Episode 49: Melinda Snodgrass

Destination Mystery

I looked out the plane’s window at Los Angeles, and it looked like any other airport. No palm trees in evidence. No movie stars strolling across the tarmac toward private jets. No surfboards. The only difference between LAX and LaGuardia was the lack of snow... If I had been in a high-powered all-human law firm I would have been flying on the firm’s private executive jet, and I wouldn’t have had to get up at ugh o’clock to catch a commercial flight. But I was with a white-fang, vampire-owned firm, so we flew commercial. -- Melinda Snodgrass, Box Office Poison I can't tell you how excited I am to be chatting with Melinda Snodgrass. Not only is Melinda (writing as Phillipa Bornikova) the author of the fabulous Linnet Ellery urban fantasy series, she wrote for several of my favorite television shows, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reasonable Doubts (with the fabulous Marlee Matlin), and Profiler. She is also the author of space operas and adventure novels, and the co-creator (with George R.R. Martin) of the Wild Cards series. My fandoms all merge today! Melinda's most recent novel just launched: In Evil Times, the second in her planned five-book Imperials Saga. Having a hard time keeping up with all her accomplishments? You're not alone. Happily, you can keep up to date by checking out her website, blog, and -- where she prefers to hang out -- Facebook page. Also, there are (mercifully) few interviews in which I get punked, but lucky you, today's is one of them. Wild Cards goes to Broadway! Click on the link (which will take you to George Martin's blog) and tell me you if you dare that you wouldn't have been taken in by the joke as well. The shared universe of Wild Cards is rich and complex -- too much so for me to attempt to list all the novels here. Luckily, there's a gorgeous website for all things Wild Cards. If you're interested in this tapestry of storytelling, created and edited by Melinda and George, and enriched by dozens of individual authors, check it out here. Alas that her first series, about a Federal Court judge riding circuit in the solar system, is out of print. Here, however, are the rest of series, in order: Linnet Ellery (urban fantasy) 1 - This Case Is Gonna Kill Me 2 - Box Office Poison 3 - Publish and Perish (due out April 2018) The Imperials (space opera) 1 - The High Ground 2 - In Evil Times Edge Of... series (paranormal adventure) 1 - The Edge of Reason 2 - The Edge of Ruin 3 - The Edge of Dawn As always, there's a transcript if you'd rather read than listen. Enjoy! -- Laura Transcript of Interview with Melinda Snodgrass Laura Brennan: Calling Melinda Snodgrass accomplished doesn’t begin to cut it. She writes across genres, from science fiction to urban fantasy, novels, television and feature scripts. She is a co-creator and co-editor of the Wild Cards series, a shared-world anthology about the consequences of ordinary people gaining superpowers. Her “Edge Of…” adventure series explores the tension between science and religion, and her Linnet Ellery series is smart and suspenseful urban fantasy, set in a world filled with fascinating -- and deadly -- vampires, werewolves, and Fey. Book Two of her Imperials series, In Evil Times, just launched on July 4th. Melinda, thank you for joining me. Melinda Snodgrass: Thank you so much for inviting me, I'm really delighted. LB: When I say you're accomplished, I almost don't know where to begin. But starting with the pre-writing, you ride horses, you shoot, you run a business, you sing -- you're basically Wonder Woman. MS: Well, thank you, but I'm older and not strong anymore, so I can't match her in any way. Part of it is, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, I think was my dilemma. And I was fortunate to have a father who was enormously supportive to me. So anything I wanted to explore and try, he was absolutely behind me. He was a very fine musician,