UFI welcomes Author Fran Wilde. Thanks for Joining us!!
What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
I can’t abide okra. It’s my least favorite vegetable and I recoil at it like I recoil from slugs, which are also on my No-Way-No-How-What-Fresh-Hell-Is-This list. Unfortunately, I have okra fiends in the family, and live in what seems to be a slug-sanctuary. Que Sera.
What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
Cooking with family and friends. Sailing – the kind that involves flip-flops, a cheap fiberglass dingy and a rocky beach, not the designer-whites and champagne. Traveling to new places, whether it’s down the street or across the globe.
What is your Favorite part of writing?
When the story clicks. When the characters take over and start writing the story themselves. That’s the best part.
Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
I try to write first thing in the morning, before I do anything else. With a family that’s hard, and requires getting up early (and I’m not by any means a morning person). Still, once I’ve done 500 words or so before anything else makes demands on my time? I find I can more easily get back into it after returning work/client emails, addressing school & family stuff, and the inevitable –stop what you’re doing and do this- emergency that happens mid-morning more often than not.
What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?
Great question! Leanna Renee Hieber, Seanan McGuire, Gail Carriger, Octavia Butler, Emma Bull, China Miéville, and Carrie Vaughn are among my favorites.
How would you pitch UPDRAFT to someone who has not heard of it before?
In a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, secrets and betrayal, laws are broken and the consequences will change one city forever.
Can you tell us a little bit about the world that UPDRAFT is set in?
Updraft is set in a city of living bone, high above the clouds. The ground, and the past, are lost to legend. The city’s inhabitants fly on manmade wings, or cross perilous bridges to exchange necessities. But monsters hide in the wind, and the city must be appeased.
Do you have a favorite scene in UPDRAFT?
I have a bunch of favorite scenes, but one of the earliest is when Kirit breaks the law called Fortify, and encounters one of the above mentioned monsters face-to-teeth.
I’m also pretty partial to the wingfighting scenes.
Which one character out of all your books was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
Kirit is a favorite. As is Nat – her best friend. I think Rumul was hardest to write about because I needed to show his depth and fears, and he’s cagey.
What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
I have short stories in a number of publications, including Asimov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Tor.com. A short story set in the same world as Updraft will be out in Beneath Ceaseless Skies in September. Cloudbound, the next book set in the Bone Universe, is due out in fall 2016, and “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” – a novella set in the Gem Universe – is due out from tor.com next spring/summer.
__________________________________
Find Fran and her books
__________________________________
UpdraftIn a city of living bone rising high above the clouds, where danger hides in the wind and the ground is lost to legend, a young woman must expose a dangerous secret to save everyone she loves“Extraordinary worldbuilding and cascading levels of intrigue make Wilde’s debut fantasy novel soar…. This well-written and fascinating exploration of a strange land is an extremely promising start for an exciting new writer.”
Welcome to a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, betrayal and courage.
Kirit Densira cannot wait to pass her wingtest and begin flying as a trader by her mother's side, being in service to her beloved home tower and exploring the skies beyond. When Kirit inadvertently breaks Tower Law, the city's secretive governing body, the Singers, demand that she become one of them instead. In an attempt to save her family from greater censure, Kirit must give up her dreams to throw herself into the dangerous training at the Spire, the tallest, most forbidding tower, deep at the heart of the City.
As she grows in knowledge and power, she starts to uncover the depths of Spire secrets. Kirit begins to doubt her world and its unassailable Laws, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead to a haunting choice, and may well change the city forever—if it isn't destroyed outright.
—Publisher’s Weekly, « Starred Review «
“The world of the towers grown from bone, where residents strap on wings and soar the air currents, is captivating. As a coming-of-age story, Kirit’s journey to find her place is satisfying, but the real draw is a world that readers will be anxious to revisit in
future volumes of this exciting new series” —Library Journal, « Starred Review « and Debut of the Month
“A lovingly, carefully crafted world—an engineering marvel—filled with captivating characters whose struggles and triumphs will thrill the reader and linger long in the imagination. I want to live in the world Wilde has created!”
— Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings.
__________________________________
US and Canada
a Rafflecopter giveaway
