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Author John Crowley is interviewed by Ed Halter in the new issue of The Believer, on newsstands now.

"Crowley’s skill at transcending genre has had its pitfalls, too, as illustrated in the publishing saga of the Ægypt cycle, his four-volume opus that navigates through both the intricate romantic affairs of an Aquarian-age cluster of upstate New Yorkers and an occult re-reading of Western history. Though the original books were slowly released over two decades by various publishing houses—some parts marketed as fantasy novels, others more as literary fiction—a complete, definitive edition of the series was finally published between 2007 and 2009 by Overlook Press."


THE BELIEVER: Your novels exist somewhere between fantasy and science fiction and naturalistic fiction. Do you have any interest in the way the term slipstream has been circulating in the last few years to describe this kind of moving among genres? Would you ever think of yourself as a slipstream writer?


JOHN CROWLEY: I think this is something for critics to determine rather than for writers to do. I mean, I just write books. If they have names for them, the names can seem more or less convincing to me. I think the difficulty with slipstream and interstitial fiction and all those kinds of terms is that they tend to be used only by people who are in one of those sub-branches of fiction. They’re used by genre writers who are interested in adopting mainstream techniques or adopting mainstream values or getting mainstream readers to read their books. You will notice that it’s mostly genre writers who even use the word mainstream. Mainstream writers don’t use the word mainstream—they don’t know there’s a mainstream and these tributaries or whatever they are.

New in paperback is Endless Things, the fourth novel—the much anticipated conclusion—in John Crowley’s astonishing and lauded Ægypt cycle: a dense, lyrical meditation on history, alchemy, and memory. Spanning three centuries, and weaving together the stories of Renaissance magician John Dee, philosopher Giordano Bruno, and present-day itinerant historian and writer Pierce Moffitt, the Ægypt sequence is an epic, distinctly American novel where the past, present, and future reflect each other.

Love & Sleep, the second volume in John Crowley's acclaimed Ægypt cycle, is now available in a new paperback edition from The Overlook Press. Finally reissued after years out of print, and rewritten to be the novel that Crowley always intended, Love & Sleep is a modern masterpiece, both extraordinary and literary. Love & Sleep will be followed in Summer 2008 by the third volume in the Ægypt cycle, Dæmonomania, and in Fall 2008 by the paperback release of book four, Endless Things.

Guess the Plot

Modern Magic

1. When the coach of the Orlando Magic sees Flubber, he decides to fund secret research at the Univ. of Florida. Fortunately, the players don't notice the $200,000 pocket change missing from each of their paychecks.

2. The Prospero siblings, John and Liz, are descendants of powerful magicians. As they grow into adulthood they become crime fighters--but do they have what it takes to bring down the renegade vigilante sorcerers behind an increasingly horrible crime wave?

3. Merlin awakens from the oak tree wherein he has slumbered lo these many years, to find the world in a despicable state. He must locate Arthur to put things aright. His first step is to locate the modern wizards, to enlist their help, and he is shocked to find that there aren't any.

4. The bigwigs at ABC think Madeleine is the perfect choice to play the witch Drucilla in their new sitcom, "Modern Magic". Little do they know just how right they are. Can Madeleine keep the tabloids from finding out she's really 650 and a witch-queen in disguise?

5. Magic the dragon has discarded his beans and fur fabric in favour of the latest cybernetic upgrades. But when a metal-eating virus attacks Earth, Magic finds himself battling for his life and the lives of cybernetically enhanced toys everywhere.

6. Sure, everyone says modern conveniences are a byproduct of science & industry. But young wizard Collinsway Carruth knows the truth--and must protect it from outsiders at all cost.



Original Version

Dear Ms. Agentname,

To Liz Prospero, magic is both commonplace and unattainable. She’s a modern descendant of a long line of powerful sorcerers, but was born without magical ability. [When you're a powerful sorcerer and your spouse's genes turn out to be dominant, you never live it down.] Although she grew up in the sorcerous subculture, she spends her youth in a mad dash to get away from it. [How can a kid whose family is knee-deep in the sorcerous subculture get away from it? Did she leave home?]

Her older brother, John, has the opposite problem. He’s magically gifted, and is called upon to perform near-miracles. A rise in magical crime drafts him into hunting renegade sorcerers before he’s ready, and he struggles to hide his self-doubt under a facade of snarky cockiness.

[Renegade Sorcerer: You're gonna take me down? Don't make me laugh.

John: Yo mama.]

Modern Magic is a novel in stories, [Someone once sent me a short story in novels; this sounds much more manageable.] following the Prospero siblings from their late teens into established adulthood. [What is meant by "established"?] Each story has a self-contained adventure as well as developing the overall story arc. As John and Liz grow into their respective roles [as established adults] and meet fresh challenges, they realize that the rise in crime is something more sinister than a mere societal shift. [Tell me more. What is the rise in crime?]

Liz realizes that she can’t escape her heritage, and then that she doesn’t want to. She learns to balance her magical heritage with her mundane nature, and eventually appreciates how unusual this combination makes her. [That is unusual. A sorceress who can't do magic should celebrate her uniqueness like a ballerina with no feet. ] John, burdened with ever-greater demands, learns that he can handle more than he thought possible. He never completely conquers his fear of failure, but learns to live with the possibility.

Modern Magic is a humorous novel with serious underlying themes. With wit, suspense, and pathos, [The shill who writes the back-cover copy handles the bragging. The author's above all that.] it explores the ideas of different kinds of normal and different ways to be useful. During a tense game of find-the-villain and the climactic confrontation, John and Liz each play a pivotal role in discovering and defeating the group behind the increasingly horrible crimes.

I thought you might be interested because your web site profile states that you like urban fantasy, humor, and character-driven stories. [My web site profile says I like Italian cooking, Uruguayan history, and canasta. I don't want 'em all in the same book, however.] If I had to pick a single work most like Modern Magic, it would be [the one I ripped off,] Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty series. It would also appeal to fans of the lighter work of Connie Willis and Esther M. Friesner.

May I send the complete manuscript of 90,000 words? A sequel, Mind Magic, is outlined but not yet written.

Very truly yours,


Notes

Does it have to be described as a novel in stories? Why not a novel in chapters, with each story a separate chapter? A chapter isn't required to pick up where the previous chapter left off.

I didn't get that it was a humorous book. There are horrible crimes, troubled characters . . . Maybe you should throw in an example of what's so funny.

I also want to know what kind of crimes we're talking about. To create space for this new stuff, drop the last sentence of paragraph 1 and add the second paragraph to paragraph 1. If necessary, much of what's in the last two paragraphs can go.

Guess the Plot

Sealsong

1. Evie has discovered one of life's hard truths: It's tough to fit in with the other kids when you're new in town, when you're an orphan, and especially when you transform into a seal every night.

2. In a flash all nine hundred thank-you notes are written. Her new husband gazes at her fondly, clearly thrilled being married to a witch. But if she can't remember the sealsong, his tongue is going to be useless tonight.

3. Nine-year-old Chance can't wait to join his father and brothers at the annual hunt. But animal activists are once again threatening to interfere. Can Chance fulfill his destiny as a seal clubber, or will he have to kill a hippy first?

4. Herbert Micewort loves clean hotel bathrooms, reveling in the scent of exotic soap, the feel of those sample shampoos and the brilliant sight of white porcelain. But nothing compares to the satisfying sound of breaking that paper across the toilet bowl.

5. Kayleigh is the preacher's daughter; Harlan is the ne'er-do well-the good girls shun. When a single act of violence turns their world upside down, will their forbidden love find space to blossom? Also, they're all seals.

6. A powerful alien race sends a death ship that looks like a rusty Electrolux to Earth because they no longer hear a seal song from, what . . . 200 light years away? Can aging actors go back in time to get a pair of seals to scam the alien fools and save Earth?

7. While examining the connection between mythical Sirens and seals, zoologist Dirk Tweezle botches the gene-splicing experiment and turns himself into a seal. Can he communicate the reversing protocol to his fiancee through sealsong, or will he end up as dinner for the sharks?

8. Animal-rights activist Polly Turnpull has long suspected that seals are singing when humans hear them "bark". But when she proves this theory correct, she discovers there are a lot of people who want the secret to stay hidden. If she dies in the conspiracy cover-up, will the seals keep her memory alive in a new song?

9. In this contemporary romance, Edna Thripp discovers love among the salad keepers at her annual Tupperware Sales Party. But will the man of her dreams, twice-divorced Lester Goob, turn out to be just another leftover?

10. Brittany hopes to raise awareness of the plight of marine mammals with her new album 'Sealsong', which combines the mating calls of Elephant Seals with African chants and Peruvian flutes. Will her album deliver its message, or will it be crushed by the music industry?

11. Every day young Carla goes to the shore, to wait for her pirate father's return. One day a seal appears, her father's signet branded into its back. Is this a message from her father . . . or her father himself?


Original Version

Dear Evil Editor:

It's one thing to discover that an ancient legend is true;­ it's a whole other thing when the living proof is you [, that you are the Loch Ness Monster].

My 70,000-word young adult contemporary fantasy, Sealsong, thrusts a fourteen-year-old Australian girl into the heart of one of Scotland's most ancient legends:­ the half-human/half-seal world of the selkies. [Hey, I was close.] [Which would look weirder: a human with a seal head or a seal with a human head?] [Either one would be highly disturbing.]

Orphan Evie Cochrane is sent from her home in Australia to Scotland to live with an aunt she has never met. It's tough to fit in when you're the new girl in town ­ especially when "town" is a remote island where they refuse to adopt radical modern concepts like cars, TVs and shopping centers. It's even tougher when you discover you are a selkie [, and thus unable to resist the urge to balance a beach ball on your nose]. Life as a freak of nature doesn't appeal, but Evie has no control over her nightly transformations. Repelled by her own nature [Is she repelled by the idea of being a seal half the time, or the idea of being a human being half the time?] and disdained by the islanders, particularly the eerie minister, Mr McLellan, [who declares her cloven flippers to be the mark of the demon,] her alienation is complete. When Mr McLellan threatens to reveal the selkies' secret to the rest of the world, Evie must embrace her true identity to survive.

I am an ex-pat Scot living in Australia and I have used my experience of both countries to create the world of 'Sealsong'. I am a freelance copwriter [Does this mean you write to cops or that you write about cops, or that you are a cop?] and have had short stories published in Australian magazines, including xxxx and xxxx, and xxxx in the UK.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.


Notes

I can imagine how the world would react if some guy from a remote island held a press conference to reveal to the world that there are people who morph into seals every night. McLellan would be dismissed as a nutcase.

It's mostly setting up Evie's situation. Of course you need to set it up, but the main plot seems to be: When Mr McLellan threatens to reveal the selkies' secret to the rest of the world, Evie must embrace her true identity to survive. How about expanding on that? Is their secret that they exist? Is embracing her true identity enough? Shouldn't they try to stop the guy? What action do the selkies take? If that's not the main plot, maybe give us more about Evie's life as a girl and as a seal. We need to know a few things that happen.

What causes a person to become a selkie? Moving to Scotland? Reaching a certain age? Surely if she was born a selkie she'd have known it before turning fourteen.

Guess the Plot

Werewoman

1. By day, she lived in the woods, chased after squirrels, and snoozed in the sunshine. But by night she wore grey flannel suits and traded the Japanese markets. She was . . . Werewoman!

2. Butch, Guts, and Ripper are pleasantly surprised when a rare female werewolf joins their pack. Tension ensues, however, when the three pals turn against one another in hopes of winning the position of Alpha male, and the affections of . . . Werewoman.

3. When Timmy goes missing on a winter field trip, only one person can penetrate the gloom of the Arctic, find the eco-terrorist's hideout, and rescue the boy before it's too late: wildlife photographer Jane Eminescu, the notorious . . . Werewoman.

4. When Noah Fenton is seduced and bitten by a mysterious woman during a night of debauchery, he doesn’t think much of it--until the next full moon causes his penis to shrivel and crawl inside his body, and he becomes . . . Werewoman.

5. She was an ordinary Persian until the accident that sent her flying from her owner's limousine window into a dark alley . . . Now, every full moon, this stray cat becomes a bar-hopping little pussy known as . . . Werewoman.

6. Denise didn't know what was wrong with her until Dr. Schadenfreude worked magic with a scalpel, a suture and liposuction. Now he's Dennis, one of those who once . . . Were women.




Original Version

Dear Agent,

When Noah Fenton is seduced and bitten by a mysterious woman during a debaucherous night in Mexico, he doesn’t think much of it. But back home in San Francisco four weeks later, he transforms into a beautiful woman when the next full moon rises. [I've been in San Francisco, and believe me, what goes on there has nothing to do with the moon.]


Noah is terrified at first – watching your penis shrivel and crawl inside your body is hard on a guy – [Unless, like Evil Editor, he regularly swims in Lake Superior in February, in which case he's used to it.] [If Noah doesn't want to watch his penis shrivel, he might consider wearing pants, at least when the moon is full.] but he soon realizes the potential of his peculiar situation. [He can now wear ladies' undergarments without fear that he'll be involved in an accident requiring hospitalization, and he can stop pretending he likes pro wrestling.] As the moons come and go and he changes sex for three days every month, he begins to crave the spotlight that shines on beautiful women. He's also educated in the wonders of womanhood in ways most men would kill for: from studious explorations of his female anatomy [This is starting to get a little weird.] to being on the receiving end of clumsy pick-up lines. [Not even EE would go so far as to kill just to hear some woman say, "Is that a rejected manuscript in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?"]

But not all discovery is fun. Noah can’t find the courage to tell his friends and family what's happened to him, [Hey, his friends would envy him. And his mother was probably hoping for a girl from the beginning.] and his baffling journey is taken alone. After he’s unjustly fired from his job as an editorial assistant at the San Francisco Independent, he plots to use his female body to expose his unscrupulous boss. In high heels and a little black dress, Noah expects to breeze through a plan to avenge his firing. Will he learn in time something all wom