AUTHOR BLAST: MINDY KLASKY

VITAL STATS:

Name: Mindy Klasky

Publisher: Roc (6 fantasy novels) and Red Dress Ink (2 contemporary fantasy novels)

THE TEN QUESTIONS

1. What’s your first fantastic fiction memory?
My first speculative fiction memory was following along with my mother as she read GOODNIGHT MOON to me. I was absolutely, utterly convinced that the world in that picture book was real, and that if I could set out a “bowl full of mush” then I could meet the “Nobody” who was my favorite hidden creature in the book. My belief in the realness of that other world grew into elaborate make believe games with friends, where dozens of stuffed animals took on the properties of aliens, medieval knights, and others, all combined in a speculative fiction hodge-podge.

2. When did you realize you wanted to write fantastic fiction?

I wrote bits and pieces of stories as soon as I started school; in my second grade English class, we were required to keep a journal. My first serious writing venture, though, occurred over spring break in seventh grade, when my best friend and I decided to write a sequel to THE LORD OF THE RINGS. We started on the first Saturday of our one-week break. Sadly, we did not finish by the Sunday night eight days later…3. What are you currently reading?

SILENT IN THE GRAVE, by Deana Raybourn. This mystery, set in Victorian England, was given to me by my editor the last time I visited her office. I am loving the formal tone of the writing, the excruciating politeness of the characters, even as their underlying thoughts are laid bare in narration. In tone, the book reminds me of Naomi Novik’s wonderful TEMERAIRE series (but without, alas, the dragons.)

4. Right this instant, what’s your favorite science factoid?

My last read book was PARASITE REX, by Carl Zimmer, and I am still reveling in his tales of parasites shaping the sexual evolution of species, possibly including mankind. (In regions where parasites threaten species, those species tend to reproduce sexually, rather than asexually. Parasites, therefore, lead to species differentiation, including the development of secondary sexual characteristics deemed attractive to the opposite sex.) 5. Outside of your own medium, what’s your favorite science fiction story?

My favorite science fiction involves the sociological effects of science on humankind. One of my long-time favorites is Nancy Kress’s BEGGARS IN SPAIN, which speculates on a near-future where parents can select genetic modification for their children, including the elimination of the need for sleep. In Kress’s vision, though, sleeplessness results in substantially higher intelligence, and the rise of a “superclass” of humans, more motivated to do the work and drive the society in which they live. I admire Kress’s thorough construction of science in her world, including the science of economics, as she studies the impact relatively minor decisions have as they play out through society.

6. What are you currently working on?

I am currently editing the third volume in my Jane Madison series, MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL. This series is about a contemporary librarian who discovers that she’s a witch. As she learns how to master her magical abilities, she has to balance a snarky familiar, a controlling warder, a kind-but-mundane best friend, and endless battles with her family.

7. What kind of characters interest you most?

I prefer characters who COULD be real, who realistically offer emotional responses to the stimulus of the events in their books. Characters are the first aspect of a story that I develop, when I’m working on a new idea, and I typically know a lot about the individual actors in my novel, before I even create their plot.8. How did you break in to the business?

I spent approximately five years writing seriously, completing one fantasy novel that I shopped around to an agent (after burying two romances and a mystery under my mattress.) I worked with that agent for three years, without his selling the novel. During that time, I wrote another novel, THE GLASSWRIGHTS’ APPRENTICE. When I sent APPRENTICE to that agent, he declined to represent it, noting that it had flaws “as deep as the novel he was then working on.” He recommended another agent, though - Richard Curtis. I signed a one-year contract with Richard on March 31, 1998. He sold APPRENTICE one year and a day later - I was utterly convinced that he was playing an April Fools joke on me, when he told me the novel had sold. Richard remains my agent today.9. What’s the worst story idea you ever had?

The worst story ideas I’ve ever had come to me nightly, in the few minutes when I am almost soundly asleep. Inevitably, when I wake up enough to scribble down my so-called brilliant thoughts, I find them utterly boring and trivial in the morning. Nevertheless, I keep trying to record them, certain as I am each night that I’ve discovered the most brilliant plot (or character, or scientific device, or whatever) known to man.

10. If you could rapidly advance one technology overnight, what technology would it be?

Health care - primarily understanding the human immune system and its role in auto-immune diseases, particularly diabetes.