Angela Slatter's Blog, page 47

Shadows & Tall Trees 7: Michael Wehunt

Michael Wehunt’s short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Electric Literature, The Dark, Year’s Best Weird Fiction, and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, among others. His debut fiction collection, Greener Pastures, was published in 2016. He lives in Atlanta with his partner and their pup. It is also said that he lives in the woods and online at www.michaelwehunt.com.

1. What inspired your story in Shadows & Tall Trees 7?

Poets. Not so much poetry itself as the people who write it, the way they see the world. How they see aging, time, and love interests me because the way they tell us about these things is so profound. But I imagine poets see the world both very differently and exactly the same as anyone else does, with the same flares and oversights. I’d been in a phase of reading Mary Oliver, James Dickey, and Louise Glück, each of whom can be very earthy poets in their own unique ways. So an earthiness lent itself to me, and the story came to me through Corrdry Smith.

2. Can you recall the first story you ever read that made you think “I want to be a writer!”

Like countless others, as a kid I’d think “I want to be a writer!” when reading Stephen King. But I don’t count that. It was when I read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, when I was eighteen or nineteen, that I truly realized not just what fiction could do but the power of the words and the sentences and how their lungs were built. I wanted to do that. It would be almost as long again before I actually started writing fiction, but that novel has never left me for a single day.

3. What scares you?

Losing the people I love and their place in the fabric of myself. I’ve been preemptively mourning them in my work for a while now, I think, and I hope that when the time comes, and the heart begins to have holes punched into it, it will have laid at least a thin foundation of coping. For now, I enjoy my time with them. Also, wasps and hornets, although not nearly as much terror is stirred in me as when I was younger.

4. You can take five books to a desert island: which ones do you choose?

Flannery O’Connor – The Complete Stories

Julian Barnes – The Sense of an Ending

Cormac McCarthy – The Road

David Mitchell – Cloud Atlas

Louise Glück – Poems 1962-2012 (Of all the poets I love, this book is the thickest and would eat up the most hours stranded on that island.)

5. What’s next for you?

I’m writing my first novel and have recently reached the point where I can claim to be “deep into it.” Past the point of no return, certainly, at least to my mind. I’m hoping to finish it sometime in early summer, then I’ll spend the rest of the year tweaking it and seeing what its fate might be, along with writing a handful of new stories for my eventual second collection.

 

 

Revisiting old tales

Art by Kathleen Jennings

“Terrible As An Army With Banners” was one of the hardest stories I’ve ever had to write (and can never, ever read it out loud) … now I need to find that voice again and am bracing myself.

Dearest Elswide,

This is written in haste for the last boat is departing soon and I will not be on it, although I hope this will be. I beg you keep safe these pages, for they record an end – such an end, sister! Such an end – and I would have this chronicle kept safe. If you can, have it copied and sent forth so it may be found and read, and the truth of our demise – the last days of the Citadel at Cwen’s Reach – known.

You did not agree with my decision, sister, when I left home and joined the order. I know our silences have been long and fraught, but you are my blood and that counts for much. Your children are my family, too, and they should be told what I have done. They should know who the Little Sisters of St Florian were and they should be proud, though soon some will try to erase us from the world’s memory. Elswide, I did not desert you, I did not betray our shared heritage by leaving. I followed the path that was, to me at least, obviously laid out before me, but you have ever been in my thoughts. I’ve not forgotten you.

Please know that I have never regretted my decision, not even now when the end is upon me, not even when I can hear the sound of the siege engines at the gates. Know that I did the right thing and that my place was always meant to be as part of this community. I was always meant to have a quill in my hand and my nose pressed close to a blank page that begged to be covered with words. I was always meant to be here at the end. I write this knowing that I am a thing, a final thing, an omega.

Do not despair, sister, for in all endings there are new beginnings; from fire there comes new life, and from chaos, creation.

Your sister,

Goda

From “Terrible As An Army With Banners”, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings

Working on …

… getting The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales finished by the end of January before I start on the third and final Verity Fassbinder book, Restoration.

Here’s a sample from one of the The Tallow-Wife tales, “Embers and Ash”. Keen-eyed readers will notice the name of an old friend from St Dymphna’s.

           The woman shakes her head, says, ‘I shall be above.’

            ‘There’s nothing there,’ Lis protests.

            The woman shrugs. ‘There are memories. That will be enough.’

            Lis watches as the woman makes her way to the door, then as an afterthought calls, ‘Do you have a name?’           

            The woman smiles and Lis thinks she will not answer.

            ‘I am Mercia and once I trod the corridors of the Citadel.’

            And she is gone before Lis can say But the Citadel fell over three centuries ago.

Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales …

… is shipping out and selling fast! From the PS Publishing newsletter:

Angela Slatter’s WINTER CHILDREN AND OTHER CHILLING TALES arrived just yesterday and we’re hoping to send out pre-orders this coming week. If you remember, we’ve just done the one edition of 200 signed and numbered copies. They’re selling fast, understandably so, given the praise it’s been receiving from some of the genre’s heavy hitters.

‘Angela Slatter is a powerful and eloquent voice in horror fiction. Every story in this collection is a dark and polished gem.’ ~ Stephen Jones

‘Angela Slatter’s stories are enviably original, and told in prose as stylish as it’s precise. Not just disturbing but often touching, her work enriches and revives the tale of terror.’ ~ Ramsey Campbell

‘Angela Slatter is an international treasure. She blends horror, fantasy and fairy tale to create something entirely fresh, but which feels too like the nightmares half-forgotten when you were a child.‘ ~ Robert Shearman

You can order it here if you’re so inclined. It is a reprint collection, except for “The Red Forest” and a little seen tale called “Pale Tree House”, but it’s also the first book collecting my proper horror tales!

Aliette de Bodard and The Dominion of the Fallen

Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris, where she has a day job as a System Engineer. She studied Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, but moonlights as a writer of speculative fiction. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Obsidian and Blood trilogy of Aztec noir fantasies, as well as numerous short stories, which garnered her two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award and a British Science Fiction Association Award. Works include The House of Shattered Wings (Roc/Gollancz, 2015 British Science Fiction Association Award), a novel set in a turn-of-the-century Paris devastated by a magical war,  and its upcoming sequel The House of Binding Thorns (April 2017, Roc/Gollancz). She also published The Citadel of Weeping Pearls (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2015), a novella set in the same universe as her Vietnamese space opera On a Red Station, Drifting. She lives in Paris with her family, in a flat with more computers than warm bodies, and a set of Lovecraftian tentacled plants intent on taking over the place.

1. First of all, what do new readers need to know about Aliette de Bodard?

I’m a writer of fantasy and science fiction–both long and short fiction–with a couple awards under my belt (two Nebulas, a Locus Award and three British Science Fiction Association Awards). I’m the author of the Xuya series, a space opera series of short fiction inspired by Vietnamese culture and featuring a Confucian galactic empire, of the Dominion of the Fallen series (The House of Shattered Wings/The House of Binding Thorns, out from Roc/Gollancz), dark fantasies set in a post-magical-apocalypse, turn-of-the-century Paris, and of the Aztec noir fantasy novels Obsidian and Blood (reissued as ebooks by the JABberwocky agency).

2. What inspired your new novel The House of Shattered Wings?

A deep-seated desire to destroy Paris? *grin* I originally started writing House of Shattered Wings as a urban fantasy set in 21st-Century Paris, focused on families of magicians – except I could never make it gel, and the magic system didn’t feel meaty enough to me. So, when I took it back to the drawing board, I changed the setting to have Paris in ruins, and a society based on the Belle Epoque (which is entirely based on my deep abiding love for 19th Century novels, and period anime like Full Metal Alchemist and Black Butler). And I also changed the magic system, so that you had magical beings (Fallen angels, Vietnamese immortals) who were themselves a source of magic–and people who could take magic from them, either by asking nicely, or by force (it got dark, let’s just say. Very dark *grin*).

3. What can you tell us about the sequel The House of Binding Thorns?

The House of Binding Thorns is a standalone book set in the same universe as The House of Shattered Wings: it benefits from having read the previous book as it has returning characters, but you can dive right in and still enjoy it! The House of Shattered Wings was focused on House Silverspires, the oldest and most powerful House in Paris; The House of Binding Thorns is focused on rival House Hawthorn and on its interactions with the Dragon Kingdom. It’s (hopefully) a book with a slightly different focus: not as claustrophobic as The House of Shattered Wings, and with more locations in the Houseless areas, and a slightly larger cast that draws from all walks of life in Paris. And it’s also got diplomatic wrangling between magical factions, bloody murders, kissing, and stabbing (not necessarily in that order!). It will be published April 2017 by Ace in the US and Gollancz in the rest of the world.

4. How does this new series differ from your first books, the Obsidian and Blood trilogy?

It’s a very different mood I would say, though there are a bunch of common elements. Like Obsidian and Blood, Dominion of the Fallen is very much a fantasy of a city (I don’t use “urban fantasy” because the term has come to mean something else): it’s set within Paris and within a relatively small setting. It’s also got some of the same dark/horror elements that existed in Obsidian and Blood, and some focus (but less) on a mystery. And there the similarities end, I’m afraid. Dominion of the Fallen leans more towards the epic fantasy end of the spectrum: the canvas is very much larger, and focused on several main characters (instead of just one in Obsidian and Blood). It’s focused on the question of survival–of its price, and the morality of it–and is very much a cross between Game of Thrones, Vampire: The Masquerade, and 19th Century books like Count of Monte Cristo.

5. Your gorgeous novella On a Red Station, Drifting is set in your Xuya universe ? are any novel-length works likely? 

Possibly! One of the things I really want to work on is a fix-up novel composed of several short stories/novellas, focusing on several generations of the same family, over several years/decades/centuries. But I’m perpetually putting back because it’s large and scary!

6. What inspired the Xuya universe?

A lot of things. Partly it was my wanting to write an alternate history timeline where China and other Confucian countries would be dominant: I started writing noir stories set in that universe because the plots were easy to come up with, and I could focus on getting the changed features of the world across. Then I moved to the space age; and this is going to sound odd, but one of the largest inspirations there was Star Wars III – which I saw twice in the theatre due to my then-boyfriend being absent at the time of its release. By the second time we got to the birth of Luke and Leia, I was feeling rather sarcastic about a universe that had all those wonderfully modern spaceships and cool weapons, and seemingly couldn’t be bothered to solve maternal mortality problems – a very screwed-up set of priorities insofar as I was concerned. In the future I was planning, I assumed childbirth would be routinely well-attended and well-survived (as, indeed, it mostly is today in a lot of countries), but I also wanted to focus the first stories on births, and to have some sort of jeopardy associated with birth. Human childbirth wasn’t realistic (for the reasons above), so I thought, “hang on, maybe if they gave birth to AIs”? And that was pretty much the start of the Xuya space age and the ongoing series.

7. Who were/are your literary heroes/influences?

Er, rather a lot of them! David Gemmell – I found him while I was (briefly) living in the UK in my teens, read Wallander and The King Beyond the Gate, and was hooked. I love the way he portrays both heroes and villains as flawed human beings struggling against their natures to do the right (or wrong) thing. Ursula Le Guin – not only was The Earthsea Quartet a read that stuck with me, but her Steering the Craft contained some of the best writing I’ve ever received, focusing on plot that wasn’t necessarily defined by conflict, and on the nuts and bolts of writing sentences and point of view in an open-minded fashion. Dorothy Dunnett – I read Game of Kings, the first book in her historical Chronicles of Lymond, when I was 17 or 18, and still reread the entire series every few years. Her depiction of history is masterful, blending different languages, different points of view and a host of different countries from the Ottoman Empire to Scotland. And it’s got one of the most affecting romances I’ve ever read (and a rape scene that is actually treated like the traumatising event it is, rather than for titillation). Terry Pratchett, without whom I probably wouldn’t be reading quite so much in English (I taught myself so I could read the books that hadn’t been translated in French yet). And, of course, Vietnamese myths/fairytales and folktales from my family, and the vast canvas of history, which always helps for inspiration!

8. You get to invite five fictional characters to dinner: what’s your guest list look like?

Uh. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, who would make wonderful conversation. Tenaka Khan from David Gemmell’s King Beyond the Gate. Susan Sto-Helit from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, though I suspect she’d make me feel nervous halfway through the proceedings. Prudence Gentleman from Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown, because I suspect she’s one of the few people who could successfully entertain Susan!

9. Which book, either fictional or otherwise, would you say taught you the most about writing?

Ursula Le Guin’s Steering the Craft (see above!).

10. What’s next for Aliette de Bodard?

I have a few projects on the backburner: I finished a novella set between The House of Shattered Wings and The House of Binding Thorns, featuring Emmanuelle, the archivist of House Silverspires, and am desultorily working on a genderbent retelling of Count of Monte Cristo set in my Xuya universe. I have a couple commissioned short stories, and I just turned in a retelling of Tam and Cam for Ellen Oh’s, Elsie Chapman’s and Martha Mihalick’s anthology of Asian fairy tales retellings LEGENDRY.

Midnight and Moonshine

You know what? Four and a bit years ago, Lisa L. Hannett and I wrote this book, Midnight and Moonshine. We’re very proud of it.

Feeling a bit Norse mythology-y? Want white ravens, Fae, werewolves, moonshine makers, fire giants, voodoo, the Fates weaving folks’ fortunes from their hair, an Introduction by Kim Wilkins and a cover by Kathleen Jennings? Go here.

Publishers Weekly gave it a star and said this: “Marked by imagery both beautiful and grotesque, and unnerving twists that recall the uncanny horror of original fairy tales, this collection contains a unifying, multilayered plot that draws upon Norse mythology to take the reader on a thrilling, unsettling journey.”

The gods are dead, but will not be forgotten.

When Mymnir flees the devastation of Ragnarok, she hopes to escape all that bound her to Ásgarðr — a heedless pantheon, a domineering brother, and her neglectful father-master, Óðinn. But the white raven, a being of memory and magic, should know that the past is not so easily left behind. No matter how far she flies, she cannot evade her family…

In planting seeds of the old world in the new, Mymnir becomes queen of a land with as many problems as the one she fled. Her long-lived Fae children ignite and fan feuds that span generations; lives are lost and loves won because of their tampering. Told in thirteen parts, Midnight and Moonshine follows the Beaufort and Laveaux families, part-human, part-Fae, as they battle, thrive and survive in Mymnir’s kingdom.

The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2015

Huzzah! The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2015 is due out very soon. You can order here. Yet another glorious cover.  The stories are:

Joanne Anderton, “2B”
Alan Baxter, “The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner”
Deborah Biancotti, “Look How Cold My Hands Are”
Stephen Dedman, “Oh, Have You Seen The Devil”
Erol Engin, “The Events at Callan Park”
Jason Fischer, “The Dog Pit”
Dirk Flinthart, “In the Blood”
Kimberley Gaal, “In Sheep’s Clothing”
Stephanie Gunn, “The Flowers That Bloom Where Blood Touches Earth”
Lisa Hannett, “Consorting With Filth”
Robert Hood, “Double Speak”
Kathleen Jennings, “A Hedge of Yellow Roses”
Maree Kimberley, “Ninehearts”
Jay Kristoff, “Sleepless”
Martin Livings, “El Caballo Muerte”
Danny Lovecraft, “Reminiscences of Herbert West”
Kirstyn McDermott, “Self, Contained”
Sally McLennan, “ Mr Schmidt’s Dead Pet Emporium”
DK Mok, “Almost Days”
Faith Mudge, “Blueblood”
Samantha Murray, “Half Past”
Jason Nahrung, “Night Blooming”
Garth Nix, “The Company of Women”
Anthony Panegyres, “Lady Killer”
Rivqa Rafael, “Beyond the Factory Wall”
Deborah Sheldon, “Perfect Little Stitches”
Angela Slatter, “Bluebeard’s Daughter”
Cat Sparks, “Dragon Girl”
Lucy Sussex, “Angelito”
Anna Tambour, “Tap”
Kaaron Warren, “Mine Intercom”

Eileen Mueller: Call of the Sea

Eileen Mueller lives in a cave on the side of a hill in New Zealand with four dragonets and a shape-shifter. Awarded a 2016 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Youth Novel with Dragons Realm – A You Say Which Way adventure, she writes for children and young adults.

She was placed first in SpecFicNZ’s Going Global and first equal in NZSA NorthWrite Collaboration literary contests in 2013. Eileen co-edited The Best of Twisty Christmas Tales and was a sub-editor on the Sir Julius Vogel Best Collected Work, Lost in the Museum. A New Zealander of the Year Local Hero and marketing consultant, she managed Wellington’s 2014 & 2015 Storylines children’s literary festivals–having fun with authors, illustrators and thousands of kids.

1. What inspired your At the Edge story, “Call of the Sea”?

Thirteen years ago, I lost a child when he suddenly died at two years old. He was the healthy half of our premature twins—his sister had been battling with illness since birth. She’d been well for three short months, and I’d finally been able to leave the house and enjoy life with them and their older brother.

Our world was shattered. Luckily, I still had two small kids. They made me face each day with courage—but it took fourteen months before I laughed again.

I was at the gym one day, right on Wellington’s waterfront, in the middle of a storm. Waves were surging over the promenade, smashing into the boatsheds. The floating jetties were roller-coasting in the surf. I knew I had a story to tell—of love, loss insanity, grief and triumph.

My story, “Call of the Sea”, in At the Edge, explores how people lose their sense of identity when they lose a child. In order to survive, we need to be nurtured. Kendra, estranged from her cheating ex-husband, doesn’t get this support. As her life disintegrates, she journeys to the edge of insanity. Or is she sane? Maybe the rest of the world just can’t see what she does.

2. What appealed to you about this project?

I worked with Lee Murray and Dan Rabarts on Baby Teeth, (an Australian Shadows Award best edited work) and knew they were an amazing editing team, so I wanted to be part of this anthology.

3. What do you love about short stories?

Start late and leave early is a must for short stories. I love the opportunity to paint a vignette that resonates with readers long after the story has ended. Short projects are a refreshing change from writing novels, which immerse me for months. I usually write fun middle grade fantasy adventures and young adult novels, so short stories give me a chance to explore deeper, more difficult emotions.

4. Can you remember the first thing you ever read that made you want to write?

I’ve enjoyed writing and reading ever since I was young. I wonder what my first picture book was—that must’ve been my inspiration for writing!

 5. What’s next for you?

I’m currently a judge in a Dragon Limerick Contest closing on June 30 2016, which is open to writers of all ages–kids, teens and adults. The result will be Clawsome Dragon Limericks—an eBook for kids, although I suspect a few adults will enjoy dragon limericks too.

After winning Best Youth Novel with Dragons Realm in the 2016 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, The Fairytale Factory has asked me to write more interactive fiction for kids for their You Say Which Way series. I’ve just sent them Mystic Portal, a mountain biking adventure that takes you through portals to meet ogres, talking camels and chatterbox turtles. They’ve also requested a follow up, Mystic Portal 2, so I’m about to start that.

My young adult dragon rider series Riders of Fire is currently under revision, with Ezaara (book 1) to be completed by the end of the year. I also have a young adult paranormal urban fantasy under submission, so it’s a busy time for me. Anyone who likes YA and kids’ fiction is welcome to download free books from my site and have adventures with me.

You can find Eileen’s Amazon page here.

Free ebook giveaway of Some of the Best from Tor.com

With stories by Charlie Jane Anders, Laurie Penny, N.K. Jemisin, and more!

Tor.com are very excited to offer a free download of the 2016 edition of Some of the Best from Tor.com, an anthology of 25 of our favorite short stories and novelettes from the last year. Readers worldwide can download the ebook for free by signing up for the Tor.com Publishing newsletter from 12:00 PM EST on January 10th until 11:59 A.M. EST on January 17th.

These stories were acquired and edited for Tor.com by Ellen Datlow, Ann VanderMeer, Carl Engle-Laird, Liz Gorinsky, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Justin Landon, Diana Pho, and Miriam Weinberg. Each story is accompanied by an original illustration.

Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2016 — Table of Contents

“Clover” Charlie Jane Anders
“The Art of Space Travel” Nina Allan
“The Destroyer” Tara Isabella Burton
“Traumphysik” Monica Byrne
“The High Lonesome Frontier” Rebecca Campbell
“Lullaby for a Lost World” Aliette de Bodard
“A Dead Djinn in Cairo” P. Djeli Clark
“Breaking Water” Indrapramit Das
“Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage” Alix E. Harrow
“The City Born Great” N. K. Jemisin
“Everything That Isn’t Winter” Margaret Killjoy
“The Weight of Memories” Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
“The Maiden Thief” Melissa Marr
“The Caretakers” David Nickle
“Your Orisons May Be Recorded” Laurie Penny
“meat+drink” Daniel Polansky
“The Three Lives of Sonata James” Lettie Prell
“The Great Detective” Delia Sherman
“Finnegan’s Field” Angela Slatter
“The Weather” Caighlan Smith
“Terminal” Lavie Tidhar
“Her Scales Shine Like Music” Rajnar Vajra
“La beauté sans vertu” Genevieve Valentine
“That Game We Played During the War” Carrie Vaughn
“A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers” Alyssa Wong

How to redeem the free ebook edition of Some of the Best from Tor.com: Visit this link between noon (12:00 PM EST) on Tuesday, January 10th, and 11:59 A.M. EST on Tuesday, January 17th to sign up for the Tor.com Publishing newsletter and download the DRM-free ebook. This offer is available globally. Note: The giveaway URL will not be live until 12:00 PM EST on January 10th.

For additional updates about the giveaway on Tuesday, follow @TorDotComPub on Twitter. If you have further questions about the giveaway or Some of the Best of Tor.com, contact Katharine Duckett: katharine.duckett@tor .com.

2016 Productivity

Just to remind myself that I did achieve stuff last year (and just in case anyone’s curious), here’s the list of the writing things I did/produced/appeared at in 2016.

Novel:

Vigil (Jo Fletcher Books, July 2016)

Short Story Collections:

A Feast of Sorrows (Prime)

Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales (PS Publishing)

Short stories:

“Finnegan’s Field”, at Tor.com, Ellen Datlow (ed.).

“Change Management”, in Dead Letters, Conrad Williams (ed.), Titan Books.

“Tin Soldier”, Dark Discoveries Magazine, Aaron J. French (ed.) Issue #35, Summer 2016, JournalStone Publishing.

“Neither Time Nor Tears”, Dreaming in the Dark, Jack Dann (ed.), PS Publishing.

Reprints:

“The Bone Mother”, Beyond the Woods: Retold Fairy Tales, Paula Guran (ed.), Night Shade.

“Home and Hearth”, In Your Face, Tehani Wessely (ed.), FableCroft Publications, 2016.

“Ripper”, in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2016, Paula Guran (ed.), Prime Books.

Awards:

Ditmar Award for Best Novella for Of Sorrow and Such (Tor.com).

Tour/Appearance Things:

UK book tour for Vigil

Established Writer-in-Residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre (June-July)

Appeared at the Brisbane Writers Festival (Sept)

Appeared at Contact 2016 (NatCon) (March-April)

Taught a writing workshop in Melbourne (Oct)

Appeared at the University of Melbourne’s Symposium on Popular Fiction (Oct)

Gave a reading at the Wheeler Centre’s Next Big Thing series in Melbourne (Oct)

Appeared at Supanova in Brisbane (Nov)

Appeared at Supanova in Adelaide (Nov)