Seanan McGuire Author Interview ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Credit: Beckett Gladney

Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite.

Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist.

Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com.

In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep.

Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life.

Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies.

Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

Where were you born and where do you call home?
“I was born in Martinez, California, and I currently live in Seattle, Washington.”

What inspired you to pen your first novel?
“My girlfriend at the time yelled at me until I agreed to expand a short story I’d written to amuse her.”

Tell us your latest news.
“At the time of answering this question, I am leaving for Walt Disney World in eleven days.”

Was there a particular event or time that you recognized that writing was not just a hobby.
“The day I talked to my accountant and realized I could pay my bills with my royalties.”

What was your unforgettable moment while writing NIGHT AND SILENCE?
“Writing a novel, for me, isn’t something that comes with ‘unforgettable moments.’ I sit down, I write, I finish writing, I go wandering into the nearest swamp to look for something to play with. Novels aren’t how I measure time.”

Are there authors that you’re excited to engage/work with?
“There are various authors I’d really love to collaborate with someday, but I don’t want to list names, because I am a superstitious creature, and wouldn’t want to jinx it.”

What part of Toby did you enjoy writing the most?
“I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Toby is the main character of the series, and the books are told in the first person; there’s no single aspect of her that outweighs the rest for me. There can’t be. I wouldn’t be able to find her voice if I only focused on one aspect.”

What book would you recommend for others to read?
“Of mine, or of someone else’s? I usually recommend On Writing, by Stephen King.”

What question are you never asked in interviews but wish you were?
“Hey, would you like to take over writing the X-Men?”

Which character have you enjoyed getting to know while writing OCTOBER DAYE Series?
“All of them?”

When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
“I have no idea.”

What did you do for your last birthday?
“Had a bunch of friends over to drink wine and watch Disney’s Descendants and Descendants 2 on DVD.”

If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be?
“I would tell myself to wear better shoes.”

Scariest horror movie you have ever watched?
“Probably The Blair Witch Project. It hasn’t held up terribly well, but I saw it under the exact perfect conditions, and it scared the pants off of me.”

The twelfth installment of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling Toby Daye urban fantasy series!

Things are not okay.

In the aftermath of Amandine's latest betrayal, October "Toby" Daye's fragile self-made family is on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Jazz can't sleep, Sylvester doesn't want to see her, and worst of all, Tybalt has withdrawn from her entirely, retreating into the Court of Cats as he tries to recover from his abduction. Toby is floundering, unable to help the people she loves most heal. She needs a distraction. She needs a quest.

What she doesn't need is the abduction of her estranged human daughter, Gillian. What she doesn't need is to be accused of kidnapping her own child by her ex-boyfriend and his new wife, who seems to be harboring secrets of her own. There's no question of whether she'll take the case. The only question is whether she's emotionally prepared to survive it.

Signs of Faerie's involvement are everywhere, and it's going to take all Toby's nerve and all her allies to get her through this web of old secrets, older hatreds, and new deceits. If she can't find Gillian before time runs out, her own child will pay the price. One question remains:

Who in Faerie remembered Gillian existed? And what do they stand to gain? No matter how this ends, Toby's life will never be the same.

Praise for OCTOBER DAYE Series

"The top of my urban-paranormal series list! I am so invested in the worldbuilding and the characters…. The romance is real and awesome, but doesn’t overshadow the adventure.” —Felicia Day

“I can’t believe McGuire can come up with another adventure as riveting as this one. But then I say that after every book in this series.” —SFRevu

“McGuire has never lacked for courage in her writing…. The phenomenally inventive October Daye series showcases her narrative daring and ingenuity beautifully.” —RT Reviews

“Prepare to be dazzled…. Like the best of urban fantasy, with each reveal and mystery solved, Toby’s world grows ever more enticing. As seductive as faerie itself, this is one series I could never give up.” —All Things Urban Fantasy

“These books are like watching half a season of your favorite television series all at once…. More than anything else, it’s the fun of it all that’s kept me returning to McGuire’s books and to this series.” —SF Signal

“The plot is strong, the characterization is terrific, the tragedies hurt…and McGuire’s usual beautiful writing and dark humor are present and accounted for. This has become one of my favorite urban fantasy series.” —Fantasy Literature

“With Ashes of Honor, McGuire has crafted a deeply personal and intense story that will keep you on the edge, hoping to be pushed over. In my opinion, it is, hands down, the best Toby to date.” —The Ranting Dragon

“An urban fantasy detective series featuring a resourceful female detective…. [October Daye] should appeal to fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files as well as the novels of Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, and similar authors.” —Library Journal

You can purchase Night and Silence (October Daye #12) at the following Retailers: