Today, I have the pleasure of hosting a Q&A with guest author, Mary Anne Mohanraj. Mary Anne is the author of Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins) and nine other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards, a USA Today Notable Book, and has been translated into six languages. She founded the World Fantasy Award-winning and Hugo-nominated magazine, Strange Horizons. She was Guest of Honor at WisCon 2010, received a Breaking Barriers Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women for her work in Asian American arts organizing, and won an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship. Mohanraj has taught at the Clarion SF/F workshop, and is now Clinical Assistant Professor of fiction and literature and Associate Director of Asian and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
She also serves as Executive Director of both DesiLit and the Speculative Literature Foundation. Recent publications include "Talking to Elephants" (Abyss & Apex) and "Jump Space" (Thought Experiments). She lives in a creaky old Victorian in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, with her partner, Kevin, two small children, and a sweet dog.
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| Mary Anne Mohanraj |
Can you explain what Kickstarter is? Why did you choose this as a platform for your newest project?
Kickstarter is a type of crowdfunding -- the idea is that you put your project out there, with a funding goal of a certain dollar amount (whatever you think you need to make the project happen), and then you see if enough people care enough to pledge money towards supporting the project.
What is your goal with this project?
I'm working on a new book, an erotic science fiction novel-in-stories.
That's sort of a niche genre, which makes it tricky to approach traditional publishers. So I thought I'd try crowdfunding and see if I could find the audience that would be excited about this book.
The way you have described your newest project, makes me think of the serials that were once so popular in literary history. How will using this type of format affect how you develop and write Demimonde, your newest novel?
Demimonde is sort of like a serial, in the sense that each story will hopefully whet your appetite for what comes next, and also that each new story adds to the overall world. But it's also different -- the serials often ended on a cliffhanger, to entice you to keep reading, and while I'm planning to have some mysteries running through the book, I also want each individual story to stand and work on its own. Each story will have a real ending. It's the same model I used in my last book, which was a mainstream immigrant novel-in-stories, published by HarperCollins, titled Bodies in Motion. It got some pretty glowing reviews, and people seemed to really enjoy the unusual format, so I'm hoping that'll continue with the new book.
Can you give us a synopsis of the new novel, Demimonde?
Hmm...not really! In part because I'm still writing it, and in part because synopses tend to drain the life out of the book, I think. I can tell you the premise and setting, though! We're at the University of All Worlds, on a planet settled by South Asian Earth immigrants many generations ago. The universe is full of life -- humans, genetically modified humans, humanoid aliens and some really weird folks. All of that life has been rubbing up against each other, and some serious tensions have developed -- in fact, at the start of the book, interstellar war has just broken out. People are panicking, taking to their beds, dragging the covers up over their heads -- and then, well, some of them get busy. That's the fun part. There's a lot of sexy bits, but also the whole gamut of human emotions -- love, anger, pain, terror. It's not your typical erotica book.
You are returning to the world you created in a previous story, "Jump Space." The four characters from the previous story were very intriguing. I was especially curious to learn more of the back story of Cho. Will you be bringing any of the four back in this new project?
I won't swear to it -- but I think so. I'm actually working separately on a novel that picks up from the end of "Jump Space," in which you learn a lot about Cho's backstory -- how he and his siblings came to be genetically-engineered sex slaves. I'm going to have to see as the project evolves how much of Cho and the other "Jump Space" characters end up in the book!
World building takes a lot of effort and imagination. What are the challenges in doing this in an erotic novel that might be noticeably different from a mainstream science fiction novel?
Well, you have to think a lot about alien sex. :-) Which is challenging, but also fun. The other challenge isn't so much a world-building one, exactly -- it's a question of story arc. Often, erotica centers on the sexual activity. That's hard to sustain for a novel-length work, and particularly hard when you also have a science fiction plot going on
Why do you think that science fiction and erotica are such compatible genres?
So far, I'm three stories in, and I think the genres are balancing pretty well, but it definitely takes some hard thinking! It's funny -- the first story I published was actually fantasy + erotica, "Fleeing Gods," a piece I wrote for Cecilia Tan at Circlet Press, for her Sex Magick II anthology. It's strange to be coming back to this blending after twenty years away -- but I think when it's done write, it can be a lot of fun. Circlet Press specializes in erotic science fiction and fantasy, so if you're interested in that genre, they have the books you're looking for!
You offer as one of your backing incentives the opportunity for a backer to be featured in a story. This is very interactive relationship with the reader. How challenging is it to produce a novel under such strictures? What are the benefits versus the downsides to this?
It's actually just the backer's name, thankfully -- that makes it easier. :-) If I had to actually incorporate a real person, trying to represent them as they really were, that would be a much harder task!
Incorporating a name isn't too bad, as long as your name isn't *too* strange. And with science fiction, I have a lot of leeway in what counts as too strange.
Demimonde, according to your post, will take a year to write. You have set some very challenging deadlines, producing at least a story or two per month for the project. Do you find the deadlines are a pro or a con?
I write pretty fast -- I once wrote a 60,000 word book in a month, when the publisher had a very tight deadline. (The Classics Professor, a choose-your-own-adventure erotic novel). I'm actually expecting I'll finish the book in much less than a year, but I wanted to be sure to give myself enough leeway so I could easily make the deadline. Having the deadline does mean that if the project gets funded, I'll prioritize working on Demimonde over other more speculative book projects.
Why do you think the Sci-fi/erotic genre is such a hot trend right now?
Is it? I'm clearly out of the loop! But lucky for me, huh?
How do you think the future of the erotic genre has changed with the increasing numbers of female authors? Do you think it be reflected in other erotic entertainment and art forms?
Hmm....that's interesting -- when I was writing erotica twenty years ago, it was already somewhat more women than men writing it. I'm not sure I see much difference, honestly, in their writing. I can't tell the gender of the author based on what they've written.
Why do you think that women gravitate to erotic literature over other forms of erotic entertainment?
Again, I'm not sure they do. Back when I was running Clean Sheets, we did a survey to ask what our readers were consuming. And we found that men and women pretty equally enjoyed literature and artwork, which did surprise us, since the myth is that women don't like to look at naughty pictures. But apparently we do. :-)
Just for fun- what are the biggest influences on your writing (both literary and erotic)?
Erotic is easy -- Cecilia Tan (check out Telepaths Don't Need Safewords), Anais Nin, and Pat Califia (Macho Sluts, a seminal work in the field). Literary is much harder. Some of the F/SF authors I love include Lois McMaster Bujold (fabulous dialogue and characterization), Guy Gavriel Kay (romantic language and passionate interactions in fantasy worlds). I read their books over and over.
And in mainstream, one thing I like is authors who take on really difficult sexual topics with heart and style -- Nabokov (Lolita), Keri Hulme (the bone people), and Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina and Skin: Talking about Sex, Class, and Literature).
Look for of Mary Anne's work via her blog. To support Mary Anne's latest venture go to her page on Kickstarter . Thank you Mary Anne for the wonderful interview! Let's do it again soon.
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