Ask the Author: Erika Swyler
Answered Questions (5)
Erika Swyler
The deck in use in The Book of Speculation is *not* a Ryder deck! It's a hand-painted deck that is a cross between a Marseille deck (in use since the 1500s) and the more familiar concepts from Pixies Smith's illustrations for the Ryder deck. The choice for more common imagery was made because, for better or worse, those images are how most readers think of and interact with Tarot. It's worth noting that Smith's interpretations are rooted in the Marseille deck.
You'll note that Madame Ryzhkova is an artist (see the paintings on the inside of her wagon). She's made the cards herself. She also uses the French spelling of Madame. A deliberate choice on my part based on the interesting relationship the Russian and French cultures had when it came to their courts.
The deck imagery itself is closer to a Marseille deck, though I included deliberate nods to the more widely known Ryder, so as to have a touchstone for a broader audience.
Enjoy your research into Tarot!
You'll note that Madame Ryzhkova is an artist (see the paintings on the inside of her wagon). She's made the cards herself. She also uses the French spelling of Madame. A deliberate choice on my part based on the interesting relationship the Russian and French cultures had when it came to their courts.
The deck imagery itself is closer to a Marseille deck, though I included deliberate nods to the more widely known Ryder, so as to have a touchstone for a broader audience.
Enjoy your research into Tarot!
Erika Swyler
Thank you so much!
I don't have a Patreon (I feel a little odd about people paying to read my writing that hasn't been through a more traditional editorial process). I do, however, have a newsletter which is free, and I typically only update when I have actual news or there's something I *must* write about immediately.
https://tinyletter.com/erikaswyler
Thanks again!
I don't have a Patreon (I feel a little odd about people paying to read my writing that hasn't been through a more traditional editorial process). I do, however, have a newsletter which is free, and I typically only update when I have actual news or there's something I *must* write about immediately.
https://tinyletter.com/erikaswyler
Thanks again!
Erika Swyler
I'm so glad you're liking the book! I've too have been a Beckett/Kafka person. That's likely why my books tend to grab from everything? The great thing about fiction is that it's like the world; nothing is truly disparate, you just need to search for the ties. The same concepts are at work in my second novel too, though seemingly *very* different, the connections are there.
Structure in fiction can be difficult to get a handle on, in part because we're encouraged in Western Lit to approach stories from a linear standpoint. But story doesn't have to work that way, nor is it really the standard.
For The Book Of Speculation, though we're ostensibly in two different times, looking back, these stories have to unfold simultaneously because each informs the other, each has threads of the other. For Light From Other Stars, the unifying thread, through wildly different points of view, is all the different ways to experience time.
Briefly, structure is searching for connections in events or characters and organizing them so that they talk to each other. Those connections are usually found when you're writing about why someone is the way they are, or the cause of event. That's where the good stuff is.
The not-so-crafty answer is that I'm interested, always, in many different things. I'm an omnivorous reader and I don't organize my bookshelves. I want to pull from everything I'm reading, everything I'm watching and listening to, and find the ways that those things talk to each other. The thread is already there because one person liking all those things has a way of implying one brain can tie them all together.
Thank you for the question, and happy reading!
Structure in fiction can be difficult to get a handle on, in part because we're encouraged in Western Lit to approach stories from a linear standpoint. But story doesn't have to work that way, nor is it really the standard.
For The Book Of Speculation, though we're ostensibly in two different times, looking back, these stories have to unfold simultaneously because each informs the other, each has threads of the other. For Light From Other Stars, the unifying thread, through wildly different points of view, is all the different ways to experience time.
Briefly, structure is searching for connections in events or characters and organizing them so that they talk to each other. Those connections are usually found when you're writing about why someone is the way they are, or the cause of event. That's where the good stuff is.
The not-so-crafty answer is that I'm interested, always, in many different things. I'm an omnivorous reader and I don't organize my bookshelves. I want to pull from everything I'm reading, everything I'm watching and listening to, and find the ways that those things talk to each other. The thread is already there because one person liking all those things has a way of implying one brain can tie them all together.
Thank you for the question, and happy reading!
Erika Swyler
Thank you so much! That's very kind.
I am in fact working on a book right now (probably three, if I'm honest with myself). I'm a slow writer in that I need to grow along with a book as I write, so I don't yet have a firm idea of a new book will appear.
I'll also say that I have done relatively little writing during the pandemic, as it seemed that most of my focus should be on taking in world events, being safe, and trying to help where I can. It's changing the way I view the world, certainly, which is inevitably good for whatever work does come from this period.
But yes, a book will eventually appear! And thank you again for the very kind words.
I am in fact working on a book right now (probably three, if I'm honest with myself). I'm a slow writer in that I need to grow along with a book as I write, so I don't yet have a firm idea of a new book will appear.
I'll also say that I have done relatively little writing during the pandemic, as it seemed that most of my focus should be on taking in world events, being safe, and trying to help where I can. It's changing the way I view the world, certainly, which is inevitably good for whatever work does come from this period.
But yes, a book will eventually appear! And thank you again for the very kind words.
Erika Swyler
I still don't! I've been writing in some form or another for most of my life, so I tend to think of myself as just being me, but sometimes a book appears. On the occasions I've gotten to hold one of my finished books for the first time it's felt surreal, and I don't recognize myself as the person who wrote the book.
I'm a thinker. Sometimes those thoughts come out in the written form, sometimes they come out in visual art, or other things. I'm very lucky to have been able to write and publish what I have so far, but I'm aware that the shape my life takes can change at any moment. At this moment I write.
As better people have said, a writer is someone who writes. That's it!
I'm a thinker. Sometimes those thoughts come out in the written form, sometimes they come out in visual art, or other things. I'm very lucky to have been able to write and publish what I have so far, but I'm aware that the shape my life takes can change at any moment. At this moment I write.
As better people have said, a writer is someone who writes. That's it!
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