What does Steampunk mean to you?
Wow, that’s a tough question. Steampunk has always been a fantastical blend of history and science to me.
What is your favorite thing about steampunk or writing about steampunk?
I love that there is an old world sensibility mixed with a punk rock attitude.
What is your favorite steampunk accessory?
Definitely a walking stick. Everyone in my books has one. I also love pocket watches and top hats. My had one made for my daughter for Christmas last year. She loves it.
What turned you on to steampunk
Probably seeing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Captain Nemo. I loved Nemo and his ship. I pay homage to him in Prophecy, and to the LEG.
Do you have any upcoming Steampunk stories you can tell us about?
Book two in my League of Illusion, called Prophecy will be out March 4th. Here is the blurb: London, 1851
With his brother Sebastian missing, illusionist Rhys Davenport is running out of time and leads. He knows only that Sebastian disappeared into Stonehenge and that an incomplete map is the key to finding him. And that the missing piece is in the possession of the unnervingly attractive psychic Corina Stratton.
Corina has no intention of giving her part of the map to the haughty Rhys Davenport. In fact, she needs to steal his half so she can heal her mother’s malevolent spirit. She heads to London, only to be chased by a revengeful sorcerer right into Rhys’s arms. Although touched by Rhys’s plight, she agrees to go on his crazy quest only to get an opportunity to take what she came for.
With an airship full of fanatic elves after them, Rhys and Corina are forced into close quarters as they search for a portal. But to open it in time to find Sebastian, they must reconcile their differences and their growing feelings, or he’ll be lost to them forever…
What’s the hardest thing about creating a Steampunk universe?
The hardest thing is making the technology plausible. Making it balance with the historical setting of the world.
What’s the easiest thing about creating a Steampunk universe?
Having fun with it.
What does steampunk allow you to do as a writer that no other genres can?
Allows me to reinvent history. Which is so much fun. To pepper a strange new world with well known figures in history. So cool.
What are the challenges and advantages to writing a steampunk story?
Challenges are a plenty because there are so many steampunk variations and the fans are avid and particular. So getting that right blend of history and technology, was important. I didn’t want to overshadow the paranormal elements in my story with the tech. But I still needed to have cool gadgets that made sense.
How much research does it take and how much imagination.
So much research needs to be done. No matter what time period a person sets their story in, you have to know about that history, the customs, the historical events, the way people dressed, ate, did, etc, before you can start messing around with it and changing it. You have to know the rules before you can break them.
