Aurora Interview #4: Julie Czerneda

(Photo credit Roger Czerneda Photography)

My guest today is Julie E. Czerneda, nominated in the Best Long-form (Novel) category for the 2018 Prix Aurora, the fan award for the best in Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy.

For over twenty years, Canadian author/ former biologist Julie E. Czerneda has shared her curiosity about living things through her science fiction, published by DAW Books, NY. Julie’s written fantasy too, the first installments of her Night’s Edge series (DAW) A Turn of Light and A Play of Shadow, winning consecutive Aurora Awards (Canada’s Hugo) for Best English Novel. Julie’s edited/co-edited numerous  award-winning anthologies of SF/F, most recently SFWA’s 2017 Nebula Award Showcase. Out this fall is an all-original anthology written by fans of her Clan Chronicles series: Tales from Plexis. 

(Cover art by Matthew Stawicki.)

 Her finale to that series, To Guard Against the Dark, was released in 2017 (up for Best Novel this year). 

Julie is an internationally renowned panelist and speaker on genre, writing, and scientific literacy. She was Master of Ceremonies for the 2009 Worldcon and has done writers workshops for the New Zealand and Australia National Conventions as well as Ottawa Comic Con and Anime North. She’ll be GOH at ConStellation in 2019. This October, Esen--Julie’s most beloved character--returns in Search Image, Book #1 of her new SF series, The Web Shifter’s Library. Meanwhile, Julie is hard at work on a new fantasy standalone, The Gossamer Mage.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

 

Forever? My first publication in SFF was in 1997. I’ve written fantasy as well as SF, some horror, short fiction and long. I’ve edited numerous anthologies as well.

What other titles/categories have you been nominated for (past or present)?

My work has been nominated many times, to my delight, if not any of the Clan Chronicles until now. That makes this one very special. I’ve won in all the professional English categories, other than art, for science fiction and fantasy.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

To Guard Against the Dark is the culmination of a series I began decades ago. I wrote the nine books as three trilogies, leaving the story to tell others periodically. There weren’t speed bumps but I did need to keep careful notes as well as relearn the “voice” for each trilogy. Plus, this final one, Reunification, was going to be darker and quite intense. I elected to write two fantasy novels first.

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

That it’s the kind of ending I love—the one I wanted for this story and the characters of Sira and Morgan. I hope readers will feel the same. I’ve answered the underlying “What if?” which was vital. At the same time, I’m satisfied there’s a good taste to how it ends, and a sense of wonder too.

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

C.J. Cherryh, because her imagination is only exceeded by the work she puts into every detail. Anne Bishop, another amazing writer with a tremendous work ethic and talent.

Book blurb courtesy of DAW Books

The final book in the hard science fiction Reunification trilogy, the thrilling conclusion to the award-winning Clan Chronicles

Jason Morgan is a troubling mystery to friends and enemies alike: once a starship captain and trader, then Joined to the most powerful member of the Clan, Sira di Sarc, following her and her kind out of known space.

Only to return, alone and silent. 

But he's returned to a Trade Pact under siege and desperate. The Assemblers continue to be a threat. Other species have sensed opportunity and threaten what stability remains, including those who dwell in the M'hir. What Morgan knows could save them all, or doom them. 

For not all of the Clan followed Sira. And peace isn't what they seek.

For more about Julie and her many works of stellar Science Fiction, visit   www.czerneda.com

For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site

Aurora Interview #3: Gerald Brandt

My guest today is Gerald Brandt, nominated in the Best Novel category for the 2018 Prix Aurora Award for Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy published in 2017.

Gerald Brandt is an International Bestselling Author of Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His current novel is The Rebel – A San Angeles Novel, published by DAW Books. His first novel, The Courier, also in the San Angeles series was listed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as one of the 10 Canadian science fiction books you need to read and was a finalist for the prestigious  Aurora Award. Both The Courier and its sequel, The Operative, appeared on the Locus Bestsellers List. By day, Gerald is an IT professional. In his limited spare time, he enjoys riding his motorcycle, rock climbing, camping, and spending time with his family. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife Marnie, and their two sons Jared and Ryan.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

Like most writers, I started when I was young by copying what I was reading. I still have a notebook somewhere with a carefully drawn map and pages of awful prose. Unfortunately, I stopped writing in high school and concentrated on a career in computers.

Besides my novels, I have a couple of short stories out there. My first sale was in the Aurora Award winning anthology Blood & Water from Bundoran Press. It was quite a few years after that before I sold my first novel.

Is this your first nomination? If not, what other title/category have you been nominated for (past or present)?

The Courier, the first book in the San Angeles series was released in 2016 by DAW Books, and was up for best novel last year. The second book in that series also made the long list, but not the final ballot.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

I made a few mistakes writing the second novel in the series, The Operative – all of them my fault – which ended in a brutally short timeline of four months to write it. That resulted in burnout, and I had to push back the release date of The Rebel twice. DAW was very accommodating, and the novel was released six months late, one year after The Operative.

The process I used has been the same for most of my books, starting with colour coded post-it notes (one color per point of view character), and a large 4x8 foot whiteboard. Each post-it gets a one line description of a scene. I rearrange the post-its until I’m happy with what I have, and then I move the information to a spreadsheet, also colour coded, and add detail. Then I write the novel sequentially. Once I hit the halfway point, I usually go back and redo the outline for the final half of the novel. Things always change when drafting, and those changes need to be reflected in the spreadsheet.

I also tend to write fairly short. First drafts can be anywhere between 70,000 to 80,000 thousand words, and the final novel over 100,000. My main goal is to get the novel finished, and flesh it out later.

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

Besides finishing the series and closing all the various plot threads in an almost neat fashion?

Honestly, it’s a difficult question. It’s like asking which of your children is your favourite. Let’s call it an impossible question. Even though I finished writing the novel in 2016, I still feel too close to work to stand back and look at it that way.

I guess… without giving away too much of the plot… I’m really happy that I was able to bring back some people from Kris’ (my main character) past and create sense of family at the end of the novel. It’s an important step for Kris, and completes her journey.

That, and I really like blowing things up in space!

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

Another tough question! There are so many authors I enjoy reading across multiple genres, that it’s tough to pick just a couple. I’ll give it a try though.

I have to start with Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash is a phenomenal read, and I’ve been told you can see echos of it through my San Angeles series. That book came out when personal computers were still new(ish), and the sky was the limit, and that really grabbed at me – not only back when it was released, but now as well.

The next one is more difficult, do I choose David Eddings, Jaqueline Carey, Lee Child… The list goes on and on. If I think about it, I think it’s their ability to just suck me into their worlds and their stories and their characters lives that makes reading them so enjoyable. As a writer, it’s difficult to turn off my internal editor when reading, and when an author can make me do that, I’m hooked.

Book blurb

Kris Merrill has lost everything. Her family when she was thirteen, her identity when she joined the anti-corporate movement, and now the man she loved. Living in a small room the resistance gave her, she feels alone. Abandoned.

A year ago, Kris’s life was torn apart when a delivery went wrong. The last year spent training with the anti-corporate movement had been the closest she’d ever gotten to normal.

Now, war has broken out between the corporations, and the lower levels of San Angeles are paying the price. Water and food are rationed. People are being ripped from their families in massive sweeps, drafted to fight. Those remaining live in a wasteland. The insurgents are trying to help, but Kris is being left out, given menial tasks instead of doing what she was trained for.

She is torn between working with the insurgents as they become more like the corporations they are fighting, and helping the people of the lower levels.

Caught in one of SoCal’s draft sweeps and being hunted by an enemy who will stop at nothing to have revenge are just the tip of the iceberg. Kris is pregnant, and she might have to choose between bringing down the corporations that destroyed her family or saving the life of her unborn son.

  

http://geraldbrandt.com

Facebook: Gerald Brandt – Author

Twitter: @geraldbrandt

 For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site