Interviewing Marian Womack

Helloooo!

I recently reviewed the great fantasy mystery On The Nature of Magic by Marian Womack that mixes detectives, the occult and new technologies at the very beginning of the 20th century. I was delighted to welcome Marian back to the blog to talk about this latest book and a few other things in the process.

How do you like to booktempt On The Nature Of Magic?

I am incredibly superstitious: whenever I write I always worry that it will be my last book—this is the reason why I always have at least two books and many other projects on the go at once. This means that I tend to put a lot of my obsessions in any project I happen to be working on. Hopefully that means that my books are varied and have something for everyone! So, for On The Nature of Magic, whether you are interested in the early days of cinema, or the inventions of Tesla, or female detectives, time-slips, or Paris and London at the turn of the century, or the Golden Dawn, or Spiritualism, or Science… There will be something there to grab you.

This story seems to play with liminal spaces our characters, setting and even history: was this a conscious choice?

I love writing the liminal, suggesting ideas to the reader, rather than showing certainties. Even when I am trying to write something fun, to some extent I want to leave a space for the reader to think, reach their own conclusions. This novel in particular would not work without the play with liminality. It is built around one of the most slippery paranormal cases of all times—did Miss Moberly and Miss Jourdain really see Marie Antoinette in Versailles?—and it is set at the very early days of narrative cinema, when audiences were still learning that what they saw was not some magic trick. In a way, this is a continuation of the first book, where the foggy coastal roads of Norfolk, and the eerie fens, where it’s so easy to be pixie-led, contrived to create a similar effect.

How did you find working with Helena and Eliza as characters now their backgrounds had been established?

It has been really lovely to reconnect with my characters, not just through understanding their motivation and background a little bit better, but also seeing how they would develop and face new challenges. I feel their progression has been natural, although at the same time they have occasionally surprised me! I cannot wait for people to read what is in store for them in the third book. I guarantee it will surprise many of the readers of their adventures.

Mixing the dawning of cinema and one of the most strangest supernatural timeslip reports was a great idea. What drew you to these events to create a secret history?

I am obsessed with Paris: it is a really special place for me and my family. And I have a soft spot for the boiling pot of paranormal and cultural scenes that sprung up in Paris at the turn of the century, when so many interesting supernatural societies, events and aficionados collided, while at the same time so many other interesting things were going on, all at once. The World Exhibition, the decamping of half the Golden Dawn. And, in the middle of all this, Méliès was moving forward with movies in incredibly imaginative ways, inventing narrative cinema. I have a soft spot for Méliès, ever since I was a student in English Literature and Film Studies at Glasgow University, when I got a lot into Film History. His aesthetics have since informed my imaginary. I have put him in stories before, and one of the tales in my booklet ‘Bluebeard Variations’ is a retelling of one of his movies. When I first heard about the Moberly-Jourdain incident, which happened in Versailles in 1901, it didn’t seem at all surprising to me that an event of that paranormal magnitude would have been reported in Paris at that time. The city was heaving with magic! I remember reading about it as a factual account, and thinking to myself that yes, it was entirely possible that the ladies had travelled in time! This book is a little about my love for that Paris where anything is possible, and I really wanted to recreate that time and place as much as I could; I hope I have done it justice. And to do that, I simply could not leave the Misses, Miss Moberly and Miss Jourdain, behind.

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

I am working on the third adventure of Helena and Eliza, a bit closer to home now. The book is mostly set in Cambridge, where my English family hails from, and where we live now. Expect it to be the strangest and most implausible of their adventures! There will be an investigation connecting a certain Victorian killer with one of Cambridge most beloved authors… And that is all I can say about the book at present! And I am finishing a longish horror project of a very personal nature. There is a new short story collection ready somewhere, but we are still working out how and when it will be published. If you want to know more, the best is to connect with my page, marianwomack.com, or to follow me on Instagram.  

What great books have you read recently?

I am rediscovering Rachel Pollac’s book on Tarot Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom, which I read an awfully long time ago. And I just finished The Book you Wish your Parents Had Read, by Philippa Perry, which does exactly what it says on the tin. In fiction, I am enjoying immensely the new Nina Allan’s novel, Conquest. Not available yet but available soon: two of my favourite writers are releasing a collection of short fiction and a novel after the summer, Timothy Jarvis and Matt Hill. I cannot wait for those two. And I have enjoyed massively the brave and compelling new novel by speculative fiction horror Spanish maestro Ismael Martinez Biurrun, Solo los vivos perdonan. This is unfortunately only available in Spanish, at least for now.