Interview with Elizabeth Bear
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 20b
A series of interviews with authors of historically-based fiction featuring queer women.
In this episode we talk about
Elizabeth’s upcoming steampunk novel Stone Mad, an independent sequel to Karen Memory. Set in an alternate late 19th century Pacific Northwest, Karen navigates her way past murderers, corrupt politicians, and arcane conspiracies the help of a steam-powered armored sewing machine, the other denizens of the disreputable Hôtel Mon Cherie, and her girlfriend Priya.
How Karen Memory started out as a YA novel and what happened next
The importance of voice in how the stories developed
The roots of the world in Verne, Wells, and actual history
Future stories involving Karen Memory
The difference between writing grim versus hopeful worlds, even when bad things happen to your characters
The social, historical, and political context of thePacific Northwest that made it a perfect story setting
Basing stories on cultural patterns as opposed to events, and why Elizabeth doesn’t write actual historical fiction
Elizabeth’s early experiences discovering SFF with queer characters and the importance of representation in fiction
Publications mentioned:
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear
Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear
Many other books too numerous to mention
More info
The Lesbian Historic Motif Project lives at: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
Website:
http://elizabethbear.com
Twitter:
@matociquala
Dreamwidth:
https://matociquala.dreamwidth.org
If you have questions or comments about the LHMP or these podcasts, send them to: [email protected]
No transcript is available for this episode.
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