Julie Kagawa Interview

LOOK! My first Tenner interview! :o

Julie Kagawa is lovely and allowed me to interview her. Thanks, Julie! :D Her book, The Iron King, is not out until February 2010, so consider this a preview of sorts.

So without further ado:

For the people who don't know- what is The Iron King about?

The Iron King is about sixteen year old Meghan Chase, whose little brother is kidnapped by faeries and she goes into Faeryland to get him back. But she discovers it wasn't the Unseelie Court who took her brother, as she first thought, but a whole new species of faery called The Iron Fey, led by Machina the Iron King. These faeries are immune to iron, and are amassing to start a war with the “oldbloods,” the normal faeries, who are unaware of their existence. Meghan must figure out how to rescue her brother from Machina, stop a war that will tear Faeryland apart, and resist falling for Ash, the Unseelie Prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Your book is about faeries. There are many faerie books. What do you think makes yours stand out from all the rest? :o

The Iron Fey, the faeries born from the dreams of technology and progress. Other faerie books have the courts and their political problems, the strife between Summer and Winter or Seelie and Unseelie. (Which I love, don't get me wrong. I adore Marr and Black and Livingston.) The Iron King has those elements, too, as well as all the traditional faery types: sidhe, redcaps, brownies, satyrs. But it also has gremlins and bugs and Ironhorse, the fey of the modern world, and how they clash with the faeries of myth and legend. And I hope that will set it apart from the rest.

Did you know a lot about faeries before you started writing The Iron King, or did you have to look LOADS of stuff up?

I'm a researcher by nature. I did know a fair amount about faeries when I started, but I also love looking stuff up and finding out more. And faeries are such fascinating subjects: I never tire of reading about them.

Why do YOU like faeries?

There's something primal and dangerous about the fey, in their unpredictable nature and their capricious attitude towards humans. These are not glittery wings sprites flitting around your garden. The real fey, the old faeries of legend, were wild and mysterious and terrifying, and humans feared them for good reason. I think that's part of the allure.

Also, I think its fascinating that, especially in modern faery stories, the fey world is all around us and we don't even see it. From brownies cleaning your house at night, to bogies living in your closet or under your bed, to gremlins in your computer. In fact, they could be watching you right now and you'd never know. That's why I love faeries.

If you were a faery, what kind would you be? (As in, what court would you belong to, if you'd be a brownie or something else, etc.)

Hm, I don't think I'd belong to a court. I'd probably be a solitary fey, but if I had to choose, I'd pick the Winter/Unseelie court, just cause I prefer the cold. And if I were a faery, I'd either be a pooka or a kitsune (Mischievous Japanese fox faery), because I love a good prank. Puck and I would get along famously.

What are five RANDOM FACTS about you?

1. I have a white streak in my hair that is natural.
2. I was chased out of the ocean by sharks ... twice.
3. I trained my dog to do magic.
   
4. My favorite food is raw fish.
   
5. I once wrestled a goat.
   

I'm pretty sure there has to be a good story behind the goat wrestling. Care to share it?

Lol, I used to live on a small farm in Hawaii, and our next door neighbor had this really mean, grumpy billy goat named (appropriately) Bully. One day our own baby goats got out and were in the neighbor's yard, so I went to herd them back, not knowing Bully had gotten loose. The crazy goat charged and rammed me in the posterior, knocking me down, and wouldn't let me retreat without trying to butt me again. So, I thought: “Okay, goat. It's on.” And so we wrestled for a bit, well, I wrestled and he tried to butt me. In the end, we called a truce decided to part peacefully. (Okay, so the hysterically laughing neighbors came out and put him back in his pen. But, for the record, I won, ha!)

So I hear you've been a dog trainer. Any good stories from that? (And just because I have a dachshund- did you ever train a dachshund? Are they all insane, or is that just my puppy?)

Well, it was the most interesting job (besides writing) I've ever had. Nothing is ever the same twice, and you have to think on your feet a lot, particularly with the aggressive cases. I once worked with a Chow-mix that had “people-aggression” issues. The couple told me she had charged and bitten a few people before, so I told them I would try to help her. On the first day of training, they brought her into my ring, took her off leash, and just let her go! She took one look at me and started growling and snarling, all her hair standing on end and her eyes bugging out of her head. And the couple just stood there, expecting me to do something. I used every calming method I knew to prevent this dog from eating me (tossing chicken cubes work wonders), until I was able to very quietly tell the couple to “please put your dog back on leash until further notice.” That was a little scary, but the interesting thing was the couple's reaction. They were impressed I had prevented the dog from biting me. I was like: “did you take your dog off-leash just to see that I knew what I was doing?!” Thankfully, after a few sessions the dog loved me (or my chicken) so much we didn't need the leash anymore.

And dachshunds. Yes. To both questions. Yes, I have trained them, and yes they are all insane. :D My best friend has a dachshund, my youngest sister has three, and I've worked with many over the years. Hardest part of training a dachshund? Getting them housebroken, and teaching them to lie down. I use the “show puppy treat, lower it to puppy's toes until puppy follows it down” method of training, but it's impossible with a dachshund. They're so short! Their nose is already at toe level. But I love them anyway.

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THANKS SO MUCH, JULIE! :D You are the best.

And everyone else, be sure to check out Julie's website, blog, and twitter.