Sabrina Zbasnik, author of scifi/fantasy/humor novels Terrafae and Dwarves in Space, has niftily invited me to participate in a
bloghop about my fiction. (Yes. Niftily. All this woman does is fucking nifty!)
I’ve chosen to focus on my steampunk work-in-progress. If anything you read
below intrigues you, please do hop over to my storyblog to read more!
Constructive criticism always welcomed.
1. What is the name of
your main character? Is she a fictional or historical person?
Holly Autumnson, last member of a formerly well-off merchant
family. Though she is clearly fictional, I’ve read a fair amount of Victorian
social history (American in particular) to get a feel for the society which has
shaped her existence before the story began. She’s been raised as a proper
young lady, although her father allowed considerably more scholarly education
than is typical for a Victorian girl, delving into the natural sciences,
languages, and philosophy where her peers would stop at arithmetic, grammar,
and crochet. At a bit over twenty years of age, she is well on her way to
spinsterhood, according to those peers...
2. When and where is
the story set?
In the fictional city of Concordia, State of Columbia Pacifica,
1899. Concordia stands where the prior city of Portland, Oregon, was wiped out
in a firestorm similar to the Great Quake and Fire in San Francisco. After a
deadly rain of meteorites over the earth, progress in steam engineering and
electricity has been superseded by technology based on “Dust” deposited in the Cataclysm.
So picture mutations, bizarre new engines of destruction, people trying to
impose Victorian social mores on a world gone freakish...oh, and flying kraken.
With pilots who bond with them.
No kraken, and the hats are wrong, but yeah, pretty much.
Holly refuses to
conform to the placid, submissive role which polite society insists she
ought to assume. She doesn’t believe she’s inferior of mind to the men around
her. And she resents every attempt by allegedly well-meaning men to shield her
from the awful things happening. Horrible
things are going on below the civilized surface of Concordia, and although
Holly was dragged into it unwittingly, she’s now determined to expose the
truth.
4. What is the main
conflict? What messes up her life?
Her grief for the recent loss of her explorer-scientist
brother is interrupted by the brusque, enigmatic Dr Vonken, who barges into her
home and insists Holly is in danger from the founder and patron of Concordia,
Henry Villard. This sets off a series of frightening new experiences for her,
with powerful intrigues exposed, freakish abilities uncovered, and strange
friendships forged. Suddenly Holly sees that people she formerly regarded as
pillars of the community are more akin to monsters in the cellar, and no one is
what she thought they were...including Holly herself.
5. What is her
personal goal?
To learn everything she can about the power of the Dust: how
it’s used, how dangerous is truly is, why a benevolent politician would kill
for it...and what it’s done to her!
 |
| No no no. DUST, not Spice. |
This will likely change, but at present the title is Autumnheart Stories, available for free
and in progress on my storyblog. Please
do read AND comment! I welcome feedback to improve successive drafts.
7. When can we expect
the book to be published?
Frog only knows. Summer heat trying to fry my laptop at home
(and repeatedly broiling my brain) has led to an hiatus in my writing and
posting chapters, but as soon as the whole tale is complete online (and yes, it
is all in my head), I’ll be revising,
editing, rewriting, and epublishing. My goal is to have it available in toto within a year.
Hmmm...whom to afflict next? *waves rubber voodoo snake
around threateningly*
I'm picking three, not five. Because it's fucking hot, goddammit. I tag Andy Click (of American Werechaun fame), from whom I’ve heard mutterings of sequeldom; Sophie Coulombeau, avid 18th century traveler and award-winning YA scribe; Marty Ketola,
screenwriter, podcaster, and fellow MSTie! Check back here for updates and
links to their responses.
Now...slogging into the heat... *takes two steps, melts into gooey wax*
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