Lyda Morehouse aka Tate Hallaway

[lyda]

Neil Gaiman could sell his grocery list.

In fact, I think I bought that. Six copies. ;-)

Have you met him? He's quite charming. I'd buy snake oil from the man. (And I say this as a lesbian).

My own name change is a slight bit more complicated than just the genre switch, although I've heard from a lot of people that when you change genre, changing names is a good idea. Anyone who has read both the AngeLINK series and Tall, Dark & Dead can probably tell you that fans of one won't necessarily be fans of the other. They are VERY different books.

BUT, even if I were still writing science fiction, I would have had to change my name regardless. Let's just say award winning fiction is not the same as best selling.

As for the whole paranormal romance trend.... I don't know. BUT if anyone can kill the subgenre, I can. :-)

The editor who bought Tall, Dark & Dead (who is no longer at Penguin) said they were perfectly willing to glut the market with vampire books until the bottom fell out. They seemed to think there was no end to the trend. Romantic Times just had a little note about vampire/paranormal romances in which they said they thought it might last another couple of years.

Of course, now that I'm writing it, it will die.

I've been thinking ahead to other subgenres I could kill. "Inspirational" (read: Christian) romances could go next. Maybe I should propose a few of those. That way I can use my powers for GOOD.

[Kuja]

Thank you so much for answering all these questions! ;D

Did that answer the question? Or did you want to know about research?

Well I would be interested to know how much research you do, and what areas you concentrate most on when researching. I think research is something I could really do better at myself...

[marianne]

Funny you say that. I had a lady come up to me at the National Oz SF convention and say...'Where is the all the new age and inspirational SF.'

I thought, hmmmm, good question....

I guess in the end you just write it if you like it. Everyone said cyberpunk was/is dead but I just dabbled around in there anyway.


MDP

[lyda]

Research...

I'm actually kind of a research nerd. I like to read non-fiction generally, and so sometimes it's my non-fiction reading that leads me to fiction. (Sad? I even researched some things for my vampire chick-lit.)

But, because I like to research, I have to watch myself. I can get carried away and only read about what I want to write and not write.

Although for the AngeLINK universe I have an entire shelf of books that I read about the history of Satan. That all started because I'm not a Christian and I'd yet I'd always heard the story of the war in heavan and I wanted to check out the primary source. What a surprise to discover that there's no Biblical reference to the fall of Satan (except one line in Luke.) Anyway, that got me curious as to where all that stuff Milton ended up writing about came from and suddenly I was reading church histories and all sorts of weird stuff. All that was percolating in the back of my mind when I watched that fated X-Files episode that started me writing.

For the vampire novel, I ended up thumbing through a book that I had laying around (my partner worked for many years at a used bookstore so we have lots of very curious books just lying around the house) called THE VAMPIRE BOOK: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNDEAD. Anyway, in it I ended up reading about dhampyrs and got the idea that Sebastian (my main vamp) should have a son.

So, my research tends to be random, though I do a lot of it. Usually, I'm reading, writing and researching all all the same time (though not always about the same subject, if that makes sense.)

[lyda]

New Age Inspirational SF?

Isn't that fantasy?

Oops. Was that out loud?

And, I know what you're saying about cyberpunk. I was sitting next to Melissa Scott at the Baltimore Worldcon when Pat Cadigan announced that cyberpunk was quite and truly dead. Both of us were writing it at the time, me with my AngeLINK books and, at the time, she was writing TROUBLE AND HER FRIENDS. Anne Harris (who just had a short story on the Nebula short list) was also writing THE NATURE OF SMOKE at the time, which is fairly cyberpunky.

I really don't think cyberpunk can truly die. It might no longer be "the Movement" and those folks who started it may all be post-modern now or post-human or meta-fiction whatever they're into, but the whole concept of computers and humanity being intertwined has kind of become, well, reality... and a future that doesn't in some way have those elements is not going to feel very REAL -- unless, of course, there's a very clear explanation why all that stuff went away.

[Kuja]

lyda said:

I really don't think cyberpunk can truly die. It might no longer be "the Movement" and those folks who started it may all be post-modern now or post-human or meta-fiction whatever they're into, but the whole concept of computers and humanity being intertwined has kind of become, well, reality... and a future that doesn't in some way have those elements is not going to feel very REAL -- unless, of course, there's a very clear explanation why all that stuff went away.

I agree there - Can't understand why people say cyberpunk is a dead genre when it is such an effective one, now more than ever. Computers aren't just going to vanish overnight without good reason, and I think our ever increasing reliance on machines could very well get out of hand someday

Thanks for answering my question about research, you've got me wanting to dig out all my non fiction again! ;D

[marianne]

On behalf of everyone Lyda, thanks for coming in and answering our questions! You've been a great guest.

Your thread will stay open and you are of course welcome to come in any time and post news on it.

And perhaps before you sign off you could tell us what is next and things you thinking/dreaming about doing in the writing arena.

And for everyone's interest Lyda and I have short stories (mine is a short short) coming out in an anthology next year that is edited by Lynne Jamneck and will be published by Alice Street Editions.

For those of you who are a bit younger, it is SF erotica, so don't go buying it unless you are allowed to!!

bests
MDP

[lyda]

Thanks very much for having me. This was a lot of fun.

What's next for me is a sequel to my vampire chick-lit called DEAD SEXY. That will be out from Berkley in 2007.

I'm working on a proposal for Bold Strokes Books (a lesbian publisher) for a science fiction series in a completely different universe than my AngeLINK... think lesbian space opera. Keeping fingers crossed for that to get green-lighted.

Otherwise... yes, a short story (one in the AngeLINK universe) coming out in the SF lesbian erotica anthology.

And, who knows?

Thanks again. It was a pleasure.

[Chirugal]

Thanks for coming, Lyda!

[Sheyana]

Thanks...even though I didn't ask any questions