With a long-time fascination for speculative fiction, emerging author Kelly Meding brings a new urban fantasy to readers. Her debut novel, Three Days to Dead, hits the bookstores on November 1, 2009. Learn more about Kelly Meding by visiting her blog, Organized Chaos.
Reflection’s Edge: Your new series is an urban fantasy. Can you explain what an urban fantasy is to our readers who may not be familiar with subgenre?
Kelly Meding: Urban Fantasy is an ever-expanding subgenre that’s difficult for folks to properly peg. The simplest definition is “fantastic elements in a modern-day setting.” It just gets more complicated from there, as more and more books are published that wander outside of even those simple guidelines. Fantastic elements can be anything from vampires and werewolves, to witches and demons, to the existence of magic as an energy source. Modern settings don’t necessarily mean city-based, either, though a large majority of series are set in major cities.
RE: Your debut novel Three Days to Dead releases on November 24. Tell us about it.
Meding: Evangeline Stone was one of the best Dreg Bounty Hunters in the city, until something happened that left her partners dead and herself branded a traitor. She wakes up in the morgue, in a new body, with no idea how she died, who brought her back, or why. As she searches for those answers, she discovers not only rumors of a devastating alliance between vampires and goblins, but even more sinister machinations surrounding her death and the deaths of her partners. And she only has three days before she dies again.
RE: How did you manage to get blurbs from such writers as Patricia Briggs, Jeaniene Frost, and Jackie Kessler?
Meding: I have an amazing editor who did the work. Last year, while we were still doing edits, she asked me to send her my dream list of authors for blurbs. I’d “met” Jeaniene and Jackie online, and I love their books, and I’m a huge Gena Showalter fan (who also blurbed). I was ecstatic to get those blurbs fairly quickly, and their kind words floored me. A few months later, I almost fell out of my chair when my agent forwarded the blurb from Patricia Briggs—I didn’t know she’d been sent the manuscript, so I had a serious fan-girl moment. Who wouldn’t?
RE: The next novel, As Lie the Dead (working title), is slated for release spring/summer 2010. When you wrote Three Days to Dead, did you start with the intention of it becoming a series?
Meding: Yes and no. I’d learned my lesson with past books—starting one and planning a series, then writing book two, and the whole thing not taking off. I told myself point-blank I was not allowed to entertain sequel thoughts until I signed with an agent for TDTD, even though I had serious ideas from the get-go. Once I signed with Lyons Literary, I really sat down and brainstormed character and story arcs for two more books, and for a series as a whole. Once I had a deal with Dell, I let myself write the sequel. It was, of course, my dream to make TDTD into a series, and I’m thrilled to be doing that now. I love writing for Evy, and I’ll torment her, tell her stories, as long as folks will let me.
RE: Did you have to negotiate each book deal separately?
Meding: Dell offered for two books, so the contract was for both TDTD and ALTD. I was a total “noob” when it came to book contracts, but my agent was very patient in explaining the sections I didn’t understand.
RE: In your Random House bio, you state that Freddy Krueger started your obsession with speculative fiction. What about Freddy inspired/intrigued you so much?
Meding: His ability to manipulate your dreams is what has inspired me the most. Horror movies rarely scared me as a kid (or do now as an adult), but it was the speculative elements that kept me going back. Freddy could enter your dreams, change his shape, alter the “reality” of the dream world, and the concept of dying in a dream = dying in real life was fascinating. I think part of me, even back then, also loved that the female lead ended up kicking Freddy’s butt all over Dreamland and saving the day. Of course, Freddy also had a wicked sense of humor.
RE: As a debut author, what has surprised you most about the industry?
Meding: Even though I’d heard other folks say it, I never truly understood how the industry defines the saying “hurry up and wait.” The time it takes to do things, such as negotiate contracts (changing things, getting approval on changes, getting different people to sign, getting back executed copies, etc.) surprised me. But it’s all been a huge learning experience, because now I see and understand why it takes a year to two years from deal to bookstore delivery. There are so many small steps that readers don’t know or care about, and each of those steps is so important in the life of a novel.
RE: On your blog you stated that several copies of the new release arrived on the European Ebay almost two months prior to its release. Can you tell us your reaction and how the publishing house is handling it?
Meding: We sold German language rights to Droemer this past winter for both books, so the copies for sale are copies of the German edition of TDTD, which releases in about six weeks. Now, I don’t read German and Google-translation only does so much, and it looked like a Dutch auction, so I didn’t know if it was a promise for copies after release, or if they really had given early copies for sale. I don’t know how all that works.
RE: Who is your favorite author?
Meding: That is such a difficult question. I can easily tell you my favorite novel, which is Watership Down, by Richard Adams. It’s been my favorite since I first read it at twelve years old. My favorite author, based solely on the entirety of their work, would probably be Stephen King. I’ve read most of his books, and very, very few ever disappointed me. A few other favorites, whose books I impatiently wait for between releases (besides Jeaniene, Jackie, Patty and Gena), are Megan Hart, Ilona Andrews, and Sydney Croft.