Kameron Hurley is the author of the Worldbreaker Saga and has just released the second book in the series called Empire Ascendant. We have talked to her about the series and her other work.
For those not familiar with your Worldbreaker Saga can you tell us a bit about it and give us a sneak peek into what we can expect in Empire Ascendant?
The conceit behind the Worldbreaker Saga is this: what if the all-consuming evil that wanted to destroy your world was… you, but from a parallel universe?
On top of that it’s a pretty dynamic world, with toxic semi-sentient plants, satellite magic, blood mages, polyamorous societies, consent-based cultures, assassins with soul-stealing swords, and all that wonderfully juicy stuff we read fantasy for.
How much has the completion of The Mirror Empire affected elements of Empire Ascendant? That is, did some characters decide they weren’t going to follow the path you put them on in Mirror?
I suppose I had a few surprises. There were some characters I expected to hook up who just never did. They simply weren’t into each other. Most of what surprised me had to do with the individual character subplots, which showed up much later. Lilia’s need to find her mother, Ahkio’s quest to uncover what happened to his sister, were subplots that came later as I realized the characters didn’t have enough personal stakes in the broader story.
With The Mirror Empire, you’ve challenged many genre assumptions/expectations/tropes, most notably genre roles and expectations. What other genre expectations did you seek to challenge but instead readers accepted easily?
So far readers have pretty much balked at everything I thought they would, though I admit I’ve been surprised at the reactions to Anavha, which were far more perplexed and passionate than I anticipated. It seemed like a fairly straightforward plotline to me, but putting characters with unexpected genders into those roles surprised people. I think it really made them think hard about reading abusive relationships like that in other books.
What new challenges did you set for yourself with Empire Ascendant, aside from perhaps avoiding the much maligned term of “middle-book” syndrome?
I heard about this “middle book slump” problem from a lot of readers. Apparently it’s a thing, so the way I approached this story was to go into it with the idea that this would be the Empire Strikes Back of the series. For a lot of folks, the second movie in the original Star War Trilogy is their favorite. It’s darker, the good guys don’t have a clear win, and there are tons of great reveals and betrayals. That’s what I wanted Empire Ascendant to be.
It seemed there were some hints or clues about the nature of the world in The Mirror Empire, how much more of the world will be revealed in Empire Ascendant?
I take readers to a couple of new countries, mostly Tordin but also a little bit of Aaldia. But most interestingly, of course, I take them to the world of the invading army we glimpse in the first book, and they get a taste for what drives these people to commit genocide. It turns out there are a lot of players on the move here as worlds collide.
Your Bel Dame Apocrypha has had a delayed release in the UK and Commonwealth, but the reception seems to have been overwhelmingly positive, with the books receiving a Kitchies Award, and Clarke Award and BSFA Award nominations. How have you seen the difference in the reception of these books in the UK compared to the US, if any?
The God’s War books haven’t sold nearly as well in the UK, probably due to a variety of factors. UK readers prefer less pulpy covers, and of course there was also the delayed release. But the Worldbreaker books have done reasonable well in both places. The covers are strong, and because the books are coming out from the same publisher, the release dates are all within a week of each other. Both things help a lot with sales. I think we’re on our third printing of Mirror Empire in the UK and our second in the US (initial UK printings were smaller).
While I found Nyx to be a very, compelling, well rounded and multi-dimensional character, I’ve observed some readers have complained she is unlikeable due to the morally questionable things she does for the sake of self-preservation. I can’t help but feel the reaction among these readers might have been different if Nyx was a male protagonist. Would you agree, and if so, why do you think this is the case?
Oh, I certainly agree that Nyx would be liked a whole lot more if she was a male character, but do characters really have to likable to be compelling? This is a particularly strange notion that we have, that female protagonists must be likeable as opposed to interesting. Characters don’t need to be likable to be compelling, just interesting. Humbert Humbert from Lolita is a despicable child molester. Hannibal Lector kills and eats people. We’ve built huge franchises around bad guys – think of all the love for Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers. But people think differently about women characters.
One of the things I love about watching reactions to the series is seeing people’s reactions to Nyx. I think she challenges a lot of people’s pre-conceived notions, because they find themselves compelled to read about her even though she’s horrible, just as they feel compelled to read about, say, Conan, which is actually the character I based her on.
The ending of Rapture was delicious in its ambiguity. It felt like you found it hard to write the last words in Nyx’s story. Or maybe you haven’t? Have you any plans to return to Nyx and the world of Umayma?
Nyx’s story arc is definitely done. I do have some ideas for further short stories and novellas, all of which would take place at different points between each of the books. As far as novel-length work, I do have a series set 25 years after Rapture that I’d really like to write some day. The fan base for those books seems to be growing (according to my backlist royalty statements) so I may get to do this at some point. We’ll see.
What did you learn from writing the Bel Dame Apocrypha that you feel improved you as a writer going into the Worldbreaker Saga?
I learned how to put together a basic plot. One of the big things folks notice as they read those books is that the first book, narratively, is a bit of a mess. With subsequent books I figured out the quest plot and how it intersected with individual character plots, so the second two books are much stronger. This was tremendously useful when I started writing the Worldbreaker books, because they are enormously complicated.
You are balancing, it seems, at least two major series at the moment. Does shifting settings from something like the Worldbreaker Saga to your forthcoming Space Opera The Stars are Legion allow you to better remain focused by stepping away from one to work on the other?
I think it helps me avoid burn out. When I finished the God’s War trilogy I was pretty done with the series and the world. I get incredibly immersed in the worlds that I write, and after spending eight years there in this war-torn, apocalyptic wasteland, it had started to get to me. The Worldbreaker books are even tougher, as the themes of the series revolve around heavy concepts like slavery and genocide. That’s a lot of deep and complex stuff to keep you up at night.
What can you tell us about The Stars are Legion at this point?
The Stars are Legion is a space opera about two families fighting to control a legion of massive organic worldships hurdling through deep space. I’ve used a few different feuding family epics of old as inspiration, and it’s been a ton of fun to write so far. Should be out fall of 2016.
How did you start writing? Was there a particular book or moment in your life that spurred you on?
I’ve been writing forever; I had a very vivid imagination as a kid. My uncle made a cassette recording of me telling me these long and complex stories about my pretend friends. They were so real to me that I’d lock them in the bathroom sometimes, and my dad had to use a screw driver to get the door open again. Looking back on it, it’s pretty funny, though I’m sure it wasn’t so funny to my parents. Once I was able to write down all these stories I had in my head, there was no turning back.
In the online genre community, you come across as very open and willing to share more of your “behind the curtain” writing approach than most writers. Do you think this has helped to make you a better writer?
I don’t do it to make me a better writer, I do it to help other writers, so they don’t have to go through some of the things I’ve been through. That said, growing some social capital has certainly made folks I work with in publishing regard me differently. I hear a lot that folks in genre have a lot of respect for me, which is great, and I do think that translates into more opportunities.
I guess sharing like this also could be seen as part of marketing. How do you go about the marketing aspect and especially related to your online presence? Anything you’ve seen work better than other things?
Certainly it gives me something to talk about online, but I don’t know that those posts in particular are meant to be market-y, as I don’t do them so much around release dates the way I do other things. The best advice I ever got about marketing my work was to just do things I liked. I’m not a fan of readings, so I just don’t do them. What I’m good at is writing blog posts, doing podcasts, things like that. I’m working to get better at radio and video. I can do in-person events, but they tend to take a lot out of me, so I only do a few a year.
Another thing folks don’t realize is that promoting your work isn’t about just doing one interview, or one book trailer, or showing up on one podcast. You need to sit down and do a calendar for the week before, the week of, and at least the week after release and just front load all of your events, activities, posts, promoted posts, and the like into that period. Too many people try and be “on” all the time when they should be writing. Put in your four or five weeks, then get back to work.
We have already touched upon several of your upcoming projects, but do you also have more exciting new projects you’re working on at the moment?
My essay collection, The Geek Feminist Revolution, is coming out next year from Tor books. Then, as you noted, it’s The Stars are Legion. In fall of 2017, we’ll finish up the Worldbreaker Saga with the third and final book, The Broken Heavens. Looking forward to seeing what fans think of the full series when it’s complete.
Once again, thank you very much for your time, Kameron.
Thank you!
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Interview by Luke Brown, Rob Bedford and Dag Rambraut – SFFWorld.com © 2015
