Interview with Jacqueline Carey

Q: Without giving anything away, what can you tells your fans about Kushiel's Justice?

It centers around an intense secret love affair between Imriel and his royal cousin Sidonie. Knowing that the realm would be torn apart by the idea of a liaison between the heir to the throne and the son of the greatest traitor in Terre d’Ange’s history, they choose duty over passion, and Imriel weds the Alban princess to whom he’s betrothed. Although Imriel tries to learn to love his new wife, the intensity of his feelings for Sidonie don’t fade; and in Alba, he becomes the target of mysterious forces who seek to use his passion for her to bind him against his will.

In other words, more sex, intrigue, romance and adventure!

Q: Will you be touring during the course of the spring and summer to promote it? If so, are there any specific dates that have been confirmed as of yet?

I’ll be touring the last two weeks of June. All the confirmed dates are listed on the homepage of my site, www.jacquelinecarey.com, under the Events header on the left side.

Q: What's the progress report on the third volume? Any tentative title and release date?

It hasn’t been through editing yet, but it’s finished, and my editor and I don’t expect any major revisions. We’re psyched about this one! The working title is Kushiel’s Mercy, and while I don’t have a release date, I imagine it will be summer 2008.

Q: One of the strengths of your recent novels, and especially in Kushiel’s Justice, is how you’ve developed characters, plot elements, and politics, both personal and national, within the specific legacies of characters and events from your previous Kushiel novels. What has been some of the challenges in developing your stories and characters in this way? What have been some of the benefits?

One of the greatest challenges is that there’s so much backstory, it’s hard to convey it in a way that will bring a new reader up to speed without dragging down the narrative for readers familiar with the original trilogy. By the same token, all that backstory gives me a wealth of existing characters and conflicts on which to draw.

Q: Have there been any surprises in how these characters, and the story, has developed? Does it (they) have a life of their own, or has the development always followed a very specific plan that you’ve had?

I’m a pretty tight plotter and I keep my characters on a short leash. While they do seem very vibrant and alive to me, I’ve never had a character hijack a story in an unexpected direction. Not to get all omnipotent, but they follow the arc of destiny I’ve ordained for them!

Q: How does writing Imriel differ from writing Phèdre? Do you ever find yourself viewing events, as you’re developing, through a specifically Phèdre lens?

Imriel has a certain wry self-awareness that’s distinctly his own, and his voice is more simple and direct than Phèdre. Once I’m immersed in a first-person point of view, the lens is pretty well fixed. When I’d check passages from the original trilogy to refresh myself about a particular plot point, it was a little shocking to find myself back in Phèdre’s perspective.