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Categorizing the Parasol Protectorate

Audio interview about the books in general with Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column at SF in SF.

How would you describe the Parasol Protectorate series for people who have been living under a rock and don’t know about it yet?
Imagine Jane Austen dabbling in science and steam technology. Then imagine P.G. Wodehouse suddenly dropped vampires into the Drones Club. The Parasol Protectorate books are the resulting progeny. They feature a soulless spinster confronting Queen Victoria’s grumpy werewolf investigator over the issue of lisping vampires.

How about the new Finishing School sereis?
The Finishing School series is set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, only 25 years earlier, and features a finishing academy located in a giant caterpillar-like dirigible floating over Dartmoor in which young ladies are taught to . . . finish . . . everything . . . and everyone . . . as needed. There will be steampunk etiquette! There will be well-dressed espionage! There will be Victorian fake food. There will be flying mechanical sausage dogs named Bumbersnoot. The first book, Etiquette & Espionage, releases Feb 5, 2013. Blog post here and industry press announceent here.

And the Parasol Protectorate Abroad series?
The Parasol Protectorate Abroad books feature a marauding team of outrageous miscreants in a high tech dirigible charging about fixing things, loudly and mainly with tea. This series will explore the wider ramifications of my steampunk British Empire, not just how technology has altered but how vampires and werewolves have evolved differently in various parts of the world. The first book, Prudence, begins several decades after Alexia's books and releases in the Fall of 2013.

What genre are these peculiar Parasol Protectorate books? I have heard the series described as 'steampunk romance', can you explain to us what that is?
They are usually filed under science fiction / fantasy although some stores put them into romance and few have stuck them into horror. I consider my books a mix of steampunk and urban fantasy. I like Carrie Vaughn’s term "urbane fantasy" which nicely incorporates both sub–genres. There’s also the delightful "teapunk." There’s certainly enough tea in my books for that. I like to spoof the original Gothic classics so there is also good dose of comedy in the Parasol Protectorate – giggling readers are good.

Can you give us a synopsis?
The Parasol Protectorate books feature Alexia Tarabotti, soulless, autocratic Victorian harridan, and her increasingly eccentric group of friends. Alexia is prone to charging about London, then across England, and eventually through Europe on her quest to foil various evil plots. She is assisted, and sometimes hindered, in her endeavors by a band of scruffy werewolf soldiers, a cadre of gay vampires, a cross–dressing female inventor, and a very silly best friend with a predilection for atrocious hats.

Who are some of your influences?
My strongest writing influences tend to be authors like Elisabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, and P. G. Wodehouse. I also fall back on the gods of steampunk and urban fantasy, such as Jules Verne or Horace Walpole, and then use farce and comedy to play with the archetypes inherent in each.

There are many attributes associated with the octopus, why your fascination with this aquatic chameleon? Will we ever find out its significance to the Parasol Protectorate?
Octopodes are smart, cute, crafty, squishy and, when all is said and done, tasty. Can you think of a superior creature? Each book reveals a bit more about the octopus and its significance. Someday, perhaps, all will be revealed. I will drop the hint that I chose this particular creature for its intelligence.

What’s the most positive comment a reader has said about your writing?
Readers have been so amazingly kind, I hardly know where to start. I will say fan mail from librarians always touches me deeply. I had one email from about a young lady in Bangkok who read one of my books during an uprising, and it helped her escape the horror. I don’t think I’ve ever received a higher compliment.

If someone were to enter a bookshop, how would you persuade them to try your novel?
It’s got gay vampires, dirigibles, and madly wielded parasols in it. What more could you want from a book?

The Parasol Protectorate has both werewolves and vampires, what makes your novel different than all the other supernatural novels out right now?
There’s no magic. None at all. Instead, Victorian scientists are struggling to understand vampires, werewolves, and ghosts using the scientific standards of the day. This results in steampunk gadgets and crazy theories centered on the existence of the soul. In addition, the books are very lighthearted in their approach to the supernatural, possibly even silly (e.g. newly minted vampires suffer from fang–lisp).

What would you most like potential readers to know about you and/or your book?
Neither of us are meant to be taken seriously.

If you could describe the Parasol Protectorate series in one word, what would that word be?
Canoodle! (Because it’s the best word EVAH, followed closely by kafuffle. Oo, can I choose three words? A canoodling kafuffle!)

What were you trying to accomplish with these books?
I wanted to cheer people up and give them a fun read. Maybe keep one or two readers up all night. No real agenda. I also would love to be at least one person’s favorite author.

Fill in the blank’s here: If you like ______, you should read my books because _______.
Tea, there’s so much tea in these books I had to change one instance to cordial instead because tea was becoming a main character.

What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller?
Characters, charm, and frivolity.

These books look very British, to the point where every time I read a blurb, I hear a British person in my head. How British is the Parasol Protectorate and will those who don’t get British humor, understand the jokes and references?
They are quite British. My mum’s a Brit (it’s probably her voice you hear) and I attended graduate school in Nottingham, but I’m embarrassingly American. My publisher is pretty strict about making sure all terms and words are Americanized. I dug in my heels about a few of the names, but a passing familiarity with Regency romances or BBC costume dramas is more than sufficient to understand the humor. Like Monty Python I believe the series is filled with the kind of comedy that crosses cultural boundaries: farce, sarcasm, and indiscriminate irreverence.

How many books are you planning in the series?
The Parasol Protectorate includes five books: 1. Soulless (2009), 2. Changeless (2010), 3. Blameless (2010), 4. Heartless (2011), and 5. Timeless (2012). Alexia and Conall’s story will end there. I don’t see this as a Butcher, Hamilton, or Harris situation. I do love the world, though. So I’ll be exploring 20 years after the Parasol Protectorate series, traveling to different parts of the world, and about 20 years before, with the more intellectual espionage side of early steampunk (beware the Picklemen). Some day I hope to write a single book about Alexia’s father, mostly because it is becoming increasingly necessary to know his back–story. And, of course, there are always short stories.

Timeless is the last in the Parasol Protectorate series, but you're writing a new series, The Parasol Protectorate Abroad. How did you know it was time to end the series? Will readers get to see more of Alexia et al in the new series?
I'm the kind of reader who will not pick up a series until it is complete. I've been burned too many times before by a series (or author) dieing early. It's kind of morbid but I wanted to have one completed series under my belt, just in case. I like to end things, it's very satisfying. It felt like Alexia's arc was going to settle happily down at five books, so I stopped her there. She and other characters from her series might show up in the Finishing School or the Parasol Protectorate Abroad but they will not be main characters.

Throw away temptation lines for the books?
Soulless: Her manners are excellent, her soul is non–existent, and she wants your treacle tart.
Changeless: Werewolves in kilts.
Blameless: Beware the bad guys, they have pesto.
Heartless: The octopus rampages at midnight.
Timeless: Not for the faint of hat.

What’s your favorite thing about the Parasol Protectorate series?
That I got to put comedy, urban fantasy, and steampunk all into one series. It’s the attack of the sub-genres!

What can readers expect from the upcoming sequels?
Articulated parasols, inappropriate passions, and an overabundance of witty banter.

I've seen your books described as comedy and urban fantasy as well, but to me, there's a large dollop of mystery in each one—always something for Alexia to figure out or prevent. Are you a mystery fan? What's generally the impetus for the story, do you begin with the mystery in mind?
I actually don't read mysteries. That was always my parents' thing. Because of that, I was raised watching BBC mysteries all the time, so I suppose they leak in. I'm not very subtle about it. Most of the time my stories are simply character driven dramas with lots comedy, and real mystery readers can figure out who done it quickly and easily. I don't consider the mystery the point. For me the point is following how my main character figures things out, and how much trouble she gets into as she does so.

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World of the Parasol Protectorate

Audio interview about world building with KAXE radio, archived. Interview begins about half way through.

How did you come up with the idea?
The simple fact is: this was what I wanted to read. I like steampunk but it tends to be a little too dark and riddled with technobabble for me. I enjoy urban fantasy but am not wild about a modern setting. So I thought I might just combine the two, and then shake it up with a jot more romance and a whole lot of comedy. Then I started thinking about what kind of world could accommodate all these different elements. I’m familiar with the Victorian era and I find it a rich source of amusement in and of itself. Those ridiculous fashions and that obsession with etiquette seem the perfect time period to drop in vampires (dictating such things) and werewolves (chaffing against them) not to mention steam technology. It seemed to me that what comedy I couldn’t supply with plot and character, an alternate Victorian London could provide just by being itself.

So where did you go from there?
After deciding on a setting, I started idly toying with the idea of how a person would become undead. After all, if vampires and werewolves are bouncing about, what’s to keep them from turning everyone? There must be biological procreative controls in place. Taking into account what I knew of Victorian scientific theory, I hypothesized that an excess soul found in only a few people might account for bite–survival rates. This led me to investigate the measuring of the soul – which an American scientist actually tried to do in the late 1800s. This, in turn, lead to the idea that if some people had too much soul there should be others who had too little, or none at all. And these people could act as nullifiers to supernatural abilities. Thus Alexia was born.

You have some interesting theories about the Victorian society.
I’ve long been troubled by certain quirks of history that seem never adequately explained. The most confusing of these is how one tiny island with abysmal taste in food, excellent taste in beverages, and a penchant for poofy dresses suddenly managed to take over most of the known world? How did one tiny island manage to conquer an empire upon which the sun never set? I decided that the only possible answer was that England openly accepted supernatural creatures, and put them to good use, while other countries continued persecution. This led me to postulate that King Henry’s breach with the Church was over open acceptance of vampires and werewolves into society (the divorce thing was just a front). This gave Great Britain a leg up dealing with messy little situations like winning major foreign battles or establishing an efficient bureaucracy or convincing the world cricket is a good idea. Suddenly, everything made sense: cravats cover bite marks, the British regimental system is clearly based on werewolf pack dynamics, and pale complexions are in vogue because everyone wants to look like the trend–setting vampires.

You’ve set your Parasol Protectorate series in alternate Victorian London, what was something you knew had to be the same as our London?
I knew I wanted certain key historical events to stay in place. Most major wars and battles are still there, but the reasons behind them are different. I don’t write so much alt–history, as re–explained history. I also knew I wanted to take the same tactic with the most ridiculous aspects of Victorian fashion as well. High cravats? Hide the bite marks. Confining bustle–skirts and heeled boots? Keeps your prey from moving too fast.

We noticed that the 'acceptance' of the supernatural reminded us of the fact that Victorian society were among the first to promote the abolition of slavery - was that something you were conscious of when writing Soulless?
Yes I was thinking about that. It seems part of the British character to kind of ignore or quietly condone things rather than make a fuss. Very different from us Americans. By the time the tide of acceptance has shifted it simply becomes law, without too much objection. I like that.

What about the good old US of A?
I don’t go much into America in this book, but I envision the States still embroiled in that old west dichotomy of puritanical thought versus adventurous liberty, only with vampires and werewolves taking sides. It also simply more Victorian to take a stance the equivalent of, "Ah yes, vampires, jolly good chaps, excellent fashion sense, always polite, terribly charming at cards, we just won’t mention that little neck biting habit."

Which figures from history can you imagine as supernaturals?
I can't answer that specifically, because there would be spoilers. I can say that I have divided history into dominance of one species over the others. Ancient Rome belongs to the vampires, Ancient Greece to the humans, and Ancient Egypt to the werewolves, for example. Obviously key players in (and therefore enemies of) these empires are going to have significant supernatural agendas. The actual historical figures I turn supernatural in my series do tend to be less well known, or only known in their country of origin. This ties back to my archaeology background, I chose historical characters that I love and were powerful in their day but have lost ground in current educational teachings. I also use historical figures whose deaths are shrouded in mystery, unknown, or debated by historians. Of course, there are many I can imagine as supernatural, but who never come up in the books. Someday I may compile a list.

How did the steampunk element fit in?
It seems to me that, if supernatural creatures were running around Victorian London, scientists of the day would be trying to understand them, dissect them, fight them, and avoid them. I didn’t want magic in my world, but 19th century science is almost as unlikely. This, in turn, would lead to new and strange advancements in science and medicine. In the world of the Parasol Protectorate, simply put, urban fantasy tropes have steampunk consequences.

Have you kept the setting historical and added in the supernatural creatures? Or do we see curious inventions and fantastic vehicles?
I try to stay as accurate to 1873 England as possible. Changes leak in as either alternate explanations for reality, or alternate inventions to deal with the non–reality I’ve injected. There are sill hansoms roaming London but dirigibles, for example, have risen to prominence as an alternate mode of long distance transport because vampires and werewolves cannot use them. Alternative guns have evolved utilizing silver and wood bullets. And, of course, the supernatural creatures themselves take a keen interest in promoting new technology and have the funds to do so. My steampunk is the result of the supernatural intrusion into the Victorian world. I think the path to world consistency for me was in letting my Victorians behave like Victorians, and react to my supernatural elements as they probably would have, by coming up with wild theories and tests and gadgets.

So Alexia, where’d she come from?
Suddenly, I’ve got steampunk gadgets trying to weigh people’s souls, and scientists theorizing that it is through a rare inclination towards excess soul that some survive supernatural metamorphosis. And that, rather long–windedly, is how Alexia was born. For if some people have an over–abundance of soul, there must also exist an antidote, a person with no soul at all.

What made you settle on vampires, werewolves, and ghosts as your supernatural creatures?
For one thing, they just fit so well in with the premise of the science of the soul. For another, they are all monsters with strong Victorian literature ties. I’ve read a lot of gothic lit over the years. Those three monsters in particular strike me as quintessentially Victorian. So I decided to twist it around and explore a world where such supernatural creatures were accepted as part of society – what, then, becomes the monster?

With the popularity of teenage vampires and werewolves, how do you deal with the vampire canon? What "rules" did you decide to break or bend? Why?
I simply went back to the roots of the western vampire mythology. My vampires are a parody of the original gothic monsters while at the same time poking fun at the modern metamorphose. I didn't think about it very much, in fact I try not to read too many modern vampire books, I don't want to be influenced.

Regarding the hive and how the vampires have queens. This isn't something I've ever been aware of in the general mythology of vampires so I felt it was unique. Can you tell me how you came about to that idea?
I knew werewolf culture would be based on pack dynamics and I wanted a similar animal organization structure to base the vampires on. I also wanted something that was predatory and opposite that of wolves: female dominant instead of male, and so forth. Give those strictures, bat colonies (the obvious option) wouldn't work, nor would most birds. Bee/Wasp hive structures have always fascinated me so that seemed a natural choice.

One other question that came up was the insertion of treacle tarts. With a British background this didn't occur to me as anything unusual but one of our members looked up the word treacle and discovered it to have roots in a medieval word meaning to be concerning wild beasts and that it can mean 'contrived'. Was it just a 'common' British thing you added in or did you have a deeper meaning intended behind it?
That's a cool fact but I didn't know. The treacle tart is an inside joke. Alexia loves them, yet I've never met anyone who wasn't utterly disgusted by the nasty overly sweet little things.

The vampire and werewolf cultures each played a role in Soulless but although the ghosts were mentioned they never made an appearance.  Will we see more of them in future novels?
Ah, yes, quite a bit more. Ghosts of various personalities have small but pivotal roles to play, particularly in the second book, Changeless and in the fourth book, Heartless.

Which group would you be most wary about causing offense to – the vampires or the werewolves?
With immediate effect – the werewolves. In the long term – definitely the vampires.

Once other nations begin to see what a powerful weapon the supernatural is for Britain, what is keeping them from following suit? 
Ah, that is an excellent question and all I can say at the moment is that you'll learn much of this in the third book, Blameless. The nature of my alternative world and its history is one of the things that is revealed more and more as the series progresses. You are also supposing that nations can think logically on such matters, which history has shown us is almost impossible. Humans, particularly in large numbers are never logical.

In your universe, it’s deemed impolite for a vampire to attack you and drink your blood without a proper introduction. What happens when they attack you rudely?
Well, normally they simply don't. (I shouldn't talk about such things in polite society but there are perfectly adequate blood-whores available down Dockside if said vampire doesn't have his own drones.) Vampires are very civilized, you see? In fact, much of the societal etiquette of the London ton is a result of Vampire influence. When the vampire attacks Alexia at the beginning of the series, she is shocked because it means there is something seriously wrong with him - he must be unwell or perhaps mad. Of course, then she accidentally kills him. Big. Fat. Oops.

Does Alexia fall in love?
I think it might be better put that Alexia "falls in annoyance." Alpha werewolves can be very bossy, and Alexia does not like being told what to do.

And Queen Victoria – does she make an appearance in the books or is just referenced by your other characters? How does she feel about vampires and werewolves in London?
Queen Victoria has a Shadow Council of supernatural creatures which meets twice a week. She relies on a vampire adviser for assistance with espionage operations and political intrigue, and a werewolf adviser for guidance in the arena of military tactics. She uses ghosts as spies. In turn, the supernatural set is well aware that England is one of the few places in the world where they can exist openly. Therefore, they are heavily invested in keeping the British Empire strong and healthy and ever expanding. As to the first part of the question, Queen Victoria has a brief (excuse my Latin) deus ex regina appearance in two of the books.

Why parasols?
Parasols were such a ubiquitous item for a fashionable young lady in the Victorian age and they do make a most excellent weapon, especially if you are inclined to bashing people atop the head. How could I resist? Also "parasol" is such a delicious word.

Have you considered writing any prequels about the history of the vampires and werewolves and how they became accepted in Great Britain?
I'd love to write a bit about Alexia's father, but to go that far back, I doubt it. That would be during the time of the Tudors, not a period of history that greatly interests me, and more clockpunk than steampunk. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind. I'm intrigued by both Lyall's past and Lord Akeldama's past, there may be books hidden there.

There's an awful lot of sex in Soulless. Now that Lord Maccon and Alexia are married, will we be seeing more or less sex in the sequels?
More steampunk and less nookie, thank goodness. I find it terribly embarrassing to write the nookie scenes. Please don't be disappointed, for I cannot leave smut entirely alone, there's still some post-connubial bliss. And, of course, Alexia gets a new love interest, despite the marriage. Or perhaps because of it?

While Soulless was very much a romance, I heard that the sequel, Changeless, will be less so.  Can you tell me a bit about what we expect from the Alexia and Lord Conall in your upcoming book?
I borrow a lot from traditional Gothic literature tropes. So while Soulless was loosely basted on a Gothic romance model, Changeless is more of a Gothic mystery. Blameless uses a lot of Gothic boy's adventure, Quartermain-style. Heartless borrows a bit from Sherlock Holmes and the cozies. Timeless is intended to be travel journal-esque. So while Alexia and the irrepressible Lord Maccon are still there, the romance is a little less important to the plot.

What are you most proud of about the series? And is there a serious underlying theme that you hope readers will pick up on?
I'm most proud that these books combine so many different sub-genres without, so far, really offending anyone. I'd rather they were not taken too seriously. I'm hoping they bring people joy and make them giggle. I like to think my books are more like a nice cup of tea than a three-course meal. That said, I suspect, whether I like it or not, there are underlying themes. Tolerance, for example, will probably become more and more apparent as the series progresses. Also, I tend to write pragmatic women who are capable in their own right but accomplish things with the help of others. I'm not one for the "solitary tough guy against the universe" plot. Alexia is strong, but a good deal of her strength comes, as the books continue, from her growing band of friends.

Do you have a complete plan for an overarching theme for your series, including a likely number of books, or are you more a seat-of-the-pants writer?
I'm pretty confident that I will be stopping at five books. I'd rather play in my world like Mercedes Lackey than Laurel K. Hamilton. Which is to say, I prefer the idea of different clumps of books all set in the same world involving different generations, places, and times, rather then one long seemingly endless series following the same characters. I'm a tea party kind-of-girl: the tea is always there, but there's so many different foods to nibble on rather than, no matter how good, just eating the same cake.

Mad scientists are the villains in the first book, and invoke Dürrenmatt's play "The Physicists", which questions ethics in science. What are your views on regulations on science and scientists? Do you see such dangers (both in the form of mad scientists and overly strict regulations) in today's science?
In this aspect I was parodying Gothics like Dr. Jekylle and Mr. Hyde, which represented a switch from fear of religious monsters (for example, moral corruption like that in The Monk) to the demonization of science and the creatures it could produce. However, if you look at my next two books you'll realize that I myself am not entirely supportive of this demonization. It is not the science itself that is at fault, but a lack of ethical grounding. My real fear, and the thing Alexia is always battling in society, is obsession. What's bad about the scientists in the first book is not their science, but obsession with that science allowing them to take it too far. In the second book I vilify obsession with immortality. In the third, I tackle religious obsession. In today's society I genuinely believe to become a scientist you should also have a proper grounding in epistemology and ethics. Our greatest flaw as scientists is not in our scientific knowledge, but in our understanding of human behavior and its historical relationship to science. Just to be fair, I believe politicians and businessmen should have the same training.

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Characters of the Parasol Protectorate

Audio interview about the supernatural with Dan of the Out of the Coffin podcast.

CHARACTERS IN GENERAL

Who is your favorite character in the books and why?
I adore Lord Akeldama because he is so deliciously fun to write – all that mad italic–wielding action. I’m under the impression you need only read him to understand why.

Which was the hardest to write and why?
Madame Lefoux. I think because her motives are often in question. I really want her to be likeable but even I don’t trust her.

If you could meet any characters in your book, who would it be and why?
Either Professor Lyall, because he has hidden depths and wears a waistcoat of plenty, or Ivy Hisselpenny, because she’s so very ridiculous.

If you could, would you change places with any of your characters?
Good gracious no! Victorian London, even with the supernatural mucking about, is no place for an independently minded female with a mad passion for exotic foodstuffs. That said, if I could actually be Lord Akeldama I might be tempted. I’d enjoy leading such an outrageous life.

In one of the numerous blogs you have contributed to you said your life is filled with many colorful people, that they have crept into your stories. What else inspired you when you came up with the characters?
I love the ridiculous, in life, in literature, in television. Like most authors, I find myself borrowing from any or all of these places when building characters. I don’t like to be too stereotypical, if you continue to read the Parasol Protectorate series you will find I have built up some archetypes in Soulless that I will take great glee in tearing apart in subsequent books. I do find myself, now, stopping in the middle of a book or a movie I’m enjoying, stepping back and thinking: "I really love/hate this character, why? How did the writer do that? What qualities annoy/amuse me? What’s the trick?" It can get a bit aggravating, because it’s hard to simply immerse myself and be entertained these days.

If you were to attend a ball along with each of the characters from the Parasol Protectorate series, which one would you hope to be seated next to at dinner?
Oh, Lord Akeldama, definitely! Even if he talked nothing but frivolities, they would excellent and highly entertaining frivolities.

Is there anyone in particular whose presence would be so horrifying to prompt you to (discreetly, of course!) switch their place card with another if you found it next to your seat?
Hum, I don’t think so. I tend to find most of my characters intriguing in some manner or another. I’m not sure I could tolerate an entire dinner next to Countess Nadasdy, but even she can be charming – if she is in a pleasant mood.

How do you pick the names of your characters? Are they just names you like, people you know or do they have some other meaning?
On a very few occasion the character will choose his/her own name (Alexia was always going to be Alexia). But most of the time my names are cookies, that is: a reward for the careful reader. The name either tells readers something about the character, where he came from, her real identity, his true purpose, or relate to someone historical (Tarabotti), or are some kind of hint or foreshadow (Akeldama). I love names so I always play with them if possible.

ALL ABOUT ALEXIA

Tell us a bit about your heroine, Alexia Tarabotti.
Alexia is a spinster coping with a vast number of embarrassing problems: she has Italian heritage (and looks it), she reads too much, she has no soul, she has accidentally killed a vampire, and she now has a large werewolf bothering her as a result. She tends to cope with these problems by either bashing them over the head with a parasol, or talking at them, with equally disastrous results. Oh, and her best friend is prone to wearing very silly hats. (Alexia Character Study Board)

What will readers find particularly intriguing about Alexia?
I like to think it’s her prosaic character and dry wit that will appeal. That and her propensity for whacking at evildoers indiscriminately with her parasol.

Alexia has no soul – what does she find most inconvenient about these unusual circumstances?
Well, she will turn supernatural creatures mortal when she touches them, which can be terribly embarrassing, not to say fatal, for said creatures. It also means that on several occasions certain baser elements of society are actively trying to kill her, without proper introduction – so rude. One side effect of her soulless state is that Alexia is very practical in her approach to such trifling inconveniences as death threats. She tends to cope with most problems (including said werewolf partner) by either bashing them over the head with her parasol, or talking at them, with equally disastrous results.

What are Alexia’s personal pet peeves when it comes to ill–mannered behavior?
Introductions are very important to her, as are good table manners, well–behaved children, and respect for the social order. I think she is less concerned with proper dress than she pretends.

Alexia walks the line between steampunk and urban fantasy, but remains a woman who can face any situation head on with verve. Do you ever find yourself frustrated by your can–do heroine?
Never. She is my favorite kind of character to write – practical to a fault, capable in a crisis, frustrating to the other characters around her, and all too often getting herself into impossible situations out of sheer nerve. It can be a little annoying trying to write myself out of the corner Alexia has gotten the plot into, but she is also rich in friends, so she has aid in times of dire need.

In Soulless, there is a lot of focus on Alexia’s soulless status, but it’s mainly in relation to the effect it has on supernatural creatures. Alexia does mention that she felt she had to come up with her own moral standards because she had no soul of her own, but this idea wasn’t expounded on, and Alexia does seem rather unaffected by her lack of soul. Are there any other implications of not having a soul in Soulless, aside from its scientific effects?
The biggest side effect of being soulless is pragmatism. This makes Alexia both typical and wildly atypical for a female of the Victorian era. The atypical aspects come from the fact that, being soulless, she simply sees the world differently. She also has absolutely no creative skill and very little imagination. However, because of her pragmatism she recognizes these flaws in herself and tends to surround herself with friends, intentionally or subconsciously, who compensate for her own inabilities. Alexia is not one of those heroines who charges forth, one woman against the machine. She seeks out advice, travels in company, and gets things done by committee, that’s also a side effect of her lack of soul. As the series continues, hopefully, this will become clearer as will a few other biological consequences.

Victorian women were eager to get out of the house, although societal pressure often kept them there. Alexia labors under the ugly label of "spinster." Why this time period for a feisty heroine like Alexia?
I think Alexia, given her stalwart character and undeniably acerbic wit, needs something to struggle against and an entire societal framework is a good start. She’s peculiar in that she still acts quite the proper English gentlewoman and isn’t inclined to buck the system. Yet by her very nature she is driven to unconsciously subvert it.

Are you anything like your main character, personality–wise?
More similar than I’d like to admit, I suspect. Oh, wait, I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I might incriminate myself! Actually, bits of my personality come out in three of my characters, one of which doesn’t appear until the second book. I’ll leave my readers to guess which three.

Do you think Alexia would prefer to change her soulless state if given the chance?
No. I think, aside from a few difficulties society has imposed upon her with respect to her appearance, Alexia is quite happy with herself, her strange abilities, and the practical overtones that have resulted with respect to her character.

I think that names say a lot about a person, especially a fictional person. How did you decide on your protagonist’s full name? Did you have any other names that were in the running?
Alexia’s first name just came to me, I’ve always liked that name. Her last name, Tarabotti, is actually an ode to the deliciously named early renaissance proto–feminist Archangelica Tarabotti. She wrote a monograph arguing against the church’s assertion that women had no souls.

I appreciated how Alexia was able to have a certain amount of freedom because of her mother having given up hope of her landing a husband with her long nose and Italian heritage. Was this your first choice for this device? If not, what were some of your other ideas and what made you settle on the nose and the Italian heritage?
Alexia is Italian because of her name. That is to say, when I was coming up with the character I found that name and everything just followed after. I’ve had a love affair with Italy since I excavated there over a decade ago, so it was a natural choice for me. As to the nose and the skin, I knew she had to be atypical in appearance (and attitude and thought) so I could have her a spinster. Also, I don’t like to write beautiful main characters, they’re boring.

SUPPORTING CAST

Lord Maccon, alpha werewolf, is What type of man? What are his feelings towards Alexia?
Lord Maccon is large and bumbling and used to getting his own way. He’s only recently been integrated into London society and is still experiencing difficulty adapting, no one is quite sure if this is because he’s a werewolf or because he’s Scottish. I’ve described him in the past as the kind of man who would probably rip out your throat, if he could just remember what that other thing was he wanted to do first. He hates to wear cravats and sings very bad opera in the bathtub. His feelings toward Alexia are generally rather overwrought, dominated mainly by aggravation. (Lord Maccon Character Study Board)

Was there a particular reason why you wrote Lord Maccon as a werewolf, as opposed to the currently popular vampire?
In all honesty, I just don’t find vampires that sexy. I like the idea of a hero who’s kind of scruffy and buffoonish and a little lost in his alpha–nature, rather one who is all sleek and urbane. Also, the ability to change shape has always appealed to me. I find the rough and tumble of a pack mentality easier to write, probably because it’s closer to my own relationships.

List 5 characters from Soulless and do word associations.
Alexia Tarabotti: pragmatic
Lord Maccon: grumpy
Professor Lyall: competent
Lord Akeldama: outrageous
Ivy Hisselpenny: ugly hats

In light of the reappearance of Ivy (Alexia’s best friend from Soulless) in both Changeless and Blameless, c an fans expect some familiar faces in the fourth and fifth installments?
Absolutely, I love continuing to explore minor characters and exposing their hidden depths and secret pasts, especially if I have initially set them up to be one sided or frivolous. I enjoy writing with a full cast of well–loved quirky personalities to draw upon, like Gaskell’s Cranford. I’ll also like to drop back in very very minor characters, that may have only been mentioned once, in passing, as reward for the careful reader.

Madame Lefoux was a great addition to your world, will we see her in any future books?
’Ze lovely French inventor has a very large part to play in Blameless, Book the Third, and a pivotal role in Heartless, Book the Fourth. I don’t know yet about the last book, some characters don’t weasel their way in until I’m actually writing the story.

Several imagined cast lists have popped up for a film of the books. Who would you choose to play Miss Tarabotti, Lord Maccon, Professor Lyall, Lord Akeldama and Madame Lefoux, given an infinite budget?
In short, Alexia = Gina Bellman, Lord Maccon = Sean Bean, Professor Lyall = Kevin McKidd, Lord Akeldama = Paul Bettany, Madame Lefoux = Audrey Tautou. For more on the subject you can see me Cast the Movie of Soulless. Facebook group discussion on the subject. Others casting. Alexia put to the vote.

As London is the setting, are there any other characters from other novels, who will appear in your books? Like Dr. Jekyll or Sherlock Holmes?
No. I shamelessly incorporate actual historical people, or in some cases their relations, but I don't borrow fictional ones.

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Steampunk

Audio interview about Steampunk on the Steampod podcast
Chris Lester interviews Cherie Priest and self at the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition.

What is steampunk?
Steampunk is a re–imagining of either the past or the future where steam technology never died, and electricity never dominated, and a Victorian aesthetic overshadows all. Think Jules Verne and hot air balloons flying to the moon. Steampunk has many other components, but Jeff VanderMeer does a far better job of tackling those than I ever could.

What’s with all the dirigibles?
I think dirigibles (and other types of airships) are particularly appealing to writers of steampunk because they quickly show the reader the alternate nature of the author’s world, and because they represent the slow majestic dignity, and slight ridiculousness, of that time period.

How did you get into steampunk?
I came to steampunk first as an aesthetic movement. I’m a longtime fan of vintage clothing and Goth style; steampunk drew me in as a cheerful melding of the two. I also love seeing recycled technology used as jewelry, and other examples of how creative the maker community has become over the past few years.

What was it that drew you to steampunk?
My Mum is a tea–swilling ex–pat. I was raised on British children’s books (Tom’s Midnight Garden, The Borrowers, The Water Babies, Wind in the Willows) and I spent many a youthful summer in Devon and two years of graduate school in the Midlands. It was this, plus the fashion aesthetic, that first drew me to steampunk – the beauty of 19th century clothing but with a less ridged everyday feel. I adore the Victorian era. I used to make hoopskirts out of my hula–hoops as a child. I also love the makers side of steampunk – technology you can see working, rather than little silver iPods with all their functionality secreted away.

What is it about steampunk that particularly excites you?
The Victorian Gothic literature movement saw the birth of science fiction. The current steampunk movement is a weird kind of full circle, taking sci–fi back to its roots ~ I love that.

What are the pitfalls of getting published in this genre?
Right now on of the pitfalls is that there is a lot of England–centric steampunk out there. I believe editors are interested in seeing steampunk throughout the Empire, as well as some that deals with the more disenfranchised elements of British society. Also, marketing departments are still struggling to find a place to fit steampunk as authors are writing romance steampunk, mystery steampunk, western steampunk, and science–fiction steampunk.

Most steampunk novels are set in the Victorian era, but why did you choose that setting for yours? What’s unique about the setting in your book?
I’m comfortable writing within the Victorian Era due to a voracious apatite for Victorian literature, too many BBC costume dramas, and ten years participating in the Great Dickens Christmas Fair. The Parasol Protectorate world is unique because, unlike many other steampunk novels, it doesn’t depict a dystopian future–past but instead a cheerful lighthearted one.

Where do you see steampunk going, or where would you like it to go? How much do you think it’s going to grow as a genre?
Steampunk is a unique movement in that it isn’t entirely literary – it has ties to the green movement, the maker community, historical reenactment societies, and the fashion world. Should it crest in popularity within all of these different areas at the same time, steampunk might well rise to the forefront of world counterculture. But I don’t think that is likely to occur. Right now, I believe it has immense escapist appeal. With our economy in chaos, steampunk offers up an alternative lifestyle of sedate civilized behavior. Do I see that lasting? Probably not, but then no one attributed urban fantasy with much staying power either, so I continue to hope.

If you could pick one mainstream author, or maybe just an author who doesn’t write steampunk, to jump ship and start writing in the steampunk genre, who do you think would do a good job and why?
I’d like a respected modern literary writer to tackle the genre with some class, pride, and dignity. How about Margaret Atwood? Here’s the stickler, I’d also like her to admit openly that it is steampunk, and that steampunk means genre fiction – no shame, no anti–genre marketing campaign. However, I wouldn’t say no to Christopher Moore or Terry Pratchett getting all steamy.

Can you think of a non–steampunk book that could be rewritten and make a good steampunk book?
Lawrence of Arabia? No, truthfully, I’d rather see original writers and debut authors take steampunk in new and different directions. How about traveling to India, Japan, or Africa with the concept? I melded my steampunk with urban fantasy, how about some steampunk crime fiction? The possibilities are endless – and so shiny and well dressed.

As one who is completely unfamiliar with steampunk, can you clarify for me which aspects of the Parasol Protectorate books are considered steampunk?
Alexia’s world is steampunk: an alternate 1800s England with new and different mechanicals, evil scientists, and attack automatons. The integrity of the alternative world is held together by the simple fact that I play by my own Victorian science rules (no magic). I didn’t want to overload new–to–steampunk–readers with too much gadgetry all at once. As the series progresses, the science creeps more and more to the fore, although I do try and keep it from getting all techno–babble. I suppose Soulless might be considered steampunk–light ~ would that be fluffy–cloud–punk?

What exactly is steampunk fashion?
The current aesthetic movement (essentially the visual equivalent of the love child of a BBC costume drama and Hot Topic) emphasizes the importance of creativity, found object art, and the maker mentality ~ all of which I find very exciting. If you’re still curious, I did a blog post on the subject.

What one steampunk book would you recommend to readers who are unfamiliar with the genre but would like to give it a try?
I’m going to branch out and pick a graphic novel. There’s none better than the original League of Extraordinary Gentleman.

You’ve got quite a web presence, what would you suggest people new to steampunk use as a launchpad? (i.e. Books, websites, podcasts?)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say try the steampunk section of my webpage. That page has my definition of steampunk and links to other people’s; recommended websites, blogs, and salons; lists of books, magazines, youtube videos, and films; and, of course, something on the fashion and some pretty pictures.

The books feature a lot of steampunk technology in them, how much of that is based on existing technology, and how much of it is your own creation?
I’d say it’s about 50/50. I like to sneak in crazy Victorian gadgets that actually existed whenever I can, or modify them to suit my needs. Some of the technologies in my books are built out of flawed Victorian scientific theory that I made real. Some are more modern. There’s a cable transport in Blameless based off experimental US military research from the Korean War. But the rest of the time I just make things up, or go running to some of my techy or RPG friends with a plot problem that needs a steampunk solution.

I love the descriptions of all the inventions and the technology of Alexia's world - are you a tech-savvy person? Does someone help you with that?
I'm a terrible neophyte and a very reluctant adopter of new technology. However, I am lucky enough to number many tech-savvy individuals in my life. Sometimes I create steampunk inventions from exacerbated actual Victorian gadgets, but other times I will call up one of my friends and beg them to have a conversation with me. "I need the invention to do this, but to have these limitations, and this kind of size. Any ideas? Oh and it should be funny."

Steampunk is going mainstream, if it isn’t already there. In addition there’s dieselpunk, atompunk, and a whole lot of other punks running around threatening to make people’s lives absolutely fabulous. Why do you think all these punks are suddenly so appealing in fiction?
I have many theories on this. Part of the appeal, I think, has to do with our own sense of chaos and impending doom. This often causes people to look back and seek out time that was more ridged and controlled, full of polite manners and forms of address. Steampunk has the advantage of being connected to an aesthetic that incorporates the maker movement and even the green movement. I think that is a large part of its charm.

What are the ingredients for a good steampunk novel?
There is a delicate balance to steampunk. You do need to do your research and know the language of the day, however, getting too flowery and Victorian can make your work inaccessible to a modern reader. It is also hard to make everyone happy. There are always going to be readers who want hard science–orientated steampunk and others who can’t wade through all that techno–babble. I like to say I write steampunk–light – a gateway drug, if you will. I also feel you can’t go wrong with comedy, that’s always lacking, even in the broader genres of SF/F, romance, horror, and mystery (steampunk has been classified under any of the above).

Which are the gothic or steampunk novels that have influenced your writing?
I like the early gothics: Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk, and later, of course, Austen’s lovely parody in Northanger Abby. I can take or leave most of the romantics although I’ll borrow their archetypes and mock them openly on a whim. Many of the Victorian classic gothics annoy me, although I do love Jane Eyre and Poe (particularly Fall of the House of Usher). I tend to prefer to read lighter fair from that time period. Later on, Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray is deliciously creepy, but in the end I would say I’m more influenced by his playbill humor. I suspect this is because I write spoofs and not actual gothic literature. As for steampunk, I do borrow from Wells and Verne but not directly, more for atmosphere than anything else.

Which are the gothic tropes or aesthetics you utilize in your own writing?
I only nominally dabble in the terror/horror side of things, and usually interrupt it with macabre humor whenever possible. I like the mystery and supernatural elements so they are always pretty strong. You’ll see the haunted house/Gothic architecture/castle thing pop up occasionally. Most of the action takes place at night, because of the conceits of the universe, but again I will break a description with comedy and because of Alexia’s snarky take on life things never get too dark. I do borrow character archetypes a lot mostly to turn the into caricatures I can break down later: human eve, evil eve, and innocent eve all pop up and then get messed with. I don’t use a lot of Byronic heroes, so I guess you could say my men are more modern romance archetypes of alpha/beta. Although Lord Akeldama and Biffy together share the role of mocking Byron as he actually was in real life. I also avoid both the arte of the supernatural (magic and the occult) and ideas of angels/demons/devil. I feel the steampunk element takes out these concepts and replaces them with science and pseudo–science, secret societies, and dastardly experiments.

Are there any (gothic) novels you have read recently and would also recommend to your readers?
I always suggest the Cask of Amontillado, which I think of as Poe’s best and cleanest works.

Do you have any other ideas for gothic novels in the future?
If you mean strict gothic, it’s unlikely I’ll ever write that except in parody. But the Parasol Protectorate series continues to dabble with tearing down gothic tropes and, as it is a rich field to explore, I doubt that will change any time soon.

Do you have any advice for young (Steampunk) authors?
I know editors out there are looking for steampunk that goes outside of London and explores the rest of the Empire. I also think they are interested in the darker side of British supremacy, such as characters that are lower class, disenfranchised, and of varying ethnicities. On the other hand, I always think you can't go wrong with humor.

In your non-fiction piece for Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded (anthology edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer),"Which is Mightier, the Pen or the Parasol?", you touch briefly upon the various aspects of steampunk literature. For those yet unable to read this piece, which appears to be steampunk's more enduring legacy: its subversion of past political/social views or its commentary on today's modern society?
Oh, definitely its commentary on modern society. Whenever you get a combined aesthetic and literary movement with so many other aspects. One feels compelled to ask why it is being born right now, and what it may tell us about ourselves, our desires, and our feelings about the greater society around us.

How your interest in steampunk affected the formation of your characters, what with Victorian mores and all. Speculate as to what they and their relative relationships would be like had they been born in another time, such as today?
The Victorian side of steampunk is vital to my characters and to my enjoyment of writing them. I experience gleeful joy when taking modern tropes ~ a strong urban fantasy heroine, barbaric alpha male, flamboyant San Francisco gay man ~ and making them play nice within an 1870's British class and etiquette system. Suddenly my strong heroine has to cut more with her tongue than a knife, is worried about showing her ankles, and constantly seeks both a useful role in society and friends who value her intelligence and wit. My alpha male becomes a werewolf chaffing against the rules of polite society and proper dress. My flamboyant gay vampire borrows from both Oscar Wilde and the Scarlet Pimpernel, manipulating the threads of society over centuries, his relationships bittersweet and complex, allowing him to be more than just a gay BFF.
I genuinely feel that without the steampunk setting the characters would be less whole. They would need other ~ possibly more artificial ~ components and struggles, and frankly I don't think I would enjoy writing them as much. I love the tension a Victorian world gives any kind of modern mind set. All my characters are struggling to balance their true natures against the pressures of society and in turn against modern sensibilities (informed, of course, my their creator who is quite definitely a creature of the contemporary world). This gives me a conflict of culture to play with and nothing is more exciting to me as a writer. It helps that the clothing back then was just so much more fabulous!

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Writing: The Craft

Audio interview about the writing craft with Adam of the Writing Habits podcast.
Audio interview with the SF Signal podcast.
Audio I Should Be Writing special on writing fast with Mur herself, J. Daniel Sawyer, Nathan Lowell, and yours truly.
Audio interview at The Agony Column ~ March of 2011. (direct MP3) On research and world building.

GAIL AS WRITER

What made you be a writer?
A healthy does of insanity mixed with a reckless disregard for my own survival topped with ingrained escapist tendencies.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Only recently. I always wanted to be an archaeologist, writing was rather more like breathing, just something I did. It was only with Soulless that I realized I might actually have a career as a writer. I still haven’t recovered from the shock.

Was being an author always a goal for you?
You betcha. Along with sleeping in Pompeii, owning a motorcycle, traveling to Egypt, and eating guinea pig. Four out of five ain’t bad.

How did you begin writing?
My Mum used to read to me in bed and if I didn’t like the end of the book I would explain to her very carefully that the author got it wrong and then inform her of the real ending. That was the start of the madness.

Who helped you on your writing path?
I’m surrounded by support from all manner of loved ones, but I depend most on five beta readers. Everything I write goes by them first and has done so for almost two decades.

What was the first novel (published or unpublished) that you wrote and how long did it take to write it?
I believe I wrote a cerebral and undoubtedly allegorical novel about calico cats and flying carpets. It took me a couple of days and was, my mother claims, a masterpiece of modern literature. I was eight.

Writing is said to be something that people are afflicted with rather than gifted and that it’s something you have to do rather than want. What is your opinion of this statement and how true is it to you?
I suspect writing is more of a curse for those around me. I get distracted and spacey at the beginning of a project, frustrated in the middle, briefly euphoric at the end, and grumpy when I’m not writing at all. I imagine it’s like living with someone who has a six–month rotation of some bizarre kind of pregnancy – all the time, over and over again.

Certain authors are renowned for writing at what many would call uncivilized times. When do you write and how do the others in your household feel about it?
Oh I’m nothing if not civilized. With a project due and no day job (mine’s intermittent) I write from 2 to 7 every weekday – with breaks for tea. The rest of the household, with the exception of the cat, is quite respectful. I have a closed–door policy. Which is to say: if the door to my office is closed my policy is to throw the nearest moveable object at anyone who disturbs me. They’ve learned. Even the cat.

When and where do you usually write?
I usually write the first draft at home, at my desk, in the afternoons. If I’m really struggling, I find a change of location helps, so I frequent a local coffee shop. I must hide away and do my second draft in private, however, because I read the whole thing out loud. If I did that in public people would think I was bonkers. I usually red pen a hard–copy of the third draft on an airplane, things just arrange it so I’m always traveling at that point in the writing process. I go over the copy edits with my best friend and beta on the couch in her living room with many cups of tea and much companion hilarity.

Could you describe your average day and writing practices?
I’m usually up at about 8:00 AM (I never used to be a morning person but something strange happened to my temporal wiring when I turned 30), make tea, eat breakfast, clean room, and check email/twitter/facebook. Then hop on the treadmill while I watch 1 hour of TV. Food. Other modes of procrastination. On deadline I start writing at about 2 and go until 6 or 7, which nicely covers teatime. Then it’s dinner, writing related business (conventions, contract reviews, longer email responses, interviews, guest blogs), and bed. Wash and repeat. Which reminds me, there is a shower in there, I promise.

Is there something that is a must have for you to be able to write?
Tea, wrist braces, my laptop, the companion world–building notebook of relevance, often chocolate.

Have you reached the point at which you realized that you had "made it" as a writer?
When I walked into a bookstore store and saw Soulless on a shelf for the first time, there was sputtering. (I blog the story.)

What is the most memorable moment (good, bad, or other) you have had in your life as an author?
Shortly after the ARC was released I wandered into my favorite local independent, Borderlands, and a lovely lady I didn’t know actually squeaked and bounced over to tell me that she really liked my book. I didn’t know what to do or say.

Sometimes pieces of music seem to influence certain scenes within novels, do you have a soundtrack for your tale?
Short answer, nope. I’m a dancer. If music is playing I want to dance, not write.

How was the writing and editing processes for you as a debut author? Anything extremely difficult?
I’ve been writing for years: short stories, unpublished novels, academic papers, so I found it relatively easy with two exceptions: the nookie and the humor. I’ve written humor before so I knew I could, but never for a full–length novel. It’s true what they say; it is harder to make people laugh than cry. I’ve never written anything approaching a romance before so that was very challenging too, I kept embarrassing myself. Oh, and the editing? I absolutely adore editing.

Tips against writers block?
Read something non–fiction that relates in some way to what you are writing. Writing SF? Read the latest Scientific America. Fantasy? How about a book on medieval cooking? The other thing to do is to put a note in the margin, skip the part that is giving you trouble, and just keep writing.

How do you discipline yourself to write?
I use shameless bribery: cup of tea if I finish the chapter, sushi every 25k, new shoes when I finish the first draft. I also punish myself. If I haven’t made my word count I can’t watch TV. Not even if it’s Project Runway.

What about the writing process most appeals to you? What is the most fun?
The first pass editing when I get to utterly eviscerate my own writing, and the last pass editing after I’ve totally forgotten what I wrote and I get to realize it isn’t as bad as I thought.

What is your favorite subject to write about?
Anything that involves characterization and dialogue between outrageous or esoteric individuals.

Where do you get your ideas from?
Sometimes something will spark when I’m doing research for work. I also pay very close attention to my friends when they’re drunk, but usually inspiration comes to me when I’m contemplating the absurdity of the universe and at the most inconvenient time – like in the shower.

Do you prefer hand writing your novels or typing them out?
Sadly, I am a child of my generation. I can’t even think on pen and paper anymore. I don’t write linearly, I need to be able to jump around erratically in the text as the mood strikes. I do make notes, however. There are bits of paper, post–it–notes, and scratch pads stashed all over my house, car, and purse. Yes car, I am ashamed to admit I write when I drive. Shush, just between us, my dear.

When you sit down and write do you know how the story will end or do you just let the pen take you?
I’m a militant outliner, to the point where sometimes I plan for events to occur on specific page numbers. A Victorian era setting can become bogged down by social convention, so I have to watch my pace. I also came to writing via YA, so I like plot to be neat, tidy, and clear. I keep several notebooks with timelines, chapter outlines, gadget listings, outfit & place sketches, battle scenes, historical research notes, and general ideas and inspiration. These also include cast lists and character profiles (once a character is written). Characters are one of the few things that aren’t planned. Sometimes a character will surprise me by becoming more important, or introducing himself/herself unexpectedly. They usually know what’s going on better than I do, so I let them do it in defiance of my outline.

It is often said that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this POV?
I don’t know that I would put it quite that way. I do think that writing a good short story is the pinnacle of the writing art. The only thing harder is writing a good funny short story.

Did you ever take any writing classes or specific instructions to learn the craft?
Only if you count many years as an academic, which taught me one thing: respect deadlines.

If music be the food of love, what do you think writing is and please explain your answer?
Writing is the booze of introverts. My explanation? Have you ever been to a hotel bar at a convention? I rest my case.

Cast off the shackles of humility and tell us why you’re fantastic.
Um. Oh kaaay... I don’t take myself too seriously, I can speak in public, I’m a real live archaeologist, I know a lot about tea, and I can cook a mean breakfast.

Any advice for future authors?
Honestly and rather crudely? 1. Sit your arse in that chair and write. 2. When you’re done writing only then do you get to edit. 3. Give it to three highly critical people to attack with red pens. 4. Fix it and submit it. 5. Let it go, sit your arse back down and write something else as different from the first as possible. 6. Wash and repeat.

As a relatively new published author, what traits about yourself and your writing (strengths and weaknesses alike) have you begun to notice ever since Soulless was published?
I'm good with comedy, struggle with sentimentality, and hate writing nookie. Because I was a professor, I'm also one of those few authors who can handle public speaking without flinching. Time management is the single hardest skill to learn as a full time writer. I get sick more often, possibly because I'm not out fraternizing with people as much so when I do go out, I get ill almost instantly. Also, as a dancer I find it physically difficult to stay still for the amount of time needed. I was not prepared for contact with fans and their expectations of me, I thought it would take much longer to build up a base. Learning to say no and put people off when I have a deadline has also been a challenge. Not just fans but inquiries for short story anthologies, interviews, even book proposals. Chances I would have jumped at only a year or so ago now have to get filed away under the "wait until the next novel is finished" heading. But there always seems to be a next novel.

WRITING THE PARSOL PROTECTORATE BOOKS

What did you enjoy most about the process of writing the Parasol Protectorate books?
Building the world and creating the characters. The actual writing of these things down can be a bit frustrating: nothing appears on paper as prettily as I hope, nor as badly as I expect.

How long does it take for you to finish writing each book?
Six months. Three to write and three to edit.

How did you come up with the title Soulless? Was it the original title?
Soulless was always the title, because it is one of the defining features of our heroine – she has no soul. I wrote the book to stand alone, and it was only later I realized editors were interested in a series. So the hardest part, for me, was coming up with the series title. I had a number of options and ended up polling friends, which resulted in the Parasol Protectorate.

What are some of the things that inspire you when writing this series?
Reading Victorian primary sources, long motorcycle rides (and any other activity where there is no possible chance I could write anything down ~ sigh), talking to certain friends, listening to certain other friends when they’re drunk, you know, that kind of thing.

What’s the hardest scene for you to write?
Definitely the nookie scenes. I don’t mind admitting it – I hate to write nookie. I always end up embarrassing myself.

You mentioned in an interview that you were uncomfortable with writing the more "adult" scenes in your book. Do you think it’s possible to write romance these days without including descriptive love–making scenes? How do you decide on how many such scenes to include? ( I notice that most romance novels have at least three)?
I include them where I feel they happen naturally. However, I don’t feel that a romance has to have descriptive love–making. My nookie scenes tend to be rather genteel. That is, you may notice I never refer to any indelicate bits by name. I like the traditional literary idea of romance, focusing on the relationship. Which is not to say I don’t enjoy the occasional erotica, just that I like to know that’s what I’m getting into.

You've mentioned you deliberately set out to subvert Campbell's hero's myth with the Demeter Myth - can you elaborate on that?
Women in ancient myths often accomplish their quests through the building and maintaining of friendships and family groups. They use networks to complete tasks and engage in their version of the hero's journey. I think it's a problem that we often view this type of behavior as weak. We are obsessed with the idea that in order to succeed a hero/heroine must be strong and independent and act alone. Alexia's greatest strength is in her friends and her relationships, and I always try to ensure that my stories highlight this to some degree or another.

You have made a point of having Alexia turn to her friends to help overcome obstacles when so many other authors shy away from that idea. Other than that concept being the antithesis of what is associated with the hero archetype, why do you think so few heroines in current science fiction and fantasy are portrayed as either having no friends, keeping secrets from them, or continually sabotaging both their platonic and romantic relationships?
Gosh, what a cerebral question. I believe that is because most female heroines are what I would call "skinned." That is, they might be biologically women but they are gendered male. They are following the classic hero's journey, withdrawal, isolation, return, bone, debt, etc . . . just like any hero of ancient mythology. They aren't really women at all, they are men with boobs. Why do I think that is the case? Why do women still earn 80% on the dollar for the same job performed by a man? Why are there so few women CEOs? Why aren't 51% of governments, or the rulers of the world for that matter, women? Because we women have better things to do, I suppose. Honestly? Because writers, like culture, are trapped in a paradigm of unoriginality.

You called Blameless "an absolute nightmare" to write. Was is something you did during the process that you will not repeat during your next books?
After I finished Blameless I realized many of the events were happening to Alexia, rather than her taking charge in her usual indomitable way. It was out of character and it bothered me, my beta readers, and my editor. At the eleventh hour I decided I really wanted to fix it. So in the space of two weeks I had to rewrite about 1/3 of the book. It was worth it, and it has become much stronger as a result, but what a pain! I’m not letting that happen in the next two books. But they are getting increasingly difficult to write for other reasons. There are now so many threads and minor characters to keep in mind, so many different elements of the world building to include, while not loosing the irreverence and comedy of the early books and still keeping the plot moving. I never realized how difficult an (unplanned) series was to write. That said, I’m having fun spoofing different kinds of Victorian literature in each book: early romantic fiction, gothic horror, boy’s adventure stories, Holmes style cozy mysteries, and even ladies' travel journals.

What will readers learn about you from reading your books?
You can tell a lot about me from my characters. I think every author puts something of herself into each character. The question is which bits. There are some underlying themes like strong willed women, benefits of practicality, tolerance of alternative lifestyles, and achieving goals with the help of friends that become stronger and stronger as the books progress because these are things important to me and like it or not they sneak in.

As an author who's had three serial novels published in the past thirteen months, is there ever a worry that there might be a sort of "fatigue" developing with the setting, the characters, and their situations?
For me or my readers? For my readers, so far, no. In fact, they complain that there isn't more. For me, yes. I still love the world, but I am ready to move on to new characters. It was me (not my house, agent, or editor) who wanted to stop at 5 books. I refused to be one of those authors who beats the dead horse simply because it generates income. I have other characters who want to have their moment to shine. That said, this is my job, and in the end I will give people what they want to buy (I don't approve of the "author as creative arteest" folderol), so anything is possible. I reserve the right to have characters from one series appear in another.

WRITING: RESEARCH, COMEDY & VOICE

What type of research did you have to do while writing the Parasol Protectorate series?
I had a fair bit of expertise in certain aspects of the era (fashion, food, manners, literature, theatre, upper class courting rituals, antiquities collecting) when I started but great gaps in other areas that I quickly realized needed to be filled. I spent a lot of time researching the gadgetry and technology of the day, travel and communications techniques, medical and hard science advances, not to mention other things like major wars and military strategies, configuration of army regiments, geographical lay out of London in the 1870s (shops and streets names), newspapers, and government policies. I also looked into vampire and werewolf lore at the time. That’s the thing, you never know what information you are going to need until you need it, and inevitably the internet doesn’t have it. Since I’m writing alt history I can always disregard the facts, but I like to get it right first, before I mess with it. Most people won’t care to look up the details (or get it wrong by confusing my setting with Austen or mid–Victorian, I’m specifically 1873) but even if it doesn’t make it into the book, it will irritate me if unwritten background information is flawed. Here is a blog about the sources I use when researching the Victorian Era.

How important is it to you to add some comical relief to your stories?
Comic relief is absolutely vital, I have a post–it note affixed to the side of my computer that says: Gail, don’t lose The Funny! I’d much rather make people laugh than cry. I want my readers to end the book feeling happy – the real world is depressing enough without my help. I also noticed three troubling things prior to writing Soulless: of my short stories the only ones to sell were comic, that both steampunk and urban fantasy tend to be rather dark, and that most of my favorite authors were funny guys (PG Wodehouse, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde). I figured it was time to shake the genres up and write a book that had a bit of everything I liked best in it: strong female heroine, steampunk, urban fantasy, AND The Funny.

Not everything in your novels is about gimmicks, gadgets, outrageous characters and witty dialogue, though. The third instalment in particular has some poignant moments – moments of sadness and introspection. My eyes welled up a few times, I have to admit. Why do you mix the funny with the sad and serious? How do you decide when there is a good time for which mood?
There would be no humour without some balance on the other side. I wouldn't want my books to be all one note. A little bit of serious talk or a sad situation makes even the most absurd of characters far more realistic. I don't believe it's a conscious decision on my part, when to switch into serious, although I usually do consciously pull back out of it into comedy again. These moments happen because that is the path of the story, sometimes I feel like I have nothing to do with it.

How do you make your writing funny?
Mostly I take ridiculous characters and put them into absurd situations. I don’t know about you, but the times I find myself laughing the most are when I’m just chatting with my friends. They’re the funniest people I know. So, I use them ruthlessly as inspiration. My other tactic for adding comedy while I’m writing is when something comes up in the plot I ask myself not "what would my character do next?" but "what is the most bizarre solution to this problem?" Sometimes this backfires on me in a "too much Douglas Adams kind of way" in which case I have to switch tactics and ask myself "what would PG Wodehouse do?" I will admit, it can be very difficult to write comedy some days.

How about humorous dialogue, how do you go about successfully putting humor into words?
There are intrinsically funny words, situations, and characters so throwing any one of those into a scene always works. I watch and read a lot of comedy, and I’m always alert to funny things around me. I’ve developed an inconvenient tendency of stepping back while reading, watching, or talking and thinking, "Now, why was that funny?" I don’t necessarily copy the occurrence, but I do file it away as a technique. I have a personal addition to bad puns and ludicrous analogies, so sometimes I can go overboard.

Did you ever find yourself writing a bit of dialog and reading it back to yourself thinking "Wow. That’s just TOO over the top..."?
Wait, have you read my book? Uh. No. That said, I did get the reign–in from my editor on a certain bit of dialogue in the second book. I neatly avoided the issue through judicious application of laudanum. (To my character, mind you, not my editor.)

The language you use in Soulless is very different that the modern day, is it difficult to stay in that frame of mind throughout the writing process?
Actually, very difficult. I have to "climb into the voice" which can involve a lot of BBC costume dramas and a flat out ban on reality TV. I tend to only allow myself to read original material when I’m writing a first draft. That is, lots of Dickens, and ladies' journals from the 1800s, Victorian medical texts, and the like.

I read in another interview that you started out writing YA- do you have any inclination to write YA in the future, or do you feel that you’ve found your niche?
I'd love to. I like the Jane Yolen policy on writing. I could imagine doing many things: from non-fiction, to MG, to educational, to hard SF, to picture books, to cookbooks. They are likely to all have my signature light hearted flippancy. While I do love to write dark, I find I'm not very good at it.

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Gail as Reader

What are your favorite three books?
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce.

Any author influence you as a child, do you think?
Many, many authors have influenced me, but I was raised by an x-pat on British YA (that’s all the YA there was, back then) like Tom’s Midnight Garden, The Water Babies, Wind in the Willows, The Borrowers, The Railway Children, Three Children and It, and so forth. I wonder sometimes if my mum knew what she was doing, and that it would all end in a Parasol Protectorate.

What do you think of the onslaught of vampire and werewolf fiction that is attacking the bookshelves?
I am not sure how to explain the Paranormal Bubble, as people in the SF world seem to be calling it. Many have claimed that it should have popped by now. Essentially, it’s the rise of a new kind of Gothic novel. One is tempted to ask, culturally, what the similarities are between modern day American and England during the 1800s that brought about this shared taste in literature?

What are your opinions on vampires who sparkle?
Must we delve into this milieu? Well, if you insist. Let me simply say, I’m with the irrepressible Tee Morris in the matter of sparkly vampires. (Waves hands in air in a parody of drag queens everywhere.) Girl, they’re fabulous!

The Parasol Protectorate books are very diverse blends of genres – particularly urban fantasy, steampunk, and comedy. What are some of your favorite books from each of these?
In urban fantasy I adore anything by Patricia Briggs, so far as steampunk is concerned I enjoy Girl Genius, and in the arena of comedy, I have to stay true to my first love, P.G. Wodehouse.

Whose latest release will find you on the bookshop’s doorstep waiting for it to open?
I’m always waiting for the next in Tanya Huff’s Valor series.

What author most influenced you as a writer or in general?
Tamora Pierce. When I was 8 the first book in her Song of the Lioness series came out. Up until that point I’d never read a fantasy book where the central character was a chick who kicked ass. Then, when I was 14, it changed my life again. It was the means by which I became friends with the ladies who still beta my stories to this day.

Give us one embarrassing author moment:
I arrived for my very first in-person meeting with my agent with the back of my dress unzipped. Sigh. The moral of this story? Always travel with a lady’s maid. The moral of the moral? Sell enough books to afford a lady’s maid.

Which works or authors do you think readers of the Parasol Protectorate will also enjoy?
Depends on which aspect of the series the reader likes the best. For the humor I’d say P.G. Wodehouse or Jasper Fforde. For the paranormal - Patricia Briggs. For the steampunk - Phillip Pullman or M.K. Hobson. For alt-Victoriana Sorcery & Cecelia or Shades of Milk and Honey. All of whom, I might add, did it a million times better than I ever could.

Recommend one book other than your own.
Everyone should read the YA scifi novel Feed by M.T. Anderson – brilliant because it could happen, and terrifying for exactly the same reason.

You’re about to be stranded on a desert island and you are only allowed to take 3 books with you: which do you take and why?
The Forgotten Beast of Eld by Patricia McKillip, By the Sword by Mercedes Lackey, and Taming the Forest King by Claudia J. Edwards. All for exactly the same reason: I can read them over and over again and never get tired of them.

Which book did you read in 2009 that made you think "Damn, I wish I’d written that?"
That isn’t normally my first thought upon finishing a really good book, unless it’s a New York Times Best Seller. However, I really, really loved Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. It obviously stemmed from a place of love and academic familiarity with Nordic fairy stories. The prose was beautifully lyrical and it was a genuine joy to read.

With all of the traveling that you do, is there any one book that you always make sure to bring with you, no matter where you go?
Nope, but I always carry a notepad and pen or a digital dictaphone. Always. I learned that lesson the hard way.

If you could choose 5 fictional characters from books to eat lunch with, who would they be, and why?
Well, this is me, so I’d like to make a motion to upgrade from lunch to high tea. But then I am in a quandary. Many of my favorite characters, while great in a fight, might be a little challenging over a civilized meal (like Tamora Pierce’s Alanna or Tanya Huff’s Staff Sergeant Kerr) so I’m going to choose more civilized characters. P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster (with Jeeves hovering in the background, of course), Mara from Feist and Wurt’s Servant of the Empire series, Terry Prachett’s Death, Douglas Adam’s Ford Prefect, and Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next. That ought to be quite the merry little gathering. If I could have some of my own characters I’d chuck Alexia and Lord Akeldama into the mix and have Professor Lyall and Floote organize it all.

Is literature in a position to change the world?
No, I think that is the responsibility of people. And mother nature. And plate tectonics. And perhaps a comet or two.

What does literature mean to you?
Escape, amusement, catharsis. Generally in that order. 

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Gail Outside of Fiction

What’s the 411 on Gail Carriger?
I was born in small town California to a British ex–pat gardener with a tea habit and a woodworking Dane who sidelined as a philosophical scribbler. I spent my summers in Devonshire, and matured with a burning need to investigate the past and escape to other small towns all around the world. Hence archaeology. I ended up back in California with too many advanced degrees, a tea habit inherited from my mother, a scribbling habit inherited from my father, and a dreadful penchant for gadding off to foreign countries in hot pursuit of fascinating ancient artifacts – dragging both habits ruthlessly in my wake.

Gail Carriger seems to more of an alter ego than a pseudonym, would you like to share with us how that came to be?
You know, my friends do find it a bit creepy sometimes because I refer to her as separate from myself. As in, "Gail has her own wardrobe but we share shoes." To which one of them will say, "You do realize you are the same person, right?" Often, these days, I wonder if she is more real than I am. She is certainly very demanding.

What similarities do you and Gail Carriger share?
Well, to give my friends credence, we really are the same person, so . . . all of them. It's just some qualities and quirks she has in moderation and I have in spades and the others are vice versa.

What direction do you see Gail Carriger's career taking once The Parasol Protectorate series reaches its conclusion?
I wouldn't say no to writing more books set in the same world, but there are other worlds out there waiting to be explored. Then again perhaps I could retire and take up shoe shopping. I am on a one woman quest to improve the fashion sense of genre readers. It's an uphill battle that could take the rest of my natural life.

Are there any plans for you to write as yourself, or using any other aliases?
Nope. Can you imagine? I'd have to buy yet another wardrobe. Ooo, now wait a moment . . .

What does being a woman mean to you?
More clothing options!

GAIL THE ARCHAEOLOGIST & WORLD TRAVELER

If you still have one, what’s your day job?
I used to moonlight as an archaeologist. No really, that’s the truth. Periodically I would poodle off to the Peruvian Highlands where I was analyzing the pottery from a fascinating long–occupation site (Wari – Inca – Colonial). Sadly the project is now on hold, as are my archaeological endeavors.

What is your university degree in?
I have a BA in Archaeology (with minors in Anthropology, Classics, Theology, Geology, and Philosophy), an MS in Archaeological Materials with a focus on inorganics, and an MA in Anthropology with a focus on ceramic artifact analysis. I got the book contract and left academia before finishing my PhD. Oddly enough, I have absolutely no regrets.

Can you tell me a bit about your archeology work?
While I have some field experience I’ve spent most of my time in the laboratory sticking artifacts into very expensive instruments that go "beep" (XRD, SEM with EDX attachment, and finally an ISP-MS acid prep). I’ve worked on artifacts from Egypt, Italy, Greece, Britain, Rome, North America, and the Islamic Empire. Now I’m associated with an excavation in Peru, and I do go into the field, but I’m still in a lab while I’m there.

How has your background in archeology influenced your writing?
It’s made me very concerned with details, and very conscious of how material objects reflect culture and can be used to bring a setting and a time period to life. A career as an archaeologist and academic has also given me good research skills, a serious respect for deadlines, a fascination of historical cultures, and, most importantly, the ability to subsist entirely on instant soup. It has also made me obsessed with objects. Readers may notice that what people wear and own is almost as important as what they do and say in my books.

How does your background in archaeology influenced the Parasol Protectorate?
Archaeology has its provenance in the Victorian era, so I’ve studied the time period in an effort to understand my own discipline. This has helped me grasp the mindset of the scientists of the day. Archeology has also led me to approach the entire genre differently. Steampunk is, by its very nature, alternative history, but we archaeologists work by interpreting existing facts. I went with the premise that all the strange and absurd facts of real history could be explained away as the meddling of vampires and werewolves. This included the weirdest historical event of all: the expansion of the British Empire.

Will archaeology play a part in any of the future Alexia books?
Absolutely. The Victorian era is the birth of the archaeological discipline, so I have a vested professional interest in seeing it pop up (and a pretty decent knowledge base to draw from). Both Changeless and Blameless involve antiquities collecting to a small but significant degree and Timeless will too. But it’s Alexia’s father who got around to sites, causing problems and killing things.

Have the locations you visited for archeology digs inspired any scenes or details in the books? If so, will you give us an example?
Absolutely! The Etruscan excavation site the Templars take Alexia and Madame Lefoux to visit for a tomb picnic in Blameless is based on the first site I ever excavated in Northern Italy. Similarly, the descriptions of Florence are from my own memory. I draw on a lot of my research as an archeologist for the Timeless in particular.

If you had one chance to travel back in time, which time period (and in which country) would you want to visit?
What a dastardly question to ask an archaeologist. In covenant with my discipline, I’d have to pick a place and time that very little is known about, say distant prehistory (e.g. the peopling of North America), or possibly a little understood civilization (e.g. the Etruscans). If it was more of a vacation jaunt, I’d be torn between Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Because I’m female, I’d probably end up with Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Akhenaton.

What jobs did you have on your way to being a writer? Did they help you in any way as a writer?
I’ve been everything from a bartender to a tour guide, but I think my career as an archaeologist/academic has helped my writing the most. It gave me great research skills, familiarity with a variety of cultures both around the world now and in the past, good self–discipline, and a paranoia over making deadlines (which my publishing house appreciates). Oh, and the ability to subsist entirely on a diet of chard and tea.

What do you miss most about Europe? Why?
I enjoyed how aware Europeans always seemed to be about the rest of the world. And then there was the food. And the fashion. Oh, and the shoes!

You’re quite the tea aficionado. What sorts of teas should I seek out to mature my hopelessly American palate? And might this question be of greater import than I thought at first?
Oh dear, this is quite a serious matter, indeed. I’m afraid I have never been one to condone the consumption of Earl Grey – nasty perfumey bit of business. I’m a Twinings English Breakfast gold label drinker myself. Which I have to track down and import from England specially. It’s better than the American Twinings because it can be brewed strong enough for a mouse to run across, without getting bitter. It should be drunk with a healthy dollop of whole milk. The milk adds just the correct amount of sweetness. Good tea, like good espresso, should not need a sweetener. If it is so bitter it requires sugar it is either over–brewed, under–milked, or bad quality tea. Either that or you have ruined your palate with something utterly plebeian like – shudder – soda.

Please describe your perfect cup of tea.
Twinings English Breakfast Gold Label lose leaf in a warmed stoneware teapot. Boiled well water steeped 5 minutes under the cozy. Whole milk, preferably from England or New Zealand, in the bottom of a bone china cup add the tea.

I have to confess the only tea I drink is of the Lipton ice tea mix variety. So how does one educated their tea drinking palette? Any state-side brands you can stand?
Eeek! Lipton? If I'm forced, I'll drink regular red label Twinings, and once in a while try something new from a boutique mix, but not often. As to developing a palate, I believe, as with coffee or caviar, that you need to hunt out the best of the best in order to really know what good tea is, otherwise you will never learn to like it. To me the best tea is a high end English breakfast with absolutely no herb quality to it (herby = as you get with Stash, ugh) that can be brewed strong but never bitter, that is perfectly sweet with just a dollop of whole milk (always always always whole). If you find yourself drinking a milky tea and wanting sugar this is a sign of not very good tea (as it is with coffee).

WHAT WOULD GAIL DO?

What do you do to relax?
I find exercise very relaxing, so I do things like dancing, swimming, or hiking. I’m also a big vintage clothing shopper and podcast fanatic. Sometimes you can find me doing all of these together (well, not the swimming), this relaxes me and gives me an immense sense of accomplishment.

What is your guiltiest pleasure that few know about?
Project Runway, closely followed by Trader Joe’s Paneer Tikka Masala and Marie Claire magazine. Again, sometimes I can be found indulging in all three at once.

What hobbies do you have and how do they influence your work?
I like to sew, dance, cook, and eat. All of these things creep into the book: Alexia is obsessed with food and I’m always describing the way people move and what they are wearing.

Apart from writing, what can we find you doing to relax?
Shoe shopping, drinking tea, more shoe shopping, thinking about shoe shopping, drinking more tea – it’s a simple life.

Has your sense of humor ever gotten you into trouble?
More times than I can possibly count. I always think I’m hilarious and I will open my big mouth at the most inopportune times. Wine, let me just say, does not help with this problem.

Is there a place, activity, or person that is your hiding spot?
Yes, any place where I can have a great cup of tea and be surrounded by a civilized little garden.

Why do you hide part of your face in most of your photos?
I’m terribly terribly shy.

What’s one random tidbit about yourself?
I find endless comedic enjoyment in the ridiculous: the Westminster Dog Show, rubber animals, string cheese, squid, that kind of thing. Also, I’m a mean lean pinball player.

Can you tell us something about you we can’t see on your website?
I ride an SV650 motorcycle named Carmen and drive a Toyota Spyder named Chanterelle (after the mushroom). In fact, all my inanimate objects have names (I think it’s rude to yell at them without calling them by name). The laptop I’m typing on is Pippin (he is an Apple after all). Oh and I’m famous amongst my friends for a certain breakfast item called the "eggy cup." (And now it's on my website.)

Would you rather be a vampire, a werewolf, or a ghost?
Werewolf, no question. I’ve always wanted to be able to change shape, even if I were forced to do it every month. Most of us ladies are quite accustomed to engaging in the emotional equivalent of a monthly shape change already, I suspect it wouldn’t be too difficult to adapt to werewolfdom.

How would you react if you were you attacked by a vampire without even a proper introduction? And you found yourself without a hair stick or a parasol?
Oh, I have no pride or gumption. I would run to the nearest public area yelling for the constabulary.

If you could spend one day in Victorian–era London, what would you do (and, more importantly, what would you wear)?
I should love to visit the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition displays housed there. I’d wear the appropriate day dress, probably something in teal velvet with hundreds of tiny buttons and a very outrageous hat. Ivy has nothing on me with regards to taste in hats.

What are some of your favorite films?
In no particular order: Dangerous Liaisons, Pride & Prejudice, Tipping the Velvet, North & South, Gosford Park, A Room With A View, Maurice, Cold Comfort Farm, Shooting Fish, Grosse Pointe Blank, Boondock Saints, Latter Days, Ever After, Underworld.

If you could be any element on the periodic table, which would you be and why?
Helium. Because I'm a rare noble gas that makes people squeak on a regular basis.

What will you name the three monkey butlers we're sending you for Christmas this year?
Eeek, Oook, and Ni. Because I am 1. afraid of monkeys, 2. enamored of Terry Pratchett's Librarian, and 3. a Monty Python fan.

In an alternate future London, authorial newcomers P.G. Wodehouse and Bram Stoker stand outside the Globe Theatre, oiled and sharpened electro–fleenogabulars in hand, literary agents as their seconds, prepared to duel for the honor of continuing the adventures of Alexia Tarabotti, fan–favorite heroine of recently deceased and world–renowned author Gail Carriger. A courier rides up to the would–be duelists and announces that she bears a twenty–seven–word message from the late Ms. Carriger, who foresaw the course events would take after her passing. What does the message say?
Gentlemen,
I regret to inform you, newcomer Elizabeth Gaskell has agreed to take on the burden of Alexia’s continued adventures. Put down the electro–fleenogabulars, for as I am certain you are both well aware, she could totally kick your collective arses.
Yours etc.,
~ Gail Carriger

GAIL AND FASHION

Visit Retro Rack, Gail's fashion blog for much much more.

If you lived in Victorian England, how would you spend your days? Is wearing a corset all that it’s cracked up to be?
I’ve been known to frequent the Dickens Fair so I have spent a day or two in corset, and, if it’s a good one (I like Dark Garden’s work), the only difference is that one can’t eat all that much. Sometimes, I wonder how Alexia does it, since she’s particularly fond of a good meal. I suspect that the only way I could have lived happily in Victorian England is if I actually were Lord Akeldama.

Given that your biography states that you are "fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit," would you please describe your favored method for combining the two, and the conditions under which said combination would occur?
How about a teeny tiny hat decorated with tropical fruit? Or wearing a teeny tiny hat and eating tropical fruit? Or cutting tropical fruit into the shape of teeny tiny hats!

If you owned a parasol, what would it look like?
I blush to admit it, my dear, but I happen to own nine parasols already, my current favorite is a blue and white one. It’s a habit and I’m trying to get professional help. (Let’s not talk about the shoes.)

Do you carry a parasol for defense?
Sadly, no, I’m an unparalleled wimp. There was once an entirely unsuccessful attempt at karate, wherein I kept fretting about actually having to kick people and trying to convince the class to break for tea. Sometimes, however, I’ve been seen carrying a parasol for protection against the sun. I know, I know, crazy talk.

Besides a parasol, what other weapons should a proper young woman always have at hand?
Hair sticks, one of silver and one of wood, are imperative for young ladies who are wary of the supernatural threat. I also recommend a well–packed reticule – most efficacious. Never discount sensible well–heeled shoes either. I hesitate to mention such a thing it in polite company, but kicking is sometimes necessary. Of course, if one is lucky enough to have the appropriate connections, one might be able to procure something a little more daring – a lovely bracelet that emits numbing darts, or perhaps a lady’s timepiece that also contains a sleeping draught.

Alexia loves her parasol, what’s an accessory (other than your beloved vintage 1950s black Dior suit) that you’d hate to be without?
These days I am rarely without some kind of octopus jewelry. I’m amassing quite the collection, and I love it! Also I have taken to traveling with a little heating coil and my own personal tea cup, not sure if those count as accessories, but I do love me my cuppa.

Be honest. How often do you wear your Victorian and Steampunk clothes around the house, just for yourself?
Dahling, who says I wear anything around the house when I’m by myself? Honestly though, I only wear full on Victorian costumes for appropriate events. I wear steampunk jewelry and little touches of steampunk garb most of the time when I’m going out (jodhpurs, brass deconstructed necklaces, vests, old–fashioned style blouses, button boots).

Your website indicates a fondness for steampunk–related fashion and historical millinery, and Alexia Tarabotti dons a highly fashionable outfit on the cover of Soulless. What can you tell us about creating the steampunk "look" and your own clothing designs?
Most of the time for public appearances I prefer rockabilly vintage dress, basically because I am on a one woman quest to bring fashion back to the SF/F world. For everyday, I tend to twist normal wear in a steampunk direction ~ preferring steamy or industrial jewelry, knickerbockers and boots instead of jeans, Victorian influenced blouses and vests, and military–style leather jackets. At steampunk events I have a number of Victorian dresses and corsets, one of which is decorated with brass spoons ~ why not?

Everybody wants to know more about bookshelf porn. (I can’t back that up, but I feel instinctively that it must be true.) You introduced me to the concept via your tweets, and I love it. Methinks the world would be better off if more people indulged. Which way do your tastes tend to run?
It often surprises people but I’m a strict minimalist. I have a bit of an OCD side so I like my environment very tidy: clean modern or slightly Asian inspired furniture, nothing steampunk or frilly Victorian about it. To that end, I once saw a photo of someone who had organized all the books behind their couch by color. I live for that. As things currently stand I have a mahogany bookshelf that came from my Scandinavian grandmother – very severe, on which reside all my favorite genre paperbacks and a small stack of trade sized Young Adult books. Then I have two stacks of Baedecker’s (Victorian period travel guides) and some of my more frequently referenced primary sources. I try not to buy anything in hardback. Sharing the shelf is one small framed picture, a bobble–headed gold plastic octopus, and a vase of fresh flower. Hidden away in the wardrobe are my "messy" research books on costumes, trades, mechanics and the like.

GAIL’S CAT

Lots of writers tend to have pets. What do you have and what are their key traits (and do they appear in your novel in certain character attributes?)
I had a cat, the Chubby Fucker, who, as I often informed her, was only kept around to be food after the zombie apocalypse. She’s now taken up residence elsewhere. She is a brindled tabby, whose main purpose in life appears to be to sit, monorail–like, on the arm of the couch and occasionally bestir herself to murder a pair of innocent ear–buds. She can, however, use the human toilet. She makes an appearance, as a calico, in the first book, and has a small but vital role in the third. (Don’t tell her, though, she’ll want royalties.)

Your cat, Chubby Fucker, uses the human lavatory. Were you the one to teach her this neat trick?
The Chubby Fucker is a sweetheart – even if we only keep her around to make into stew after the zombie apocalypse. I did not, in fact, potty–train the cat. She came to us fully disciplined (or she wouldn’t have come at all – I do not allow litter boxes in my house, thank you very much). Funnily enough, her trainer is the infamous Eytan Kollin of the Brother’s K – co–author of The Unincorporated Man and follow up books. So I suppose you could say I had an unincorporated cat.

QUICK ROUND: GAIL 411

Name: Gail Carriger
Place (Where were you born, where do you live now?): I was born in Northern California. I live there now, but in the interim I’ve bounced about most of the globe.
Hobbies: Drinking tea, dancing swing, vintage clothes, exotic food, tall men, short women, and very high heels.
Occupation: Archaeologist and now author.
Family: Lots, including cats who have chosen me and humans whom I have chosen.
What books did you read as a child? A good deal of British stuff: Tom’s Midnight Garden, The Water Babies, Wind in the Willows, The Borrowers, The Railway Children, The Hobbit, and lots of Greek mythology.
What are you reading right now? Tanya Huff’s Valor series, I love anything in which chicks kick ass. I blame Tamora Pierce.
Favourite colour: red
Favourite item of clothing: A vintage 1950s black Dior suit (dress with jacket) that fits like a dream (thank goodness you didn’t ask about shoes, that’d take me hours to figure out)
Favourite animal: octopus (naturally)
Favourite flavour crisps (chips): Walkers roast chicken (I like the pork & pickle too)
Favourite holiday destination: Italy, specifically Lake Como
Favourite childhood memory: sand ball wars on the beach (kind of like the California version snow ball, only harder and during the summer)
Always treacle tart or do other puddings get a look in? Oh, other puddings
Coffee or Tea? Tea forever!
Up or Down? Strange!
Virtual or Real? Improbable.
Right or Left? Right.
Day or Night? Evening.
Vampires or Werewolves? Werewolves.
Reading or Writing? These days, writing. But I miss reading.
What is your writing ambience? Modern and tea saturated.
Outline or no outline? Outline.
What are you reading now? The Pillars of Hercules by Dan Constantine
Book or eReader? Book, mass market, never hardback (they weigh too much).
If you had an octopus, what would you name it? Wilberforce Percival Mummy the III
Favorite protagonist (other than your own)? Alanna from Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet
Best steampunk book (other than your own) that would serve as a primer to initiates to the genre? The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
What period in history would you most like to visit? Why? Etruscan, because so little is known about it.
Favorite big or small screen vampire? Spike.
Steampunk device/invention you'd most like to see realized and prevalent in modern life? Aether activated kettle.
If you could have a multi-function parasol like Alexia's, what would you choose as its primary weapon? Sunscreen.
Favorite little known online resource? The Victorian Web
Local independent bookstore? Borderlands is my local and they are really supportive of the Geek community (they carry signed copies of my books for sale worldwide) but I also love Powells, Murder By the Book, and Mysterious Galaxy.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? The ability to breathe under water.
Any self-defense tips for readers who may someday encounter a vampire, werewolf, and/or soulless? Always carry pesto.

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