mmerriam | From the Lobo Luna Writing Community: In Depth Questions for Working Authors -- Michael Merriam #1 (Reply)

Over at the

lobo_luna community, I'm taking part in a question and answer session. I thought I'd start posting the questions and answers here as well. Though I'm answering the questions pretty quickly at

lobo_luna, I plan to cross-post a question and answer here only on Sunday and Wednesday.

Question #1. Can you give us a bit of background on your work, why you chose it, and what your current projects are?

If I said my work was all over the place, I think that would be an understatement. Urban fantasy, space opera, magical realism, science fantasy, supernatural horror, steampunk, weird west, a little sword & sorcery and the occasional reworked faerie tale tossed in for good measure. Sometimes I write the pulpiest of pulp-style adventure fiction; sometimes I write fiction some would classify as literary fiction with spec fic elements. I'm still flailing around trying to figure out themes and style and tone and what it is I do (or maybe this is what I do?) as a writer. But it is all work that falls under the umbrella term of speculative fiction.

My truest loves as a writer are urban and rural (sometimes called pastoral) fantasy, especially urban fantasy set in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota (where I live now), or rural fantasy set in the farms, ranches, and dusty little oil towns of west-central Oklahoma (where I grew up). When I'm working on stories using these settings, I feel like I'm at my strongest as a writer. These are places I understand. I can feel the weight of history in Minneapolis as I walk among the ruins of a flour mill next to the Mississippi River. I know the taste and feel of red Oklahoma dirt. I know the people who work the land. That's a spark I find hard (though not impossible) to duplicate when working in a wholly fictional world.

I chose to work in speculative fiction because it is what I enjoy the most as a reader. I grew up reading the tales of Doc Savage, John Carter of Mars, and Conan before I moved to Asimov and Heinlein. I found Andre Norton and Richard Adams' Watership Down, which led me to Tolkien. I found Roger Zelazny and the other "New Wave" SF authors. From there I was hooked, and when I picked up my first Charles de Lint urban fantasy (Moonheart, for the curious), that sent me to reading older tales and ballads, such as Tam Lin. I knew that this was it: this was what I wanted to do--to write stories about everyday people who lived in my world, encountered the fantastic, and then had to live with that knowledge, and all that the knowledge implied.

Now, don't walk away thinking speculative fiction is all I read and all I want to write. I grew up in a house full of wondrous books of all kinds. I like deep, thoughtful pieces full of theme and plot. I like fluffy wish-fulfillment fantasy. I like science fiction, fantasy, horror, westerns, adventure tales, mainstream, romance, mystery, historical, classics, pulps, game and movie tie-ins, and on and on. I am, it could be said, not the most—discerning reader. But I like what I like, from Raymond Carver to Roger Zelazny to Mickey Spillane to Mercedes Lackey to Ernest Hemingway to Jane Austin to Tom Clancy to Octavia Butler to William Burroughs to Carol Joyce Oates to Louis L'amour to Charles de Lint to Angela Carter to...

Well, you get the idea.

As for current projects, I have a novel entitled Last Car to Annwn Station out on submission. When people ask for my quick pitch I say, "It's a dark urban fantasy and paranormal romance revenge and redemption supernatural horror novel with mythological and fairy tale overtones and lesbian protagonists." It's set in Minneapolis and St. Paul and features the ghost of the defunct streetcar system.

Two other novels, Old Blood's Fate (an urban fantasy with a large ensemble cast,) and Dark Water Blues (an urban fantasy noir novel), are in the "nearly ready for submission" stage.

Rija's Tale, a high fantasy featuring a character I've used in several short stories, is about 70% complete in the first draft, while Move Along Home, an urban fantasy thriller, is mostly outlined and will be started in Summer 2009. I also have four short stories that I consider to be works-in-progress: Two are threatening to be magical realism, and the other two have supernatural horror (one with a strong romance element) written all over them.

I'd like to thank