Welcome to Friday!
I’m so pleased to share my chat with Nikki McCormack. Her YA steampunk novel, The Girl and the Clockwork Cat, was released this Tuesday by Entangled Teen and tells the story of a tough female main character named Maeko, who finds adventure and danger in Victorian London. Add in a cat and a new friend and you have what readers are calling “fun and entertaining” with a storyline “that definitely keeps you thinking.”
Nikki took some time to chat about her new release, the furry new addition to her family, and the different approaches she took to creating an authentic steampunk tale!
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Congrats on the release of The Girl and the Clockwork Cat, Nikki! How does it feel to have it out in the world?
This is a life dream for me. Having one of my books out in the world is amazing and a little scary. You want everyone to love reading it as much as you loved writing it. Not everyone will, but it’s worth it to get a chance to share. So far, the reception has been rather positive. That certainly doesn’t hurt.
Your main character Maeko may be a young adult but she’s fiercely independent and a survivor. What strong female literary characters have you always looked up to?
To be honest, I’ve always been a huge fan of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Those genres tend to be male dominated, but I never cared much if the protagonist was male or female. I never saw any reason a woman couldn’t have filled most of those roles. That said, I do have some distinct favorite female protagonists.
Talia of the Arrows of the Queen series by Mercedes Lackey was probably one of the first female characters I really admired. Since then, I’ve found more powerful female protagonists to look up to in Marjorie of Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass, Arya Stark from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, Dana of Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, and Yukiko of Jay Kristoff’s Lotus War series.
The leading lady, the cat, the Victorian setting: it’s a tossup amongst readers which of these three is actually their favorite part of the book. Which of these integral pieces of the story did you have the most fun writing? Which was the most challenging?
I would have to say that Maeko was both the most fun and the most exhausting. Her character pulled me in and didn’t stop pulling until I finished the book. Macak was a bit less demanding and he is a cat, so he was naturally fun to write. The most challenging part was the setting. I put long hours into researching how Victorian London looked and what life was like there, trying to get a feel for everything from what kind of medical care was available to what slang they used on the streets. I tried to learn as much as I could of the real history so the book would feel more authentic then tweaked it to create the alternate Victorian London in the story.
I wanted to ask you about your cats and which of them inspired the cat in your novel. But then I saw you just adopted the most adorable dog. So adorably distracting that I just want to talk about Teagan. (What a great name!) But back to the cats, are they jealous of all the attention the feline in your book has gotten?
Teagan is the greatest boy. He really is a charmer. I am a sucker for my cats, though. B.C. (his name stands for Black Cat or Bad Cat depending on the moment) and Shai (my tiny old lady) probably are a bit jealous. I modeled the cat in the book after my boy Neko (his name means cat in Japanese, further displaying my amazing skills at creative cat naming). Much to my delight, the cat on the book cover looks a lot like him.
What are a few books in the steampunk genre (not necessarily young adult) that you can’t stop recommending to people?
My first recommendation would be The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. I tried to offer a few nods to this classic in my book. Outside of that, I recommend Jay Kristoff’s Lotus War series that I mentioned earlier. It’s a wild ride with a strong heroine. If you yearn for a more intense love triangle, Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices series is fantastic. For a younger and exceptionally creative read, I would recommend Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series. I also can’t leave out The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. This book had some of the most vivid world building I’ve seen. There are so many more I could recommend and probably tons of great ones I haven’t read yet, but I have to stop somewhere.
Tell us a little bit about what you are working on next!
I have many projects in the works. My current focus is on editing another Clockwork Cat book while my beta readers are going over a new science fiction novel I’ve been working on. I have another unrelated fantasy series about ready and several more books waiting to be edited or stories plotted waiting to be written. I also have several short stories I hope to make available soon. There aren’t enough hours in the day, especially when you have a puppy to play with. I hope to have more books available to readers before too long.
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Thanks so much for chatting with me, Nikki!
For more on Nikki McCormack: Blog/Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Goodreads
The Girl and the Clockwork Cat: Amazon | B&N | Entangled | Goodreads
