Hello! Common Room Conversations are back! Did you miss us? We had hoped that this would be a weekly feature, but given the variance in scheduling and free time for formatting, these might be a little more irregular than that. For those who haven’t checked out our previous CRC episodes, the idea is that we invite a number of authors into a chatroom all at once, have a topic in mind, and then just… talk! See where the conversation takes us, rather than be beholden to any set questions. The goal is for this to be a much more casual and relaxed interview format. Basically like a textual, SFF-focused chat show.
And once again, we had a GREAT lineup of authors this time around. We had World Fantasy Award winner C.L. Polk (Witchmark, The Midnight Bargain), debut author and Be The Serpent podcaster Freya Marske (A Marvellous Light), and self-published star Olivia Atwater (Half a Soul, Ten Thousand Stitches) join us to talk on the topic of Fantasy of Manners! That wonderful subgenre where the devil is in the details, and he’s dressed impeccably. Where worlds of meaning lie behind tense conversations and improperly buttoned waistcoats, and some of the most brutal critiques of society are born.
I’ll have a little more detail about our authors and their amazing books at the end of this post, but for now, here’s what they had to say:
Sara
Thanks all for being here, I am really excited about this topic!
Freya Marske
Secretly I hope this functions as a call to action to the sff-writing world to put MORE MANNERS HIJINKS in their… everything.
C.L. Polk
I misread that as manners hunks.
But still.
Sara
It’s a splendid subgenre and we definitely need more of it.
Cee, that too
Freya Marske
Note to editors, please pretend I said manners hunks.
Olivia Atwater
Same misread here, haha. I was like “hm, yes, that would be nice–oh!”
Sara
You all three have some very interesting male love interests in your respective books.
And by interesting I mean “hot”
Freya Marske
I would describe Robin as a Manners Himbo
Sara
He is Very Much So.
Bless his heart, so dumb and sweet and hot.
Olivia Atwater
Ah yes. Mr Jubilee. The very apex of hotness. And ditziness.
Sara
He tries his best!!!! 😂
He wants to do what’s right but… well…
Olivia Atwater
I feel like you have a type, Sara. 🤣
Sara
I have a lot of types.
It goes from “Aw what a moron” to “Yes, I WOULD help him hide the body, because he definitely has a body lying around”.
But in fiction.
My taste in men IRL is “no thanks”.
Freya Marske
Olivia, I’ve only read the first of your books (yesterday!) so I am CHUFFED to hear there is a himbo awaiting me in subsequent ones.
Olivia Atwater
Ah. dreamy sigh I can be a sucker for “hide the body” myself.
Sara
Hiu, reading this and being “OH MY GOD SARA ISNT THE ONLY ONE WTF IS IT A THING NOW?”
(Editor’s Note: sigh.)
Freya Marske
I feel like all three of us have done some variant on “cranky book-loving nerd”
Is it really a fantasy of manners if there isn’t at least one description of a room stuffed full of books?
Olivia Atwater
Aziraphale. ❤️
Himbo AND cranky book-loving nerd.
Sara
Freya, you used a library scene for forearm porn
Freya Marske
I—yes I did do that.
Sara
I admire you so much.
Freya Marske
Also waistcoat porn.
Sara
Naturally.
Olivia Atwater
Sigh. I want to hate Beau Brummell on principle, but I have to be honest, his fashion sense WAS delicious.
Waistcoats for everyone. Maybe six at a time.
Sara
I think the problems started when he opened his mouth.
But as long as he shut up and looked stylish, things were okay.
Freya Marske
“Walking provocation” is also a favourite character type.
Sara
Ouuuh like what? who?
Olivia Atwater
steeples fingers Do go on.
Freya Marske
Well, if you use fashion mores as part of your worldbuilding then you CAN make a shocking statement purely though strategic waistcoat deployment.
or The Wrong Cravat.
or NO cravat. 😮
Sara
Gasp.
It would be the talk of the ton.
Olivia Atwater
😲
Sara
What would the lady patronesses think???
Olivia Atwater
Also of note: when one’s cravat has come loose and the heroine must straighten it.
Sara
Or tug it free
Freya Marske
And the moment when the character whose cravats are always above reproach turns up déshabillé.
Because EMOTIONS.
Sara
ESPECIALLY IN A GROVELING SCENE!
We speak the same language, it’s beautiful. ❤️
Olivia Atwater
☝️
Freya Marske
Cravat as mood ring.
Sara
Threat level: shocking déshabillé.
Oh don’t worry about emojis, Hiu is going to re-transcribe everything because he’s an angel.
So you can totally use them. 😄
Freya Marske
“Ah yes, lord gainsborough is frustrated today, you can tell by the angle of his collar points.”
Olivia Atwater
“That man is pining” “How can you tell?” “His waistcoat is buttoned incorrectly”
Freya Marske
That is the genius of having the genre-convention space to lovingly describe small details.
You can then USE those details to devastating effect.
Sara
There is a whole Goodreads list called “starchy heroes get unstarched” and sometimes it’s literal and about their actual shirts.
Cee, still with us?
Olivia Atwater
It IS very nice to have a certain level of world-building already done for you.
Sara
I’m gonna be Very Panel Moddy and jump on this to ask the first question.
Imagine me in a moderator voice.
So yeah, basically fantasy of manners has all these codes but can you describe the subgenre as you understand it?
Because I generally go by “vibe”.
And also the Goodreads shelf…
But what are the ingredients for you that make this subgenre?
Olivia Atwater
That’s an interesting question. I suppose I normally consider something fantasy of manners if it involves restrictive social mores and mostly takes place in high society settings. But there are all manner of exceptions I could think of to that as well.
Freya Marske
I think an ingredients list is a good way of thinking about it. for me, the stakes have to be very high for the individual but they can be otherwise relatively low: no fates-of-nations or good-vs-evil, though it can overlap with political fantasy which does have higher stakes.
Restrictive social mores is absolutely key.
And the sense that the rules and conventions of society are one of the major obstacles or constraints to the main character/s and their journey.
Olivia Atwater
I like that. Restrictive social mores as obstacle or constraint to the main character. I definitely agree.
C.L. Polk
I think one of the big factors that defines fantasy of manners is how aware the major characters are of having their every action observed, interpreted, and judged – that every action, no matter how small, could have consequences in a world where how you are seen and talked about defines you.
It’s why the books are so high-stakes without having a lot of the action people expect from fantasy novels.
Sara
No fates-of-nations or good-vs-evil, though it can overlap with political fantasy which does have higher stakes.
Or the character’s journey leads to more rights for a whole category of people, I’m thinking of Cee’s The Midnight Bargain or Stephanie Burgis’ Snowspelled.
Freya Marske
Cee, what you said made me wonder if that might be a reason why – to be frank – you don’t see a lot of this genre from the straight cis white man population of fantasy writers. it is VERY much a genre of the anxiety of being constantly observed and judged.
Olivia Atwater
I’m such a fan of high personal stakes stories. I feel like I’ve read far too many save-the-world fantasy stories and not enough stories about people in realistic everyday binds. I’ll still READ save-the-world fantasy, mind you, but I often need a break from it.
C.L. Polk
Oh yeah, I was just about to say if you are not a habitual over-thinker and you find yourself in a fantasy of manners novel, you’re about two pages away from disaster and five pages away from your fairy grandduchess putting you into manners boot camp.
Sara
😂
Olivia Atwater
(I am personally unlikely ever to end up in a position to have to save the world, but I can empathise perfectly well with wearing the wrong dress.)
Sara
“Manners boot camp” is my new favourite thing
C.L. Polk
“Oh dear,” said Lady Hawthorne. “We have work to do. Author! Begin the training montage.”
Freya Marske
There certainly is a protagonist divide between “scrappy outsider must infiltrate mannered society, she must be Trained in Cutlery Use, and Quick, Summon the Court Tailor!” and “someone who grew up in the fabric of this society and chafes against it”.
I’m thinking about the character of Katherine in Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword, and the young noblewoman she befriends
C.L. Polk
I’m in love with the ones who itch to become something else.
Sara
It’s VERY clear, hahaha!
Olivia Atwater
I very much enjoyed writing “someone who grew up in the fabric of this society and frankly just can’t figure it out”.
Freya Marske
I’m a sucker for the schemers who are determined to leverage society’s own rules for their own gain.
Sara
I like outsider perspective as well, because they often bring us perspective and a refreshing view.
“They’re fucking mad about what now???”
Freya Marske
Even though they’re usually on the villain side
Sara
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
C.L. Polk
Ooh, ooh, Vanity Fair with Wizards.
Sara
Omg, yes please.
Freya Marske
Oh at LEAST one of my minor supporting characters thinks she is in that book.
She’s just not very good at becky sharp-ing.
Sara
Becky Sharp but as a witch.
❤️
Olivia Atwater
I think this is actually something worth a note: part of the reason I enjoy fantasy of manners is that it often makes use of social mores which the reader consciously finds absolutely absurd. It makes the satire easier.
Modern day women would mostly tell you “I don’t need a chaperone, my god.”
Freya Marske
It also means it gels BEAUTIFULLY with fairy tale and myth conventions.
Where the Rules are often archaic, obscure and difficult to navigate, but have their own internal logic.
Olivia Atwater
Oh, most definitely. I’ve found it maps beautifully to faerie tale conventions.
Sara
FoM is the chocolate of subgenres, it goes with most things. Romance, obviously, and also mystery (thinking of A Marvellous Light, Freya, and also the Goblin Emperor).
Freya Marske
“Don’t eat anything until the host has eaten first”
Sara
Oh also Witchmark, duh.
Olivia Atwater
But my point, I suppose, is that because the heroines in FoM are mostly chafing against the system, with the reader’s full support, you can make quiet comparisons to modern things that haven’t changed and are still very silly.
Freya Marske
Will you be trapped forever? Turned into a frog? Or is it just RUDE?
Sara
whynotboth.gif
Freya Marske
Yes, and there’s so much SATISFACTION for a reader in the moment when a protagonist who has been dutifully trying to follow a convention turns around and makes an emperor-has-no-clothes declaration that this rule is SILLY.
In The Goblin Emperor there’s the moment when Maia snaps and says he WILL be friends with his attendants, they are ALREADY friends.
C.L. Polk
Yes, that moment where the protagonist has been trying to achieve their goal without rocking the boat or scaring the horses, and staying within the rules is this whole extra layer of conflict, and then they just… rip something down
It’s so satisfying.
Olivia Atwater
Ugh, can I possibly squeeze The Ten Thousand Doors of January into this genre? Probably not, but there’s such a good echo of it in the moment at the end of the book where the heroine stops trying to be polite to villains, and it SPOKE TO MY SOUL.
Freya Marske
I think we can safely say that the Moment of Abandoning Manners is such a very FoM trope that it counts.
It’s a sharp, glorious little fantasy.
Of being allowed to speak truth to power.
C.L. Polk
Yes.
Olivia Atwater
I have just realised that this is a power fantasy of sorts.
C.L. Polk
Even if you wind up in the soup for it, just that moment where you just drop propriety and deliver the truth… it speaks to me.
Freya Marske
Yes, and even though it usually DOES create more chaos and problems… the fantasy is in the happy ending resulting anyway.
“What if I COULD tell my horrible boss to go fuck himself, and in the end I was thriving?”
Olivia Atwater
Cishet white men want to go to battle and save the world, I guess, while everyone else just wants to talk openly about things that make them angry and not be squashed for it.
Freya Marske
And FoM often has an aspect of the main character having a lot of power (magic) but it’s the wrong SORT of magic for Who They Are.
Olivia Atwater
Ah yes. And let us not forget that Ladies Should Not Do Magic.
Freya Marske
(Apologies @ the moderator, we are ungovernable)
C.L. Polk
Or if they do, it must be Seemly and Appropriate (and not give her any power whatsoever.)
Sara
I love how magic is perceived in FoM. I finished The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno Garcia a couple of weeks ago and it’s so interesting that magic by women of “good birth” is seen as gauche.
Freya Marske
Yessss, the sequel to A Marvellous Light has a lot of pointy stuff in it about gendered ideas about who uses magic and why and how.
C.L. Polk
That feels like “gentlemen do not work.”
Sara
(lol Freya this is what the convo is supposed to look like! Chaos! Super interesting chaos!)
(And actually my follow up planned question was about magic.)
Yeah the gendered aspect of magic use is something we see a lot in the genre.
Freya Marske
In a world where the use of magic (and what is gentlemanly! and proper!) is rigidly defined, I think there’s great scope for the antagonists/villains being those people who simply assume the rules don’t apply to them.
Which is not at ALL something we don’t see in the REAL world, no SIR!
C.L. Polk
Oh dear me, no. What a thought!
Freya Marske
(Hmm might have over-done the negatives in that sentence)
Olivia Atwater
For me, honestly, the best villains are those who ARE proper, such that you must question whether being proper is necessarily good.
Freya Marske
So you have a protagonist struggling against rules trying to put them in their place, and villains enforcing the rules for OTHER people while calmly feeling entitled to just do whatever the fuck they want.
Ooh I like that too, Olivia!
C.L. Polk
Oh yes, indeed.
Sara
It’s chilling, Olivia, because villains who are SUPER proper = the system is what’s fucked.
Olivia Atwater
Yes, exactly. The system is the bigger villain propping up the smaller villain.
Sara
Because it allows them to do what they want.
Freya Marske
Yeah! is the villain the absolute representation of the system at its peak?
C.L. Polk
Oh no, I didn’t think about it that way.
But holy smokes, that’s Christopher Hensley the elder, isn’t it?
Olivia Atwater
If you remove the smaller villain without changing the system, another villain will shortly take their place.
That’s the big, frightening thing to me, when I’m writing fiction.
Freya Marske
And that’s something that is quite particular to social-scale/political-scale fantasy, right? We like a Dark Lord because once you’ve conclusively destroyed the ring in a volcano, no more dark lord.
But fantasy of manners on the more radical end of the scale often DOES involve having to actually dismantle or explode the entire system
C.L. Polk
Okay. Can you have both?
Is there room in an FoM for a Dark Lord and a Pinnacle of the System?
Freya Marske
I think yes! if the system’s rules are such that they act to shield and hide the extent of a dark lord’s actions, and protect them from consequence
Sara
The thing i absolutely adored about Olivia’s Ten Thousand Stitches is that it starts as “oh, however will the lord of the house notice me, the maid” and pretty much goes toward “CLASS WAR MY BITCHES”.
Olivia Atwater
THE LORD OF THE HOUSE IS TRASH, EFFIE, YOU DON’T NEED HIM. YOU HAVE A PERFECTLY ADORABLE FAERIE GODFATHER RIGHT THERE.
Freya Marske
The glorious thing about Cee having created a world for the Kingston cycle is that they CAN then go ahead and fuck it all up from the foundations.
While I’m over here rubbing my temples and muttering about how much fucking with the course of English history I can actually get away with.
Olivia Atwater
But on the question of having both: you know, I think you can. I think Brandon Sanderson has done a fair-to-decent job of incorporating systemic issues into his end-of-the-world fiction. I like how thoughtful he is about his fantasies, and how much he draws from real history and social change.
He is NOT fantasy of manners, and definitely not romance, but I like his systemic stuff.
Sara
Please change all of it, Freya – signed, the entire world
Olivia Atwater
(Sorry everyone, here I am talking about everything BUT fantasy of manners somehow.)
Sara
Oh yeah that’s the thing with primary/secondary worlds
Freya Marske
Look, I can fuck with MAGICAL society, but unfortunately I don’t plan to introduce a sudden class war into un-magical england on the verge of WW1. but one of the reasons I chose that time period was because it WAS a period of intense class anxiety and boundary breakdown.
C.L. Polk
That’s funny. When I write a story and it’s set on Earth, generally what I write is deeply concerned with personal stakes and just a couple of people, really.
Sara
The thing with fantasy of manners is that it’s one of those subgenres that are immediately classified as feel good or cozy
But also… the kind of issues a lot of these books, yours included, talk about, are quite heavy.
C.L. Polk
Because girls write them, i presume
Sara
How to balance these two aspects, in your opinion?
Oh I don’t think of cozy and feel-good as a bad thing, Cee! 😂
Highest compliment I can give a book.
Olivia Atwater
I think it’s actually a matter of balancing whimsical style with heavy material. One of the reasons I dislike grimdark fantasy is because it can so often turn into a slog. There are no highs or lows–just lows, all of the time.
But when heavy moments are offset by the occasional whimsy, you don’t feel like banging your head against the wall quite so much, and you FEEL both the highs and the lows more keenly.
Freya Marske
I love fantasy of manners because so many of its set pieces can be used for highs/”good” emotions OR to increase tension
C.L. Polk
I just mean… okay there’s a thing that happens, sometimes, when people are talking to me about my books, where they say, “but what really surprised me was the way you went after social and political themes!” because I guess I wrote 80k words about tea and luncheon, or something.
Sara
Most FoM books i’ve read tackle societal issues frontally, idk what people think the subgenre is. 😂
Freya Marske
Don’t be silly, everyone knows clothes and reproduction and marriage are NEVER political!
Olivia Atwater
I think the perception is that FoM is akin to Regency romance, and people who don’t read romance have an ingrained idea of what romance is like.
Sara
Yes, I just love it when people go “gasp, politics in my 19th century england romance???? why I never!”
C.L. Polk
Yeah. So the assumption is that it’s just like regency romance, with a spell or two.
Freya Marske
Yes, even within fantasy readers there’s still a contingent of people who don’t think capital-R Romance can explore serious themes.
Olivia Atwater
And let’s be fair, some Regency romances and some FoM books ARE just a few spells and trying to win the prince stand-in’s heart. But that doesn’t make those books representative of the whole.
C.L. Polk
Those books are fun. And I hope senpai notices them all.
Olivia Atwater
Indeed. I make no bones about the fact that I enjoy the Regency genre, half-dressed cover ladies and all.
Freya Marske
One of my favourite FoM books of all time is one that does have pretty low stakes on the “will I win the prince?” or “what will become of the family fortune?” level. But it’s. Dragons.
Sara
Jo Walton?
Freya Marske
Yes, Tooth and Claw.
Sara
I need to read those, they sound hilarious!
Freya Marske
It really is an Austen-and-or-Dickens novel where some of the rules of society mirror what we’d think of as straightforward historical romance, and some of them are completely worldbuilt around dragons and magic.
So it does what you were saying, Olivia, by satirising the real rules by setting them next to these invented ones.
Olivia Atwater
Yes, the combination of historical and fantasy is just… so, so good for satire.
But you know, as I chew on the original question: I think it’s important to me as an author that any happily-ever-after shows that you CAN change things in small ways. But I never want the happily-ever-after to imply that a single person can change EVERYTHING, if they only work hard enough. Because that sets up unrealistic expectations, which often disappoint in real life.
Freya Marske
I don’t mind either. sometimes I do want the fantasy of one (or a few) people having the ability and courage and power to totally disrupt the status quo.
Sara
The Chosen One (with petticoats).
Freya Marske
Just like I don’t expect to meet any dragons, I don’t expect to ever be able to break down the System, but man it’s nice to read about it sometimes.
C.L. Polk
Yeah I really appreciate books where you show that you can do a heck of a lot with community based change.
Olivia Atwater
I think I personally read a lot of young adult novels growing up which made me internalise the idea that I could go out and fix everything myself. It took me a very long time to undo the damage from that belief and to understand that you need other people in order to make lasting change.
Freya Marske
I would 100% read a fantasy of manners based around a non-profit activism group.
C.L. Polk
I like a good tete a tete with the Dark Lord sometimes. and will I ever write a moment where my protagonist looks at their opponent with newfound clarity and says, “you have no power over me.”
Freya Marske
“All right, it’s Tuesday, time to go stand outside the Dark Lord’s townhouse with pamphlets”
Sara
It sounds VERY Pratchett, Freya. 😂
Olivia Atwater
I’m honestly tending more and more towards that sort of storyline. Solidarity makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
C.L. Polk
Also I just like the idea of community organizing in fantasy!
Sara
I can’t think of a lot of examples, apart from Ten Thousand Stitches, obv, and maybe The Once and Future Witches?
C.L. Polk
I think The Once and Future Witches is a good example
Olivia Atwater
Fantasy has often been accused of perpetuating the myth of the ubermensch, so it’s kind of a nice tickle to upend the expectations there and go for the collective action story.
Freya Marske
Yes, and I think it worked especially well in O&FW because of multiple protagonists/POVs being used to illuminate the action.
Olivia Atwater
The Once and Future Witches made me cry, I loved it so much.
Freya Marske
Writers are lazy, there’s something appealing about our protagonist single-handedly changing the world because then we just have to follow THEM around.
Sara
😂
Olivia Atwater
I think, even from a single perspective though, there’s something to be said for the moment when either the protagonist or other people choose to show that solidarity.
“I thought I could do this by myself, but I can’t. Thankfully, other people have volunteered to help, and we can do it together.”
C.L. Polk
Yeah you know that’s true! if you’re writing a story where a group achieves the story goal, maybe there should be more than one POV. it makes sense to me.
Olivia Atwater
And in that vein, I really have to recommend Gail Carriger’s “The Heroine’s Journey”
Sara
I haven’t read that one, but her other books are a hoot
Olivia Atwater
It’s a nonfiction book that lays out an alternative to the Hero’s Journey.
One of gathering allies, rather than isolation and self-empowerment, mainly.
C.L. Polk
I have it but I haven’t read it yet.
Freya Marske
I like that, I do think that “gathering allies” is a key fantasy of manners ingredient!
Olivia Atwater
I really enjoyed it. I can’t say that it’s perfect as a literary framework, but it still spoke to me a lot.
It’s very faerie tale, as well! When the heroine shows kindness to magical animals and gains their aid later in the story, that’s a perfect example.
Freya Marske
Yes! what gets you your allies is often not an act of heroism or flashing an enchanted stone or prophecied sword around, but an act of decency.
Olivia Atwater
I really love that as a trope, honestly.
Freya Marske
I think fantasy of manners as a genre rewards compassion.
Olivia Atwater
I think so as well. It’s definitely a positive bit that it draws from its romance roots.
Freya Marske
Trying to think of what defines FoM protagonists I have loved and I think it’s anger, compassion and stubbornness.
Olivia Atwater
I think I’m similar. I like the occasional clever protagonist, but if I have to choose between compassion and cleverness, I’d rather have the former than the latter.
…which perhaps brings us full-circle back to himbos.
Sara
😂
All roads lead to himbos.
Freya Marske
Yeah, see, my himbo is PAIRED with someone who is all cleverness and struggles with compassion because his past has made him self-centred out of self-protection.
Sara
I would die for Edwin.
Freya Marske
Just need to expose him to the himbo sunshine for a while. Coax him out into a space where he can develop some compassion-muscles.
Sara
😂
Characters arcs are always so interesting in FoM.
Because characters are what’s most important in the genre… so the focus on their growth is front and center.
Olivia Atwater
Yes, it’s another thing I feel FoM gets from its romance side of things.
In mainstream fantasy, I think it’s a bit easier for the save-the-world plot to interfere with character arcs, if the author isn’t very careful. But romance is all about centring character growth and relationships, so it slots very naturally into turning FoM cozy and character-focussed.
Sara
I am going to have to wrap things up soon, so that the post doesn’t become gigantic (even if the topic is so interesting!!), aand also because I’m starting to sleep with eyes wide open.
And yes, exactly, Olivia!
And being a self-described Character-hoe, it explains why I do love both FoM and romance.
C.L. Polk
I like that about FoM. You can have a nice crunchy plot and Characters Who Learn.
Olivia Atwater
Ah, me as well, obviously. “I don’t care if the world is going to be destroyed in twenty-four hours, I need to know whether the protagonist has fixed her soul-crushing pessimism!”
Freya Marske
Give me a Fraught Dinner Party over an epic battle any day
Olivia Atwater
…a fraught dinner party that turns into a swordfight on the table?
Freya Marske
Hmm acceptable.
Olivia Atwater
With discarded cravats.
Sara
😂
Freya Marske
Oh my!!
Olivia Atwater
See, I knew we could make this all work.
Sara
Only if it’s homoerotic swordfight.
The only right swordfight.
Freya Marske
Sara, do you have so little faith in us
C.L. Polk
Can they make eye contact while they discard their cravats? Asking for a friend.
Freya Marske
Of course it is.
Cutting insults while the tips of their blades flirt.
C.L. Polk
…for dominance?
Sara
😏
Olivia Atwater
Okay, so I’m going to take pity on Sara and leave it at that, BUT I am also clearly going to have this scene playing in the back of my head for the rest of the evening.
Freya Marske
New anthology idea.
“Homoerotic sword fights”.
THANK YOU SARA!
Sara
😂
Before I go collapse in a heap of zzzzzzzz, (OMG YES FREYA PLEASE), could you lovely peeps maybe rec 1 FoM book?
C.L. Polk
I really enjoy the Glamourist Histories. It’s a strong influnce, as you might imagine!
Freya Marske
I feel like I’ve already mentioned a lot of my favourites! oh – Zen Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown!
Sara
MRK is a wonder.
Ooh i still need to read that one, Freya, and its sequel.
Olivia Atwater
The Lady Jewel Diviner, by Rosalie Oaks. It doesn’t take itself seriously in any way whatsoever, and I love it for that.
Sara
On the TBR it goes.
C.L. Polk
Yeah I need to google that one!
Sara
Ok time for the aforementioned zzzzzs for me.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! ❤️
Olivia Atwater
Thank you! This was fun!
C.L. Polk
Yes! A great chat! would chat again!
Freya Marske
Yes! A lovely way to start my day. Feeling fired up to get writing done now.
Sara
It was so interesting and it’s lovely of you to take the time for this. ❤️
YES FREYA WRITING
Freya Marske
I am in fact about to write a fraught dinner party scene!!
No magic. Or sword fights.
C.L. Polk
Ooh!
Olivia Atwater
DISCARD THE CRAVATS!
Sara
They can be stabbed with the skating blades.
But please don’t let them be stabbed.
(Sara’s note: context, Freya’s WIP is an ice dance fake dating romance. Yes, she just *gets* me)
Freya Marske
But there IS a pair of horrible parents and also some violent kissing against walls.
Sooooooo…
Sara
Oh stab the parents.
Hiu, being the vegetable angel he is, is going to format this discussion into a blogpost.
I have no idea when we have it scheduled but probably in the next couple of weeks? Mebbe?
Thank you again, it has been really fun. ❤️
Night all! (And good morning, and good afternoon/evening!) 👋
(Timezones are a curse.)
C.L. Polk
Why is the planet round, darn it.
There you have it! It’s so much fun when we get a bunch of brilliant authors together and find that they’re all on the same wavelength. Even more so when that wavelength is essentially Break The Fucking System. If there’s any of these authors that you haven’t read, then you’re in luck! We’ve a few great books to introduce you to…
(I know it’s silly, but I love putting book covers together like this.)
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar to cut off her powers. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged mage, but her family are in severe debt, and only her marriage can save them.
Beatrice finds a grimoire with the key to becoming a mage, but a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with the sorceress’s brother: the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan.
The Midnight Bargain is available now! Add it on Goodreads, or buy it now from Bookshop.org, Amazon US / UK, or other retailers.
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
Young baronet Robin Blyth thought he was taking up a minor governmental post. However, he’s actually been appointed parliamentary liaison to a secret magical society. If it weren’t for this administrative error, he’d never have discovered the incredible magic underlying his world.
Cursed by mysterious attackers and plagued by visions, Robin becomes determined to drag answers from his missing predecessor – but he’ll need the help of Edwin Courcey, his hostile magical-society counterpart. Unwillingly thrown together, Robin and Edwin will discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles.
A Marvellous Light releases on November 2nd! Add it on Goodreads, or pre-order it now from Bookshop.org, Amazon US / UK, or other retailers.
Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater
Euphemia Reeves has most inconveniently fallen in love with Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. Housemaids do not marry gentlemen, of course… but a faerie named Lord Blackthorn is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Benedict’s heart regardless.
Effie knows what a terrible idea it is to accept help from one of the Fair Folk—but life as a maid at Hartfield is so awful that she is willing to risk even her immortal soul for a chance at something better. Now, Effie has one hundred days and ten thousand stitches to make Mr Benedict fall in love with her and propose… if Lord Blackthorn doesn’t wreck things by accident, that is. For Effie’s greatest obstacle might well be Lord Blackthorn’s overwhelmingly good intentions.
Ten Thousand Stitches is available now! Add it on Goodreads, or buy it now from Amazon US / UK, or other retailers. Ten Thousand Stitches is the second book in a series, so be sure to also check out Half a Soul.
For more author interviews, check out our podcast, or check out previous episodes of Common Room Conversations below:
| Episode Number | Guests | Topic |
| 1 | John Gwynne & Miles Cameron | Weapons in Fiction |
| 2 | C.L. Clark, Tasha Suri, and Shelley Parker-Chan | Sapphics Rise, Empires Fall |
| 3 | Gareth Hanrahan, Jackson Ford, RJ Barker | Sh*t Hits the Fan |
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