We welcome today one cool cat – Caitlin Kittredge. Under her belt (besides a morbid imagination) are several popular dark and urban fantasy series, including Nocturne City, Black London, Icarus Project, and The Iron Codex.
She is also the proud owner of an English degree, two cats, a taste for black clothing, punk rock, and comic books. She’s lucky enough to write full time and watches far too many trashy horror movies.
And, apparently, she’s also a fan of rewarding her fans with generous giveaways. Check out our Giveaways & Contests page for ways to win the entire set of Black London novels in one fell swoop. Seriously, how awesome is that?
So, without further ado…
CQ: The fourth addition to your acclaimed Black London series, Devil’s Business, is hitting the shelves (and the e-readers) in August. Can you tell us a bit about it?
CK: Sure! In Devil’s Business, Jack and Pete aren’t exactly welcomed back to London with open arms, so they take off for Los Angeles to help out a friend with a spree killer cold case. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when Jack realizes that a pack of fugitives from Hell are aiming to turn LA into their own personal demonic playground, and he’s the only one with a prayer of stopping them.
CQ: With the story this time around focusing on LA, how big a deal was the change in venue? For that matter, how was writing Devil’s Business different from the prior three books in the Black London series? Was there any additional research you had to delve into this time around, unique to this book?
CK: I went out to LA and spent about a week there, looking into esoteric locations and just soaking up the atmosphere. I was lucky enough to stay in Bel Air, but I went all over–Venice, Santa Monica, Hollywood. (If you have a strong stomach, I highly recommend the Museum of Death–weirdest and coolest place I’ve ever been.) Writing English characters suddenly dumped in a very, very American city was fun…LA is pretty weird by anyone’s standards, so planting Jack and Pete there was a fun writing experience. I got to take them out of their comfort zones and make them deal with the paranormal side of “Hollyweird”.
CQ: You tap into many different myths and legends in your writing. What is your favorite mythological story or legend that you have integrated into your work? What about one that you wish to use someday?
CK: The Black London books are very much based around Irish mythology, the legends of
Cuchulainn and the
Morrigan in particular. However, I pull from many different sources for the various magical sects and monsters in the series. I’d really love to write a book using Russian folklore someday–
Baba Yaga, the
Rusalka,
Koschei the Deathless… I think that the world of mythology is so vast, one writer could never hope to use it all. Above all, I’m fascinated with trickster legends, from
Loki to
Coyote to
Tam Lin to
Anansi. Jack is definitely a trickster avatar, if you read the series, whereas Pete is supposed to be on the side of balance, of humanity–she’s the girl caught in the trickster’s web, but if you read those old stories, the girl often ends up tricking the trickster…
CQ: You started writing at thirteen, and have clearly come a long way since. How has your writing changed? Was it all positive, or are there some things you miss about your younger writing self?
CK: I used to just write down whatever I wanted, unselfconsciously. Now, I tend to evaluate each idea a lot more thoroughly before I put effort into it. I can’t say I really miss anything–I’ve learned a lot about process and how to make the drafting of a novel go a lot smoother. I doubt myself less. I’m glad I’ve evolved.
CQ: In addition to the dark urban fantasy of Black London, your debut YA novel The Iron Thorn, for example, features a rich historical Steampunk universe. You treat readers to richly detailed clockwork, inventive machinery, foggy mists, fearsome ghouls and a creative reinterpretation of the 1950′s era. What is it about Steampunk that draws you in, and how do you go about constructing such an intricate world?
CK: I really love the aesthetics of steampunk, but I find a lot of steampunk fiction is thematically empty–way more concerned with gadgets than with characters. I wanted to combine my two loves–mythos and steampunk aesthetic, and from there the whole world grew pretty organically. Once I asked “How can fairies, Lovecraftian gods and magical abilities exist side-by-side with a totally technology and science-driven society?” everything opened up to me. I’m also a huge history buff, mostly WWII and the post-war era, and incorporating an alternate version of McCarthyism gave me a bleak, dystopian world for my heroine Aoife to inhabit–but with another, far more dangerous but far more wondrous world lurking just beneath the surface, in the form of forbidden magic and mythical creatures.
CQ: You describe yourself as a “skeptical believer in the Something Else”. What do you mean by that? How is this reflected in your writing?
CK: I’m not a face-value sort of person about anything. So I’m willing to believe that there’s parts of the universe we don’t yet comprehend, but I’m also not going to blindly follow a higher power. We may not understand phenomena yet, but it doesn’t mean there’s no explanation. Arthur C. Clarke said some variation on “Magic is just science humans don’t yet understand” and that’s a principle I believe in.
CQ: You seem to have a soft spot for alternate history. If you could pick any alternate reality or historical period to live in, what would it be?
CK: I’d probably stick to the present–a lot of alternate histories out there are bleak. I mean, the granddaddy of alt. hist,
Man in the High Castle, involves the Nazis in power. Other, lighter novels such as
Gail Carriger’s steampunk novels, still take place in an era that was supremely unfriendly to women, and I like wearing pants and being allowed to marry who I want.
CQ: Has the digital revolution in publishing changed the way you approach your writing? What do you do differently now that digital mediums are so much more accessible? Are there any challenges you are running into?
CK: My publisher puts out all my digital editions, so I haven’t had to worry about it yet. I’ve played with the idea of putting out some stuff electronically, but right now I don’t have the time. I like ebooks AND print books, and I think most readers will find a happy medium that suits them. None of this “death of print” nonsense, NOR “ebooks are a passing fad”. MP3s didn’t destroy the music industry, it just forced it to adapt. And I think that adaptation will happen, and is happening. Where the negativity lies is in the reactions of readers and authors, not the change itself. I love technology, I embrace it, and I also believe the experience of a paper book is MUCH different than a CD. Mass-produced physical books have existed since the 1500ds for a reason, and I don’t think they’re going anywhere. I have an ereader, and I also have about 300 books on my TBR shelf. I don’t feel like I have to pick a side and neither should any other reader or author. Print and E are both good to me, and for me, and for the industry.
CQ: You’ve had a prolific fan-fiction phase in your literary life. How do you feel about readers writing fan-fiction about your own books this time around? Do you ever wish you could hunker down with your favorite fandom and get to it again?
CK: I can’t officially endorse or read fan fiction, but I CAN say I think it’s a high mark on the source material if it inspires people to fan fiction, I love and support fandom communities for my work, and I am so, so happy if my books move people to be creative. So, fanfic writers, make of that what you will.
CQ: Any parting words or advice you’d like to express to your readers and fellow writers?
CK: Readers make all of this possible, and I love mine unreservedly. I feel blessed to be part of an industry populated with so many creative, smart, amazing people. I feel lucky. I AM lucky. Thanks to all of my readers and fellow authors for that.
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