Gather round, ladies and gentlemen, gather round! Today, for your amusement, edification, and overall enlightenment, we present our interview with Deborah J. Ross, the first of our series of interviews with the contributors of Sword & Sorceress 24:
Tell us about yourself.
I have been writing science fiction and fantasy professionally since 1982, served as Secretary of SFWA and have taught writing and led writer’s workshops. As Deborah Wheeler, I wrote 2 science fiction novels, JAYDIUM and NORTHLIGHT, as well as short stories in ASIMOV’S, FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, SISTERS OF THE NIGHT, STAR WARS: TALES FROM JABBA’S PALACE, REALMS OF FANTASY, and almost all of the SWORD & SORCERESS and Darkover anthologies. My most recent projects — under my birth name, Ross — include Darkover novels with the late Marion Zimmer Bradley (the most recent of which, HASTUR LORD, will be released February 2010): and an original fantasy series, THE SEVEN-PETALED SHIELD. My 2008 editorial debut, LACE AND BLADE was received so enthusiastically that it will now be an annual anthology.. In between writing, I’ve lived in France, worked as a medical assistant to a cardiologist, revived an elementary school library, studied kung fu san soo, Hebrew and yoga, and have been active in the women’s martial arts network and local Quaker community.
How did you get into writing?
I’ve been writing since fourth grade! I thought books were magic and I wanted to make them, too. My first professional sale was to Marion Zimmer Bradley for the first SWORD & SORCERESS, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Why write fantasy?
I like to write a lot of different things, including science fiction, space opera, and stories that are so interior and character-driven they feel more like mainstream, but in terms of novel career, I work best when I focus on one genre. What I love most about fantasy is how it invites the use of archetypes and mythic elements to create deep psychological,and en spiritual meaning.
What is the worst mistake a writer can make?
I think this is different for everyone, but essentially: whatever closes your mind and stops you from getting better.
Tell us about your Sword & Sorceress 24 story.
Some of the scenes I’d sketched out when playing with an idea for a fantasy novel set in an Arabian Nights type world. This must have been 10 or 15 years ago. The story never came together, but nothing creative is ever wasted, so when I asked my inner muse for ideas for a S & S story, the weeping statue and Grandmother’s magical toys leapt to mind. As Maridah took shape as a character, I realized the Shakespearean echoes. Here she is, a scholar called home and told her uncle is a villain by another character who promptly disappears. Sound familiar? But is the uncle really a scheming, power-mad Bad Guy? What happens when we see human interactions through the lens of romantic dreams? If such dreams can deceive, they can also create immeasurable joy in our lives.
Can you share an excerpt (a paragraph or two)?
Here, Maridah encounters the statue:
The passage twisted, ever descending. At last, she caught sight of a door, its plain wood somehow preserved from the damp. In the chamber beyond, she found a tiny garden, arched over with a dome like frosted glass and filled with pale, diffuse light. She replaced the ball in her pocket.
Heat lay thick and expectant over the dustless benches. Not a fly buzzed, not a leaf of the trellised roses quivered, and not a single fallen twig marred the whiteness of the paving stones.
In the center stood a statue of a young man of transcendent beauty, naked to the hips. His head was tilted to reveal the perfect grace of his neck. His hands hung at his sides, wrought in stone that had the satiny sheen of marble and the warm hue of flesh. The flowing muscles of his torso ended in a block of uncut stone in place of legs.
Pick any one book to recommend. Other than Sword & Sorceress.
I finally read Mercedes Lackey’s PHOENIX AND ASHES, and loved it. It’s part of her “Elemental Masters” series, set in England during WW I. The system of magic fits solidly within the genre, and the plot skeleton is “Cinderella,” so there’s an illusion of familiarity. What knocked my socks off was how vividly she wove in what life was like during that time — the idiocy and hopelessness of the old way of waging war, the impoverishment of the countryside due to rationing and the absence of able-bodied men, and the abysmal ignorance of “shell shock” and how widespread it was. (Also, a magical explanation of the Spanish Influenze epidemic.) Very dark stuff, very well done.
Visit Deborah J. Ross’s website.
-JM
