We recently had the opportunity to sit down with H. G. Parry, the author of The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep. Her newest novel, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, has just been released and in this interview, she talks about the inspiration behind this historical retelling, things she likes best about creating a magic system, her next book, and a lot more!
Thank you so much for doing this interview! Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Thank you so much for inviting me! I’m a full-time writer who lives on the Kāpiti Coast near Wellington, New Zealand, with my sister and an increasing menagerie of animals. I have a PhD in English Literature, which I got writing about children’s fantasy, and I used to tutor English, Film, and Media Studies at university. Some things I like include: books, trees, windy days, drawing, travelling, history, all foods made from potatoes, BBC costume dramas, rabbits, more books, and tea.
Your latest novel, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, is out now! What can readers expect?
A Declaration is the first part of a duology that together tells the story of the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the British abolition movement in a world where magic is real and jealously guarded by the ruling classes. It’s designed to read as very detailed, sprawling, dialogue-heavy, character-driven historical fiction, but infused with magic that both heightens and comes to change the events that take place. (I’m just getting brave enough to describe it as Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety meets Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.) So, expect revolutions and shadows and politics, vampires and magic and parliamentary debates, and people fighting to change the world.
What drew you to the historical fantasy genre?
I love biopics and realistic fiction about historical figures—I’m fascinated by the blurred line between trying to accurately represent history and turning that history into story. I think historical fantasy at its best just takes this a step further: it gives us a way to talk about history that acknowledges that we’re mythologising it, and at the same time lets us see it in a new light. Magic becomes a way of exaggerating and heightening the parts of history we want to explore, as well as opening up new possibilities. Plus, vampires.
Why did you choose to retell the history of the late eighteenth century Atlantic World in particular?
The short answer is just that it’s so interesting. I love the passion in that period for ideas and rhetoric; I love the parliamentary clashes and the revolutions and the social upheavals; I love the feeling of being on the brink of a new world. It’s also a period filled with larger-than-life historical figures, many of whom were trying to bring about social change and who were faced with often terrible choices about how to go about it. From a writing perspective, those people and those choices are irresistible.
What was your favourite part about creating an alternate world infused with magic? Are there any fantasy worlds you took inspiration from?
One thing that surprised me, but that I loved, was how far back into history I had to keep going to make sure the world made sense. I was just going to do eighteenth-century-but-magic and let it stand for itself, but once you start questioning how certain things came about you fall down a rabbit-hole, and by the end of it I’d rewritten all the way back to the Hundred Years War.
As far as world-building inspiration goes, I already mentioned Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but also Naomi Novik’s Temeraire books, Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamourist Histories, and Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen all rethink the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century with magic in such smart, interesting ways.
Out of all the historical figures you reimagined in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, who was the most challenging for you to write?
They were all challenging in different ways—Wilberforce because of his mix of moral conservatism and radical principles; Pitt because he was intensely guarded and he excelled at keeping his public and private personas very separate; Toussaint Louverture because of his legendary status; Robespierre because, well, he killed a lot of people, and that’s a troubling headspace to get into. But at the same time, there’s something very satisfying about being able to turn detective and research these peoples’ likes and dislikes and quirks and principles rather than create them. It’s a kind of working backwards: rather than imagine how a character behaves, as you normally would, you know what their historical counterpart did, and your job is to imagine why—and, in some cases, how that would shift once you throw magic into the mix.
Pitt and Wilberforce’s banters were one of the things I loved best about this book! What part did you enjoy writing the most?
I’m so glad! That’s probably what I enjoyed writing the most too. My favourite thing to write in general is intense, complicated friendships between characters (Pitt and Wilberforce, Robespierre and Camille, Fina and Toussaint Louverture), and those two in particular are a joy.
You recently tweeted that Declaration book two is all wrapped up. After this duology is over, what’s next for you?
It isn’t wrapped up quite yet! I sent the first draft to my editor recently, so assuming she likes it there’s still a few months of editing before it gets kicked out into the world to be a book. After that, I’ve been working on one or two other things in the meantime, so hopefully some of them will get to see the light of day…
What’s your writing process like? Has it changed since your debut novel?
It’s a terrible chaotic jigsaw-puzzle approach, where I write the scenes and fragments of scenes that I know and am excited about, entirely out of order. When I get stuck, I pull back and research and plan based on what I have on the page, and then when I have more scenes I start writing those again. Eventually, all the gaps close, and that’s a first draft. And no, this hasn’t changed! I keep waiting for it to. I am so jealous of writers who write in order.
How’s life in quarantine? What have O’Connell, Fleischman, Jonathan Strange, Mr. Norrell and Thistledown been up to?
Ha! They’re doing very well, thank you. It’s winter here and they’ve been stuck inside a lot because of the rain, which suits some of them (Fleischman, Mr Norrell) and has turned some of them into monsters (O’Connell, Thistle).
We’re actually out of quarantine in New Zealand now, and I really hope we can stay there! While it lasted, I did manage to get some writing done, but none of it was writing that I was meant to be doing, and mostly I just rewatched the same twenty-something episodes of Robin Hood, went for walks by the beach, and raised many children on the Sims.
Finally, any book recommendations for our readers?
Always! I’ve just read an ARC of Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches, an alternate version of the women’s suffrage movement with witches, and it’s wonderful: gorgeously written, angry, hopeful, magical. I’m right now reading Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter, out in September, which is terrific character-driven epic fantasy. And if you like smart, thoughtful, historical-feeling revolutions but with magic (sewing magic!), the third book in Rowenna Miller’s Unravelled Kingdom trilogy (Torn, Fray, Rule) just came out last month.
