DELIA SHERMAN - Author Interview

Today I welcome fantasy author Delia Sherman, a long-time favorite of mine.

Delia Sherman, Photo by Laurence Tannaccio

Delia Sherman was born in Tokyo, Japan, and brought up in New York City, with occasional visits to her mother’s relatives in Texas and Louisiana and her father’s relatives in South Carolina. Much of her early life was spent at one end of a classroom or another, including Brown University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies in 1981, and Boston and Northeastern Universities, where she taught Freshman Composition and Fantasy as Literature until she realized she’d rather edit and write. Pursuing her love of history and travel, she has set novels and short stories for children and adults in many times and places.

Her books include Through a Brazen Mirror (Ace, 1989),  The Porcelain Dove (Dutton, 1993; Plume, 1994), Changeling (Viking, 2006), The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen(Viking, 2009) and her latest, The Freedom Maze (Big Mouth House, November 2011).

Delia lives with fellow author Ellen Kushner in a rambling apartment in New York City. She is a social rather than a solitary writer, and can work anywhere, which is a good thing because she loves to travel, and if she couldn’t write on airplanes, she’d never get anything done.

Set against the burgeoning Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and then just before the outbreak of the Civil War, The Freedom Maze explores both political and personal liberation, and how the two intertwine. In 1960, thirteen-year-old Sophie isn’t happy about spending summer at her grandmother’s old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can’t resist exploring once she finds it has a secretive and playful inhabitant. When Sophie, bored and lonely, makes an impulsive wish inspired by her reading, hoping for a fantasy adventure of her own, she slips one hundred years into the past, to the year 1860. On her arrival she makes her way, bedraggled and tanned, to what will one day be her grandmother’s house, where she is at once mistaken for a slave.

ANTHONY: Delia, thanks for taking a few  moments to chat with me about THE FREEDOM MAZE. I have to start by saying: I absolutely loved the book. Such a great story, told in a straightforward manner but still with a touch of whimsy in the right places. At the end of the book, you say you’ve been working on this story for eighteen years. I know Neil Gaiman had a similar experience with THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. He said that although his initial idea came years ago, he never quite felt his skill was up to the task of telling the story until recently. Why did it take you eighteen years to bring Sophie’s story to the page?

DELIA: One reason is What Neil Said.  My reach exceeded my grasp in a big way.  When I started it, I’d never written for young readers before, so I had to learn a different way of pacing, a different way of dealing with exposition, a slightly different focus of attention.  Another is that the first publisher I sold it to asked for revisions I did not feel comfortable making, which ended in my buying the manuscript back from them.  Yet another is that new research became available, which allowed me to make the book more historically and sociologically accurate than it could be when I began.  And a third is that the dialogue on race and representation and Writing the Other came out into the open, making it more possible for me to address the troubling question of what a white woman was doing writing about slavery.  I guess the bottom line is that THE FREEDOM MAZE took the time it took because that’s the time I needed to get it as right as I humanly could.

ANTHONY: Sophie clearly follows in the footsteps of the Pevensie siblings, Alice, and most specifically the kids in Edward Eager’s THE TIME GARDEN, which you reference repeatedly. But Sophie’s adventure is not quite like her literary predecessors. When did you decide that you would concentrate on the, shall we say, more mundane aspects of living in the past, rather than sticking to “the grand adventure?”

DELIA:  Oh, I knew that from the very beginning.  I’m not good at writing about “grand adventures.”  Never have been.  I like reading them, but writing them?  No.  My second novel, THE PORCELAIN DOVE, is all about what happens at home while the hero is off achieving the quest.  My favorite chapters in THE LORD OF THE RINGS is “The Scouring of the Shire.”  I love the magic that surrounds, grows out of, and leaks into ordinary daily life.  It’s pretty much what I always write about, in different contexts.

 ANTHONY: Have you been made aware of any impact your book has had on awareness or republication of THE TIME GARDEN or the rest of Edward Eager’s books?

DELIA: Like any other author, Edward Eager goes in and out of fashion, but he is plenty important enough to remain in print.  I hope kids who aren’t familiar with his work will be inspired by THE FREEDOM MAZE to read it, but I suspect there are always going to be more kids who read Eager than who read me.

Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman

ANTHONY: I know you go on a lot of writer’s retreats. How much of THE FREEDOM MAZE was written “communally,” so to speak, and how much at home / in private? This also leads to a larger question: how has attending retreats and conferences affected your own writing habits over the years?

DELIA: None of FREEDOM MAZE was written on retreat–or at least not the kind of retreat in which several writers get together to share writing time and brainstorming sessions.  I did take time away from home, once alone and once with Ellen (who was crunching her own project), to work on it away from the distractions of Real Life.  That kind of retreat is, and will always be, invaluable to my process.  The kind of community that helped me with THE FREEDOM MAZE was more my reading group and the kind friends who read and commented on the history, the structure, the pacing, the representation of slavery and slaves, the dialect, the botany, the costuming, the emotional plot, Sophie’s development, the rites and rituals of Voudon and symbols of the Orishas, and just about everything else (except the commas, which NOBODY messes with if they know what’s good for them).  That community is something I have accrued over the years, mostly after the early drafts of FREEDOM MAZE were already written.  Recently, I’ve learned to talk plots through, to brainstorm, to try out ideas and trajectories of emotion and action, figure out which ones are worth pursuing and which lead only to blind ends or places I’m not interested in going.  Macro-plotting is a skill, both for the one who is asking for help and the ones who are giving it.  It involves trust on the one hand, and flexibility and non-investment in your suggestions on the other.  The helpers have to learn to ask questions.  The helped has to be open to new ideas and ways of looking at things without falling into the trap of letting somebody else’s aesthetic take over their book.  I have found I love writing in community.  It makes my task easier and keeps me from following quite so many false narrative trails.  But finally, it’s my obsessions, my tarot deck of characters, my sense of style and story that goes down on the page.

ANTHONY: THE FREEDOM MAZE clearly is a tale complete in-and-of itself. Then again, to my mind so was THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. So I have to ask: will readers see Sophie Fairchild Martineau, “the creature,” Papa Legba and the rest again?

DELIA: I haven’t the slightest idea.  When I first turned in this book, back in 1990, I think, I had sketched out a sequel in which both Antigua and Sophie come to New York in their different times, and perhaps overlap briefly.  I could still write it.  But not in the foreseeable future.  There would be a LOT of research involved, and although it would be fun, I’ve got other projects I need to work on first.  But thank you so much for asking.

 
ANTHONY: You’re welcome! Now for my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

DELIA: I love many books.  My favorite tends to be the one I just finished that I can’t stop talking about (right at the moment, Jeanette Winterson’s WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU CAN BE NORMAL?, which is a stellar memoir about adoption, the feral mother to end all feral mothers, love, and madness).  However, if what we’re talking about is the thing I go to when life gets to be too much, when I want to crawl into a text and pull it up around me like a magic robe, I read THE LORD OF THE RINGS.  It’s not a perfect book, but it’s one you can live in over and over again.  I think I’ve read it 20 times, and every time, I find new things to think about–or maybe new ways of thinking about the things I find.  It makes me laugh, it moves me, it makes me believe in community and friendship and hope.  It scares the living daylights out of me and saddens me and comforts me.  It’s one of the great books of the 20th century, and it has had a greater effect on how I look at the world than almost any other book I can think of, except maybe Francis Hodgson Burnett’s THE SECRET GARDEN, which turned a New York girl into a gardener who believes in magic.  And if all that didn’t convince someone to read it, well, then, I’d just have to feel sorry for them.

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Delia!

You can follow Delia on Twitter as @deliasherman, and you can learn more about THE FREEDOM MAZE and Delia’s other books by visiting her website.

KAARON WARREN - Author Interview

Today I welcome one of my favorite Australians, author Kaaron Warren. (Australians and Canadians seem to be a theme around here…)

Kaaron Warren

Kaaron Warren sold her first short story, “White Bed,” in 1993. In the time since, she’s published over 70 short stories, and multiple novels (including MISTIFICATION, SLIGHTS and WALKING THE TREE) and short story collections (including THE GRINDING HOUSE, THE GLASS WOMAN and the forthcoming THROUGH SPLINTERED WALLS). Currently in Canberra, she’s lived in Sydney and Melbourne. The unusual spelling of her first name was a personal choice, she says, “Even at 17 I wanted my writing to be remembered, and I thought that a memorable spelling would help me in that quest. Does it work?”

ANTHONY: Kaaron, first of all: congrats on your recent Stoker Award nomination for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction. Where were you when you got the news, and how does it feel?

KAARON: Because I live in the future (Australia) it felt as if I had to wait an extra day! It was midnight when the email came. I wasn’t quite sure I read right, so re-read it a few times. It was amazing. Just amazing. Making this sort list has been a long-time career goal.

HWA members who are considering their votes can read the story by contacting me.

ANTHONY: Is this your first Stoker nomination?

KAARON: Yes, it is. I made the preliminary ballot with my novel Slights.

ANTHONY: You’ve had short stories published all over the map (geographically and thematically). How does your writing/revising process differ from editor to editor?

KAARON: Writing stays the same, though obviously style may alter depending on the market. If the story is for a specific anthology then I’ll take on a different voice.

Every editor is different in the way they approach things, but I’ve seen the same actions from all the good editors I’ve worked with. Firstly, they want to make sure the story is right, so they’ll ask for more clarity in some places, check continuity, find the plot flaws, ask for more information. They they’ll want the words to fall well, and will look for repetitions or clumsy phrasing. All editors have slightly different processes and I try to work within them.

ANTHONY: I know some authors approach the writing of a novel differently than they do a short story or novella. Are there any differences in your own creative approach to different length works?

KAARON: Creatively, writing a short story and a novel are very similar. I come up with my Spark (the central idea, a character or title), the thing that sets my mind buzzing. That’s the same for all lengths, including novellas. Then it’s the hard work of turning it into a story. Whether it’s long or short will depend on how many paths I take; how much I want to expose of a character’s life.

ANTHONY: They say “write what you know,” and some beginning writers I think that the adage too much to heart. How do you interpret that saying, and how does it apply to your own work?

KAARON: I used to say I wasn’t a fan of ‘write what you know’ but I do think it depends on how you interpret it. If it applies to the senses and the emotions then yes, you should use these to bring your story to life. If you’ve smelt a rose, or horse shit, or old sweat, or bread baking, you’ll know how to describe it.

But as far as writing your own life onto the page? Ugh. An office worker writing about what it’s like to catch the bus every day? No. unless you use it as part of a larger story. Many of my ideas came while catching public transport, and the people I observed. Like the man who would always run from the train to the bus stop, even though we had 20 minutes to wait before the bus came. It made me so curious. Why are you running? I haven’t written about him yet, but I will.

My story “The Wrong Seat” was written during the four hour bus trips we used to take between Canberra and Sydney when we first moved to Canberra. They were very smelly trips and I always wondered; how do people make so much stink? And why? I wrote a sad ghost story about a woman haunting the bus.

So my interpretation is this; take the things you see, hear and feel and imagine them in someone else’s life.

Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren

ANTHONY: Your next release is Through Splintered Walls. Tell me a little about the book, and when it will be available.

KAARON: Though the Splintered Walls will be launched at the Australian National Convention in Melbourne in June. You should come along!

It’s part of the Twelfth Planet Press Twelve Planets series.  The book holds four stories inspired by the Australian landscape.

“Sky” is a horror-SF novella about a finger found in cat food and where it came from. I think it’s one of my most disturbing stories. I had to work hard to allow it to fall the way it fell. I’m writing about abhorrent people and practices and trying to make them sympathetic. That’s part of the trick of horror writing, I think. Making awful things seem believable.

“Road” was inspired by the many roadside memorials you see when you travel anywhere in Australia. They are heartbreaking, I think. So I wrote a nasty ghost story about them.

“Mountain” began when a truck full of cat food overturned on Clyde Mountain, the main route from Canberra, the inland city where I live, to the coast. The thing was, the truck was cleaned out. People stole that cat food; almost all of it. And this greed shocked me, and started me thinking about what there was on the mountain that made people behave that way.

“Creek” is a sad story about loss, love and women who quake.

Next year’s Australian National Science Fiction Convention will be held in Canberra, and I’m one of the special guests along with Nalo Hopkinson, Marc Gascoigne and Karen Miller.

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

KAARON: This question will make a good friend of mine laugh, because of what he calls my FBOAT. Favourite Book of All Time. Because there are lots! And each time I see him I say, Oooh, this is my FBOAT.

These are some of them. I think it’s a tough list to get onto. I’m pretty picky. All of them are on this list because they make the world slow down when I’m reading them, and that’s why you should do so.

Georges Perec “Life: A User’s Manual”

Barbara Kingsolver “The Poisonwood Bible”

Suzy McKee Charnas “Walk to the End of the World” and the whole Motherlines series.

D M Thomas “The White Hotel”

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Kaaron! Good luck (or break a leg, or whatever charm you Aussies use) on the Stokers and the Ditmars!

You can find more of her work on Kaaron’s website. You can also follow her on Twitter as @KaaronWarren. The link to Twelve Planets Press’s website is above.

SEANAN McGUIRE - Author Interview

This week I welcome the lovely and talented, and occasionally just a little bit — okay, occasionally a lot — scary Seanan McGuire.

Seanan McGuire

Seanan is the author of the October Daye series of urban fantasies, the first seven of which have been purchased by DAW Books; the InCryptidseries of urban fantasies, the first two of which have been purchased by DAW Books; and the Newsflesh trilogy, published by Orbit under the pseudonym “Mira Grant.” She’s working on several other books, just to make sure she never runs out of things to edit. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies, and she was a 2010 Universe Author for The Edge of Propinquity. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed was named as one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2010. In her spare time, Seanan writes and records original music. She has three CDs currently available (see the Albums page for additional details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, “With Friends Like These…”.

ANTHONY: Seanan, thanks for taking the time out of your absolutely insane writing schedule to chat with me. How many different series do you have running at the moment?

SEANAN: It’s either three or four (or possibly five, depending on how you count), it’s hard to say–I have one series on the way out, the Newsflesh books as Mira, but I still have one book yet to be published.  At the same time, I’m working on the next Mira Grant project, which isn’t even properly announced yet.  So the number is sort of squiggly.

ANTHONY: Do you find any significant differences in your work ethic or habits from one series to another?

SEANAN:  Nope.  I am a very efficient little Halloween girl, and I approach everything with the same set of checklists, research habits, and absolutely rigorous schedules.  It’s how my brain naturally functions.  Now, I do tend to listen to different music depending on what I’m doing, but that’s all part of setting the proper mood.

 ANTHONY: Let’s talk about your newest series, INCRYPTID. Where are we at the beginning of the series and who are the main characters, both heroic and villainous?

SEANAN:  At the beginning of the series we’re following Verity Price, the latest in a long line of cryptozoologists, as she undertakes her journeyman studies in Manhattan and tries to get to know the local cryptid community.  Her family–now the Prices, formerly the Healys–split off from an organization called the Covenant of St. George about four generations ago.  The Covenant hunts monsters.  The Prices protect them.  Conflict is inevitable.

 Verity’s family currently consists of her parents, Kevin and Evelyn, her siblings, Alexander and Antimony, her Aunt Jane and Uncle Ted and their kids (Arthur and Elsinore), and assorted grandparents.  She also has her adopted cousin, Sarah Zellaby, a telepathic mathematician who looks human but actually evolved from a species of parasitic wasp.  It’s complicated.  I am super excited.

 ANTHONY:  Fantasy, horror and SF seem to move in ways — we’ve been riding the vampire/werewolf/zombie wave for a while, angels seem to have peaked recently … cryptids seem to be the upcoming thing. In a world that seems to grow smaller and more interconnected by the day, with less unexplored/”dark” places to capture our imagination, why do you think the concept of cryptids is more interesting than ever? I mean, we even have shows like “Bigfoot Hunters” on cable television, “reality” rather than scripted dramas.

SEANAN:  Because the smaller the world gets, the more things we’re discovering in the shadows.  Twenty years ago, the giant squid was barely a real thing, and now it’s not even the biggest thing in the ocean.  Ten years ago, we were just discovering that the tree lobster–a stick insect the size of your hand–wasn’t extinct.  Every time we say “that’s it, we know everything,” we find something else.  Cryptids represent a mystery that might actually be something we can solve.  And they’re a part of our cultural makeup.  No matter where you go, there are cryptids, ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night.

Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire

ANTHONY: Without risking any spoilers, what can we expect for Verity Price and the rest of the characters moving forward?

SEANAN:  You know.  Stuff.  More books, hopefully.  I’ve finished the second volume, Midnight Blue-Light Special, and I’m itching to get to work on the third.  There are talking mice.  The usual.

ANTHONY: One question I always hate to get is “which of your characters is your favorite?” (Followed quickly by “Who would win in a fight…”) So I won’t ask you either of those, but it’s natural to want to compare all of your strong female leads. So: what do you admire most about Toby, Verity, etc.?

SEANAN:  Toby has more than her fair share of stubborn.  She could be stubborn on an Olympic level, and once she says she’ll do something, she will.  Not.  Give.  Up.  Verity is fearless when she’s defending her friends or the people (and cryptids) she cares about, and while she knows she’s mortal, she really doesn’t give a shit.  Velveteen is more powerful than she thinks she is.  And Rose Marshall is all about doing the right thing, no matter how much she whines.

ANTHONY:  The Field Guide to Cryptids on your site really whetted my interest in the book, perhaps moreso than reading the descriptive blurb on various bookstore websites. Who did the illustrations, and will we be seeing those in the book itself?

SEANAN:  The Field Guide illustrations were done by the amazing Kory Bing, who is just incredible to work with, and does a fabulous web comic called “Skin Deep” that you should totally check out.  I’m so excited to be working with her, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.  The illustrations won’t be in the book; it’s not that kind of book.  But maybe we’ll do a picture book or something somewhere down the line…

ANTHONY:  How much fun was it cataloging and categorizing the various extant and extinct Cryptids of North America?

 SEANAN:  So much fun.  Sooooooo much fun.  And there’s so much more to come.

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

My favorite book in the whole history of all the books ever written, ever, is IT by Stephen King.  And you should read it because every twenty-seven years Pennywise the Dancing Clown kills a bunch of people, and now that it’s 2012, the twenty-seven year cycle is starting again, and you want to know how not to wind up on his dance card.

You  can follow Seanan on Twitter as @seananmcguire. You can become a Fan of hers on Goodreads. You  can friend her on Facebook,  follow her adventures on her livejournal and check out all of her books on her own website.

LARRY CLOSS - Author interview

This week, I welcome author Larry Closs.

Larry Closs

Larry Closs is the author of Beatitude, a novel, and a New Yorker who often wanders far from home.

He has been a national writer, editor, photographer and videographer for nearly 20 years for publications and websites at News Corporation, TimeWarner, Hearst and Viacom, including TV Guide, TVGuide.com, Road Runner and Nickelodeon. At Gesso, a communication design studio he co-founded, clients included Sony, Estee Lauder, Smithsonian Institution, USAID, National Cancer Institute and the NBA. He has produced digital shorts for the Travel Channel, co-produced two mobile apps and freelanced for Out, The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine and The New York Aquarian.

As Director of Communications for Next Generation Nepal, a nonprofit dedicated to reconnecting trafficked children with their families, he oversees communications and marketing, and his photographs and video from Nepal have been used by CNN, The Huffington Post, USA Today, HarperCollins and The Nate Berkus Show.

ANTHONY:  Larry, thanks for taking some time to chat with me. Beatitude has been in print from Rebel Satori Press for a little while now, and you’re doing your first reading and signing in NYC on March 12 (7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 82nd and Broadway). Nervous?

LARRY:  I’m more excited than nervous. I’ve invited everyone I know—and everyone I don’t know is welcome! A good number have already told me they’ll be there. It will be interesting to see people from different areas of my life—many of whom have never met—all in the same place. I’m also looking forward to meeting a few people who have read the book and written to me. Until now, we’ve only known each other through the emails we’ve exchanged.

Also, I recently realized that March 12 is Jack Kerouac’s birthday—he would have been 90. Kerouac and On the Road figure so prominently in Beatitude I couldn’t have planned a more perfect date if I tried. And it was a total coincidence. Unless, of course, there’s no such thing as coincidence, as Beatitude suggests, which makes it even more perfect.

While we’re on the subject of my reading, I’d like to mention Lou Pizzitola, who organizes and schedules events at this particular Barnes & Noble. Lou goes out of his way to feature appearances by authors who are published by small and independent presses, giving them a chance for the kind of exposure they rarely get. An author couldn’t ask for a better advocate.

ANTHONY:  This is the first signing—any immediate plans for more?

LARRY:  There are a few things in the works that will be announced when the details are finalized. But I’d like to add that I am open to any and all invitations. Book stores, book clubs, literary salons—any type of salon, actually.

ANTHONY:  I know you’ve discussed this elsewhere, but tell us a little about the genesis of Beatitude. What brought you to write about the Beat Generation through the eyes of two New Yorkers in the 1990s?

LARRY:  Beatitude began as a much simpler story about two young men, Harry and Jay, who become friends as a result of their shared fascination with the Beats. I set the story in the mid-90s because that’s when the Beats last experienced one of their periodic rediscoveries, which seems to happen every 15 or 20 years. We’re actually about due for another surge of interest, and the long-delayed movie version of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, which finally comes out this May, will probably fuel one.

There had to be more to the story, of course, and as the characters developed, I began to see the potential to explore the mysteries and subtleties of attraction. Jay’s girlfriend, Zahra, had always been present, but in the background. When she became more central, she took on an unlikely role and that really took Harry and Jay’s relationship to an unexpected place. Harry’s former infatuation, Matteo, also appeared, inspired by the need to provide insight into Harry’s past and why he was prone to making the same mistake over and over.

The Beats themselves evolved from a few references to full-fledged characters when I saw the parallels between Harry, Jay and Zahra and Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. The Beats were as famous for their complicated loves lives as they were for their literary efforts, and each of the Beats experienced unrequited love from both sides of the equation—either falling for someone who couldn’t reciprocate or being the reluctant object of affection. I realized that the situation in which Harry, Jay and Zahra find themselves was not unique but universal and the Beats provided the perfect counterpoint. That left me with Beatitude’s biggest questions: What do you do when you find yourself on either side of that equation? What must you each give up to keep the other in your life?

ANTHONY:  You ultimately were published by Rebel Satori Press. What are the pros and cons of being published by a small independent house like RSP?

LARRY:  The biggest pro is being published. That’s the hardest thing for any author to achieve these days—finding a publisher who believes in a book so much that he’s willing to invest in it.

The most unexpected pro was that I was able to get a literary agent after trying to do so for a long time. Why get an agent after a publisher had accepted the book? To help with the contract. My agent helped me retain the foreign and adaptation rights, which are, aside from royalties, the two avenues with the greatest potential to generate revenue. The agency has individuals dedicated to foreign sales as well as contacts in the film and television industries that neither I nor my publisher have, so there’s a much greater chance of selling those rights than if I attempted to do so on my own.

I also negotiated control of the cover design, which was important to me. I’m not a designer but I used to co-own a design studio and have a design sensibility. I knew what sort of aesthetic I wanted and I was able to engage an amazing illustrator—Anthony Freda—for the cover, and an amazing designer—John Barrow—for the equally important back cover and spine. Every author imagines what the cover of his or her book will look like. Mine turned out better than I’d ever dreamed.

As for the cons of being published by an independent press, there are none—again, you’re a published author!—but there arechallenges. Advances are small, rare or, in my case, nonexistent, so there was no immediate financial reward. I was responsible for clearing the rights and paying the licensing fees for song lyrics and excerpts from other literary works featured in my book, which was a long and tedious process. I had to print my own galleys for publications with long lead times. I had to trade my author hat for my publicist hat and spend nearly every spare minute promoting the book on my author website, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram. Pinterest is on my radar. It goes on.

I will say that every review, article, post, mention, tweet, share, like or email from a reader makes it all worthwhile—especially an email from a reader. To know that what you’ve written has affected someone you’ve never met, that your book spoke to even one person—so much so that he or she was inspired to write to you—is the most heartening response you can ever receive.

Beatitude

ANTHONY:  In the scene at the Whitney Museum’s Beat Culture exhibit, Harry, Jay and Zahra meet Allen Ginsberg and see a different side of their Beat Generation heroes. Did you always plan to include that real-life event as a seminal part of the novel?

LARRY:  Beatitude is a novel set in the real New York City of 1995, populated by fictional characters who occasionally interact with versions of real people, like the characters in Titanic. The real-life Beat Culture exhibit aligned with Beatitude’s timeline and provided the perfect backdrop for Harry, Jay and Zahra’s encounter with Ginsberg, which didn’t turn out as expected.

There are several moments in Beatitude when the main characters must accept the difference between what they want something to be and what something actually is. When Harry and Jay view the legendary scroll manuscript of On the Road, they realize that Kerouac didn’t produce a perfectly polished and publishable novel in three weeks. When Harry, Jay and Zahra meet Ginsberg at the Beat Culture exhibit, he shatters their image of him as an eternally beneficent dharma bum. When Harry and Jay hit a speed bump in their friendship, Harry is forced to acknowledge his true feelings for Jay.

A reader summed it up very well: “Beatitude captures an experience that is universal to all people—that the greatest source of human suffering comes from our wanting things to be other than what they are.” I like when readers tell me what Beatitude is about!

ANTHONY:  You have two previously unpublished Ginsberg poems in the book. How did you get access to those?

LARRY:  I had a recording of a Ginsberg poetry reading at MoMA, and when I wrote the scene in which Harry, Jay and Zahra go to see him there, I selected excerpts from a few of the poems he read. After Rebel Satori Press accepted Beatitude for publication, I had to clear the rights to the poems and I contacted Peter Hale at the Allen Ginsberg Estate. In the course of his research, Peter discovered that two of the poems—“Like Other Guys” and “Carl Solomon Dream”—had, surprisingly, never been published (“Like Other Guys” appeared only as a 26-copy broadside).

I initially thought that I would have to rewrite the scene with other poems but Peter put me in touch with Ginsberg’s literary agent at The Wylie Agency and, long story short, I was able to include the two poems—using excerpts in the scene at MoMA and the full text in an Appendix. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed that two previously unpublished poems by Allen Ginsberg would be featured in my first novel. Beatitude, indeed.

ANTHONY:  The character of Harry Charity hit particularly close to home for me.  Did the characters of Harry and Jay instantly hit the page running, or did they grow and change in unpredictable ways over the course of writing the novel?

LARRY: They definitely grew and changed, and, as a consequence, so did their relationship and their story. I really didn’t realize what the book was about—or what the book could be about—until the fourth or fifth draft. From the beginning, Harry and Jay were friends, united by their shared interest in the Beats. But that’s the surface. What was beneath their interest in the Beats? What part of each other did the Beats stir? What really drew them together?

I set out to write a novel that uncovered truths in everyday experience by blending fact and fiction to create a more epic version of reality. The perfect analogy is Instagram, the popular iPhone photo editing and sharing app. You take photos of real-life people, places and objects, run them through a variety of filters—adjust the color saturation, play with the contrast, convert to black and white, change the crop, blur or focus—and you can achieve something much more evocative than the unvarnished original.

I read an interview with one of my favorite musicians, Tom Waits, and he said, “The truth is overrated. Avoid it at all costs.” He meant that reality can almost always be improved upon. What actually happens is irrelevant if you can make it more interesting while retaining the essence. With each draft of Beatitude, I added more filters, and the story—as well as Harry and Jay—gradually became more apocryphal.

ANTHONY: I especially liked the way you work Harry’s personal history into the narrative—what we assume at first are dream sequences about Jay turn out to be memories of Harry’s most recent relationship, but eventually you have Harry tell the story in more “gory” detail as he recognizes that old patterns are repeating themselves. Developing it this way added a great underlying secondary tension to the main tension between Harry and Jay. How did you decide which tidbits of Harry’s past to reveal when? I guess what I’m asking is a variation on that old standard: are you a detailed outliner or a “see where it goes” type of writer?

LARRY: The structure and pacing were the most challenging aspects of the book for me. How to build tension and reveal just enough information along the way to keep a reader interested in knowing the resolution? Initial drafts were “see where it goes.” Then I created a detailed outline. Then I tossed the outline. In retrospect, I employed something similar to the cut-up method that William S. Burroughs espoused. The difference is that Burroughs believed in randomly reordering chapters or sections of a book to subvert traditional linear storytelling, while the story I wanted to tell was, ultimately, very linear, with a beginning, middle and end. Still, our approaches were the same.

After I had a draft of the book, I experimented with splitting some scenes in two and rearranging others. In a way, it was very mechanical. But it made me realize that what you don’t say is just as important as what you do—and actually more intriguing. Tell the first half of a story at one point and readers will likely stick around for the second. The process also revealed the need for scenes I hadn’t included. There were brief references to why Harry was so damaged at the beginning of the book, but what really happened to him? I needed to know, so I wrote the flashback sequences with Matteo, initially, as one long piece.

Wayne Hoffman, a friend and fellow author (Sweet Like Sugar, Hard), once observed to me that there are scenes authors have to write for themselves that never make it into a finished book. I wasn’t sure the flashbacks were going to make it into Beatitude but I had to write them so I could fully understand Harry. Eventually, they became an essential part of the story, but I reworked and rewrote each of them as self-contained scenes and placed them at pivotal moments in the narrative to mirror Harry’s relationship with Jay.

ANTHONY:  In my review in Chelsea Station, I admit to not knowing very much about the Beat Generation other than the names, and yet I never felt like you, or your characters, were talking “over my head” about things only a “true fan” would know. Was there a conscious decision as you were writing to make sure the book stayed accessible to as many readers as possible rather than targeting only folks who were Beat fans?

LARRY:  It was essential that Beatitude be a self-contained experience, whatever a reader’s familiarity with the Beats. Having read nearly all books by the Beats as well as a multitude of books about the Beats, I realized I knew a lot more than most. I did assume, however, that some of the more iconic stories were general knowledge—the fact that Kerouac wrote the first draft of On the Road on a 120-foot roll of Teletype paper in three weeks, for instance, or that the publication of Ginsberg’s “Howl” prompted a landmark censorship trial—and so I short-handed them in the book.

As I collected feedback from friends and colleagues on the manuscript-in-progress, however, I discovered that most weren’t as familiar with those stories as I would have thought. So, I employed a technique travel writers often use, providing in-depth background information as asides, although I integrated the information into the narrative. Readers unfamiliar with the Beats will be intrigued, I think—many have told me that Beatitude inspired them to seek out On the Road, “Howl” and Naked Lunch—and will also understand Harry and Jay’s fascination with them.

ANTHONY:  So what’s next on the horizon for you, other than continuing to promote Beatitude? Is there another book in the works? And can you give us a tease or two about it?

LARRY:  I have a folder on my laptop called New Novel, but that’s all I’ll say. I didn’t tell anyone the title of Beatitude or what it was about until I had a first draft—not even my best friend, who tried every which way imaginable to get something out of me. I like a book to arrive complete and stand on its own, with no preconceptions. Also, my writing process is organic. Beatitude took many unexpected turns as I wrote it and I expect the next book will do the same. What I believe it will be about right now is not necessarily what it will be about when it’s finished.

ANTHONY:  And my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to convince someone to read it?

LARRY:  I have a lot of favorite books and the list changes with every book I read. But, related to this discussion, one of my favorites is On the Road. It will make you young again.

ANTHONY: Thanks, Larry!

JERRY ORDWAY, Comic Book Creator - Interview

Sometimes I get to interview my friends, sometimes I get to interview folks whose work I’ve stumbled across recently and enjoyed, and sometimes I get to interview my creative heroes. This week, I’m talking with comics creator Jerry Ordway, who definitely falls into the “heroes” category.

Jerry Ordway

Jerry Ordway has been working professionally in comics since 1980. He had a long run as finisher and then full artist on DC’s ALL-STAR SQUADRON, which is where I first encountered him. He co-created the original INFINITY INC, had a eight-year run on the SUPERMAN family of titles, and a fantastic four year run redefining THE POWER OF SHAZAM. He’s also done work for Marvel Comics.

ANTHONY: Hi, Jerry. Thanks for agreeing to let this long-time fanboy pester you for a while.

JERRY: No problem, happy to chat.

ANTHONY: DC Comics recently announced a black-and-white SHOWCASE reprint edition of the early issues of All-Star Squadron. I couldn’t find a contents listing on Amazon. How much of your work on the series will be seen in this first volume?

JERRY: I assume you’ll see the finishes I did on Buckler, as well as those on Adrian Gonzales in issues 1-14, including the first annual. Maybe they’ll include the Justice League portion of the JLA-JSA crossover. Not sure what the page counts is, on those collections.

ANTHONY: You started out inking Rich Buckler, who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at a couple of New York Comic-Cons, but he eventually left the book and you shifted to pencilling duties. Was there any pressure to mimic Rich’s style in the beginning, or did the editors just let you jump right in?

JERRY: Well, since I was doing finishes on All Star Squadron from the beginning, the editor felt that my “veneer” so to speak, was the selling point, especially since I was working over Adrian Gonzales’s work from around issue #6(?) until I started pencilling. In fact, I had been wanting to pencil from the start, but doing the monthly All Star book was something DC didn’t want to mess with, or derail. By the second year, Roy Thomas had me doing so many art changes, I was frustrated. I decided to take up an offer to draw an 8 page Creeper back-up in Flash, and quit the book. But Len Wein, the editor told me I could pencil All Star, instead. Not wanting Adrian to lose work was my concern, and he was apparently happy to shift over to Arak, instead of drawing a dozen costumed heroes in a period backdrop:) So, no pressure to have to follow any style but my own.

ANTHONY: I have to say that I think part of my enduring love for the Golden Age Flash, Green Lantern and Starman over and above their more modern counterparts has to do with your take on them back in the Squadron days. Why do you think Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Ted Knight and even the original Captain Marvel still have such a fan-base 70 or more years after they debuted?

JERRY: Well, I think they are all compelling characters in their own right, of course, but I think in the case of the JSA-ers, that Roy, with some help from me, imbued them with personalities that didn’t exist in earlier incarnations. Roy lived and breathed those characters, and that is what made the JSA characters special in our time frame, via All Star Squad, and also Infinity Inc in the mid 1980’s. That material directly inspired the Goyer and Robinson (later Geoff Johns) material, much as the 1940’s to 1970’s stuff inspired Roy and myself.

ANTHONY: You got to redesign some WW2 characters and create some brand-new characters for All-Star Squadron. Looking back, what was your favorite costume design, and who would you like to have (re)designed given the chance?

JERRY: Again, at Roy’s insistence we gave Tarantula new life, outside of being a Sandman clone. That costume is a favorite of mine. Amazing Man was a new creation, though also a fun design, an attempt to design as if it was 1940 instead of 1980. I was never compelled to redesign any of the classic ones, though. I felt I could make them work in the drawing, if they appeared a bit clunky, as Alan Scott’s 1940’s outfit was. That one had every color in the paintbox, but worked fine if you drew it consistent.

ANTHONY: When you wrote and drew The Power of Shazam!, including painting the series covers, you gave the book a look that seemed to sit squarely between the cartoony look of creator CC Beck and the realistic look Don Newton used in the short Adventure Comics run he did. Was this a conscious decision, or just a function of how your own style had developed at that time?

JERRY: Well, I was a fan of Don Newton’s work overall, from his Charlton days on the Phantom, and I also respected C.C. Beck’s vision. To me, the only way Captain Marvel ever looked correct, was when he was on model with the Beck head design. I’ve always tried to make my heroes different in subtle ways, for storytelling clarity, and with Cap, that was the iconic look, much as Joe Shuster and Jack Burnley’s golden age Superman was the correct model for that hero.

ANTHONY: How has your creative process changed over the years? Do you still use basically the same tools, or have you switched completely to digital? And how do you think digital tools have affected the style of newer artists in the field?

JERRY: I work with paper and pencils, ink and pens. I scan work and do digital touch-ups, but the appeal for me isn’t in inking or drawing digitally. It’s a tactile experience, feeling the pen tip on the paper. Digital is an improvement in many ways, allowing for color separations to be done better, and I’ve seen painted work that looks great digitally, but the training is the same, learning to draw, learning to use color, or black and white.

ANTHONY: You’ve worked extensively for DC, you’ve done some work for Marvel. Is there any character out there you haven’t had a chance to work on that you’d still like to take a crack at?

JERRY: I love drawing Captain America, and also always wanted another shot at the Fantastic Four. I grew up a Marvel reader, so those characters connect me to my childhood, you know? But sometimes, you are better off not working on material that you love to much at the start, because it hampers your vision, in a way. I learned to love Superman, as well as Captain Marvel, and I think I did my best work on them because I could be objective about what worked and what didn’t.

ANTHONY: What are you currently working on?

JERRY: I just finished a 6 page Alfred story for the Bat-books, with a Halloween theme, so I suppose that will go into inventory for next year> Also I have 5 pages in the second issue of the new Thunder Agents series, drawing a 1960’s flashback, which was fun. I have a couple of projects lined up, but can’t spill the beans just yet. The first is a new take on a 1960’s era DC book, which is all I can tease.

ANTHONY: You’ve been auctioning original art on e-bay. Is there any piece of your own work that you would never ever part with?

JERRY: I have a hard time parting with most stuff, which is why I’ve been selling prelims and sketches for the most part. Each drawing represents a day or two of my life, you know?

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Jerry!

You can find Jerry all over the web. He’s on Twitter as @JerryOrdway, he’s on Facebook, he blogs on Ordster’s Random Thoughts, and there’s still content up on his website as well.

ELLEN DATLOW, Author - Interview

This week, I’m happy to be interviewing another one of my personal favorites, editor Ellen Datlow.

(From her website:) Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for almost thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and SCIFICTION and has edited more than fifty anthologies, including the horror half of the long-running The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Ellen is currently tied with frequent co-editor Terri Windling as the winner of the most World Fantasy Awards in the organization’s history (nine). Ellen was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre.” She lives in New York.

ANTHONY: Between April and September of 2011, you’ve had four anthologies hit the market. That’s a lot of pages in a short period of time! Are you planning on resting any time soon?

ELLEN: Those anthologies were finished more than a year before they were published, and Naked City was essentially finished two years before it came out. I should have only had three original anthologies published in 2011 (I also had The Best Horror of the Year volume three) but Naked City was delayed by a year as I awaited a promised story that never came in (by a BIG name). Publicizing four anthologies within a six month period became very complicated. It was difficult for me to remember which writers were in which book. Honestly. I occasionally screwed up and set up two different signings for which I asked the wrong writers to participate—embarrassing.

I’m currently only working on one original anthology plus The Best Horror of the Year volume four so have it relatively easy this year as far as editing goes. But overall, I’d much rather be editing more than less.

ANTHONY: The anthologies seem to work in pairs. For instance, NAKED CITY: New Tales of Urban Fantasy from St. Martin’s Griffin and SUPERNATURAL NOIR from Dark Horse. From the titles, a casual browser might assume both feature gritty city-based detective tales with a supernatural angle. Aside from different publishers, what distinguishes these two books from each other?

ELLEN: The two anthologies aren’t meant to be related at all. Naked City is mostly comprised of stories reflecting the traditional definition of urban fantasy as written by John Crowley, Ellen Kushner, Peter Beagle, and Delia Sherman—fantasy that takes place in cities, with the city almost always crucial to the action. It mostly includes fantasy and some dark fantasy.

Supernatural Noir is a horror anthology-combined with the flavor of the film noir of the 40s-50s. In my guidelines I made it clear that I didn’t want only detectives as main characters and that in fact I’d prefer that writers avoid that kind of set-up. And mostly they did.

Blood & Other Cravings

ANTHONY: I can ask the same question of TEETH: Vampire Tales from Harper and BLOOD AND OTHER CRAVINGS from Tor. Both are, on the surface, books about vampires. One thing that distinguishes these two books from each other is the target audience. TEETH is aimed directly at the YA market, BLOOD is for the adult reader. What else separates them?

ELLEN: Teeth is a young adult anthology in which vampires play a major role. Every story has an actual blood-sucking vampire in it.

Blood and Other Cravings is an adult anthology focusing on vampirism, the concept rather than the creature, even if there are vampires in some of the stories. It’s a follow up to my two vampirism anthologies from 1989 and 1991: Blood is Not Enough and A Whisper of Blood (both recently brought together in one big beautiful new hardcover edition titled A Whisper of Blood from the Barnes & Noble imprint Fall River Press).

ANTHONY: Only one of your four recent anthologies has been with a co-editor: TEETH, with long-time editing partner Terri Windling. What are some of the key differences between solo editing and co-editing?

ELLEN: With co-editing, some of the material might include stories that one editor loves more than the other. When I’m editing solo it’s completely my taste. We both approach writers and wrangle them (to get the stories in on time). We both read and choose the stories. We split some of the tasks. Terri writes our meaty introductions, I put together the bios of each contributor and compile the front matter. Depending on how strongly one of us feels about a particular story we want to buy, either Terri or I will work with the writer on the substantive editing. I do most of the line editing.

ANTHONY: You’ve worked with Terri quite often, but I think you’ve had other co-editors as well. Is there a quantifiable difference between working with Terri and, say, Nick Mamatas?

ELLEN: I’ve worked with Terri on six young adult anthologies, two adult anthologies, and three middle-grade anthologies. (For our Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror we each chose our halves independent of one another.) They were all fantasy.

The only other editor I’ve worked with has been Nick Mamatas. Nick and I worked on Haunted Legends, a horror anthology, together. Nick knows a different pool of writers than Terri and I do so it was interesting to work with some of “his” authors. Since it was our first anthology together it was also a little worrisome at the beginning as to whether we’d be on the same wavelength. Luckily we were and I’d be happy to work with him again.

ANTHONY: You’ve occasionally been accused of having a sort of stable of writers: “If this is a Datlow anthology, I don’t even have to look at the ToC, I know Authors A, B, C and D will be included.” And I’m sure other editors receive similar accusations. Do comments like that have any influence on your story choices?

ELLEN: I don’t consider having a stable of writers an negative, and it’s certainly not a limitation. It’s a fact of editing over a long period of time. One works with writers whose work one enjoys and who produces great stories –on time. So of course the editor will keep buying stories from those writers over the course of time, as long as she can –see my note in the next paragraph. I have a huge stable of writers from my seventeen years at OMNI Magazine, my almost six years at SCIFICTION, plus the twenty-five Best of the years I’ve edited.

In every original and reprint anthology I edit there are some writers whose work I use repeatedly, but there are always other writers I’ve only rarely or never before published in my anthologies. This is especially true in my best of the year anthologies. Just in the last two years of The Best Horror of the Year I published twelve stories by writers I’d never worked with before—some of whom I’d never even read before. The crucial thing to know about writers is that they often stop writing short stories once they publish their first novel, so to me it’s important to use their best short fiction while they‘re still writing it. Very few of the hundreds of writers I published in OMNI write many if any short stories today. So yeah. I’m delighted to be able to continue to publish writers like Jeff Ford, Kathe Koja, Kaaron Warren, Laird Barron, and Richard Bowes as long as they continue to produce great stories. I’d be stupid not to.

ANTHONY: We’ve talked in the past (mostly on your livejournal) about the importance of story placement, especially in the lead-off and concluding positions of an anthology. Is there ever pressure from a publisher to ensure Author X gets the lead-off, even if you personally feel the story is more appropriate for the middle of the book in relation to the rest of the stories you’ve accepted?

ELLEN: No –that’s generally my decision. Twice, in-house editors have suggested a switch, but when that happened it had nothing to do with who the writer was but the feeling that a different story would work better as the lead. And thinking it over I concurred.

ANTHONY: How intimately do you work with writers before a story is officially accepted? Have you ever initially accepted a story and then through the editing process realized that it wasn’t going to work out?

ELLEN: I never accept a story before I’m certain that it will work out. If I love a story but feel it needs too much work to buy outright, I’ll ask the writer if she’s willing and able to work with me on it (setting out what I see are the problems). If she is, I’ll make it clear that until we’re agreed on the revisions and I see the rewrite I can’t commit to taking the story (giving specific suggestions and asking specific questions about the trouble spots). But if I and the writer put that much time into rewrites I know that ultimately I will take the story.

When I was a lot newer to editing I had a few experiences in which I requested rewrites but the writers didn’t “hear” what I was saying–they made changes I didn’t ask for and in so doing made their story worse. Which is why I’m much more careful now how I ask for rewrites and try to be very specific.

Also, because I’m not working on a magazine/webzine with a slush pile, I usually work with writers whose work I’ve solicited. That means I’m familiar with their work and hope we’re on the same wave length. Going back to your questions about “stables”–that’s the advantage of working with writers you’ve worked with before. You know that you can work with them, saving a lot of time and energy on both sides.

ANTHONY: You’ve said in recent interviews that all of your anthologies are “invitation only.” I can’t resist asking: how does one go about getting invited? Or, to phrase the question more seriously: what catches Ellen Datlow’s attention these days that might cause you to invite a writer to a future anthology?

ELLEN: By me noticing your fantastic stories when I read for The Best of the Year. And since I skim so many sf/f/h/mystery short stories (and some non-genre) being published in a given year, I’m pretty aware of new writers as well as the more established ones.

ANTHONY: Speaking of the future. I see that one of your and Terri’s classic anthologies, SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED, was recently reissued. Are there any plans to continue the Adult Fairy Tale series?

ELLEN: We’re very pleased that Snow White, Blood Red has always done so well. It sold 72,000 in mass market pb which is amazing for an anthology. It was in print for over ten years and it’s great that it’s in print again from Fall River Press.

I grew tired of reading so many re-told fairy tales after six volumes of adult tales and three of middle grade (for children). The sub-genre exploded after we did ours. I don’t know if there’s much of a market for new anthologies on the theme any more– I’m not convinced we could sell a new one these days. Black Thorn, White Rose, and Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears are both currently in print from Wildside Books. What we’d love is for the last three volumes to be reissued, as they’ve been out of print for awhile.

ANTHONY: What else are you working on at the moment?

ELLEN: Terri and I recently finished a young adult anthology called After: Dystopian and Post-apocalyptic Tales that will be published by Hyperion next fall. And we’re working on an adult Victorian Fantasy anthology for Tor. And of course, The Best Horror of the Year volume four, my bête noir.

ANTHONY: Finally, can you tell my readers about the Fantastic Fiction readings at KGB in New York City?

ELLEN: It’s a monthly reading series started in the late 1990s by writer Terry Bisson and Alice K. Turner (former fiction editor at Playboy), originally pairing genre and mainstream writers at the KGB Bar, an east village institution (in New York City). I took over for Alice in spring 2000 and when Terry Bisson left for the west coast in 2002, Gavin J. Grant began co-hosting with me. Matthew Kressel took over for Gavin in 2008 and we’ve been co-hosting ever since.

ANTHONY: Thank you for taking the time to chat, Ellen! Always a pleasure!

* * * * * *

I somehow managed to not ask Ellen my usual closing question (“What is your favorite book and what would you say to convince someone who hasn’t read it that they should?”), so I’ll mention that my favorites of Ellen’s anthologies are The Beastly Bride, co-edited with Terri Windling, and Naked City.

You can go to Twitter to follow @ellendatlow, and you can find Ellen on her own website.

I’m also happy to announce my first Interview Giveaway! Ellen and her publisher, Dark Horse Books, have been kind enough to provide me with a copy of SUPERNATURAL NOIR to give away in conjunction with this interview.

Supernatural Noir

SUPERNATURAL NOIR is a “masterful marriage of the darkness without and the darkness within … an anthology of original tales of the dark fantastic from twenty modern masters of suspense,” including Gregory Frost, Paul G. Tremblay, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Elizabeth Bear, and Joe R. Lansdale.

To be entered to win the book, leave a comment on this post sharing the name of your favorite Ellen Datlow-edited (or co-edited) anthology. Winner will be picked at random from all comments left here by midnight Tuesday, November 29th. That’s one week from today, folks! Comments are screened, so you won’t show up on the post right away, but rest assured I will approve all comments that are not obviously spam (and I do seem to get a lot of that) and chose from all eligible comments!

PATTY JANSEN, Author - Interview

This week’s guest is author Patty Jansen, as part of the Blog Tour she’s doing to promote her latest book.

The Icefire Trilogy by Patty Jansen

Patty Jansen lives in Sydney, Australia, where she spends most of her time writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. She publishes in both traditional and indie venues. Her story This Peaceful State of War placed first in the second quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. Her futuristic space travel story Survival in Shades of Orange will appear in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Her novels (available at ebook venues, such as the Kindle store) include Watcher’s Web (soft SF), The Far Horizon (SF for younger readers), Charlotte’s Army (military SF) and books 1 and 2 of the Icefire Trilogy Fire & Ice(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005TF1B9K) and Dust & Rain (post-apocalyptic steampunk fantasy).

Patty is a member of SFWA, and the cooperative that makes up Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and she has also written non-fiction.

Patty is on Twitter (@pattyjansen), Facebook, LinkedIn, goodreads, LibraryThing, google+ and blogs at: http://pattyjansen.com/

Patty Jansen

ANTHONY:  Hi, Patty! Thanks for stopping by to chat. You’re about to release book three of your IceFire Trilogy. Give my readers a little overview of the series so far, if you will.

PATTY:  On a strange world in a land without a name, a relic of a long-dead society causes a lethal radiation called icefire. The people who live close to this thing, called the Heart of the city, have become immune to it, but the Imperfects, always born with parts of limbs missing, can bend it to their will. Fifty years ago, such a person became king and used icefire to cut out people’s hearts, turning them into ghostly servitors who terrorised the population in the king’s name.

This lasted until the Eagle Knights, flying on the back of giant birds, killed the king and ousted his family. But in the fifty years since, the Eagle Knights have led a cruel witch hunt against  those who happened to be born Imperfect. Many families have lost children, and the tide is turning the other way.

The old king’s grandson, Tandor, has grown up in neighbouring Chevakia and he wants only one thing, revenge. His grandfather’s diaries tell him how to increase the beat of the Heart, and with the resulting higher level of icefire, he plans to re-take the throne.

However, to do so, he needs the help of the Imperfect children whom he’s saved from death, and the Eagle Knights have discovered their hiding place.

So starts a frantic rush to find the children, or to find other Imperfects, and without giving too much away, I can say that once you start meddling with icefire, it takes on a mind of its own. This is a destructive, evil force.

The rest of the series involves how refugees and people from the neighbouring country (who will die once icefire reaches certain levels) piece together the only way to undo the damage.

ANTHONY: Sounds exciting and intriguing! So many fantasy trilogies these days seem to grow into quadrologies or longer. Is IceFire a real trilogy, a “done in three” deal?

PATTY:  It’s a complete story, so if ever there were any other books in this world, they wouldn’t be part of the trilogy.

ANTHONY:  I recently talked to Andrew P. Mayer about his “Society of Steam trilogy.” We talked about how the first book was a mystery but the second book is more of an action-romance, and how the tenor of individual books in a series can change while still being true to the whole. How did you approach crafting the IceFire Trilogy? Is it one massive story told in three parts, like the Lord of the Rings, or does each book have its’ own personality and purpose?

PATTY:  It is a massive story told in three parts. It grew out of me trying to write it as one book, and failing miserably. There are various aspects to it. Book 1 takes place entirely in one locality, until something dramatic happens at the end. Book 2 deals with the fallout from that event, and book 3 brings the threads together as the characters must find a way to deal with the disaster that is acceptable to all, and learn that every good is also evil, and every evil is also good.

ANTHONY:  How did you plot/pace the Trilogy? Was it tightly-plotted from the beginning, or did you allow room for tangents and new ideas? (Isn’t that a nice way of rephrasing the “are you an outliner or a pantser” question? haha)

PATTY:  I am a pantser extra-ordinaire. That said, I always knew where I wanted the book to end up. The bits in between are never clear until I write them, but the ending always is.

ANTHONY:  In addition to the trilogy, you’ve got stand-alone novels and a plethora of short stories/novellas available through Smashwords. I know you’ve blogged about your love for Smashwords on your own blog, but I want to play devil’s advocate and ask: what are the pitfalls to electronic self-publishing?

PATTY:  Doing it too early, before you have a clue about writing, about what’s hot and what’s not, before anyone who is not a friend or relative has read and commented (read: shredded) on your book. You should develop some writing chops before you wade into the giant self-publishing pool. Get a few short stories published. Submit to agents for a while. If you get regular requests for the full manuscript, that is when you can self-publish.

ANTHONY:  Jay Lake often talks about an author’s “span of control.” What’s your most comfortable working length for fiction?

PATTY:  I honestly don’t have one. A story is as long as it needs to be.

ANTHONY:  As you know, I’m a bit obsessed with short stories.  Do you approach the writing of a short story any differently than you approach writing a novella or novelette?  What factors into deciding something will be a story versus a novella?

PATTY:  A lot of my longer works started out as short stories. I think any short story can be made into a novel by adding extra layers or expanding the plot (the short story plot usually ends up being a secondary thread). This is what I seem to be doing a lot recently. The trilogy started life as a short story. The story covered a tiny part of the plot, and in the novel, I ended up turning it upside down.

ANTHONY:  It seems like your standard short story page length is around 50 pages, which is about 40 pages longer than my average short story. I’m fairly new to the e-reader scene, but do you find that working at that length makes it easier to re-brand / market your shorter works for the Kindle, Nook, etc? What are the challenges of taking a story that’s been published (print or online) in a magazine or anthology and then putting it out as a stand-alone ebook?

PATTY:  No, not really, but if a short story is less than 5000 words, I like to tack something else onto it. Also, some of my short stories (especially the freebies) have a sample chapter attached.

ANTHONY:  What other projects, short or long, are you working on?

PATTY:  I write a fair bit of hard SF, and once I finish the trilogy, I will be working on a novel in the same world as my novellettes His Name In Lights and Luminescence and the novella Charlotte’s Army.

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

PATTY: C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series. These books are social Science Fiction that describes relationships between aliens and humans living on a planet where humans are refugees, in the minority and not in power. The aliens are human enough for interactions, but alien enough so that you never really know what they will do next. The depth in these books is astounding, the immersion in the character incredible.

ANTHONY:  Thanks, Patty!

ANTHONY R. CARDNO, Author - Interview

Yesterday I had the older group of kids who are my nieces and nephews interview me. Today we continue with the younger crowd, starting with my niece Renee, to whom THE FIRFLAKE is dedicated.

The Firflake, Anthony R Cardno

RENEE (age 11): What inspires you the most?

ANTHONY: Yesterday I talked about how inspiration for writing comes from a lot of different places: people I’ve seen, places I’ve been too, things I’ve read. But what inspires me as a person, every day, is love. I’m blessed to have so many amazing people in my life, and that love and support inspires me to be a better writer and also a better person. And hugs. Hugs are important. As you know.

RENEE: Are you going to make another Christmas story for me and Vinnie?

ANTHONY: There is another Christmas story coming. CHRISTMAS GHOSTS isn’t written for you and Vin the way THE FIRFLAKE was, but I still want you to read it! And who knows… maybe Christmas Eve I’ll have a new story to tell you guys, and that might someday become another book!

JARED (age 11): What inspired you to become a writer?

ANTHONY: Yesterday, I said “comic books.” Of course, it wasn’t just comic books that did it. It was also teachers and other adults who encouraged my creativity. Mrs. Bleakly and Mrs. Vezina at Austin Road Elementary; Mr. and Mrs. DelCampo and Ms. Burgh at Mahopac High School; the professors at Elmira. When I mentioned the cousins on Long Island whose house I used in my super-hero stories? Aunt Terry used to read everything I wrote while I was visiting, and then she’d ask questions and make suggestions about how to improve it. All of that encouragement helped, and continues to help.

JARED: Are your characters in your stories based on people you know?

ANTHONY: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The main characters are very rarely based on any one person. For instance, in CHRISTMAS GHOSTS, the character of Collum McCann has bits and pieces of the personalities of lots of sixth graders I’ve known over the years. It’s hard to base a main character on a specific person because there’s always the chance that person will be insulted or upset at the way you portray them, despite the fact that the story is fiction. I find it’s easier to use friends and relatives as supporting characters, so they can be happy they got included but I don’t have to worry about how they’ll feel about their portrayal. CHRISTMAS GHOSTS is a good example: between students, teachers and coffee shop workers, there are a LOT of familiar names and little “winks” at family and friends. Who knows … YOU might even be in that one!

JARED: What’s your favorite kind of writing and is it the same as what your favorite kind of reading is?

ANTHONY: Hmmmm. They are probably not the same thing. I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but I haven’t really written that much science fiction or fantasy so far other than the super-hero stuff I wrote for the Super-Team Amateur Press Alliance (STAPA). I can say that I read a lot of short stories (at least 365 every year) and that’s the story length I like to write too. Novels are hard work!

MORGYN (age 8): How do you like to elaborate with your stories? I’m learning to elaborate with mine right now.

ANTHONY: I’m glad your teachers are teaching you how to elaborate on your ideas! You know, the first draft of the THE FIRFLAKE was a lot shorter. There was a lot less detail about the kids and how they were a part of the storytelling tradition of the family. So when I wrote later drafts, I added more sense detail: smells, sights, etc., and I gave the kids more to do. And then in one of the last drafts, your Uncle Jon said “there’s still something missing. What is it? Elves. Santa. Snow. Presents. Waitaminnit! Where’s the reindeer??” And a whole new scene got written. So sometimes I elaborate by asking “what is it the characters are seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, doing.” And sometimes I elaborate because someone says “hey, did you ever think about including a scene where…”

MORGYN: How do you decide on a topic to write on?

ANTHONY: Mostly it’s whatever strikes me when I sit down to write. It might be a new idea that popped into my head while I was driving, or it might be a scene in a story I’m already working on but I’ve been struggling with it. Story ideas come from all over the place, but it’s really rare that I have an idea and immediately start working on it. I usually let ideas sit in my head a while, until I’ve thought them over and they seem ready to be written. I call that “letting them percolate.”

MORGYN: If you could interview someone you haven’t interviewed yet, who would you pick?

ANTHONY: I can’t give just one answer to this question. So I’m going to divide it up by category, okay?
Authors: Rick Riordan. Neil Gaiman. Seanan Maguire. Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman.
Musicians/Singers (adult): Rosanne Cash. Dennis DeYoung. Adam Levine. Kalan Porter. Pentatonix.
Actors (adult): Nathan Fillion (Castle). Colin Morgan (Merlin). John Glover. John Lithgow.
Comic Book Writers/Artists: Gail Simone. George Perez. Bill Willingham.
Musicians/Singers (teens): Kropp Circle. Cody Simpson. The Feaver. And I know you and Renee would love it if I could interview Big Time Rush.
Actors (teen): Sterling Beaumon. Zach Mills. Jeanette McCurdy. Molly Quinn.

XAVIER (age 8): What inspired you to write the book?

ANTHONY: Well, Xave, like your mother I have always loved Christmas. And I’ve always loved the animated television specials like Rudolph, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. So those cartoons were part of the inspiration. Reading The Grinch and Polar Express and ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas to Vinny and Renee when they were very little was another inspiration. And then there’s the tradition of wishing on the first snowflake of winter, and what magic that snowflake carries. All of that came together to become THE FIRFLAKE you know and love.

JACK (age 10): Who is your favorite Harry Potter character? (even though I already know)

ANTHONY: Well, since you already know, I don’t have to answer, do I? haha. Okay, since other people probably want to know, too: Remus Lupin. He reminds me a lot of me. My second favorite character would be Ron Weasley,who also reminds me a lot of me.

JACK: Which is your favorite Harry Potter book?

ANTHONY: They’re all so good, but if I had to choose one … Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It’s exciting, it introduces Remus and Sirius (my favorite character and your father’s favorite!), and Buckbeak is just really cool.

JACK: What was the most exciting part of your favorite Harry Potter book?

ANTHONY: Oh, the whole scene in the Shrieking Shack where Harry, Ron and Hermione are facing off with Sirius and Lupin, and we find out Scabbers is not really a rat, and then Snape shows up … the first time I read the book I couldn’t put it down through that whole sequence.

JOEY (age 7): Have you read any books about the Titanic?

ANTHONY: I have! I read Walter Lord’s A NIGHT TO REMEMBER when I was in high school. I haven’t read any recently though. It’s an incredible story, though, isn’t it?

JOEY: Have you ever written a humongous paragraph?

ANTHONY: I think the longest paragraph I’ve ever written was one full page long when I typed it up. That’s probably not really “humongous,” since there are some writers who write paragraphs that go on for 10 pages!

JOEY: What’s your favorite book?
XAVIER: What is your favorite book?

ANTHONY: I don’t have just one favorite book, so it’s a good thing you both asked me this question. And, since it’s the same question I ask at the end of every interview I do, it’s the perfect final question for this post too! So here’s my two favorite books, and what I would say to recommend them to someone who hasn’t read them yet:

Dracula by Bram Stoker. I’ve read this book every couple of years since high school. It wasn’t the first vampire novel ever written, but it is the most famous. What I love about the book is that while Dracula is the title character, he’s not the narrator. In fact, you very rarely get a look into what Dracula is thinking. He’s frightening because of the way the other characters talk about him.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I read this one every year around Christmas. Even when I’ve been having a bad day or week or year, the story of Scrooge reminds me that anyone can change and be a better person, if they want to be. It’s just that some of us (like Scrooge) need someone else to remind them why being a better person is important. And the narrator tells the story as though he were a favorite uncle telling the story to kids in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve, which reminds me just a little bit of me!

* * * * *
I want to thank all of my real and adopted siblings for letting their kids take part in this: my sister Lorraine Bostjancic, Margaret and Scott Witt, Jon and Cindy Cornue, Jim and Liz Leahey, Tom and Hilda Werder, Frances and Grant Price, Nina O’Reilly, Judy Kiddoo, and Romykay Hajkowski. I’m hoping to do this again in about 6 months and get the rest of the nieces and nephews who missed this one to take part. I think all of the kids (and the not-so-kids like Danny, Laura, and Jake) asked some great questions, making me a proud uncle!

ANTHONY R. CARDNO, Author - Interview Part One

I had the brilliant idea a few weeks ago that it might be a nice year-end change-up to my regular interview posts to have my various nieces and nephews (both the ones related to me by blood and the ones who are kids of friends) quiz me about my writing, interviewing and reading habits. While I didn’t hear back from everyone (*cough*AlexDevinMaxA*cough*), I got a lot of good questions with only a few repetitions. Today’s post is the older batch of kids, ages 13 to 20.

Anthony R Cardno with niece Renee, his sister, and his nephew, Vinny

Anyone who has read THE FIRFLAKE has seen the dedication (“For Mom and Dad, who taught me how to believe, and for Buddy and Squirmy Worm, who reminded me when I forgot.”) Buddy and Squirmy Worm are our family nicknames for my nephew Vinny and niece Renee. Vinny’s questions start off today’s post, and Renee gets the lead-off tomorrow when the younger kids have their say.

VINNY (age 14): What inspired you to write?

ANTHONY: Comic books. That’s the short answer, anyway. The first stories I remember writing were all with Marvel and DC superheroes. I can remember a summer visit to the Cornelia cousins on Long Island, and using their house as the secret base in a story featuring a group of Marvel’s third-string characters (Marvel Man (now Quasar), Blue Streak, The Vamp, and someone else). I had to be in 5th or 6th grade then. I also remember being in the lunch-room at Mahopac Junior High and writing a story about Bat-Girl (the Barbara Gordon version), and trying to draw the logo they used for her in Batman Family at the time. Those stories are all long-since lost; they were all hand-written in loose-leaf binders and spiral-bound notebooks and who knows where they ended up.

VINNY: Will you ever venture into the horror genre?

That depends on what type of horror you mean. Will I ever write a slasher-flick like the Jason movies? Probably not. But the short story “Canopus” right here on the website is suspenseful-horror, and my mystery novel AMBERGRIN HALL has at least a few horrific moments (and a hint of the supernatural). And as you may remember, I’m still supposed to be co-writing a zombie novel with Aunt Nina if I ever get off my buttocks and work on it. (By the way, Vin, kudos for using the word “venture.” Haha)

LAURA (age 20): When you get a creative idea, what sparks in your mind and says “THATS IT! There needs to be a book about this!”

ANTHONY: Ah, the famous “AHA!” moment. I’m not sure I actually get those. I hear other writers talk about them, but my epiphanies are smaller. I get an idea and it’s not “OH MY GOD THIS HAS TO BE A BOOK” so much as “oh, there’s a neat idea, let’s see where it goes.” The moment a story “clicks” for me is usually well after I’ve started it, and then I get that “Oh, yeah, this works!” spark.

LAURA: Out of all of the places you have traveled to, which place gave you the most inspiration when it comes to writing?

ANTHONY: Inspiration always seems to be stronger in the places that feel like home. The scenery change can be subtle (the slightly different small towns elsewhere in northwest NJ / southern NY) or dramatic (an apartment in a city somewhere in the country), but when I’m closer to family I’m more inspired to write. Outside of NY/NJ, the places I get the most writing done are, in no particular order: Palmdale CA, Chicago IL, Portland OR, and Kenosha WI.

DANNY (age 19): How do you avoid repetition in your writing?

ANTHONY: Hire a good editor.

DANNY: How do you avoid repetition in your writing?

ANTHONY: Wow, déjà vu. You want a more serious answer? Being in a local writers’ group (“The Write Direction,” and thank you Marie Collinson, Rosemary Foley and Jessie Peck-Martin!) and having a few “beta-readers” via email — folks who are looking not just at story as a whole but for clarity of language and awkward repetitive moments.

DANNY: How do you avoid repetition in your writing?

ANTHONY: Yes, folks, Danny is the one who seems to have inherited my sense of humor. Or he’s bucking for a job as my editor. Alright, Dan, any OTHER questions?

DANNY: Yes. How do you stay confident with your own writing?

ANTHONY: Oh, good one. The truth is, I don’t. I’m not sure any writer ever does. It’s sort of like stage fright for an actor. Helen Hayes, near the end of her long and varied career, said “I get sick with stage fright. Noel Coward threw up before every show, he got so sick. God made stage fright.” Carol Channing followed that up with “She was right about that. God made stage fright. I’ve noticed over a lifetime those that do not have stage fright, are not that good on stage.” It’s the same for me. Doesn’t matter that I’ve got had non-fiction, short fiction, and a short novel published. Every time I write something, there’s always that “oh my god, does this suck bat-guano” question lingering in the back of my head. And even after it’s been published, it’s the same. Just this month, knowing Marianne Burnham and her talented family had a copy of THE FIRFLAKE, I was constantly thinking “what if these wonderful new friends of mine, who were so excited to buy the book, end up hating it?” They didn’t hate it, but that’s beside the point.

JAKE (age 20): Are you working on a follow up to THE FIRFLAKE and/or are you going to try to go in a different direction with your writing?

ANTHONY: Yes. Don’t you love when people answer “either/or” questions that way? Seriously, THE FIRFLAKE is pretty complete unto itself. As much as I love Papa Knecht, Mama Alvarie, Engleberta and the rest, I’m pretty sure (at least right now) that their story is complete. However, I do have another, longer, Christmas novel nearing completion. Where THE FIRFLAKE is a book meant to be read by parents to children, CHRISTMAS GHOSTS is aimed straight at the middle-grade / young-adult market. It’s about sixth grader Colum McCann, who is still hurting about the unexpected death of the older brother he worshipped, and how he discovers a secret about Christmas Eve that could give him the chance to say goodbye. Beyond that, I’d say my writing is constantly headed in other directions. AMBERGRIN HALL is a college-set mystery-thriller. I just sold a science-fiction short story. I’m working on a sequence of connected fantasy and sf stories. I never know what genre I’ll be writing in next. The authors I most idolize (Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Orson Card, Lawrence Block) all have the ability to write in more than one genre, and to write in more than one style.

JAKE: Is there a specific artist or genre of music that you like to listen to when you write?

ANTHONY: Generally speaking, no. In the past, I’ve gone from working in complete silence to working with only instrumental music in the background. IF I’m going the instrumental route, I tend to rotate between classical stuff like the Carmina Burana and Dvorak’s New World Symphony (both of which I’ve loved since high school, thank you Terry Wynne and Darrell Long respectively) and movie or tv soundtracks. For horror-story-moodiness, nothing beats Wojciech Kilar’s soundtrack for the Francis Ford Coppola version of DRACULA. Michael Giacchino’s LOST soundtracks to seasons one through three are frequently playing as well. When I write my annual holiday poem, there’s always seasonal music playing. In a broader sense, I draw inspiration from the music I love, whether I’m writing at that moment or not. Right now, that ranges from all-time favorites like Rosanne Cash, Jennifer Holliday, Styx and Supertramp to friends like The Dalliance, Casey Stratton, Burnham and Matt Johnson.

JAKE: How would you describe your relationship with Orson Scott Card? I remember my mom telling me he posted on your Facebook wall a while ago which I thought was awesome.

ANTHONY: Over the past few years, I’ve had a chance to interact with Orson a couple of times. Some of his books would easily make any Top 25 list I might put together (particularly Ender’s Game, Lost Boys, and the whole Alvin Maker series). I’ve learned a lot about craft reading his books, and he’s graciously answered my fan-boy questions about his work and even about the Mormon religion. He’s never been anything but polite and friendly towards me, and I appreciate that from any well-known person (meeting Neil Gaiman was equally as gratifying, for instance. And Jennifer Holliday and John Glover and Ellen Datlow, as well.). Orson has made some pretty controversial statements in the recent past about homosexuality and “hating the sin but not the sinner,” (that’s not a direct quote, it should be noted) that I obviously don’t agree with – but that doesn’t detract from my love of his books and how I feel about the times we have interacted. (In fact, I think the Facebook post your mom was referencing was my quote “Gravity doesn’t care who you fall for,” which Orson liked.)

JAKE: How have your past experiences working with children influenced your writing?

ANTHONY: Immensely. You’ve been in the audience when I’ve told campfire stories. There’s no denying that some of my current style is a direct development from that experience. I also think the child and teen characters I write are more realistic because of all the actual kids and teens I am proud to call my nieces and nephews. Whether you were aware of it or not, you and your brother and the rest were the testing ground for the voice I use in a lot of my short stories. And speaking of your brother…

GABE P. (age 16): As you know, I am a high school student, and often times I find myself, along with other high school students, frustrated with teachings about writing in English class. How much of what you learned in school applies to your current writing career, and since then what has affected your writing habits and style?

ANTHONY: I had some really great English teachers in high school: Chris and Eugenia DelCampo (no relation) and PJ Burgh specifically. I learned a lot about literary analysis from them. My love of Mark Twain is all Mrs. DelCampo’s fault. My love of the theater and Shakespeare comes from the other two. I know the basics of writing an essay that I learned in high school served me well when I was writing non-fiction articles for various company newsletters and for Camping magazine. But if I’m being honest: I don’t remember actually studying creative writing in high school, at least not in any of our regular classes. Jerry Hahn and I co-wrote an adaptation of Snow White our senior year of high school that was produced as the fall play, but that’s about the only school-assignment type creative writing I remember doing. All the super-hero stuff I wrote in high school was on my own. The first creative writing classes I took were at Elmira College: Creative Writing with Professor Kerry Driscoll, a Playwriting Directed Study with Professor Jerry Whalen, a Science Fiction class with Doctor Bruce Barton in which we built our own worlds from scratch. Also, being a member of the Super-Team Amateur Press Alliance (STAPA) since 1982, and being in various writers’ groups over the years.

GABE P: Many writers I have seen in the past have conveyed a bit of their personalities in their writing such as Christopher Moore with his wittiness, or Oscar Wilde with his pompous disposition. If there is a characteristic of your personality that you would want your readers to take away from your writing, what would it be?

ANTHONY: Well, I hope my punny, somewhat dorky, sense of humor shines through in most of my work. But I don’t think I intentionally put a characteristic of myself out there as part of the planning for a story. Another Elmira professor of mine, Malcolm Marsden, told me that he enjoyed reading every paper I wrote because I always revealed a bit about myself and my own search for identity as I was analyzing the book or author in question. I think that’s still true. In THE FIRFLAKE, it might be Engleberta’s insecurity about being the best Watcher she can be; in AMBERGRIN HALL, there’s a bit of my quest for identity and love of folk music and the theater in Garrett and in Ezra; in “Canopus,” well… there’s a lot of me in the narrator of that story. I’m still constantly questioning who I am and where I am, and I think that comes out in my fiction.

GABE P: Do you ever find yourself unintentionally emulating an element from another writer’s work, or are you always aware of where you are drawing your influence from at a given moment?

ANTHONY: Unintentionally, all the time. I’ll reread something I wrote and think “wow, that’s a bit of Stoker / Butcher / whoever right there, isn’t it?” Sometimes, of course, that means rewriting because I don’t really want to sound like anybody else … and sometimes it gets left in because that little homage is exactly what I want. Then there are the times when yes, I am intentionally emulating a style. AMBERGRIN HALL has some intentionally Gothic moments in it that recall Stoker, Conan Doyle, Bronte. THE FIRFLAKE is one massive homage to the classic Rankin-Bass claymation Christmas specials. CHRISTMAS GHOSTS is intentionally Dickensian, and “Canopus” has a bit of Lovecraft in there.

GABE P.: I can imagine that when you read, you read pieces from genres all over the map. Is there one genre that you are particularly drawn to?

ANTHONY: I do try to be as widely-read as possible. That being said, in 2011 I’d say at least half of what I read was firmly in the science fiction and fantasy realms. Part of that is because I started writing book reviews for ICARUS: the magazine of gay speculative fiction this year, and that’s two books every quarter that need to be science fiction/fantasy/horror. But it’s also because those are the genres I’ve always loved. Take a look at my home library one of these days and most of it is genre fiction, including mysteries and pulp-adventure.

And now, let’s hear from the 13 and 14 year olds…

GABE O. (age 13): When did you start writing?

ANTHONY: I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. Definitely by the time I was your age, but surely younger.

GABE O.: How do you beat writer’s block?

ANTHONY: With a rather large canoe paddle.

AIDAN (age 14): No, seriously, how do you cure writer’s block?

ANTHONY: It’s an ancient family recipe: salt and other spices rubbed in, and then you let the writer’s block sit and dry for a while, and then…

DANNY (age 19): I think what they mean is, what is your most helpful routine to do when you find yourself with writer’s block?

ANTHONY: Obviously, it’s to make jokes about it. Writer’s block is not so scary when you realize that everyone goes through it occasionally and the best thing to do sometimes is walk away from the project you’re blocked on and just do something else. Go for a walk. Work on a different project. Spend several hours playing Scrabble on Facebook, chatting on Twitter, etc. Or just read. At one point when I was blocked on a short story, I walked away and sat down with a book in a completely different genre and read for a little while, and that seemed to “cleanse the palette” so to speak.

EDDY (age 14): What gives you your inspiration to write?

ANTHONY: I talked early about what inspired me to become a writer. What continues to inspire me? Part of it is that I can’t imagine NOT writing something every day. Some days that urge is fulfilled by my day job (writing for the company newsletter, etc) and some days it’s fulfilled by conducting an interview with a writer, artist, singer, actor or other creative type I respect. And then some days, I’m inspired because I know you all enjoy reading what I write. Encouragement from family and friends helps me continue to enjoy writing, even if I never get published.

AIDAN: So where do you find and how do you come up with ideas for your next story/book?

ANTHONY: Everything, honestly, is capable of giving me inspiration. Sometimes it’s a physical thing: AMBERGRIN HALL has its roots in an old unused building on the Elmira College campus and “Canopus” is based in part on an island in the middle of Lake Mahopac. Sometimes it’s a person: “That Happy Kid” was based on a teenager I used to pass every day commuting home from work. Sometimes it’s a news article: my one-act play “Sneakers in the Sand” and my story “Invisible Me” were based on things I read in the newspaper. So there’s no one thing, really.

EDDY: How many books have you written/published?

ANTHONY: Perfect question to end today’s post on, Eddy! I have one book out there, THE FIRFLAKE: A Christmas Story, and folks can find it if they go up to this site’s navigation bar and click on the tab with the book’s title on it. I also have a short story coming out in the SPACE BATTLES anthology sometime in 2012, and sometime early in the year you should be able to see a music video I scripted for The Dalliance on Youtube. Hopefully, next year will see more of my fiction out there.

That was a much longer post than I expected! Tomorrow (Monday), I’ll post what the younger kids asked me.

DENNIS MILLER, Author - Interview

This week between the holidays, I sit down to chat with my old friend Dennis Miller about his new book One Woman’s Vengeance.

Dennis Miller

Dennis R. Miller lives in upstate New York and is the PR Director at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of the novel, The Perfect Song, and a former musician. He has written syndicated newspaper columns on the humor of daily life and music, as well as blogs, and the higher education marketing blog.

Dennis R Miller

All Nora Hawks and her husband wanted was to raise horses on their New Mexico ranch. But Butch Wheeler and his 11 outlaws murdered her husband, raped Nora, set their house on fire and left her for dead. She survived and returned, hiring retired bounty hunter Peter Clawson to teach her how to track and kill.
She had to train, not only in the ways of killing, but to mentally and physically survive in a male world of merciless, sometimes mindless, violence. When the day came that Nora was ready, the deadly 12-member gang was no match against the fury of one woman’s vengeance.

ANTHONY: Hi, Dennis. Glad we finally have a chance to talk. I’ve compared One Woman’s Vengeance to Charles Portis’ True Grit. What inspired you to write a somewhat classic Western?

DENNIS: At first I thought I wanted to write a western. As I got into it I realized that what I really wanted was an uncluttered setting, an uncivilized land and landscape where I could concentrate on character, almost like a Greek play. I wanted to create a woman who loses everything, including her dreams, and set her on a path of revenge. I wanted to study her relationship with a rather passive but intuitive and deadly retired bounty hunter. . . create bad guys that are so despicable you cheer as they are confronted by this intelligent, determined woman whose rage defines her destiny.

ANTHONY: How long did you work on the book before it was published?

DENNIS: I played with it for four years and then worked on it seriously for three years. In all, I rewrote it probably 10 times. The opening graphs were revised probably 20 times. Unlike a lot of writers, I love writing, and rewriting. I love the challenge of finding a way of saying something in the most compact, dynamic way possible. I don’t like wasted words. We don’t have time for them anymore.

One of the best compliments I’ve had is from a female executive who travels and reads a lot. She said that she often skips through passages of books to get to the meat. With Vengeance, she said, she found herself reading every word because there wasn’t any fat or filling.

ANTHONY: Nora Hawks is a fascinating central character. How did she develop from your initial concept to the woman we see in the published work?

DENNIS: I have to be honest, Nora appeared pretty much fully formed. She was rounded out as her relationship with Peter developed. A lot of people ask if she was modeled on a particular person. My answer is she’s a composite of nearly every woman I’ve ever known. Women are much stronger than men. They combine strength with compassion and practicality. Most men don’t give women a fraction of the credit they deserve.

I have to tell you that feedback from males and females of all ages has been overwhelmingly positive. But women are absolutely passionate about Nora. One woman emailed me saying, “I want to be Nora – strong and beautiful.” She’s 82-years-old. Another wrote and said, simply, “I could so be her.” Nora’s a real person people can relate to. She’s also a mythic figure who, when her family and dreams are taken from her, unleashes a fury that’s unstoppable. She’s really hit a nerve with readers.

I say all this very humbly. I opened the door and she rode in, fully formed and ready to overcome all odds to exact vengeance on her own terms.

I’ll also add that cover artist Marc Rubin fully captured her in terms of her beauty and her fury. His cover is, to me, a masterpiece and a reminder to all writers to find a good cover artist. You can’t judge a book by its cover but your first impression of the book is from that very important work of art.

ANTHONY: The Western movies of the 40s and 50s were full of strong-willed women who ultimately let the men in their lives be “the defender” and do all the dirty work. Nora is the polar opposite of that — while she could just hire Peter Clawson to enact her revenge for her, she continually pushes him out of the way despite the emotional toll her actions are taking on her. Was there ever a point where you thought about easing her path a little bit?

DENNIS: Great question! No, it was quite the opposite. I kept pushing, making things harder, just to see how strong she was. I understood her strength fully when she was alone in the brothel room preparing to confront one of her attackers. She’s scared, sweating and shaking. Previously she had rejected God. Now, instead of falling to her knees and asking for forgiveness and support, she says, “Okay, God, let’s give each other a second chance.” In other words, “We both messed up. Let’s team up and tackle this together.” That line was a gift. I don’t know where it came from but it sums up the woman’s incredible strength.

No, Nora, through what was done to her and her decision to exact vengeance on her own terms, was born to suffer and fight in a man’s world.

ANTHONY: Speaking of Peter Clawson — I see from your blog that I’m not the only one equating him with Rooster Cogburn. Was there any concern as you were writing that Peter would fall into a stereotypical “western bounty hunter” role? Especially since this really is Nora’s story and Peter is important but still somewhat a secondary character?

DENNIS: When I started the book seven years ago True Grit wasn’t even on the radar. The timing is pretty serendipitous. But I’m not too concerned. Peter is much different character than Rooster and Nora is seeking more than justice. She’s a woman who’s lost everything and is out for total revenge while trying to keep her soul. Peter is outwardly quiet until provoked, and then he is deadly.

One of the fun ironies of their relationship is the feminine/masculine tradeoff. He wants to learn how to cook. (“I ain’t had a good bowel movement since the Civil War.”) So Nora teaches him how to live, while he teaches her how to kill.

ANTHONY: I know you love the western United States. Why New Mexico as a setting for the book?

DENNIS: I just love that state. I’ve stood on old volcanoes looking out over plains where dinosaurs played and fought, traveled over dirt roads on huge mountains, took pictures of lizards in the White Sands Desert, toured ghost town copper mining operations. In one part you can follow Billy the Kid. Drive down the road and you’re in Roswell! New Mexico is huge and varied and parts of it are just plain mystical.

ANTHONY: How much research into the time-period did you do both before starting the book and throughout writing it?

DENNIS: We’ve traveled a lot out west – Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, California, so I had, I think a feeling or an appreciation of the West. However, if you go back and look, there’s not really a lot of description of the landscape, clothing, buildings. Just enough to sketch them in. I really wanted to focus on characters.

ANTHONY: One Woman’s Vengeance is a nice complete story with a very satisfactory (but not necessarily “Hollywood-happy”) ending. But you’ve mentioned a sequel in the works. Where do you imagine taking Nora and Peter’s journey next?

DENNIS: I’m struggling with that, Anthony!

I wasn’t planning a sequel but when people read the post-script they assumed there would be a new book. Vengeance is so intense and so focused on Nora’s inner and outer struggles that I’m exploring various options for the sequel. I thought of killing off Peter but realized how important he is as a partner, teacher, father figure and symbol of the West’s wildness.

The postscript is a natural lead-in to another novel, however. The 1870s was the period when the myth of the West was created. The Dime Novels and newspaper accounts provided the blueprint for the 20th century of our need – and our ability — to create larger-than-life heroes to worship, and, ultimately, destroy.

I don’t know. I want to do right by Nora, who has her own life now. By doing what she did, she is a marked woman, by men who want to kill her to make a name for themselves and by the media who want to create a legend to sell newspapers and magazines. By her actions, Nora has become a hero and a villain, a person to be worshiped and destroyed.

The working title is, by the way, One Bullet Beyond Justice.

ANTHONY: I can’t close out this interview without at least mentioning your other book, The Perfect Song, which is not a Western and has a very different feel to it. Tell us a little about what The Perfect Song is about and where people can find it.

DENNIS: The Perfect Song took 25 years to write, off and on. It’s about Mendel, a wandering artist trying to write the perfect song. His castaways are picked up by Poul who goes into partnership with Beasely, a publisher who records the songs. Mendel becomes the most famous songwriter in the world and never knows it. It’s a commentary on our society, the heroes we create and then destroy. It’s also about Poul’s struggles with his own identity, ethics and his love-hate relationship with the genius he never meets but who becomes his best friend/alter ego. It’s about art and commerce, how they clash and work together. I started the book in the 20th century and finished it in the 21st century.

It’s still available in print at Amazon. When things slow down I’ll be making it available as an ebook. Thanks for remembering it!

ANTHONY: How could I forget it! And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who has never read it to convince them that they should?

DENNIS: Honestly, I don’t have one favorite book. Twain and Hemingway have been huge influences. Henry Miller was a genius and a true anarchist. John D. MacDonald was one of the best storytellers ever. Anais Nin consumed me for years (a strong woman who maintained her femininity). I have the complete Sherlock Holmes on my Nook. The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout was also very influential. The hard-boiled writers – mainly Dashiell Hammett, Cornell Woolrich, Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson – have been influential in my writing—especially Vengeance.

ANTHONY: No wonder we’ve gotten along so well all these years – such similar tastes in writers. I discovered Woolrich not long ago, and am somewhat obsessed. Anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up?

DENNIS: Great questions, Anthony. I spent a lot of hours and miles thinking about them. I hope my answers did them justice. I also want to thank you for all that you do for artists. Most people don’t realize how time-consuming it is to do the reading, listening, research, interviews, editing and publishing. Artists are lucky to have people like you. Thanks.

ANTHONY: No, thank you!

Dennis maintains a blog to support One Woman’s Vengeance, with deleted scenes and ruminations on the writing of the book.
You can find him on Facebook, where you can also order personally inscribed print editions of One Woman’s Vengeance. Print and ebook editions of One Woman’s Vengeance are available on Lulu.com, and ebooks are available through Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Amazon.