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truepennyQ: Is there any print in Melusine? I don't remember any point where you stated explicitly that a book was/wasn't a printed one. Judging by the overall renaissance/baroque atmosphere, the fact that literacy is common enough for Mildmay to be ashamed of his own illiteracy, as well as by the mention of a romance Mehitabel is reading in bed, I'd guess that printed books exist, but on the other hand, Gideon and Hugo Chandler use tablets and paper does not seem to be widely available.
A: No, we definitely have the printing press. But I think Mélusine itself may be lagging behind the more technologically advanced countries to either side. Books seem to be imported rather than printed in the city, and paper is available but expensive: a luxury. (Gideon won't let Felix buy paper for him, even though Felix has offered; Gideon says it's wasteful to use paper for ephemera. Hence the wax tablet. And Felix figured out pretty quick that he could buy as many books for Gideon as he wanted. Everybody's principles have a weak spot. *g* )
Q: Birth control. Yes, I know this is a rather banal question, but it really nags at me: most women (or men) during the European historical periods roughly correspondent to Medusa's civilisation did not have completely safe or reliable means of birth control or abortion. Yet Mehitabel never even mentions any worries about the problems a pregnancy would pose for a rising actress (or Stephen's mistress, for that matter) and Mildmay, who is usually so preoccupied by the effects his actions might have on others, never considers that Ginevra or Mehitabel might end up pregnant. I presume that you basically skipped that because an explanation would be clunky and/or potentially irritating to readers, but I do keep wondering... and the story of Amaryllis Cordelia also changes significantly (well, for me) if her pregnancy was not, ah, planned beforehand.
A: Birth control and STDs are things that I frankly handwaved past. (Because if this world had syphilis, Felix would be dead, that's why.) Which is not a choice I would make now, but--as I keep saying--a lot of the choices about the world-building and the particular kind of story being told were made when I was in my very early twenties. I didn't want to deal with that particular set of realities, so I just skipped that bit.
On the other hand, I can assure you that Amaryllis Cordelia planned that pregnancy like a war. And like a war, first contact with the enemy destroyed her plan.
Q: Brinvillier Strych's name – I take it that the first name is connected to the French poisoner, but Strych? And just how is it pronounced?
A: Strych is from strychnine--no, there's nothing subtle about this name at all. I tend to pronounce it with a short /i/ and /ch/ as in "church," rather than /k/. Brinvillier, btw, is pronounced as if it were an English word: /brin-VIL-i-er/ instead of the proper French pronounciation of Mme. de Brinvilliers.
Q: You mentioned in a previous Q&A session that you knew a lot more about the Wizard's Coup than ever got included in the books. Care to give us a history lesson?
A: I should more accurately have said I used to know more about the Wizards' Coup than got included in the books. I'm not sure how much of it I can dredge up.
So. The Wizards' Coup was a response to the increasing corruption of the Cordelian court and particularly to the power held by blood-wizards and necromancers. There were seven wizards--the Cabal--and their annemer ally Michael Teverius. There was a very bloody purge on 17 Bucat 2101/21 Thermidor 16.5.1, in which Michael hacked to bits his cousin John Cordelius and his cousin's wife and killed their infant son Daniel along with the rest of the dynastic line of the Cordelii, and presumably a great many blood-wizards and necromancers died, although I don't know any specifics. The Cabal made the Virtu and persuaded the remaining wizards of the Mirador to enter into their covenant. All seven members of the Cabal died young. Their names (according to some very old notes) were Harriet Goronwy, Mariam Lester, Edgar Malanius, Leopold Novadius, Mordecai Sixtus, Theodoric Skinner, and Amphelisia Toralia. (These are terrible names and should not be taken as canon, except for Mariam Lester. Mariam also wrote a seminal treatise on some aspect of magic--I can't remember what it was--which she finished literally on her deathbed.)
Q: One of the things that I really like about all your main characters (Felix, Mildmay, Kay, even Mehitabel) is that their interesting attributes (all those things that might make them fall into Mary Sue territory -- striking coloring, talents, trauma, special skills, etc.) are as much disadvantages as much as they are advantages (sometimes simultaneously). Was this a deliberate invocation of dramatic consequences? (Thank you for that articulation of the distinction between drama and melodrama, by the way!)
A: Pretty much. I mean, the articulation came later, but the fundamental principle was there.
Q: Does Corbie succeed in making the Institution give/allow her to get the education she wants?
A: I don't know. But Corbie's stubborn as a mule and she's got Hutch backing her. I wouldn't put my money on the Institution, if I were you. *g*
Q: When did you know/discover/decide that Malkar was also Brinvillier was also ...? Do you know how old he is/was? Was he anyone else that got mentioned tangentially or otherwise? I really like the way you have him described as the 'evil wizard in a story' because it is so perversely & perfectly true.
A: I don't know how old Malkar is. Nor do I know any of his names beyond those specifically attached to him in the books. I figured out that he was all the villains I think about halfway through The Virtu, when I was trying to figure out how to tie all the plot strands together.
Q: What drew Malkar to Felix? Did he go looking for someone he could use to further his plans and Felix fit the bill, or was there more to it than that?
A: I don't really know the answer to this one. Felix has some theories, and Malkar certainly wanted him to think it was all planned, but I think it was purely coincidental. Malkar went to the Shining Tiger to find a boy to victimize in a purely this-is-how-I-get-my-kicks way, and there was Felix all lit up with power like a carnival midway and no defenses at all.
And while we're on the subject of Malkar:
Q: You've said before that you dislike flat, unredeemable evil, and that was really refreshing to read in a world of Saurons and Voldemorts. You pull this off very well with characters like Kolkhis, who is a stone cold bitch, but who seems to be a fully rounded, nuanced, and interesting person. However, how do you reconcile this with Malkar, who is almost the Snidely Whiplash of the books?
A: 1. This actually gets addressed in Corambis.
2. What you're watching there--from Malkar, to Kolkhis and Ivo Polydorius, to the situation in Corambis, where there aren't really any villains, just people in conflict, some of whom do evil things--is my maturation as an artist. Thank you.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
A: No, we definitely have the printing press. But I think Mélusine itself may be lagging behind the more technologically advanced countries to either side. Books seem to be imported rather than printed in the city, and paper is available but expensive: a luxury. (Gideon won't let Felix buy paper for him, even though Felix has offered; Gideon says it's wasteful to use paper for ephemera. Hence the wax tablet. And Felix figured out pretty quick that he could buy as many books for Gideon as he wanted. Everybody's principles have a weak spot. *g* )
Q: Birth control. Yes, I know this is a rather banal question, but it really nags at me: most women (or men) during the European historical periods roughly correspondent to Medusa's civilisation did not have completely safe or reliable means of birth control or abortion. Yet Mehitabel never even mentions any worries about the problems a pregnancy would pose for a rising actress (or Stephen's mistress, for that matter) and Mildmay, who is usually so preoccupied by the effects his actions might have on others, never considers that Ginevra or Mehitabel might end up pregnant. I presume that you basically skipped that because an explanation would be clunky and/or potentially irritating to readers, but I do keep wondering... and the story of Amaryllis Cordelia also changes significantly (well, for me) if her pregnancy was not, ah, planned beforehand.
A: Birth control and STDs are things that I frankly handwaved past. (Because if this world had syphilis, Felix would be dead, that's why.) Which is not a choice I would make now, but--as I keep saying--a lot of the choices about the world-building and the particular kind of story being told were made when I was in my very early twenties. I didn't want to deal with that particular set of realities, so I just skipped that bit.
On the other hand, I can assure you that Amaryllis Cordelia planned that pregnancy like a war. And like a war, first contact with the enemy destroyed her plan.
Q: Brinvillier Strych's name – I take it that the first name is connected to the French poisoner, but Strych? And just how is it pronounced?
A: Strych is from strychnine--no, there's nothing subtle about this name at all. I tend to pronounce it with a short /i/ and /ch/ as in "church," rather than /k/. Brinvillier, btw, is pronounced as if it were an English word: /brin-VIL-i-er/ instead of the proper French pronounciation of Mme. de Brinvilliers.
Q: You mentioned in a previous Q&A session that you knew a lot more about the Wizard's Coup than ever got included in the books. Care to give us a history lesson?
A: I should more accurately have said I used to know more about the Wizards' Coup than got included in the books. I'm not sure how much of it I can dredge up.
So. The Wizards' Coup was a response to the increasing corruption of the Cordelian court and particularly to the power held by blood-wizards and necromancers. There were seven wizards--the Cabal--and their annemer ally Michael Teverius. There was a very bloody purge on 17 Bucat 2101/21 Thermidor 16.5.1, in which Michael hacked to bits his cousin John Cordelius and his cousin's wife and killed their infant son Daniel along with the rest of the dynastic line of the Cordelii, and presumably a great many blood-wizards and necromancers died, although I don't know any specifics. The Cabal made the Virtu and persuaded the remaining wizards of the Mirador to enter into their covenant. All seven members of the Cabal died young. Their names (according to some very old notes) were Harriet Goronwy, Mariam Lester, Edgar Malanius, Leopold Novadius, Mordecai Sixtus, Theodoric Skinner, and Amphelisia Toralia. (These are terrible names and should not be taken as canon, except for Mariam Lester. Mariam also wrote a seminal treatise on some aspect of magic--I can't remember what it was--which she finished literally on her deathbed.)
Q: One of the things that I really like about all your main characters (Felix, Mildmay, Kay, even Mehitabel) is that their interesting attributes (all those things that might make them fall into Mary Sue territory -- striking coloring, talents, trauma, special skills, etc.) are as much disadvantages as much as they are advantages (sometimes simultaneously). Was this a deliberate invocation of dramatic consequences? (Thank you for that articulation of the distinction between drama and melodrama, by the way!)
A: Pretty much. I mean, the articulation came later, but the fundamental principle was there.
Q: Does Corbie succeed in making the Institution give/allow her to get the education she wants?
A: I don't know. But Corbie's stubborn as a mule and she's got Hutch backing her. I wouldn't put my money on the Institution, if I were you. *g*
Q: When did you know/discover/decide that Malkar was also Brinvillier was also ...? Do you know how old he is/was? Was he anyone else that got mentioned tangentially or otherwise? I really like the way you have him described as the 'evil wizard in a story' because it is so perversely & perfectly true.
A: I don't know how old Malkar is. Nor do I know any of his names beyond those specifically attached to him in the books. I figured out that he was all the villains I think about halfway through The Virtu, when I was trying to figure out how to tie all the plot strands together.
Q: What drew Malkar to Felix? Did he go looking for someone he could use to further his plans and Felix fit the bill, or was there more to it than that?
A: I don't really know the answer to this one. Felix has some theories, and Malkar certainly wanted him to think it was all planned, but I think it was purely coincidental. Malkar went to the Shining Tiger to find a boy to victimize in a purely this-is-how-I-get-my-kicks way, and there was Felix all lit up with power like a carnival midway and no defenses at all.
And while we're on the subject of Malkar:
Q: You've said before that you dislike flat, unredeemable evil, and that was really refreshing to read in a world of Saurons and Voldemorts. You pull this off very well with characters like Kolkhis, who is a stone cold bitch, but who seems to be a fully rounded, nuanced, and interesting person. However, how do you reconcile this with Malkar, who is almost the Snidely Whiplash of the books?
A: 1. This actually gets addressed in Corambis.
2. What you're watching there--from Malkar, to Kolkhis and Ivo Polydorius, to the situation in Corambis, where there aren't really any villains, just people in conflict, some of whom do evil things--is my maturation as an artist. Thank you.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 06:56 pm (UTC)Thank you, bc-asking person. My curiosity has been sated.
(I was imagining sponges might be used. Or wax pessaries or something. I... don't know why I've given this thought, except I am very invested in not getting pregnant right now.)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 08:10 pm (UTC)Because all these sorts of daily life things are interesting, and they make a created world seem deeper and more real, the same way Mildmay's stories, and the books and plays and things do?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 08:15 pm (UTC)(I think STDs are still just a no-go, however.)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 07:49 pm (UTC)This made me laugh way louder than I meant to.
Me, too
Date: 2009-05-09 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 08:08 pm (UTC)Some of the more practical nuts-and-bolts seem to have come about with Corbie, especially when Felix has to translate what he will and will not do for clients.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 08:21 pm (UTC)Although Felix recognizes the import of an add for a third grade physician-practitioner in Bernatha who specializes in abortions (Corambis p. 117), which suggests that Mélusine also has abortionists. So at least there's that, although it's hardly an adequate answer to the question.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 09:46 pm (UTC)Since it wasn't spoken of, things meant for this purpose were generally described as for treating menstruation/cramps...which, come to think of it, is how most modern BC ads are spun as well.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 09:00 pm (UTC)Less of a cheat than you might think, actually. There was a plant known as silphium that was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, which was harvested to such a degree that some cities' economies were largely based on the export of the plant. The plant has since gone extinct (possibly related to the widespread desire for it) and while a lot of the other 'medical properties' associated with it are probably garbage, it does appear to have been a highly effective abortifacient.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 09:57 pm (UTC)In fact...I'd say (as I think you've mentioned) fully spelled out back story is overrated. Despite Voldemort having whole chapters devoted to his tortured childhood, he never actually seemed like a real person to me.
Meanwhile, the *pathology* shown by Kholkis and Malkar were totally spot on and believable...knowing about their pasts would not explain or excuse what they are choosing to be now.
Which on a similar note is why I think the process of Felix noticing his own patterns, anticipating, and choosing to stop them was very satisfying.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 10:41 pm (UTC)Out of curiousity and hopefulness - are you planning any new projects in the near or distant future? A sequel to A Companion to Wolves, maybe?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 06:37 am (UTC)Actually, syphilis is perfectly treatable with a proper tincture of bread mold. Penicillin is perfectly within Melusine's manufacturing ability, as long as they know to make it.
But if you really want to retcon it, I'd say that's part of why all the whores in the lower city were keep on phoenix. The name sounds like something that causes fever, and inducing fever was the most (if not only) effective cure for syphilis before penicillin was popularize. In 1927 Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the Nobel Prize for medicine for developing a syphilis cure where he gave a patient malaria so that the resulting fever would cure their syphilis, and then give them quinine to cure the malaria.
If the whores were always running hot, it would help prevent the syphilis (and a lot of other bugs) from sticking. And if they caught it anyway, up the dose of phoenix. The fever would kill them or cure them.
(And I'm quite happy to go with the birth-control dandelions)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 05:09 pm (UTC)Wow. How cool is that?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 07:11 am (UTC)There are also homeopathic treatments to help regulate your hormones/periods, so it seems like helpful plants are the way to go.
The image of Felix buying a book for Gideon every other week or so is strangely adorable.
Although the scarcity of paper makes me wonder if they use fibers (cotton, hemp, flax) or pulp (wood) to make paper.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 02:23 pm (UTC)technology & a possible relationship for Felix? ;-)
Date: 2009-05-14 09:43 pm (UTC)On another note, I recently finished rereading Elizabeth Bear's Ink & Steel/Hell & Earth duology, and found myself imagining Felix and Kit Marley (Marlowe, Marlin, Merlin etc) being involved. Might be disastrous (they have too much in common) or great (they have so much in common) but it would definitely be interesting. Too bad that they are in different story universes!
MPR, Wilmington