Sci-Fi Encounters: Interview with Patricia Briggs

My guest today is Patricia Briggs, Paste BN and New York Times bestselling creator of the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series, set in a world where werewolves, vampires and Fae move among us. She's recently released Shifting Shadows: Tales From the World of Mercy Thompson, and I thought it was a great opportunity to ask her a few questions.

A little about the book (courtesy of Ace):

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, "one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today" (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

There are four new stories in the Shifting Shadows compilation, which kept me totally enthralled, and six previously published tales, which I enjoyed revisiting. I came to the Mercy Thompson world via Charles and Anna, actually, having fallen wildly in love with the short story Alpha and Omega, which is included in this new volume. I've always been fascinated with the Marrok, ruler of all the werewolves in North America, father to Charles, sort of an adopted father to Mercy and a thoroughly amazing character. (If I ever visited his world, I'd be jealous of his mate, Leah. I'll say that right now!) His backstory is finally laid out in the story Silver, which also tells the tale of the original romance between Samuel and the Fae Ariana. The book would have been satisfying to me just for that story alone. Very dark and intense, as you might imagine.

Veronica: How you were inspired to write the first story about Charles and Anna?

Patricia: Charles walked into the second half of Moon Called a fully fleshed character. That doesn't happen to me all that often. Usually I have to work to fill out a character. But he was in the second half of a book that already had a cast of thousands. So I winnowed down what I wanted to say about him and told him he'd have his day on stage. When my editor, Anne Sowards, approached me about doing a novella, I pulled him out and let him run with it. Anna was more of a surprise, born of my experiences living in Chicago (which is still my favorite big city) and a desire to write a werewolf that wasn't ancient and powerful. The chemistry between them worked (it doesn't always) and was very happy with how the novella, Alpha and Omega, worked out. So, apparently were other people, which gave me the opportunity to continue their story in a series of novels, the latest of which, Dead Heat, is the book I'm working on now.

Veronica: I was totally taken with idea of an omega wolf and how they'd affect other wolves. I'm happy to hear there's going to be a new book just for this couple! Another favorite of mine are Moira the witch and Tom the werewolf from Seeing Eye (which is also in this new anthology). I was thrilled to see them in Hunting Ground. Might they ever get their own book? Or at least more stories?

Patricia: A book for Wendy Moira Angela and Tom is under contract. We're going to bring it out as a paperback original as a thank-you gift to readers — and as a place where people who've been intimidated by starting a long-running series can jump in and try the water.

Veronica: This reader will be very grateful. LOL. I hope we see more of Tom's brother, the non-werewolf, as well. The Mercy Thompson world has so many characters — is there one who was more challenging than anyone else to write?

Patricia: All of them have given me problems at one point or another (except for Mercy herself — knock on wood — and Charles). Anna is the worst of them, mostly because by the time I've figured out I have her down wrong — I've already written most of the book and I have to go back and fix it. She comes through for me every time, but she makes me sweat it out.

Veronica: Do you have a favorite line or two from one of the stories in this new collection?

Patricia: I enjoy Asil's voice a lot. He's an old wolf, and his thought patterns and voice are a little more flowery than a modern-born person's are, and his self-aware arrogance lends humor, both intentional and not, to his words. Here, from Roses in Winter is this observation:

Charles looked at the prisoner and smiled. Asil had practiced in a mirror, trying to get that smile. His own were very good, but he hadn't gotten quite the same "I'd rather rip you to little pieces, but my father says I can't—yet" effect. Asil was better at the "I'm crazy, and you about to die."

Veronica: How do you decide what each person's wolf (or coyote ) looks like?

Patricia: Sometimes it is just getting the job done — finding a different color pattern so one wolf doesn't look exactly like another. But doing something, like giving the most dangerous werewolf in my books a silly little splash of white on his tail, adds fun to the story. Mercy — much to her satisfaction — looks just like any other coyote, and she has the buckshot scars on her backside to prove it.

Veronica: What's on your bucket list?

Patricia: I'd like to live long enough to get the carousel my husband and I are working on up and running — I figure that will take another 40 years or so and make nearly 90. Mostly, though, I have an honest and sincere desire to die like Connie Reeves, who at the age of 101 died when her 28-year-old horse fell trying to demonstrate a lead change (at a gallop).

Veronica: Huge carousel fan here, although I mostly collect statues of them, vs. having the real thing. How do you celebrate when you finish writing a book?

Patricia: I go to sleep for 10 hours — and then I read a good book written by someone else.

Veronica: It's interesting how many authors I've talked to who recharge with a good, sound sleep. Is there a science-fiction or fantasy world you'd want to visit and why?

Patricia: I have read everything Andre Norton wrote (and she wrote a lot), and I have always loved her Witch World books. Magic, mayhem and adventure, what's not to like about that?

Veronica: Witch World is a favorite of mine as well, especially Year of the Unicorn. I have a whole shelf of crumbly Andre Norton paperbacks that I cherish. While we're on the subject, what book would you recommend to readers who are new to reading science-fiction and/or fantasy romance?

Patricia: I have dozens. Picking just one is ... just wrong — and random. If I answered this next week I'd give you different authors.

For romantic SF, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels — they are superb. They are not all "romance" per se, but Miles Vorkosigan is a marvelous romantic lead, and Komarr and A Civil Campaign qualify as romantic SF in my book. I pick up the whole series and reread it a couple of times a year.

For romantic fantasy I give you Anne Bishop — if you don't mind a little darkness in your romance. If you prefer something a little less raw, then maybe Robin McKinley, who I read as joyfully now as when I first picked up The Blue Sword when I was in college. I particularly like Chalice. Her books tend to be marketed as YA, though they work quite well for adult readers, too.

For SF romance (which is a different thing than romantic SF), Jayne Ann Krentz, who writes about every category of romance known to the world — and invented some others. In her SF romance, she quite often throws in plot/setting elements more commonly found in contemporary romance. Good fun. Among my favorites among her SF romance are Shield's Lady and Ghost Hunter.

For fantasy romance, I can highly recommend Thea Harrison. Dragos is my favorite dragon in a romantic novel, ever.

You can learn more about Patricia and her books at www.patriciabriggs.com.

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Amazon bestseller Veronica Scott is a two-time recipient of the SFR Galaxy Award and has written a number of science-fiction and paranormal romances. Her latest is Mission to Mahjundar . You can find out more about her and her books at veronicascott.wordpress.com. Please e-mail Veronica at scifiencounters@gmail.com about content related to this column. Due to the volume of mail, e-mails may not be answered personally, but all will be read.