Sonya Clark is an upcoming urban fantasy/paranormal romance writer whose previous works include MOJO QUEEEN and RED HOUSE. Her short fiction, one featuring an Elvis-impersonator vampire-killer have provided a taste of what this talented writer is capable of.
I was glad to catch her amidst edits to ask her a few questions regarding her new novel, TRANCEHACK. Happy book birthday! - CC
Tell us
where you came up with the idea for TRANCEHACK.
The idea for
Trancehack came from a confluence of things. One was urban magic and what you
could do with that. I don't mean herb pots on a windowsill, either. For
research I bought a non-fiction book that was supposedly about city magic but
it wasn't about that at all, it was about transplanting traditional nature
magic into the city. That's not what I wanted to explore. Things like trance
and astral projection are tools for a mystic to use to send their
consciousness into other realms. The most prevalent “other realm” of our time
is cyberspace. What if a witch could use astral projection to enter cyberspace?
What if that ability had to be hidden, not only from Normals but other Magic
Born as well? There were other things, too, like calling on neon and creating
app spells. Plus things that aren’t in this first book of the series.
The other
idea was a more sociological one - what happens when bigotry is codified into
law? What does it to do people - on a micro level as individuals and on a macro
level as a society - when fear and cowardice have led to an entire demographic
being consigned to second-class status? Not just through attitudes and
behavior, but actual law? I mean, it has happened and in some ways still is
here in the US. We see things changing for the better in some ways. At this
point it is probably inevitable that marriage equality will become the law of
the land, and that’s something to look forward to and be proud of. But there’s
still no shortage of politicians who support laws and policies that essentially
punish children for being born in poor/low income families. It’s getting harder
for politicians to point to skin color, sexual orientation, and other
traditional excuses for bigotry, so poverty has become a hugely popular
bogeyman. Punishing those living in poverty, making them out to be the “scary
other” that people should be afraid of, is an easy way to get elected in some
places.
When citizens fall for that kind of fear-mongering, what kind of
society do they create for themselves?
In the Magic
Born series, it’s a society that consigns children born with magic in their DNA
to what are basically urban reservations. Witches - a handy stand-in for any “other”
you can think of - have no rights and have essentially been dehumanized. But
these laws have also dehumanized the Normals who are forced to give up their
Magic Born children. So it’s really striking at the heart of families, the
right to be with the person you love, build a family together. That’s why it
had to be a love story, too. I couldn’t imagine telling a story about this
world without having a Normal and a Magic Born fall in love.
If you could
be anyone in your book for a day, who would you choose, and why?
That's
a hard question for me because I wouldn't want to live in this kind of
quasi-dystopian world. But I guess I'd choose Calla so that I could experience
trancehacking and some of the other magic she practices.
What were
some of the songs that you listened to while writing TRANCEHACK? If the book
had a soundtrack, what would be top picks?
This
book had a totally different kind of sound than others I've written. Depeche
Mode provided the bulk of the musical inspiration, along with Portishead,
Faithless, and some Nine Inch Nails. Also the soundtrack to Blade Runner.
Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine became an important song to the love
story between Nate and Calla. "Then I heard your heart beating / you were
in the darkness too / so I stayed in the darkness with you" - those lyrics
are perfect for Nate and Calla.
What are
your plans for the future?
Trancehack
is the first of a trilogy. I don't have final titles or release dates for the
rest of the Magic Born books, but there won't be too much time between them. My
old paranormal blog serial The Bradbury Institute is becoming a series of
novellas for Entranced Publishing, with the first one scheduled to be released
in April of next year. Beyond that, well, I'll figure it out. :)
Lightning
Round!
Favorite
book of the moment: I've been reading the Tales of the Underlight series by Jax
Garren. It's some really unique and imaginative world-building with great
characters, and it gets into Norse mythology which was a nice change of pace
from the usual.
Favorite
band of the moment: I have played the hell out of the new Depeche Mode album while
writing the second Magic Born book. :)
Favorite TV
show:
Supernatural. Team Dean all the way!
Favorite
comfort:
Coffee. I could not function without it.
Anything
else you'd like to add?
The
only thing I'd like to add is a big thank you to both Synde and you!
Visit Sonya's site at http://www.sonyaclark.net/
