Hi there again. Today we have Jamie Killen with us to talk about a SF book that she loves.

Jamie is a writer of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Her short stories have appeared in numerous publications including Mythic Delirium, SQ Mag, Grievous Angel, and Drabblecast. She has also written several audio dramas, including Spines, Mirrors, The Six Disappearances of Ella McCray, and an episode of the recent mini-season of Dust. She lives in Texas with numerous fuzzy creatures.

You can find Jamie here:
Blog: https://jamieskillen.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamieKillenAuthor

She’s going to share about Worldbuilding and The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory

As always, if you are interested in guest posting, you can find out how HERE

Here’s what Jamie has to say:

More than in just about any other genre, worldbuilding is the thing that can make or break a sci-fi novel. That’s why I want to talk about an underrated masterclass in worldbuilding: Daryl Gregory’s The Devil’s Alphabet.

The Devil’s Alphabet is an unusual blend of murder mystery, low-key sci-fi, and body horror. Our protagonist, Paxton Martin, returns to his sleepy Tennessee hometown of Switchcreek for the first time in 15 years, drawn there by the news that one of his childhood friends, Jo, has been found dead. Officially, the death is ruled a suicide, but Paxton has his doubts. As he investigates Jo’s life and death, he uncovers secrets implicating powerful people in the small town, people who might have had reason to silence Jo.

So far, this might sound like a million other pulpy Southern murder mysteries you’ve seen before. But Switchcreek isn’t like other small towns. When Paxton was a teenager, it was the site of a still-unexplained outbreak or phenomenon that transformed the majority of the townspeople into one of three classes of non-human creatures, collectively referred to as the “clades”. There are the Argos, grey-skinned giants three times as tall as most men; the Betas, bald and purple-skinned beings who can reproduce asexually; and the Charlies, sturdy and obese by human standards and possessing unique biochemical properties. During the wave of transformations, some of the people of Switchcreek died horribly, some took on these new forms, and a small few, like Paxton, seem to have been immune.

While many authors would have centered the story on the moment of the outbreak or on plot points related to finding a “cure” for what happened to Switchcreek, Gregory chooses to explore a much more interesting set of questions. This is where his knack for careful, fully-realized worldbuilding comes into play. By setting the story years after the initial event, Gregory has chosen to grapple with the question of how a community would function as a blend of these three different humanoid clades. What kinds of jobs or professions would play to each clade’s strengths? How would infrastructure or architecture need to change to accommodate one group that is 15 feet tall and another that is 6 feet wide? What does a “healthy” body look like if you are a Beta or a Charlie, and how do doctors readjust their training for these new physiologies? How would the outside world view the clades after the initial shock and panic subsided? Gregory has clearly thought through every one of these questions and found surprising but always logical answers.

            Of course, strong worldbuilding can’t carry a story without equally well-drawn characters, and this is another area where Gregory shines. While the majority of the story is from Paxton’s point of view, each of the clades is represented by a supporting character at some point. Each of these characters is flawed to some degree, but none of them are purely evil or villainous. Gregory never falls into the trap of making one clade the “bad” race, instead showing very familiar and relatable power struggles between characters. The element that truly sets Gregory’s work apart, however, is how the people of Switchcreek feel about their new forms. None of the characters we meet are self-loathing or desperate to return to their old bodies. None view themselves as ugly or monstrous, and they don’t long for the approval of “normal” humans. In Paxton’s old friend Deke, for example, we are given a glimpse of an Argo who loves and is deeply attracted to his Argo wife. In the Beta commune, we see a setting in which traditional notions of marriage and family are falling by the wayside in favor of new approaches to raising children.

            By the end, the reader gets an ambiguous, kinda-sorta explanation for why the mutations happened, but that is really beside the point. Much like the great HBO series The Leftovers, this is a story of inexplicable disaster that chooses to skirt the question of “Why?” in favor of “What comes next?” The result is a lived-in, skillfully crafted fictional world that, for all its weirdness,  feels entirely plausible. Writers seeking to step up their worldbuilding game could do a lot worse than to pick up a copy of The Devil’s Alphabet and learn from Daryl Gregory’s example.

Thanks, Jamie. That was great. I love that kind of world-building, where the author fully thinks through not only their world but how people would adapt to live within it.

Let’s talk a little bit about Jamie’s novel, Red Hail, which is from Red Adept Publishing:

Professor Colin Ayres has spent years researching the strange story of Galina, Arizona, a sleepy border town ripped apart by violence and paranoia after the outbreak of a mysterious illness in 1960. Colin is certain the Galina Incident was simply a case of mass hysteria. But when his partner, Alonzo, starts exhibiting strange symptoms, Colin is shocked to realize they are the same as those that emerged in Galina decades ago.

As Alonzo’s condition worsens, Colin scrambles to piece together what really happened during that terrible summer in the past. He uncovers a story of murder, corruption, and fanaticism. The deeper he digs, the more he becomes convinced that what happened in Galina wasn’t mass hysteria after all.

When others start to develop the same eerie symptoms, Colin must confront the possibility that someone–or something–is driving the plague. Guided by rumors of a person who found a way to stop the plague in the sixties, Colin races to find answers before the disease destroys Alonzo and everyone else it touches.

You can buy Red Hail either of the following locations:

Amazon
Indiebound