13 January
Interview with Gail Carriger
Originally Posted August 2009.
For this week’s blog interview, I’m very excited to introduce the steampunk author of the upcoming Soulless, Gail Carriger, who very graciously took time out from her trip to Peru to answer these questions for us. It’s an honour to have her here with us today! Her new book Soulless is available to purchase 1st October 2009 and can be pre-ordered. Soulless is Gail’s first novel.
Soulless Synopsis
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced! Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Interview with Gail Carriger
Soulless is out on 1st October and there’s a lot of excitement pending your book’s release, can you tell us a little about your character Alexia and where the idea of her and the universe came from?
Alexia is a hardened spinster with two embarrassing problems: her long dead father was Italian and she has no soul. However, I’m getting ahead of myself for the universe came first and Alexia followed.
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. It seemed to me that the only explanation for the success of the British Empire was that they had supernatural help where other European countries didn’t. This, in turn, 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).
In a flash, 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. Then I realized, if there were supernatural creatures puttering about, Victorian scientists would study them, and invent machines to do so. I didn’t want magic in my world, but 19th century science is almost as effective. 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.
Your book is set in Victorian London and it’s obviously an alternate London. 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 of the supernatural. For example: there are sill hansoms roaming London but dirigibles have risen to prominence as an alternate mode of transport because vampires and werewolves cannot use them. Guns have evolved utilizing silver and wood bullets. And, of course, the vampires take a keen interest in new technology and have the funds to invest (East India Company anyone?). You could say that the steampunk elements in Soulless are the result of a the supernatural intrusion into the Victorian world.
In your universe, it’s deemed impolite for a vampire to attack you and drink your blood without a proper introduction. Where did the idea for this come from and what happens when they attack you rudely?
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 is in need.) Vampires are very civilized, you see? In fact, much of the societal etiquette of the London ton is a consequence of Vampire influence. When the vampire attacks Alexia, 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 whilst trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of the local vampires?
I think it might be better put that Alexia “falls in annoyance.” Alpha werewolves can be very bossy, particularly when they’re Victorian bureaucrats, and Alexia does not like being told what to do.
And Queen Victoria – does she make an appearance in the book 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 that meets twice a week. She relies on a vampire advisor for assistance with espionage operations and political intrigue, and a werewolf advisor for guidance in the arena of military tactics. 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, healthy, and ever expanding. As to the first part of the question, Queen Victoria has a brief (excuse my Latin) deus ex regina appearance.
On to you. You are obviously a big fan of Steampunk. How did you get into this world of brass goggles and afternoon tea, and what was it that drew you in?
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. I’ve always adored the Victorian era – I used to make crinolines out of my hula-hoops as a kid. I also love the maker side of steampunk – technology you can see working, rather than little silver iPods with all their functionality secreted away.
Did it take long to research and write Soulless?
Six months, which I understand is comparatively fast. I’m pretty comfortable writing in a Victorian setting and I love research, so that doesn’t slow me down. Each book, and I just finished the third, takes about six months to write: three to draft and three to edit. I’m a big rewriter – I enjoy going back over my own prose with a red pen and eviscerating it. I also have five betas. So to make my deadline, I have to write fast enough to get the book to at least three of them, and then do a rewrite, before I turn it in to my editor.
I saw a little bit about your cat, Chubby Fucker, on your website: She pees in the human lavatory and keeps you company while you write. Were you the one to teach her this neat trick?
Ah the Chubby Fucker. She’s a sweetheart – even if we really are only keeping 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 (http://www.theunincorporatedman.com/). So I suppose you could say I have an unincorporated cat.
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.
And finally, 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.”
About Gail Carriger
Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by fantastic shoes, where she insists on tea imported directly from London. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit. The Parasol Protectorate books are: Soulless (Oct. 2009), Changeless (March 2010), and Blameless (September 2010).
Connect with Gail
Here’s a few ideas on how you can connect with Gail and let her know you appreciate her books!
Her website can be found here.
You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal and Blogspot.
Why not become a fan of the Parasol Protectorate Series on Facebook?
Play the Alexia paper-doll dress-up game.
How to Buy
You can buy Soulless from amazon.com and indybound.org. Don’t forget to look out for it in your local borderlands (USA).
Soulless Cover
