“When I’m not writing” with Gail Carriger + giveaway!

The fangirl in me is *dying* today because Gail Carriger is visiting the blog. She’s the author of one of my favourite series, The Parasol Protectorate, a series of books that are this fantastic blend of steampunk, supernatural, and comedy of manners. There’s nothing out there quite like it, which is why I’m so sad that the final book in the series, Timeless, is being released in two short days. (I’m also edge-of-my-seat excited because I need to know what will happen to Alexia and company.) Thankfully, Gail is working on a steampunk adventure Finishing School series for young adults, Etiquette & Espionage, and a new Parasol Protectorate Abroad series set to launch in 2013.

Keep reading to find out what Gail does when she’s not creating these beautiful books and enter the giveaway to win the first four books in The Parasol Protectorate series. They’re a must for anyone who loves the supernatural, steampunk, and hats.

 

I think many writers suffer from a plague. That plague is the great lengths we will often go to not to write. I fill up my day with hobbies, particularly at this stage of a book ~ about half way through, in an attempt to find something, anything, to do instead of write. Oh, I will get around to writing in the end but until then I . . .

Cook

I enjoy cooking not just for regular meals, but cooking events and historical recreations. A few years ago in my archaeology days, I translated some recipes from Latin and cooked a 7 course Roman meal. Since I'm on a deadline right now, I invited my best-girl cook buddy over and we prepared a 4 course Victorian supper for 10 out of a 1876 cookbook, just to see what the flavors were like. This is good research for my novels too, all of my protagonists are ladies fond of food. I spend an inordinate amount of time in my novels describing food, likening people to food, or hurling food about in an indiscriminate manner. I figure I better cook it once in a while to find out what it's really like.

Read

Like most writers I started out a reader. Unfortunately, these days, I only allow myself to read books related to my current project. As you can see, my current stack includes a Steampunk graphic novel, the Tricksters series by Tamora Pierce, and the nonfiction book Spy Cather by Peter Wright. This is because I'm working on the Finishing School series right now, which is four young adult books about a steampunk spy-training lady's seminary.

Mill hats

I love nothing more than getting out the hot glue gun and working on hat projects. I think it's the 3 dimensional creative art aspect of hats that I love so much. And when one is working on steampunk or Victorian hats, one can be quite outrageous with feathers and flowers and ribbons galore, a la Ivy Hisselpenny.

Tend houseplants

When I'm puzzling over a plot point or a fight sequence, I'll often wander about the house watering plants. I have an affection for orchids (they respond well to neglect) and a collection of fresh herbs which I use for cooking. They require watering and wedding and other attention, so provide a welcome distraction in my writing day.

Exercise

I have a standing desk but my profession is still a stationary one. I try to fit in some form of stretching and physical activity every day. Sometimes that is climbing on the bike with my laptop and heading off to the local cafe to write, sometimes it's bouncing about in front of the xbox to a dance game. I'm not good with gyms or standard activities like running, so I'm always hunting for a way to make sweating fun and goal oriented.

Undertake an art project

I like to use packing styrofoam to mount fabric and then paint on the fabric for large, lightweight art pieces to put up around the apartment. Earthquake country makes me uncomfortable with the idea of a heavy oil painting hanging over my bed! Plus, this way the painting matches my style and decor perfectly.

Sew

 

I wear tons of vintage and I like to modify thrifted clothing, which means I have to be able to repair and sew often. I almost always have a stack of clothing hanging behind my office door waiting on alterations or mending.

Plan outfits

Tied into this fashion obsession is the hours I spend fussing with creating and planning outfits for events and everyday activities. I'm obsessed. I haunt the fashion blogs and vintage photos for inspiration and the pick form my own closet to create a similar look.

Throw pots

I trained as an archaeologist and my expertise was in ceramic technology, but I also grew up a potter. As a result, I've done some experimental archaeology work with building and firing recreated kilns. The pots pictured above are the result of one of those firings. It was the firing where we proved an updraught kiln could get over 1100 degrees, a mile marker for the project. They remind me of where I came from and the life of an archeologist and teacher that I still miss, sometimes.

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Thank you for visiting the blog today, Gail! I don’t know how you find the time for all these cool hobbies and write as much as you do.

For more Gail, visit her website, blog, or Facebook page. You can also follow her on Twitter or check out her fashion blog. And if that’s not enough, you can also chat about The Parasol Protectorate on the Facebook group page.

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Learn more about The Parasol Protectorate (but only if you don’t mind spoilers since they’re sort of inevitable in the cover copy):

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Jenn’s thoughts

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

Jenn’s thoughts

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

Jenn’s thoughts

Read an excerpt (on Facebook)

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Coming March 1, 2012…

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository

You can also pre-order the Manga version of Soulless:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Or will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Read an excerpt (on Facebook)

Pre-order: Amazon | Book Depository

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Want to get your hands on the first four books in The Parasol Protectorate? Gail is offering one (1) set of Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, and Heartless to a lucky reader.

To enter, obey the Rafflecopter!

Giveaway closes Monday, March 12, 2012.

Open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Do you guys have suggestions for who you’d like to see featured on the blog? If so, you can make your suggestions on this page. No guarantees that your favorite authors will be able to participate but we’ll try!

Authors, would you like to visit and share with us? Please email me at jennblogs (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll set it up!

Posted by jenn at 06:29

 Gail Carriger, giveaway, Hachette, When I'm not writing  71 People left their mark

Born and raised in the Toronto area, Jenn moved to St. John's, Newfoundland, eight years ago for school. She's still in school (thankfully on another degree!), now trapped in her dissertation. When she's not dissertating, which happens more often than it should, Jenn spends her time reading, watching movies, playing volleyball, travelling, and enjoying the local music scene. Her latest addictions: yoga and Almond Crunch cereal.