An Interview with Janice Callum Hodgehead Conducted By Cindy Speers

An Interview with Sara Douglass,
author of The Wayfarer Redemption and the Crucible series
conducted by Cindy Lynn Speer

Sara Douglass is, first of all, a historian. Her love of history and understanding of how our past affects our present has played a part in all of her books. Beginning with The Axis Trilogy, she became one of the most popular writers of fantasy in her home country of Australia. Eventually, the US caught on, and all of her work is being steadily republished by Tor. Her books include The Wayfarer Redemption, and the The Crucible series, The Betrayal of Arthur, and her most recent book, Hades Daughter, the first volume of the Troy Game. She lives in a haunted Victorian Cottage in North Central Victoria, Australia. She maintains a beautiful and informative web page, which includes a publication schedule, contests and other nifty things at http://www.saradouglass.com

Cindy: I think that one of the main things a reader notices about your work is how historically accurate it feels...how does your love of history inspire and direct your writing? How different is it to write a book, such as The Wayfarer Redemption that is all fantasy, then write a book such as your latest, Hades Daughter, that is very much historical fantasy? Is it harder? How do you research? Also, I've noted that in your alternate universes, you've chosen to change certain facts so that they veer away from our own accepted histories...why do you choose to do so, and what impact has that had? Do people understand what you're trying to do?

Sara: Ok, where to start? I think my love of history has enabled me to write, especially fantasy. This is for several reasons:

1) I was literally taught to write well by my doctorate supervisor (Lynn Martin, who is an American hailing from Wisconsin ... hello Lynn!) who taught me that wonderful ability - to be able to disassociate myself from my writing, to view it in unemotional terms, to see it flaws and all (and trust me, Lynn always found heaps of flaws!). That is something which takes many writers many years and many tears to learn, and I am ever grateful for Lynn for what he did for me;

2) researching and teaching and writing history made it very easy for me to understand other worlds, to construct or to reconstruct other worlds, and to feel very comfortable in worlds that were distant from the one in which you and I live (i.e. a western-based society and culture). Writers can sometimes feel very threatened and uneasy and uncomfortable by trying to reconstruct distant (or to create) worlds; that was never a problem for me.

3) history gives me all my ideas!

How difficult is it to write something like the Wayfarer Redemption as opposed to something like Hades' Daughter? Well, you have to understand that I've taken something like thirteen books to get there! My American readers are getting a peculiar slant on it because there are something like eight to nine books that the rest of the English speaking world has seen that you haven't - you've done this huge leap from the third book in a six book series to a book that's about eight books ahead. Tor has all the rights for those other books - they're just taking years to bring them out. *grin* It wasn't difficult at all, it was a very gradual process. In fact, Hades' Daughter is going back a bit towards more traditional fantasy than my most recent series, The Crucible, which was set during the Hundred Years War in Europe. Tor has the rights for this, but it keeps pushing the publication of this series back and back ... possibly because it is a bit controversial. (I was amazed it ever picked up the rights anyway!)

How do I research? I do it like everyone does it. I sit down and I read, then I follow up clues. Research is always far more interesting than writing ... and I should say at this point that I don't consider myself as a 'writer' in the sense that it is the main focus of my life. My books are anything but - they're an accidental sideline of my true but largely secret life as an eccentric antiquarian! *a short cackle of evil laughter* Seriously, I am a historian first and foremost, and a writer only as a consequence of that. What my fiction writing has enabled me to do is to be that most hated creature in academia - an independently financed historian! I don't have to conform to any university's latest and most politically correct agenda, nor must I justify what I research to any committee. I actually spend most of my time when not researching amassing a much loved collection of rare books and maps. This collection is my true achievement, not my books.

Why alternate universes? This is a difficult one to answer. It largely pertains to The Crucible series, and it isn't an alternate universe at all, but the world depicted in terms that medieval people would have understood it, rather than how we understand it. (The answer to your next question will shed some light on this.) Strangely, frustratingly, people today find it difficult believing that medieval people understood their world in far different ways than we do now, thus they literally lived in a vastly different world. They believed they walked among angels and demons, that they shared their lives with them - that was their real world therefore it existed as a real world. But people now largely can't accept that - so it was easier to explain it an 'alternate' universe. Of course, it also enabled me to play havoc with the facts. *grin* (and, as a professionally trained historian, I know there are no facts at all.)

Cindy: To go back to The Troy Game...I find the idea of it fascinating, how you connect Ancient Greece to 1940's Britain. How did you come up with this idea?

Sara: It was very easy, mainly because I think as a historian. For any historian, especially someone like me who has taught courses that spread over great sweeps of time, then there is absolutely nothing unusual in connecting ancient Greece/ Egypt / China to modern England/USA / Belgium! I think, sadly, most people are very disassociated from our past. They see it only in disconnected 'eras' or pockets; quite literally as intensely disconnected Hollywood film clips. I see it as one continuous, seamless flow that connects all the people on our planet at all times. What happened on any given day in ancient Greece affects all of us in our daily lives now. We are all deeply affected by the events of the past - but most of us have no idea how greatly distant events shape our lives today. Someone once said that to understand ourselves, and to understand where we are going, we need to understand the past. If we don't understand the past, then we have no chance of understanding ourselves. I think that's very true.

But to return to your question! Where did I get the idea about the Troy Game? Well, that story kind of goes to underscoring the point I made in the above paragraph. For some twenty years I've been deeply involved in medieval and pre-modern (say roughly 900 AD to 1700 AD) European and English historical research and teaching, with, more recently, a particular emphasis on London. During all those years I'd kept coming across 'disconnected' (or so I thought then) pieces of information about something intriguingly called 'The Troy Game'. Londoners were playing it in the 1300s. Medieval monks were writing about it in the 1000s. Protestant reformers were banning it in the 1600s. Shepherds were talking about it in the 1920s. Homer was writing about it two thousand years previously. James I of England was so taken with the whole idea of the Troy Game that he named Britain for it! Can you imagine? Britain = Brutus who was the Trojan descendent who brought the Game to London, and founded London as part of the Game. So, about two years ago a light bulb went off in my head when I was reading, of all things, an ancient and somewhat dubious book on the geology of ancient London which actually talked about the Troy Game. Then suddenly all those disassociated bits of info that I'd been filing away for twenty years came crashing together and I was so excited I literally didn't sleep for about two nights!

The idea of the Troy Game has been staring, not only me, but all of us in the face for about 2,000 years. How does it affect us today? Why, we've all played it, surely? Hopscotch is a game derived from the Troy Game (step on the lines, or make the wrong move, and you're 'out' or, in earlier versions, the monster, or Minotaur, would get you). Same goes for (I don't know if you have it in the USA) that superstition about stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk (when sundry bears, monsters will leap out and take you). Many of our more traditional dances are also based on Troy Game movements, as are (according to some) military maneuvers, dressage and even maypole dancing. (Square dancing? Who knows!) So, next time you're out there walking down the sidewalk and avoiding those cracks, or dancing in the arms of your partner, remember that you're partaking in an ancient Cretan mystery! Thus the ancient affects the present.

Cindy: Why did you choose to go with an alias for your fantasy career? Are the people who know you as Sara Warneke surprised when they find out about your alter ego?

Sara: I didn't 'choose' to go with an alias. It was forced on me by a publishing marketing department (who are the worst people in the world). Many authors are forced to change their names, it just depends on how high on caffeine a marketing department is at any given point during the day. If your book or contract comes up for discussion just after someone has brewed the coffee, then all hell breaks loose.

Having said that, I'm very glad that I did. It is very useful being able to completely (or as completely as anyone is able) to separate Sara Douglass from Sara Warneke. I dislike intensely the way I am treated as Sara Douglass - most people will treat you very differently when they perceive you as someone 'famous' rather than just as any ordinary person off the street. I loathe people coming up to me in the street and touching me 'because you're famous' (Ugh! Do they like being groped by strangers?). I hate it when, halfway through a transaction at a store counter, the teller suddenly realizes who I am, and collapses into flattery or tears or actually starts to shake. I really, really hate that. I loathe being treated as 'abnormal', which is how 'famous' people are treated. So, there you have my rant! By publishing under a different name I can at least continue a life of some normality even if, as happened recently, the grocery delivery boy handed me my packages, leaned close, and whispered conspiratorially, "I know who you really are, y'know." *grin*

Cindy: You have a very nicely done website. How important do you think having a website is for a writer? Do you think it's something you should have even before you publish?

Sarah: Again, the website is only very, very incidental to the fact that I sometimes publish books. I've been designing and publishing websites for over ten years. Publishing some books merely gave me the excuse to design another site.

Cindy: How did you get published? Do you think that being published as a nonfiction writer helped you? Do you think having an agent is important?

Sara: Gosh ... how did I get published. Well ... like most published authors this is a LONG story! But I'm going to make it short. Essentially I sat at home for years writing novel after novel, learning from the process until I started sending them off to publishers (at which point I learned more about 'the process'). Eventually I picked an agent by closed eyes/pin stab method out of the Yellow Pages, sent off a manuscript that I thought might have a chance (the first book of the Wayfarer series), she spent six months trying to work out how to reject it before she was approached by HarperCollins saying they wanted to start up a fantasy line and did she by chance have any fantasy manuscripts available. She retrieved my manuscript from the trash bin, sent it off and the rest, as bad writers write, is history. *smile* My being published was an even mixture of professionalism and luck.

Do you need an agent? Impossible to answer. Yes, I had an agent to start with, but I've seen many agent-less authors being picked up very easily. It depends on the situation at any given moment within different countries and publishing industries. Publishers do prefer manuscripts coming via agents, because then at least the agents have done the preliminary work in sorting out the good from the bad, but they're also open to good, professional and business-like approaches by non-agented authors (I've seen one now widely published author with a very poor book be picked up very easily because he was the marketing director of an international firm and knew how to pitch a sale). Agents can be useful in negotiating contracts ... but always remember that agents will only go so far for you because, after all, they're constrained by the need to keep in the publishers' good books for later deals. They will only push so far. A lawyer, on the other hand, doesn't care what the publisher thinks of him or her! In one terrible case I've seen an agent who was so terribly in love with the publisher of one major international firm keep offering him books which were totally inappropriate (i.e. she offered them to his firm when they would have been better going to a different firm with a better track record in that particular genre) simply because with each new offer she got to have lunch with this guy. He never picked up the books.

Did my record in nonfiction publishing have any influence on being picked up as a fiction author? No. None at all. No one cared in the slightest.

Cindy: It is said that writers have to take more of the promotional burden...do you think this is true? How have you dealt with this side of writing?

Sara: Promoting can be very difficult, and it is very different in different countries. I deal with it as little as possible (although the 'burden' of answering email interviews is one of the happier aspects of promoting ... at least I can do it at home, with a cup of freshly brewed coffee - watch out for that caffeine kick - and in my own time!). The promotional tour has been cut back very severely in Australia at the moment, mainly because of economic down turns, which is a blessing. I've grown to loathe hotels and airport lounges and overall I've become very jaded after ten years of promotional tours (the first one was fun, but that was it!). Promotion is difficult in many ways that I think the general public often doesn't think of: being asked the same question time after time, for example. I remember years ago when I was doing a book signing here in Australia. I'd had hundreds of people line up, and every third person would say to me, "Oh boy, I bet you've got writer's cramp! Ha! Ha! Ha!" That was funny the first five times I heard it, but when, towards the end of that signing, my publicist who was standing behind me, started a whispered count - "One hundred and eight!" - she almost suffered a beheading as I turned about and snarled at her. This is why you see those besieged authors at signings where publicists stand to either side and hurry people through - they're trying to prevent a situation where the author suddenly feels the need to slaughter someone! (Please understand I'm laughing as I write this!) For everyone who repeats an oft-repeated remark, what they say is perfectly valid for them, but it can be really trying for an author who simply is unable to respond with any freshness after a thirty-five city tour, 4 a.m. rises each day, eighteen hour working days, airport disasters each day, hotel disasters every other day, sundry crimes being enacted upon her person (ranging from the odd grope to, recently, a purse snatch during a signing) to dealing with people who stand patiently in line for two hours just to say, as they finally come up to you, "I just wanted to say I really loathe your books". I don't mind it at all that people don't like my books, I just have trouble understanding why someone wants to stand in line for two hours just to tell me! Publicists who travel with authors (and I don't think they do it in the USA, but they do it here in Australia) should be deified (they are so wonderful)! Tours are essentially very draining and tiring: you're pushed from airport lounge to hotel to signing to radio/television studio back to hotel room, to airport etc. They're no fun at all, although most publishers will go to some lengths to give you a bit of time off ... or at least a vial of valium to see you through.

I've also had publicists literally pat people down as they stood in line to make sure they weren't hiding manuscripts that they wanted to thrust under my nose so I could read them and pronounce them a star! *grin* I think my publicist just liked patting people down ... especially builders in tight jeans ...

To add to my list of pet hates during promotions are drive-time DJs - they're totally disinterested. Sometimes interviews can be fabulous, particularly radio interviews, when you have an interested journalist who can really ask terrific questions which engages the interviewee.

Cindy: I've been very curious about the effect not being in the United States has had on getting published...

Sarah: It has had absolutely no effect on me anywhere but in the USA. *grin*

Cindy: I don't know enough about it to ask any good questions, so please, could you describe what comes to mind for us? For instance, why are you published with Harper Collins in Australia, but with Tor in the US? Are the rights different? Do you think that it was harder for you?

Sara: HarperCollins in Australia is my lead publisher. They took the risk on me for five years when no one else (including Tor, who was offered the rights) would touch me. HarperC Australia promoted me, took risks with me, wined and dined me, let me weep on its shoulders, sent me flowers when I was ill, and overall became one of the best friends an author can have (it is the lead fantasy publisher in Australia now ... I've seen it work the cocktail circuit picking up authors with utter ease and professionalism!). I have an immense amount of loyalty for it (which I think Tor understand), and this is why I won't pass on the Australian rights to anyone else (Australia has a huge market for fantasy - numerically larger than Britain, I believe - and most overseas publishers won't consider a publishing deal unless they have Australian rights as well.) This worked against me for a while because I wouldn't give up HarperC's rights for Australia, and overseas publishers wouldn't take me on unless they had Australian rights as well. But, look, it all worked out in the end! And the reason why it did was because of the generosity of the senior fiction editor at Pan Macmillan, Cate Paterson (who had no reason to do this save that she's a fantastic lady) who recommended me to Tom Doherty at Tor (this was after he'd flown into Australia, checked out the bookshelves in Sydney airport bookshop, and determined to find out who this Sara Douglass was who hogged so much shelf space!). Sometimes there's a generosity of spirit within the publishing world that is astounding.

Publishers, particularly in the USA, are moving more and more to demanding world English language rights (previously authors tended to sell country by country, to many different publishers, which was the 'standard' I was 'raised' on). That's OK, but it works far more in the publisher's favour than for the author. For instance, I have much better contracts with HarperCollins than with Tor (mainly because I am one of Australia's leading authors while I am only a hopeful in the USA). On the other hand, Tor is wonderful as well - it also keeps in very close contact with authors, are caring (even when I have tantrums!), and even though the contracts are not as good as my Australian ones, it is still extremely generous. I've been published with publishers other than HarperC in Australia and Tor in the USA, and the experience has not always been terribly positive. *Excuse me while I go and beat my head against the wall!* At the moment I think I have wonderful deals with Tor and HarperC - who also keep in close and friendly contact with each other as regards my books as well as with me! I'm very lucky to have finally settled down with two such wonderful publishers each of whom are the leading publishers in fantasy in their respective territories.

Cindy: If you had to choose one word to describe yourself as a writer, what would it be?

Sara: Stressed.

Cindy: If you're not writing, what would you most likely be doing?

Sara: Again, I have to say that as far as I am concerned, books and writing are not the leading interest in my life. Not only do I do the entire eccentric antiquarian (or is that antiquated??) historian very, very well, I love designing web sites, I love playing the stock market, and I love combing dealerships (who are as eccentric as I am) for that hard to find sixteenth-century map of London. People only tend to see me as a writer, which is frustrating, although understandable, but I have a vast life beyond writing, which actually consumes most of my life.

Cindy: What is the most important thing you would like to tell a new writer?

Sara: I recently read a lovely book by Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, called The Chimney Sweep's Boy. It was about an author (depicted as leading an indolent and idle lifestyle! Ha! Ruth, you of all people should know better!!!) who, whenever he was asked this question by reporters or eager fans, would always growl, "Don't!" I love it, and I wish I had the courage to say it. Its appeal lies not in a wish to discourage people, but in trying to make people see the realities of writing and publishing. It is a very, very long road. Most genre authors emerge after the age of about 36 (that's a pivotal year; by that time an author has the life experience under their belt to be able to write well), most people, unfortunately, won't ever emerge at all. But, having said that, I also have to say that if you have the right attitude, combined with at least good writing skills, and you have the persistence and the professionalism, then you may do very well. But it is a long, long road. There are very few authors who succeed with a Big Bang. Most authors I know have succeeded through long, long and very hard years of trudging and drudging effort. It is not simply being accepted, it is then the hard years put in of building up a readership.

So, the advice? Courage, persistence, a healthy sense of humour and of reality, a professional approach (abandon emotionalism), lots of research into understanding your market, learning how to work the system. Knowing it is going to take years (unless, of course, you get an appearance on Oprah, in which case you can forget everything I've said above ...).

Cindy: What is the hardest aspect of the craft?

Sara: Getting an appearance on Oprah. (Sorry to jest, but I sat staring at this question for ages, and just didn't know how to answer it. The answer would vary according to the situation on any given day.)

Cindy: What do you think is the most important thing to remember?

Sara: Be professional, and be realistic.

And get an appearance on Oprah. :)

Kelley Eskridge Discusses her Debut Novel 'Solitaire'
Interview Conducted by Cindy Speer

After reading Kelley Eskridge's debut novel Solitaire it is no surprise to discover that she drew the delicate corporate world structure from her own life. As former Vice President of Wizards of the Coast (publishers of the Magic and Pokémon trading card games) she is well equipped to embark on an "authoritative examination of the interpersonal dynamics of corporations, and she shares with her character Jackal an expertise in facilitation, team building and management." Her book also explores relationships in all forms, from friends and lovers, to strangers who share your life experiences (or wish to) to the strange alliance we have with our own mind. Nominated for both the Tiptree and Nebula awards, her short fiction has appeared in Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers, The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Nebula Awards 31, and Women of Other Worlds. For more information, log onto www.kelleyeskridge.com, where you can download all of her published short fiction, and take part in her forum, Virtual Pint.

Cindy: This is probably the question you get asked most, and for that I apologize -- but what was your inspiration for Solitaire? Why did you create the world the way you did? What do you think the most important step in world building is?

Kelley: Solitaire was inspired by personal experience. For many years, my life was quite solitary and autonomous. I loved it; but I also got tired of the overwhelming number of cultural messages that tell us that "alone" is a terrible way to be. (One of my biggest hot buttons are restaurant hostpeople who say, "Just one for dinner?" Would they ever say, "Just two? Just ten?" Absolutely not. If hostpeople are reading this, get a clue.) Being alone is not terrible. It's like any other kind of life, in my experience: the more one engages with it, the more one gets out of it. And some days are better than others.

During those years, I explored the power of solitude; when I met my partner, Nicola, I began to explore the power of connection. Solitaire reflects both these explorations. I wrote the book so that I could examine my own beliefs and experience in a different, more extreme, context. I chose to write it as speculative fiction because that's the literary arena that allows a writer to use metaphor in the most concrete way. In a mainstream novel, Jackal Segura's journey into her own internal landscape would have to be represented through some kind of metaphor system, or implied by her behavior. But in Solitaire, Jackal is able to literally travel into her own head. I didn't have to spend time drawing parallels: I could cut to the chase and burrow into the psychology of loss of connection and emergence of individual identity.

My emphasis as a writer is on character. I'm probably the wrong person to ask about world-building. Solitaire has been criticized (fairly, I think) for being fuzzy around the edges at the macro level. I have a fairly clear idea of the political and social structure of the wider world that Jackal lives in, but I didn't offer the reader a panoramic look at it: the point of view in the book is Jackal's, and there's a lot she takes for granted about her world.

I tried to make sure the world contained multiple cultures, that it was diverse in terms of race and class, and that I expressed it in ways that made it accessible to the reader. These ways include showing lots of different kinds of people, and trying to find particular details that could imply larger generalities about the world. For example, there's a passing mention of the Green and Blue Houses of the Earth Government, and a brief scene with an Earth Congress Senator: this sets up lots of resonances with many of the republic-style governments in western culture, but the imagination of the specific structure of EarthGov is left as an exercise for the reader. I'm more comfortable with world-building that's based on this kind of social or character detail. I dislike the use of gratuitous neologisms and high-tech gadgetry as a substitute for imagining a world full of real people in environments that reflect their character and experience. I wish now I'd edited Snow's fingernail out of Solitaire; it's there to assist Snow and Jackal in having a discussion about individual identity, but I'll bet I could have found another way.

Cindy: I see a lot of social issues in this book, from comments about relationships to the price of punishment. Is there any particular message you want the reader to walk away with? What is the ideal thing you would like to accomplish in this book?

Kelley: I write to tell a story, not to send a message. I am not on fire to persuade anyone of anything: I burn to examine and express, to explore and question. In this way, writing is a particularly selfish activity: it's all about what interests me, or puzzles me, or frightens me.

But there's more to it than just me, me, me, or else I could simply write it and put it in a drawer. I want to tell stories that other people can connect with. It matters to me that the reader finds something of value to take away: a moment, a feeling, an idea. But not a message. That's best left to nonfiction. Message stories are insulting to me as a reader. I don't need to be told what to feel: I need to be drawn into a world that's perhaps different from mine, but so well-realized that I can experience it in spite of the difference. If writing is "about" anything for me, it's about building bridges, not about preaching sermons.

I have a need for connection and reaction. Writing provides this, in a sort of elongated feedback loop across time and space. I often look for ways to shorten this loop: it's part of why I like to do public readings, and why I maintain the Virtual Pint section of my website (http://www.kelleyeskridge.com/VirtualPint.htm) where I can respond to comments and questions. Perhaps I should also write faster <grin>.

Cindy: How did you get your start? Do you have an agent? Why did you choose Harper Collins? Do you think an agent is essential for success today?

Kelley: I started in short fiction. I attended the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1988, where I wrote the story that became my first professional sale in 1990. Short stories are, for me, the ideal vehicle for growing as a writer. They demand rigorous attention to clarity of language and viewpoint, a streamlined metaphor system, and the precise selection of the moments necessary to create a specific experience. Novels demand, as far as I've learned, rigorous attention to structure and control of scope, along with a particular layering of action and metaphor that creates a density of experience for the characters and the reader. I'm biased toward the notion that character, language and scene are the foundation for all work of whatever length, and it made sense to me to practice these skills in short stories for a long time until I felt able to begin a novel.

I do have an agent, and I do think she is essential to my ability to publish professionally. Many publishers nowadays won't accept unagented submissions, and negotiations are much easier with an intermediary, especially someone with experience who can explain to a writer why certain contractual points are or are not flexible. I think a writer's success depends in part on building a professional team that includes a solid and honest relationship with an agent. I trust my agent to know the publishing landscape, and to have (or be willing to build) good working relationships with the editors I want to do business with. I trust her to give me her honest perspective of where my work fits into the market, and how I can improve my chances of reaching my goals. But I think it's a mistake for a writer to expect an agent to provide the goals: I have to know where I want to go, and it's her job to help me get there.

I didn't choose HarperCollins, as it happens. I originally sold the book to Avon, which was later acquired by HarperCollins.

Here's the story. My agent shopped Solitaire to all the major SF imprints, all of which rejected it. Then Jennifer Brehl created the Eos imprint at Avon Books. In 1996, my partner (novelist Nicola Griffith) and I were both nominated for Nebula Awards. Jennifer came to the Nebula ceremony to represent Eos, and arranged to have dinner with us because Nicola had just sold a book to a different division at Avon. During dinner, Jennifer asked if I was working on a novel, and then asked to see it. "Well, Avon already turned it down," I said. "Well," she answered, "I haven't seen it."

This was the first time I understood that, practically speaking, one doesn't sell to a publisher: one sells to an editor, whose savvy and ability are integral to the fate of the book. I've seen firsthand that successful publication is a complex process which relies more on the skills of the individual editor, publicist, marketing and sales folk than it does on the reputation of the publishing house, or the quality of the book itself. I've been extremely fortunate to have a creative, effective team of people at HarperCollins work on my book, and the result is that although Solitaire is classified as genre fiction from a genre imprint, it has already been more of a publishing success than some novels from so-called literary imprints. This isn't because it's a better book, or because I'm better known: it's because the people in my corner of HarperCollins have an effective working process, and have been willing to include me in it. The publisher's reputation does make some difference, particularly getting review attention for the book, but that comes later. Without the leadership of a good editor, the best book in the world from the most prestigious imprint can still sink without a trace.

Cindy: What do you think is the most important thing for a writer starting out to know? What should they avoid?

Kelley: I think a writer starting out needs to know that writing and publishing are different, and there are things to learn about both. About writing, I would say: you have to do the work. It's not magic. About publishing, I would say: play nicely and act like a grownup. Learn professional courtesy and then practice it.

The thing that's been important for me is learning to love the process of writing. When I started out, I found little to love about actually doing the work. It was almost purely frustrating. Where was the magic glow I was supposed to be experiencing? Part of the problem was that I didn't know as much about writing as I do now, so I didn't have the same access to skills or ideas, or the same ability to look at a piece of work and understand what might be wrong with it, or how to make it better. Writing is a "practical" art in the literal sense--it takes a lot of practice to acquire both artistry and craft. This means that there's usually a floundering stage that writers go through, where they are trying to acquire skills without having a clear notion of what all those skills are. The more colloquial way to express this is that most people have to write a lot of crap before they are able to write consistent quality prose on demand (which is part of my definition of an expert writer).

I spent many years hating to write, and loving "having written." This is workable when one is writing short fiction, but became (at least for me) unbearable when I started the novel. So I had to learn to love the process as well as the result. That began to happen when I was able to say to myself, "This is not a race. I do not have to beat anybody to any finish line." Instead, I found myself consciously striving to learn, and to do the best writing of which I was capable. That's when I started having those wonderful moments that Stephen King describes (in Misery) as "falling down the rabbit hole." It's also when I realized that the 15,000 words of the novel I had written in the previous year were utter garbage, and that I had to throw them away. That was a lesson in patience, which is also my final piece of advice: impatience is not your friend, either in writing or in publishing. You will be engaged with the process for much more of your life than you are engaged with the result. Plan accordingly.

Cindy: What are you working on now? What are your future projects?

Kelley: I'm researching and outlining my next novel, which I'm not ready to discuss in public, except to say that it's not a sequel to Solitaire. I have ideas for short fiction and other novels. I think it's safe to say that, given time, I will wander all over the literary landscape into all sorts of genres. I sincerely hope that readers will be willing to wander with me.

Cindy: How do you feel about promotion? Are you into self promoting your work, and do you feel it's important for a writer?

Kelley: I have ambivalent feelings about promotion. I think it's unrealistic to believe that a writer can simply deliver regular bursts of brilliant prose into the hands of publishers and then sit back and watch the magic happen. This is not, in my experience, how it works. However, I think many writers choose impractical or, even worse, counterproductive ways to spend their promotional energy. Now that Solitaire is out in the world, I'm thinking a lot about what the goal of promotion is, and how I can best contribute.

I don't think I serve myself or my writing by giving away bookmarks or mailing promotional postcards to the entire membership of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. I go to conventions to meet people and drink in the bar, but I don't do panels--I find them unsatisfying at best, and stupidly competitive at worst. This is partly my problem--I don't like to fight for attention--and partly a function of the general panel format, which encourages people to take positions rather than hold conversations.

At baseline, hammering the world with the message, "Buy Solitaire!" isn't terribly effective. Nor is the message, "I'm Kelley Eskridge and I wrote a book." Who cares? It's more useful, and more interesting, to build two mutually supportive systems: first, a network of positive professional relationships, and second, a multi-layered connection with readers. Both of these activities are essentially about establishing an identity. Every professional interaction I have--with my agent, my publishing team, other writers, reviewers, media, etc.--contributes to my professional image. Am I easy to work with? Do I understand the business, or show that I'm able to learn what I don't know? Am I involved without being disruptive? Do I stick up for what's important to me? Do I know who I am as a writer, and where I want to go? Do I make it easy to know me? I don't think writers always realize how important this is--in business, people work more effectively with people they know, and publishing is no different.

The same dynamic is true, I believe, for readers. I can't count the number of times that I've read an interview or profile, or heard someone on the radio, and thought, "Hmm, that person is pretty interesting. I should find their book." Because I have a sense of the person, I'm a little more willing to audition their work. So I think it's vital for me to find as many ways as possible to interact and connect with readers. Readings are a wonderful opportunity, as are interviews. I also think writers should have active websites, talk to reading groups, meet booksellers, accept praise and criticism gracefully, and write thank you notes to people who help.

And that's essentially what I do to promote my work: I write the best fiction I can, and then I make it as easy as possible for people to welcome it into their publishing house, their magazine, or their bookshelf.

I said earlier that impatience is not a writer's friend, and that's never more true than in this case. Building these kinds of relationships does not happen immediately, and it's never finished. It's a process, much like the writing itself.

Cindy: When you're not writing, what is it you most enjoy doing?

Kelley: Eating, drinking, and talking with interesting people (preferably in combination). Music. Reading. Learning. Dancing. Watching Firefly, Buffy and The Sopranos. Catching all the moments of joy that I can.

Cindy: What is the most invaluable reference you own?

Kelley: My internet access account, my library card, and my willingness to listen and learn. With these, I can get any information I need.

Cindy: Do you listen to music or TV while you write, or do you need complete silence?

Kelley: Music helps me enormously. I will work in silence when I get on a roll and forget to play something, but in general I prefer to work with the headphones on and music I know well. Unfamiliar music would be very distracting for me. As for trying to combine TV and writing--oh, the horror.

Cindy: What aspect of your book do you feel is the most likely to actually happen?

Kelley: I wasn't trying to predict, but to extrapolate, so most of the important aspects are already underway, even if only in fledgling form: the move toward consolidated government and the corresponding loss of cultural markers such as currency; the beginnings of coalition among disparate terrorist groups fueled by a common desire for cultural separatism; increasing realism in virtual reality experiences; growing emphasis on organizational dynamics and managerial skills in corporations.

Cindy: If someone were to describe you in one word, what would you like that word to be?

Kelley: If you've read this far, surely you can't imagine I would pick only one word <grin>. I'm not sure there's a single word for how I'd like to be perceived, but the closest I can think of is big. I work hard to have big joy, big goals, big dreams. I try to live large. This doesn't mean being the loudest or the flashiest or the most important person in the room--that's not what I think of as big. To be big means to be as much of myself as I possibly can be, as often as I can. To be present and engaged in my life. To be as brave as I can in my life and my work. I am not always joyful, but I am always ready for joy, and I often find it. I wish there was a word for that.

Cindy: What would you like to accomplish as an author?

Kelley: To write stories that make me and the reader feel big feelings: hope, grief, love, joy, exultation. To do it with grace and authority and exuberance. To do it better every time.

Meghan Brunner is the author of From the Ashes, a magical tale that opens the door into a world few authors have focused on -- the Renaissance Faire. Now available through all major online book stores, this first book in the Pendragon Faire series will please anyone who has wondered about the true soul of the faires. For more information, and to get a glimpse at some lovely art, visit http://www.faire-folk.com/ .

Cindy: Please give us a synopsis of your book?

Meghan: From the Ashes is the story of those who call Pendragon Renaissance Faire home -the faire-folk who live there for two months before moving on, the Fair Folk who never leave, are rarely seen, but whose presence is undeniable...

And - Magick.

Magick is just a part of life at Pendragon. It can be as common and comfortable as an armchair, as rare and beautiful as a shooting star, and as powerful and deadly as a black hole.

The first central character is Ryna, who has lived within this Magick since childhood. She and her family are modern-day Gypsies, traveling across the country from faire to faire, earning a living and making a life. For them, “real life” and faire life blend together as they personify their nomadic lifestyle as Gypsies within the Renaissance world.

Most faire participants do not live such an integrated existence. For them, faire happens but 15 days of the year, and for those 15 days, it’s a party. For some, the party involves catching up with friends who are as close as family and escaping the mundane world. For Liam, it’s a chance to exercise a power that is not truly his. As a member of the Village Militia, he portrays the law, and he employs this illusion to prey upon the yearly batch of new entertainers who are dazzled by the brightness of the faire and his apparent gallantry.

Within the ranks of these rookies shines Bea, the younger sister of a veteran
“rennie” who has pulled her into this enchanting world. Just out of college, she’s struggling to find the moon, the stars, and a sense of belonging.

Ashes follows their hopes, their loves, and their struggle to deal with powers far greater - far older - than themselves.

Cindy: Tell us what you went through to get published? Why did you choose to go with 1stbooks? Would you suggest 1stbooks to anyone else?

Meghan: I went through a lot of rejection slips - I think every author does that.

I chose 1stBooks because it allowed me the greatest amount of artistic control. It’s been a learning experience getting to that end product, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that it’s MY story. I can take advice… just not when it comes tagged with “you’ll do it because we’re the ones publishing your book and we say so.”
I would suggest that anyone considering 1stBooks take a few precautions to avoid the pitfalls that snagged me:

1- Edit a hard copy. Keep making new ones and editing them until you can’t find a single thing wrong. Get some friends to help, if possible. Make sure you have it absolutely, positively the way you want it. The 1stBooks corrections department (at least, in my experience) tends to make some changes, not make others, and randomly insert problems that weren’t there before. I went through ten galleys. Enough said. Beyond that, there are corrections fees and the wait time for the next galley - neither of which is pretty.

2-Find your own cover artist. I requested the cover artists at 1stBooks to make one with a phoenix flying from a campfire towards a full moon. They got the campfire and the moon right, but somehow confused a mythological bird of flame with game fowl and I wound up with a very scared-looking PHEASANT instead. It took up half the cover - and there was no mistaking it for anything other than a pheasant. I think I would’ve been more horrified if I could’ve stopped giggling. Palidyn, my interior artist, was kind enough to save me from the horror of prairie game and designed the beautiful one that is now on my book - but even so, it took some fussing to get the title and byline where I wanted them.

3- Maintain a sense of humor and a large stockpile of chocolate. You’ll need both.
Still, I’d go with them again, unless (obviously) someone made me a better offer. I think now that I know what not to do, the next book will go much more smoothly.

Cindy: Why did you choose to become a writer? Who are your influences?

Meghan: I think I had as much choice in the matter as I did in my eye color - I can put in colored contacts and pretend to be something else, but that doesn’t change what’s underneath. Even if I never touched another pen or keyboard, I would always be a writer.

As to influences… my family always encouraged my storytelling habit, and I’ve been lucky to have many school teachers who also gave me that extra nudge. My friends are simultaneously merciless and wonderful.

So far as literary influences go, it’s hard to say. I learn from everything I read, even if it’s what NOT to do. People always underestimate the importance of a bad example.

Cindy: Do you plan to return to the world of the Pendragon Faire? What other projects are you working on?

Meghan: In its first draft, Ashes was a stand-alone book. My muse had a thing or two to say about that, and suddenly I had a trilogy on my hands. And then the trilogy became a series. I’m trying to avoid “epic,” but I’m not sure how much say I’m going to get. I only do what the little voices tell me to.

I’m currently working on the sequel to Ashes, Into the Storm. It and the third book, Toward the Fates will be set at Pendragon as well, though further books in the series will take place at other faires and highlight other of the Gypsies as the main characters.

Cindy: What is it about the Faires that inspired you to write this book?

Meghan: A few things, really. Partly it’s that a lot of people have misconceptions about the people who work Faires/Festivals - that we’re there for the drugs, the sex, the money, and the booze. We’re not. We’re there for the family. For the knowledge that we’ve made a memory someone might carry for years. I wanted to show people Faire’s soul.

The intensity of working a year at Faire has always fascinated me. You’re pushing yourself to the limit, both physically and emotionally. It seems that nothing is by halves - things are either fantastic or unbearable. So much happens in seven short weeks. How could you not write a book about it? But no one has.

Seriously, though, I didn’t do it to be unique. I did it for love of the subject. I want everyone else to - if not fall in love with it themselves, at least understand its beauty, maybe take away a scene or two that made them smile.

Cindy: What do you want to accomplish as a writer? What is one word that you would want people to use in connection with you as a writer?

Meghan: The same thing I want to accomplish in a day at Faire: I want to make a memory, touch someone’s heart. I want someone who is in need of a kindred spirit to read my book and know they’re not alone.

One word? Magick. If I have enough power in my words to make people believe - that’s enough for me.

Meghan: Who is Palidyn? Tell us about how his art works with your writing?
How does it work? Beautifully. I’d known the man eight years (this life anyway) and had no idea he could draw until we were at an engagement party at a pub one night and I caught him “doodling” on his placemat. I put “doodling” in quotes because I would be hard-pressed to match it on one of my better days. I asked if he’d ever considered doing interior art for a book.

“What book?” he asked.

“Mine.”

“Oh, all right then.”

I’m still a little stunned that he said yes - he had no idea what it was about.

Anyhow, I sent him a copy, he read it through a couple times, and presented me with a couple sketches he warned me were “quickies, and not that good.” And suddenly I was staring into my characters’ eyes. I can’t express just how surreal - how incredible - that was. I literally forgot to breathe, and the most intelligent comment I could make was something on the order of “Ah…ba…bub…uh…”

I wouldn’t trade him for anybody. He pulls the pictures right out of my mind. Even when I’m not sure I have a picture in my mind, I’ll suddenly find it looking back at me. Just looking at his art makes me want to go out and write more.

Cindy: What is the most important thing for a writer to possess?

Meghan: Friends. A fantastic imagination and an eye for detail doesn’t save you when writer’s block hits. It’s hard to have faith and be persistent when you get your billionth rejection slip.

Friends can kidnap you, cheer you up, tell you you’re wonderful - or, in the case of the four-legged variety, sit on the rejection slips so you don’t have to see them.

Cindy: When you're not writing, what do you like to do?

Meghan: I like to buy a hundred of those shiny foil balloons and hand them out to random kids - or would like to, rather. I’m not rich enough yet. Maybe someday.
In the meantime, there’s Faire. And preparing for Faire. Those are the no-brainers.
I’m fond of all varieties of craft-like things - if you can make it with your hands, I’ve probably tried it once. I’m beyond fond of music. I like to dance - mostly in the privacy of my living room. I like to drive at night in a thunderstorm with some Loreena McKennitt on the stereo. I like the theatre - visiting it and working it, though I don’t get to do nearly enough of either, alas.

And, of course, travel. There’s a reason my main characters are Gypsies.

Cindy: Will you be working the ren this year?

Meghan: I think the only thing that could keep me out would be a pair of cement shoes and a really deep river. And even that’s not a guarantee.

For more information and a peek at some of the pictures Paladun has drawn, please check out http://www.faire-folk.com/

copyright Cindy L. Speer

An Interview with Janice Cullum Hodghead
Conducted By Cindy Lynn Speer,
Gotta Write Network Online Fantasy Editor

Janice Cullum Hodghead is the author of Lyskarion: The Song of the Wind, the first book in a series. She is one of the rare writers to have managed the feat of being published by the first publisher she submitted to, a feat that proves both her talent and her good fortune. Janice has also recieved many positive reviews from places such as Booklist. The reviews I read all agree that Janice is a compelling writer who has created a world they are eager to see more of. Below is my recent interview with her. Enjoy!

Cindy: Please tell us about your book?

Janice: Lyskarion: The Song of the Wind, the first of the Chronicles of the Karionin, is a fantasy novel set in an alternate universe on a world called Tamar. Magic, or at least mental powers, work. Tamar is not a primitive place, however. Medicine and the biological sciences are as advanced as they are on our world today. Most of the rest of the technology is at about the level of Earth during the Napoleonic Era. And, like Earth during the time of Napoleon, Tamar is moving toward its first world war. There are six native races, all shapechangers, and three races that have come to Tamar at various times through different world gates, including mankind. This gives me plenty of scope for discrimination. There are also five gods, who also have major disagreements about the future of Tamar. Therefore, there is religious, as well as racial conflict.

My major characters throughout the Chronicles of the Karionin are wizards, those capable of using mental powers to alter reality. Most of them are members of an organization called the Varfarin, "the Open Roads," which was inspired by the god Jehan and is dedicated to bringing peace. Lyskarion is centered around the Errin Yar Anifi and Elise Adun, the two characters who are destined to eventually control the living crystal called Lyskarion. Coming from widely different backgrounds, they must overcome their fears and their differences before they can link their minds. It also introduces Jerevan Rayne, the nobleman who didn't want to be a wizard. His talent was so great, however, that the head of the Varfarin placed a curse on him that could not be broken unless he studied wizardry and broke it himself.

Cindy: Describe for us the interesting world you created, and how it came about?

Janice: The original concept of creating my own world came after reading King Kull by Robert E. Howard. I think I was eight or nine at the time. I was annoyed that he made his snake people all evil. I like snakes. I started imagining a world with shapechangers that were no more good, or evil, than human beings. The snakes eventually became lizards and the isklarin were born. I read The Lord of the Rings when I was in high school and my world got very Tolkienized for a time. Eskh, the high tongue, is the major surviving contribution from that period. The mole folk, the eagle folk and the dolphin folk were added when I wanted people to inhabit all the elements: earth, air and water. I never could figure out fire, however. The bears and tigers came later. The bears to inhabit the cold regions and the tigers for the tropics. It's hard to remember just how I put it all together. I had huge sheets of cardboard and drew the continents in pencil. However, when ! I moved out of the Bay Area in 1989, I could no longer access San Jose Blueprint to break out pieces of my map. Therefore, when Lyskarion was purchased by Edge I decided to computerize my world and bought 3D Nature's World Construction Set. I eventually want to have the whole world virtualized on the computer. Then I'll have the image of Tamar rotating on my web site. Of course, I'll need to upgrade my computer again to achieve that. I'm almost out of memory now. Graphics files take up space.

World building is fun, if you're into it. I also have over 5,000 years of timeline developed. But the great thing about creating your own world history is that, if you want to change something to prove a point, presto chango and it's done.

Cindy: Who are the living crystals? What are their function, and how did you come up with the concept of them?

Janice: Eight living crystals, the karionin, were created during the Age of Wizards. Their function is to link and augment the power of a pair of wizards. In such a linkage much more power is available than any wizard could realize alone. In addition to augmenting power, they also act as storage for information and patterns. They can, for instance, store entire cellular blueprints down to the DNA. Their creation was inspired by the god Jehan.

As for what inspired me with the concept for them, I think they probably come from a combination of computer chips and Marion Zimmer Bradley's matrix crystals. For a more detailed history, read the poem "Il Karionin: The Living Crystals," from my website: tamar.port5.com.

Cindy: I was studying the map of your world at your website - could you please tell us about mapping? How do you decide where the cities, the bodies of water go? Did you use any certain type of software, and would you recommend it to another writer? How did you come up with place names? Why did you choose to include such detailed maps on your site?

Janice: The original concept for the Thallassean Sea, a closed, inland sea with only one exit, was based on the Mediterranean, but oriented north/south instead of east/west across my major continent. I'm not an artist and I wanted a detailed map which would give me accurate estimates of distance, and so forth. Therefore, I purchased a copy of the 3D Nature's World Construction Set and virtually constructed it in detail. If you've been to my site, you know that the detail was good enough you can actually see some of the places in the novel, such as the cove. Now, if I want to know the distance between two points in my world, I can get an exact measurement. This helps in figuring out the time it takes to get from place to place, if I know the speed of whatever form of transport I'm using. Even in fantasy, I feel a certain degree of reality helps to make the story more real, both to me and the reader.

As to whether or not I'd recommend the World Construction Set to someone else, I think that would depend on how fascinated they are by computer programs of that nature. To me, world building is play as well as work and I love computers.
Place names are easy if you have a good atlas. Just take the names of small towns in parts of the world you want to give the feeling of, and change a letter or two, or, if the town is really obscure, just use it. Historical atlases are useful too.

Cindy: Are all three of your books in the series finished? When will the other two be coming out?

Janice: The second one is almost finished. The third was actually the first to be written. It will need some revision, but it is complete otherwise. As to when either of them will come out, that isn't under my control.

Cindy: What are you working on now? Do you plan to return to the world of Tamar? Are you considering something unrelated?

Janice: When I've finished "Cinkarion: The Heart of Fire," I'll be working on an unrelated book, an alternate Earth much like our world today, but where dragons have survived as an endangered species. Whether I return to Tamar and complete the "Chronicles of the Karionin," depends on the reaction to the first three. "Vyrkarion: The Talisiman of Anor" is the third book and it does have a definite ending with no cliff hanger. If the first three do well, I will certainly finish the series. I do have fragments written and the whole series fairly well outlined.

Cindy: What are you trying to accomplish as a writer? What is the one word you would like to see critics and biographers use to describe you as a writer?

Janice: First of all, I write to entertain myself. I was writing bits and pieces and constructing worlds long before I actually sat down and wrote my first novel. But I suppose I also see fantasy as moral tales. Tolkien wrote "The Lord of the Rings" against the background of the Second World War. If ever there was a time for Manichean philosophy, that was it. However, too many of his imitators have adopted the Manicheanism of his universe along with his elves. I personally do not approve of Manicheanism in relation to our current political situation. Our world has grown too small and our problems are much too complex to encourage the belief that the world is a battleground between good and evil. It is too easy then to say that different equals evil. The reviewer for Booklist said I had a conscience. That pleased me very much.

Cindy: What do you do in your spare time?

Janice: I read omnivorously. I have an herb and vegetable garden and I'm trying to convert my whole front yard into an herb and flower rock garden. Any other spare time I may have I use exercising the horses of friends. I can't afford to keep a horse of my own.

Cindy: Who do you consider your greatest influence? Who do you read now?

Janice: Different writers have influenced me at different times. I love Kipling and grew up on the Just So Stories and the Jungle Tales. I read Tolkien when I was in high school. I'm sure The Lord of the Rings had a strong influence on everyone with any ambition to write fantasy. I never had crushes on actors, but I did have them for literary characters. My first was Simon Templar, The Saint, when I was eleven or twelve. Then I fell for Dorothy Sayers' Peter Whimsey. I still have strong feelings for Dorothy Dunnett's Francis Crawford of Lymond from the Chronicles of Lymond. I discovered him when I was about nineteen. The detail Dunnett puts into describing her historical world has also influenced my writing. I am essentially too lazy, however, to do historical novels. It takes too much research to do them well and history doesn't lend itself to proving your points. Moreover, I hate it when writers rewrite history to make it fit thei! r novels. That's cheating. With a fantasy world, you can make the history prove any point you want.

There is something about the prose of writers who are also artists. The novels that have most affected me recently are by Janny Wurts who, like Dorothy Dunnett, creates pictures with paint as well as words. I am anxiously awaiting the conclusion of the Mistwraith series and Arithon is coming to rival even Francis Crawford.

Cindy: Could you tell us a bit about your career? How did you get started? What was your first break? How did you land your current publisher? Have you any other published credits?

Janice: I used to travel around the country working for temp agencies. I've been a computer programmer, a legal secretary and even sold encyclopedias door to door in Louisiana. I always wanted to write and took all the usual creative writing courses in college, but other than fragments I never really put anything together. Then I helped a friend when she wanted to put together a murder mystery. She was a published writer, but her published credits were cookbooks. Still, the experience showed me how to actually put a full novel together and I decided that I could do that for myself. My daughter saw an ad on the Internet when I was most of the way through with Lyskarion. Edge was Riverbend Press at that time. I submitted my first few chapters. When they asked for the rest, I finished it in just over a month and sent it off. That was back in 1997. It was my first submission of Lyskarion, and my first break. I have no other published credits as yet.

Lyskarion: The Song of the Wind is available from Edge (http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/lyskarion/ly-catalog.html ), and was published in November 2001. You can also visit her website for more information, http://tamar.port5.com/ or check out her world maps at http://www.3dnature.com/artjh.html .