An Interview with Paranormal Author Jaye Wells

Jaye Wells is best known for her best-selling Sabina Kane saga, which I consider one of the best paranormal fantasy series out there. But fans of Wells impatiently awaiting the release of the first book in Prospero’s War, her new urban fantasy series (Dirty Magic, forthcoming in January 2014), are in for an unexpected summer treat: Wells just self-published a digital novella, Meridian Six.  This deliciously dark vampire thriller is set in a future where a vampiric regime known as the Troika rule through terror and propaganda. Most of humanity is enslaved, but small groups of rebels remain, fighting to regain their freedom—and their planet.
The story revolves around Meridian Six (aka Carmina Sargosa), a young woman who was captured by the Troika as a kid and raised to be a “poster child for obedient humans.” After attacking her captors and barely escaping with her life, Carmina finds herself alone in a perilous world, where both sides want her dead: the Troika are out for bloody vengeance, and the rebels believe she’s a spy. Powered by extraordinary world building, Wells has created a layered narrative set in an intriguing postapocalyptic future, and put a fascinating spin on the vampire mythos. I tracked down Wells and asked her about the inspiration behind Meridian Six, her experience self-publishing, and her new series.
You have a new series coming out in 2014 from Orbit called Prospero’s War. What was the motivation behind self-publishing Meridian Six now?
Part of the motivation was timing. It has been a year since my final Sabina Kane novel (Blue-Blooded Vamp) came out, and another six months until Dirty Magic debuts. I was getting a lot of emails from readers asking for more stories, so I gave them something to tide them over while they waited.
I also just wanted to share a new world with people. Meridian Six is a little bit of a change of tone for me. It’s more serious and dark. Obviously my Sabina books could go to shadowy places, but there was always a joke or a funny situation to lighten the mood. I also think the timing of M6 was perfect because the day after it came out, the news broke about the NSA monitoring cell phones, and in Greece, transgendered people and drug addicts are being rounded up to be put in detention centers. This novella was kind of a way for me to purge some of my fears about our world into a story that both is and isn’t something that could really happen.
Considering your experience thus far with self-publishing (Meridian Six has been out for about a month), what’s the most arduous aspect of it?
Getting the word out is really tough. Even though I’m a fairly established name in urban fantasy, it’s been tough to let people know. When the novella came out I blasted all my social media outlets, and a lot of my author friends helped with those efforts. Even so, I’m still getting emails from people who stumble on the story and say, “I had no idea this was out!”
There are also a lot more administrative headaches involved in self-publishing, things I’d taken for granted that my publisher handles without me being bothered. Luckily, my husband is a detail-oriented IT guy, who could handle a lot of the back-end work and formatting so I could focus on writing.
But it’s also pretty cool. I mean, it’s nice to have more control over the process. It creates a real sense of ownership in your book’s success that, unfortunately, is being denied authors in the traditional markets.
So was expanding “Red Life” into a novella a one-and-done project, or is this just the beginning of Carmina Sargosa’s story?
Since I’m in the middle of writing the Prospero’s War series, I knew it would be a long time before I could focus on writing Carmina Sargosa novels. So I figured writing a series of novellas set in the world would be a good compromise. I can work on them between my deadlines and put them out when it makes sense to my schedule, as opposed to being bound by a publisher’s calendar.
I have the beginnings of at least two other novellas set in this world. They could probably be expanded into novel-length work, but it depends on demand for such a thing as well as scheduling.
I found Carmina to be comparable to Sabina Kane—both were involved in a profound journey of self-discovery, both have fascinating backstories, and both are undeniable ass-kicking heroines. How did Carmina resonate with you?
It’s not a surprise Carmina and Sabina were similar. I wrote the original short story just a couple of months before I sold Red-Headed Stepchild. So the me that wrote both of those stories was definitely needing to write that kind of character. Even though the worlds are very different and the characters distinct, the themes of both are familiar—a reluctant savior, a woman with a broken upbringing struggling to find her place, gray morality, etc.
To me, Carmina is a more tragic figure. She doesn’t have the luxury of choices Sabina had. She basically goes from being a blood slave for the Troika to a sort of captive savior for the rebels. In a world where there’s nowhere to run, really, you have to just stand and fight and make the best of a really shitty situation.
And does your new protagonist, Kate Prospero, fit into this Wellsian archetype?
Kate is more evolved than Sabina, and less desperate than Carmina. She’s not quick to anger. She’s too jaded to be mad when people disappoint her because that’s just what people do. She doesn’t come from a place of privilege—she grew up in a magical slum among criminals. And now she’s a cop and has all the resourcefulness and pragmatism such a life requires.
I like to think of Kate Prospero as a more mature heroine, in a way. She’s a think first, ask smart questions, and, then if it’s unavoidable, shoot later kind of gal.
But since I seem incapable of writing happy, well-adjusted characters, she’s got a very unhealthy relationship to magic. A bit of a problem in a world where people use clean magic to fuel their cars and cure their obesity. An even larger problem when her job requires her to arrest dirty magic addicts and wizards who cook potions that turn people into monsters (metaphorically and literally, at times). And when she joins the task force to bring down the Cauldron’s dirty magic covens, she basically is walking right back into a life she swore off a decade ago. As responsible as she normally is, she just can’t resist scratching those old itches a little.
Do you think you’ll ever self-publish again?
Probably. I just self-published two paranormal romance novels (The Hot Scot and Rebel Child) that I wrote back in the day. I pubbed them under the name Kate Eden, and I do plan more books in that series, as well as more novels or novellas for Meridian Six’s world. Self-publishing is cool because it allows for more experimentation and flexibility, but I am still being treated pretty well by traditional publishing. As long as that’s the case, self-pub will be a sideline. And if it ceases to be the case, well, it’s very nice to have other options.
Thanks for the great interview, Paul!
Thank you, Jaye, and good luck with Meridian Six and Dirty Magic!
What’s your favorite work of self-published fiction?