World in the Satin Bag

Ginn Hale is the author of Wicked Gentlemen, which I reviewed here. And, with that, I’ll leave you with the interview: First, thanks for doing this interview with me. Could you tell us a little about yourself? Where do you hail from, what got you into writing, and why “Wicked Gentlemen”? I currently live in the Pacific Northwest in the small city of Bellingham, which curls between a lovely green bay and the foot of a lively volcano. When I was young, my family didn’t have anything like television or radio or even access to many books, but both my parents were great storytellers. My father loved to create humorous versions of history and he encouraged my brother and me to re-enact the scenes as he narrated. We assassinated President Taft (played and narrated by my father) an absurd number of times. My mother would read aloud from a tattered book of Shakespeare, taking on the voices of each character and when she came across a missing page—as happens with old books—she filled in the story from memory. I wrote Wicked Gentlemen for much the same reason that my parents told stories. I wanted to entertain two friends. At the time that I wrote it I had no intention of publishing. I simply enjoyed building a story for my friends. Who would you say are some of your influences? What about favorite writers past and present? Obviously Shakespeare was a big influence, since his were the first stories I knew. As a child I also loved Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries and J.R.R.Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Once I had access to libraries and bookstores I pretty much devoured books. I was, and still am, strongly interested in science and poetry. I found Richard Siken’s book, Crush, astounding; the way he uses the fluidity of language to alter meaning and reverse assumptions amazes me. I also loved science fiction and fantasy. My teenage memories are filled with evenings spent pouring over books by Anne McCaffery, Larry Niven, and Isaac Asimov. But I think if I had to pick one book that had the most profound influence upon me as a writer, I guess I’d have to say it was The Watchtower, by Elizabeth Lynn. Hers was the first story I read with gay characters— though by today’s standards you’d hardly notice–and after that I became aware of how profoundly absent we gays and lesbians were from the kinds of exciting, adventurous stories that I wanted to read. So I started to write my own little stories and that’s pretty much how I became a writer. What are you currently reading, what have you just finished, and what do you plan to read? Any good book suggestions? Wow I could go on forever with lists of books— I’ll try to control myself. Currently, I’m reading, and very much enjoying, two books: one for research, The London Hanged by Peter Linebaugh, and the other for pleasure, Turnskin by Nicole Kimberling. I just finished reading Barth Anderson’s The Magician and the Fool. Reading it was like watching a talented stage magician perform. I knew that I was being deceived and misdirected but the illusion was so engaging that it still thrilled me. Other recent reads include a charming book called Vintage, by Steve Berman, a beautiful mystery from Josh Lanyon called Snowball In Hell, (I am addicted to his Adrien English mystery series). As far as book suggestions go, there are a few that I love and have read over and over among them are, Dream Boy by Jim Grimsly, The Charioteer by Mary Renault, and James Thurber’s, The thirteen Clocks. And oh, all the books that I’m planning to read… Anything from Kelly Link –she’s just so clever and cool. Astrid Amara’s, The Archer’s Heart, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, Tales of Judge Dee by Zhu Xiao Di and Crave by Catherine Lundoff. Obviously there’s a certain amount of homosexual content in the novel, since it was nominated, and won, the Gaylactic Spectrum Award. How has that aspect of your work been received? Do you get more negative comments or positive comments, or do people not really care? The vast majority of responses have been wonderful and positive and they’ve cared but in the best possible way. It’s particularly encouraging that most reviewers haven’t singled out the homosexual content for comment as if it were something aberrant or strange. Instead, they’ve responded to the sexuality of the characters as part and parcel of the book, just as they would treat heterosexual content in another novel. The very few bits of hate mail I’ve received have all come from people who haven’t actually read the book. So I’m guessing that these people are simply opposed to gays and lesbians as human beings, never mind literary characters. Additionally, do you receive negative or positive comments regarding your representation of the Church (the Inquisition in “Wicked Gentlemen”)? In writing Wicked Gentlemen I wasn’t setting out to depict any group or institution as purely good or evil, the church included. I tried to balance the brutality of the Inquisition’s treatment of Belimai with depictions of Harper in his role as an Inquisitor protecting and defending people. And so far, I haven’t received any negative comments on my representation of the Inquisition. This might be because the church in the world of Wicked Gentlemen is obviously fictional, or it could be due to the fact that the real Inquisition committed far greater atrocities than I attribute to them in my novel. Speaking of the aspects of religion and sexuality in your book, can you talk about the complicated relationship between Sykes and Harper, particularly the nature of discrimination present due to Sykes being a descendant of demons and Harper being a member of the Inquisition? Well that’s a lot in one question, but let’s see… To Belimai Sykes, Harper appears to be the embodiment of a social ideal. He is what Sykes could never