Dear Reader by Sarah Remy

The Writer’s Life newest feature, Dear Reader, gives authors a chance to talk to their readers - YOU!

Today's guest is Sarah Remy, author of the fantasy, Stonehill Downs.

___________________

Dear Reader…

Are you watching ABC’s Agent Carter? I am, with great interest. I’m also paying very close attention to the show’s ratings. Not necessarily because I’m attached to the story – although I do love Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter – but because so many people out there seem to think ABC’s offering is a sort of 21st Century litmus test: is the comic book culture ready for a woman in the lead role of a super hero series?

I’m honestly not a huge comic book geek, but I happen to be married to someone who is, which means I know the comic book industry does not in fact rely on Marvel’s Peggy Carter as an example of a minority main character written right. Have you met Natasha Irons? Kate Bishop? Have you read Strangers in Paradise, a classic and one of my all time favorites? And surely you’ve fallen into the pages of Jeff Smith’s Rose?

I’d like to suggest that the question is not really is the comic book culture ready for a woman in the lead role of a super hero series? but is the MAINSTREAM MEDIA culture ready for a woman in the lead role of a super hero series?

In spite of Hayley Atwell’s fine performance in the lead role, Agent Carter’s ratings are steadily dropping. Do I find this concerning? Yup. But I’m not quite ready to point a finger and blame latent misogyny for the dip in viewership. Could be the writing’s faltering some. Could be Agent Carter’s suffering from new kid on the block syndrome, just as its predecessor, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., did in 2013. Only time will tell.

Yeah, I’m not a huge comic geek but I’m watching Agent Carter very carefully. Why?

Because I write stories about minorities in a genre (like the comic book industry) that has been – in general and up until some years ago – heteronormative white male dominant. I write about princesses that don’t grow up and marry the prince. I write about Latino boys who kill the dragon and save the kingdom. I write about non-binary characters in traditional fantasy and scifi roles. And I write about cis adults who fall in love and realize that maybe romance won’t secure the throne after all, and hey, let’s put work before family even if that’s not necessarily the ‘best choice’.

I write real people into unlikely worlds because I think that’s what the next generation of scifi and fantasy wants to be.

And I’ve got fingers crossed that Peggy Carter will prove the point.

About the Author:

In 1994 Sarah Remy earned a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Pomona College in California. Since then she’s been employed as a receptionist at a high-powered brokerage firm, managed a boutique bookstore, read television scripts for a small production company, and, more recently, worked playground duty at the local elementary school.

When she’s not taking the service industry by storm, she’s writing fantasy and science fiction. Sarah likes her fantasy worlds gritty, her characters diverse and fallible, and she doesn’t believe every protagonist deserves a happy ending.

Before joining the Harper Voyager family, she published with EDGE, Reuts, and Madison Place Press.

Sarah lives in Washington State with plenty of animals and people, both. In her limited spare time she rides horses, rehabs her old home, and supervises a chaotic household. She can talk to you endlessly about Sherlock Holmes, World of Warcraft, and backyard chicken husbandry, and she’s been a member of one of Robin Hobb’s longest-running online fan clubs since 2002.

Her latest is the fantasy novel, Stonehill Downs.

For More Information

Visit Sarah Remy’s website.
Connect with Sarah on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Sarah at Goodreads.
Visit Sarah’s blog.
Contact Sarah.

About the Book:

Title: Stonehill Downs
Author: Sarah Remy
Publisher: Harper Collins/Voyager
Pages: 400
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Paperback/Kindle/Nook

Stonehill Downs follows Mal, a powerful mage who functions as Lord Vocent, the king’s personal forensic scientist and detective. Magic and murder are his calling. Never have the two entangled in quite as terrifying a manner as on Stonehill Downs, where Avani, a Goddess-gifted outsider, has discovered a host of gruesome corpses reeking of supernatural malfeasance. The investigation is haunted by ghosts of Mal’s past, and the two quickly learn that they must cast aside their secrets if they are to succeed in unearthing the pervading evil—before it’s unleashed from the boundaries of the Downs, straight into the heart of the kingdom.