the very best of kate elliott

February 26, 2015

Kate Elliott discusses storytelling, her new collection, and of course cake

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ama, cake, collection, crossroads, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, interview, julie dillon, kate elliott, reddit, short stories, spiritwalker, the very best of kate elliott

Recently, Kate Elliott answered fan questions in a Reddit AMA.

[–]TFrohockAMA Author

Hi, Kate! I’ve really enjoyed your Spiritwalker trilogy.

Can you tell us some of the favorite themes you like to write about in your stories and maybe just a little about why those themes resonate with you?

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

Thank you, Teresa.

Spiritwalker is a good example of four of my favorite themes, ones that crop up in many of my series.

1) Active, physical protagonist. Can be a fighter but doesn’t have to be, just someone who is comfortable in their body and strong and likes to move. This resonates with me because, um, it describes me. I hasten to add my characters are not “versions” of me, but I do enjoy writing that physical type.

2) Revolution. I’m just so interested in how societies work and how they fall apart and how they change, sometimes in violent ways and sometimes in quiet, subtle ways. I’m not sure why this theme resonates for me but I suspect that the whole American Revolution thing is a big deal in the USA so perhaps it’s partly an echo of that.

3) Family. I identify strongly with the idea that we are who we are in relationship to the people around us. I do not resonate so much with the “loner cut off from all relationship” type of character or the “orphan protagonist” in part because I find so fascinating the ways in which people can both feel close to and find annoying family members (whether blood or found family) and I think I examine that dichotomy a lot in Spiritwalker. We all constantly walk that balance.

4) A love story. I just enjoy writing these.

<snip>

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

I do talk a lot about gender in fantasy and about having women characters in books because I grew up reading and loving sff and wishing I saw more female characters in the stories.

Once I started writing I decided to write what I wanted which was: more female characters in books both as main characters and as secondary characters. That’s the main thing. I just wanted what was, to me, a more interesting and varied cast.

Spiritwalker is told in first person and has a single point of view character who is female, but I am pretty sure (although I haven’t counted it up) that all my multiple third person point of view series (which is all the others) have a 50/50 split between male/female points of view. So I guess my question would be: If it is a 50/50 split, does that mean I am highlighting women if, in much epic fantasy, it’s more like a 75/25 or 80/20 split? I don’t say that in a snarky way. I’m thinking of academic studies that have suggested that in some circumstances if women make up 30% of a room or talk 30% of the time it is perceived as 50% or more (even though it isn’t). In which case 50% might seem overwhelming to some readers. 😉

<snip>

[–]Bergmaniac

Hi Kate! I bought your short stories collection last week. So far I have only read the Spiritwalker trilogy of your series (though I certainly plan to read more). So my question is – do the short stories in the collection which are set in the worlds of your other series contain major spoilers for them? In other words – is it better if I read these short stories now or after I have read the respective series of novels?

Also, speaking of short stories, which SFF authors do you consider to be the best at writing them?

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. The Crossroads universe story definitely does spoil the Crossroads Trilogy, so read Crossroads first if you care about spoilers. Of the two Jaran universe stories, My Voice Is In My Sword is safe to read (no crossover at all), and Sunseeker is tricky; it include characters who are important in the Jaran novels but the focus is on a minor character. If you hate ANY spoilers, then no. If only MAJOR spoilers, then I’m torn but possibly yes. Of the two Crown of Stars stories, Riding the Shore contains an embedded spoiler in a passing reference but otherwise is unconnected because it takes place hundreds of years later. The other Crown of Stars story (A Simple Act of Kindness) is actually now alternate history because I completely changed a crucial aspect of the plot after I wrote the story, so you can safely read it (I think) because it tells a story that actually never happens in the series.

<snip>

[–]Ennas_

Hi Kate! Just popping in to let you know that I liked your Spiritwalker trilogy a lot! Your other books are still lost somewhere on Mt TBR. And I would like to have that chocolate cake recipe you mentioned. You can never have too many of those!

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 400F

Melt over low heat, stirring well: 2 sticks butter, 6 heaping Tablespoons cocoa, 1 c water

Mix: 1 ½ c sugar, 2 c flour, ½ teas baking powder, ½ teas salt, 1 teas soda, ½ c buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 teas vanilla.

Beat thoroughly.

Combine cooked melted cocoa with flour mixture. Pour into greased, floured pan (9×14) or 2 9” round pans. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

[–]Ennas_

(I cant post a pic, but…I made the cake and it tastes great!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/sannehoo/cake.jpeg

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

That is so fantastic!!!!

Yes, I love this cake. Not too sweet and really strongly chocolate.

[–]Ennas_

I thought if you surprise me with a real recipe, I can surprise you (and myself) with a real cake. 😀 It’s huge, though! I had to make some cupcakes because my cake tin was too small. But my boardgamefriends didn’t mind!

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

This is a perfect cake for board game/RPG parties.

[–]twinsuns

I love that you actually gave a recipe! Noms.

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

I’m very serious about cake.

[–]Ennas_

Thanks! Cake is serious business! 😉

Read the rest of Kate Elliott’s AMA at Reddit.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 25, 2015

Writing a narrative that entertains is Kate Elliot’s chief goal

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, interview, julie dillon, kate elliott, Paul Weimer, short stories, the very best of kate elliott

Over at SF Signal, Paul Weimer interviews Kate Elliott about THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT

Paul Weimer: Readers at SF Signal are familiar with you and your novels. So why a collection of shorter works, for which you aren’t so well known?

KE: Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications approached me to ask if I had ever considered publishing a collection of my short fiction. I was brought in as part of the Tachyon “THE VERY BEST” series, which also includes volumes from Charles de Lint, Tad Williams, and Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine.

As it happens the stories in the collection are indeed “the very best” of my short fiction because they constitute ALL of the short fiction I have ever written with the exception of two stories too tied to the Spiritwalker Trilogy to work without prior familiarity with that series (one available for free on my web page and one — with fabulous Julie Dillon illustrations — available for purchase) and two (never published) short stories I wrote as a teenager. Over the course of my life I have written twice as many novels as short pieces.

<snip>

PW: I didn’t expect the non fiction essays to be included along with the stories. How did you come to choose these to be included? How do you see the dialogue play out between the essays and the themes of your own stories?

KE: I don’t write in a vacuum. While my chief goal when writing is to create a narrative that entertains the reader and keeps them reading (if I can’t keep my readers reading then it really doesn’t matter what other theoretically fabulous things I do, does it?), I do churn a lot of themes and questions through my stories as a way to examine, take apart, and consider from multiple sides issues and thoughts I have about the world, life, people, history, culture, and so on. Writing science fiction and fantasy is my way of trying to understand how humanity works and how I feel about that.

Writing a more substantive essay takes a lot of time so I don’t do it often, and generally I write such essays about subjects that I’ve wrestled with for a long time, often through my fiction. I asked for these essays to be included in the collection, and wrote an introductory essay as well, because the concerns reflected in the non-fiction resonate throughout my fiction.

Read the rest of Weimer’s conversation with Kate Elliott at SF Signal.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 24, 2015

The secrets behind Julie Dillon’s beautiful cover to THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized a dribble of ink, behind the scenes, collection, cover, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, julie dillon, kate elliott, short stories, the very best of kate elliott

For A Dribble of Ink, Kate Elliott reveals how Julie Dillon’s gorgeous image became the cover to THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT.

When I decided to commission an artist to illustrate a short story in the Spiritwalker universe, I was thrilled that Julie Dillon agreed to work with me…

Besides the black and white drawings for The Secret Journal of Beatrice Hassi Barahal, I also asked Julie for two color illustrations. I picked the subjects based on passages from Cold Steel that I thought would be visually evocative.

I particularly wanted an illustration for a scene in which the heroines, Cat and Bee, emerge from a cave onto a beach whose strand, instead of sand, is “red coals and smoking ash.” Here in the spirit world the sea isn’t water; it’s smoke. In the scene a dragon rises out of the sea of smoke to confront them.

<snip>

Therefore, when Tachyon Publications approached me about the possibility of publishing a collection of my short fiction (now available as The Very Best of Kate Elliott), I asked if they would be interested in using this illustration for the cover. They politely agreed to look at it, making no promises that it would be suitable, right up until the moment they saw it. At that point they were, understandably, quite enthusiastic.

Not every illustration or photo can be used on a book cover because the dimensions and balance have to work together. Furthermore, using the wrong typeface, color, and design can ruin an otherwise interesting image. Designer Elizabeth Story did an incredible job turning the illustration into a gorgeous cover. She flipped the image (my daughter, also a designer, explained why the image works better flipped on a book that opens on the left; it has to do with the way the eye gets drawn to the right and thereby to the side of the book you open). The clean, classic typeface doesn’t clutter, nor does it draw attention to itself and away from the image. The gold color of the letters echoes the fire in the dragon.

<snip>

You can buy prints of the color illustration at Julie’s INPRNT store.

Read about the rest of the process including the black & white sketches that lead to the finished image at A Dribble of Ink.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 23, 2015