties back and forth, stepping in for each other when our schedules turned from busy to insane.

Maurice Broaddus

ANTHONY: I won’t ask you each to pick a favorite story from INVOCATIONS, but I will ask what authors we can expect to see in the book and if there’s anything in particular you think will stun readers.

MAURICE:  “Subletting God’s Head” by Tom Piccirilli kind of sets the tone for this volume (which is why it is first) then “The Cancer Catechism” by Jay Lake immediately rips your heart out.  “Magdala Amygdala” demonstrates that there is something fundamentally wrong with Lucy A. Snyder (I kid because I love).  And “A Strange Form of Life” by Laird Barron is a particular favorite of mine (I’m not scared to choose a favorite child!)

JERRY:  Readers are almost universally surprised by the broad range of stories and ideology.  An Asian artist that can reshape reality with her sketches.  A middle-eastern robot fighting his addiction to a futuristic drug called faith.  African folk magic and family rivalries mixing it up in the boxing ring.  A small-town boutique that offers you the chance to shop for your own personal god.  I could go on.  It’s an eclectic mix of tones and worldviews.

As for personal favorites, I love Richard Wright’s “The Sandfather.”  This story sneaks up on you emotionally, and I’ve already had several reviewers email me to say the story blew them away.  The subtle beauty of Alma Alexander’s “Night Train” also impresses.  Looking at the table of contents, I want to hijack this interview so I can talk about Kyle S. Johnson’s haunting portrayal of a North Korean family and Tim Pratt’s wishful fantasy and K. Tempest Bradford’s take on mythology.

ANTHONY: Are there any authors who have work in both volumes, or was that something you consciously avoided?

MAURICE:  The answer’s a little bit of both.  We didn’t want to completely overlap TOCs, but we didn’t want to rule out great stories from writers who have already demonstrated that they get what we’re looking for.  I think we set some arbitrary percentage of how many authors could repeat (which we probably ignored, thus I can’t remember what it was).

JERRY:  We went into the book hoping to bring about a third of the original authors back.  Maurice and I solicited a second third and dove into the slush pile to find the remaining stories.

ANTHONY: What else would you like potential readers to know about INVOCATIONS?

MAURICE:  You need to buy many copies of it and pass them out to your friends.

JERRY:  This book will entertain you, make you think, and magically remove ten pounds from your waistline.

ANTHONY: What’s in the near future for each of you?

MAURICE:  My urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court, is being re-released as an omnibus (by Angry Robot Books).  I have a short story in the current issue of Shroud Magazine and have stories coming out in a bunch of upcoming anthologies (Appalachian Undead, The New Hero, Vampires Don’t Sparkle, Relics and Remains, and Cadence in Decay).  My short story, “Awaiting Redemption”, will be in the HorrorWorld Anthology as well as available for a listen on Pseudopod.com.  Apex Books will also be publishing my novella, I Can Transform You.

Jerry Gordon

JERRY:  My apocalyptic novella, Breaking The World, is set to be released in 2013 (Apex Publications).  It follows a trio of teenagers forced into adulthood by the end of the world.  I also have a short story out in the current issue of Shroud called “Ghost in the Machine.”  In it third-party politics, torture bans, and a mysterious ‘Ghost Program’ conspire to change the course of our Republic.  Add to that “Vampire Nation” for the forthcoming Vampires Don’t Sparkle! tribute anthology (Seventh Star).

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it yet to convince them that they should? 

MAURICE:  The Gift by Patrick O’Leary, Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and Beloved (heck, anything) by Toni Morrison.  If I have to convince you to read any of them, especially Morrison, I’ll just pluck out your eyes because you obviously aren’t doing anything worthwhile with them anyway.

JERRY:  Talk about your impossible questions!  My brain freezes just trying to come up with a top ten list.  I can’t give you a favorite, so I’ll just give you a recommendation.  The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.  The book, given to me during a rough patch in my life, contains a lifetime of wisdom.  I’ve purchased several copies for friends over the years.

ANTHONY: Thanks again to you both!

You can purchase DARK FAITH: INVOCATIONS through Amazon, Barnes & Noble or directly from Apex Publications. On Twitter, you can follow @MauriceBroaddus and @jerrylgordon. You can also keep track of the authors/editors on Maurice’s website and Jerry’s website, and they’re both on Facebook: Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon.

TWO WRITERS IN DIALOGUE: A CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL AND A GAY LIBERAL CAN BE FRIENDS, Part 1

Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Anthony R. Cardno

BTS: So Anthony, a gay writer and an evangelical writer being close friends. Who would believe it? How did this crazy thing happen?

ARC: We can blame it all on Twitter. Neither of us would know the other existed if not for the advent of 140 character at a time social media. But of course, that’s just a tool, and a tool often used for ill rather than good. So I’m going to cut right to the quick of the issue: I think it all comes down to accepting that you’re never going to agree 100% with everyone, and not agreeing is a silly reason to stop talking to people. Reasonably people can have a dialogue and agree to disagree.

BTS: Totally agree. In fact, most of the people I have as friends on Facebook and Twitter disagree with me about one thing or another. As a writer I enjoy that diversity because it keeps me honest and informed when writing characters and stories, even if it’s painful to hear those views sometimes, even if it challenges me. I don’t know how I could be a good writer and write real worlds and real conflict if I didn’t see conflict myself. Also, how can one really be reasonable and confident in one’s opinion without fully examining the other side?

ARC: Thank you! You know, your response actually brings up two points I want to discuss. The first is that you can’t really write believable conflict/disagreements between characters if you haven’t seen both sides of the disagreement yourself. “Honest and informed,” you called it. For instance, in your novel THE WORKER PRINCE, you’ve got a society that is essentially polytheistic — no one suggests you go out and spend a year living as a Polytheist to make those characters believable, but I would assume you did some research into existing and past religions of that nature so that you’d be able to write Xalivar’s side of the conflict between himself and Davi.

BTS: Well, I spent time on several trips in Africa as well as between trips studying African traditional life and religions and many of those tribal cultures are polytheistic. I also taught on those subjects at the Masters level. So yes, I applied that research a bit. Enough to explain their beliefs. Although the people group in my book don’t really hold religion as a lifestyle, unlike their counterparts, which also creates even more cultural barriers between them. Totally different outlook on religion. So yes, I did have some prior knowledge to pull from, and do believe that was important even if I didn’t use it in the story all that much as far as details of that research. After a while, though, research becomes part of your intuitive knowledge base which you need to supplement with reading, quotes, etc. when doing academic writing but not necessarily in fiction.

ARC: I think I agree with that last statement, as far as it goes. I mean, we all know I am the worst researcher in existence, which is why I even make up my own towns to place my short stories in. But writing what’s intuitive brings me back to the other point I wanted to discuss. You asked “how can one really be reasonable and confident in one’s opinion without fully examining the other side?” I’ve tried to reasonably ask that question of lots of folks, and the answer I most often get seems to be “Well, I don’t need to be struck by lightning to know I won’t enjoy it.” No, but you do need to know the physical effects of getting hit by lightning to know that you won’t enjoy it. And yes, there is a metaphor in there somewhere.

BTS: Well, the same could be said related to our differences in sexual preference. I do not need to experience gay sex personally to know I don’t find the idea appealing. You may feel the same about hetero sex but I’ll let you speak for yourself. But at the same time, I think being able to talk to gay friends, and I have several, not just you, helps me to understand people with uncommon experiences to my own—how they come to be who they are, why they make the choices they make, why they sometimes characterize their situations as having no choice, etc. And I think that’s healthy for me as a human being a part of the larger global community around me. It disappoints me that so many who share some of my views refuse to engage in that dialogue or allow for such relationships. I imagine many of them can’t even picture healthy relationships but I can think of several I’ve had with gays or lesbians over the years. It does take honesty. I am very honest with you about who I am. And you are honest in return. And then we talk about things to the degree we’re comfortable and with respect for each other. That makes it easier, don’t you think?

ARC: See, I knew I was using an apt metaphor! But not to make too light of this, yes, you’re right. That mutual respect, the understanding that we come from different places but still have certain things in common, is key to our friendship. I think one of the problems in our society is that people don’t really understand the concept of “dialogue” anymore. What we see on television, fictive and factual, is over-lapping monologues. No one really listens to what the other side is saying, they just hear what they think the other side is saying and are already planning how to rebut. For instance, I have friends who would read your statement “I do not need to experience gay sex personally to know I don’t find the idea appealing” and would immediately respond with “You can’t know that until you try it.” Which brings us back to the lightning metaphor — if you, as a straight man, have a basic idea of how all the plumbing fits together, and you just don’t find anything interesting about it, then you have every right to say “no thanks, not for me” without having to actually experience the act. On the other hand, in the interests of full disclosure, I will admit that I have tried hetero sex several times, and as nice and loving as those women were (and they are still friends of mine to this day), it just didn’t work for me. So I can say “tried it, thanks, not for me.”

BTS: For various reasons, I figured you had. For one thing, I know I’m not attracted to men. I don’t deny the fact orgasm might occur with a man. Some things come naturally. But the ideas of kissing and other physical closeness are not something I even daydream about. It just doesn’t appeal to me. So from that perspective, blunt as I am, I can honestly say I don’t find the idea appealing, and it would be ridiculous for those friends of yours to question it. Because I think we all make decisions about what we like and don’t like that way every single day, including them. Don’t you make decisions like that? I know I wouldn’t like jumping off a bridge and falling to my death on an asphalt road below, for example. Do I need to try that first to prove it to them?

ARC: Exactly my point, and why I get frustrated with people on either side who only hear what they want to hear. And to sort of drive this back to our original question — “how can a gay writer and an evangelical writer be friends” — I think it’s because we have both listened to each other. I may not agree with everything you say, but I make every best effort to listen to what you’re saying as opposed to what I think you’re going to say. I try to understand your word choice in the way you express yourself. And I think, or at least hope, that you extend the same courtesy to me. Look, I could have blocked you on Twitter as soon as I visited your site and saw that you were Evangelical, that you’d recorded Christian music, etc. You could have blocked me as soon as you saw that I was gay and that many of my stories feature gay characters. I think we even had a moment or two of ‘what’s this guy all about,’ but we’ve found common ground — again, because we made an effort to listen to each other.

For part two of this dialogue please go to http://bryanthomasschmidt.net/2011/09/26/two-writers-in-dialogue-a-conservative-evangelical-and-a-gay-liberal-can-be-friends-part-2//