Laurel Anne Hill releases her third novel, Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846. The YA historical fantasy tells the story of a 16-year-old Mexican girl, Catalina, and her fight for her country after American invaders declare war on Mexico. Plague of Flies.
FWM: Your close brushes with death, love of family, and respect for honor, and belief in a higher power continue to influence your writing. Share your backstory.
As a young woman, I never felt invincible, thought my own death lurked only in my distant future. I simply didn’t understand how thin the dividing line between life and death can be. As a result, waters (rivers, lakes, an ocean and a sea) nearly claimed my life upon at least seven occasions and heights (from California’s cliffs to a three-story clothesline pole), upon at least six others. Just imagine if you looked out the third-floor kitchen window—as my mom once did—and saw YOUR seventeen-year-old daughter clinging to a rotten ladder on the side of the neighboring building, dangling over the urban abyss. We were moving from our rental flat, and I’d always wanted to climb that stupid ladder someone had hung within easy reach. Whenever I include treacherous heights or waters in a story, I base those scenes on my personal experiences.
As for love of family? I grew up in a three-generation, two-bedroom, one-toilet flat in San Francisco. My father was an abusive alcoholic, but fortunately, away from home much of the time due to his job until I reached high school. My older sister and I forged a bond with our mother and our maternal grandparents at a young age. Grandma’s belief in God and her respect for truth became my own. Every time I faced death, an inner strength I can’t explain quelled my panic and guided my survival response.
FWM: Your YA novel, THE ENGINE WOMAN’S LIGHT has won 13 honors and awards. Why is this book resonating with audiences?
Initially, I wasn’t sure why audiences connected with The Engine Woman’s Light, other than the fact it’s an engaging spirits-meet-steampunk adventure. Then Kirkus Reviews wrote: “Like Ursula K. Le Guin, Hill (Heroes Arise, 2008) pays attention to the anthropology of her invented culture in ways that enrich the story greatly, often in details that subtly underscore how the society both resembles and differs from our own.” Wow! What an honor to be favorably compared to one of my favorite authors. Kirkus also reminded me that The Engine Woman’s Light is a book about people, not steampunk gadgets, and its emphasis is on its characters’ choices and the resulting consequences. Choices versus consequences: something most readers can understand.
FWM: Why is it important for teens and young readers to read nowadays?
We live in a world that often twists reality or reduces it to sensational sound bites. Lesson plans and assigned reading from grade-school textbooks may or may not connect us to what is happening (or has happened) in our world. Reading full-length books—fiction or narrative nonfiction—not only imparts additional perspectives in depth, it can help equip teens and young readers to deal with complex issues.
FWM: Why are powerful women characters prevalent in your writing?
I give my point-of-view characters major problems to worry about. In order to cope, they either have to start out with a fair measure of inner strength or grow in that direction. Women point-of-view characters are prevalent in my writing, thus, they land in situations where they need to make tough choices. Yet even in my first novel, Heroes Arise, where the point-of-narration is entirely male, I gave the most critical action to a female of an alien species—a gifted young adult with a physical disability (she lacks photosynthetic pigments) and the wisdom of a seer. I guess my maternal grandmother, who had to quit school and go to work at age twelve to help support her younger siblings and widowed mother, taught me that women without “power” can still make a powerful difference in our world.
FWM: Tell us about your new book, PLAGUE OF FLIES: REVOLT OF THE SPIRITS, 1846.
In 1846 Alta California, Catalina Delgado daydreams about her future: roping cattle, marrying Ángelo Ortega and raising children. But now, invaders from the United States—the Bear Flaggers—have declared war against Mexico, her country. Bear Flaggers have imprisoned one close friend of her family and murdered others. What fate might befall her parents, grandfather and younger brothers? And what about her best friend, a Costanoan servant girl? How can Catalina, only sixteen, help protect all those she loves?
The spirits provide Catalina with answers, but not ones she wants. Plus she fears the strange spirit man who rides a black Andalusian stallion through the sky. For the sake of all she holds dear, Catalina must risk her reputation as a chaste young woman, her future with Ángelo, her life and her very soul. When hopes and dreams clash with cold reality, Catalina finds the fortitude to accomplish what only she can do.
FWM: How proud are you of your Mexican Heritage? How does this translate into your writing?
How could I not be proud, when I discovered my Mexican great-grandmother—as a teen in US California—had recruited local Mexican men to return to their country and fight to rid it of French soldiers? My great-great-grandmother had helped to finance the effort. This was before she “mysteriously” lost the title to her lands in California. Vintage family gossip suggests a railroad was involved.
I regret that my half-Mexican father severed ties with his family long before I was born. I’m thankful the papers of my paternal great-grandmother (Hipólita Orendain de Medina) reside in the California Historical Society in San Francisco, and that I was able to have them translated into English. One of her poems survived, and I felt a spiritual connection between us when I worked on The Engine Woman’s Light and Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846. I still do. Hipólita’s photographic portrait—discovered by me on a French website—hangs on my living room wall.
FWM: What lessons will folks learn from your books?
I’m not sure that imparting specific lessons was foremost in my mind when I wrote and rewrote the early drafts of my three novels. I got to know my characters and told their stories to the best of my abilities. Or so I thought. When my characters decided I could do a better job, the real work began. I must admit, the importance of family, love, honor, respect for others, and belief in a higher power shines through the finished products. And, I’ve been informed, The Engine Woman’s Light provides an entertaining source of information about the operation of steam locomotives.
FWM: Can you share a favorite scene?
I have a lot of “favorite scenes” in my new novel, Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846. Describing them might give away plot secrets. So let me start at the beginning of Catalina Delgado’s story. Beginnings are difficult to get right, and I rewrote my opening chapter many times. I needed Catalina to express her frustration with the horseflies that swarm around her only when other people aren’t present. For her to feel spirits spying on her through the eye sockets of bleached longhorn skulls. I needed Catalina to inwardly grumble when she worries about war and her mother accuses her of daydreaming. And most of all, I needed to set up the arrival of the riders who will change Catalina’s life forever. I believe I accomplished what I set out to do in Chapter One: Spirits, Worries and Swarms. And I did so while avoiding information dumps, the dreaded bane of speculative fiction.
FWM: What’s next for you?
I may return to steampunk—at least that’s the way I’ve started my next manuscript. Whatever story path I take, I suspect my tale will emphasize characters, choices and consequences, all blended with plenty of adventure.
“Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846” by Laurel Anne Hill is available for on Amazon.
Paperback ISBN: 978-1949534207
Ebook ISBN: 978-1949534214
Paperback Price: $18.95
Ebook Price: $5.99
Publisher: Sand Hill Review Press
