INTERVIEW: Janni Lee Simner on "Stars of Darkover"

STARS OF DARKOVER – not just the glorious night sky over the world of the Bloody Sun, but the authors who have been inspired over the decades by Marion Zimmer Bradley’s favorite world. It will be released on June 3, 2014, in honor of Marion's 84th birthday.

Here is the first of a series of interviews with these fabulous authors.

Janni Lee Simner sold her first short story to the anthology Leroni of Darkover more than two decades ago. She's gone on to publish more than three dozen short stories and eight novels, including the post-apocalyptic Bones of Faerie trilogy and the Icelandic-saga-based Thief Eyes.

Deborah J. Ross: How did Marion Zimmer Bradley influence your writing career?

Janni Lee Simner: I'd been a long-time Darkover reader when I first came upon Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover anthologies. I was just beginning to try to write professionally at the time, so I decided to try to write a story for one of them. I sent off for writer's guidelines -- this was in the days of snail mail, and I didn't know to include a self-addressed stamped envelope, but Marion sent me guidelines anyway, along with a page of advice for new writers. (I wonder how she knew? :-)) So I wrote my story, rewrote it about a million times, sent it off -- and was stunned when it sold! Knowing I'd made that first professional sale helped me stick with it as I worked on becoming a better writer and selling more consistently.

DJR: What inspired your story in Stars of Darkover?

JLS: As I began rereading the Darkover books, I was struck by the fact that again and again, one voice was missing. Elaine Aldaran-Montray  -- wife of Kennard Alton, mother of Lew Alton, sister to Larry Montray -- has a huge influence on Darkovan events, and yet we never get her perspective on those events, or even to understand why she left Terra with Kennard in the first place. The more I read, the more I wanted to know who Elaine was, what she was thinking, what it was like for her to be a child of two worlds. I wanted to give this important yet invisible character a voice, and I wrote "All the Branching Paths" to do that.

DJR: What have you written recently? What lies ahead?

JLS: I've recently published Faerie After, the final book of my post-apocalyptic Bones of Faerie trilogy, so I'm very excited about that!

DJR: What do you see for the future of Darkover?

JLS: I don't know, but it'll be interesting to find out! For so many writers to revisit the world of these books decades after many of them were written (and decades after many of us first read them) means we're all returning to Darkover with new perspectives and new ideas, and I look forward to seeing where that leads us!

Nebular Report 2014

The Nebula Awards Weekend, hosted by the Science Fiction/Fantasy* Writers of America, is a true feast for the writer (and lover) of the genre/s*. (There has been much debate about whether Science Fiction properly includes Fantasy, and indeed the name of the organization was changed to be inclusive, but pronouncing SFFWA led to so much inadvertent spitting that the earlier, simpler form is preferred.) One (extremely) notable writer put it this way: “I go to Worldcon or World Fantasy Con for my fans, but I go to the Nebs for myself.” This is where I, too, go to be among professional writers, many of the best living, to attend panels given by the top pros for other pro writers, and generally get a refreshed perspective on what an amazing community this is. You don’t have to be a SFWA member to attend, either.

My weekend started top-of-the-morning on Friday with working registration. I highly recommend this. It’s an excellent way to see your friends (and make new ones) as they check in. In fact, at times, my two stints resembled one prolonged, joyous, and occasionally chaotic reunion. I do not, however, recommend doing two two-hours stints back to back, and if I ever sign up to do that again, please whap me up the side of the head. Fortunately, my co-registrar for the second shift understood the symptoms of my crashing blood sugar, and agreed to hold the fort solo for the remaining quarter-hour, so I ran off to an impromptu lunch part with Beth Meacham, Ann Leckie (who subsequently won the Nebular for Best Novel)., and Dave Smeds. I don’t usually drop a lot of Names of Famous Folk in my reports, but this is an example of the kind of hobnobbing, socializing, and in general feeling-of-one-tribe that goes on at the Nebs.

When finally our tummies were full and our minds easier, I proceeded to one of the perennial dilemmas of the Neb weekend – two simultaneous panels I wanted to attend! I poked my head in on the standing-room-only Business of the Book Trade, heard some fascinating behind-the-scenes info, but couldn’t stand much longer (having been on my feet more than not during my registration stint), so sat down for Writing Workshops: From Alpha to Clarion. And stayed put for Writing About Other Cultures, Real and Imagined (with Amy Thompson, Chaz Brenchley, Nancy Kress, Diana Paxson, Tad Williams, and Juliette Wade – don’t you wish you’d been there? It was even better! And what made it so amazing was to hear how many ways writers of this caliber create their worlds. The result was not intimidating but inspiring.)( Read more... )