Gender-bending for the love of science in Catherine Haustein's NATURAL ATTRACTION

My guest today is Catherine Haustein, author of Natural Attraction, a science-based historical romance. She shares her book's complex background.

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Science, Sexuality, and Classification

by Catherine Haustein

I’ve been a chemist for over thirty years and it’s a stimulating and often amusing career—in other words, good novel material. Like Clementine in Natural Attraction, I’ve frequently imagined that things would have gone more smoothly had I been a man. Setting Natural Attraction in a time of strict gender roles illustrates how far we’ve come and what still needs to be done.

I chose to place Natural Attraction in 1871 because it was a time of great social change. The theory of evolution and the discovery of sperm and egg cells were quietly ushering in ideas of social equality. Science was a train riding the rails of certainty and classification. And in the hometown of my ancestors, Singapore, Michigan, USA, ecological disaster was brewing. These coalesce in Natural Attraction.

Picking the best genre for the story was a challenge. I decided to write it as romance, not sci-fi. My family was involved in a Shakespeare Festival for a while and I appreciated the complexity of the comedies and the required happy ending, fitting with a romance. Science is filled with passion, curiosity, and the unknown just like romance and the two are very compatible. I also thought it would be fun to give a scientist a romantic liaison with a preacher to let them explore what they had in common.

Another challenge was giving Natural Attraction a Victorian feel without being weighed down by flowery language. I had Clementine be from a family of recent immigrants from the Netherlands, as my ancestors were. I had some characters use Victorian idiomatic expressions. I enjoyed incorporating a Victorian melodrama and theater into the manuscript and included patent medicines and the use of poisonous dyes in clothing as important Victorian touches.

One aspect I wrestled with was how to address sexuality and the transformation of Clementine into a man. I work in a male dominated field and had an inkling of the isolation she might feel as a woman who didn’t really fit in anywhere. I had help from men, particularly those at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, who offered suggestions on what it takes to be a man and the privilege and culpability that come with masculinity. This book is a romance pitched towards women but the comic look at gender roles should appeal to everyone who’s ever felt stuck in them.

Blurb: Clementine dreams of being a naturalist—a career that leaves no time for romance. To sneak on an adventurous prospecting expedition, Clementine will have to convince everyone she’s a man. A mysterious tonic offers her just that disguise.
But “Calvin,” as she calls herself now, had no idea what she was giving up. When Wesley, the expedition’s gentle preacher, catches her eye, she can’t get him out of her head; not his lush lips, wide brown eyes…or broad chest. Dare she reveal her secret to him? Can she keep her career if she does?

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Natural Attraction is available from Penner Publishing, Lybrary, and other major booksellers.

Find the author at catherinehaustein.com and on Facebook

Sandra Barret on BLOOD OF A TRAITOR and developing culture in #SciFi

My guest today is Sandra Barret, whose latest work is Blood of a Traitor, Book 2 in her Terran-Novan Universe series. Here Sandra discusses a very difficult question: how the concept of culture might be used in futuristic sci-fi.

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How Writing The Other Taught Me "You know nothing, Jon Snow"

by Sandra Barret

Okay, I'm mixing my metaphors (and my genres here), but that Game of Thrones expression so perfectly matches my reality after trying to write about someone from a culture different from my own.  My latest science fiction novel, Blood of a Traitor, has two main characters.  Kay is short, sarcastic, and a little too much like me (or my inner me anyway). And then there's Ayaan - tall, African, and Muslim (or a version of Muslim I extrapolated from current liberal Muslim trends).

I did my research like a good little writer. I got books, I hunted blogs. I created a character that I felt was well rounded and represented someone who isn't common in our stories.  After sitting through the Arisia convention's panel on Writing for The Other, I realized I fell short of the mark.

I did focus on one item that was critical to Ayaan.  She chose to follow her religion when family and the military frowned on it. It was core to who she was, and that I think I represented well.  Where it weakened was in the supporting cast of characters.

Now before I continue to bash my own book, I think the story and characters are great (call me biased).  But for my own goal and what I set out when I created this book? Yeah, didn't quite make it.  I fell into a few common holes. The biggest one, I like to call "Why Aren't There Kenyans on Pluto" (referencing comments from that Arisia panel).  The mistake I made was to assume that some far flung future, complete with human genome enhancements and galactic space travel, would automatically strip away major cultural differences.  My story cultures are different, but on a planetary scope. Within the planet, each is homogenous. 

One recommendation from the panel was to evaluate the Jewish culture, as something that has spanned millennia, experienced wide scale Diaspora, and yet both retained and shed aspects of what was core thousands of years before.  And then recognize the differences within that culture. It too is not monolithic. People mingle with other cultures, adopting parts here and there.

So for my next book in the series, I hope to be less like Jon Snow....and maybe I'll put Kenyans on Pluto? Side by side with Canadians, Brazilians, and an alien or two. Or Brazilian aliens, or Kenyans who integrated cultural aspects of those aliens.  They may self-identify as Plutonians to outsiders, but amongst themselves, don't strip away their heritage. Keep it, enhance it, and let the characters be real.

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Learn more about Sandra Barret on her website.

You can purchase Blood of a Traitor on Amazon as print or e-book.

Barbara Burgess talks YA, Fantasy, and Medieval Lit

Please welcome my guest, Barbara Burgess. She shares with me an educational background in the Middle Ages, although she went the more fantastical route for her new YA novel, The Magic Manuscript: The Nine Companions (second in the Magic Manuscript series), which places contemporary teens into the legendary period of King Arthur. Barbara discusses the inspiration for her series. 

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Thanks so much, Anne, for having me as a guest on your blog. 

Today, I’d like to talk about the roles that the key female protagonists play in my latest YA fantasy novel. I thought to open with this quote from sixteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai’s inspiring words at the United Nations the other day.  Her words about helping young women around the world realize their own strength and potential deeply resonated with me. “We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave – to embrace the strength within themselves and realise their full potential.”

I specialized in medieval English literature at McGill University. My thesis advisor had been tutored by C. S. Lewis at Oxford University and introduced me to “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and other Arthurian legends. Years later, I decided to write my own version of the timeless Arthurian legend. My YA fantasy novel, The Magic Manuscript: Book One – Voyage to Eve Ilion, was first published by Piraeus Books in 2011. Two teens, Jennifer and Arthur, are thrown back in time after Jen finds a medieval magic manuscript in a cave in England. They meet the wizard Merlin in England around the year 500 AD. In my latest novel, however, The Magic Manuscript: The Nine Companions, I decided that Merlin should reappear in the twenty-first century as a beautiful Welsh woman in her mid-twenties—Bronwen—who has a key position at the UN. She becomes a mentor and guide to Jennifer Gael, the main heroine in the story. I wanted to present to teenage girls—and all readers—the ideal of a strong and influential female leader. When Jennifer, Lance and Arthur first meet her, Bronwen tells them:

“I’m the daughter of a prominent politician. My mother was a minister in the government. I grew up meeting cabinet ministers at the dinner table—a kind of modern-day court. At university, people became interested in my poetry and ideas, and I found myself in the public arena, championing idealistic causes. The UN has commissioned me to write a manifesto of peace … I need you three to stand as warriors against darkness. Jennifer, this is the age where women can be powerful leaders. That’s that why I returned as a woman, this time around.”

The theme of free-spirited young women reclaiming their right to independence certainly runs through this second book (which can be read without having read the first book). Jennifer and her boyfriend Arthur time travel again; this time, they land in the desert of ancient Sumeria in the year 3200 BC. The two youths are kidnapped by Faizi, a tyrannical leader. He tries to push Jennifer into an arranged marriage. They must escape Faizi, and as they flee through the desert, they are aided by other young companions who also want a life of freedom from oppression and tyranny. Throughout their journey, we sense the hidden, mysterious and beneficent power of Lady Eve. She is the goddess whom Jennifer met in her earlier time travels (described in book one) and who helped Jennifer develop her intuition, ability to understand all languages, and unfold hidden potentials and superpowers, such as the abilities to fly and prophesy.

The cover of The Magic Manuscript: The Nine Companions was done by artist David Russell, who has worked as a storyboard artist on movies such as “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” to name but a few. I was honoured and delighted that he created such a splendid cover for The Nine Companions, in which he depicted Lady Eve, goddess of the island of Eve Ilion. Russell portrayed her just as I envisioned—a powerful young woman with great strength, determination, beauty, and grace.

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You can read more about Barbara Burgess and the making of The Magic Manuscript: The Nine Companions at her website. 

The Magic Manuscript: The Nine Companions can be purchased directly from the publisher, and on Amazon.

Meet Lady Margaret from kids' historical novel, TROUBLE AT THE SCRIPTORIUM

My middle-grade medieval mystery novel, Trouble at the Scriptorium was published in 2012.  For those of you who haven't read it yet, I thought it would be fun to introduce you to one of its main characters. 

Trouble at the Scriptorium takes place in a rural castle in England in the early 13th century, and focuses on Harley, a twelve-year-old servant at the castle. Harley discovers a number of odd things going on in the Shire of Hertford, and he enlists the help of the beautiful Lady Margaret, also twelve, to put all the pieces together.

Lady Margaret was kind enough to share some thoughts about her life and adventures:

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My name is Lady Margaret. I am the only child of Sir William of Castle Berkhamsted, just north of the City of London. My father, in turn, serves the great Lord Edmund of the Shire of Hertfordshire. Lord Edmund, in turn, is bound in service to Henry III, King of England.

Did you get all of that?

My mother’s name is Lady Ursula, and her name day celebration is in one week. That’s the special feast day for St. Ursula, whom my mother was named after. It should be a joyous occasion. In fact, the entire village of Berkhamsted is preparing to eat, drink, and dance in my mother’s honor.

But two awful things happened today that could ruin her name day.

First, she got word from my grandpa, Count Heinrich of the Rhine, saying that the family gems, her inheritance, have been stolen. Everyone thinks they were taken by the notorious thief, Hermann the Bald. But no one even knows if he’s still in Europe.

And then our servant boy, Harley, brought told me even more bad news, a secret we hope to keep from my mother: There’s a beautiful book of Gregorian chant Father hired a scriptorium to make as a name-day gift for Mother. However, Harley’s seen it already (his uncle is a monk), and he says one of the paintings it’s supposed to include is missing, and some of the musical notes are written wrong. Oh, my poor mother will be heartbroken if we can’t get this fixed in time!

Here’s something even more odd and disturbing: Harley thinks the missing jewels and the incorrect chant book are connected. He’s convinced the book’s errors are some kind of code. And he visited the scriptorium where the book was made, and says the monks who work there are acting suspiciously.

Still, Harley’s just a servant boy, so what would he really know about things like this? He’s promised to show me a page he cut from the book, which is wise choice, since I’m very good with puzzles. My tutor, Professor Al-Zarkali, may be able to advise us, as well.

Somehow, we’ll figure out this mystery!

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Trouble at the Scriptorium is available as a print book directly from the publisher: http://www.rfwp.com/browse/novels

Novelist Carol Hedges on YA Heroines

Creating an effective main character is a complicated process, and writing a female protagonist in YA is particularly delicate work. British novelist Carol Hedges joins us today to discuss this challenge.  

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"I like the idea of being strong. I've grown up with the concept. It's in my bones and my blood. Strong people survive. They don't go under."

            So speaks 18 year old Annie, the heroine of my new ebook Jigsaw Pieces. My genre is YA Crime Fiction, and for me, there are two ingredients that go to make up a successful book in this genre. The first, clearly, is a crime of some sort. In Jigsaw Pieces, set in 1998 it is the mysterious death of one of Annie's fellow students. In my 'Spy Girl' series, crimes vary from selling drugs to teenagers (Once Upon a Crime) to stealing a priceless holy relic (Dead Man Talking).

            The second ingredient is a strong female protagonist. Annie Skaerdstadt, Jazmin Dawson. So what makes a strong character? Well, it's not enough just to tell readers they are strong. Strong characters have to demonstrate their strength, usually by being pitted against challenging events, or other characters. Annie is taken from her birthplace, Norway, and dumped in an English school, where she has to develop a carapace to survive the daily bullying. Jazmin is up against an adult world that does not want her meddling and playing detective, and is prepared to take drastic and dangerous steps to keep her out. Through both girls' determination and actions, we learn how strong characters function and survive in difficult situations.

            But strength can also be shown in softness: Annie has a compassionate side, shown when she bonds with the mute World War 1 veteran Billy Donne, whom she meets in a nursing home. Jazmin is intensely loyal to her friend Zeb Stone, even when he fancies another girl. Strong characters also must have failings and flaws, an inner fault line that makes us warm to them. Maybe because they are a little like us?

             At the end of Jigsaw Pieces, Annie discovers that there is still a vital piece of the Jigsaw missing from her life. In the Spy Girl books, Jazmin is faced with the reality that she is not cut from adult cloth - yet.

            And here we see the final ingredient of a strong character - there must alway be a sense that there is more to be grasped, new and different conflicts to be overcome. For a strong character, the journey is never complete; there is another story waiting to be told.

            I love writing strong female characters like Annie and Jazmin because they are so multifaceted and complex. They challenge me and push me to my limits. I hope they do the same for my readers as well.

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You can learn more about Carol on her blog, or follow her on Twitter @carolJhedges

You can buy Jigsaw Pieces as an ebook on Amazon or Amazon UK.