Nicola Griffith's Blog, page 91

Hild's age

From: Kate
I NEVER write author fan mail, but I LOVED LOVED LOVED Hild. I discovered it via my usual Sunday-afternoon listening session of To the Best of Our Knowledge, and alternated between staying up all night reading it and then only reading 3 pages a day because I didn't want it to end. 
This was the best reading experience I've had in a long time -- immensely enriched by also getting to read about your writing process, and read the q/a as you see writing on your book blog. I suppose as a former classics undergrad (I focused on late antiquity), then grad student in economics of religion, current worker bee in the Silicon Valley hive you allude to in the TTBOOK interview, avowed logophile and amateur linguist, and lifelong practicing episcopalian... this was a book made for me. But probably this is a book "made for" anyone interested in just one of those things!
And now, a question: how old is Hild at the end of the book? That's probably a bit random/trivial, but I realized a few times when her age was mentioned that I was off a bit -- probably this was on purpose/i.e. to evoke the reaction "so much has happened to her and she is so young" -- which at times is Hild's own reaction! But by the end  I had really lost track, and it was for me, (and I noticed this comment in a review, as well) a bit distracting/confusing. Not sure why -- maybe I want to know/ground any time of potential happiness Hild might have against what I "know" happens next ie with King Edwin, etc.? Who knows...  Meanwhile if you could let us know how old she is at the end of the book, I'd be much obliged.

At the end of the novel Hild is eighteen. She seems a bit older because I pack a lot in. In fact, it's possible that one of the years is a bit, ah, tardis-like and is bigger on the inside than the outside. This is because of the various histories I've weighed: they use different schema for dates. There's not only disagreement between various annals and Bede, but Bede himself probably started his year in a different month; perhaps he followed the Diocletian calendar, which begins each year on August 20. Bede therefore might have given the date for the end of Hild as 632 but we'd think of it as 631. (This, of course, also applies to what date she was born. Confused? Me too, for a while. Hence the tardis effect.)

For Book II I've reconciled all the dates and made clear decisions: the years are Bede's (as opposed to, say, Annales Cambriae or the Annals of Ulster, etc.) but they begin and end Jan 1 and December 31. This means the novel opens in March 632, just a few months after we last checked in with Hild (even though that might have felt like the end of 632). So now you can look up exactly what lies ahead--at least in kingship terms. Hild herself, of course, was hidden from history at this point. Obviously she was either doing nothing interesting or something/s that Bede disapproved of mightily and so left out of his official holy history.
As for the Silicon Valley corporations I mentioned on To the Best of Our Knowledge, well, I find I'm guilty of musing aloud, something I promise myself I'll never do again--after every single radio interview. I get so caught up in possibilities that I forget to stop and consider whether or not I actually believe in what I'm saying. Do I really believe there are parallels between early feudalism (long after Hild's time) and the operational strategies of big-tech companies? Not entirely. But it's a fun game to play. Hey, I'm a writer; I make stuff up...

When It Changed

From: Morgayne
Greetings from the Olympic Peninsula! Just started reading Hild which led me to your blog. I'm a writer who has had a short story published in the local community college anthology and am looking forward to having a novel published.

Hope to be one of the lucky lottery winners for your workshop coming up in June.

I have a couple of questions about your writing process. Do you start with archetypes for your characters? And do you use Joseph Campbell's 12 phases of the Hero's Journey to form your stories?

Have read your previous fiction and am a huge fan. Thank you for being willing to answer my questions.

No and No. I don't use any formulae at all when it comes to writing. No Jung, no Campbell. Just people. And places. And systems.

As you've read my other novels you've probably guessed that I like to know how things work: ecosystems, weather systems, economic systems and so on. That what a world is: a series of interlocking systems. As a writer I build a world (whether here-and-now or elsewhere or elsewhen) then put an interesting person, one with their own needs, into that set of interlocking systems, including other people with their own sets of needs, which promptly sets out to stymie those needs. What happens is the plot. What it means--the consequences for the protagonist--is the story.

I like to begin the story as far along as possible in that moment when the protagonist's life turns from the way it was to how it is now--or, to borrow the title of Joanna Russ's famous novella, to show When It Changed.

The trick, of course, is to know how to bring the reader along on the ride. The further the narrative world is from your expected readers' experience, the more time it takes to orient them and get them comfortable. As we're talking about northern Britain in the very early seventh-century, most readers know very little (and even experts find that they disagree with other experts; there's a reason historians used to call that era the Dark Ages).

In other words, it's a lot easier to simply begin with a dramatic moment when talking about (say) nineteenth-century Port Mahon, Minorca, or sixteenth-century Putney, London, than with seventh-century Loides, Elmet.

With Hild I had to not only introduce readers to a time and place they weren't familiar with and a character they'd never heard of but also to the fact that this was A Novel (as opposed to An Adventure or A Romance or even Historical Fiction). It was an interesting challenge. I knew I would lose a lot of readers in the first few pages. Those names! those strange concepts! the destruction of cherished stereotypes! But nothing works for everyone. Every writer has to choose who they're they're willing to lose and who not.

In the end, I made the choice I always do: I wrote the kind of novel I yearn for, one for smart readers who are ready to leap into the void and hope the writer catches them.

The beginning of Hild II is much easier, much less risky than Hild I in the sense that tens of thousands of readers now know Anglisc from British; they have adjusted to the possibility that women can be more than baby machines; they understand that most of what they thought they knew about Early Medieval Britain is probably wrong. But as the book progresses it is much, much more risky.

Ah, but you'll just have to wait and see why.

Hild roundup #18

It's clear that now Hild's been out nearly six months things are slowing down. I have zero (none, not one) interviews to report, for example. I am okay with this: I have Hild II to write.

I  keep thinking about short story ideas, though. Speaking of which you can now read "Cold Wind," for free at Tor.com, or read it on your Kindle (device or app) for 99 cents. (Lois Tilton reviews it here. She sounds a little...puzzled.)

In other news, Hild--as well as being a finalist for the Nebula and Lambda Literary Awards, a Tiptree Honor Book, and one of Autostraddle's Top 10 Queer and Feminist Books of 2013--is short-listed for the Bisexual Book Award.
REVIEWSThe English BookshopShe was the light of the world, Anna Bark Persson"Hild is above all a gorgeously written and richly imagined novel […] Ironically enough, considering that the novel is historical fiction, it many times reminded me of why I used to like epic fantasy so much […] Griffith manages to make what is often an unfamiliar world intelligible to me more deftly than many fantasy authors."
Emphatic HandsEvery book I’ve read so far this year, "One of the best examples of historical fiction I’ve encountered in a while. I was really impressed…"
Chicago Public LibrarySkirt and Sword, Quiet Mouth and Bright Mind, Bbruins"Nicola Griffith is better known for her mystery and science fiction work, but Hild, her first work of historical fiction, may be her breakthrough."
Have a Heart of Fire; Have a Heart of GoldI really think you should read Hild, Haddyr Copley-Woods"There are books that begin to make me sad as I go on, because the book gets thinner and thinner on one side...and I know I will be having to leave that world and those people soon. / Hild was one of those books. It was not just the fact that I finally felt represented in a historical novel — something that is not to be underestimated. It was not just the fact that the historical details were fascinating to the extreme, especially the religious, outlook, and domestic details. It was not just the fact that I absolutely ADORED Hild, as a person, and her brother and her cronies and her people and her land. I guess it was all of those things. But more: I was utterly immersed in the world. I was growing as Hild was. I was helpless yet powerful, strong yet frightened, friend to all peoples but friend of no person."
MISCELLANEOUSThe Riveter MagazineThe Culture of American Fiction, Evan Kleecamp"Fiction as a genre has a particular cult(ure) associated with its distribution. I would argue American fiction publishing culture follows “masculine” competitive logic (not that women should not be competitive or masculine!) that seeks to undermine readers, engender their interpretations, and distort their agency. Women are writing experimental novels, we just aren’t hearing about it. Wood’s article focuses on outdated, male-centric academic criticism and fails to mention non-academic reviewers who have anticipated, if not outright caused, the rise of female authors like Donna Tartt, Rachel Kushner, Nicola Griffith, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie."

Water roads in Anglo-Saxon Britain

If ever you doubted the importance of water to communications and power in Anglo-Saxon England take a look at this map. I haven't a clue of its date* (after Hild's time; I found it on the Toast), but it gives a window into the relationship between navigable rivers and coastlines and important/fortified settlements.

I spent many hours today searching for some sort of map--a sketch would do--of the Tyne**, its estuarine channels, and Arbeia as Hild might have known it. Obviously something from the seventh century would be ideal, but I'll settle for anything from the first millennium CE.

Anyone?

* See comments below: it's by Matthew Paris and made in the 13th century.

The Queer Detective

Gay City and Seattle Public Library are joining forces for "The Queer Detective: Discovering LGBTQ Mysteries and Suspense." I can't be there, otherwise I would love to have talked about Aud.

Discovering LGBT Mysteries and Suspense
Wednesday, Apr 30 / 7pm
Seattle Central Public Library
1000 4th Ave
Microsoft Auditorium

Murder, theft, cons and crimes shadow the streets within a mystery novel, but thankfully for its innocent denizens, there’s a hero or heroine on the case, striking fear into villains and solving the toughest of puzzles, all while alluding danger and living out of the closet.

"Queer" detectives, investigators, and mysteries solvers are not new to the noir world. Protectors of its dark cityscapes include such literary LGBT luminaries as Joseph Hansen’s dogged investigator Dave Brandstetter, Nicola Griffith’s steely heroine Aud Torvingen, and Josh Lanyon’s inquisitive bookseller Adrien English.

Join Gay City, Gay Romance NW Meetup, and the Seattle Central Public Library as we present our latest Meet The Author reading with three northwest writers who spotlight crime solvers who find the culprit and celebrate LGBT love and relationships. This reading event will include Lambda Literary winner Nicole Kimberling (Bellingham Mysteries), Rainbow Award winner Lori L. Lake (Gun Shy) and Lou Sylvre (Loving Luki Vasquez).

So, y'know, be there or be square. And tell me all about it!

Anglo-Saxon medical practice

From: Eva
First off, I just finished Hild and absolutely loved it. It's the first work of yours I've read, but I think I'll have to go read some more--after pausing for a while to let Hild settle down in my head. Jumping into another world too quickly would feel wrong.

Anyway, my question! It's sort of an odd one, I think. I really enjoy historical fiction, and when I read it, I'm often curious about how the things described in historical terms line up with modern concepts or knowledge. I also have a particular interest in illnesses and medical problems in times past (I blame a book I read about the Black Death when I was in middle school). When Hild was examining Angeth and her pregnancy, there seemed to be a rather specific list of symptoms she was experiencing. Do these correlate to a specific condition?

I should admit right now I know next to nothing about pregnancy or childbirth. As a lady married to a lady, neither of whom has any interest in getting, being, or unbeing pregnant, it hasn't really come up in practical terms. I did a bit of searching around online, and my best guess is preeclampsia--is that correct? And if so, do you have any information on what it was called or how it was viewed at the time?

Thanks for your time and indulgence!

I'm delighted you liked the book. I worked long and hard on figuring out exactly how to draw readers in--how to immerse you, to write my software on your hardware. I had strenuous discussions (with Kelley, with my editor, with other readers) about the advisability of using all those difficult names and unfamiliar-to-most spellings. As a result I did a lot of work to clarify names (people, mostly, but also places) without getting simplistic. I added what felt to me like tedious exposition but which everyone else told me was not enough. But there came a point where I wasn't willing to do more.

The way I see it, not every book works for every reader. With Hild, if you're not hooked by p.50 it probably isn't the novel for you. I wasn't going to fuck up the possibility of giving some readers magic in order to coddle the kind of readers whose minds are not suitably geared for this book.

To be clear, I'm not talking about IQ but mindset: are you willing to be swept away? Are you willing to take that great leap into the unknown? Some readers are not. They like to proceed logically with all narrative depths and colours and turns clearly sign-posted and classified. And that's cool, we're all different. But as a reader I would suffer from that lack of risk, that loss of what feels like magic; I crave the kind of experience I hope to give readers of Hild.

This, of course, is one of the reasons I began with Hild as a child, so the reader could learn as Hild learnt: by absorbing the mores and languages, the patterns and sounds of Early Medieval Britain (or at least Hild's part of it), let them seep in naturally to bend your worldview before you know it. I wanted a reader to live and breathe the seventh century to such an extent that when you look up from the text to find yourself in the twenty-first you feel momentarily disoriented.

Anyway. Angeth. (I suppose I should point out to those who care about such things that what follows could be regarded as a spoiler.) Yes, she suffered pre-eclampsia and then eclampsia. In my on-going research I've seen no mention of any such a thing in any records of the time (there again, there are no records about women or women's lives from that time and place) but my own view is that Anglo-Saxon women would have been familiar with the problem. (Arguably, pre/eclampsia results from an autoimmune response--the mother's system starts to treat the foetus as an invader. Possibly because of some incompatibility with the father's sperm. This means of course that she wouldn't necessarily respond so badly to the sperm of other men--which could lead to interesting dynastic drama...)

So how would Hild treat eclampsia with the tools of the time? Given that she has always used observation I devised a series of simple diagnostic indicators: Headaches pointing to high blood pressure? (She wouldn't think of it that way, of course, but I did.) Skin pitting indicative of œdema? (Pressing the hand isn't foolproof but lots of people have used it for a long time.) Protein in the urine? (I've no idea if foamy urine is diagnostic of proteinuria but I thought it might be.) Blood in the urine? (This can be a sign of kidney failure, and so possibly other organ failure. Lots of other things, too, of course, but given that Angeth wasn't brutally hard-worked it wouldn't be an exercise-related sign, it couldn't be menstrual blood, if it were cancer there's not a lot Hild could have done about it, etc.)

I never bothered to work out what Hild might have called eclampsia but she would have learnt to recognise it. If she recognised it early in the pregnancy there's a possibility that magnesium sulphate might help (I'm just guessing; I'm not medically trained). So if she had access to Epsom Salts--and knew what to do with them--she might have tried that. But I doubt it would have been enough for Angeth.

The way I see it--certainly the way Hild saw it--the only sure treatment for Angeth's condition was to not be pregnant. Hild hoped that Angeth, given the trauma of her recent travels, might miscarry. (I'm guessing that many malnourished, stressed, traumatised women with an extreme immune response would do so.) But Angeth does not, perhaps because of her elite-level diet and general care. Hild then offers an abortion. Angeth refuses. And dies.

I made up Angeth; I invented everything to do with her pregnancy. There's no data to support any of it. Nothing. I just did writer stuff based on possibilities. Could it have happened that way? I like to think so.* But I'd love to hear from medical practitioners on this.

Perhaps Hild will one day be to blame for some young reader growing up to devote her/himself to solving pre/eclampsia. That would make me very happy.
--
* At some point I might write a blog post about my thoughts on the accepted wisdom--which I don't really agree with--around Anglo-Saxon medical practice. If anyone out there can point me to recent research (I haven't been paying attention for a couple of years) I'd be grateful.

My story, "Cold Wind," is out!

So, if you've read my short story, "Cold Wind," at Tor.com (it went up yesterday, a week ahead of schedule) the mystery I posed for you in September is now solved.

Do read the story before you click on the mystery link. Otherwise you'll probably figure out all the clues in the piece before you're supposed to.

If you've already read the story, go ahead and click. See where I got the idea...

Hild roundup #17

Hild has now been out over five months. News, reviews, interviews and so are slowing down--at least in the US. But the ebook just came out in the UK and ANZ and other Commonwealth countries--though without publicity because those efforts are waiting til July and the hardback publication. We are, as they say, keeping our powder dry...

As always, I only quote a tiny representative sample from the whole. If it sounds interesting, click through. And if you appreciate the work the reviewer or interviewer has done, please tell them so! People love to know they're being read or listened to.

Also, other roundups are here. (I still haven't got around to properly breaking down and indexing the whole. There's been a lot going on...)


REVIEWSSan Francisco Book ReviewHild: A novel, Alex Telander"The beauty of the medieval historical novel Hild is that it is a story about a woman who becomes a powerful and inspirational figure…"
As the Moon ClimbsHild by Nicola Griffith, Valerie Valdes"Sometimes you take a bite of a treat expecting one flavor, and find yourself savoring something entirely different but nonetheless delicious…"
Geek Girl in loveBook Review: Hild by Nicola Griffith"Anyone who is interested in the craft of writing should read at least some of this book"
Reflets de mes lecturesHild"La lectrice de ce dernier est d'ailleurs très agréable. En bref, Hild est un roman de très bonne qualité que je ne peux que conseiller."[It’s in French, but a Google translation will give you the gist.]
Quoi de neuf sur ma pile?Tisser la toile, tirer les ficelles, se serrer hors de vue"Très documenté, "Hild" est aussi très joliment écrit, dans un anglais teinté d’archaïsme qui colle parfaitement au contexte."[Yep, more French, but this is longer and juicier and, well, Google will have a stab at this, too.]
INTERVIEWSTo the Best of Our Knowledge (Audio)"Getting Medieval"[To coincide with the premiere of season four of Game of Thrones, a pretty interesting selection of interviews, including Karen Joy Fowler and George R.R. Martin.]
MISCELLANEOUSGuardianScience fiction need to reflect that the future is queer[I don't disagree with the wider point, which is that we need more diversity, but I don't entirely agree with some of the assertions.]
And finally Joy (who owns Jo Booms, at least for now) reads her six-day old son, Wensleydale, to sleep... from Facebook

Digital tribulations

On Saturday, my domain and therefore main email address went down--and remains so.This morning our WiFi network crashed and stubbornly stayed inaccessible for several hours.This afternoon, my AOL account--which I use only for lists--got hacked.It hasn't been the Most Fun Day Ever.

Fixing AOL was relatively easy. The network was recalcitrant but is now, finally, back up. Nicolagriffith.com, though, is proving to be a serious puzzle. 

It's been down more than 72 hours. Three people are trying to solve it. (Two with considerably more skill at this than me.) I haven't a clue what's going on, or why.

But if I'm a little distracted, or if you've had odd messages purporting to be from me, you know why.

Hild videos

While I'm trying to figure out why my domain is broken (and sorting out the resulting email snarl) here, have a bunch of Hild videos, conveniently broken into three types: interviews, performance, and reviews. Enjoy.
Interviews




Performance (staged discussion and reading)



Reviews