This
week, we're lucky to have a written interview with Clay and Susan
Griffith, authors of the Vampire Empire series, The Greyfriar and TheRift Walker. Both books we enjoyed immensely and we're happy to
fanpoodle shamelessly.
While
we wait eagerly for the third installment in this series we have
these 10 questions and their detailed answers to whet our appetites
1) Urban
Fantasy is very popular right now and there are a lot of variations
on the theme but they generally fit similar patterns - yet your world
and series is very different from most of what has become
standardised in the genre. What prompted you towards paranormal
steampunk - and this era in history?
To
be honest, we never set out to write either a paranormal or a
steampunk book. We had a story in mind, and writing it naturally
blended genres that intrigue and excite us. Alternate history, pulps,
romance, action/adventure. We are both lovers of Victorian history
and fiction. The steampunk and even the paranormal elements came out
naturally from tampering with that timeline.
2)
How much research did you do - both historic and mythological - for
this series?
There
is always a great deal of research done by both of us on every
project. Being a two person team doesn’t always mean we are both
fluent on a subject. Sometimes it is a passion of just one, which
means the other has to play catch up. There are a lot of nights in
libraries and scouring source books. We love reading autobiographies
or travelogues from the period we are targeting. We hope it gives us
a unique and more believable voice in developing characters.
3)
Vampires are very established in our mythology and you put a new spin
on several of the old legends (vulnerable to heat rather than
sunlight, the effect of crucifixes, being born rather than turned
etc) When dealing with something with such an established
canon, to what degree did you feel bound to follow these established
traditions and how closely?
We
certainly didn’t feel bound to follow tradition. Vampires have
always been very flexible in fiction. Different authors take
different paths. That said, we wanted to use many of the most
familiar traditions and twist them to create something very new. Our
vampires aren’t undead humans; they are a parasitic species bound
by natural law. So we determined that our ancestors would have formed
vampire myths to explain the mistunderstood behaviors of these
strange, elusive predators. This allowed us to play with the
mythology and to change it subtly, giving the readers something new
but yet something familiar as well.
4)
We haven’t seen many books that are written collaboratively - how
did that work with you both writing the book? Any epic battles over
direction/characters?
Collaboration
means having a thick skin and trusting your partner to do what is
best for the book and not what is best for them. Both of our egos
need to be kept in check at all times during the collaboration. But
the thing is, we both bring something different strengths to the
table which we can use to shore up weaknesses in our partner. So we
have more “oh thank God you thought of that” moments, rather than
“why the heck did you do that” blowups. Of course, battles do
happen. They occur most during the creation phase and the final
editing phase, when we are fighting hard for certain scenes and
characters or ideas to be born or not to be cut. Arguments usually
occur when one of us doesn’t explain something properly to the
other, whether it be a character acting out of the norm or the
inclusion of a new scene. We don’t have huge epic battles, more
short minor skirmishes. One issue we constantly “discussed” was
the gore factor, and our target audience. Although we didn’t intend
the book as YA (luckily the YA audience has flocked to it), we wanted
to make the book accessible to a wide readership which meant that the
gorier we made it, the less likely that could happen. We had to find
that perfect balance and that wasn’t always easy.
5)
In this genre it is not uncommon to find a vampire that detests his
nature and identifies with human beings; however, readers are usually
not given a reason for this self hatred whereas in your series,
Gareth makes it clear that he is inspired by the ability of humans to
create. Was it important to you give Gareth a specific reason
for turning on his own kind and do you did you envision him as a sort
of latter day Robin Hood?
All
the aspects of Gareth’s past and motivations will not be revealed
in the trilogy. Much of his appeal comes from his mystery. But yes,
human creativity is a singular key to Gareth’s fascination with his
food. Even though vampires live a long time, they leave nothing
behind, and Gareth is mesmerized by the fact that while individual
humans live short lives, humanity seems immortal.
6)
There’s a strong suggestion of conflict between Mysticism and
Technology are we looking at conflicts where one must be ascendant or
a union where both have their place?
Yes,
that conflict will become more central to the story as the trilogy
progresses. It’s also reflective of Victorian society, and the
retreat of religion as the primary influence and method of social
coordination in Western society. Mysticism and technology will always
co-exist in some fashion, but it’s hard to imagine a society that
even resembles our modern world where mysticism doesn’t take a
distant second place to technology.
7)
In both books we saw specific social issues being addressed - in
Greyfriar we saw a good commentary on class, in Riftwalker we saw
commentary on both ageism and elder abuse as well as Adele’s
development in a very patriarchal state. Was this intended or is it a
happy side-effect of the plot - and will we see more?
It
was intentional, in the sense that we wanted a well-rounded world.
When you construct an alternate world, you want to deal with the
issues that both unite and divide people. If your world has
economics, it has divisions. And if it has industrial economics, it
has class structure. Fantasy worlds without them seem false. And
since we were creating a neo-Victorian world, class certainly had to
play a role. We also wanted to draw parallels between the forms of
division in human society and those among the vampires; neither is
all good or all bad.
In
terms of “ageism”, we never consciously thought about the
portrayal of the elderly characters like King Dmitri as a statement
against “elder abuse”. But we have both cared for aging and
infirm parents, so those things are important to us, and fresh in our
minds.
8)
Adele is one of the most powerful, intelligent, independent and
strong female characters we’ve seen in reading urban fantasy
(especially since we’ve seen numerous attempts at strong characters
that missed the mark). Did you set out to have such a good feminist
protagonist?
This
book began its infancy with an idea that I (Clay) came up with before
Susan and I started writing together. But it never worked. When we
started teaming up, I asked Susan to look at the premise and sample
chapters, and “fix it.” So she did. The primary problem was that
the early versions of Adele were wrong. She was either too whiney or
too manly. Susan brought not just her sense of character writing, but
also the fact that she is the toughest, yet most sensitive woman I’ve
ever met. It’s a difficult combination of character traits to
manage, but she does it. And she made Adele into a similar figure.
9)
Have you any intention of including any GBLT characters or is the
lack an intentional statement of Equatoria? Similarly to how most of
the Persian, Black and Indian characters, except for Adele herself,
are in subservient roles - also a statement on Equatorial culture?
The
Greyfriar, and Vampire Empire in general, delves little
into the sexuality of any of its characters, with the exception of
Adele and Greyfriar. In that sense, the sexual preferences of most
characters won’t come into play. That’s not as much an
intentional statement about Equatoria as it is a reflection of the
“Victorian” sensibilities of the day, and more, it simply suits
the overall themes of the trilogy.
The
issue of race equality is more complicated and textured. The
following answer is very long, but remember, you asked!
We
actually disagree with your assertion that most non-whites or
non-Europeans are “subservient”, particularly in The Rift
Walker. Perhaps the issue is more what is the definition of the
term “subservient”. As you point out, Adele is half-Persian and
is the imperial heir. Colonel Anhalt, a Gurkha, is the commander of
an elite military unit, not Adele’s manservant. Major Stoddard is
Senator Clark’s right hand man, and serves as a voice of reason for
the American commander. We also feature Sanah, who is Persian, and
Nzingu, who is Zulu, and Mamoru, who is Japanese. There is also the
mention of Equatoria’s top admiral being from east Africa; and
there are several other such references to political/military figures
who are not northern European stock.
But
granted, the most powerful figures at the heart of the Equatorian
Empire – Emperor Constantine, Lord Kelvin, Lord Aden, etc. – seem
to be of European descent or at least claim to be, and the courtly
style of Equatoria is largely an import from Britain with Near
Eastern overlays which, we would argue, demonstrates forces at work
subconsciously within the society. We never envisioned Equatoria as
an old comfortable “raj” society trapped in some quaint colonial
amber, but rather a vibrant, multi-cultural society in transition.
At
the time of the Great Killing in 1870, the refugees who escaped the
vampire attacks were primarily the dominant political, business, and
military classes of northern Europe and North America, and Japan.
They came south with their ships and guns, and landed where they had
bases in place, or where northern influence had some history, such as
Alexandria, Egypt.
In
real history, imperial conquest and administration of Africa, and
much of the tropical world, was accomplished with surprisingly few
men due to technological superiority in weapons and communications,
and the biological aid of disease. In real history, 19th
century colonialism was undertaken primarily for the extraction of
natural resources from the tropics, but in the Vampire Empire
world, the northern refugees were desperately seeking new homes to
escape the horrors of the north. Similar to the Mongols in China or
the Normans in Britain, northerners imposed themselves as live-in
warlord rulers in areas such as Egypt, and forced room for the waves
of fellow refugees who came after them. These northerners brought
with them not just their guns, but their ideas of social organization
and their skills in scientific research and the production of
technology. This knowledge allowed them to maintain a certain degree
of control in the areas they seized, and in some cases, even to
expand that control. However, this layer of “northern” domination
remained relatively shallow over the ensuing century, while the
majority of the refugees were blended and absorbed into the changing
tropical populations.
Now,
this “warlord invader scenario” doesn’t apply in the vast
majority of the tropical world where there wasn’t a swamping by
northern refugees. For example, in The Rift Walker, we see the
nation of Katanga in central Africa, which developed without the
taint of northern rulers, although the Katangans did eagerly adopt
and adapt “northern” productive technologies because it suited
them.
Furthermore,
as the trilogy progresses, we will see how societies like Equatoria
are changing. While many of the elite in Alexandria love to tie their
heritage to the old lands of Europe (just like many Americans insist
on connecting their family tree to the Mayflower), in fact, that
shallow layer of self-proclaimed “northerners” is being eroded
and replaced rapidly by the polyglot society that Equatoria has
become over the 20th century. We try not to be overly
obvious and make the point, “Hey look, a Euro leader is being
replaced by an Arabic/Turkish/African/etc. leader”, but the events
will occur nonetheless. Adele herself will help to push her society
in that direction. But it won’t be easy. No group or class gives up
power and privilege willingly.
All
that said, this trilogy was created to be an action/adventure story
with a unique world setting. All of the social issues are subtext,
important subtext, but still subsidiary to the main tale of
derring-do, romance, and sacrifice.
10)
And to finish we’re avid readers of the genre - what other authors
are among your favourites?
Clay:
I like a lot of the classics of fantasy such as Robert E. Howard and
H. Rider Haggard. Among more contemporary writers, I like Jeffrey
Ford and Mark Hodder.
Susan:
I’m a long time fan of Madeline Brent, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth
Peters, and pulp writers like Maxwell Grant. Currently I’m reading
writers like George Mann, Suzanne Collins, and Jon Sprunk.
