9 Silly Soulless Questions ~ Some Fun Interview Bits (Occasional FAQ about the Parasol Protectorate)

Around when Soulless released, Gentle Reader, I did a bunch of interviews.

Here are a few of my favorite Q&As from that time

1. What jobs did you have on your way to being a writer? Did they help you in any way as a writer? (HidingSpot)

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. Oh, and the ability to subsist entirely on a diet of Top Ramen and tea.

2. How would you react if you were you attacked by a vampire without even a proper introduction?  (Fantasy Cafe)

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.

Oh, I have no pride or gumption. I would run to the nearest public area yelling for the constabulary.

3. Give us one embarrassing author moment: (Jacqueline Cook)

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.

4. Do you carry a parasol for defense? (Jeff VanderMeer)

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.

5. 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? (John Glover)

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!

6. Why parasols? (Jonathan Moeller)

You would prefer, perhaps, octopuses?

7. 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…”? (Nick)

Wait, have you read my book? Uh. No. 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 the character speaking, mind you, not my editor.)

8. CK: Any favorite vampires from lit, film, or TV? (Vampire Film)

I don’t think he really counts, but I love Dorian Gray. I have a real soft spot for Mina Murray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel series and I adore the character of Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not to sneak in werewolves, but I was turned to the furry side by Klause’s brilliant YA novel Blood and Chocolate.

9. Have you reached the point at which you realized that you had “made it” as a writer and author? (Travis)

When I walked into a bookstore store and saw Soulless on a shelf for the first time, there was sputtering.