INTRODUCTION: 2011 has had some very successful nostalgia books like The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach which is a top 10 Amazon pick for example or Ready Player One by Ernest Cline which was a NYT bestseller and second pick in the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards.
As I grew up in a completely different culture, both the above books left me utterly cold, but I will present you my nostalgia pick 0f 2011, "Wasted Morning" by Gabriela Adamesteanu which has just been published this year in English with a superb translation by Patrick Camiller.
"Upon its original publication in 1983, Wasted Morning catapulted Gabriela Adamesteanu to the first rank of Romanian novelists. She has since been translated into many languages, and now her most famous novel is available in English for the first time. At the center of Wasted Morning is Vica Delca, a simple, poor woman in her seventies who has endured the endless series of trials and tribulations that was Romanian history from WWI to the end of the twentieth century. She's a born storyteller, chatting and gossiping tirelessly. But she also listens, so it is through her that Adamesteanu is able to show us a panoramic portrait of Romanian society as the fortunes of its various strata shift violently. Rich or poor, honest (more or less) or deceitful, all of the characters in this polyphonic novel are brought vividly to life. From Bucharest's aspirations to be the Paris of Eastern Europe to the darkest days of dictatorship, the novel presents a sweeping vision of the personal and collective costs of a turbulent century."
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Wasted Morning" is a novel originally released in 1983-4 in communist Romania, so by necessity it was censored/self-censored, but as it quickly became one of the most important works of contemporary Romanian literature, it was reedited several times and while I am not entirely sure, I think the 2011 English translation is based on the definitive 4th edition included in the reissued author's complete works as volume 1, so with all the censored stuff reintroduced, etc.
Even censored and I was a bit surprised the novel was published in 1984 as it fails to do even the smallest bow to the regime, though I assume the harsher criticism was that "censored part". The novel fully deserves its status as is an excellent combination of psychological study and historical sweep. The book is divided into several parts: the first and last are taking place in an eventful day in the mid 1970's when Vica Delca, the simple poor woman in her seventies from the blurb, decides to brave the cold and ice of Bucharest to go visit first her relatives and then Yvonne a sixty-ish "good family lady", where Vica used to work for her formerly wealthy family and from whom she now receives a little monthly allotment, to maybe just get that a week in advance.
The middle part takes place in 1916 on the eve of the mid-August entrance of Romania in the Great War on the Entente part and later during the first euphoric and then soon catastrophic days of the war that led to the two year occupation of Bucharest by German troops in the fall of 1916 and features prominently Yvonne's family and many of the characters the two women talk/think about in their meeting.
If you have not grown up in Romania and want to understand it, this book offers a great primer, highlighting both the good and the bad - as one of the characters in the historical thread puts it, when Romanians want to say "hasty/poor/thoughtless work" they say "Romanian work" for example - so the utter corruption under the old - landed aristocracy and then bourgeois - and the new communist regime is presented unsparingly, but we also see the welcoming and generous character of the people and their sharp tongues but good private deeds. If you have grown in Romania but do not live there anymore, this will be a great nostalgic novel while also assuring one why it was a great idea to leave and settle somewhere else.
From a literary point of view, the book is a tour-de-force, alternating internal monologue which is quite uninhibited and sharp with the :real conversation" which is guarded and polite, while the historical part with its mosaic of characters and later first person narration offers a great contrast, showing how adept the author is at handling multiple and quite different viewpoints.
Overall, "Wasted Morning" (top 10 2011 book) is a superb and highly recommended novel and a literary masterpiece that deserves as wide an audience as possible.
12:01 AM | 
Posted by
Liviu |
For example, I read parts 3 and 1 in Kokoro in that order and I have to read only part 2 to finish it; I also read more than half from the huge Los Asesinos del Emperador novel and it goes a little slower as my Spanish is only so-so while the book is a little less compelling than the author's awesome Scipio Trilogy, while Alain Robbe Grillet's Topology of a Phantom City is a haunting short visual read that I slowly savor.
The books are a mix of old, new and upcoming, genre sff and associational, to historical fiction, to pure literary stuff like the Romanian language "Provizorat" of Gabriela Adamesteanu (which I would translate as "Temporary" or "Temporary State"), the posthumous Third Reich of Robert Bolano just out in English, or the classic 1914 Japanese tale Kokoro by Natsume Soseki.
Of course this is just a snapshot as new books of great interest come in, but I think that I will read most of the 24 titles above, while also noting that this is just the tip of my large reading pile of books I have, so especially books from new authors have to clear quite a high hurdle to be considered...
Three Indie Mini-Reviews: Child of the Ghosts, The Blood Gate and Wrath of The White Tigress (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)
Order Ruins Terra HERE
Order Ruins Metropolis HERE
Some years ago I stumbled upon the Ruins Anthology Series from Hadley Rille books. I bought the Ruins Extraterrestrial book and loved the short stories inside quite a lot, so I bought its companion piece Ruins Terra which I started and read maybe 10 stories overall from it, but for various reasons - most notably the fact that my interests/moods swing fast - I never finished, though I always planned to read more and in consequence I kept it through the major winnowing of my print library this past year for the move from New York to Ann Arbor.
The third anthology, Ruins Metropolis remained on my Amazon wish list all these years and I always planned to get it at some point especially given its awesome cover above. Imagine my delight yesterday when looking at that wish list for other reasons, I noticed that like with The Transylvanian Trilogy that I wanted for a long time but the print price was too high, the Ruins anthologies have been recently reissued in electronic form and at the unbelievable price of 99c each at least for now, which meant that buying all three was automatic as they are all together about the price of a B&N large coffee.
So I will finally get to read Ruins Metropolis and finish Ruins Terra soon, though of course as I do with most anthologies these days, I plan to intersperse the stories in-between novels. The print editions are still available, both new and used if you want to go that route.
Before presenting the contents for Ruins Terra and Ruins Metropolis and talking about Ruins Extraterrestrial which I read several years ago but a quick refresh reminded me why I loved it so much, I will note that all three ebooks are drm-free, so you can use Kindle-PC, download them there, get them from the Documents/My Kindle Content folder, rename them as say mobi or prc from the azw Amazon format and drop them into Calibre for a quick conversion to your format of choice, without needing to go through the de-drm dance Kindle books usually need.
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"We have long been fascinated with ruins. Even people who lived during ancient times were interested in the artifacts left by even more ancient cultures. Ruins hold so much mystery that even the best analysis can give only an impression of a long-vanished culture. Whether future ruins of Earth or those found on distant worlds, their artifacts are small pieces to larger puzzles that can never be absolutely complete. To study them we have to think beyond our present world experience. This is true of earthly ruins as well as those of non-human origin.
Cultures that evolved independently of us will have developed societies far beyond our imagination. And yet, that’s what carries us forward and motivates us to take those long trips across the void, confronting unknown obstacles in order to bring back knowledge from the remnants of a vanished civilization. How safe the visits will be will vary. Exploring alien ruins can be dangerous, both unintentionally on the part of those who left them, as well as by design. Some might still have a presence that can be triggered by the arrival of an unsuspecting archaeological team. Others will be completely dead."
Table of Contents: Ruins Extraterrestrial:
Introduction by Eric T. Reynolds
Stonework by Wendy Waring
Beyond the Wall by Justin Stanchfield
The Empty Utopia by Christopher McKitterick
Borrowed Time by Gustavo Bondoni
Charybdis by Sue Blalock
Introduction to the Findings of Team 150B-T.2U by Raiden Mesc Gerarti by Elizabeth Kate Switaj
The Dam by Harvey Welles and Philip Raines
The Fateful Voyage of Dame La Liberté by Lavie Tidhar
Memories by Robert B. Marcus, Jr.
Watcher in the Dark by Suanne Warr
Jigsaw by Douglas Smith
Heartcry by Willis Couvillier
When All Is Known by Cheryl McCreary
Red City by Rob Riel
Combustible Eden by Davin Ireland
The Price of Peace by Tristan S. Davenport
Song of the Child-Prophet by Jonathan Shipley
Flies by Paul L. Bates
Planetfall by Jack Hillman
Inheritance by Trent Walters
Inclusions by Camille Alexa
I, Fixit by Ted Stetson
Among the Shards of Heaven by Jennifer Crow
Looking back at the anthology I notice some familiar names that have become mainstays in the sff community since I've read the book, most notably Lavie Tidhar and Douglas Smith, while I also got and plan to soon read Christopher McKitterick's 2010 novel Transcendence.
The stories range from dark to humorous, from human perspective to alien one, from explorers from civilizations that are like ours, to explorers that come from strange cultures, from pure exploration to accidental findings and from peaceful settings to warlike ones. As they are only a few pages short, the stories feature usually only a few characters but almost always something interesting either happens or is discovered, so there are a few twists, great atmosphere and world building that is just exceptional given the few pages each author has to work with. There is even a two pages story where the place is the only character!
Overall I would say that Ruins Extraterrestrial (highly recommended) is the perfect place to start the exploration of this superb trio of anthologies.
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"Ruins have fascinated us for centuries. They provide a connection with the past, telling us about a culture no longer there, or of one that has moved on to new places.
In this book we present twenty-five stories and a poem about many kinds of human ruins from all over the world. You will find several genres represented including science fiction, fantasy, horror, gothic and mainstream. Each deals with how humans make sense of the ruins around them, whether natural or artificial.
Enjoy your travels into these fascinating realms of humanity."
Table of Contents: Ruins Terra
Introduction by Eric T. Reynolds
Rising Tide by Ann Walters
Icebound by Kate Kelly
The Moment of Glory by Brendan Connell
A Glint Through Smoke and Flame by Michael Merriam
Pilgrims by Ted Stetson
The Outdiggers by Jean-Michel Calvez
The Last King of Rona by Stefan Pearson
The Ruin by Skadi meic Beorh
Rock Visions by F.V. “Ed” Edwards
The Chamber of Azahn by Thomas Canfield
Maximum Entropy by Kfir Luzzatto
After the Stonehenge Bombing by Ivan Sun
Burrow by Joel Arnold
Python by Jenny Blackford
Seagull Inn by Adele Cosgrove-Bray
Clonehenge by Douglas A. Van Belle
It’s a Temple by Gareth Owens
The Guardians of Llarazan by Stoney M. Setzer
The Tour Guide by Angeline Hawkes
The Tomb by Leila Eadie
The Boy Who Found Atlantis by Jacqueline Seewald
In Every Place that I Am by Adrienne J. Odasso
Amazon Library by Lisa Fortuner
Moss Memoirs by Lancer Kind
Airholes by George Page
Rats in the Walls by Lyn McConchie
I read maybe ten stories in the print version years ago and read two in the ebook version I just got and like with Ruins Extraterrestrial, the stories are short but haunting and evocative.
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Editor Eric T. Reynolds comments on Ruins Metropolis in the introduction.
"The artwork jumped out at me and within a few seconds I decided I needed to go ahead with this new anthology. This one would have a twist Ruins Terra and Ruins Extraterrestrial didn’t: the stories in this volume would be based on the cover art.
So I put out the call for submissions along with an image of Debbie Hughes’s painting. The story guidelines for this anthology were: write a story based on this cover art and the woman in the image must be the protagonist."
Table Contents: Ruins Metropolis
Introduction by Eric T. Reynolds
Sumari’s Solitude by Alycia C. Cooke
The Amulet of Passages by Leslie Brown and Sarah Totton
In the Precinct of Amun-Re by Kate Kelly
The Eye of Re-Atum by Christine Poulsen
Carrying Keptara by R. F. Long
Seeker of the Dead by Gerri Leen
Veilsight by Camille Alexa
Panthanatos by Megan Arkenberg
Children of the City by Lyn McConchie
Mrs. Kelly’s Ghosts by Anna D. Allen
Kehmet’s Curse by Kari Livingston
When Love Dies by Jonathan Shipley
A Haunting in Giza by Brenta Blevins
Amulet by Jacqueline Seewald
Chamber of Illusions by H.F. Gibbard
The Deserted City by Victoria Kennedy
The Tomb of Setankan by Sarah Wagner
The Name and the Shadow by Gene Stewart
Old World Magic by Adele Cosgrove-Bray
The Great Sleep by Rob Rosen
End by Ahmed A. Khan
By the Pool of the Blue Lotus by Erin M. Hartshorn
The Final Goodbye by Heather Kuehl
The Librarian of Talimbourne by Kim Vandervort
Dancing on the Corpse of the World by Jude-Marie Green
Burning Stone by Stephen Graham King
In Search of Camanac by C. L. Holland
The Memory by Meg Swanton
The Return of the Queen by Jennifer Moore
Convergence by K. L. Townsend
City of the Dead by Barton Paul Levenson
Qui’s Contract by Ransom Noble
Goddess Reborn by Gianna Robbins
For Sale: One Gold (Plated) Eye of Horus by Chris Benton
Haroeris’s Favor by Willis Couvillier
I read so far three stories and they were all very good to excellent so I think this anthology is another winner!
First six titles which are either genre or have sff elements:
Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman
The Ruined City by Paula Brandon (aka Paula Volsky)
Grail of the Summer Stars by Freda Warrington
The Man Who Rained by Ali Shaw
The Treasure of Montezuma by William Dietrich
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
Here we have:
Sequel to the superb Half-Made World.
Sequel to the superb The Traitor's Daughter (and noting that Paula Brandon is a pseudonym for Paula Volsky and that some of her books from the 90's were big favorites of mine at the time, so no wonder I loved The Traitor's Daughter)
Another book from the "Elfland" series by Freda Warrington after the unexpectedly good Elfland and the superb Midsummer Night.
A new offering from Ali Shaw who debuted with the enchanting The Girl with Glass Feet.
Ethan Gage lately married and with a young son, somehow returns in another adventure (I guess by reader demand).
Nick Harkaway who debuted so brilliantly in The Gone-Away World, has another standalone I cannot miss!
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Six titles which are not really sff, but are still of great interest:
The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor
The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruis Zafon
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Satantango by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Mission to Paris by Alan Furst
Lehrter Station by David Downing
My favorite non-sff author of today brings Gordianus back to youth in seven short story adventures some ten years before his first novel outing, each taking place, well you guess where based on the title. I have already read three of the four that are out in various short fiction venues and they were all outstanding.
I have already talked a little about El Prisionero del Cielo, but the English translation is another asap with a full review on publication, while the sequel to the Booker winner Wolf Hall - now a second installment in a trilogy - will be out too in 2012.
Alan Furst and David Downing will have new WW II and about novels out, while Satantango is a very interesting sounding novel I plan to check out too!
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As the original list of titles go, so far I read A Rising Thunder which despite being a half of a bigger Honorverse installment and ending on the clear tbc:
“Interesting choice, don’t you think?”
has so many goodies in its relatively slim 400 odd pages as well as being the first novel to go into the unknown (for us long term fans, as Mission of Honor essentially dotted the i's and crossed the t's so to speak, while adding some new tidbits only) that it immediately shot to a "hard to displace" top 2012 sf novel for me. Full review in March for the publication date though an e-arc is available to buy at Baen/Webscriptions where you can also read the first 8 chapters for free.
I also read The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg and I plan to have the full review on January 3, but as a very short take, it was a great trilogy ending and will be a top 25 book of mine in 2012.
I sampled Guardian of Night by Tony Daniel from the Baen e-arc offering but it seems to be a standard "superior aliens vs humanity tale" so I will take a closer look on publication.
Just today I got an earc of The Great Game by Lavie Tidhar from Angry Robot and I plan to read it soon. Starts great.
Original List
“A Rising Thunder” by David Weber. Release Date: March 6, 2012. Published by Baen. (SF).
“Heir of Novron” by Michael J. Sullivan. Release Date: January 31, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN / Omnibus).
“The Daemon Prism” by Carol Berg. Release Date: January 3, 2012. Published by Roc. (FAN).
“Blue Remembered Earth” by Alastair Reynolds. UK Release Date: January 19, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (SF).
“In the Mouth of the Whale” by Paul McAuley. UK Release Date: January 19, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (SF).
“The Great Game” by Lavie Tidhar. Release Date: January 31, 2012. Published by Angry Robot. (Steampunk).
“2312” by Kim Stanley Robinson. Release Date: February 3, 2012. Published by Orbit. (SF).
“Throne of the Crescent Moon” by Saladin Ahmed. Release Date: February 7, 2012. Published by DAW. (FAN).
“Guardian of Night” by Tony Daniel. Release Date: February 7, 2012. Published by Baen. (SF).
“The Outcast Blade” by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Release Date: March 26, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN).
“Sharps” by KJ Parker. Release Date: July, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN).
“Caliban's War” by James S.A. Corey. Release Date: June, 2012. Published by Orbit. (SF).
“The Master of Heathcrest Hall” by Galen Beckett. Release Date: April, 2012. Published by Del Rey. (FAN).
“The King's Blood” by Daniel Abraham. Release Date: May, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN).
“The Night of the Swarm” by Robert V.S. Redick. UK Release Date: May, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (FAN).
“The Twelve” by Justin Cronin. UK Release Date: May, 2012. Published by Orion. (SF).
“Thousand Emperors” by Gary Gibson. UK Release Date: June, 2012. Published by Macmillan. (SF).
"No Going Back” by Mark L. Van Name. Release Date: May, 2012. Published by Baen. (SF)
“Weapons of Flowers” by Liz Williams. Release Date: June, 2012. Published by Prime (SF/FAN).
.“Caine’s Law” by Matthew Stover. Release Date: April, 2012. Published by Del Rey. (FAN)."
The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks (Orbit, Fall 2012, FAN)
The Eternal Flame by Greg Egan (Night Shade, Summer 2012, SF)
Black Opera by Mary Gentle (Gollancz, Summer 2012, SF/FAN)
Jack Glass by Adam Roberts (Gollancz, Summer 2012, SF)
The Coldest War by Ian Tregilis ( Tor, Summer 2012, SF/FAN)
The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Macmillan, summer 2012, FAN)
The 6th Safehold Novel by David Weber (Tor, Fall 2012, SF)
Cold Steel by Kate Elliott (Orbit, Fall 2012, FAN)
The 3rd Thomas Cale Novel by Paul Hoffman (Dutton, SF/FAN)
The 4th Red Sun Novel by Mark Newton (Macmillan, FAN)
Queen's Hunt by Beth Bernobich (Tor, Summer 2012, FAN)
Black Bottle by Anthony Huso (Tor, Summer 2012, FAN)
Great North Road by Peter Hamilton (Macmillan, Fall 2012, SF)
The Complete Sea Beggars Series by Paul Kearney (see this post on dropped series, Solaris, Fall 2012, FAN)
Read my review of The Better Part of Darkness
Read my review of The Darkest Edge of Dawn
Read FBC review of The Hour of Dust and Ashes
Kelly Gay is an urban fantasy writer to whom I was introduced earlier this year. Her books were an interesting read as they showcased some of the best urban fantasy fare mixed with good characterization. I was curious to know more about her plans for her series, her writing style and her interests, read ahead to know more about Kelly's thoughts on the aforementioned topics. My thanks to Kelly for being so considerate and for agreeing for this interview midst her hectic schedule.
Q: Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic. To start with, could you tell us what inspired you to be a writer , what experience you went through in finding a publisher, how you ended up with Pocket, and anything else you’d like to share about yourself?
Kelly: Thanks for the welcome!
Hmm, let’s see… Well, honestly, I have no idea where the inspiration comes from, or why I’m compelled to make things up. I’ve been inspired to tell stories since before I could remember (so say my parents who recorded me on cassette tapes making up wild tales as a toddler). The need to delve into make-believe never went away, and by the time high school rolled around and college, careers, and the future came into play, I just always knew I wanted to have a career in writing. I remember reading Anne Rice in class, thinking, “God, I want to do this too. I can do this.”
At first I focused on plays and screenplays, but gradually switched over to fiction. And so began a long process of about fifteen years wherein I went from one job to another while writing, submitting, and getting rejected over and over and over again. In 2008, I landed my second agent and one of the places she submitted to was Pocket and I’ve been with them ever since.
Q: Could you explain how the genesis of the Charlie Madigan series occurred? How long have you been working on it and how much has it evolved from its original idea (if any)?
Kelly: Charlie came to me back in 2005/2006 as this full blown 31 yr old single mom with a complex personal life, and a stable job set within an alternate version of our world. Typical of her, I guess, to just show up ready to go like that! I gave a lot of consideration to the typical UF heroine tropes, and wondered if readers would be open to something a bit different, an older heroine, who already knows who she is, has been married and divorced, has a child, and has a stable background. I decided to go for it. I couldn’t let go of the idea of mother protecting her young, and how awesome that would be to see in a kick-ass UF heroine. To me, it made the entire venture more exciting and gave me so much to work with.
Charlie has definitely evolved since the first book, but this has been the idea from the very beginning. I wanted to start her out with still a few things to learn; a few things she needs to come to terms with and change about herself. I think it’s easy, especially as a person ages, to sink into habits and patterns without even realizing it. And that’s what’s happened with Charlie, and through the series, she realizes some things she’s been doing that aren’t so great. I wanted that to be very real, a natural progression of personal realization/growth.
Q: When you first began writing "The better part of Darkness" did you plan it to be the first book in the series or was it a standalone in which you saw further possibilities?
Kelly: Yes, definitely first book in a series. At first, I envisioned a trilogy and had a faint idea in my head about how the overall story arc would go. (It was all very vague at the time and didn’t turn out anything like I imagined it would!)
Q: In regards to book & series titles, whilst most series have a certain naming pattern like the Magic Series by Ilona Andrews or the Western movie titles for the Hollows series by Kim Harrison, yours doesn’t have a series title yet and had a pattern with the first two books but wasn’t the case with the third, why do you think this is so?
Kelly: For titles, I was okay with leaving the word ‘dark’ (and all its variations) behind after the first two books (that’s not to say that if it works in a subsequent title I wouldn’t use it). Our goal with each title is just to try and keep the same, or close to the same, syllables, rhythm, and evoke the same kind of tone the series evokes as a whole. And, of course, to bring some of the story out in the titles.
We’ve never officially named the series and just refer to the books as the Charlie Madigan Series or the Charlie Madigan Books. Which is okay with me. I don’t feel like they have to have a certain name. Before the second book, there was some talk about naming the series, but it never really went beyond that. I think everyone - me, my editor, and publisher - is cool with just having Charlie front and center as a series name.
Q: What was the reason/s for you choosing Atlanta as the primary setting for the books? And will you be exploring the world beyond the city in future volumes?
Kelly: Atlanta was chosen because I wanted a hot, southern city large enough to support a large population of off-worlders. The fact that there is an actual Underground sealed the deal because I was able to transform that into a new, expanded neighborhood for the beings from other worlds.
I plan to explore more of the worlds beyond Atlanta, for sure. A large chunk of the fourth book, SHADOWS BEFORE THE SUN, which comes out next July, takes place in Elysia. And I’d like to explore more of all three worlds in the future.
Q: Who are your literary idols and while growing up what books did you read which made you such an avid reader?
Kelly: Walter Farley, Tolkien, Mary Stewart, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne Rice. THE MISTS OF AVALON, an INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE really stuck with me, and made such an impact during my teenage years. THE BLACK STALLION was a huge one for me as a kid… and all those Time Life books on ancient civilizations… Good stuff. I still have those, actually. And Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy…
Q: You have a YA fantasy series under the name of Kelly Keaton of which the first book is out, could you tell us about it as well as what other ideas/books you would like to write about in the future
Kelly: The title is DARKNESS BECOMES HER and its set in a creepy version of New Orleans, which has been abandoned by the United States and sold to a private entity known as the Novem. Fast forward 13 years later where my character, Ari, enters the city searching for clues about her past and embroiling her in an ages-long war between the gods and the monsters they created. The sequel, A BEAUTIFUL EVIL comes out in Feb, 2012.
I just finished up the fourth Charlie Madigan novel, and that was the last book in my contract. So the future is wide open right now. I’d like to write more Charlie, but that depends on my publisher. I can say that I’ve been itching to write a book about Pendaran, the Druid King (a character in the Charlie books) and will probably do so regardless – he’s a fascinating character and has a story to tell...
Q: Both your series have strong female protagonists. Was it by choice or just an aspect of your writing which suited the story to be seen through a female perspective?
Kelly: A bit of both. I seem drawn to the strong female archetype, to heroes and warriors, whether they be actual warriors or warriors at heart. There is the nobility and honor factor, the sacrifices made, the ‘take no prisoners’ attitude, and all the things within that character’s life that made them this way or that propels them to keep fighting, and to keep fighting when all is lost. It’s funny because even in gaming, I always end up picking the warrior classes, always want to be the tank and jump in swinging. I’ll give other classes a try, but it never feels right, and I always go back to the warriors and physical fighters…
Q: It has been mentioned that you love ancient history, mythology & pre-Raphaelite art, I share a couple of those interests with you. What specific areas in history and mythology have you besotted?
Kelly: Oh, yes, a huge lover of all things ancient – Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Celtic. I also love the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages…. But those first four have had me enthralled since I was a kid.
Q: All three titles in the Charlie Madigan series are written in the first-person which is very common for urban fantasy novels. Why do you think this is and what do you feel are the differences between first-person and third-person narratives?
Kelly: Well, I think first person really gives a reader deep access to a particular character; it can really grab you and feel very immediate, right in the thoughts and actions... And it works well in UF because it’s all about the main character’s journey, so seeing everything through their eyes fits very well.
There are limitations, though, which makes third person very attractive because you can get inside the heads of multiple characters if you want and you can tell a story from a more omniscient POV. In the fourth Charlie book, I wrote some scenes from Charlie’s partner, Hank’s POV– in third person. I had so much fun with it and it was nice for me, and hopefully for readers, to get a peek inside of Hank’s head during a very traumatic time in his life. In this case, I felt in was necessary to the plot and character development to allow a few scenes of Hank to be shown through his eyes.
Q: You have this fascinating concept of twin worlds which have opened up to Earth and its denizens, the names Elysia & Charybdon seem to be very similar to certain Greek mythological terms, was that the case?
Kelly: Yes! I can’t help it; the Greek influence is strong in me…
Q: You currently have two vastly different series ongoing, how do you go about writing them [do you delineate different time periods for writing them or do you write depending on how you feel each day] could you explain your writing methods? And particularly about the discipline required to produce 2 books an year!
Kelly: There is no method to my madness. I’m terrible at delineating anything. I would love to work on whatever story I felt more creative about at the time, but I don’t manage my time well enough to do that. So I end up working on whatever book is coming due and it’s usually a mad dash to get to the finish line.
My actual writing method is all over the place. I write each book however it wants to be written. I can’t seem to write a story in the same way as far as plotting, outlining, writing-by-the-seat-of-my-pants... I’ve written scenes out of order, endings first, etc… Things are very cyclical with me. It used to be that I loved writing rough drafts and hated editing. Now I hate rough drafts with a passion and cannot wait to get to the editing stage. It’s always changing and it might sound schizo and chaotic, but my process (or lack thereof) works for me.
I often work on more than one project at once – usually rough drafting one while doing revisions or copy edits on another, which I don’t mind. Last year, my schedule ended up with me writing two rough drafts at the same time, both due within two weeks of each other. That wasn’t fun.
Q: Even though your series embraces a number of urban fantasy tropes, you also have made a rather strong effort to twist reader expectations and keep them entertained. What are your thoughts on these tropes in general and how did you decide what tropes you wanted to utilize and which you didn’t?
Kelly: I don’t really give too much thought to tropes or conventions when I’m working and creating; twisting things and doing the unexpected is more of a natural preference than conscious effort, if that make sense. I get a lot of satisfaction out of writing the unexpected, and bringing new things to the table in terms of world-building and characters. That’s what makes creating so much fun for me personally.
There are genre tropes and parameters, sure, and they help define the genre. I see tropes and tried-and-true genre conventions as basic spring-boards that can launch an idea into a gazillion different places. I think to compete in this genre, you have to make a trope/convention your own, you have to twist it in some new way, in order to grab readers and give them a reason to stick with you. There is a fine balance here though because (I think anyway) readers want something fresh and unique, but they love the genre, too, so they want to see this uniqueness happen within some familiar genre boundaries.
Q: In closing, what are you working on now and any parting words for your fans?
Kelly: I am working on . . . nothing - yay! :-) Revision notes for SHADOWS BEFORE THE SUN will be coming soon, so I’ll have those to contend with. Then, I’ll probably fool around with some ideas that have been on the back burner or start working on The Druid King.
Parting words to my readers? It’s difficult to put into words knowing the crazy ideas and stories that come out of my head actually entertain people. They actually care about the characters and the journey as much as I do. Knowing that is just about the coolest thing on earth. Having fans invested and engaged, supporting the series, and giving the books a chance—Gods, I love you, readers! Thank you! :-)
