Dana Cameron on SO MANY SPIES

HALLIE EPHRON: The ebullient and talented Dana Cameron was one of the first mystery authors I met when we were both newbies, publishing our first books awhile back, and taking over adjacent terms as president of the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime. Her debut featured Emma Fielding, a kick-ass archaeologist. It's been turned into a mystery series on the Hallmark Movie Mystery channel.

Now she's venturing into new territory with EXIT INTERVIEW, a spy thriller. It plays to all of Dana's strengths. Meg Gardiner said “EXIT INTERVIEW takes off like an express train and never slows down. Grab this book, buckle up and hold on for a terrific ride."

Today we're happy to welcome Dana to Jungle Red, where we're wondering what is it about spies that inspires her?

DANA CAMERON: A long time ago (the 1980s), in a faraway land (Boston University’s Archaeology Department), someone had posted a flier from the spring job recruitment fair in the students lounge. It said (and I’m paraphrasing here):

“Do you like travel? Are you interested in languages and meeting new people? Do you have a mind for analysis?”

It was a recruitment flier for the CIA.

That same someone scribbled in the margins of the flier: “If archaeology doesn’t work out...they have a pension plan!” Broke-student humor.

Suddenly, a lifetime obsession started to make sense to me: I’ve always loved spy fiction and I realized then that the idea of observing clues and the way people behave ties in with my first career, in archaeology.

When I was a kid, I devoured Harriet the Spy and Snow Treasure (a fictional account about moving gold out of Norway under the eyes of the occupying Nazis) was one of my favorite books. Later, there would be Milady DeWinter, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Jason Bourne, and even Robert Heinlein’s Friday. On TV, there were reruns of “Get Smart” (forget Max—Agent 99 was smart and gorgeous!), “Mission: Impossible,” and “The Avengers.”

I mean, Mrs. Peel? No one is cooler.

My first Bond was Roger Moore, but my favorite is Daniel Craig (if only Timothy Dalton’s movies had been better written—he’d have tied, IMHO). The gadgets, the adventure, the clothes—I was hooked.

But even after these pop culture responses to the Cold War, my fascination kept up, and reading about covert operatives in history, I learned how very unglamorous, and how very dangerous it was to act under the noses of the enemy.

During some recent domestic archaeology (clearing out long-neglected corners of the house), I uncovered a copy of a paper I wrote for a high school history class, on the Special Operations, Executive in World War II. The group was informally called “The Baker Street Irregulars” (which ties in with another part of my life now, Sherlockian studies), and were Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” –a new sort of intelligence branch.

As you can see, I had something to learn about editing (the comment is “Interesting paper, choppy in some places A-”), but later, my grade was raised to an “A” when the paper took an honorable mention in a state high school history contest. But I digress.

I would take advantage of attending Malice Domestic to visit the International Spy Museum and loot the bookshop there. I completely swooned when I found out that Valerie Plame would be writing an essay for Shattering Glass (which featured one of my “a.k.a. Jayne” stories). Thrillers are some of my favorite reads to this day.

The ingenuity, the courage, and the fast-thinking keep me fascinated with covert operatives to this day. Perhaps it was inevitable that I would eventually write an espionage thriller, and in the course of researching my latest book, Exit Interview, I had a chance to reconnect with my once and future interest.

So Reds and Readers: Do you share my fascination? What are some of your favorite tales about spies, in fiction or fact?

Dana Cameron writes across many genres, but especially crime and speculative fiction (including the Fangborn novels). Her work, inspired by her career in archaeology, has won multiple Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity Awards, and has been nominated for the Edgar Award. Several of Dana's Emma Fielding archaeology mysteries appear on the Hallmark Movie & Mystery Channel. When she isn’t traveling, she's weaving, spinning, or yelling at the TV about historical inaccuracies. Exit Interview (an a.k.a. Jayne Novel) is available now.

Spinning a Yarn, Weaving a Tale by Dana Cameron

Jenn McKinlay: I am absolutely thrilled to have long time Jungle Red Writers' friend Dana Cameron with us today and not just because she is talking about a craft I have been wanting to take up for years -- weaving -- but also because she's an amazing author. Still, how cool is that? Serendipity, no? Take it away, Dana...

Dana Cameron: 

I’m a big fan of having something that you love to do, while giving 

yourself permission to be absolutely awful at it. Right now, it’s 

weaving and spinning. I’ve been weaving for almost three years now, 

and I’m improving. Three months ago, when a dear friend was looking 

to rehome her grandmother’s spinning wheel, she kindly thought of 

me. I’m still learning how to spin a consistent yarn. But! Going 

through these imperfect processes is invaluable when I’m working on 

writing too.

       Part of the reason was that I learned to sew at a young age and I love textiles. Part of it was curiosity about the historical side of things, and how women (especially) spent part of their working days. Spinning can take you as far back as 40-50,000 years ago, and weaving, almost that far back into Neanderthal technology. I also was curious about the places in which spinning and weaving show up in many cultural traditions: Athene’s contest with Arachne; Penelope weaving her stole to keep her home-invading suitors at bay; Spider Woman, who gave the Navajo people textile crafts and agriculture; the Nornir, who ordained everyone’s fate by spinning, weaving, then severing the threads of a life at the foot of Yggdrasil.

       So, good stuff for an archaeologist. And good stuff for a writer, too: after a day spent spinning one's wheels in the writing mines, sitting at the loom or spinning wheel can produce something solid. It’s incredibly soothing to have moved along in one project, if not another, and it gives you perspective. 

       For example, when I began weaving, my goal was to make some napkins. I’d fume over incorrect warping, skipped threads, or the wrong color change, but learned to ask: is it still something I could use to wipe spaghetti sauce off my face? If so, cool! I’ve made a thing and I can either fix it now or do better next time. If I’m left with a tangled pile of threads, I can ask myself: Do I need to learn more, can I improve—will this give into study and practice? Or: Is this really what I want to be doing with these threads—would I be better using them for macrame? 

       It also reminds me that if I have a pile of words that refuse to form a story, I need to ask myself: Am I taking this project in the right direction? Or maybe it’s a mess, but some of the words are still calling me: Does this need to be a poem? Does it indicate something that needs more research, first? Do I want to write, or am I trying to create but need another medium? Am I writing with passion but about the wrong thing? 

       Getting into a rhythm of weaving or spinning is a good distraction at the end of the day, an opportunity for random ideas to bob to the surface, while you’re focusing on something else. And if it’s not so calming—say, you’ve got your warping sheds all wrong, or you can’t get the right speed in your treadling and the spinning wheel’s orifice keeps swallowing your broken yarn—well, you feel that much better about writing afterwards. Learning something new can remind you how far you’ve come in your other skills. Doing research into the history and folklore of these crafts has provided inspiration for my Fangborn novels and stories: in Hellbender, Zoe Miller perceives time and space as intersecting warp and weft threads. 

       Although having these activities is useful for both letting your brain rest and inspiring other ideas, there is one major drawback. You have to be on constant guard against cats attempting to ensnare themselves in your warp, chew on your yarn, or attack a bag of unspun wool that still smells ever-so-faintly of sheep. 

How about you, Reds and Readers, what activities do you do to let your brain rest and recharge? 

Dana Cameron writes across many genres, but especially crime and speculative fiction. Her work, inspired by her career in archaeology, has won multiple Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity Awards, and has been nominated for the Edgar Award. Dana's Emma Fielding archaeology mysteries were optioned by Muse Entertainment and appear on the Hallmark Movie & Mystery Channel. Pandora’s Orphans: A Fangborn Collection drops on July 13, 2021, and is available for pre-order everywhere. For more information, check out www.dcle-publishing.com/pandoras-orphans.  

What Julia's Reading...While Writing

Julia Spencer-Fleming: Every writer – I was going to say every fiction writer, but I suspect non-fiction authors and memoirists and poets have the same issue – eventually confronts the question of what to read while working. Not at the beginning of the book, necessarily, or while researching or later, at the back end, editing and proofing. But when your teeth are at the throat of the thing, wrestling with language and plot and characters until you feel like the WWF on a Saturday night, you find there are books you can take, and books you cannot.

I don't mean those works that sit beside the computer to which the author refers feverishly throughout the current project. They're usually not the sort of things you want to sink into at the end of a long day: in my case, the working pile consists of baby name guides and books on Adirondack geography, flora, and fauna; compiled histories of small upstate New York towns and true crime texts; the Book of Common Prayer and a Hymnal.

But most authors get into the game because we're desperate readers, and cracking open a good book at bedtime or on the lunch break or in the bathroom is what we do for fun. (On a side note: has anyone else ever had to fill out a form detailing your leisure interests only to realize you're the most boring person ever? Hobbies: Binge-watching Masterpiece Theatre and reading.) The problem arises when you find there are certain types of literature you have to avoid unless you want to either become an inadvertent plagiarist or throw in the towel in despair and return to the law. (If you didn't come from the law, this can be a particularly difficult path.)

I cannot consume other authors' mysteries while trying to hammer out my own. I recall one time, when I was re-reading my friend Jeff Cohen's Comedy Tonight series, which are pretty much straight-up silliness with a few deaths thrown in for Jeff to hang gags on. The next day, my police chief and priest started cracking wise like Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Or two years ago, when I picked up Kent Krueger's ORDINARY GRACE. I spent a whole afternoon crying and reading, reading and crying, and it was only a stern talking-to from my husband that kept me from quitting writing altogether.

So what can I read? Historical fiction has always been a favorite, and right now I'm enjoying WOLF HALL, by Hilary Mantel, which I checked out of the library because I wanted to prep for the Masterpiece Theatre version, only to discover it was, to use the phrase, un-put-downable. A Man Booker Prize-winning pager turner! Who would have thunk it?

I also adore Historical Romance, and while I was away in Nantucket I binged on a new-to-me author, Courtney Milan, who writes in the mid-to-late Victorian era (which is rare) has overtly feminist themes (even rarer) and who consistently sets up Romance themes and tropes only to subvert them. Plus, utterly swoonable heroes. 

 

I've recently gotten into reading Fantasy again, after years and years of post-Tolkien fatigue. (I still flinch when I see one of the groan-worthy fantasy cliches in a novel.) Instead, I've become fond of urban fantasy – Dana Cameron's Fangborn series is a nice example of this – which isn't, I suppose, necessarily urban, but set in modern times. The Ben Aaronovitch series I've been devouring is, however, very urban – the civitas illa magna, London. The Rivers of London, to be precise, which in these fantasy/police procedural hybrids refer to various meddling and feuding goddesses as well as bodies of water.

Finally, my old love Science Fiction. A genre filled with innovative, challenging and thought-provoking work out there – which is probably why I'm engaged in my annual comfort re-read of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. I've revisited each volume in the adventures of the scarred and manic Miles Vorkosigan (and his family and friends) yearly, since publication, meaning I've now read SHARDS OF HONOR, which I finished last week, at least twenty-nine times.

Imagine how good a novel has to be to read it twenty-nine times?

How about you, dear reader? What are the other genres you escape into? If you're a writer yourself, what do you read or not read while creating?

The Jungle Red Casting Couch. Kind of.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Last CrimeBake, or was it two ago? Jonathan and I dressed as Sam Spade and Brigid O'Shaughnessy.

(Here's a photo of that.) We carried a Maltese Falcon, which was a (don't tell) stuffed owl we had spray-painted black. (It was a costume party, I guess I should explain. We didn't just walk around like that.)

Now, if I may predict? I predict that my dear pal and brilliant author Dana Cameron is now doing a spit-take with her morning coffee. Because she and her husband were just talking about The Maltese Falcon, and Sam and Mary. And their conversation went another way. Not, shockingly, about Jonathan and me as the leads.

Just--listen. And then--see what you think!

Recasting “The Maltese Falcon”

       by Dana Cameron

            Mr. G and I were out walking at a nearby farm, looking for signs of spring.  The discussion, there being no hawks, coyotes, or frogs in view, naturally turned to movies.

            “Okay, we're recasting 'The Maltese Falcon," I said.  “Who plays what role?”

            “What about Matthew McConaughey?” Mr. G said.  “He's got an edgy outsider look I think Sam Spade should have.”

  

            “What about Russell Crowe?  Think 'L.A. Confidential.'”

            Mr. G shook his head.  “I think of Spade as being on the coffee, cigarette, whisky, and tough steak diet.  Not getting a lot of sleep.  Getting punched or slipped a mickey on a regular basis.  Crowe is too...”

            I kept “fit,” “strapping,” and “physical” to myself. “Healthy?  Then how about Paul Bettany?”

            “Your obsession with him has to stop.” 

        “Are you kidding me?  'Master and Commander' is one of my all-time favorites!  And he's J.A.R.V.I.S in the 'Iron Man and 'Avengers' movies.  He can wear a big white shirt in a period piece while being the heroic scientific outsider and be the perfect wry yet charismatic computer interface voice.”

Photo by Natasha Baucus

  

            “And when I say 'obsession,' I mean it in the kindest, most clinical sense.”

            “Okay, okay.  Who's going to play the Mary Astor role, Mary O'Shaughnessy?  The manipulative damsel in distress?”  A few more steps, a pause to take a picture of a cow who was studying us through the fence.  “Aha!  Kristen Bell!”

            “Good one!  She can do low-down and dirty—as in 'Deadwood' and in 'House of Lies.'  And in 'Veronica Mars,' she's all kinds of smart and sweet.”

            “Right, I have one:  John Goodman for Gutman, the Sidney Greenstreet character.”

            “Oh, he did good sinister, erudite, and jolly in 'O, Brother'!” 

            We were on a roll, settling on Jon Hamm for the detective, leaving Joel Cairo, played by Peter Lorre, up in the air, narrowed down to D.J. Qualls or Neil Patrick Harris.  I'm convinced IMDB.com is responsible for saving many relationships simply by quickly resolving arguments over who was in what.

            “You'll have to find out who's available,” Mr. G said, as if

we were wrapping up a business meeting, and our people would call their people.  

“By the way, who would you cast in Pack of Strays?" 

Photo by Gage Skidmore

   “Easy.  I'd get Mary Elizabeth Winstead for Zoe Miller.  I loved her look and attitude as Ramona Flowers in 'Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.'  Zoe's an archaeologist but she's also a werewolf,  searching for powerful Fangborn artifacts.  It makes her the ultimate outsider."

     “Sounds like a great part for Paul Bettany.”

 “I'm ignoring you.  And when my editor asked about the unreliable Adam Nichols, to get some cues for the cover art, I knew immediately.  Armie Hammer as Tyler Winkelvoss in 'The Social Network.”  When someone suggests they hire the Sopranos to beat up Zuckerberg, he says, “We can do that ourselves. I'm 6'5", 220, and there's two of me.”  That is exactly Adam's attitude.”

            
We finished the walk and it was time to move on.  “Okay, next movie.  We're remaking 'The Thin Man.'  Who gets cast as Nora?”

            “No one.  Myrna Loy is Nora Charles forever.  I love Myrna Loy.”

            “When I say 'obsession,' I mean your fixation on Myrna Loy.”

            “We're done here.”

So readers:  Who would you cast in The Maltese Falcon?  Or if you believe it should never be remade, who would play you in the movie of your life?  Leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a copy of Pack of Strays!

HANK:  I am still searching for my Jane Ryland...so funny! (I have considered the woman in the Chico's ad. You know who I mean? And I wish it could be Annette Bening, or Rene Russo.)  And I agree about Nora--no one but Myrna.  

And Pack of Strays to one lucky commenter! 

***************** 

 Dana Cameron can't help mixing in a little history into her fiction.  Drawing from her expertise in archaeology, Dana's work (including traditional mystery, noir, urban fantasy, thriller, and historical tales) has won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards and earned an Edgar Award nomination. 
Her second Fangborn novel, Pack of Strays (47North) picks up where Seven Kinds of Hell  left off.  A Fangborn short story, "The God's Games" appears in Games Creatures Play, and her story, "The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars," featuring Pam Ravenscroft from Charlaine Harris's acclaimed Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, will appear in Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse in May.
http://www.Danacameron.com

WonderCon! (Part Two): a guest blog by Dana Cameron

Catriona McPherson is the winner of Hallie Ephron's There Was An Old Woman and Terri Ponce is the winner of S.J. Bolton's Dead Scared! Ladies, please send your contact information to me, Julia, at juliaspencerfleming - you guess the rest - dot com.

  JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: You know what we like here at JRW? Mysteries. Sexy archeologists. Tough, smart heroines. Werewolves. And, of course, our friend Dana Cameron, who combines all of the above and more into her new FANGBORN series. Here she is with the second half of her love letter to all things geekish: 

 

WonderCon! (Part Two)

Last weekend I was in southern California promoting my new book, SevenKinds of Hell. I did an event at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, then trained it to Anaheim to participate on a panel and signing at WonderCon. WonderCon has been described as the baby brother of Comic-Con and is a long weekend devoted to celebrating science fiction, fantasy, horror, comics, movies, TV, etc. (you can get a good idea about the event by checking out my Femmes Fatales blog here, where I show some of the awesome costumes. Here you can see the Mysterious Galaxy RB crew dressed a la The Night Circus. 

While you could just spend the day people-watching, playing character bingo: Dr. Who characters are very big this year, and Star Wars remains popular (I wish I'd gotten a picture of the guy with the middle-aged paunch walking around in a Boba Fett  helmet, bathrobe, pajama bottoms, and slippers—a bounty-hunter with a mug of coffee before work). The costumes range from masks to professional-quality make-up and props. Like this bug monster, who went around on stilts. That's dedication! 

 

There are also panels. People line up for hours to get to see a panel on the Joss Whedon “Much Ado about Nothing.” But there are a wide variety of discussions about writing comics (and suspense and SF/F and horror), what it's like to work with a famous character like Superman, writing movies and TV shows. There are panels discussing how to make the best Star Trek costumes and how soundtrack music is created. And there are panels on social topics, such as women geeks forming networks to meet other geeks and have fun with crafting, fandoms, and politics. 

 

I didn't have time to see many panels, but in addition to my panel, “Criminally Entertaining” with Gary Phillips and Stephen Blackmoore,  I went to a panel on writing fantasy for YA, with the wonderful Nancy Holder (the bestselling, prize-winning Sherlockian who, among so many things, writes dark young adult dark fantasy series and books based on such shows as Highlander, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and a raft of others; you can see her here with me and Sherlockian and literary historian Les Klinger. The panel that I was very excited about, however, was the one on the Buffy comics. That featured writer Jane Espenson, about whom I am simply crazy. Not only did she work on Buffy and Angel and Torchwood. She worked on two of my all-time favorite shows, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. Hearing her talk about the difference between writing for TV and writing for comics almost blew my mind. And, when I just happened to be looking for a comic that she'd worked on (I picked up the one based on Husbands), the guy making the sale said, “Oh, she's signing up front now.” 

 

“WHERE UP FRONT?”

“Um, the table right there?”

“SHE'S THERE NOW?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Holy—!” I grabbed my book and ran.

As I got to the table, I tried to play it, well, not cool—polite. Tried to be. WonderCon is a huge event, and Ms. Espenson been doing panels and signings non-stop. So I just said, “I've loved your work forever. Thank you. I'm looking forward to reading this.”

“And would you like me to inscribe it to—oh,” she said, noticing my ID tag, which has my name on it. “You have a name!” 

 

See, not every attendee's tag has a name. “Professionals” do. I was there as a “Professional.”

I just caught myself before I said, “Yes, I'm a professional! Like you! Well, not like you, but...well, I'm Dana, and I write, too! And my new book just came out, and I'm wicked excited, and I'm so excited to meet you, and omigod, I LOOOOOOOVED BSG so much, and Buffy was a huge influence, and I LOOOOOOVE Joss Whedon and what was it like—?”

Because if I went down that road, I would have gone into a full fan-girl melt-down. Which I would have been happy to do; I own my geekitude. But a line was forming behind me, so I just said: “Yes. 'To Dana,' please. And thank you for everything.”

I made sure I said hello and thank-you-for-signing to her co-author, Brad Bell, asked for a picture, then left. Five feet off the ground. 

 

And that's what a large part about WonderCon is about—what any convention is about. Getting to share an enthusiasm, pick up a few new ones, and sometimes getting to say “thank you” to someone who made an impact your life.

Do you geek, dear readers? (Or, if you're the same generation as Dana and the Reds, were you a nerd?) Tell us of your fannish enthusiasms, and one lucky commenter will win a copy of SEVEN KINDS OF HELL!

You can find out more about Dana and read excerpts from her books at her website. Dana blogs at Dana's Notebook as well as at Femmes Fatales, and you can also also find her at Facebook and on Twitter as @danacrmn.