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catherineldfNext up in the interview cycle from 2008 (see Sacchi Green post for general info).
Can you talk a bit about your inspiration for your story "Focus of Desire"?
Well, Catherine asked me if I was interested in writing something that
might suit the anthology, and I said sure, I'd give it a whirl. A
little while later, I was on a trip to New York, and had my laptop in
the airport waiting area, and was writing. The character of Danise
came to me right away, and I knew she was researching and writing
about the lives of the women who turn out to be the ghosts, but I
wasn't sure exactly how they interacted. Then when I was staying in
Syracuse with a couple of good friends, one of whom is a history
professor, I was handed a book called "The Technology of Orgasm," by
Rachel Maines. I was reading her analysis of the economic and social
factors driving the earliest development of the technology of
vibrators, and all of a sudden, the story came into focus. The
comments about HMOs and the commoditization of women's orgasms in a
male-dominated health care system are directly inspired by the book.
(It's a great book, by the way. I strongly recommend it.) The final
bit that brought it all together was doing the rewrite that gave more
backstory to Danise and explained exactly where she was in her career:
in the difficult and maddening throes of her dissertation, not to
mention still in shock from losing her girlfriend to her dissertation,
essentially. I am very grateful to Sarah Monette, who when asked to
give me a review of the hassles and angst of her own dissertation
process and to help me brainstorm others for Danise, did so in a
splendid and hilarious conversation.
Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost?
Yes. After my partner of 13 years died, a note from him in his
handwriting appeared in a place that only he and I had access to, in a
spot that had been empty the day before. It was a poem addressed to
me. That's the most serious ghost thing that's ever happened to me.
What's your favorite ghost story (you can pick a movie if you prefer)?
Hmmm! It's hard to say, but I think the one I love best right now is
Hex, the British television series. It got very strange, and I don't
like every direction the story went, but I absolutely love Thelma the
ghost.
What are you working on now and where can readers find out more about you?
I'm currently making a mad effort to finish the manuscript of a
fantasy novel set in 1881 in Oleanna Territory, which is just east of
the Dakotas and just west of Minnesota. Much of the action takes
place at a newspaper in the territorial capital, and I get to mess
around with utopian socialist elves. (Utopian socialism works, if
you're an elf, though I think they're likely to drive Ignatius
Donnelly crazy before they're done.) There's a reporter named Gratia,
who has a rather tangled family background, and a character I love
dearly whose name is Animus Eelbunting Foote.
I have a few other little things out, and am also working through the
stack of finished short pieces and sending them out. (I have a
terrible habit of writing stuff and then not submitting it, so I have
a six-inch stack of manuscripts to prep for submission now.)
Published fiction work includes a story ("The Stone Girl") in the
first Xanada anthology, a poem ("Nettie's Garden") in the third Xanadu
anthology, some vanilla F/M smut in Carol Queen's anthology "Five
Minute Erotica," and a few others I can't recall at the moment,
because my head is so full of the 1881 thing.
In my day job, I make jewelry and have done so for the last ten years.
It's the best day job in the world. My shinies can be seen in the
entries headed ArtLog in my LiveJournal at
http://elisem.livejournal.com/ -- new lists of current shinies
usually go up on Fridays, unless I'm traveling. Some of my work has
inspired fiction; the two that I am most proud of are Sarah Monette's
story "Three Letters from the Queen of Elfland," which won a Spectrum
award and was based on the necklace of the same name, and Elizabeth
Bear's "Tideline," which just won a Hugo award for Best Short Story,
and was inspired by a necklace called "Sinner in the Hands of Mildly
Startled Buddha."
Can you talk a bit about your inspiration for your story "Focus of Desire"?
Well, Catherine asked me if I was interested in writing something that
might suit the anthology, and I said sure, I'd give it a whirl. A
little while later, I was on a trip to New York, and had my laptop in
the airport waiting area, and was writing. The character of Danise
came to me right away, and I knew she was researching and writing
about the lives of the women who turn out to be the ghosts, but I
wasn't sure exactly how they interacted. Then when I was staying in
Syracuse with a couple of good friends, one of whom is a history
professor, I was handed a book called "The Technology of Orgasm," by
Rachel Maines. I was reading her analysis of the economic and social
factors driving the earliest development of the technology of
vibrators, and all of a sudden, the story came into focus. The
comments about HMOs and the commoditization of women's orgasms in a
male-dominated health care system are directly inspired by the book.
(It's a great book, by the way. I strongly recommend it.) The final
bit that brought it all together was doing the rewrite that gave more
backstory to Danise and explained exactly where she was in her career:
in the difficult and maddening throes of her dissertation, not to
mention still in shock from losing her girlfriend to her dissertation,
essentially. I am very grateful to Sarah Monette, who when asked to
give me a review of the hassles and angst of her own dissertation
process and to help me brainstorm others for Danise, did so in a
splendid and hilarious conversation.
Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost?
Yes. After my partner of 13 years died, a note from him in his
handwriting appeared in a place that only he and I had access to, in a
spot that had been empty the day before. It was a poem addressed to
me. That's the most serious ghost thing that's ever happened to me.
What's your favorite ghost story (you can pick a movie if you prefer)?
Hmmm! It's hard to say, but I think the one I love best right now is
Hex, the British television series. It got very strange, and I don't
like every direction the story went, but I absolutely love Thelma the
ghost.
What are you working on now and where can readers find out more about you?
I'm currently making a mad effort to finish the manuscript of a
fantasy novel set in 1881 in Oleanna Territory, which is just east of
the Dakotas and just west of Minnesota. Much of the action takes
place at a newspaper in the territorial capital, and I get to mess
around with utopian socialist elves. (Utopian socialism works, if
you're an elf, though I think they're likely to drive Ignatius
Donnelly crazy before they're done.) There's a reporter named Gratia,
who has a rather tangled family background, and a character I love
dearly whose name is Animus Eelbunting Foote.
I have a few other little things out, and am also working through the
stack of finished short pieces and sending them out. (I have a
terrible habit of writing stuff and then not submitting it, so I have
a six-inch stack of manuscripts to prep for submission now.)
Published fiction work includes a story ("The Stone Girl") in the
first Xanada anthology, a poem ("Nettie's Garden") in the third Xanadu
anthology, some vanilla F/M smut in Carol Queen's anthology "Five
Minute Erotica," and a few others I can't recall at the moment,
because my head is so full of the 1881 thing.
In my day job, I make jewelry and have done so for the last ten years.
It's the best day job in the world. My shinies can be seen in the
entries headed ArtLog in my LiveJournal at
http://elisem.livejournal.com/ -- new lists of current shinies
usually go up on Fridays, unless I'm traveling. Some of my work has
inspired fiction; the two that I am most proud of are Sarah Monette's
story "Three Letters from the Queen of Elfland," which won a Spectrum
award and was based on the necklace of the same name, and Elizabeth
Bear's "Tideline," which just won a Hugo award for Best Short Story,
and was inspired by a necklace called "Sinner in the Hands of Mildly
Startled Buddha."