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Sword & Sorceress 22 interviews: the Margaret L. Carter edition
Oct. 10th, 2007 | 08:22 am
We are pleased to present a short interview with Margaret L. Carter. Margaret is the author of several short stories and novels, and wrote "Vanishing Village" for Sword & Sorceress 22.
1.) Tell us a bit about yourself.
Both as a reader and as a writer, I've specialized in supernatural horror and fantasy, especially vampires, for my whole adult life. My dissertation for my PhD (English, University of California, Irvine) included a chapter on DRACULA. Over the years I've taught a few courses in college English, but now I work part-time as a legislative editor for the General Assembly of Maryland. I've had several books and articles published on the supernatural in literature. Currently I'm focusing on novels, especially paranormal romance. Latest releases are two erotic romance novelettes, Aquatic Ardor, featuring an undine, and Tentacles of Love, a humorous Lovecraftian tale. My husband and I have collaborated on two sword-and-sorcery novels, and he's working on the sequel. He is a retired Navy Captain. We have four sons, eight grandchildren, two cats (one named Gandalf), and a Saint Bernard named Frodo.
2.) What made you take up writing?
At the age of twelve, I started reading horror fiction, beginning with DRACULA, which enthralled me and sparked my interest in a wide variety of speculative fiction. The local library didn't have enough horror on the shelves to appease my appetite, so I started writing my own stories at the age of thirteen. Also, I wanted to read tales sympathetic to the "monster," preferably from his or her viewpoint, and those were rare in the 1960s. (Not that they didn't exist in mid-century vintage pulp fiction, but finding them in their widely scattered anthology reprint venues was a matter of sheer luck.) So in order to get enough of them, I had to write them.
3.) Tell us about your S&S 22 story.
Two female mages, while searching for the missing son of their overlord, come upon a village hidden by powerful illusions and cut off from the outside world. When they confront the caster of these spells to force him to release the Duke's son, they discover a very unusual wizard. I originally conceived this episode as a part of the third book (now in progress) after WILD SORCERESS and BESIEGED ADEPT, co-authored by my husband and me, but it didn't fit into the plan, so I adapted the idea into a short story.
4.) Can you share an appropriate teaser paragraph from "Vanishing Village"?
The Duke's son and his squires held the first attackers at bay with their short swords, but others dodged around them, trying to seize the two mages. Bertrice chanted a spell, and a glowing sphere materialized around her and Liriel. The first man to make a grab for them stumbled back with a cry of pain, burned by a miniature spark of lightning.
Inside! Liriel pulled Bertrice over the threshold and slammed the door behind them. Bertrice's energy globe vanished. Liriel's stomach churned at the thought of how quickly the mysterious wizard negated their defenses.
A thin, balding man who stood beside the hearth in the combination parlor and dining room growled at them, "Who are you? Why are you barging into my home?" He picked up a piece of firewood and swung it like a club.
When he stomped toward her, Bertrice waved her hand to whip him with a gust of wind that knocked the wood out of his grip. A second later, a fiery dart shot from her fingers to ignite the logs stacked in the fireplace. "We want to see the wizard."
A stout woman with her gray hair in a long braid hurried out of the adjacent room, drying her hands on her apron. "You can't. Please go away and leave us alone, whoever you are."
Bertrice raised her right hand, aglow with leashed energy. "Wrong answer."
"Those spells were just warning shots," Liriel said. "We don't want to hurt anybody. We only want to meet this powerful mage we've heard about. Obviously, it's not either one of you."
The man's bushy eyebrows drew together in a frown. "What gives you the right to charge in here and threaten us?"
"What gives you the right to hold Lord Malkus and his men prisoner in your town?"
"They might've told outsiders about us," the woman said, close to tears. "We can't let that happen. Now get out. Our son has never harmed anyone, but if he decided to attack, you wouldn't stand a chance against him."
#
Be sure to visit Margaret's website at http://www.margaretlcarter.com. And tune in next week for an interview with another Sword & Sorceress 22 contributor.
(Full details of the interviews can be found here, and the complete series can be found here.)
1.) Tell us a bit about yourself.
Both as a reader and as a writer, I've specialized in supernatural horror and fantasy, especially vampires, for my whole adult life. My dissertation for my PhD (English, University of California, Irvine) included a chapter on DRACULA. Over the years I've taught a few courses in college English, but now I work part-time as a legislative editor for the General Assembly of Maryland. I've had several books and articles published on the supernatural in literature. Currently I'm focusing on novels, especially paranormal romance. Latest releases are two erotic romance novelettes, Aquatic Ardor, featuring an undine, and Tentacles of Love, a humorous Lovecraftian tale. My husband and I have collaborated on two sword-and-sorcery novels, and he's working on the sequel. He is a retired Navy Captain. We have four sons, eight grandchildren, two cats (one named Gandalf), and a Saint Bernard named Frodo.
2.) What made you take up writing?
At the age of twelve, I started reading horror fiction, beginning with DRACULA, which enthralled me and sparked my interest in a wide variety of speculative fiction. The local library didn't have enough horror on the shelves to appease my appetite, so I started writing my own stories at the age of thirteen. Also, I wanted to read tales sympathetic to the "monster," preferably from his or her viewpoint, and those were rare in the 1960s. (Not that they didn't exist in mid-century vintage pulp fiction, but finding them in their widely scattered anthology reprint venues was a matter of sheer luck.) So in order to get enough of them, I had to write them.
3.) Tell us about your S&S 22 story.
Two female mages, while searching for the missing son of their overlord, come upon a village hidden by powerful illusions and cut off from the outside world. When they confront the caster of these spells to force him to release the Duke's son, they discover a very unusual wizard. I originally conceived this episode as a part of the third book (now in progress) after WILD SORCERESS and BESIEGED ADEPT, co-authored by my husband and me, but it didn't fit into the plan, so I adapted the idea into a short story.
4.) Can you share an appropriate teaser paragraph from "Vanishing Village"?
The Duke's son and his squires held the first attackers at bay with their short swords, but others dodged around them, trying to seize the two mages. Bertrice chanted a spell, and a glowing sphere materialized around her and Liriel. The first man to make a grab for them stumbled back with a cry of pain, burned by a miniature spark of lightning.
Inside! Liriel pulled Bertrice over the threshold and slammed the door behind them. Bertrice's energy globe vanished. Liriel's stomach churned at the thought of how quickly the mysterious wizard negated their defenses.
A thin, balding man who stood beside the hearth in the combination parlor and dining room growled at them, "Who are you? Why are you barging into my home?" He picked up a piece of firewood and swung it like a club.
When he stomped toward her, Bertrice waved her hand to whip him with a gust of wind that knocked the wood out of his grip. A second later, a fiery dart shot from her fingers to ignite the logs stacked in the fireplace. "We want to see the wizard."
A stout woman with her gray hair in a long braid hurried out of the adjacent room, drying her hands on her apron. "You can't. Please go away and leave us alone, whoever you are."
Bertrice raised her right hand, aglow with leashed energy. "Wrong answer."
"Those spells were just warning shots," Liriel said. "We don't want to hurt anybody. We only want to meet this powerful mage we've heard about. Obviously, it's not either one of you."
The man's bushy eyebrows drew together in a frown. "What gives you the right to charge in here and threaten us?"
"What gives you the right to hold Lord Malkus and his men prisoner in your town?"
"They might've told outsiders about us," the woman said, close to tears. "We can't let that happen. Now get out. Our son has never harmed anyone, but if he decided to attack, you wouldn't stand a chance against him."
#
Be sure to visit Margaret's website at http://www.margaretlcarter.com. And tune in next week for an interview with another Sword & Sorceress 22 contributor.
(Full details of the interviews can be found here, and the complete series can be found here.)
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iPebble
Oct. 10th, 2007 | 03:44 pm
Man, I really wish I'd thought of this idea first.
On various tech sites and blogs, it's a common tradition to have "Unboxing Pics", accompanied by adoring captions, whenever Apple comes out with new iPod or Mac or whatever. That way all of the Apple faithful can salivate in greedy anticipation before they rush out and spend $500 too much on a new computer. Combine this with the fact that a Texas girl recently bought an iPod only to discover the box was full of rocks, and you get Apple's latest, greatest product:
The iPebble!
-JM
On various tech sites and blogs, it's a common tradition to have "Unboxing Pics", accompanied by adoring captions, whenever Apple comes out with new iPod or Mac or whatever. That way all of the Apple faithful can salivate in greedy anticipation before they rush out and spend $500 too much on a new computer. Combine this with the fact that a Texas girl recently bought an iPod only to discover the box was full of rocks, and you get Apple's latest, greatest product:
The iPebble!
-JM