{"id":175,"date":"2012-12-07T17:06:14","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T17:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dave0.nfshost.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2012\/12\/07\/the-next-big-things-authors-tagging-authors\/"},"modified":"2012-12-07T17:06:14","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T17:06:14","slug":"the-next-big-things-authors-tagging-authors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2012\/12\/the-next-big-things-authors-tagging-authors\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Big Things: Authors Tagging Authors"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was tagged last week to participate in this “Next Big Thing” mutual-admiration bloggy chain-letter thing, where-in authors give each other the opportunity to talk about their upcoming projects. Much thanks to Cindy Spencer Paper<\/a>–who’s currently rounding out her latest paranormal romance<\/a>, although I’m a little more familiar with her for putting lots of steam in the steampunk<\/a> (for which she’s gotten great reviews and high accolades just recently). At any rate, here goes for me:
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  • Q–What is your working title of your book?<\/B>
    \nA–Proud Flesh<\/i>. An audiobook of a novella length portion of this–“Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate”–is also in the works right now.
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  • Q–Where did the idea come from for the book?<\/B>
    \nA–I totally have to credit my pal and long-time collaborator     Fritz Swanson<\/a>, who first suggested the use of imported Chinese clockwork soldiers during America’s Long Civil War. This particular project is built around my novelette “Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate” (first published in the Spring 2008 Paradox<\/i>, and now available as a standalone ebook for Kindle<\/a> and other formats<\/a>). It concerns a clockie enclave outside of the town of Lost Creek, Utah Territory, and began as a riff on a Zuni Trickster story, “Teaching the Mudheads How to Copulate,” that I was writing as a joke to show Fritz. It sorta grew out of control, and here we are.
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  • Q–What genre does your book fall under?<\/B>
    \nA–Steampunk, Lord have mercy on us all.
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  • Q–Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?<\/B>
    \nA–That’s tough, because the protagonist of the central story, Dickie Tucker, has been terribly disfigured. In terms of voice and mannerisms, I’ve always pictured someone like Nathan Fillion or a young Jeff Bridges. Maybe Alan Tudyk?
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  • Q–What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?<\/B>
    \nA–“Ne’erdowell crippled alcoholic Confederate veteran teaches clockwork battle androids to have sex; complications ensue.”
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  • Q–Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?<\/B>
    \nA–Undefined value. I’m currently unrepresented, and although I’ve published and self-published some of the stories that fit into Proud Flesh<\/i>, I’m not eager to self-publish another whole book–just putting together the novella was a lot of work (fun, but still, a *lot* of work) and I have other freelance projects that have to take precedence.
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  • Q–How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?<\/B>
    \nA–I’ve been working on “Clockie America” stories since 2006. The first was published in 2008, and others have since appeared in Asimov’s<\/i> and the anthology     Steampunk II<\/i><\/a>
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  • Q–What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?<\/B>
    \nA–Ouch. I’m gonna level with you; I haven’t seen folks working a relatively straight steampunk Old West *without* also having magical aspects (zombies, for example) or actually being SF (Firefly<\/i>, I’m looking adoringly at you). Maybe something like Joe R. Landsdale’s short story “The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down: A Dime Novel” is closest, both in universe and tone.
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  • Q–Who or what inspired you to write this book?<\/B>
    \nA–Really, it started with Fritz’s idea of these clockwork soldiers as Civil War era munitions, coupled with the Zuni mudheads, who are, mythologically speaking, an idiosyncratic sort of     ritual clown<\/a> distinct from other sacred fools. They really are like bumbling robots. Once those pieces clicked, the universe sorta bloomed on its own.
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  • Q–What else about your book might pique the reader\u2019s interest?<\/B>
    \nA–Well, the current ebook editions of “Tucker” have original illustrations by     Chad Sell<\/a> (of “Rupaul’s Drag Race” fame). If I end up self-publishing the Proud Flesh<\/i>, then I’ll be getting more illustrations done by Chad, because I *love* what he did for this story, and he has *tons* of great sketches I couldn’t afford to include. If I’d had the money, this novella would have wound up being a goddamned dirty-as-hell picture book.
    \nAlso, despite only being published in a small zine originally, “Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate” garnered a fair bit of positive attention: It reviewed really well, was nominated for a Nebula (although it didn’t make it to finalist), and was up for a few other awards that honor fiction dealing innovatively with race and ethnicity, including the     Carl Brandon Society Kindred Award<\/a>. So, you know, it isn’t all fist-fights and dirty sex.
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