a fab interview at Friends and Fiction!

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I’m used to doing lots of interviews when I have a new book come out, but here’s the secret: some interviews are harder than others. Sometimes things just don’t click for whatever reason. So when they do, it’s special.

And boy howdy, did I click this week with the awesome ladies of Friends & Fiction! (After rewatching my description of the book, I did belatedly realize I need to learn to take a breath, but all in all, I think it’s a great watch.)

You can watch the playback on YouTube or Facebook, your choice, or you can also get the audio as a podcast. So many ways to enjoy!

And if watching me breathlessly recount Aimee’s adventures nudges you over the edge into wanting to buy the book, here’s a great way to do so: order from the Friends & Fiction page at Bookshop.org. That way you’re also supporting independent bookstores with your shopping choices.

Yay!

THE THIRTEENTH HUSBAND on Radio Iowa!

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My very first interview on launch day for The Thirteenth Husband was with Matt Kelley at Radio Iowa, who has interviewed me about each of my historical novels, so it’s become a lovely tradition to speak with him. From the interview:

Greer Macallister, who grew up in Janesville, says Aimee Crocker was a fascinating figure in history, whose tale includes snakes, spirits, world travels, and lavish Manhattan parties, but through her public notoriety, there’s also private pain.

You can read a summary of the interview or listen to the full recording here.

Take Five today at Writer Unboxed!

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Kicking off pub week in style at one of my favorite places on the entire internet, Writer Unboxed. They’re highlighting THE THIRTEENTH HUSBAND with a great, simple interview: five questions, five answers. Here’s a taste:

Her money gave her the kind of freedom few women of her era enjoyed, but she was judged harshly in public and private for the choices she made. Her story has heartbreak, loss, scandal, death, secrets, poisoning, shame, custody battles, and more — a lot to overcome.

Read on to find out why there’s more to Aimee than meets the eye, how this story is different from any other I’ve written, and what I learned about myself while writing this book.

Click here for all the goodness.

ARCA is now out in paperback!

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Hi there! Have you been waiting for the second book in the Five Queendoms series to become available in a soft-sided edition instead of the big ol’ chunky hardcover doorstop? Wait no more! It’s still chunky, but a bit less so. And still, thanks to Victo Ngai’s illustration on the cover, absolutely gorgeous.

In honor of the big day, I’m reposting one of my favorite interviews, the one that goes soooo in-depth on all things Five Queendoms. It’s a great read whether or not you’ve read Arca or the first novel in the series, Scorpica.

Read the fabulous Paste Magazine interview that calls the Five Queendoms “the best feminist fantasy series you probably haven’t read yet” by clicking here.

had a blast on Worldbuilding for Masochists!

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Have you been listening to Worldbuilding for Masochists? What a fab podcast. Thrilled to be an invited guest, especially when the topic is near and dear to my heart. I had a great time recording this episode, talking about how gender intersects with other world building concerns. Because a god complex is a terrible thing to waste!

Give it a listen here.

let's talk about the Eowyn Problem!

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I’ve been having a great time writing essays about Scorpica and the wider world of epic fantasy it fits into, and here’s one that’s near and dear to my heart. Have female characters always been part of epic fantasy? Yes, but not always in great numbers, and not always in great ways. For SFBook, I wrote about what happens when a great big epic includes only a handful of women. “Representation isn’t a box to be checked; it’s a conversation, a range of expression, an opportunity to broaden perspective and help an individual work of epic fantasy live up to the genre’s name.”

Read all about it here.

The Big Idea behind SCORPICA!

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Ever wondered what inspired me to take a break from historical fiction to kick off the massive endeavor of writing an epic fantasy series set in a matriarchal world called The Five Queendoms? I wrote it all up for you! And you can read it on John Scalzi’s fabulous Whatever blog.

Because a female-default culture wouldn’t be just the opposite of male-default culture, just as matriarchy isn’t just a flipped version of patriarchy. I wanted to read about a society where women’s concerns were primary, leading to not just different models of female power but different family structures, different models of child-rearing, different prejudices and judgments. What would marriage in a culture like that look like? Who might rule them? What gods would form their pantheon?

And as with so many authors, because I couldn’t find the exact book I wanted to read, I ended up writing it.

Read the whole story here.

this interview has a lot of character!

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So I’ve been an interviewer (many times) and I’ve been interviewed (many times), but this one is a first for me: I was asked to interview one of my characters! At first I wasn’t sure how that would work, but when I mentally flipped through a list of the characters in my most recent book (it’s a long list), I realized there was one who would lend herself perfectly to an interview.

Fasiq is many things: an actual giant, the leader of a bandit gang, a charismatic and confident speaker, a legend in her own mind. And when readers talk about their favorite characters from Scorpica, she often tops the list. So I realized she’d be the perfect subject for such an interview, and for a person who’s pretty secretive, she had a lot to say.

Read my interview with Fasiq here.

Kate Quinn interviews me about SCORPICA for CHIRB!

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This was such a fun interview! As you probably know, for the past few years, Kate Quinn and I have both been writing historical fiction featuring extraordinary women. But did you know that before that, Kate wrote a fabulous series set in Ancient Rome? So I knew she’d be a great person to ask for a Scorpica blurb, and she was kind enough to give an absolutely smashing one.

Like the sword fight between Inigo and the Man in Black in The Princess Bride, our conversation ranged all over: from the similarities between historical fiction and epic fantasy (“it’s more like dog/wolf than dog/cat”), to the role of men in matriarchy, how we feel about fact-checking emails, and some of my latest reading recommendations.

Read it all here.