Over at Apex Book Company, they’re releasing some great new books, especially some wonderfully dark fantasy. I’m going to be doing some interviews with a few of the authors there so I hope you’ll take the time to check out their work. ———— 
First up: Sara M. Harvey, author of The Labyrinth of the Dead, which is now available for pre-order! To start, can you tell me a little about yourself. My day job is as an instructor of fashion design and fashion history at the International Academy of Design and Technology. I have a master’s degree in costume history from New York University and I’ve worked for the costume shops of Walt Disney World and the Renaissance Pleasure Faires of California and Wisconsin. I am a native Californian and a huge hockey nut (a loud and proud Nashville Predators fan, also known to root for the San Jose Sharks and occasionally the Pittsburgh Penguins). Here in Nashville, I live in an older neighborhood that is chock-full of delicious ethnic diversity (mmmm authentic tacos for $1 down the street and a wonderful coffee shop on the next block!) with my husband and three dogs: two of which were strays that adopted us from the neighborhood, the other was one we actually went out and got from a shelter. (For anyone who cares: Guinevere the border collie/blue heeler mix, Eowyn the basenji/yellow lab mix, Javert the german shepherd/hound? mix.) I do a lot of writing, reading, cooking, and gardening. Life is good. ^_^
How long have you been writing and how did you get to this point in your career? I started writing about age 10 or 11 and have just been at it since then. I wrote my first complete novel, A Year and a Day, in 2003 and sold it in 2006. Since then there have been a lot of non-fiction costume history textbooks, a few short stories, and the novella trilogy for Apex Book Company. I have a another novel out for consideration right now and one that I am in the middle of. How did I get here? A metric buttload of tenacity and no shortage of charm and luck. Your new novel is called The Labyrinth of the Dead, the second in a series. Tell me what inspired or drove you to write this series? I had this crazy dream, years ago, about these young people in a magical boarding school where a murder has taken place and the ensuing witch-hunt (pun sort-of intended!) puts most of the teachers and some of the students in peril at the hands of a treacherous betrayer, sort of a very dark version of Harry Potter but years before the books existed. I wrote a little snippet of what would become The Convent of the Pure, the first book in the trilogy. The second books came out of the plot that grew way too big for a single 35,000 word novella. I would love to put out a larger volume of the whole trilogy collected into a single book, or even expand each novella into its own full novel. That would be great fun. I have a keen interest in dark and paranormal fantasy. Tell me how you would classify this series and what’s dark about it? Classify? Bah, I can’t hit the broad side of a genre barn! Jason Sizemore, my editor, refers to it as Paranormal Steampunk: there are angels and demons and magic and ghosts and a deep, abiding sense of spirituality. And there is betrayal and true love and life and death and heartbreak. There’s a lot of dark elements in Labyrinth, especially seeing as how it takes place in the underworld and puts the heroine at the mercy of a demon queen and her creepy constructs that do her will, which is to consume souls. So yes: dark, paranormal, fantastical, Steampunk. All of the above. Often there are characters in a book that we just love, but what character of yours would you completely despise if you were to meet them in real life? Why? It’s too easy to say that I’d hate Nigel, the villain in Convent but he’s so oily and cunning that he’d fascinate me more than disgust me. In Labyrinth, I have to say I probably like Lahash, the demon general, the least. He’s just a bastard, plain and simple and not in a cool, curmudgeonly way, and has a tendency to follow the person with the biggest gun rather than have any sense of loyalty or decency. Sometimes we have to be ruthless in writing/editing. We cut scenes, eliminate characters or even kill them off. Tell me what was the hardest of these in this book. The middle of this book got rewritten about three times. The start of it got rewritten about four times. And the end, at least twice. So lots got cut and lots got rearranged. And although it hurt at the time, they made for a really kick-ass book at the end. In terms of killing characters, actually, the body count in the short story we put out to promote Convent, called “A Prelude to Penemue,” had a pretty high body count including a character that was the first piece of fan art ever done for the series. She’s in the story for a few hundred words but she stole everyone’s hearts and her fate really sucked. But fret not, fans, when writing about ghosts and the undead, no one is ever written out of the series for good! This blog is called Random Musings, so give me a random quote from the book – something that you’re particularly fond of. This is Portia talking to Belial, the Demon Queen of the Underworld: "I had no idea who you were until a moment ago. You aren't Lilith, for crying out loud. Your name was never taught to me in Penemue, where we were schooled on all of the important demons and fallen angels. But yet you think so much of yourself." "I have been compared to Satan!" "Really? So have I. Ask my mother." What can we expect from you next? Next? So many things! I have a short story out in the Dark Futures anthology coming this summer from Dark Quest Books and edited by our fearless leader over at Apex, Jason Sizemore. There is also a short story of mine in the Trafficking in Magic anthology out from Drollerie Press also this year, in the autumn. I have a stack of story requests through which I am currently working. Even though I started with short stories as a teenager, I have evolved into a novelist and short work is a real challenge for me, but I never shy away from a challenge so keep your eyes open for more short work from me!
Based on what I read, there seems to be a queer element to this series.
Tell me about that. Well, Portia had been basically hashed out and then when I placed her into the world of the town of Penemue in the first book, I stumbled across the love of her life and it turned out they were both women. I think it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to Portia who had never given love much thought until a certain redhead came into her life. The strength of their love never ceases to surprise and amaze. And, to me, that is the important part, not their genders. Although my very first review called the book “fluffy, lesbian erotica” which still boggles my mind. Ah well, the book has found a lot of traction in all corners of the world and with all sorts of people, which pleases me greatly. Where can we find you on the internet? Blog? Twitter? Web site? Book trailer? I am all over the internet! My website is www.saramharvey.com. I blog both at LiveJournal under the username of Saraphina_Marie and at Charmed and Dangerous. I tweet also under the username of Saraphina_Marie . Labyrinth doesn’t have a book trailer yet, but check out the amazing one made by the one and only Catherynne Valente and featuring the awesome music by Abney Park. Any final comments or thoughts you’d like to convey that you haven’t covered? Buy my books? Oh, and also books with my short stories in them! And lastly, come see me at a convention near you, I love to meet new people! ——— Thank you, Sara, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions. Sounds like you have a lot going on and lots to look forward to. I wish you the best of fortune with it all!
First up: Sara M. Harvey, author of The Labyrinth of the Dead, which is now available for pre-order! To start, can you tell me a little about yourself. My day job is as an instructor of fashion design and fashion history at the International Academy of Design and Technology. I have a master’s degree in costume history from New York University and I’ve worked for the costume shops of Walt Disney World and the Renaissance Pleasure Faires of California and Wisconsin. I am a native Californian and a huge hockey nut (a loud and proud Nashville Predators fan, also known to root for the San Jose Sharks and occasionally the Pittsburgh Penguins). Here in Nashville, I live in an older neighborhood that is chock-full of delicious ethnic diversity (mmmm authentic tacos for $1 down the street and a wonderful coffee shop on the next block!) with my husband and three dogs: two of which were strays that adopted us from the neighborhood, the other was one we actually went out and got from a shelter. (For anyone who cares: Guinevere the border collie/blue heeler mix, Eowyn the basenji/yellow lab mix, Javert the german shepherd/hound? mix.) I do a lot of writing, reading, cooking, and gardening. Life is good. ^_^ How long have you been writing and how did you get to this point in your career? I started writing about age 10 or 11 and have just been at it since then. I wrote my first complete novel, A Year and a Day, in 2003 and sold it in 2006. Since then there have been a lot of non-fiction costume history textbooks, a few short stories, and the novella trilogy for Apex Book Company. I have a another novel out for consideration right now and one that I am in the middle of. How did I get here? A metric buttload of tenacity and no shortage of charm and luck. Your new novel is called The Labyrinth of the Dead, the second in a series. Tell me what inspired or drove you to write this series? I had this crazy dream, years ago, about these young people in a magical boarding school where a murder has taken place and the ensuing witch-hunt (pun sort-of intended!) puts most of the teachers and some of the students in peril at the hands of a treacherous betrayer, sort of a very dark version of Harry Potter but years before the books existed. I wrote a little snippet of what would become The Convent of the Pure, the first book in the trilogy. The second books came out of the plot that grew way too big for a single 35,000 word novella. I would love to put out a larger volume of the whole trilogy collected into a single book, or even expand each novella into its own full novel. That would be great fun. I have a keen interest in dark and paranormal fantasy. Tell me how you would classify this series and what’s dark about it? Classify? Bah, I can’t hit the broad side of a genre barn! Jason Sizemore, my editor, refers to it as Paranormal Steampunk: there are angels and demons and magic and ghosts and a deep, abiding sense of spirituality. And there is betrayal and true love and life and death and heartbreak. There’s a lot of dark elements in Labyrinth, especially seeing as how it takes place in the underworld and puts the heroine at the mercy of a demon queen and her creepy constructs that do her will, which is to consume souls. So yes: dark, paranormal, fantastical, Steampunk. All of the above. Often there are characters in a book that we just love, but what character of yours would you completely despise if you were to meet them in real life? Why? It’s too easy to say that I’d hate Nigel, the villain in Convent but he’s so oily and cunning that he’d fascinate me more than disgust me. In Labyrinth, I have to say I probably like Lahash, the demon general, the least. He’s just a bastard, plain and simple and not in a cool, curmudgeonly way, and has a tendency to follow the person with the biggest gun rather than have any sense of loyalty or decency. Sometimes we have to be ruthless in writing/editing. We cut scenes, eliminate characters or even kill them off. Tell me what was the hardest of these in this book. The middle of this book got rewritten about three times. The start of it got rewritten about four times. And the end, at least twice. So lots got cut and lots got rearranged. And although it hurt at the time, they made for a really kick-ass book at the end. In terms of killing characters, actually, the body count in the short story we put out to promote Convent, called “A Prelude to Penemue,” had a pretty high body count including a character that was the first piece of fan art ever done for the series. She’s in the story for a few hundred words but she stole everyone’s hearts and her fate really sucked. But fret not, fans, when writing about ghosts and the undead, no one is ever written out of the series for good! This blog is called Random Musings, so give me a random quote from the book – something that you’re particularly fond of. This is Portia talking to Belial, the Demon Queen of the Underworld: "I had no idea who you were until a moment ago. You aren't Lilith, for crying out loud. Your name was never taught to me in Penemue, where we were schooled on all of the important demons and fallen angels. But yet you think so much of yourself." "I have been compared to Satan!" "Really? So have I. Ask my mother." What can we expect from you next? Next? So many things! I have a short story out in the Dark Futures anthology coming this summer from Dark Quest Books and edited by our fearless leader over at Apex, Jason Sizemore. There is also a short story of mine in the Trafficking in Magic anthology out from Drollerie Press also this year, in the autumn. I have a stack of story requests through which I am currently working. Even though I started with short stories as a teenager, I have evolved into a novelist and short work is a real challenge for me, but I never shy away from a challenge so keep your eyes open for more short work from me!
Based on what I read, there seems to be a queer element to this series.Tell me about that. Well, Portia had been basically hashed out and then when I placed her into the world of the town of Penemue in the first book, I stumbled across the love of her life and it turned out they were both women. I think it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to Portia who had never given love much thought until a certain redhead came into her life. The strength of their love never ceases to surprise and amaze. And, to me, that is the important part, not their genders. Although my very first review called the book “fluffy, lesbian erotica” which still boggles my mind. Ah well, the book has found a lot of traction in all corners of the world and with all sorts of people, which pleases me greatly. Where can we find you on the internet? Blog? Twitter? Web site? Book trailer? I am all over the internet! My website is www.saramharvey.com. I blog both at LiveJournal under the username of Saraphina_Marie and at Charmed and Dangerous. I tweet also under the username of Saraphina_Marie . Labyrinth doesn’t have a book trailer yet, but check out the amazing one made by the one and only Catherynne Valente and featuring the awesome music by Abney Park. Any final comments or thoughts you’d like to convey that you haven’t covered? Buy my books? Oh, and also books with my short stories in them! And lastly, come see me at a convention near you, I love to meet new people! ——— Thank you, Sara, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions. Sounds like you have a lot going on and lots to look forward to. I wish you the best of fortune with it all!
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