This morning we have a surprise in the form of the delightful Langley Hyde, the newest and shiniest little star in the Blind Eye firmament. Langley has written a really wonderful Steampunk M/M adventure-romance-mystery by the title of Highfell Grimoires. I got a pre-release peek at it, and it really is something special. (as also noted by Publisher's Weekly, which gave it a starred review)!
1 - So. What's the last thing you stole? KIDDING. I'M A KIDDER. Tell us, young Langley, about this wonderful book of yours, Highfell Grimoires. What's it *really* about? What do you love best about this story? Why this story and not one of lots of other tempting story ideas?
1 - So. What's the last thing you stole? KIDDING. I'M A KIDDER. Tell us, young Langley, about this wonderful book of yours, Highfell Grimoires. What's it *really* about? What do you love best about this story? Why this story and not one of lots of other tempting story ideas?
In Highfell
Grimoires, the beggared and orphaned Lord Neil Franklin agrees to work in his
uncle’s charity school, high among the clouds above the city of Herrow. But
there’s more going on in that charity school than mere book learning. And the
rough and enigmatic Leofa holds the key that will unlock the mystery—as well as
Neil’s own desires.
That’s sort
of what the back of the book says anyway. J
It’s a gay
steampunk romance full of magic and machinery and secrets and dastardly plans.
Plus also a hot, shirtless guy who lacks book learning but is wicked smart…and
maybe even just little wicked. Really there’s a lot I love about this story.
For one thing: Top hats and goggles. Floating universities. Libraries with
books that spit sparks.
By the end of
writing it what became most important to me was exploring an aspect of love. I
think many people associate love with a strong feeling, one that’s wrapped up
in submission, passion, and possession. But I think that what a person decides
to do after that, when holding so much power, is more important. And that’s
when love really happens.
2 - Lanyon's Haberdashery, Cupcakes and
Tiny Hats. I want to open that shop and I believe you'll be one of my first
customers. Tell me about the tiny hat you will buy. Seed pearls. Yes or no? I
bet you wield a wicked hat pin. True?
I would
totally buy a tiny hat from you. I wouldn’t just be one of your first
customers. I would be your best
customer. I like seed pearls. I would like to buy something with a teensy veil
on it. Do you have anything in white satin? Maybe with a mechanical bug on it?
Unfortunately
my legendary hat-pin dueling capabilities have been overstated. My klutziness
has not been. Probably I would be able to slay myself with a hat pin by falling
on it accidentally. Every time I take a hat pin into hand I am risking my own
life.
3 - How reliable are your narrators? How
reliable are YOU?
I am
incredibly reliable. Sadly. I know it ruins an author’s mystique, but I always
pay my bills on time, almost never procrastinate, and I feed my kitty at half
past six every day. That’s probably why I write characters who are unreliable.
I like writing characters who can do things I can’t. Like lying. Or casting
spells.
4 - What's your writing schedule like? Do
you write full-time?
When I wrote Highfell, I’d just moved. I had mostly
freelance work, so I wrote whenever I wanted.
But now I,
like many writers, have a full-time day job in addition to my other freelance
work. I used to try to write after work but everything I produced after work
sucked. Bad. So I had to start getting up before work to do my writing then.
This seems to be working.
The catch: My
shift starts at five o’clock in the morning. So I get up at two-thirty in the
morning to write. As the novel I’m
working on progresses, I may have to start getting up earlier to get more time
in before work.
It’s kind of
serene. In a hellish way.
5 - Is it true writing erotic romance is
kind of a family tradition?
Yes.
Completely true. On both sides of the family. But my husband’s grandfather
wrote pornography during and after World War II to support his wife and his
daughters. He also wrote science fiction, but the softcore was what earned him
the money. Who would’ve guessed that soldiers like porn?
He had tons
of sex manuals to do research and help him get ideas in his office and he wrote
all the stories out by hand, in this tiny cramped script, to conserve paper.
Then he marked it all up with these crabbed corrections. Once he was done it
was almost incomprehensible. He paid one of his teenage daughters—my
mother-in-law, actually—to type it all out for him on his big old typewriter.
She’d earn about four hundred marks a book, which was a lot then, so I think he
did earn fairly well from writing erotica.
So when I
talk to my in-laws about what I do, it’s hardly shocking. Instead my
mother-in-law gives me a little philosophical shrug while my father-in-law
glances at his wife with this sly grin, like, “I got myself a girl who was really
informed.”
6 - If you were a Disney character -- any
character you want -- who would you be? Why?
At first when
you said that I wanted to be Aladdin. But then I realized I could never be
Aladdin because I’m horrible at lying. If I were Aladdin, I would just run up
to Jasmine and be like, “Guess what? I’m totally pretending to be a prince! Ha!
And I have an all-powerful genie.”
My husband
says he’s not worried about me cheating on him. Because if I did, I’d come home
and be like, “Honey! Guess what I did today! Bet you couldn’t guess.”
I’m not very
interested in being a Disney princess, although Belle does have an awesome
library. Maybe I could just nick her library?
So I guess I
would be Stitch. I am more like Stitch anyway. You know. An intergalactic terrorist
trying to be a house pet. Cute but deadly. Big googly eyes. Grumpy when hungry,
and like Stitch, I tend to express this with biting and laser cannons. But I am trying really hard to be
domesticated.
7 - It's clear your research on HG was
painstaking and intensive. Are you a research-ahead-of-timer, a
research-as-you-goer, or a research-after-the-facter?
Can’t I be
all three? Usually I go through phases of intense obsession over a subject. I
research it exhaustively. I read book after book. Then I stop. And maybe about
three years later I can write about it. I try not to write about anything I’ve
read too freshly, because I’m afraid of splurging on facts.
When I’m
writing, certain things come up. How does a dark lantern actually open, for
example? Then I spend time on museum websites, taking a look at artifacts. Do
they actually have lace parasols at this time? So I look that up. I spend
always a lot of time looking at contemporary housekeeping books, which can tell
me a lot about meals, manners, and sensibilities—how people thought things ought to have been, and therefore by
inference what they were actually like and what people did about it.
So probably
the least amount of research I end up doing is after the book is written and
I’m checking out the copyeditor’s remarks. I’ll usually go with the copyeditor,
unless I can find primary source material to back up my instincts.
8 – Do you own a grimoire?
Sadly not. I
own very few books, actually, which I always find very embarrassing when people
come over. Other people apologize for the mess. I’m like, “I’m so sorry! I
don’t have very many books!”
Because my
husband is from Europe, I’ve moved back and forth between the continent and
North America several times. Weight restrictions on transatlantic flights have
done my personal bibliotheca in. So mostly I stock up on public library books.
I put them on my shelves and pretend they are mine until the library sends me
to collections. So the only thing I’m reliably late at is returning books.
Also, although this doesn’t exactly qualify as
stealing since I do eventually give in and give the books back, this might
answer your first question. The last thing I borrowed for so long as to be
construed as stealing was a copy of Packing
for Mars by Mary Roach and I still feel guilty.
Whenever I’m
thinking about buying a book my husband gives me this sad look, like he’s
saying, “Will I have to carry this for you in the future? In a box with other
books? Up four flights of stairs?” But on the upside, whenever he tells me to
go ahead and buy one, I know what he’s really saying is, “I’ll carry this for
you. But only because I love you.”
9 - What is the single sexiest thing about
the Age of Steam?
Oh my! Do I
have to chose one?
But the most
fascinating aspect to me is the element of a society in an immense moment of
change. In the late 1800s, we went from cooking by fire and carting our water
from pumps and throwing our waste out the windows to electricity, automobiles,
telephones, and the most wondrous invention of all: indoor plumbing.
10 - Is there any genre you'd like to
tackle but you're kinda sorta afraid?
Humor. I want
to be able to write books with a lot of jokes in them. But I’m a little afraid
of writing a book that relies heavily on humor. What if my jokes fall flat? How
embarrassing would that be?
Maybe not as
embarrassing as receiving the proofreading remarks on a sex scene – granted.
(Ha! Just wait till you have to listen to the sex scenes in first your audio book!)
After that, I
think I would be most intimidated by thrillers. I like the breakneck pacing of
thrillers, but I think that kind of writing is hard for me.
That said,
the only way I’d ever consider writing in one of those genres is if the book
had a fantastical element. I get bored writing contemporary novels. For some
reason any novel without magic seems incredibly unrealistic to me.
11 - What do you love most about writing?
What do you find most challenging?
I love the
act of writing. Once I start writing, it feels like my brain is functioning
correctly and the rest of my life has been a dream. It’s like running and
playing a new song all at once. When I’m running, I sometimes get to a point of
timelessness, when the world around me seems ordered yet imbued with meaning. I
used to play clarinet and violin—I don’t anymore—but writing a rough draft is
also like playing an unfamiliar melody, like that moment when I’d play and I’d
hear the song for the first time. It fell into place. It was something that had
always been there and I was just discovering it.
It’s the rest
that’s hard for me. Plotting and editing. Really the parts that make a book a
book. I would basically rather go to the dentist than do those things. And
that’s saying a lot because anesthesia doesn’t work on me very well.
12 - What are you working on next?
It’s a
secret. It’s about spies, and mercury, and magic, and impersonation, and has
romance and adventures and scheming. But I can’t tell you anything more because
I haven’t finished it and I’m superstitious. But I promise to send it to you
when I’m done.
I also want
to say what a pleasure it’s been to be invited over onto your blog, Josh! Thank
you so much for having me over.
How interesting! It looks like a steampunk novel by Charles Dickens, I love it. Thanks for introducing me to this new autor. Besos.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading the book. It's truly enjoyable.
DeleteThanks, Josh! I'm glad that you're liking it.
DeleteThank you both for the informative and entertaining review! In fact I had already decided to buy this on paper because I'm so fond of BEB books and I suspect I'll love this.
ReplyDeleteCiao!
I think Blind Eye Books can be relied on to provide quality fiction every time.
DeleteAw, you're so sweet.
DeleteIz the truth!
DeleteIt is true! It's why I was so thrilled to work with Blind Eye--and I know a lot of why this book is good is 'cuz of the editor. Now that I've said that...can I has a good-author-treat? *big googly eyes*
Delete"Author treats" eh? Well, I do have a bag of these so-called "author treats" to be released upon delivery of the next MS. ;)
Deleteauthor treats?!
Delete(I just get let out of the basement upon delivery of a manuscript.)
:D
Lol. I'd better get on that then if I want any treats. :D
DeleteAn absolutely delightfully fascinating interview! Thank you Josh and Langley! I'm reading the book now and it's so difficult to put it down! I had pretty high expectations, because it combines steampunk - which i love, with magic and romance and adventures - which i also love. I'm enjoying every minute of it! Neil, Leofa and the crew (the good guys) are awesome! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm so happy that you enjoyed the interview--and the book. Let me know what you think when you're done!
DeleteJust for the general information, here the buying link ;-):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blindeyebooks.com/highfell/
Thanks, Antonella! I knew I forgot something...
DeleteToday it's also available at the usual suspects, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and it can also be purchased as an eBook from Weightless Books: http://weightlessbooks.com/format/highfell-grimoires/
Antonella can always be relied upon to bring the practical information. :)
DeleteOh! Yeah, THAT. :-D
DeleteLol. Now I feel like I was trying to keep it a secret--but very badly.
DeleteGreat interview! I'm reading HIghfell Grimoires now. So much to love.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was fun to have Josh interview me, using such fun questions and all. :)
DeleteYeah, Josh's a KIDDER, in case you didn't notice before... ;-) :-D
DeleteI have it, just haven't had time to get to it yet. I can't wait! I love Steampunk.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope it's "steamy" enough for you. ;)
DeleteThat book sounds awesome. Adding it to the To Read list now.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think when you get to it.
DeleteIf the book is half as good as the interview it's a win. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs KC said: a delightfully fascinating interview. Thank you, Langley and Josh! :-)
You're welcome--and thank you! It's wonderful to be featured on Josh's blog and it was fun coming up with answers to his interesting questions. :)
DeleteWhat a wonderful and entertaining interview, thanks Josh and Langley! I'm here to encourage everyone to read Highfell Grimoires - it blew my mind. Having now learned more about you Langley, it's no wonder I loved the book so much. Sounds like you lead a rich and varied life combined with a great imagination, and lucky us, we get to reap that in your writing. :-)
ReplyDeleteYay! Thank you, Dianne, for dropping by. I'm so happy to hear that you loved the book.
DeleteWonderful interview, Josh!
ReplyDeleteThe book really is great. I've read it twice now and I still find it full of fresh world-building and really compelling characters.
My top hat is off to you , Langley! :D
Thanks, Ginn! I'll raise a tiny top hat to your work, too!
DeleteGreat interview and it looks to be a great book :D
ReplyDeleteThanks! I hope you'll like it. :D
ReplyDeleteWonderful interview! Highfell Grimoires is now on my "to read" list. Thanks to Josh and Langley!
ReplyDelete