Outer Alliance Spotlight #34: Sara M. Harvey May 14, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , trackbackWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #34. Each Friday, the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is writer and costumer, Sara M. Harvey.
When Sara ten years old, a teacher gave her some notebooks to fill with stories, and the storytelling habit stuck. Sara’s first novel, A Year and a Day, was published in 2006. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies including Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Kerlak Press’s Dragons Composed. Apex Books published the first volume of her Penemue trilogy (steampunk horror novellas starring a lesbian half-angel with mad fighting skills), The Convent of the Pure, in 2009. The second volume, The Labyrinth of the Dead is available for pre-order now, and the third volume, The Tower of the Forgotten is scheduled for a 2011 release.
One of Sara’s other passions is costuming. She teaches, constructs, and frequently speaks about costumes on panels at conventions. She’s also contributed chapters to several costuming textbooks including The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History. Her essay on the Juni-hito styles of Heian Japan is available free online at Clothesline Journal of Costume and Dress.
Sara lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Matt and their three dogs. She is acttive on LiveJournal, Twitter, and Facebook in addition to her personal site. She will be attending Hypericon in June and Pi-Con in August.
***
OA: The Convent of the Pure is the first in a trilogy of steampunk novellas about Nephilim. What drew you to write about Nephilim, and how did your conception of them develop?
SH: Oh, sure start with a hard one!
I like myths. I like angels. I especially like apocryphal Biblical myths and things existing on the edge of Christian mythos.
I wanted to create a group of individuals that were supernatural, to an extent, but also human and (relatively) mortal. I didn’t want vampires or shifters or fae. And I am sure I was watching one of those weird quasi-religious History Channel shows when it came to me that the Nephilim would be perfect for what I had in mind. I did a lot of research and I drank a lot of tea before inserting them into my society in the Penemue world that is part class/caste/clan system, part scholarly emphasis, so a little Vampire: the Masquerade meets Harry Potter.
I also liked the idea of no one liking or trusting the Nephilim and their duty being a sort of sacrifice, to protect a humanity that fears and despises them. It’s been fun to mold and stretch the old myths to fit these characters, which are (to me anyway), very real people
OA: You regularly participate in Discarded to Divine. Do you have a tried and true technique for designing fabulous clothes out of thrift store rejects, or do you take a completely different creative path each year? Is there any one piece you’re particularly proud of?
SH: Well, I have a two-pronged approach to selling my piece every year- the first is to offer larger sizes. The bulk of what comes into Discarded to Divine is wonderful work by fashion design students, not unlike the ones I teach in Nashville, but they are usually very limited on sizes since the size 8 is standard for fashion. So I try to make my stuff to fit me, a size 14. I find that the average buyer (like the average consumer) is about a size 14 and in the four years I have participated, I have never had garment go unsold!
The other part that makes for good sales is that I make a jacket or coat. Jackets are much easier to fit on a wider variety of bodies than say pants, dresses, or even skirts. Plus, jackets are more versatile and easier to integrate into an existing wardrobe.
I try to do something completely different every year and I have done a crazy-quilt style patchwork kimono, a hand-painted 18th century waistcoat meets 1960s shift dress, a design off an antique Muslim prayer rug painted in the lining of a jacket, and this year a cocoon-coat that is Art Deco meets Egyptian.
My costume art, is a lot like my books and my dogs- they are each wonderful and unique creations and there is no way to choose a favorite!
OA: The world of the Nephilim books is rich with steampunk imagery and exquisitely dressed characters. Do you have a favorite object, place, or outfit from that world? If you could go there, where would you want to visit, and what would you wear?
SH: I like the world I created. It is based loosely on places I have known and loved and that are currently very far away from me. I think I would love to walk through the Penemue Chapter House with it’s totally decadent Victorian decor (and I mean decadent both in the rich, sumptuous way, but also that over-the-top cloying way that old hotels are where there are just random things crammed into nearly every corner). The Village of Penemue itself seems like a daydream of a place with cobbled streets and a town square and a farmer’s market. I like to imagine the places that aren’t in the story- the book shop, the clothing store, the candy store, the funky witchy shop that sells candles and tarot cards, the cafe, etc. It’s always a sunny late afternoon-either mid-spring or late fall- in the Penemue of my imagination.
I had way too much fun with Portia’s weapons. Her crossbow in book one was amazing but really, the axe in books two and three really take the cake. I would love to have that thing!
Lucky for me, though, I already own a trusty duster, but I could really use a Gladstone bag!
OA: Your first novel, A Year and a Day, is your love letter to New York (where you lived for two years, including 2001), and you’re working on a related book set in Nashville (where you live now). Have you learned anything new and wonderful about your current home city in the process of researching and writing this new book?
SH: Nashville totally sneaked up on me and stole my heart. New York made its intentions known from the start, but Nashville, Nashville was stealthy. And it took a long time for me to puzzle out what kind of story to tell about it.
I used to be a tour guide here in town and I learned so many awesome secrets about the city in those three years- and I am always learning more. The area in which I live, Woodbine, was a meeting place for several Native tribes throughout the South and had legendarily fertile soil.
Sadly, the giant flat rock (owing to the area’s original nickname “Flatrock”) disappeared when they put the paved roads in and was never seen again!
But I have learned so much talking to musicians and artists and getting a feel for my characters and the facet of Nashville in which they live.
And I am doing some re-thinking of how to address the Nashville-of-the-now, which is underwater with so many treasures ruined. Much like how A Year and a Day could have only taken place in a post 9/11 NYC, I think there is something about a post-flood Nashville that will lend a unique element that resonates with people. And I want, I NEED people to know that Nashlantis is just as awesome as it ever was and will come out of this crisis better and brighter and stronger.
OA: Nashville is suffering a lot of flood damage right now. Do you have any tips for people who are interested in helping out? Are there any local organizations you would recommend working with or sending money to?
SH: Thank you so much for asking! There are LOTS of people doing a LOT of wonderful things. Let me give you the list:
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
Nashville Chapter of the American Red Cross
Hands on Nashville
Do the Write Thing for Nashville (an auction site for book lovers!)
Second Harvest Food bank
And for the pet-lovers among us:
The Nashville Humane Association
Like with Katrina in NOLA, many people couldn’t take their pets when they evacuated and Nashville Humane has been taking them in and rescuing those left behind or separated from their owners.
And lastly, here is a great page of links and data about what you can do to help Nashville in her time of need, the city had not seen destruction like this since the Civil War when the battle lines went right through the heart of downtown.
In addition to money, what Nashville needs most right now is attention. The failed car bomb in Times Square and the Gulf oil leak are such big media-grabbers, that something like a capital city entirely underwater just flies under the radar. But as a recent article in Newsweek states, the lack of media attention means fewer donations, less volunteers, and a lack of knowledge which amounts to the same as a lack of caring. So I want to remedy that and get some focus on Nashville! Music City needs you! All of you!
***
Thank you, Sara! Join us next Friday for another Spotlight, and in the meantime, check out the Penemue books.
Comments»
[...] is full of stories by excellent writers, including two who’ve been interviewed here before: Sara Harvey and Michele [...]
[...] Sara M. Harvey’s Dressed Just Write event will be held at the Two Roads Cafe in Lebanon, Tennessee on Saturday the 13th of November from 3:00-5:00. Her Spotlight interview is here. [...]