Authors Interviewing Characters: Karen Heuler

“A sharp, lively, funny contemporary fantasy with the feel of an up-to-date, more adult version of L Frank Baum’s Ozbooks.”
– The Guardian

Eleanor and Stan (the man she changed into a cat) are exiled to Liberty (formerly Texas) to find a missing witch and pay for their transgressions (novice witches do not do transformation spells, not even on bullies). Stan is delighted with the crazy utopia/dystopia that is Liberty, but Eleanor has to keep him in line while she pays for her impulsiveness. The world in The Splendid City sounds a little like ours, with its idiocies and justifications, unless of course you believe it doesn’t.

Karen: Are you the main character in this book?

Eleanor: Of course I am. It’s about my journey to becoming a full-fledged witch. I finally found where I fit in and then I made a mistake. A big one. I know that. I accepted my punishment and my exile with the mistake I created. His name is Stan and he’s currently a cat.  We were sent to what used to be Texas, which now has a self-declared President in a palace with a moat.

Karen: Do you think readers might prefer Stan, though?

Eleanor (stiffening): Readers who value entertainment at someone else’s expense, all right, they might. He can be very entertaining. They may laugh at his antics. They probably would enjoy Liberty, too, as Stan does. He loves the constant parades, the fake protests, the animatronic heads that keep asking if you know anyone who is unhappy and what is their name, please? But if you have anything like, well, like integrity, then you won’t like Stan at all.

Karen: I like Stan.

Eleanor: What is there to like? He’s a bully, he’s a sneak, he’s out only for himself and he feels it’s perfectly fine to shoot people when they say something he doesn’t like.

Karen: He never kills them. 

Eleanor: So he says. You think that’s okay?

Karen: And he never shoots more than once a day.

Eleanor: Which I suppose is remarkable in what was formerly Texas.

Karen: Well, I found him funny and unpredictable and the fact that he wouldn’t shut up gave me a lot of license to point out the ridiculous beliefs we have politically. It’s a funny dystopia, isn’t it—Liberty?

Eleanor: I come from New York City. Liberty has one subway line, with two stops. Does that make sense? It charges more and more money for water and can turn off your supply immediately if you don’t pay today’s rate. Because, they said, someone stole the river. 

Karen: Well, someone did, didn’t they?

Eleanor: But not the people they claimed. Politics is so often like that—blame someone else for what you did. 

Karen: So is this a political book?

Eleanor (surprised): Isn’t it? What else could it be?

Karen: Well, it’s a comedy. It’s a fantasy. It’s coming-of-age.  It’s a travelogue, of a sort. I loved when Stan went floating down the missing river. I loved it when he found out it was the source of drinking water and he said, “I think I should tell you. I peed in it.” You don’t think that’s funny?

Eleanor (shocked): You would drink water that Stan peed in?

Karen: You think what you drink is untouched by any animal excrescences?

Eleanor: Ew. What a mind you have. I am the heart and soul of this book. I fight for truth and justice and clean water. I am the hero.

Karen: Oh, okay. You are. I admire you. But, well, you have to admit that Stan is fun.

Eleanor: I wish you wouldn’t let him win. He’s everything contemptible that we accept in our politicians. You do know that he hopes to run for office? Is that acceptable?

Karen: We’ve already got a few Stans in office, so it won’t come as a shock. It never comes as a shock. At least he won’t make hats for his followers. I don’t think so, anyway. And if he does, I think it will be a funny hat. 

Eleanor: It will have a spy cam on it if he does. 

Karen: That wouldn’t surprise me. He’s out for himself in all things. Not like you. I know you love flying, but aside from that, have you been enjoying life?

Eleanor: I have. I’ve made a few mistakes, but the best thing about being a witch is the company you keep. And the spells, of course. The spells are fun. There’s a point when you begin to feel the insides of animals and objects. Their essence. You can almost feel it in your hands, it’s quite remarkable. And transformation—(she stops abruptly).

Karen: Ah. Yes, well, I imagine you would have conflicting feelings about transformations. It’s what got you into trouble in the first place, isn’t it?

Eleanor: To put it more accurately, Stan is what got me into trouble in the first place. He was a bully and a stalker as a man, and he’s a sneak and manipulator as a cat. I think I helped him into his true form, to be honest. And in doing so, found my own true form as a witch. I suppose we really don’t find ourselves until we’ve pushed past ourselves. You know, gone past our own boundaries. Found what makes us tick. I’m a witch. I have powers I wasn’t using well, and now I can use them very well. I like what I’ve become, so I suppose I have to like the way I got here.  (Pauses.) Though, really, you kept giving him the best lines. I resent that.

Karen: He’s the kind of character every writer adores.

Eleanor: You hide behind him.

Karen: What?

Eleanor: You admire him. You wish you could get away with saying the things he says. But you can’t, can you? You lack the thing that helps him pull it off. What is it—style? Character? Charm?

Karen (surprised): You think he’s charming? That’s interesting. So, underneath it all, you like him?

Eleanor: Not at all. I can’t even stand cats in general at this point. I keep expecting them to speak. And by speak, I mean insult me. There’s a Stan in most cats, just waiting to get out. But don’t talk to me about cats. I’m a dog person now.

—

Karen Heuler’s stories have appeared in over 120 literary and speculative magazines and anthologies, from Asimov’s to Conjunctions to Fantasy & Science Fiction. Her latest novel, The Splendid City, came out from Angry Robot Books last June and her newest story collection, A Slice of the Dark, was published in November by Fairwood Press. Find out more at karenheuler.com.

THE SPLENDID CITY

A genre-blending story of modern witchcraft, a police state and WTF characters, for fans of Alice Hoffman and Madeline Miller.
—
In the state of Liberty, water is rationed at alarming prices, free speech is hardly without a cost, and Texas has just declared itself its own country. In this society, paranoia is well-suited because eyes and ears are all around, and they are judging. Always judging. This terrifying (and yet somehow vaguely familiar) terrain is explored via Eleanor – a young woman eagerly learning about the gifts of her magic through the support of her coven.

But being a white witch is not as easy as they portray it in the books, and she’s already been placed under ‘house arrest’ with a letch named Stan, a co-worker who wronged her in the past and now exists in the form of a cat. A talking cat who loves craft beers, picket lines, and duping and ‘shooting’ people.

Eleanor has no time for Stan and his shenanigans, because she finds herself helping another coven locate a missing witch which she thinks is mysteriously linked to the shortage of water in Liberty.

“Karen Heuler’s The Splendid City is a wonderful fabulation, both humorous and contemplative, about the desperate state of US politics and society. In this world without a moral center, Eleanor, a witch, and her black cat familiar, Stan, who walks on two legs and packs a gun, much like Behemoth from Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, are called to solve a mystery. The writing is engaging and smooth, with excellent banter, as the communal power of women works to find a purpose in a crazy world.”
– Jeffrey Ford, author of Big Dark Hole

“A thoroughly original and quirky novel. You’ll find witches, cats, animatronic politicians and much more besides – plus sinister undertones combined with laugh-out-loud surrealism.”
—Liz Williams, author of Comet Weather  

BUY HERE

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing