And now I am at work on a dark fantasy alternate-historical novel riffing off the Persephone myth. It is called Cobweb Bride and the premise is that death, in the corporeal form of a grim 17th century Spaniard, comes to the world demanding a bride. Until a willing bride comes to him, says death, there will be no more relief and all acts of dying will cease in the world. As a result, the ill and the old and the mortally wounded are fixed in the same moment of agony without merciful release of oblivion. They are not able to pass on and therefore mount a search for the Cobweb Bride. Meanwhile, others who do not want to die ever see this as a selfish opportunity, and struggle to prevent the first group and make sure that no Cobweb Bride ever reaches death. This is very much an novel of ethical choices and sacrifice, and the protagonist, Percy (Persephone), an ordinary plain village peasant girl whose grandmother lies on her deathbed without release, ends up in the middle of this struggle.
This book is yet unsold, and will be marketed traditionally to the usual publishers.
I also have a trio of other novel projects, but they are next in the pipeline after this one. One is a "kickass romance" aimed at a category fantasy-romance line, called Margot Phoenix Rising, about a female superhero. Another project concerns the adventures of my character Ruricca NoOnesDaughter, and will likely be a medieval fantasy trilogy. The other, called Pantheon, will probably be an SF trilogy. Goodness knows, this should occupy me for the next 5 years at least. Beyond that, I am sure that inspiration will strike multiple times -- it always does.
DL: Do you have advice for aspiring writers?
VN: My advice for aspiring writers is threefold.
First, read as much as possible, both within and outside the genre you are working in. By reading you hone your internal ear for style.
Second, write. Everything comes down to it; unless you write, you are not a writer. This is the necessary applied practice of your skill, just as you would practice to perfect your skills in any other field such as sports or music or baking cookies or scrubbing the bathtub.
Third, submit your work. But -- stop chasing every seductive new market out there, and stop trying to write for the tastes of specific established professional markets and editors. That way lies mediocrity and eventual
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