We chat with Marion Deeds, author of Comeuppance Served Cold, along with writing, 2022 book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Marion! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I live in northern coastal California, close to the ocean and a comfortable drive from San Francisco. I love reading and I review for Fantasy Literature. After a career in public service I retired in 2012, which gave me stretches of time that were in my control alone, letting me really focus on writing. I love the ocean, forests, walking and taking photos. I love dogs and corvids. I spend hours watching the crows and the one pair of ravens in the neighborhood.
How has the start of 2022 been for you?
I’d say, “2022 is a strange year,” but I’d have to follow that with, “just like 2021 and 2020.” Personally, the first quarter of this year has been mostly good for me. After all, I have books coming out! All of that is good, and helps balance some of the upheaval in the world and on the home front. Life is always a mix. Right now I’m doing well.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
The first story I remember writing was when I was six. I don’t remember the plot, except there was a girl and her horse, a box canyon and a lost gold mine. I believe it was lavishly illustrated because I’d just learned to draw horses.
I’m sure there was a time, or time periods in my life, when I didn’t write or think about writing, but I don’t remember when those were.
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 myself was an old book my mom picked up at a church rummage sale. The series was from 1921, and it was called My Bookhouse Books (you can still find them on eBay). The one we had was called The Latch Key. The book had a series of stories and bits of, well, dumbed-down British history, well illustrated.(Two children left alone in a manor house! A cavalier hiding in the priest-hole! An evil Roundhead banging at the door! You get the picture.) I don’t remember any particular story, but I remember how I felt reading those—transported. I felt like I was in another world.
Andre Norton’s stories filled me with wonder and determination, and I wanted to do what she did. If I had to pick a particular book that made me think, “I want to do this,” it would probably be The Time Traders.
Books I still think about—I’m going to cheat and name two. I read The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, by Louise Erdrich, while I was traveling to take care of things after my father died. Because of some other things that had happened in my life right around then, my sense of faith was at its lowest ebb. I don’t mean “faith” as any form of organized religion; I mean a feeling of connection to something larger—a sense of meaning, I guess. By the time I finished Erdrich’s book I had my faith back. (This got deeply personal in a hurry, didn’t it?) Anyway, I often think back on how she told that story, and delivered that result to me.
The second book is The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo. It’s billed as retelling of The Great Gatsby, and Vo’s use of the original text is wonderfully disciplined. What I think about is the way she changes that entire story with the introduction of her version of Jordan Baker. The magic is important too—I love Jordan’s magic!– but it’s Jordon herself and the way this book is Jordan’s story that captures my imagination.
Your latest novel, Comeuppance Served Cold, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Yes, it came out today! The first five words that come to mind are “Dashiell Hammet, but with magic,” and, after some experimentation, I’m going to stick with that.
What can readers expect?
It’s a caper story. Folks can expect speakeasies, street drugs, tense dinner-table scenes, shapeshifters, vigilantes, protection rackets, corruption (lots of corruption), one set of star-crossed lovers and one pair of happy lovers (Philippe and Gabe), bootleggers, magic, and characters who aren’t what they seem at first, or maybe even second, glance.
Where did the inspiration for Comeuppance Served Cold come from?
It came from a desire to write a Dashiell-Hammett-style story, with a female protagonist who was a little like Sam Spade… and with magic. I had a character, but no plot. I knew I wanted to puncture arrogance and privilege in the story.
Seattle has always attracted me, and the combination of the underground and the city’s Prohibition history drew me in. My character in that city, at that time, seemed like a natural mix, and the story grew from there.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
The biggest challenge was purely technical, because I use a non-linear story structure. It was kind of like I decided to build a spiral staircase in my living room and then realized that to do it, I had to do math. I set up a spreadsheet to track the dates to avoid any glaring time-logic flaws. One still got past me! Tordotcom’s excellent editors caught it, though.
Another challenge was writing dialogue or “stage business” with a lot of subtext, where in fact what’s being said has almost nothing to do with what’s really happening in the scene. That was tricky!
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Three characters surprised me in pleasant ways. I had always had Violet and Philippe Solomon in the story, but they needed fleshing out. I took a trip to Florida and spent four days in St. Augustine. While I was there, I suddenly understood where the Solomons had come from, and how they ended up in Seattle. That was a nice gift. The other character I enjoyed writing, while very challenging, was Gabe, the blind tattooist. It was important to me that even though Gabe was magical, his blindness was treated authentically. The Hugo-award winning Elsa Sjunneson read Gabe for authenticity and helped immeasurably. By the way, Johanie Martzol-Cools read the work with an eye on Philippe and Violet and helped me keep them as realistic as possible. I’m grateful to both of them.
Can you tell us a bit about the research you did for Comeuppance Served Cold?
I re-read The Maltese Falcon and several other Hammett works from the period, to get a sense of the prose for that type of novel. I had a lot of old photographs from my mother’s side of the family, back from the 1920s. Some came from my great aunt. She lived in Massachusetts and the family story always was that her husband, who ran a hotel, made frequent “pleasure trips” to Canada during Prohibition and was really bringing back whiskey. Those helped me envision the time period.
I read several good books about Seattle, including Jackson Street After Hours, by Paul de Barros. If you’re interested in the Seattle music scene in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, check that one out.
I went to St. Augustine and Seattle, took some tours, and largely walked around, which I find always helps me ground a setting.There’s something about ambience. In Seattle, Jake’s Private Eye Tours drove us past the buildings that held speakeasies or basement casinos, which helped me place Violet’s Hat Shop, the book’s speakeasy, in just the right place.
As far as the fashions went, I love the internet. There are so many great fashion history sites.
What’s next for you?
The third book in my Copper Road trilogy, published by Falstaff Books, comes out in mid-May of this year. It’s called Golden Rifts. You can find the first two on Amazon. Right now I’m working on an indirect sequel to Comeuppance Served Cold.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
So many! What do you like?
Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes, is SF-horror, a creepy, suspenseful and heartbreaking “haunted starship” story.
Still in the horror vein, Mestiza Blood is a story collection by V. Castro. A lot of these are body horror, and many are violent, so be warned. I love the voices of Castro’s chicana protagonists as they face monsters, or in some cases, celebrate the fact that they’re the monster.
If horror’s not your thing, The Liar’s Knot, by M.A. Carrick, is the second book in the Mask and Mirror series. This series is like a perfect dessert; secret identities, con artists, magic, sexy crime lords, decadent aristrocrats, glorious fashion, intrigue and masks. M.A. Carrick is the pen name of writers Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms.
I just finished an ARC of Siren Queen by Nghi Vo. No surprise, I love the magic, the protagonist, and her struggle against the movie studio system in 1930s California, envisioned, again, in a world that bubbles with magic. It comes out in May. Look for it.
Inheritors of Power, by Juliette Wade, is the third book in her science fiction series The Broken Trust. I loved this book. To understand it, you must start at the beginning with Mazes of Power. Wade is examining systems, how they work and how they break, through the lens of one particular family. The relationships are complex and beautifully rendered, as is the complicated and complete world the characters inhabit.
For sheer fun, with some serious undertones and power and found family, read Cat Rambo’s space opera You Sexy Thing.
And I’d be thrilled if you read Comeuppance Served Cold.
