Helloooo!

I recently reviewed the great SF novella A Candle for Malka by Louise Carey and also reviewed the last of the Inscape trilogy Downfall which was also a fine end to an inventive series. I was delighted to get the chance to ask Louise some more questions for the blog.

Hi Womble! Thanks for having me back on the blog 😊

How do you like booktempt A Candle for Malka?

The question at the heart of A Candle for Malka is: what if our search for extra-terrestrial intelligence finally found something—only we were several million years too late? What if we discovered alien life, but long extinct, in the form of oil and gas deposits? The resulting novella is part cosmic horror, part cli-fi, but the human side of it is about the bond between siblings, and what happens after you do something that shatters that bond—something you can’t take back.

Which came first the space mission or the siblings?

They actually evolved side by side pretty organically! The SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) aspect fascinated me from the outset, because the idea of not only discovering that we’re alone in the universe, but also that we almost weren’t—that other life existed, once, and we missed it—struck me as a fantastically lonely concept.

From there, I knew I wanted a lonely, isolated character to be my lead researcher—someone cut off from home by a distance that’s both physical and emotional. Bram is isolated, too, trying to renegotiate his bond with Malka in her absence. Some might find it hard to relate to long-dead space dinosaurs, so Bram and Malka’s relationship provided a human element to the story that I think was much needed.

With Malka and Bram we have two people who have very different attitudes to religion how did those viewpoints evolve?

In part, Bram and Malka’s distinct attitudes grew out of a dialogue I was having with myself at the time about my relationship to Judaism. I have never been particularly religiously observant, but some of my family are, and the rituals of Friday night dinners, family Passovers and Chanukahs were a huge part of my childhood.

Over the years, my relationship to those rituals has changed as my life has changed; like Bram, it’s been hard sometimes for me to articulate what being Jewish means to me, and how it fits with other aspects of my identity.

If Bram’s character was influenced by that struggle, then Malka is someone who has resolved those difficulties for herself. She knows what Judaism is about for her. Malka’s character was also a way of honouring my great-grandma—a devout, loving, complicated person who very much inspired her namesake in the novella.

How science and business cross comes across in many of your stories why does this theme appeal? Are we moving away from science as simply problems to solve and now we are exploring what we do with the science?

I suppose it’s because I’m a cynic, and a socialist. Scientific research can be fascinating in and of itself, but as you suggest, I’m often more interested in exploring its applications—how incredible inventions, discoveries or breakthroughs are used. And so often, they’re used to enrich the few at the expense of the many. Questions of who is funding a piece of research, and who owns the results, are just as vital as the science itself—and they have huge implications for who gets to control the output, whatever it is.

Jonas Salk never patented his polio vaccine—he said the patent belonged to ‘the people’. Many modern-day vaccines aren’t free to everyone because they were developed by profit-making pharmaceutical companies who own the IP. So, the money behind the science is really important!

You also completed the Inscape trilogy (so far) this year. How does it feel to have completed your first series tale and what has the experience taught you?

It was a wild ride! It’s very satisfying to have finished the trilogy, especially as I had many moments of doubt along the way when I wondered if I’d be able to land the thing in a way that made sense. I’m really happy with how I’ve wrapped it up. I hope the experience has taught me to have more confidence in my own writing, but we’ll see! Ask me again after the next series :P

Will we see what happened next in those books?

I’d love to return to the world of Inscape, and I do have some ideas on that score, but it’s not the next project on my list. I have something different planned for now, but after that’s done, who knows!

What else can we look forward to from you in the future and where can we find out more?

I’m working on the next novel as we speak! At the moment, it’s looking more like science-fantasy than science-fiction, so a bit of a departure from my recent work, but it’s still going to be a pacy mystery-thriller with questions of big business, technology and inequality at its heart.

As for where to find out more, I’m currently revamping my website (and adding a store where people can buy from me directly!) The new www.louise-carey.com will be up soon, and you can always find out what I’m up to on Twitter @louisecarey25 as well.

What great stories have you read recently?

I recently finished reading Unquiet by E. Saxey, which will be coming out from Titan Books in July. It’s a haunting tale—part gothic, part folk horror, and I loved it. It’s about a Jewish woman in Victorian London who is living an isolated life when someone from her past returns unexpectedly. I don’t want to get more specific than that, because the narrative is brilliantly twisty and I don’t want to ruin it! I’d recommend diving straight in and not stopping to read the blurb (which has a very minor spoiler for the first chapter). It’s an atmospheric, claustrophobic read with incredibly vivid characters.