Please welcome Lynn Viehl to The Qwillery. Lynn is the author of numerous standalone novels as well as series in several genres including Darkyn, Kyndred, Youngbloods, and Lords of the Darkyn. Lynn's most recent series is Disenchanted & Co.
TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery. You have published over 50 novels in several genres. How has your writing process changed (or not) over the years? Are you a plotter, pantser, or hybrid plotser?
Lynn: I've tried to become more efficient with my creative process, but every book I write presents new and different challenges. I am an obsessive plotter.
TQ: You've written novels for multiple series. How do you keeps things straight in each series?
Lynn: Series bibles help a great deal; so does creating a voice and writing mindset unique to each series.
TQ: Your newest series is Disenchanted & Co., a genre bending mix of steampunk, fantasy, romance, and mystery. What appeals to you about steampunk?
Lynn: I'll have to quote John Keats here: "There is an electric fire in human nature tending to purify -- so that among these human creatures there is continually some birth of new heroism. The pity is that we must wonder at it, as we should at finding a pearl in rubbish."
TQ: Why did you set Disenchanted & Co. in what is considered a non-traditional steampunk setting: not Victorian England, but America post the Revolutionary War?
Lynn: I think America during the Victorian era was just as fabulous and fascinating as England was, and it was fun to bring the genre over to this side of the pond.
TQ: What sorts of research have you done for the series? What is one of the oddest things you've found?
Lynn: I have immersed myself in every sort of Victorian biography, novel, newspaper, magazine and artifact I could get my hands on. I've built a small but wonderful collection of Victorian-era classified ads, which include an electric corset, a pocket-watch spy camera and bottled marijuana juice.
TQ: Tell us something about The Clockwork Wolf (Disenchanted & Co. 2) that is not in the book description.
Lynn: Neither Pocket Star nor I planned to have the cover art produced in Pantone's color of the year for 2014; the radiant orchid color theme is simply a happy coincidence.
TQ: In the series so far who is your favorite good guy, bad guy or ethically ambiguous character?
Lynn: I am very fond of Docket, Kit's inventor friend. I try not to peg my characters as good or bad or other; they never like it.
TQ: Which character has surprised you the most?
Lynn: Dredmore. Every time I think I know everything about him he shows me something new.
TQ: What's next?
Lynn: Book three, if my publisher is willing. Or if not, a day job. Are you hiring?
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Lynn: Thanks for having me.
Lynn: I've tried to become more efficient with my creative process, but every book I write presents new and different challenges. I am an obsessive plotter.
TQ: You've written novels for multiple series. How do you keeps things straight in each series?
Lynn: Series bibles help a great deal; so does creating a voice and writing mindset unique to each series.
TQ: Your newest series is Disenchanted & Co., a genre bending mix of steampunk, fantasy, romance, and mystery. What appeals to you about steampunk?
Lynn: I'll have to quote John Keats here: "There is an electric fire in human nature tending to purify -- so that among these human creatures there is continually some birth of new heroism. The pity is that we must wonder at it, as we should at finding a pearl in rubbish."
TQ: Why did you set Disenchanted & Co. in what is considered a non-traditional steampunk setting: not Victorian England, but America post the Revolutionary War?
Lynn: I think America during the Victorian era was just as fabulous and fascinating as England was, and it was fun to bring the genre over to this side of the pond.
TQ: What sorts of research have you done for the series? What is one of the oddest things you've found?
Lynn: I have immersed myself in every sort of Victorian biography, novel, newspaper, magazine and artifact I could get my hands on. I've built a small but wonderful collection of Victorian-era classified ads, which include an electric corset, a pocket-watch spy camera and bottled marijuana juice.
TQ: Tell us something about The Clockwork Wolf (Disenchanted & Co. 2) that is not in the book description.
Lynn: Neither Pocket Star nor I planned to have the cover art produced in Pantone's color of the year for 2014; the radiant orchid color theme is simply a happy coincidence.
TQ: In the series so far who is your favorite good guy, bad guy or ethically ambiguous character?
Lynn: I am very fond of Docket, Kit's inventor friend. I try not to peg my characters as good or bad or other; they never like it.
TQ: Which character has surprised you the most?
Lynn: Dredmore. Every time I think I know everything about him he shows me something new.
TQ: What's next?
Lynn: Book three, if my publisher is willing. Or if not, a day job. Are you hiring?
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Lynn: Thanks for having me.
Disenchanted & Co.
The Clockwork Wolf
Disenchanted & Co. 2
Pocket Books, February 25, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 352 pages
As the proprietor of Disenchanted & Co. in a steampunk version of America, Charmian “Kit” Kittredge makes her living solving magical crimes. But when a snobbish lady begs for help, saving her reputation might very well cost Kit her life.
Doing a favor for deathmage Lucien Dredmore, Kit agrees to interview a newly widowed lady as a potential client. Upon meeting, however, she learns that the woman in question is none other than Lady Eugenia Bestly, president of the Rumsen Ladies Decency Society— someone who once led a vicious campaign to ruin Kit’s life. Ironically Lady Bestly now lives in fear herself, for the press is about to unmask her husband as the savage “Wolfman” who died while terrorizing the city.
As monstrous rampages continue to occur, Kit soon determines there is more than one Wolfman, and that they may themselves be victims of evil players. While avoiding both mechanized assassins and attempts by Dredmore and Chief Inspector Tom Doyle to take her under their protection, Kit follows a tangled path that leads from a prestigious gentlemen’s club fronting a hellish secret to a vengeful native tribe and dangerous, ancient magics.
Disenchanted & Co.
Disenchanted & Co. 1
Pocket Books, January 28, 2014
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 416 pages
In the Provincial Union of Victoriana, a steampunk America that lost the Revolutionary War, Charmian “Kit” Kittredge makes her living investigating crimes of magic. While Kit tries to avoid the nobs of high society, she follows mysteries wherever they lead.
Unlike most folks, Kit doesn’t believe in magic, but she can’t refuse to help Lady Diana Walsh, who claims a curse is viciously wounding her while she sleeps. As Kit investigates the Walsh family, she becomes convinced that the attacks are part of a more ominous plot—one that may involve the lady’s obnoxious husband.
Sleuthing in the city of Rumsen is difficult enough, but soon Kit must also skirt the unwanted attentions of a nefarious deathmage and the unwelcome scrutiny of the police chief inspector. Unwilling to surrender to either man’s passion for her, Kit struggles to remain independent as she draws closer to the heart of the mystery. For the truth promises to ruin her life—and turn Rumsen into a supernatural battleground from which no one will escape alive.
Note: Disenchanted & Co. was previously published by Pocket Star in digital format in 2 parts as Disenchanted & Co., Part 1: Her Ladyship's Curse (August 2013) and Disenchanted & Co., Part 2: His Lordship Possessed (Ocotber 2013).
About Lynn
Since 2000, author Lynn Viehl has published fifty novels in nine genres, including her New York Times bestselling Darkyn series, the StarDoc SF series (as S.L. Viehl), and the Tales from the Grace Chapel Inn series (as Rebecca Kelly). Ranked as one of the top 100 female, top 50 book, and top 10 SF author bloggers on the Internet, Ms. Viehl hosts Paperback Writer, a popular industry weblog she has updated daily since 2004 with free market info, working advice, and online resources for all writers.
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