[Miriamele]

Hi Caitlin, I read in your interview on Penguin's site that you're working on a new book set in ancient Greece, and that it's a fantasy. If it's not top secret, or too much bother, could you possibly share any more infomation with us about this book?

From the little bit you said about it it sounds wonderful. I think ancient Greece is a rich source of fabulous material which is sadly underused in contemporary fantasy.

[Caitlin]

There's not much to be top secret about, at the moment! Right now I'm working on what I'm calling a "protosynopsis" - a document that's not yet ready to be the real thing, but that's starting to resemble it. So far I've sketched out the beginnings of a world - loosely modelled on that of the ancient Aegean, but with many fantastic elements to it. So there'll be a large, Crete-like island with a population of artisans and priestesses who resemble what we know of the Minoans; there'll be a bellicose mainland group that look a lot like the Myceneans. Plus one or two characters from lands modelled on ancient Anatolia and Egypt. I've started to hone the religions of each culture (I will say that the island priestess sect has a lot to do with volcanoes, earthquakes, and continental drift - as well as a bunch of flame-throwing creatures!); I'm also coming up with the main characters and their possible interactions. The myth of the House of Atreus is my inspiration for some of these characters.

I've been doing a lot of research this time round - a very, very different process for me. Since the book(s) isn't going to be historical fiction, or even historical fantasy (a la Guy Kay), much of this research likely won't make it into the story - but it's still fun, and yielding a whole lot of tantalizing tidbits.

I guess I'll have to work on defining the story, actually. I said it wasn't going to be a Kay-ish work, meaning I'm not taking a specific historical period, its "real" inhabitants, and putting a fanastical, what-if spin on it. What I'm going to try to do is treat my own chosen period as a mythic one. Does that make sense??

I suppose I'll just work on the book; the niche-slotting can come later.

And thanks for asking, Miriamele! :)

[Miriamele]

Sounds excellent--especially the island priestess sect! (Gotta love volcanoes :) )
I said it wasn't going to be a Kay-ish work, meaning I'm not taking a specific historical period, its "real" inhabitants, and putting a fanastical, what-if spin on it. What I'm going to try to do is treat my own chosen period as a mythic one. Does that make sense??
Yes it makes sense. So the world you've created for this new book is not going to BE the ancient Aegean, but it will have a strong flavour of that time period. And most of this flavour will come from the material taken from Helenic myths, not necessarily from material taken from history. Do I get it?

Anyhow, sounds great. Can't wait to read it! (No pressure, no pressure! :D )

By the way, I picked up Silences of Home from the library today, but haven't started it yet. Maybe tonight I'll get a chance if my son decides to go to sleep at a decent hour. :rolleyes:

[Duanawitch]

What I'm going to try to do is treat my own chosen period as a mythic one. Does that make sense??

This sounds very exciting...like modern-mythmaking? Personally I love the idea that myths and legends are still dynamic...that they can be created by our own contemporaries, be set in any time period, and still have something to impart to us about our own selves. :)

Just out of interest, have you read any of Joseph Campbell's work on myths? He wrote a book called The Hero with a Thousand Faces (one of many but the least outdated) examining the universality of certain cycles and tropes. When I was listening to your interview from the other thread and you spoke about Homer and revisiting the quest trope with your own fantasy take, it reminded me of Campbell.