V.E. Schwab

V.E. Schwab’s new book is A Conjuring of Light, the concluding volume of her Shades of Magic trilogy. From her interview with Ardi Alspach at the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog:

Fantasy is often a way for a writer to illuminate a truth in our world–what truths are you hoping to illuminate with your writing?

Way to kick it off with a hard question, huh? I don’t ever sit down with a truth in mind. I usually learn it along the way. But I suppose one of the threads in my work is the idea that, more often than not, the world doesn’t hand you a path, you have to be willing to carve your own.

I’ve been to a few of your book events, and one of the topics that’s come up is the theme of all of your work—the idea of the monstrous. Can you tell our readers a little bit more about that?

Well, I’m fascinated by the idea of the monstrous, yes, but digging down, what really intrigues me is simply the other. The outsider. At the heart of every one of my stories are two kinds of outsides–those born into a society who don’t feel they fit, and those who enter a society and are told they don’t fit. I love the differences and similarities, the interplay between people and place, and the inherent tension that...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue