November 2007

Working With A Legend: An Interview with Lyn McConchie
by J.G. Stinson

New Zealand writer Lyn McConchie's SF/F publishing credits began in 1991. She first contacted SF Grand Master Andre Norton as a fan, but by the time of Norton's death in 2005, she had become a friend and authorized writer in Norton's Witch World and Beast Master universes. She's also written in Janrae Franks' fantasy world, which features heroine Chimquar the Lionhawk, in the anthology The Darkness, Hunting. McConchie has also published numerous SF, fantasy, and horror short stories, and a popular series of children's picture-books featuring trolls.

Her non-genre work includes mystery short fiction, two collections of nonfiction essays about life on her farm (Farming Daze and Daze on the Land), and numerous items on cats (fictional and nonfictional).

Her works have been published in eight countries and three languages; her stories have been awarded the MUSE Medallion (for best cat fiction from the International Cat Writers Association) and the Australian SF Foundation Medallion. Her Beast Master's Ark (2002) and The Duke's Ballad (2006) both received the New Zealand-based Sir Julius Vogel Award for best SF/F novel.

McConchie has also been a literary/author Guest of Honor at Odysseycon, New Zealand's national SF convention.

Her writing Web site is www.lynmcconchie.com.

J.G. Stinson: When and how did you first come into contact with Andre Norton?

Lyn McConchie: Back in the early 1980s I wrote her a fan letter, but as I'd also heard she loved semi-precious stones and there was a sale on locally, I included a paua and sterling silver bracelet and a polished paua shell. Paua is the New Zealand version of abalone. But it is far more beautiful than the type found elsewhere. It looks like vivid "oil on water" in shades of blue and blue/green (and with silver makes wonderful jewelry). Andre loved the shell and bracelet, wrote back and made it clear she would be happy for me to continue to reply. I did, and we were friends up to her death.

JGS: How many books had you had published, regardless of genre, before you wrote a novel using any of Norton's characters or settings?

LMc: I'd had two published and another accepted. I think I've told the story before, but briefly, I was booby-trapped by my subconscious. I planned to write a western for fun, but wanted to contact several publishers to find out preferred parameters first. But my sub-conscious had to write NOW, and in exasperation I suggested a fantasy. What I had in mind was one set in my own world. What I got was the first four chapters of what turned out to be Key of the Keplian. It wasn't until I'd got that far that it dawned on me I was writing a Witch World novel and you can't do that. But Andre had had a cataract operation and was a bit down because she feared it hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped. So I wrote her about the new book, making a funny story of it, and sent her the first two chapters saying that she should know what her world got up to when she wasn't looking. By then too I'd fallen in love with the characters and decided to finish the book and change it to my own world once that was done.

But Andre loved the story, asked me for more and more of it, and once she had it all, quietly went to her agent of the time (Russell Galen) and suggested it be offered for publication. Warner grabbed it and the first I knew of any of this was a phone call from Andre saying the book had sold and she hoped I didn't mind? Silly question. I was ecstatic and it was at her suggestion that I then wrote Ciara's Song, after which she offered me both the Witch World and Beast Master Universe in which to write.

JGS: Do you have a preference between the Witch World and Beast Master universes in terms of writing for them? How about in terms of reading them?

LMc: I love both fairly equally. But if I could only write/read in one, it would have to be the Witch World, but only just.

JGS: How did the "collaboration" process work for you with Norton?

LMc: It never was a collaboration really. All four of the Witch World books I've had published were written by me on my own. Andre saw them all beforehand, and was free to refuse publication or ask for alterations, but she never did. With the Beast Master books, we sat down at her kitchen table in 1995 and wrote a very short outline for each of the first two. I stuck to that with the first, and strayed a bit with the second. But again she saw each book in manuscript before it was offered for sale and was free to refuse publication or ask for alterations.

JGS: Has there been any change in your arrangements to write in these universes since Ms. Norton died?

LMc: I don't think I should comment on that. Her will is being legally disputed in the courts (not by me) at the moment and I don't know what will be decided.

JGS: What have you been working on outside of the Norton universes?

LMc: I've written a western for my own amusement, and several in the "post-holocaust/disaster" area set in New Zealand. One of those—Vestiges of Flames—is to be published by Coyote Moon (USA) in 2007, depending on their schedule. I have also written a collection of new Sherlock Holmes short stories, Repeat Business, and am looking for a publisher for that.

JGS: You've often mentioned having an Ocicat as a companion. What is it?

LMc: An Ocicat is an American breed of cat bred to look like a small leopard or Ocelot, hence the name. They were produced by crossing Siamese with Abbysinian then recrossing the American Tabby Shorthair across that. They are a solid-bodied cat with spots and have what is known as the Oci-purrsonality. They adore people, are curious about everything, and are clever with their paws. My last Ocicat, Tiger,—about whom [there is] a book out (Tiger Daze)—could open every door in the house from the lever handle, to ringpull, to doorknobs.

JGS: Since you've written quite a lot about felines, do you have a personal theory on why so many SF writers and fans live with cats?

LMc: Writers tend to be independent, free spirits, rise (to write) at odd hours, often like being alone, and—remind you of anything?

JGS: The SFWA has a site with links to electronic versions of some of your books written "with" Andre Norton. Is this a recent offering? If not, how long have they been available in this form, and have they been selling well?

LMc: If that's Warner Books, then they've been available that way for some years. I don't know how they sell as the figures seem to be lumped in with the hard copy ones.

JGS: SFFSite's Client and Agency news page carries this February, 2007 item: "After several of Lyn McConchie's poems appeared in a local weekly newspaper, a breakfast food company approached her and has accepted three of the poems for national distribution in their cereal packets." Any comment on that?

LMc: Yes, it amuses me that fellow kiwis may soon be reading my poetry over breakfast. I think the idea, however, is a good one, and I endorse almost any idea that will encourage people to read a little more.

JGS: Are you comfortable with what you've written so far, or do you have other expectations you want to meet?

LMc: In many ways I've been incredibly lucky. I read widely and write the same way. I'd like to try my hand at a mystery book or two in the future sometime, and there's a very graphic horror/dark fantasy book I've had in mind to write for almost ten years. But the other book I've wanted to write—a serious non-fiction book about a New Zealand disaster—I start later this year.

JGS: Any "guilty pleasures" in types of books you like to read?

LMc: No, any guilt is more what I don't read. I have never been able to get into Jane Austen, for example.