In the Handbasket: Kelli Stanley and CITY OF DRAGONS

Way back in the day--July 18, 2008, to be exact--writer Kelli Stanley dropped by the Handbasket to blog about the background of her excellent debut novel, Nox Dormienda. You can visit Kelli's website to read about the exciting things that have happened to her since then, including all the praise-filled reviews she's been receiving for her latest historical thriller, CITY OF DRAGONS (February 2, Thomas Dunne/Minotaur). I was privileged to read CITY OF DRAGONS early on, and became an immediate fan. So I wanted to have Kelli here at the Handbasket again--but this time I got to ask the questions.

Welcome, Kelli!

What are the roots of City of Dragons? Did the character of Miranda Corbie come first for you, or did she just naturally emerge from the story?

First, thank you, my dear friend, for hosting me on the Handbasket. I miss you!! Considering how busy we both are, I’m just gonna go ahead and pretend we’re in fuzzy slippers and sipping cocoa and kickin’ back. ;)

So, Miranda. Well, Miranda came first, but the story was right behind her. And they grew at about the same pace. Long ago, when the idea of a mystery set around the ’39 World’s Fair first occurred to me, I had no idea it would wind up being as dark as it is. But then there was Bouchercon Alaska—where I first met you in person, remember?—and that first conference really changed my life, which is one reason it’s in my dedication to CoD. It encouraged me to fully embrace my “dark side”, so to speak. And my goals were clear: I wanted to write a paradigmatic noir that would also blow away genre conventions.

The Rice Bowl Party idea came to me during research … I remember getting chills down my back when I thought about what it would have been like to be a Japanese-American caught in that atmosphere. And yet the anger and the despair and the tensions in Chinatown were totally understandable, given human nature and what had happened in Nanking.

Miranda is both actor and reactor, like all of us, so after she walked on stage the ensuing plot developments also developed her. And late in the novel, she commits an act that actually shocked me. I thought about taking it out, but I couldn’t do it, because for better or worse … that’s what she did.

Like so many of her male noir counterparts, Miranda is emotionally damaged and has a troubled past. She's seen war, lost her true love, worked as an escort. What makes personal hardship a job requirement for the noir private investigator?

I think acknowledgment of hardship is a requirement for empathy. How can you emotionally understand what you’ve never experienced? Someone might be able to reach understanding through sheer intellectual analysis, but I don’t even think Spock was capable of that. ;) For me, empathy is the foundation of civilization, of society. It’s the thing that makes it work or not work. One of the characteristics that separates out the socio and psychopaths of the world.

In the investigation business, that empathetic experience of what it means to be hungry, to be abused, to be desperate, to lose what you most cherish—it gives you a much better understanding of both your clients and your quarry, and certainly of the world you’re living in. PIs are liminal creatures … they cross boundaries, exist outside “the system”. And like our other American mythic hero, the gunslinger, they need to be capable of traversing both Park Avenue and Hell’s Kitchen … or, to put it in San Francisco terms, Nob Hill and the Tenderloin. Understanding what makes people tick—that degree of experience and empathy—makes for a good private investigator.
And noir, for me, is the crime fiction subgenre that is most free to explore the human soul, flaws and foibles … darkness at the heart of light, ruin of innocence, unexpected heroism in a hired killer. That’s one reason I love to write it … and I think having an understanding of human pain and suffering is what makes for memorable writing … and an effective PI.

That said, the idea for Miranda as an escort fell into place from another piece of research. Diane’s Escort Bureau was real – and was indeed located at 41 Grant Avenue.

Who were the fictional predecessors or character models for Miranda? Were any of them men?

I think every PI has two fathers: Spade and Marlowe. Miranda’s no exception. But she’s got a whole legion of mothers … every film noir femme fatale who walked down the mean streets in high heeled pumps. My original idea—conscious, as opposed to the character development that is organic and subconscious—was to create a character with the superficial attributes of these women—sexual, attractive, manipulative, even dangerous—but with the moral codes that were reserved for the male hero. In other words, a “real” femme fatale, a real woman, a real person, someone for whom beauty is both a meal ticket and a burden and at times a curse, someone for whom harassment is a daily occurrence, someone who has to worry about getting older and is trying to live life on her own terms. She’s going to be objectified, and she knows it. So she takes advantage of it for her own ends.

When you were researching the novel, did you find traces of real-life female private investigators who worked in the first half of the 20th century?

Traces. But I wasn’t really looking. There were an unbelievable number of private detective agencies, though, and I knew female investigators did exist … and that was enough.

Your first novel, Nox Dormienda, took place on the British frontier of the Roman Empire. As a writer, what was it like making that nearly two thousand year jump? Do you see any surprising similarities (or differences) between the women of the two periods?

I’m one of those old-fashioned humanists who don’t believe that human nature has changed much. The powerful women of ancient Rome were demonized or accused of witchcraft in the histories or in speeches … and one of the most ancient Greek poems extant is a diatribe by a poet named Simonides in which he compares different types of women to animals (the vixen, the sow, etc.). So there is a strong undercurrent of a kind of distrust of the power of women, particularly beautiful women, that goes back a long, long time … way before Darin yelled at Samantha! ;) You might say the femme fatale is embedded in Western culture.
As a writer, noir is what I’ve always wanted to tackle, and though I of course am over the moon to be able to continue the Arcturus series—I get very attached to my characters, and I spent many years studying Rome—this period, the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, feels like what I was born to write. It’s truly been a dream come true to see it materialize!

1940 San Francisco is a central character in CITY OF DRAGONS. Where does your intense affinity for the city and the period come from? Past-life experience, perhaps?

I’ve always loved San Francisco. When we lived in San Jose, taking the occasional trip to the city was like going to Disneyland. Later, when we moved to rural Humboldt and northern Mendocino counties, I took every chance I could to get back and revel in both the beauty and the urban-ness of it all. It’s really one of only two places I could picture myself living—the other being New York.
As for the period … maybe we should get all Shirley MacClaine for a minute. I was born with this very odd sense of nostalgia for the period. I mean, my parents were born in ’39, so their memories are mostly of the late ‘40s and ‘50s. My yearning went back further. I resonated with the music, the movies, the popular culture … it was bizarre. I was the only kid on the block who could tell you who won the Oscar in 1934, or do a Jimmy Cagney impression.

And you know, nostalgia is an interesting word. The Greek roots literally mean “home-coming” … and in some way, this period always felt like home to me. So who knows? I’m ready to embrace my past life, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of this one. ☺

CITY OF DRAGONS has been getting wonderful reviews and you have a massive personal tour planned to promote it. What's next?

Thanks so much, sweetie. You’re one of the godmothers of the book—you blurbed it for me before we sold it! So I’m feeling very lucky and very blessed to have gotten it this far, and now next week (Yikes!!) is the launch date.

I’m currently working on the sequel to City of Dragons—tentative title is Country of Spiders, and it takes place three months after CoD. A short story prequel to the novel—“Children’s Day”—is being published in the next ITW anthology, FIRST THRILLS, on June 22—I’m very excited about this project, as the anthology is a combination of stories from ITW Debut authors and legends like Lee Child and Ken Bruen. Talk about thrills!!

And at some point, Minotaur will be bringing out CURSED, the sequel to NOX DORMIENDA. So I’ve got my hands full, but you know, my goal has always been to be able to write full time—live modestly, but to be able to support myself through my work. If I can get to that point, I’ve got other stories I want to tell … graphic novels, a stand-alone thriller set in Redwood country … and of course, continue my series for as long as possible. I could happily write Miranda for the rest of my life, and would love to get her into the McCarthy era.

Thank you again for having me over, Laura!! I loved the cocoa and marshmallows … sigh … now it’s back to work!! ;)

You know you're welcome any time, dearest Kelli. But, uh, COUNTRY OF SPIDERS? Sounds terrifying--and I know it will be loaded with suspense!

City of Dragons (released February 2, 2010), the first of a series, has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist, is an RT Book Reviews Top Pick, and an Indie Next Book for February. “Children’s Day”, a prequel to City of Dragons, will be published in First Thrills: High Octane Stories by the Hottest Thriller Writers, coming June 22nd from Tor/Forge.

Kelli’s debut novel, Nox Dormienda, won the Bruce Alexander Award and was nominated for a Macavity. She lives in San Francisco, and frequents old movie palaces, speakeasies and bookstores. You can find out more about her and her books at her website: http://www.kellistanley.com.

The Rainy January

I've been in an introspective frame of mind of late. Sometime around 2:30 this morning I finally completed the first draft of my latest novel, so I guess introspection has actually been required. The earliest file date I can find for this story is late November, 2008--which means I've been at work on it for well over year.

Back in late 2005, I gave myself one year to write ISABELLA MOON, and pretty much nailed it, give or take a few weeks for initial revisions. This year, in addition to working on the novel and touring for CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS, Pinckney and I edited the amazing (IMHO!) SURREAL SOUTH 2009, and sent our oldest off to college a year early. In September, I started the Wardrobe by Sam blog. Excuses? Nah. Just life. A really full, fun, never-dull life.

But you know how there are those things that kind of make you just stop and wonder? Yesterday, the rain continued for a third day here, and I found myself entertaining the dogs out on the concrete pad in the driveway (We could park several large RVs out there--we kind of wonder what the people who poured it were thinking. Rocket launching?).

This is what I saw when I looked down:

 

 

Could only have been better if there had been a raptor perched in one of the trees....

This Wednesday, the 27th, writer Kelli Stanley will drop by for an interview about her kick-ass new thriller City of Dragons. You're going to want to read this book.

Congratulations, Kelli and Tim!

I had a great time in Denver at last year's Left Coast Crime Conference, and was sad to miss the fun in Hawaii this week. The Hawaii conference was especially significant for my friends Tim Maleeny and Kelli Stanley, who both won Left Coast Crime Awards.


Kelli--who just signed a new contract with Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Minotaur--won THE BRUCE ALEXANDER MEMORIAL HISTORICAL MYSTERY award for her Roman noir novel, Nox Dormienda, A Long Night For Sleeping (Five Star). Kelli's next novel, Rice Bowl, comes out in 2010.


Tim won The Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery for his most recent Cape Weathers novel, Greasing the Pinata. Next up for Tim is a stand-alone thriller, Jump, coming this June.

Tim and Kelli were both members of our International Thriller Writers 2007 debut class, so it's especially fun to keep up with what they're doing. Congratulations, my dears!

Get the full list of winners and other fabulous nominees here. via

A Dreadful Valentine, Two Contests and a Happy Ending

Did anyone else have a terrible Valentine's Day?


P was out of town and the children were doing a school fundraiser, so I found myself alone with the dogs, a whole lot of laundry, a bit of leftover chicken and no dark chocolate. Yes, I was feeling very sorry for myself! P did make sure a lovely bouquet arrived early in the day, but I had to spend a good deal of time clearing piles of paper off the kitchen island before it looked at home there.

I worked for a while, but, truly, my heart wasn't in it. I found myself watching a perfectly dreadful film--Divorce, American Style--while Scout (our young Fauxberman or Fraudweiler, whatever his black and brown markings represent) attempted to place his latest obsession, a jingling rubber ball, on my lap so I could absentmindedly throw it across the room for him. His head only just reaches the couch cushion, so he didn't often succeed, poor thing.

So much for the whole "if you don't have someone to do something for you on Valentine's Day, do something for yourself" thing! I'm terrible at such activities. Bubble baths? Hate them. I have the same love/hate relationships with tubs that I have with feet. Read a good book? *sigh* I've read piles. Take yourself to a movie! Um, on Valentine's Day? Really? At night? Alone? And have you looked at what's playing at the cinema recently? (Do I sound bitter?)

Divorce, American Style was, I learned from the TCM talking head, released at the height of Dick Van Dyke's popularity. He stars with Debbie Reynolds--a kind of woozy, non-manic Debbie Reynolds that I'd never seen before--as a man who divorces his wife and then ends up coming back to her after a year. Why he returns, I'm not sure. The film's portrayal of marriage is grisly, and right in line with other films of that era: marriage is a trap, they seem to say. It's hell, and there's no escaping it. If you're not of a certain age, you won't know about Plaza Suite and The Secret Life of an American Wife, or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the mother of all marriage-is-hell films. The films are all supposedly about exposing the hypocrisy of the American middle class, I believe. But mostly they are just tense and cruel. Just the thing for a solitary Valentine's Day!



It was actually only the second worst Valentine's Day of my life, the first being the day after my second wedding. In hindsight, I can see that we were doomed from the beginning: there was a cold, wet rain during the ceremony, the guy doing the music forgot to dim the lights and started the song for our first dance before we knew what he was doing so that we were only able to dance to it for about a minute, and several of the guests stole bottles of wine and liquor from the country club's bar. Worse, though, was Valentine's Day, our first day in Cancun. Our room wasn't to be ready for hours, and we sat there on the beach all afternoon in our dark, wool clothes, perspiring and miserable, wondering what we were doing there. At least I was wondering. Then I was sick for two days. Ah, memories....

So, back to this Valentine's Day--I spent Saturday morning doing damage control on my very first newsletter. I was thrilled to be able to send out a newsletter. My html skills are minimal, and it took me weeks to put it together. But I messed it up--and I even had two contests in it!

Here they are:

#1

I mentioned here a while back that the trade paperback of ISABELLA MOON was picked up for Target's Bookmarked promotion beginning February 15th. So to encourage everyone to go to Target and buy the book, I said that I would send magnets to anyone who took a picture of it there and emailed the image to me so I could post it. I thought it was a great idea! That is, until an alert reader/Target employee emailed to tell me that people aren't allowed to take pictures inside Target! Ack! I can just imagine twenty potential IM readers being dragged off to scary little rooms in handcuffs. So I had to email everyone on my newsletter list to tell them to STOP!!!!

The magnet offer is still on, though. All you have to do is go to see ISABELLA MOON at Target and tell me you saw it there. Then I'll send you magnets. (If you really want to make me happy, you can buy a copy there for your mom, dad, sister, BFF, nanny, but I hate to ask!) I'll also put you in a drawing for IM goodies later in March.

#2

If you drop me an email at laura@laurabenedict.com, provide your name and email address and a request to be added to my newsletter list (I'll only send it out quarterly.), I'll put you in a drawing for a fabulous gift basket. Let's see. It has a signed copy of CMLH, a pillar candle, a fancy bookmark, a magnetic poetry kit for leaving messages for your secret love, gourmet tea, a very cozy throw for cuddling, and a box of Godiva Chocolates. Also, a $25 Victoria's Secret gift card. Just send me that request by The Ides of March!

Oh, and full disclosure....I actually opened the box of Godiva I bought for that basket today because, well, a girl needs chocolate when she's had a sucky Valentine's Day, doesn't she?! I'll buy a fresh one before I mail out the basket. Promise!


EXTRA! My dear friend Kelli Stanley, author of Nox Dormienda, has big news. From her website: "Kelli's novel RICE BOWL, set in 1940 San Francisco and introducing PI, former Spanish Civil War nurse and ex-escort Miranda Corbie, will be published by Thomas Dunne/St Martin's Minotaur and available in early 2010."

Congratulations, Kelli!

Guest Blogger, Kelli Stanley

I knew I would adore Kelli Stanley just as soon as I heard that she'd coined the term "Roman Noir" for her first novel, NOX DORMIENDA: A Long Night for Sleeping. My daughter is a scholar of all things pertaining to ancient Rome, and she even tried to teach her eccentrically-educated mother a little Latin from her Cambridge Series of college texts. (Ah, someday I'll try again!) I devoured NOX DORMIENDA just the moment Kelli made it available to me and it made the time period live for me in the most delightful ways: It was gritty, sexy, and had a great mystery. Personally, I think it should be the next Masterpiece Theater Mystery Series (Hey, Rebecca Eaton--Get this book!)--but I digress. Kelli knows a lot about noir, films, the ancients, and the SF Bay Area. Check out her website here, her blog here, and a review of the novel here. Today is her big day. Congrats, honey!

A Long, Long Time Ago in a Culture Far, Far Away

When my friend and stellar writer Laura Benedict asked me to write about why I like ancient Greece and Rome—and enough to have spent a significant portion of my life in hot, stuffy university classrooms—she came up with a few suggestions:

“Their unbridled lust? Their totally not-modern worldview? The frequent bathing?”

My fascination with strigils and bath oils aside (a strigil, by the way, was used to scrape off the oils that someone—usually an attractive slave—rubbed all over you), these are all excellent reasons to read about Rome or Greece, but none of them (except maybe the bathing) were my personal motivators.

No, what dragged me into the Classical world was mythology. I remember reading D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths when I was seven, captivated by gods that acted like second graders. I mean, think about it: Zeus and Hera and Aphrodite and Ares had the universe as a playground and were just as likely to change partners as you did boyfriends. And how cool to just hit ’em with a lightning bolt if they didn’t trade peanut butter for egg salad!

When I was older, I responded on an aesthetic level. Take a look at just about any piece of classical sculpture … the entire Western world’s conception of beauty was shaped by Greece and Rome. Imagine a street filled with naked athletes who make Lance Armstrong look like the one you’d kick out of bed for spitting out olive pits. (Greek athletes did perform in the nude; unfortunately, women were also thrown over a large cliff if they were caught watching. One reason I’m a Romanist.)

And then … the final piece fell into place when I finally took a trip to Europe, as an undergraduate more than a few moons ago. I lived in Rome for a semester … and no matter how old you are in Rome or what you actually look like, there will be men you encounter who will tell you that you are the second coming of Marilyn Monroe. I mean, what’s not to love? A little later, I lived in Florence for a year, when you could actually touch the David. No, that’s not a code word.

So all these experiences left me with an insatiable appetite for gelato and Classical culture—particularly the Roman variety. I can swear in dead languages, write love spells and analyze sexual positions in frescoes.

And if that’s not worth student debt, nothing is! ☺

by Kelli Stanley

Big News. I Mean Really Big News!

I received some amazing news a couple of weeks ago and have been dying to share it. Now I can!

I've been invited to the 29th annual Kentucky Women's Writers Conference in Lexington. It happens in September and I'll be teaching a workshop, which I always enjoy. But the really exciting news is that I'll be doing a reading with Joyce Carol Oates!

Joyce has chosen me to appear with her at the conference's Hardwick/Jones reading, a reading that, according to the press release, "honors the roles of influence, mentoring and friendship in women writers’ lives." We'll be conversing onstage--or at least she will be conversing. I'll be the one looking stunned! Joyce has a brilliant mind and I could listen to her talk for hours.

The invitation is such a blessing, and an honor. I still can't believe it. If you'll be anywhere near the University of Kentucky on September 12th, I hope you'll come to see us. Really, if you haven't heard Joyce speak, you don't want to miss it!

In other news--Kelli Stanley tagged me. Since I just did one here last week, I thought I'd answer directly on her blog. I love hanging out there. She always has incredible stories to tell.

Also, did I mention that I'm the volunteer maven for Thrillerfest 2008? If you don't know about this remarkable gathering of thriller writers and their fans, you should! I'll have more details next blog.

Elaine Viets, Modern Moms, and Why I'll Never Write for the NYT

Well, I think it's now entirely obvious why I would make a terrible journalist! I had planned to blog each day of Left Coast Crime, but became distracted by MANY shiny objects.

A few catch-up highlights: The debut author breakfast went swimmingly, and I even had five lovely new readers at my table. Afterwards, I chatted with writers Michelle Gagnon, Alexandra Sokoloff, and JT Ellison. Simon Wood was there as well and told (in his delightfully deadpan Brit accent) a wicked story about his eight year-old self misspelling the name of a particular Norse king. And though I should've been at more panels learning things, I spent lots of time in the "Endless Conversation" room with its informal writer roundtables. There, I got to hear Kelli Stanley play the harmonica, and learn why Mario Acevedo writes cool books like The Nymphos of Rocky Flats. Last, but not least, was my own scheduled endless conversation panel with my new favorite breakfast companion, David Corbett, as well as Sam Reaves and Patricia Stoltey.

(I know that's a lot of linked names, but one of the best things about Left Coast Crime is its intimacy. Readers and writers alike get to spend lots of time getting to know one another, and these are folks I think you'll like to meet, too.)

On Saturday night, ISABELLA MOON did not win the coveted ARTY award for which she was nominated. The ARTY went to Rhys Bowen's HER ROYAL SPYNESS, a book I had been dying to read. Fortunately, on that morning's visit to Denver's cozy MURDER BY THE BOOK bookstore, I was able to pick up a signed first edition and Rhys very kindly inscribed it for me before the banquet. I devoured the book on the plane ride home, and it was exactly the charming between-the-wars (WWI and II) mystery romp that I had hoped it would be.

Best and Worst celeb-contact moment: The best part was meeting mystery writer and former St Louisan Elaine Viets and having the privilege of pushing her wheelchair for her. The worst part was getting Elaine Viets and her wheelchair stuck in the teeny-tiny elevator I never should have even considered pushing her chair into. But I was excited and thoughtless and even may have said a curse word out loud a moment after I jammed the chair in the door. *sigh*

Best Tourist Moment: Touring the Molly Brown (the unsinkable one) House and having high tea with my friends Kelli and Tana at the stunning Brown Palace Hotel. Oh, and between the house tour and tea, I got to stand on the step of Colorado's Capitol Building that is exactly one mile above sea level. (Drop by my myspace blog for a slideshow because I can't figure out how to do one here.)

Latest News: 1) My editor seems to like CALLING MR LONELY HEARTS, and I'm very relieved and excited. Seems it's "sexy horror!" Editing begins this week. Can't wait for you all to read it. 2) What does an incredibly dilatory blogger do for an encore? Why, she starts blogging somewhere else, of course. Meet the Mid-Century Modern Moms--Ten women of a certain age who have teenagers at home. We'll dish about life with the darling creatures--and they're kids of all descriptions, abilities, and challenges. I blog every other Wednesday, so I think I can keep up.

More later. Really!

P.S. When you were a child, did you ever accidentally let slip a naughty word that you didn't know the meaning of at the time? Best story wins a copy of Elaine Viets's DYING TO CALL YOU and an ISABELLA MOON spiral bound journal.