Monthly Archives: February 2011

Codex Blog Tour: ELAINE ISAAK

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The third installment in our discontinuous series of “blog tour” posts featuring fellow members of the Codex Writers online community.

Today our guest is Elaine Isaak, who dropped out of art school to found Curious Characters, designing original stuffed animals and small-scale sculptures, and to follow her bliss: writing. Elaine is the author of The Singer’s Crown (Eos, 2005), and sequels The Eunuch’s Heir (Eos, 2006) and The Bastard Queen (Swimming Kangaroo, 2010).


(The Bastard Queen cover art. Click to enlarge.)

Beloved bastard of an unloved king, Fiona will do anything to please her father, even studying magic though she never shows more than a spark of talent. But the plague that grips their city sends her to work with the dying, as enmity builds between the two peoples her father has brought together.

Struggling to find a cure for the plague, Fiona discovers that its emergence is no coincidence—and that her scorned suitor may be leading a conspiracy that will end in genocide. Even her father wears a false face, and every new tragedy reveals another secret set to shatter her life and her kingdom.

A mother of two, Elaine also enjoys rock climbing, taiko (Japanese drumming), weaving and exotic cooking — when she can scrape the time together.


(Elaine Isaak. Click to enlarge.)

Given all her many activities, we appreciate Elaine taking time out to answer our questions about how she turned her idea for The Bastard Queen into reality.

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How long was it between first conceiving The Bastard Queen and actually working on it in earnest? What did you do in the interim?

This one had to wait. It’s the third in a generational series (that is, they build on each other, but they’re not a single story-arc). I had finished the first and second, but hadn’t sold them yet. While I had some fun ideas for a third, it seemed foolish to work more on something I wouldn’t be able to sell for a while. Instead, I had a dramatic idea for a different series which I started in the meantime, giving myself a second book to offer if my first series didn’t sell. Ultimately, it did, and I had the chance to write The Bastard Queen — it was definitely informed by some of the research I was doing for the new books.

How long did it take to complete The Bastard Queen? How did the work progress, from research to publication?

The research happened during the two year interval that it took to sell the first books, so I was able to write quickly once I hit the ground. I think it was about 9 months of writing and my revision. Publishing was another matter because of some difficulties with the original publisher, then a change of agent. I finally sold the book to a small press, but it took about another two years. They have a very professional approach to editing, and we worked on revision for another year, then production.

What major obstacle did you have to overcome while working on The Bastard Queen? How did you overcome it?

I changed publishers and agents, leaving this book sort of dangling in the breeze. After much consideration, focusing on my new series made more sense than trying to place this book with another big publisher. Naturally, that brought difficulties of its own, including a problem printing the covers that almost forced a delayed release (and would have ruined the promotional plan I had put in place).

Writing books, for me, is easy. The business of writing, not so much.

What was the biggest surprise you got out of working on The Bastard Queen, and what do you hope your readers get out of it?

This was the first time I had written a full-length novel with a female protagonist. For me, it was a process of overcoming my own perception that, well, boys have more fun. Especially after the more adventure-based The Eunuch’s Heir, it took me a little while to really inhabit Fiona and her concerns.

In general, I want to create worlds and societies that have more realistic complications than are often associated with fantasy fiction. I like to work in the ambiguous spaces where good guys might do bad things.

What’s your next project … and what did you learn from The Bastard Queen that you’re applying to it?

Interestingly, it’s sort of the other way around. The dark historical fantasy series I’ve recently sold is the one I started when I set aside The Bastard Queen. As a result, my “new” work actually informed this older one rather than the other way around. But I think exploring some of the issues of class and race that crop up in The Bastard Queen, and trying to achieve a stronger level of realism, will serve me well as I move ahead with the new books.

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We’re glad we had this opportunity to showcase Elaine Isaak and her new book The Bastard Queen. And don’t forget about the two books ahead of it in the series:



(Cover art for The Singer’s Crown and The Eunuch’s Heir. Click to enlarge.)

Visit www.ElaineIsaak.com to read sample chapters of The Bastard Queen and find out why you do NOT want to be her hero.

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Codex Blog Tour: LEAH CYPESS

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Continuing our discontinuous series of “blog tour” posts featuring fellow members of the Codex Writers online community ….

Today we talk (so to type) with Leah Cypess, author of Mistwood (published last year in hardcover and coming out in paperback in April).

Mistwood is the story of an ancient shapeshifter bound by a spell to protect the kings of a certain dynasty. And of a confused girl found in a forest who is told she is that ancient shapeshifter, even though she can’t remember anything about her past. Possibly they’re the same story … possibly not. She’ll have to figure it out while protecting the current prince, navigating his intrigue-filled court, and making sure nobody finds out that she has lost both her memory and her powers.


(Mistwood cover art. Click to enlarge.)

We appreciate Leah taking the time to answer our questions about how she turned her idea for Mistwoodinto reality.

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When you first conceived of Mistwood, did you start working on it right away, or did you set the idea aside for a period of time?

I didn’t conceive of the book as a whole so much as I conceived of the first scene — an image of men riding into a misty forest in search of a supernatural creature. I started writing that first scene as soon as I thought of it, and continued working on the book pretty regularly after that (with “regularly” modified by the fact that I was in law school at the time).

Wow, law school and novel writing at the same time — how did that work? How long did it take to write the book and then to shop it around?

Since I was in law school when I started working on Mistwood, I had many interruptions along the way — including a revision request from an editor for a previous manuscript, and then working at a law firm, which was a rather large interruption.

I finished a basic first draft over three years, where “basic” means “scattered throughout various notebooks I used to bring with me on my morning commute.” After two years of working at a law firm, I quit and spent some time writing full-time; during the first few months of my full-time stint, I finished both Mistwood and another manuscript I had been working on.

After some thought, I decided to submit the other manuscript first, because it was about vampires and I was under the impression that vampires were hot. Turned out that by the time I started submitting, vampires were no longer hot, and I got a bunch of rejection letters saying, essentially, “Good story but we’re sick of vampires.”

One of those rejection letters, from an editor at Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), was very detailed and included a request that I send her future manuscripts. So I sent her the query and first two chapters of Mistwood, a manuscript I hadn’t looked at closely for over a year. She sent a request for the full about a month later, and then emailed me two weeks after I sent it to say she was interested in the manuscript and wanted to show it to the other editors.

What major obstacle did you have to overcome while working on Mistwood, and how did you overcome it?

My biggest obstacle was that I wrote the book over the course of three years and in a very disjointed fashion. When I finally gathered together all the various pieces, it turned out I had written some scenes that completely contradicted each other, others that were out of order, and had written at least one scene twice! Piecing it all together in a way that made sense was rather headache-inducing. I could never have managed it without the help of critique groups (I sent it through Critters a total of four times!) who could point out things like, “Your heroine made the same shocking discovery twice,” or, “but she already knew that in Chapter Four!”

What was the biggest surprise you got out of working on this project? Is there anything in particular you hope your readers get out of the finished work?

As someone who worked for 15 years to get a novel published — and who had the experience of watching a manuscript be considered by a publisher for two years before being rejected! — I was very pleasantly surprised by how fast it happened once it happened. (Though publishing is still a very slow business, overall; that patience I acquired has come in handy more than once.)

The most important thing I want my readers to get out of any of my books is a great reading experience. But I also hope that experiencing my main character’s dilemma might help someone who is faced with difficult choices.

You’ve got a new novel coming out soon … what did you learn from Mistwoodthat you applied to it?

My new novel, Nightspell, a stand-alone companion novel to Mistwood, will be published in May 2011. The first draft of Nightspell was mostly written by the time I sold Mistwood, but I learned a lot from the revision process for Mistwood — mostly about keeping scenes tight and clarifying characters’ motivations — that I applied while revising Nightspell.


(Nightspell cover art. Click to enlarge.)

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Leah’s 15-year odyssey to publication is a great example of perseverance, and an inspiration to those of us who are working and writing, and writing and working.

A little about Leah: She used to be a practicing attorney in New York City, and is now a full-time writer in Boston. She much prefers her current situation.


(Leah Cypess. Click to enlarge.)

Leah published her first short story (in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine) while still in high school, and a mere 15 years later, finally sold her first novel. Mistwood was published by HarperCollins (Greenwillow) in 2010; Leah’s second novel, Nightspell, will be published in May 2011.

Mistwood‘s paperback release is April 26th, and Nightspell will be released in hardcover on May 31st.

For more information, visit Leah’s web site at http://www.leahcypess.com/.

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Venus and Eros in Space History

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Fifty years ago today — February 12, 1961 — the Soviet Union launched the Venera-1 probe from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


(Venera-1. Image from NASA’s National Space Science Data Center.)

Venera-1, or the “Venus-1 Automatic Interplanetary Station,” was the first spacecraft to fly by Venus. Even though telemetry contact with the spacecraft was lost on March 4th, making the mid-course corrections impossible, around May 19th Venera-1 flew within 100,000 km (62,000 mi) of the cloud-shrouded planet.

From Venus to Eros …

Forty years later, on this date in 2001, the NEAR spacecraft — i.e., the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft — touched down successfully on the asteroid Eros (even though the vehicle was not designed as a lander). On its way to touchdown, NEAR sent back high-resolution close-up images of the asteroid’s surface.

The Roman goddess of love, and the Greek god of love — a good day in space history for this Valentine’s weekend!

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Codex Blog Tour: GARETH L. POWELL

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Today we begin a discontinuous set of posts as part of a “blog tour” featuring fellow members of the Codex Writers online community.

Our first featured author is Gareth L. Powell, author of the novels The Recollection (forthcoming from Solaris Books) and Silversands, and the acclaimed short story collection The Last Reef. He is a regular contributor to the wonderful British SF magazine Interzone, and his work has appeared in a number of recent anthologies.

Gareth has given guest lectures on creative writing at Bath Spa University, and has written a series of non-fiction articles on science fiction for The Irish Times. In addition to Interzone, his work has been published in magazines all over the world, including: Hub, Best SF, Concept Sci-fi, Infinity Plus, Fiction, Ennea, Nowa Fantastyka, Aphelion, Quantum Muse, Byzarium, Phantastes, Bli Panika, Tank, Outshine, and Efimero.

Gareth’s short story “Ack-Ack Macaque” won the Interzone Readers’ Poll for best short story of 2007. He can be found online at www.garethlpowell.com.


(The Recollection cover art. Click to enlarge.)

Gareth’s new book, The Recollection, combines contemporary action with far-future “space opera”:

In modern-day London, failed artist Ed Rico is secretly in love with his brother’s wife, Alice. When his brother disappears on a London Underground escalator, Ed and Alice have to put aside their personal feelings in order to find him. Their quest reveals to them terrifying glimpses of alien worlds and the far future.

Meanwhile, 400 years in the future, Katherine Abdulov must travel to a remote planet in order to regain the trust of her influential family. The only person standing in her way is her former lover, Victor Luciano, the ruthless employee of a rival trading firm. And in the unforgiving depths of space, an ancient evil stirs…

I really appreciate Gareth taking the time to answer a few questions about how he took the idea for The Recollection and turned it into reality.

How long was it between first conceiving this project and actually starting to work on it in earnest?

I conceived the core idea of The Recollection in 2003, shortly after I finished writing my first book, Silversands. I wrote some plot and background notes, and then put the idea to one side. At that time, I hadn’t had anything published, and I figured it would be a lot easier to generate some interest in Silversands if I had a few magazine credits to my name; so I spent the next few years concentrating on short fiction.

I made my first sale to Interzone in 2006, and that led to the publication of my first short story collection The Last Reef in 2008. After that came out, I decided the time was right to take the lessons I’d learned from short fiction and apply them to a novel-length project; and so I dug out my old notes and started work. Along the way, Silversands was picked up by Pendragon Press and published last year.

How long did it take to complete the book? How did the stages progress, e.g., research, writing, editing, etc.?

Not long after I started writing the book, I was introduced Jon Oliver, the Editor-in-Chief of Solaris Books, at a convention. He agreed to take a look at it, so I sent him the first 50 pages and a 3000-word synopsis, on the strength of which he commissioned the novel. After that, it was simply a matter of finishing the book.

I finished the first draft at the end of October and sent it out to a handful of friends for their comments. Then, having made one or two slight changes based on their feedback, I delivered the manuscript to Jon in November.

What major obstacles did you have to overcome while working on The Recollection? How did you overcome it them?

The obstacles I had were the same as those faced by anyone with a young family, a mortgage and bills to pay. I had to squeeze my writing time between my day job and my parental responsibilities.

Luckily, I have a patient and understanding wife. With her encouragement, I took a part time job which allowed me a free day during the week to write while the kids were at school. I also wrote in the evenings after they were in bed.

I found that by trying to write every night, I soon got in a routine and the words started to flow. I didn’t worry too much about hitting a daily target; if the words came and were good, I was happy. Even if I only wrote a paragraph in an evening, I knew that the next day I might write two or three thousand words, so it all balanced out; and every sentence was a step closer to my goal.


(Gareth L. Powell. Click to enlarge.)

What was the biggest surprise you got out of working on The Recollection?

I was surprised at just how much fun this book was to write. By the time I was halfway through, I was flying along. The characters and plot had come alive, and I couldn’t wait to dive in each day and spend some more time in their company.

Most of the short fiction I’ve written has been set on Earth in the near-future, so it was great to be producing an epic widescreen space opera. As a kid, I always loved those sorts of books. I dug the hardware. So it was fantastic to have the chance to pour my love of the genre into a book of my own.

What’s your next project?

I have other novels up my sleeves. There may even be a sequel or two to The Recollection. I am also considering a second short story collection, bringing together a lot of the stories I’ve had published in magazines and anthologies over the last couple of years, since the release of The Last Reef.

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Speaking of anthologies, Gareth’s work is featured in a number of recent anthologies, including Shine (Solaris, 2010), Conflicts (NewCon Press, 2010), Dark Spires (Wizard’s Tower, 2010), 2020 Visions (M-Brane, 2010), and Future Bristol (Swimming Kangaroo, 2009).

The Recollection will be released on September 1st, 2011, but can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.

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Atlantis and Destiny

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Ten years ago today — February 7, 2001 — the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center, on its way to the International Space Station.


(Destiny module being installed on the International Space Station. NASA image.)

STS-98 astronauts Kenneth D. Cockrell, Mark L. Polansky, Robert L. Curbeam, Thomas D. Jones, and Marsha S. Ivins transported the U.S. laboratory module “Destiny” and installed it on the ISS.

And, speaking of destiny, 20 years ago today the Salyut-7 space station was de-orbited after nearly nine years of operations. The main character in my story, “The Rocket Seamstress,”* bemoaned its loss:

Where are Salyut and Mir, Mother Russia’s glorious outposts? Rusting homes to fish instead of men.

May we one day have outposts in space that are not in any danger of falling from the sky.

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*The story appeared in Zahir in 2007, and is available now on Anthology Builder.

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Rocket Mail

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Eighty years ago today — February 2, 1931 — Friedrich Schmiedl launched the first official “rocket mail,” sending 102 covers (i.e., envelopes)* and postcards to Radegund, Austria.

Several old photographs of rocket mail attempts are found on this Scienceray page.

At least one source listed the official date as being in May, but sources such as The Rocket Mail Page (which includes a photograph of Schmiedl later in life) and this astrophilately site agree that Schmiedl’s launch occurred on this date in space history. (The Rocket Mail Page does note, however, that rockets were used to send mail from ships to islands in Fiji as early as 1902.)

Wonder how much a stamp would cost today, if we were still sending mail by rocket ….

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*Postal covers are envelopes or other outer wrappings that have been through the mail, usually with cancelled postage, and are often collected and valued for their historical significance.

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National Security Space History: Minuteman ICBM

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Fifty years ago today — February 1, 1961 — an SM-80 Minuteman-IA intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully launched, marking the first test flight of the full-up solid-fueled ICBM.


(Minuteman-I missile. USAF image.)

Of more interest to me, this Air Force fact sheet notes that in April 1959 “Boeing launched the first Minuteman mockup at Edwards AFB, California. Test flights of mockup missiles continued into May 1960, all of which were successful.”

Why does that historical tidbit interest me so? Because many years later my first assignment was to the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards, where those test flights had taken place. What made them remarkable was that those test flights at the Rock were tethered, meaning that after the missile left the silo* it was still shackled to the ground. I wish I had one of the images to post, of the missile trying to get away while sturdy lines held it fast.

Many of my friends spent tours of duty as missileers and missile maintainers, on later versions of the Minuteman as well as other ICBM systems. To each of them, and others whom I don’t know, I say: I’m grateful for your quiet diligence and your deterrent power which kept (and keeps) us secure. I salute you all.

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*Which I visited many times, at Area 1-100.

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