Sci-Fi Encounters: Interviews with Susan Kaye Quinn, Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
This week we're going to talk a bit more about steampunk, but with a different flair, leading off with Susan Kaye Quinn, author of Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs Trilogy). Billed as "Bollypunk" due to the intriguing east Indian alternate world setting, the novel is an unusual steampunk novel that I enjoyed very much.
First a bit about Susan (courtesy of the author):
Author of the best-selling Mindjack Trilogy and the Debt Collector serial, as well as other speculative fiction novels and short stories. Her work has appeared in the Synchronic anthology and has been optioned for Virtual Reality by Immersive Entertainment. Her business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist" but she mostly sits around in her PJs in awe that she gets to write full time.
Here's the blurb about Third Daughter (courtesy of the author):
Skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue... and, of course, kissing.
The Third Daughter of the Queen wants her birthday to arrive so she'll be free to marry for love, but rumors of a new flying weapon may force her to accept a barbarian prince's proposal for a peace-brokering marriage. Desperate to marry the charming courtesan she loves, Aniri agrees to the prince's proposal as a subterfuge in order to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she does not love.
Veronica: I really enjoyed the book (loved the cover) and you certainly kept me guessing how certain things were going to turn out. What was your inspiration for the Dharian Affair Series?
Susan: It actually started as a "pretend" query for a blog contest! Given a basic plot (political intrigue), writers were challenged to create a query and the first five pages of a "pretend" novel — the idea being to demonstrate that even with the same initial idea, writers would come up with unique stories. And, boy, did we ever! I'm pretty sure mine was the only steampunk fantasy romance to come out of the lot. But the story idea kept calling to me, so eventually I had to turn it into a real novel (and then two more, for the trilogy). I'm enjoying this world so much, there may be more novels in it to come.
Veronica: Who was the most challenging character in the series to write and why?
Susan: One of the love interests, Devesh. He was a good guy … maybe. And maybe not. But maybe yes. He's … complicated. We'll see more of him in Second Daughter because I'm not done with the poor boy yet.
Veronica: I'll certainly be happy to see him again! The man is no end of fascinating. Which steampunk invention in the book was your favorite?
Susan: Of course the skyship! Being an aerospace engineer, coming up with all the flight mechanics and propulsion and lighter-than-air stuff was great fun. (Note: Inventing on paper is definitely easier than inventing in real life.)
Veronica: Not to give anything away, but I was fascinated by The Butterfly. Do you have a favorite line from your new book?
Susan: All the lines are my favorites! LOL. Actually I very much like an early one (Devesh again, the courtesan Aniri loves) in Third Daughter — it was in the original five pages from the contest and survived all the drafts:
"Aren't courtesans supposed to be the ones breaking hearts?" Aniri asks.
"Truly," Devesh says with mock despair. "There's nothing more sad than a broken-hearted courtesan. I would have to commit suicide just out of professional courtesy."
Veronica: What's your guilty pleasure?
Susan: Sexytimes novels written by my friends!
Veronica: What's on your to-do list?
Susan: Finish First Daughter (Dharian Affairs No. 3) before my mom comes out to visit, so that we may engage in tea-drinking and chatting full time while she's here.
Veronica: How do you celebrate when you finish writing a book?
Susan: Sometimes a bottle of Cupcake Wine. Sometimes a break to read whatever my "reward" novel is. Usually, I simply dive into writing the next book.
Veronica: What was the first science-fiction or fantasy book you ever read?
Susan: Hard to remember, I was reading SF so young. But I know Foundation (Isaac Asimov) had a huge impact on me. Also Stranger in a Strange Land. (In fact, I feel the need to reread both of those soon …)
Veronica: What book by another author would you recommend to readers who are new to reading science-fiction and/or fantasy romance? Or steampunk!
Susan: For steampunk, you have to pick up SM Blooding's Asian-flavored fantasy steampunk, Fall of Sky City. For straight SF that has tremendously wide appeal, Hugh Howey's Wool series, and his more recent Sand are fantastic examples of what modern SF can (and I think should) look like. A great sampler of modern SF is the Synchronic Anthology: 13 Tales of Time Travel. One of the stories is mine! But there are some amazing authors you'll discover in there. In particular, I loved Ann Christy's Rockor Shell and Jason Gurley's The Dark Age — the first one is classic, Twilight Zone-type SF, and the second one had me sobbing, start to finish. OK, I'll stop now!
Veronica: Thanks for all the good recommendations, you've added to my towering TBR list!
You can find out more about Susan and her books at www.susankayequinn.com.
INTERVIEW: Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris
My next interview was double the fun, as I was talking to Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, co-authors of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series, including the most recent, Dawn's Early Light.
A bit of background (courtesy of the co-authors):
Philippa (Pip) Ballantine:Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa has always had her head in a book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings was suitable bedtime reading for an 8-year-old. Her first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on to produce mostly novel-length fiction. In 2006 she became New Zealand's first podcast novelist, and has been short-listed for the Parsec Awards, and won a Sir Julius Vogel award. When not writing or podcasting, Philippa loves reading, gardening, and whenever possible traveling. With her husband, Tee, and her daughter, she is looked after by a mighty clowder of three cats.
Tee Morris:Tee began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic fantasy, Morevi The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took Morevi into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first book podcast in its entirety. That experience led to the founding of Podiobooks.com and collaborating on Podcasting for Dummies and its follow-up, Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies. Tee has written articles and short stories for BenBella Books' Farscape Forever: Sex, Drugs, and Killer Muppets, the podcast anthology Voices: New Media Fiction and many more.
The blurb about Dawn's Early Light (courtesy of Ace):
Working for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, one sees innumerable technological wonders. But even veteran agents Braun and Books are unprepared for what the electrifying future holds…
After being ignominiously shipped out of England following their participation in the Janus affair, Braun and Books are ready to prove their worth as agents. But what starts as a simple mission in the States—intended to keep them out of trouble—suddenly turns into a scandalous and convoluted case that has connections reaching as far as Her Majesty the Queen.
Veronica: What's your favorite line/scene from your new book?
Tee: It's a bit of a spoiler if I give away the details of the scene, but I can give you this much: It involves a bomb. Anything beyond this and a few key plot twists are given away, but yes — a bomb in the Arizona Territories. I'm particularly keen on that scene.
Pip: I will always have a special place in my heart for Eliza and Wellington's first arrival in America. The particularly adorable hat that Wellington made for Eliza is frilly and pink, and she makes him wear it. Even better, a reader made us copies of that hat and the rose-colored goggles, and gave it to us at a convention. It was a special moment of one silly moment in the book.
Veronica: I loved the hat scene, especially Eliza's reaction. What's your guilty pleasure?
Tee: The movie Van Helsing. It's not necessarily the steampunk aspect of the film (which is so awesome on so many levels), but it's a sweet, loving nod to all the great Hammer Horror films of the '60s and '70s. The movie would have been perfect if Christopher Lee had made a cameo in it somewhere.
Pip: Salted caramel milkshakes. If you've had a good day or had a bad day, a salted caramel milkshake will make it better!
Veronica: So I'm guessing if we sat down to watch Van Helsing and we were drinking salted caramel milkshakes, a good time would be had by all! How do you celebrate when you finish a novel?
Tee: For me, I build a fire in the fire pit, weather permitting. I then light a cigar, pour myself a two-fingers-deep helping of single malt scotch (the Balvennie Doublewood is a favorite of mine), and then I do NOTHING for about two hours or however long the fire lasts.
Pip: I need a wee nap … and for maybe a day or two I don't write. My brain has got me so far, I feel it needs a little break!
Veronica: What was your inspiration for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series?
Tee: I wanted to write something with the feel of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Secret agents and derring-do, a flair for the paranormal or the unexplained thrown in for that extra bit of intrigue. When Pip and I got to writing the first book in the series, I felt my lifelong love of the '60s spy adventure The Avengers …
Excuse me … I'm having a moment … Dame Diana Rigg … and … thank you.
The banter between Steed and Peel really snuck into the back-and-forth between Books and Braun. The elements all came together, and it's a joy to write in.
Pip: For me it was The X-Files, particularly the early series. I loved the dynamic and attraction between Mulder and Scully. Although our series is a little more light-hearted, there is something about the banter between those two agents that is also found between Wellington and Eliza.
Veronica: What appeals to you most about writing steampunk?
Tee: I've always liked the lavish style of steampunk. Whether it is the look of the Nautilus in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or H.G. Wells' time machine in Time After Time, I think the combination of science with style is intoxicating. I love it, and I love integrating that technology with the manners and details of the 19th century.
Pip: I love the sense of adventure found in steampunk. The Victorian age was one of almost reckless optimism. They thought they could improve everyone's life with technology. They thought they could travel and discover everything. It was full of pirates, adventurers, scientists, all who thought the future was bright and shiny.
Veronica: What's on your to-do list?
Tee: Get a copy of Phoenix Rising to Tom Hiddleston, Nathan Fillion, or Idris Elba.
Pip: I would love to see the Ministry as a TV series, preferably with some of the gentleman Tee listed in it!
Veronica: I wish I could help with that — a very worthy to-do list indeed. What book by another author would you recommend to readers who are new to reading steampunk?
Tee: Chances are readers are already reading Delilah S. Dawson's Wicked as She Wants, so I'm going to recommend those steam-curious read an anthology called Mechanized Masterpieces. This is my current read and I love its angle: literary classics, steampunked. Anthologies are a great place to sample steampunk. A favorite of mine in the collection is Alyson Grauer's Lavenza, or the Modern Galatea, which is a steampunk re-telling of Frankenstein.
Pip: I would also suggest the Immortal Empire series by Kate Locke, Tiffany Trent's the Unnaturalists, and Emma Jane Holloway's series the Baskerville Affair. All are full of wonderful female characters, magic and steampunk goodness.
You can find out more about Pip and Tee at www.ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com/authors.
Amazon best-seller Veronica Scott is a two-time recipient of the SFR Galaxy Award and a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award finalist. She's written a number of science-fiction and paranormal romances, including Magic of the Nile, her most recent. You can find out more about her and her books at veronicascott.wordpress.com. Please e-mail Veronica at scifiencounters@gmail.com about content related to this column. Due to the volume of mail, e-mails may not be answered personally, but all will be read.