In Kate Elliott’s Servant Mage, a lowly fire mage finds herself entangled in an empire-spanning conspiracy on her way to discovering her true power.
We chat with author Kate Elliott about her new novella, Servant Mage, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Kate! Welcome to 2022! What are you hoping for the new year and have you set any goals?
More peace, more justice, and I very much hope a continuing shift from pandemic to a more manageable endemic situation, as I think is slowly happening now. On a personal front, I do set goals because I love a list. My goal is to write write write write write, to complete at least one new project, and to continue to work on development of several back-burner projects since it takes me a few years to build out a new world for a new saga. The big project for 2021 of course is book three of the Unconquerable Sun “gender-bent Alexander the Great in space” trilogy. Wish me luck.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I’ve been writing since I was ten years old–maybe before that, but at ten I remember writing a story about a pirate dragon, so I call that my authorial genesis. Pirates and dragons: What’s not to like?
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first book I remember reading is Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess, a genial collection of linked stories about anthropomorphised animals.
The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien, really knocked me sideways when I was 13 and made me want to write big epic fantasy set in a believably detailed world.
I can’t stop thinking about God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène, a novel about the 1947-1948 railroad strike in colonial Senegal because it completely upended my expectations of what the thematic core of the novel would turn out to be. A masterpiece.
Your new novella, Servant Mage, is out January 18th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Indentured mage can’t trust anyone.
What can readers expect?
An escape out of servitude to a destination unknown. A young firemage who, torn from her family, has held onto her core integrity despite years of indentured service. An elaborate magic system. The dangerous political aftermath of a civil war that hasn’t quite ended. Demons–or what are called demons by some even if the truth is more complicated because usually the truth IS more complicated, and the key is whether or not people are allowed to learn.
Where did the inspiration for Servant Mage come from?
Many years ago I watched a BBC historical series called By the Sword Divided. Set during the English Civil War (1642 – 1651), it followed three aristocratic siblings who end up on opposite sides of the war between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. The costumes and hats were gorgeous, as expected, but in later years I remembered nothing of the plot except one subplot that had to do with a family servant.
As I recall, the young servant turns his coat on his master, who supports the Royalists, and joins the New Model Army of the Parliamentarians. While training and fighting he becomes increasingly radicalized and joins a movement within the army called the Levelers. Eventually he and other Levelers are shot by their own side because their political demands for equality are considered too extreme and dangerous even for people claiming to be reformers.
When I started making notes for a fantasy with an elaborate system of magic, I decided to set the story in a land torn by a civil war between two factions, the Monarchists and the Liberationists. With Servant Mage, I wanted to tell the story of the laborers, peasants, and servants who go about their lives in the shadows, silent on the roads, trying not to be trampled by events, desperate not to be killed. Their lives wouldn’t be changed no matter who ruled. That’s how I met an indentured servant mage named Fellian as she scrubs the privies at an inn. She’s keeping her head down, determined to survive in the wake of a violent revolution. Yet she’s no opportunist. She knows who she is, where she came from, and what she believes in, and she holds that precious knowledge close to her heart like a lamp to light her path forward.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
I’ve been writing so long that I am unfortunately well acquainted with my usual writing challenge. That’s the point in the first draft where I am sure the story is awful, the writing is terrible, and I have completely lost any skill I ever had at composing a narrative. Over the years I’ve learned to accept that this Chasm of Doubt is part of the process, and that my best bet is to simply hear the negative talk, let it drift past like the wind, and keep writing even if I think every single word is terrible. My mantra becomes: “These are just words; the revision is where the book is made.” At some point the doubt quiets enough that I don’t have to fight off the negative self-talk constantly. When I reach the end of the novel I feel a true sense of accomplishment, and then I get to revise, which is my favorite part of writing, when the story in my head starts to fully take its best shape on the page.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I feel I only knew a little about Fellian when I started. Coming to understand what my subconscious wanted to tell me about her journey and who she was and where she came from was the best part of the story. That, and indulging myself in devising an elaborate magic system, which was just plain fun. I even made a chart!
Do you have any writing advice for those delving into the fantasy genre?
I could write an entire book of writing advice for the fantasy genre but I’ll distill down to three points I think are crucial.
- Write what is in you to write. In other words, ignore this advice except if it is useful to you.
- When I’m writing in a secondary fantasy world (that is, not our world) I work very hard to write the world from the perspective of the characters, not from my own perspective. How do they see the world? How do they relate to their society? How do they understand the cosmos? My goal as a writer is to write from their insider view of their world, not my outsider view of their world. My experience and skillset will obviously influence everything I do, for good and for ill, but if I’m doing my job right, my characters view the world with their own eyes, not mine.
- No one has to read everything that has been published in the genre in order to write fantasy. There are no “classics” that are required reading before trying your own hand at it. Read as much or as little in the genre as you wish. Do be cautious, however, in thinking some perspective or angle has never been done before just because you haven’t read it. Some version of that sub-genre or perspective is probably out there, maybe written by a lesser-known writer twenty years ago. Fantasy (and science fiction) are a rich field with a long and varied history, some of it unpleasant and ugly and some of it astonishing and beautiful. We are fortunate to be in the middle of a new golden age of sff, and I’m excited for all the wonderful new work published recently, coming soon, and being written right now.
What’s next for you?
I have turned in a revised (and very long) draft of Furious Heaven, book two of the Sun Chronicles (book one is Unconquerable Sun, published in 2020). My other completed novel, this one quite short, is called The Keeper’s Six. It’s a contemporary fantasy about a multiverse, dragons, trade cartels, labor organizing, a lost poet, a kidnapping, and one very pissed-off mom, and is scheduled for publication in January 2023.
My current big writing project is, of course, Lady Chaos, book three of the Sun trilogy. I’m also working intermittently on a side project because I find it helps my creative process to be able to take brief “vacations” from the main project now and again. And there is a lot more on my to-be-written list. Never enough time!
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
My recommendation is always to catch up on books not yet read. I plan to read John Le Carre’s famous The Spy Who Came In From the Cold in 2022 because I’ve never read it, and I think reading older books counts. As for books being published in 2022–also important to read!–I’m currently reading an ARC of Ken Liu’s Speaking Bones, the fourth and final book in his Dandelion Dynasty silk-punk saga, possibly my favorite epic fantasy of the last ten years. It comes out in June 2022, and the first three books (starting with The Grace of Kings) are all currently available.
