Editorials
Perdido Street Station Limited Edition Canceled
Night Shade has, from the very beginning, always focused on trade publishing, rather than limited editions. Which is another way of saying we work more towards $14.95 paperbacks than we do $50 hardcovers. For a long time, we tried to straddle the line and do both, but the reality is, all publishers end up specializing one way or the other. The methods of distribution, sales, and marketing are vastly different, and it doesn’t work to casually drop a toe in both. As many of you have noticed over the last few years, we’ve started moving completely away from our previous tradition of doing split trade hardcover and limited edition runs, and limiteds at this point are something from our past.
So with that said, we have canceled the limited edition of China Mieville’s amazing novel, Perdido Street Station. This is something that, if it hadn’t been a book so beloved here at Night Shade, we should/would have done long ago. We had a vision for this book that turned out to be fairly unrealistic, and would have ended up costing us far more to produce than we could have possibly made on it, and were unwilling to compromise our vision. There were also more production catastrophes on this than we’ve had on any other book in our history. Files got lost, hard drive crashes, people involved moving on or just dropping out of sight, and many other problems.
Bottom line, we simply don’t feel that we can produce this book in a way that will make us proud, and still be able to offer it at anything approaching a reasonable price. Twelve years of publishing low cost trade editions have made us very good at what we do, but limited editions are just not something we’re good at. Subterranean Press has picked up the rights, and we’re sure they will do their usual fantastic job with the book.
If you had pre-ordered this title from us, you’ll be hearing directly from us shortly and we’ll get you taken care of.
PW & Booklist Review THE BEST OF KIM STANLEY ROBINSON
Publishers Weekly
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson [starred review]
Edited by Jonathan Strahan, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $27.95 (400p) ISBN 978-1-59780-184-3
Robinson’s award-winning novels (the Mars Trilogy, Galileo’s Dream) often unjustly overshadow his brilliant short stories, an error that this impressive collection will do much to correct. “Venice Drowned” chronicles Carlo Tafur’s heartbreak as he saves Venice’s treasures from the rising waters by selling them to foreigners. The profound and profoundly emotional “Lucky Strike” describes one man’s struggle with his conscience during WWII. A family faces a variety of uncertainties at the onset of a new ice age in “Glacier,” and the title character of “The Blind Geometer” works his way through a mathematical mystery that may prove lethal. Robinson is equally at home in the furthest reaches of the cosmos and among scotch-swilling NASA scientists stuck in traffic, and every story pivots around a different fascinating idea that will hit readers right in that “sense of wonder” SF sweet spot. (Aug.)
Booklist
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson. Robinson, Kim Stanley (author) and Strahan, Jonathan (editor).
Aug. 2010. 400p. Night Shade, hardcover, $27.95 (9781597801843).
This valuable introduction to the versatile author’s short fiction starts with “Venice Drowned” and goers on through such other classics as “Black Air,” “The Lucky Strike,” “Escape from Kahmandu,” and “Prometheus Unbound, At Last.” Perhaps less well-known will be “Remaking History,” “Zurich,” “Muir on Shasta,” and “The Tympanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, 1942.” Robinson has provided short notes on all the stories, none of them long discussions on himself. No such are needed, as Robinson’s gifts (supported by extensive travel and knowledge of history) speak for themselves. The only caveat is that larger collections may well have most of these pieces already, but even they may find it prudent to offer this bonus to beginning readers of Robinson.
Booklist names THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi to The Reading List: Best Adult Genre Fiction, 2010
The Windup Girl. By Paolo Bacigalupi. Night Shade, $24.95 (9781597801577).
Bacigalupi constructs a sobering and nuanced vision of a future Bangkok teetering on the edge of disaster. In this inhospitable environment, a disparate group of characters calculates how to survive. The novel’s gritty tone, provocative story line, and sympathetic characters evoke a world that is frighteningly real. Read-alikes: Bruce Sterling’s Distraction, Ian McDonald’s Brasyl, and Charles Stross’ Accelerando.
Shortlist: The Empress of Mars, by Kage Baker (Tor); Flood, by Stephen Baxter (Penguin); The Quiet War, by Paul J. McAuley (Pyr); Steal across the Skies, by Nancy Kress (Tor).
Some Recent Publishers Weekly Reviews
The Living Dead 2 [starred review]
Edited by John Joseph Adams, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $15.99 paper (504p) ISBN 978-1-59780-190-4
You don’t have to be a zombie-lover to enjoy this outstanding follow-up to 2008’s The Living Dead. Anthologist extraordinaire Adams has assembled 43 stories that showcase strong writing and imagination. Unexpected settings include a lost world with surviving dinosaurs (Brian Keene’s “Lost Canyon of the Dead”) and a pirate ship (Amelia Beamer’s “Pirates vs. Zombies”). Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due’s “Danger Word” and David Wellington’s “Good People” contain powerful depictions of humans facing extinction at the hands of the undead. Cherie Priest revisits the walled, zombie-infested Seattle of her Clockwork Century books in “Reluctance” and Mira Grant adds to her Newsflesh trilogy with “Everglades.” For the most part, the authors convey horror through suggestion rather than graphic gore. Readers will hope for many further additions to the series even after the zombie craze passes. (Sept.)
The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten [starred review]
Harrison Geillor, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $14.99 paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-59780-196-6
The humor in this parody lies in the simple truth that even a zombie bear with a hatchet in its head won’t faze a Minnesotan. After dead people and animals begin coming back to life, Lutheran pastor Daniel Inkfist and Catholic priest Father Edsel band together to form the Interfaith Anti-Zombification League. Power-mad mayoral candidate Eileen Munson tries to work the situation to her own advantage while dominatrix Julie Olafson dreams of creating a zombie-free green zone around Lake Woebegotten. Mr. Levitt, secretly a serial killer, easily dispatches the undead as well as the living, but then he decides to dig up the cemeteries (once the thaw hits) and release a zombie army. As in Garrison Keillor’s writing, dry humor leads to moments of real feeling and pathos. A Minnesotan might say that it’s pretty good if you like that kind of thing. (Sept.)
Wings of Fire [starred review]
Edited by Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $15.95 paper (512p) ISBN 978-1-59780-187-4
This exemplary anthology, staffed by a host of award-winning authors, showcases every type of dragon: nature gods and mechanical beasts, intelligent companions, and feral ravagers of the countryside. The two original stories, Holly Black’s “Sobek” and Margo Lanagan’s “The Miracle Aquilina,” are exceptional, as are many of the reprints, such as Anne McCaffrey’s Pernese “Weyr Search”; George R. R. Martin’s celebrated novella, “The Ice Dragon”; Peter S. Beagle’s narrative poem, “Stable of Dragons”; Jane Yolen’s Arthurian “The Dragon’s Boy”; Naomi Novik’s Temeraire tie-in, “In Autumn, a White Dragon Looks Over a Wide River”; Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg’s urban fantasy collaboration, “The Dragon on the Bookshelf”; and Roger Zelazny’s humorous “The George Business.” The verbal magic of these stories will reignite draconian passion in even the most jaded fantasy reader. (Aug.)
Sympathy for the Devil
Tim Pratt, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $15.95 paper (448p) ISBN 978-1-59780-189-8
Hugo winner Pratt turns his Locus-honed editing skills to the crowded field of themed anthologies. His chosen unifying element is the Devil, or devils, broadly interpreted in 36 original and reprinted works. Bygone days are represented by an excerpt from Dante’s Inferno; well-known 19th-century tales such as Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Stevenson’s “The Bottle Imp”; and stories from the golden age of pulp fantasy, such as Bloch’s “That Hell-Bound Train” and Sturgeon’s “The Professor’s Teddy Bear.” The newer offerings are equally wide-ranging, including Kelly Link’s poignant, recursive “Lull”; Holly Black’s giggle-out-loud “A Reversal of Fortune”; and China Miéville’s vividly creepy “Details.” Anyone delighted by con games, terrified of damnation, and not offended by Pratt’s cheeky dedication (“Thank you, Satan! I couldn’t have done it without you”) will find plenty to enjoy. (Aug.)
The Loving Dead
Amelia Beamer, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $14.95 paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-59780-194-2
Blood, guts, and sex intermingle in this stylish debut from Locus editor Beamer. A California party turns bad when the spread of a brain-eating STD leaves roommates Kate and Michael struggling to deal with a houseful of zombies. Oblivious Oakland authorities ignore the escalating crisis as aggressively promiscuous and ravenous zombies keep popping up. Finally, the desperate friends make a plan to flee to a zombie-proof haven while fearing that some of their acquaintances may already be infected. Contemporary touches like a surprisingly useful iPhone app and overthe-top moments of frantically alternating sex and gore make for a sick, funny romp that only falters at the end, which mostly occurs offstage. The cleverness of the set pieces balances the unsatisfying resolution for an entertaining and original take on the zombie apocalypse. (July)
Zendegi [starred review]
Greg Egan, Night Shade (Diamond, dist.), $24.95 (286p) ISBN 978-1-59780-174-4
In this provocative near-future tale, humans mingle with artificial intelligences called proxies in the virtual world of Zendegi. Shortly after Iranian scientist Nasim Golestani develops a way to make proxies so lifelike that some people believe they should have the same rights as humans, journalist Martin Seymour, an Australian living in Iran, finds out that he might not live to raise his young son, Javeed. He becomes obsessed with finding a way to guide Javeed even after his death and decides that if he could make a proxy of himself, then he could die in peace. Nasim agrees to help him even as proxy rights activists attack her for creating and enslaving conscious entities. Egan (Crystal Nights and Other Stories) creates a thought-provoking, intensely personal story about conflicting instincts and desires as technology recapitulates humanity. (June)
Publishers Weekly gives a STARRED REVIEW to ZENDEGI by Greg Egan
“In this provocative near-future tale, humans mingle with artificial intelligences called proxies in the virtual world of Zendegi. … Egan (Crystal Nights and Other Stories) creates a thought-provoking, intensely personal story about conflicting instincts and desires as technology recapitulates humanity.”
Publishers Weekly reviews THE LOVING DEAD by Amelia Beamer
“Blood, guts, and sex intermingle in this stylish debut … Contemporary touches like a surprisingly useful iPhone app and over-the-top moments of frantically alternating sex and gore make for a sick, funny romp … An entertaining and original take on the zombie apocalypse.”
Genre Fiction is Going to the Dogs
One of the things we do (and do well) at Night Shade Books is publish doorstop-thick, genre-defining anthologies. And from Wastelands to The Living Dead to By Blood We Live to The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to forthcoming anthologies Sympathy for the Devil and Wings of Fire, it’s been my pleasure to work, in some capacity or another, on all of ‘em.
A recent anthology that was particularly fun to work on was Tails of Wonder and Imagination, the cat-themed anthology we did earlier this year with Ellen Datlow. After all, it was an opportunity to work with Ellen, an editor that I’ve admired since the days when I would sneakily smuggle copies of Omni (the infamous Penthouse-owned SF magazine) around my ultra-conservative parochial high school, concealing issues, their provocative covers removed, in backpacks and behind other, more acceptable books and magazines. And there are so many great cat stories out there. As we say in the cover copy, “No other creature has inspired so many authors to take pen to page. Mystery, horror, science fiction, and fantasy stories have all been written about cats.” Tails of Wonder and Imagination is absolutely a textbook genre-definer: any modern SF, fantasy, or horror story about cats that matters is included between its covers.
But I’m not really a cat person. Allergies are a big part of that. Sure, I’ve had a few awesome cats in my life, including Jones, my orange tomcat named for the cat in Ridley Scott’s Alien, and Angus McKitten (later renamed Paris), a little grey fellow who liked to sleep on top of my head when I was living in Pacific Beach in the late 1980s. But at the heart of it, as anybody who’s met Maddie knows, I’m a dog person.
Since Tails of Wonder and Imagination began landing on bookstore shelves last month, I’ve received numerous e-mail messages half-jokingly saying, “the cat anthology’s great, but when are you (and Maddie) putting out a dog anthology?”
So In the interest of fun and fairness, I’ve put together a hypothetical dog anthology, Genre Fiction is Going to the Dogs, a virtual anthology focusing on the last half-century’s best SF, fantasy, and horror stories about dogs. I’ve modeled this collection on The Fireside Book of Dog Stories, Jack Goodman’s 1943 Simon and Schuster anthology, which included stories by Jack London, James Thurber, E. B. White, D. H. Lawrence, O. Henry, Rudyard Kipling, Hugh Walpole, and Lord Dunsany.
Odds are, Genre Fiction is Going to the Dogs will never be anything more than a hypothetical anthology, this is just the product of a few hours of musing and a bit of searching around the web. My intention is merely to share some stories with you. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, some will make you mad, but all of them will, I hope, make you think. Please keep in mind that I haven’t secured proper permissions to the stories below*, and that links generally point to online versions of the stories (including podcasts) or to publications where you can find them. And I’m sure I’ve missed some great dog tales, so feel free to make suggestions here.
Genre Fiction is Going to the Dogs
Table of Contents
Dick, Philip K. – “Roog”
Simak, Clifford D. – “Desertion” (CITY excerpt)
Bruce Boston – “One Trick Dog”
Bradbury, Ray – “The Emissary”
Cady, Jack – “The Lady With the Blind Dog”
Resnick, Mike – “The Last Dog”
Vinge, Vernor – “The Blabber”
Sullivan, Jonathon – “How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice”
Carrol, Jonathan – Friend’s Best Man
Denton, Bradley – “Sergeant Chip”
Arnason, Eleanor – “The Dog’s Story”
Frederick, Carl – “Concentration of Dogs”
Warren, Kaaron – “The Gaze Dogs of Nine Waterfall”
Ellison, Harlan – “A Boy and His Dog”
Bacigalupi, Paolo – “The People of Sand and Slag”
Kress, Nancy – “Laws of Survival”
Clark, A. Vincent – “Last & First Dogs”
Kersh, Gerald – “Shaggy Yellow Dog”
Johnson, Kij – “The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change”
Swanwick, Michael – “The Dog Said Bow-Wow”
Pratt, Tim – “The Dog Boys”
Barlow, Gareth – “The Canine Intent”
O’Neall, Kevin – “My Dog”
Goonan, Kathleen Ann – “Memory Dog”
Langan, John – “City of the Dog”
Vonnegut, Kurt – “Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog”
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* If you are the author of one of these stories, and it improperly appears online, please let me know, and I’ll sever the link immediately.
The Happy Cat Rating System for Cat Lovers and the Faint of Heart
It has come to our attention that some reviewers have asserted that, in Ellen Datlow’s anthology Tails of Wonder and Imagination, "you’ll find cats being burned alive, skinned, tortured by evil scientists, strangled by psychos, and murdered in at least a dozen horrific ways." We at Night Shade wanted to assure our readers that relatively very few cats were harmed in the making of this anthology.
In order to reassure cat lovers who are fearful of accidentally coming across a tale of a cat being harmed, we have created this handy little guide:
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5 Happy Cats = No cat harmed whatsoever
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4 Happy Cats = A cat gets roughed up
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3 Happy Cats = A cat dies on-stage
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2 Happy Cats = A cat dies off-stage
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1 Happy Cat = A cat is tortured (the happy one is the one not being tortured)
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Through the Looking Glass (excerpt) 5 Happy Cats
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No Heaven Will Not Ever Heaven Be… 5 Happy Cats
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The Price 4 Happy Cats
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Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion 5 Happy Cats
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Not Waving 2 Happy Cats
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Catch 3 Happy Cats
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The Manticore Spell 5 Happy Cats
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Catskin 3 Happy Cats
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Mieze Corrects an Incomplete 5 Happy Cats
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Guardians 5 Happy Cats
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Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle 1 Happy Cat
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Gordon, the Self-Made Cat 5 Happy Cats
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The Jaguar Hunter 5 Happy Cats
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Arthur’s Lion 5 Happy Cats
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Pride 5 Happy Cats
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The Burglar Takes a Cat 5 Happy Cats
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The White Cat 3 Happy Cats
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Returns 2 Happy Cats
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Puss-Cat 5 Happy Cats
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Cat in Glass 5 Happy Cats
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Coyote Peyote 5 Happy Cats
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The Poet and the Inkmaker’s Daughter 5 Happy Cats
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The Night of the Tiger 2 Happy Cats
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Every Angel is Terrifying 3 Happy Cats
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Candia 5 Happy Cats
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Mbo 5 Happy Cats
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Bean Bag Cats® 4 Happy Cats
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Antiquities 3 Happy Cats
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The Manticore’s Tale 5 Happy Cats
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In Carnation 5 Happy Cats
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Old Foss is the Name of His Cat 5 Happy Cats
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A Safe Place to Be 5 Happy Cats
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Nine Lives to Live 5 Happy Cats
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Tiger Kill 5 Happy Cats
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Something Better than Death 5 Happy Cats
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Dominion 5 Happy Cats
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Tiger in the Snow 5 Happy Cats
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The Dweller in High Places 5 Happy Cats
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The Puma 1 Happy Cat
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Healing Benjamin 3 Happy Cats
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Look at all those Happy Cats! We hope this puts our cat-loving fans’ minds at ease.
Nominate Night Shade Books For Prestigious Awards! (Hugo Awards Edition)
This year’s Hugo Awards nomination ballot is now online. The 2010 Hugo Awards will be presented in Melbourne, Australia during Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention. Deadline for nominating online is March 13, 2010 23:59 PST (paper ballots must be received by March 13).
Members of Aussiecon 4 who join by January 31, 2010 and members of Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, will be eligible to nominate people or works from 2009 in various categories. If you didn’t attend Anticipation, and you don’t plan to attend Aussiecon, you can still nominate by purchasing a supporting membership.
Already registered? Go and nominate your favorite Night Shade titles!
Here’s a list of our works that are eligible in the various categories.
Novels
Jack Cady: Rules of ‘48
Jay Lake: The Madness of Flowers
John Langan: House of Windows
Liz Williams: The Shadow Pavilion
Mark Teppo: Lightbreaker
Matthew Hughes: Hespira
Nathalie Mallet: The King’s Daughters
Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
Seamus Cooper: The Mall of Cthulhu
Tim Lebbon: Bar None
Novella
John Langan: “The Wide, Carnivorous Sky” (By Blood We Live)
Steven Erikson: “The Lees of Laughter’s End” (chapbook)
Novelette
A. C. Wise: “A Mouse Ran Up the Clock” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
Caitlin Kiernan: “Galápagos” (Eclipse 3)
Daniel Abraham: “The Pretender’s Tourney” (Eclipse 3)
Darin C. Bradley: “All the Blue in the Mirror” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Mark Teppo: “The Lost Technique of Blackmail” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
Nicola Griffith: “It Takes Two” (Eclipse 3)
Pat Cadigan: “Don’t Mention Madagascar” (Eclipse 3)
Paul Di Filippo: “Yes, We Have No Bananas” (Eclipse 3)
Peter S. Beagle: “Sleight of Hand” (Eclipse 3)
Rob Rogers: “The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil’s Cape” (The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
Toiya Kristen Finley: “The Death of Sugar Daddy” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Short Story
Barbara Krasnoff: “In the Gingerbread House” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Caroline Yoachim: “Setting My Spider Free” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Celia Marsh: “Nightlight” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
Chris Roberson: “The Improbably Legend of Quick Johnny” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Cris Cox: “The Paper People” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Damon Kaswell: “The Leaf Gatherer” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Elizabeth Bear: “Swell” (Eclipse 3)
Ellen Klages: “The Practical Girl”(Eclipse 3)
Ellen Kushner: “Dolce Domum” (Eclipse 3)
Erin Hoffman: “Darkest Amber” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple: “Mesopotamian Fire” (Eclipse 3)
Jay Lake: “An Elderly Pirate Recalls the Death of Love” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Jeffrey Ford: “The Coral Heart”(Eclipse 3)
Jonathan Brandt: “Frayed” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
K. Tempest Bradford: “Enmity” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Karen Joy Fowler: “The Pelican Bar” (Eclipse 3)
Katherine Mankiller: “Grandfather Paradox” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Ken Scholes: “The Boy Who Could Bend and Fall” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
Kjell Williams: “Life at the Edge of Nowhere” (Electric Velocipede, #19, Fall 2009)
Loreen Heneghan: “Jointed” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
M. E. Parker: “The Truth in Violet” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Matthew Kressel: “The Spaces Between Things” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Matthew Wanniski: “The Column That Held Up the Sky” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Maureen McHugh: “Useless Things” (Eclipse 3)
Mercurio D. Riveria: “Dear Annabehls” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Merrie Haskell: “Sun’s East, Moon’s West” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Molly Gloss: “The Visited Man”(Eclipse 3)
Nnedi Okorafor: “On the Road” (Eclipse 3)
Richard Bowes: “The Bear Dresser’s Secret” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Richard Larson: “The Sandbox” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Sergei Lukyanenko: “Foxtrot at High Noon” (By Blood We Live)
Trent Walters: “Life’s Rich Demand” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Yoon Ha Lee: “The Fourth Horseman” (Electric Velocipede, #17/18, Spring 2009)
Editor, Short-Form
Ellen Datlow (The Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 1)
Jonathan Strahan (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 3, Eclipse 3)
John Joseph Adams (By Blood We Live, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
John Klima (Electric Velocipede)
Editor, Long-Form
Jeremy Lassen
Professional Artist
Chris McGrath (Lightbreaker)
Claudia Noble (Rules of ‘48)
David Palumbo (Madness of Flowers, Balefires, By Blood We Live, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
Fred Gambino (Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 3)
Ian Kirkpatrick (The Lees of Laughter’s End)
Jason Van Hollander (Clark Ashton Smith Volume 4: The Maze of the Enchanter)
Jon Foster (The Shadow Pavilion)
Mike Dringenberg (How to Make Friends with Demons)
Paul Youll (The King’s Daughters)
Raphael Lacoste (The Windup Girl)
Raymond Swanland (The Swordbearer)
Raymond Swanland (An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat)
Richard Powers (Eclipse 3)
Santiago Caruso (House of Windows)
Santiago Caruso (Best Horror of the Year Volume One)
Scott Altmann (Mall of Cthulhu)
Scott Altmann (Bar None)
Tom Kidd (Hespira)
Semiprozine
Electric Velocipede
The Night Shade Interview: THE KING’S DAUGHTERS’s Nathalie Mallet
Recently, I had a chance to sit down and chat with Nathalie Mallet, author of the Prince Amir mysteries, Princes of the Golden Cage and its recently-released sequel, The King’s Daughters, about real-world inspirations, worldbuilding without maps, literary influences, and writing across genres. So here you go, the Night Shade Interview with Nathalie Mallet:
Q: With PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE, you created a world quite different from the Norse and Celtic norms of most post-Tolkien fantasy. Prince Amir’s Ottoman Empire-influenced Sultanate of Telfar and the Kapisi Palace Cage which he calls home provide a striking, memorable setting reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith’s Oriental contes cruel and The One Thousand and One Nights. With THE KING’S DAUGHTERS, you’ve moved Prince Amir beyond the Cage, into the frozen kingdom of Sorvinka, which bears more than a little resemblance to medieval Russia. How do you go about building a literary world this culturally-varied and encompassing, what other works have influenced your worldbuilding, and to what degree have you pre-planned and pre-built Prince Amir’s world? And, since maps aren’t included in the novels, what does the map of Amir’s world look like?
A: Our world with its multitude of cultures is the inspiration behind Amir’s; however, works by writers such as George R.R. Martin, C.J. Cherryh, Harry Turtledove and Guy Gavriel Kay have somewhat influence the direction I’ve taken with this series. Like them, I draw heavily from history, folklore, legends and myths for inspiration. It’s not quite historical fantasy, but it has flavors of it. To achieve this, I do an extensive amount of research for each book, which I actually enjoy doing. I absolutely love history. Actually, it was a small historical fact mentioned in a documentary that lead me to research the Topkapi palace’s kafes—the real cage—subsequently inspiring THE PRINCES.
The series is almost entirely pre-planned and the world pre-built. I’ve outlined most of the books already and decided which countries Amir would be visiting/exploring over the course of his adventures. I’ve picked settings underexplored in fantasy—countries with culture and folklore that intrigues and fascinates me and are as far removed from Amir’s as possible: Russia, Mongolia, Tibet, etc. Culture shock and cultural misunderstandings make for interesting situations. Funny you’re mentioning maps. I’ve often been asked if a map of Amir’s world would be included in forthcoming novels. Maybe I should sketch something and post it on the web, because describing land masses with borders, mountains and lakes doesn’t really cut it.
Q: A big part of Prince Amir’s appeal is his combination of intellectual curiosity and skepticism. These traits ensure that he’s well suited to his role as occult detective. How does Amir fit into the literary tradition of occult detectives, and were you looking at earlier examples of occult detectives when you created him?
A: Honestly, I wasn’t looking at anyone when I created him. I just built a protagonist I would enjoy writing about, someone intelligent and challenging. As for fitting in, well, for some reason I’m more comfortable placing Amir alongside mainstream detectives such as Sherlock Holmes and Franciscan friar William of Baskerville from Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, than true occult detectives like Van Helsing. However, all these detectives tend to have a more proactive approach to sleuthing than Amir, who is reluctant to get involved in… well, anything quite frankly.
Q: A common theme in the books concerns Amir’s reliance on his emotions and, for lack of a better phrase, his cultural baggage. Amir is a flawed protagonist, often finding himself in situations where he meets a character, and his immediate gut reaction is to dislike or distrust that character based on outward appearances and his own prejudices, only to have that character prove himself over time, forcing Amir to revise his opinion. Because of this, Amir really grows as a character over the course of the two novels. Is writing this sort of character growth a difficult balancing act?
A: No. I rather enjoy this slow process. In my opinion, character growth, to be believable, should be slow. Nobody changes overnight. And if I am to write about a character for a long period of time he needs to be able to grow, change, evolve… otherwise I’d get totally bored. But I must confess I had some concern when I wrote the first book. I was afraid that readers would not relate to him, and that nobody would like him. He’s not the typical “eager for action” hero who is quick to befriend everyone he meets. For my part, I love flawed characters; they seem so much more real to me. And being a sheltered Prince, Amir was bound to have some prejudices and misconceptions, and shattering those misconceptions is one of the many pleasures I get from writing these books.
Q: I often hear anecdotes from writers that certain characters seem to write themselves. Has Amir surprised you in this manner?
A: Not often. Amir is a very easy character to write; I know him inside out, plus his careful nature makes him easy to control. But once in a while a character slips out of my grip and gives the story a new direction or twist. Diego surprised me a few times by showing up in scenes he wasn’t supposed to be in. (Bold, unpredictable characters sometime end up being scene stealers. Lilloh is also one of those.) And although I found the experience very exciting, because it brought something new and unexpected to the story, it was also a tad frustrating. I don’t like to have my carefully laid plans disrupted.
Q: Speaking of characters, like PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE, THE KING’S DAUGHTERS is populated with all sorts of strange and quirky characters such as Milo, Prince Amir’s eunuch valet; the flamboyant Prince Diego, who is the sort of man that brings a handkerchief to a sword fight… and wins; and the “barbarians,” Khuan and Lilloh, who resemble Siberian shamans. What goes into creating these unusual secondary characters and making them feel like individuals, rather than stock characters or “types”?
A: Basically, I try to create characters that could be protagonists in some other stories. For this, fully developed back stories are a must, even if I’m not using them, as well as flaws, some emotional baggage, idiosyncrasies, goals and aspirations. Plus, they have to be different and exciting, and able to challenge Amir in someway—characters I can’t wait to write about.
Q: PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE and THE KING’S DAUGHTERS are murder mysteries as much as they are fantasies. What’s it like writing cross-genre, and do you consider yourself a fantasist, a mystery writer, or a little of both? And is the experience of writing between genres anywhere analogous to your own experience being someone who writes in English, but speaks French as a first language?
A: I’m definitely a fantasist first; the fact that I can write mystery and enjoy it as much as I do came as a surprise to me. THE PRINCES was my first attempt at a mystery. I couldn’t envision this story being done any other way. The cross-genre aspect of it wasn’t an issue for me then… still isn’t one now. I just do what feels right to me. And I don’t think it has anything to do with my being French, but writing in English either. I think it’s simply a question of taste; I adore cross-genre novels. I love to mix things up: history with fantasy with mystery. Voila!
Q: Do you write to music? If so, what would you recommend as an ideal soundtrack for THE PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE and THE KING’S DAUGHTERS?
A: No. I need peace and quiet to write. I love music, especially rock, but it would distract me too much if it played in the background while I’m working. I’ll end up listening to it instead of writing. Seriously. Nothing would get done.
Q: There’s a teaser for the next Prince Amir mystery, DEATH IN THE TRAVELING CITY, in the back of THE KING’S DAUGHTERS. Without giving too much away, what do you have in store for readers in this next installment?
A: With a Mongolian inspired backdrop, populated with shamans, spirits and demons, DEATH IN THE TRAVELING CITY is more adventure than mystery, even though there is much detective work being done in it. In this installment, Amir follows his friends, Khuan and Lilloh, to the Anchin’s Traveling City where he must discover who is murdering its citizens before the whole city is torn to bits. Despite being a fun romp, several important things happen in this book: Amir will meet the person who becomes his nemesis; he will also come to term with who he is. The fourth book, tentatively entitled THE RED BRIDE, returns to a more traditional mystery format. This one has a Tibetan inspired setting.
Q: What are you reading these days? Are there any forthcoming books you’re particularly looking forward to? What other Night Shade titles do you recommend?
A: Right now I’m reading After the Downfall by Harry Turtledove, and loving it. I’m a big fan of his. I recommend all the Detective Inspector Chen books by Liz Williams, Butcher Bird by Richard Kadrey and Alex Bledsoe’s The Sword-Edged Blonde, and the one I’m looking forward to reading is The Mall of Cthulhu by Seamus Cooper.
Nathalie Mallet is the author of the Prince Amir mysteries, Princes of the Golden Cage and The King’s Daughters, available now at better booksellers near you. You can find out more about Nathalie at http://www.nathaliemallet.com/.
