The Book Whisperer

Firstly, thank you to Leanna for taking the time to answer some questions about her book The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.

Here is a bit of info about Leanna before we start: “Award winning and bestselling author, actress and playwright Leanna Renee Hieber grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories.  Graduating with a BFA in Theatre from Miami University, a focus in the Victorian Era and a scholarship to study in London helped set the course for her Strangely Beautiful series. The dramatic, historic, spiritual and paranormal are the primary forces in her lyrical, eerie, atmospheric fiction. 

When not writing or on set, she loves a good Goth club, singing soprano in choir and adventuring about her adopted hometown of New York City, where she resides with her real-life hero and her beloved rescued lab rabbit Persebunny, Queen of the Undereverything. ” (Info taken from Leanna’s website).

So now for the questions:

 
Have you made any new years resolutions and if so can you share any with us? 
Write more.  That’s vague, I know, but an important resolution nonetheless.
 
Which book have you read in the last year that made you think “Damn, I wish I’d written that?”
I’ve recently gone back to Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series and every time Amelia says something so period, British, utterly outrageous and I laugh out loud, I think that thought.
 
You’re about to be stranded on a desert island and you are only allowed to take 3 books with you: which do you take and why? 
(And this is where Leanna cheats with collected works volumes! Ha!)  The collected Jane Austen, the collected Harry Potter and Fellowship of the Rings.  (With the Collected works of Bram Stoker and Charles Dickens in the wings!)  I would take these books because they represent the most transporting, beautiful reading experiences in my life that each in their own way has been formative to my personality and writing style.

 
Now onto the first book in the Strangely Beautiful series. Where did you come up with the idea for the book and do you believe in ghosts? 
Odd, colourless, dear Percy couldn’t have appeared in my mind at a worse time.  I was working 14 hour days as a performance intern for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.  I had no time to start a new novel set in 1888 (writing books set in this year had been somewhat of a lifetime habit of mine, but I’d never finished one). Yet Miss Parker, timid as she was, would not be dissuaded by my busy schedule.
            Deathly-pale, Percy appeared in my consciousness against my default and beloved 19th century backdrop; gliding quietly into Professor Alexi Rychman’s grand office. She spoke nervously about spirits and visions.  She stared longingly at that brooding, intense, enigmatic professor across the room from her. I was hooked like a drug on the two of them. I had to know what made them tick, why Miss Percy looked like a ghost but wasn’t one (the answer, I found with delight, came in Mythology that I take great liberty with).  Toying with a palpably aching power dynamic between two lonely, secretive people who are magical, flawed and gifted in very different ways became my instant obsession.  I knew when Percy and Alexi entered my heart, that my life would never be the same for having met them, and it wasn’t.  In creating The Guard, I gained a family of characters I adore. The story fell into place piece by piece through a sequence of years, set against the eerily beautiful, haunted, moonlit Victorian London I’d always yearned to visit.  And nine years later it’s my dream come true to share it. 
 
And yes, I do believe in ghosts with all my heart.  I have seen things I cannot explain, though I do not see them as Percy or the Guard sees them.  But as the Bard said, and I oft defer to him; “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” The Victorians were huge spiritualists, it’s fitting.
 
What research did you do on London under the rule of Queen Victoria? 
Since childhood I’ve been reading 19th Century literature; the best research of all.  In college I pursued a focus study in the Victorian Era, went on scholarship to London for research (took the Jack the Ripper tour and knew I had to include those murders, supernaturally, in my book) and began adapting works of 19th Century literature for the stage. I surrounded myself with books on the time period, of particular use is “What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew.” My favourite part of the process was researching the ghosts.  Save for the Athens Academy ghosts, every ghost I mention in the series is a real, documented London haunt, all of them taken from ghost stories I learned from the renowned Richard Jones, a foremost expert on such matters.  If you’re interested in these ghost stories, they’re archived posts via the “Haunted London Blog Tour” page of my website.   I’ll have a new Haunted London Blog tour mentioning the new ghosts of Darkly Luminous come April (along with giveaways). 

 
Which are your favourite books and authors from that era and did any of them influence or inspire you while writing your book?
All. In particular, Gothic fiction (from the seminal Castle of Otronto onwards).  Favourites from/near the era, all of them inspirations / influences:  The Picture of Dorian Gray, Les Miserables, Wuthering Heights, The Age of Innocence, the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, all of Dickens, Austen, Collins, Edgar Allan Poe and all the 19th Century Romantic poets.
 
What is it about the Victorians that fascinates you so much? 
I feel I know them, and was one of them once.  I am compelled by the grit versus the grandeur.  The churning collective consciousness of a self-conscious society undergoing hyperbolic spiritual, industrial, psychic, Empiric, scientific, artistic changes.  A preened exterior and a seething underbelly.  The revered and loathed creature that was Woman.  The kiss of a hand as erotic.  Burgeoning civil liberties and social causes amidst raging poverty, intolerance and inhuman working conditions. Sensationalism; the birthpangs of popular culture, the friction between evangelism and hedonism. The drama, the art, the architecture, the music, the literature and their love of spiritualism and classical themes. And the clothes. Really love the clothes.
 
Your books are cross-genre; how has this affected how they have been viewed by publishers and the public? And do you have a favourite genre of books when it comes to reading yourself?
Cross-genre has its beautiful perks and it has its drawbacks.  What was most difficult was selling the book in the first place, because publishers weren’t sure where to shelve it. It’s a Gothic Victorian Fantasy Paranormal Romance with Suspense, light Horror and YA elements. (But if I could use only one word to describe this book? Gothic). On my 9 year publishing journey it was finally Dorchester (no stranger to cross-genre initiatives) who bit and it was worth the wait, it’s a great home for the series and I’ve got an awesome editor in Chris Keeslar. 
            As for the readership: The most beautiful perk has been reviewers and readers finding the Strangely Beautiful blend of genres refreshing and original. Yet the blend may not be everyone’s cup of tea.  While a cross-genre book has wider appeal and can connect with many readers on different levels, more genre-specific fans may not like the choices made outside of their favourite genre’s conventions- Fantasy fans might not be used to the dramatic lyricism of a Historical Gothic, Historical fans might not embrace the paranormal/mythic foundations. But my hope remains that a lot of readers are like me; blend all my favourite genres together and I’ll love the book all the more for it.
            As for my personal reading, I love the confluence of genre forces and so I find myself drawn to cross-genre books myself, especially historical paranormal.  But while I’m in the thick of writing, I try and avoid my exact sub-genres, hence my reading a lot of Victorian-set mysteries like the Amelia Peabody series and Anne Perry’s novels.
 
There is a second book coming out in April this year (The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker). Is that it for the Strangely Beautiful series or is there more to come?
The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker is indeed Strangely Beautiful #2, picking up exactly where the first book leaves off – and I’m so excited about it.  The series continues in October of this year with a novella (Strangely Beautiful #2.5) – which again picks up exactly where the sequel leaves off.  And then I envision two more books in the series, the next a prequel and a fourth book that would follow the Rychman familial legacy up to World War I.

 
And finally, the quick fire round:

Favourite colour:  Black
Favourite item of clothing: My myriad corsets
Favourite animal: Birds
Favourite flavour crisps (chips):  Anything cheese flavoured
Favourite holiday destination:  London (it’s my #1 destination, holiday or otherwise)
Favourite childhood memory:  Terrifying my girl scout troupe by telling ghost stories I made up as I went along.  Once I even got so worked up I electrocuted myself upon a lamp.  Not my favourite part of the memory, but my levitating hair made for advantageous effect.
Favourite song:  A tie between “The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams (Classical) and “Beloved” by VNV Nation (Goth)

Thank you Leanna, and good luck with your forthcoming books.

Here are the first two books in the series and some info about them and don’t forget to check out the website for those giveaways!

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Percy Parker (out now)

“What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart of Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portal to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent-and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death…”

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker (out in May 2010)

“With radiant, snow white skin and hair, Percy Parker was a beacon for Fate. True love had found her, in the tempestuous form of Professor Alexi Rychman. But her mythic destiny was not complete. Accompanying the ghosts with which she alone could converse, new and terrifying omens loomed. A war was coming, a desperate ploy of a spectral host. Victorian London would be overrun. Yet, Percy kept faith. Within the mighty bastion of Athens Academy, alongside The Guard whose magic shielded mortals from the agents of the Underworld, she counted herself among friends. Wreathed in hallowed fire, they would stand together, no matter what dreams or nightmares—may come.” (Both synopsys courtesy of Goodreads).

I will be posting a review of the first book in the next few weeks (when the snow clears up and Amazon can actually deliver my order!) so watch this space.