The gaslight and shadows of the underground city of Recoletta hide secrets and lies. Cities and Thrones, the second book in Carrie Patel’s Recoletta series is being released in July and we’ve had the pleasure to talk to her about it.
The Buried Life was released earlier this year. For those not familiar with your Recoletta series, can you tell us a bit about it?
Sure! The Recoletta series is about an underground civilization that develops in the wake of a global calamity. City-states–of which Recoletta is one–develop from bunkers and shelters, growing to powerful and dynastic polities over a series of centuries.
However, they’re fundamentally sheltered, conservative, and isolationist. The Recoletta series begins when a piece of history from the pre-Catastrophe world surfaces, upsetting the balance of power in Recoletta.
Can you give us some insight into your main characters detective Liesl Malone, and laundress, Jane?
They’re two very different characters who get drawn into the trouble in Recoletta from different angles. Malone is the detective investigating a series of murders among Recoletta’s elite, and Jane is a laundress who works for some of the potential victims (and suspects).
Outwardly, Malone’s a dogged, driven cop with more nerve than heart while Jane’s a shy but observant young woman who finds herself swimming with sharks. Both, however, discover strengths and weaknesses that surprise even themselves.
How would you describe the genre you write, is it Dystopian, Steampunk or Mystery or simply a good mix of everything?
It’s a little bit of everything, which makes me thankful to have Angry Robot for a publisher! The Buried Life is largely a mystery with speculative fiction elements, while Cities and Thrones veers more toward political thriller territory. Both have a slight steampunk twist that comes through in the manners and technology, but that’s as far as the genre tie goes. But I’ve written straight-up science fiction and fantasy, too.
The second book in the series, Cities and Thrones is being released soon. What can we expect?
More cities, more scheming, and more trouble for Recoletta! I won’t give away the ending to The Buried Life, but let’s just say that it brings a landslide of changes for the characters and their city. Cities and Thrones shows the consequences of those changes, both inside and outside Recoletta.
Can you tell us a bit about the process that led up to this series being published?
I’d worked on The Buried Life on and off for a few years, and by 2013, I’d reached the point where I thought I’d polished it as much as I could. I’d actually started to work on something very different, but I had the good fortune to meet Mike Underwood and Lee Harris at Worldcon in San Antonio. They were interested in The Buried Life, and shortly before they offered me a contract, they asked if I’d be open to writing a sequel. I sent them an outline for Cities and Thrones, and a day or two later, I came home from the gym to one of the best surprises a writer can hope for – an offer in my inbox!
How did you start writing? Was there a particular book or moment in your life that spurned you on?
I don’t think there was any one moment or book that got me writing so much as a lifetime of enjoying good stories. I also had the good fortune to grow up with a family and a school system that encouraged me and taught me the skill and confidence to follow my passions.
What has been most surprising to you in your writing and publishing career so far?
Probably how quickly everything becomes “normal.” There’s this concept called the “hedonic treadmill,” which basically means that people have the tendency to return to a baseline level of happiness despite major changes in life.
Something interesting happens when you set a goal that seems, at first, to be so distant as to be nearly unattainable. When I started writing, I couldn’t imagine how amazing it would be to actually finish a book. Once I’d finished it, I kept wondering how fabulous I’d feel to get it published. After I sold The Buried Life, I looked at all of my other outlines and drafts and realized that I still had a lot of other books and stories that I needed to write.
Which isn’t to say that writing and publishing hasn’t continued to be an immensely rewarding career–it has. It’s just been interesting to think back to what I was doing two years ago, or four years ago, and notice how ambitions and expectations always have a way of catching up with present circumstances.
What is your favorite and least favorite part of the writing process, and why?
For me, it’s all about the momentum. I’ve found that any part of the process can be gratifying (or frustrating) depending on whether I’ve got a good gust of momentum behind me. There’s nothing more fun and freeing than sitting down with a notebook and sketching an outline, building the story from the ground up. Seeing it come together on the page also feels great, and even revisions can be fun when I know where I’m going with them and how they’re improving my story.
By the same token, all of those stages can get dull and frustrating when I feel like I’m missing a strong sense of direction and purpose.
Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way?
I’ve been inspired by China Miéville’s deep world building and his ability to interweave big, political stories with very personal, intimate ones. I think a lot of that comes from the elegant and comprehensive way he ties together his characters, their concerns, and their world. He’s a great example for any speculative fiction writer.
How do you go about the marketing aspect and especially related to your online presence? Anything you’ve seen work better than other things?
I feel like I’m still learning a lot about this, actually. It seems like there are a million different things a writer could be doing at any one time–from blogging, podcasting, social media, conventions, signings, and email lists to actually writing–that it can be overwhelming to assess what to do, how much to do, and when to do it.
It’s been an evolving process for me, and it seems early for me to say that one particular effort has worked better than the others. In a way, all of an author’s marketing efforts work in tandem to establish a presence. But I’ve really enjoyed conventions and podcasts–both give me a chance to interact in a more personal way with my peers and community, which I’ve found to be fun and rewarding.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?
I’ve become an ebook convert. I like the convenience of having my books on one slender, lightweight device. More than that, I like the maneuverability–I’ve found that ebooks are much easier to read than physical books at the breakfast table or on the treadmill.
What kind of books do you read, any favourite authors?
I tend to gravitate towards a mix of speculative fiction (of all stripes), thrillers, and mainstream and literary fiction. Neal Stephenson is one of my all-time favorites–I started Seveneves last week and am having to pace myself so I don’t rush through it!
What do you do when you’re not writing, any hobbies?
I love snow skiing and SCUBA when I’m visiting a place where I can do either (which, sadly, I’m usually not). I’m also a gamer, which won’t come as a surprise–I write for video games as my day job!
What’s next, what are you working on now?
At the moment, I’m juggling a bunch of different projects and trying to make progress on as many of them as I can. I’m polishing up a few short stories, working on the outline for my third Recoletta book, and making progress on a near-future science fiction novel that I’ve had in the works for a while. In addition to all of that, I’m working on the expansion to Pillars of Eternity!
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Interview by Dag Rambraut – SFFWorld.com © 2015
