Just a Pack of Lies

posted by Nancy
A lot has happened with author Laura Anne Gilman since her last visit to the Lair. The first volume in her Vineart War series, Flesh and Fire, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel for 2010. Pack of Lies, the second volume of the Paranormal Scene Investigations (PSI for short) is out, with a starred review in Publishers Weekly and an RT Top Pick to its credit, and she has several short pieces out or coming out soon. We're going to chat about all of that today, starting with the Paranormal Scene series.

Welcome back, Laura Anne! For those new to the series, can you give us some background on Bonnie and PUPI (short for Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations)? What inspired you to create PUPI? Was it an "aha! I can do this" moment, or was it something that came to you gradually?

Bonnie was introduced during the Retrievers series, when Wren (my main character) needed a professional investigator-type to check something out for her. The idea of someone who was the opposite of Wren (a criminal vs a law-minded sort) both using magic to opposite ends, seemed logical to me – if there is a thief, there should also be a thief-taker, yes?

But then I started to think about what that would mean, in the culture of the Cosa Nostradamus, and how Talent would react to being monitored/investigated in that way…. And the idea of PUPI came out of those thinks – about the need for an investigative branch that did not owe its loyalties to the Council, but wasn’t quite so ‘anything goes’ as the lonejack community.

So the idea was in my head, taking form – and when I came to the end of Wren and Sergei’s arc, in BLOOD FROM STONE, it seemed natural to me to explore PUPI, and Bonnie’s involvement with it. And the natural place to start was at the beginning, with the founding of the group in HARD MAGIC.

What's the problem Bonnie and her comrades face in Pack of Lies?

After HARD MAGIC, they’ve established themselves, slightly – gotten a chance to prove themselves to the rest of the Cosa. But that just means larger challenges and, as will become the norm, dealing with the situations nobody else wants to touch. In this case, a respected and ancient breed, a ki-rin, is accused of justifiable homicide in defense of its companion, a young woman. But there’s more to the story, of course - on both sides.

Complicating matters, Bonnie is discovering that the attraction she has to her boss, Benjamin Venec, may have its roots in a less physical, more magical cause. This…annoys them both. Career-minded workaholics have very little tolerance for the meddling Finger of Fate. I am having a lot of fun playing with this theme – the trope of “fated True Love” and the genetic and personal implications of such a thing, as seen through the POV of two people who have no interest in long-term settling down… (or being told what to do).

For a peek inside the book, click here.

This isn't the only series you have going. Last year, you visited us when you launched The Vineart Wars with Flesh and Fire. Now there's a second volume, Weight of Stone. Can you tell us a bit about where that series is going?

The Vineart War is a classic trilogy – act one, act two, and act three. In act one, we were introduced to the world of the Vinearts, where wine-makers are the keepers of magic, while land-lords rule the people, and the Washers keep the balance between the points of power – and something, or someone – is trying to shift that balance. We are introduced to Master Vineart Malech, and the slave-turned-student Jerzy (pronounced yehr-zee), who first recognize that something Bad is happening, under the seemingly calm surface of their society.

WEIGHT OF STONE is act two, where our hero, Jerzy and his companions are on the track of who that someone might be – but get caught up in the turmoil of the world around them, and are accused of being the troublemakers themselves.

Act three, THE SHATTERED VINE, brings all the players into direct conflict, reveals secrets, and forces Jerzy to make a final decision that could change his entire world… that manuscript has been handed into my editor, and will be published in October 2011.

I was incredibly honored that the first book, FLESH AND FIRE, was nominated for a Nebula Award for Nest Novel, in 2010.

You also have some short stories on the market, don't you? Can you tell us a bit about that?

I started out writing short fiction, and it’s still important to me – it allows me to work with themes and stories that might not carry the length of a book, but are interesting and important all the same. I can’t imagine not writing short fiction, even though it’s taken a back seat to the novels in the past few years.

Up next, I have two stories that will be out in February or March, both in anthologies -
First, courtesy of THOSE WHO FIGHT MONSTERS, you get "Dusted" - a short story featuring former cop/current PI Danny Hendrickson, who also happens to be half-fatae. Danny is on the hunt for a missing girl – but he discovers, instead, something about himself. This is the 'kickoff" story for the Sylvan Investigations books coming in 2013. Danny also get a lot of play in the 4th PSI novel, SIGHT UNSEEN.

And then there's AFTER HOURS: Tales from the Ur-Bar, which has my story "Paris 21." Here, the dream of glory, circa Paris 1921, meets an ancient demi-god who likes to meddle.... A study on what we wish for, versus what we dream of.

And then in May there’s a project that I’m incredibly excited about – a small press collection of DRAGON VIRUS, which is a series of interconnected stories charting the way humanity –and human society - changes under the influence of a mutation, over an extended period of time. It’s SFnal horror, in some ways, but also, I think, quite hopeful in its own way. If you’ll forgive me the plug, you will be able to pre-order it soon directly from the publisher – Fairwood Press (http://www.fairwoodpress.com/index.html)

Plus, of course, there’s BookView Café, which houses some of my short fiction – some of it for free!

What's next for you?

In my immediate future? Revisions on some pending books, and then finishing up SIGHT UNSEEN, (PSI#4) before my editor comes beating me over the head because it’s late. A few short stories that are in the works,, a novella idea that needs finishing. After that (end of 2011/early 2012), I have Danny’s books (Sylvan Investigations) to write, and a few new projects that are simmering…. Always busy. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

For more about Laura Anne and her work, visit her website.

To get the conversation going, tell us, what's your favorite detective story? If you like wine, what's your favorite kind? What was the last short fiction you read?

Laura Anne is giving away a book to one commenter today--winner's choice of any one of her published novels (Vineart Wars, Retrievers, or PSI). We also have an AHA Go Red pin for one commenter today.

The comment link is below the healthy heart tip for today and the AHA BetterU information.




The healthy heart tip for February 4 is: Cooking at home is an excellent way to control what you eat. Make a date to a local cooking class to practice your skills or learn a new technique.

Go Red for Women on February 4

Romance Writers of America and the American Heart Association have partnered to raise awareness of heart disease in women and encourage you to join us in wearing red on February 4, National Wear Red Day®. Visit http://www.goredforwomen.org/ to learn how to fight heart disease.

And just in case you missed it....

Sign Up for the Go Red BetterU Program and Receive Two Free Romance Novel E-Books

From Feb. 1 through May 31, 2011, receive one free romance novel e-book when you sign up for the American Heart Association's BetterU Program and one after you complete week six of the program. And look for the Eat Smart for Your Heart limited-edition magazine (that features this offer) on newsstands and in a grocery store near you.

To sign up for the BetterU program, visit http://www.goredforwomen.org/betteru/index.aspx.
(Go Red For Women is trademarked by the American Heart Association, Inc. Romance novel downloads provided by Belle Books.)

Hard Magic, Tough Choices

posted by Nancy

Our regulars may remember Laura Anne Gilman from last fall, when she made her debut in the Lair with Flesh and Fire, the first book in the Vineart Wars. She joins us again today with a new series, and here's a brief bio.

Laura Anne started her professional life as a book editor for a major NYC house, fitting her writing into the remaining available hours. In 2004 she switched that around, becoming a full-time writer and freelance editor for Carina Press. Laura Anne is the author of the popular Cosa Nostradamus books for Luna (the "Retrievers" and "Paranormal Scene Investigations" urban fantasy series), and the award-nominated The Vineart War trilogy from Pocket. She is a member of the on-line writers consortium BookView Cafe, and continues to write and sell short fiction. She also writes paranormal romances as Anna Leonard.

Today, she's going to tell us about Hard Magic, the first book in the Paranormal Scene Investigations series. It's set in the world of the Cosa Nostradamus that so captivated Jeanne and me via the Retrievers series. Welcome, Laura Anne!

The title for Hard Magic, unlike most of my books, came without any problem whatsoever, and not only because the main plot is about making magic -- that ephemeral, seemingly mystical energy into a scientific tool, a "hard science." It was also because this book -- indeed, this series -- is about hard lessons.

Unlike The Wren, whom many of you met in the Retrievers series, Bonnie Torres is just starting out, a smart, eager young Talent, fresh out of college and ready to take the world on... except she has no idea what she wants to do, or who she wants to become. In other words, she's very much like most 21-year-olds, with or without magic. So when she's handed what looks like the opportunity of a lifetime -- to become part of a group that will turn magic from an excuse to behave badly into a way to track down those who behave badly, and prove their responsibility -- she falls on it with both hands...

and then discovers that every gift comes with a cost. In Bonnie's case, the cost that she is very much attracted to a man -- that, in fact, they have a connection that brings them together -- emotionally, sexually, magically.

The only problem is, he's her boss. And both of them love their job too much to risk screwing with that, quite literally. Bonnie is a passionate woman, but her passion extends to work, and justice, as much as it does her personal life. And the potential man in her life, Benjamin Venec, is exactly the same - with an added dose of caution, because he's older, and in a position of responsibility. They respect each other, and what they have as a team, too much to risk it.

So how do you balance the career chance of a lifetime, the hard knocks that come with being out in the real world, on your own, for the first time, and an overpowering urge to be with the one person you really can't be with?

In short, what I'm playing with in this book - in the entire series, actually - is the dual 'real world' problems of career vs personal life, and the romantic fantasy trope of "a destined or fated love." What happens when you tell Fate/Destiny to go to hell?

(now you begin to understand why my beta-readers often refer to me as "you evil woman")

In a romance, the reader would know the answer at the beginning. The joy (and, I admit, the evil glee) of writing romantic fantasy is that you-the-reader (and even me-the-writer) have no such assurance. The only thing we know is that Bonnie and Venec are going to have to fight it out, honestly and fairly, because that's the only way they know how to do it.

(And if any of you are starting to wonder if I was influenced at all by the Lord Peter/Harriet Vane love story... 'at's a fair cop.)

So what's your favorite story that deals realistically with "romantic" standbys like forbidden or fated love?

A copy of either Staying Dead or Hard Magic (winner's choice) will go to one commenter today.

For more information about Laura Anne Gilman and her work, visit her website, which also includes an excerpt from Hard Magic.

The Magic of Wine

Today, we welcome Laura Anne Gilman, whose Retrievers series from Luna utterly captivated Jeanne and me. Laura Anne’s celebrating the release of her first hardcover fantasy, Flesh and Fire, from Pocket Books. Welcome to the Lair, Laura Anne!

Thanks for having me! Hrmmm, that’s a nice sofa. Mind if I take that back to my own burrow? Someone spilled tequila on ours during the last party….

You can try to take it, but the gladiators may object. They're fond of it. You have experience on both sides of the editor’s desk. Can you tell us a little about your background?

Summing up fifteen years in a paragraph or less… I started in publishing right out of college – worked as the assistant to Neil Nyren, publisher/editor-in-chief at Putnam. My love was always with genre, though, and when a friend told me that there was an opening at Berkley, the mass market arm of Putnam Berkley, working for the science fiction imprint… with Neil’s blessing, I jumped at it. Worked my way up to editor, and then about seven years later I was offered the job of executive editor at NAL, heading up the Roc science fiction/fantasy/horror imprint. I did that for another six+ years.

I love editing, and I got to work with some wonderful writers, and had the joy of seeing many of them go on to very successful, long-term (and NYT best-selling!) careers. Eventually, though, trying to balance an increasingly corporate day job with my own writing… I had to choose, and the writing won.

Having been an editor at major NYC houses gave me a very pragmatic, practical view of the industry – I know what is possible, what isn’t possible, and when I should just throw my hands up in the air and say “oy.” My agent, however, will be the first to tell everyone that this makes me no less neurotic than any other writer. *grin*

Flesh and Fire is the first book in a trilogy, The Vineart War, with a magic system based around wine. What inspired you to create this world?

Oh, that’s one of those “you’re not going to believe this” stories. I’m a foodie and a wine nerd. So is my agent, Jennifer Jackson of the Don Maass Agency. We were on the phone one day talking about a food expo we wanted to go to that weekend, but finally decided the ticket price was too high. “It needs to be a work deduction, somehow,” I said – a common plaint among writers, who are used to thinking of everything as somehow business-related, because almost everything is inspiration, one way or another). “So,” Jennifer says, “write me a food or wine based fantasy.” And she meant it as a joke, but when we ended the conversation ad I went back to sit at the computer – working on one of the Retriever books… something clicked. And I grabbed my pad and pen and started jotting notes, and the next day I e-mailed her to say “I know you were kidding, but…”

Winemaking has always fascinated me, from my very first trip to the California wine country region back in the early 90’s. The idea of a winemaker as magician… it was completely natural. And the fact that wine is both an intoxicant and a shared social event [we generally drink it with meals, not sitting alone in the dark] made it an interesting thing to base a civilization on.

It seemed as though everything—my love of epic fantasy, my interest and experiences with wine, the things I wanted to say, story-wise, at that moment… all came together in what I referred to as ‘the project that ate my brain.”

I had the pleasure of hearing you read at Dragon*Con and noticed that you have several point of view characters. Who are they?

The Vineart War trilogy is the story of an entire culture in flux, so I decided to go with a 3rd person limited narrative in order to showcase that change. Mainly, we follow Jerzy (pronounced Yehr-zee), who is the pivotal character around whom the action moves. He’s a student of the Vineart Malech, a former slave being trained to use magic – but he’s also a teenager, trying to figure out his place in a world that’s changing even as he discovers it.

Master Vineart Malech, Jerzy’s owner/teacher, has the counterpoint in this book – age and experience to Jerzy’s raw fascination and turmoil. We’ll also meet Kainam, a young man dealing with terrible losses, Ao and Mahault, Jerzy’s companions along the way, and of course, The Guardian. You’ll have to read the book to find out about the Guardian.

You blog about wine on your LiveJournal page, and it’s clear you know a lot about it. For those interested in branching out beyond chardonnay, white zinfandel, and merlot, what do you recommend?

I used to work at a wine store, and the first thing I’d tell everyone is that the best wine is the wine that you like the best. Too many people are intimidated by all the Big Names and magazines saying what’s good and what’s hot…ratings and reviews should only be a guide, not a command.

There are so many different grapes, and different styles, it could take a lifetime to taste them all. Finding a good local wine store, one with trained staff, is a good short-cut. Tastings are a good way to dip your toe in, but really, in order to learn a wine, you need to sit there with a glass and consider it. Good wine rewards thought.

For someone who prefers white wine, I am a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc, especially from New Zealand, and German Rieslings (I tend toward the dryer “Kabinett” or Trocken, but they have a range from dry to sweet)

On the reds… oh, the choices are so many I’d take up the entire blog with my answers. Pinot Noir, if you want something smooth and sexy and not too heavy. Zinfandel for big mouth-filling spice (Zinfandel is a red grape, yes. ‘white’ Zinfandel is just…wrong!) Tannat or Shiraz, for something that was made to be drunk with red meat…. Okay, there’s a start.

Can we have a peek inside Flesh and Fire?

"For the next two weeks the mustus will wait in these giant vats, stirred twice daily to ensure a flow from top to bottom, forcing the flesh and juice to mingle. That will be your task, to attune yourself to the feel of each vat, to learn its temperament, and what it would be best suited for.” It was a deceptively simple step, for such important results, and a Vineart needed to know every one of them the way he knew his own heartbeat.

Jerzy’s eyes flicked to the vats again, clearly measuring them against his own height, and just as clearly remembering the fate of the slave killed for overturning the vat. Good. It would keep him alert and careful.

“You will use those rakes,” and Malech pointed to the four long instruments racked along the wall behind them. “Twice a day. And yes, there will be more vats added as the rest of the yields are brought in. You’ll wish you were back in the field by the time you’re done.”

The look the boy gave him suggested that he highly doubted that, and Malech almost laughed. He, for one, was thankful to have someone else to pass this chore along to. Not only would it free his time for more advanced work, but his arms would ache considerably less this year. A few weeks of this and Detta’s cooking, and the boy would bulk up to better match his height and stop looking quite so fragile.

“When it is ready, we will transfer it to smaller barrels, and from there the final transformation.” Some of it would be bottled immediately as vin ordinaire, sold to those with coin who desired the intoxication of near-magic, without the risks—or costs—of spellwine. Only then would the final, most important touches be put on each spellwine, refining and finishing each for specific results.

“But that will not be for at least a month, and there is much you must learn in the meantime.”

“More magic?” Jerzy asked hopefully.

Malech laughed, if a trifle ruefully. “Nothing so simple, I fear. You, boy, must be civilized.”

© Laura Anne Gilman, 2009

Also, you can go to the Pocket website and read a larger excerpt…

As you know, Jeanne and I love the Retrievers with their mix of action and romance. Don’t you have a new book coming out this Spring that’s set in that universe?

Ahhh, Bonnie and the PUPs. Yes – when I determined that Wren and Sergei needed to take a bit of a vacation – mainly because I wasn’t sure where they were going to go, next – Bonnie Torres, the paranormal investigator introduced early in the series, piped up and demanded her own story. She’s pushy that way. So I suggested it to my editor, who thought it would be a great idea, and in May we have the first of the Paranormal Scene Investigations books, HARD MAGIC, coming out.

The PUPS are taking modern magic a step further, using it not as an art but a science, in order to investigate crimes that involve the Cosa Nostradamus, the magical/supernatural community. It seems like an idea whose time has come...but not everyone in the Cosa agrees…

Bonnie is very different from Wren – she’s an educated, sassy 20-something with a very strict code – she tells the truth, she doesn’t hurt anyone, and she has a good time, because life’s too short to be miserable. But then she’s recruited to join PUPI (Private, Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations), and she has to grow up in a hurry. But since this is Bonnie, she’s going to do it her way. And God help the criminal who tries to cross these PUPs…

I had a lot of fun working with Bonnie – especially when she finds the one person whom she can’t charm her way around….



Any chance we’ll see Wren and Sergei (the Retrievers, for those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of diving into that world; the cover of Book 1, Staying Dead, is pictured at left) again?

I hope so! I have several proposals on my editor’s desk, so we’ll see what happens…

Have you ever been to a vineyard?

Oh yes. My first visit was in the early 1990’s, in California, but since then I’ve been to vineyards along the East Coast, in Italy, in France… I’m hoping to get to Argentina and Australia as well, someday soon. Grapes take on the characteristics of the soil they’re grown in (terroir, in French) and I find it fascinating to compare soil and taste differences. Plus, vineyards? Are amazingly pretty.


When doing research for FLESH AND FIRE, I spent ten days in Burgundy, walking and riding a bike around the countryside, visiting with winemakers and getting my hands dirty in the vineyards, and looking at a lot of the old – 14th century – equipment they still have on-hand. Fascinating stuff! [At left is one of the photos from that trip, which is, naturally, copyright Laura Anne Gilman, 2008]


What’s your favorite world in a science fiction, fantasy, or paranormal romance series, and why?

Oh… that’s almost impossible for me to answer. A lifetime of reading, and almost two decades editing… I’ve read and loved a lot of books! If you want to know my favorite genre novel, though, it’s Peter Beagle’s A Fine and Private Place. Two ghosts, one raven, one old man, and some of the loveliest, most heartbreaking prose ever. It’s proof that people who say that SF/F is somehow less worthy of respect than “literary fiction” don’t have any idea what they’re talking about.

What about you? Have you ever been to a vineyard? What's your favorite paranormal or fantasy series world? Do you have a favorite wine? If you were going to create a magic system based on a food or beverage, what would it be?

Laura Anne is giving one commenter today a chance to appear as a character in one of her books. this is her explanation:

A Tuckerization, named for the man who first started it as a ‘gift’ to family and friends – I will take the name of the winner and work it into Book 2 of THE VINEART WAR. I’ll also use as much physical description or a personal characteristic as possible, so you can show it to your friends and family and prove the name wasn’t just a fluke.

For more about Laura Anne and her work, visit her website.

Upcoming signings:

October 17 - Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA, 2-4 pm
October 25 - Clayton Books, Clayton, CA, 3-5 pm
October 28 - Haight Street Library, San Francisco, CA, 7-9 pm
November 7 - Barnes & Noble, Ledgewood, NJ, 12:00 - 4 pm