Did you hear that? It's
the sound of my "Squee!" since I have the honor of presenting an
interview with author Lise MacTague. Discovering
new sci-fi romances are the best kind of surprises! Her debut book DEPTHS OF BLUE (Bella
Books) came out in May 2015. It's the first of a trilogy. Check out the cover and blurb:
For Torrin Ivanov, life
is a bargaining table. Every planet is a new business opportunity. Legality is
optional and supplying one side in a local civil war always adds up to profit.
Jak Stowell is at war
within a war. A woman hidden in the heart of a male-only army, her brother’s
murder has left her desperate for vengeance. Her skill as a sniper gives her
both the disguise she needs and paves the way ever closer to her real goal. She
kills efficiently, without remorse. Putting down an off-world smuggler will be
no different.
A moment’s hesitation. A
flicker of doubt. Two women on a collision course set off a chain reaction of
intergalactic intrigue—and awaken a dangerous passion that could cost them
their lives.
***
After
reading the blurb, I immediately wanted to know more. I invited the author
aboard and she kindly allowed me to pick her brain about her story. Enjoy!
The Galaxy
Express: Tell us a bit about yourself. When did you know you wanted to become a
fiction writer?
Lise
MacTague: I’ve been writing ever since I could remember, but I stopped when I
was in art school and it took me a long time to come back to it. For a while, I
was writing professionally, but essays and articles weren’t really helping me
scratch the creation-itch I’ve always had. A number of years ago, I experienced
a long bout of insomnia. Coming up with plots to stories helped me deal with
it. I had something to work on when I couldn’t sleep so I didn’t feel like I
was wasting my time, but it was something that I could let go when I finally
got tired enough to fall asleep.
After
a while, I realized that I kept coming back to the same story over and over
again, so I started concentrating on it and fleshing it out. After about two
years of that, I discovered that I had something pretty fully-fleshed out. Not
only did I have a pretty detailed plot, but I had my main characters
established, and the setting. I’d put enough work into it, and I didn’t want to
lose it, so I started writing it up.
Originally,
the whole On Deception’s Edge trilogy
was supposed to be one book. As I started writing, I quickly realized that it
was going to be pretty long for just one book, so I divided it up into three
books and adjusted some of the plot and pacing to reflect that. It’s probably a
good thing, because I wrote all three books before looking for a publisher,
which means that the sequels to Depths of
Blue will be available pretty quickly.
TGE: What was the
inspiration for your On Deception's Edge
trilogy?
LT:
What inspired me to write the trilogy was the opportunity to explore the
question of what happens to a person when they’re forced to hide a major part
of who they are for most of their life, and the only person who knows their
real identity is taken away. The trilogy follows Jak Stowell who has been
living as a man and who has been completely alone and isolated for years. This
is the story of her journey to rediscover her identity. Along the way, she also
discovers love, but can she truly love another when she doesn’t know who she is
herself?
Questions
of gender identity have long interested me, and I see a lot of coverage
relating to the trans community, which is something I personally relate to. In
a way, this is the opposite of many experiences that trans men and women have
when claiming their true identities. In this case, Jak is a woman (a gender
non-conforming one to be sure), and she needs to discover and claim what it
means to her to be female.
Finally,
while working on a project at my day job, I spent a lot of time immersed in
World War I research. I drew on that to describe the main military conflict in Depths of Blue and to a lesser degree A Vortex of Crimson (book 3 in the
series). I took the idea of trench warfare and added a bit of a twist in the
form of a miles-long forcefield that divides two continents, and the two sides
from each other. The trenches and the forcefield have forced a grinding
stalemate between the Devonites and the Orthodoxans in their interminable civil
war, and this is the situation into which I drop the other main character:
Torrin Ivanov. She’s pretty much a fish out of water. More accurately, she’s a
fish in a kettle of very hot water that is getting hotter by the second.
TGE: What’s the
setting like?
LT:
I like to refer to the setting as “not-as-dystopian-as-those-guys-over-there.”
The action takes place on a planet with a society that is misogynistic and
treats women as lesser creatures. The only thing that keeps their society from
being a complete and utter dystopia is the fact that the other main group on
the planet treats women solely as breeding stock. The two groups have been
grinding their way through a civil war for decades, and that conflict shows no
sign of ending.
The
ugliness of the two societies is in direct contrast to the loveliness of their
planet. Haefen is filled with beautiful scenery. Much of it is temperate rain
forest, like that of the Pacific Northwest. It is the majesty of towering trees
and craggy vistas, overlaid with shades of blue, that acts as a jarring foil
for the two cultures locked in a thirty-year religious war.
TGE: On a scale of
1-10, how would you rate the action-adventure quotient in DEPTHS OF BLUE?
LT:
On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this Depths of Blue a 9 on the
action-adventure scale. (That’s only because I don’t believe in absolutes.) The
book is pretty much non-stop action. There is just enough introduction to
establish the setting, then we get right into the swing of things. The
characters must make a perilous journey across hostile territory with only each
other to count on, and neither one is sure if they can trust the other. Even
when they get to friendly territory, they still can’t let their guards down before
having to set out on yet another journey, this one with little to no time for
preparation. They have to fight the land, strange creatures, all while avoiding
enemy soldiers. On top of that, they fight the deepening attraction each woman
has for the other.
TGE: What’s the
publication schedule for the other books in On
Deception’s Edge?
LT:
The other books are coming out every 7-8 months. Heights of Green is scheduled to come out in November of this year,
and A Vortex of Crimson should be out
in late spring/early summer. The blurb and information for HoG is already available on Bella Books’ website.
Hopefully, the cover art will also be available soon!
TGE: Name a gadget
you can’t live without.
LT:
I can’t live without my iPhone/iPad. I have so much going on these days that if
something isn’t in the calendar app, it doesn’t exist for me. I’d love to be
less tethered to the devices, but I’m resigned to it for the time being.
TGE: What appeals
to you about a strong, compelling female protagonist?
LT:
I believe in a world where strong female protagonists are nothing to be
remarked at, they simply are. I hope that world gets here sooner rather than
later. I love strong female characters. I think they’re a far more accurate
reflection of reality than milquetoast wallflowers. Most of the women I know
are badass and strong as hell, and I believe they should be able to see
themselves reflected in what they read.
TGE: Can you recommend
a title or two similar to DEPTHS OF BLUE?
LT:
A series of books that I love is the Isis Series by Jean Stewart. It’s
chockablock with strong female characters, and also has a utopia/dystopia
dynamic going for it. It starts with Isis
Rising, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Another
series starts with Katherin V. Forrest’s classic Daughters of a Coral Dawn. It is pretty much the original lesbian
utopia novel. The entire series is great, and each book is better than the
last.
It’s
a rather different than the previous two titles, but I also recommend the Firefly TV series. It doesn’t have much
of a romantic component, but the cross of scifi with wild west is something I
was striving for with my series.
TGE: It was great
learning about you and your books! If readers want to know more, where can they
find you?
LT:
Readers can follow up with me by checking out my blog: lisemactague.com, or by following me on FaceBook. I’m also active on
GoodReads. Otherwise, anyone with questions or comments can always drop me a
line at lise.mactague[at]gmail[dot]com.
***
Ms.
MacTague, thanks for your time, and for your art.
For
more geeky DEPTHS OF BLUE fun, check out the illustrated Map of Haefen the
author created!
Joyfully
yours,
Heather