Take Away the Saints

Interview with Cynthia Varady

I was very impressed with Below the Surface, Cynthia. It had a kind of old school feel to the narrative and characters despite taking place in a sci-fi or fantastical type realm. Do you remember the first time you encountered the noir style? How did it affect you as a writer?

I've always been attracted to dark and brooding stories and characters. I love old detective stories and devoured them as a kid.

I think I'm drawn to dark stories because I tend to be a pretty dark person. Humor is a hard thing for me to write. But the twisted and the strange come easily. For me, discovering these narratives helped me realize that dark is its own type of normal.

Your piece was a bit of a genre-bender. If I had to categorize it as anything, I would call it Seapunk. Like if Indiana Jones was a kickass diver woman. What drove you to tackle it from that kind of angle? And what were your influences for Saka's character?

I like that. Indiana Jones inspired Seapunk. I'm not sure if I'm cool enough to roll with that, but I'm gonna' try.

I like to, at least I try to, take a story we've all heard, and see how it can be changed. How can I take the expected and make it unexpected? I've found that by making the main character a woman of color, you can tell that same Indiana Jones story, or Peter Pan, or a European fairy tale, but give it what's been missing.

I've been reading a long time, and I feel like I've read stories that represent me as a white woman. I want to read more about other women. Black and brown women. Tough women. Ass kicking women who don't take shit from anyone.

While I liked your story as a work of noir, I almost didn't choose it because it missed the mark of the Take Away the Saints theme. That is, until the end, where Saka showed her real antiheroine side. That was perfectly cold-blooded, and made me love the story even more. The antihero/heroine is such a huge staple in noir. Which elements of noir do you find the most satisfying to weave into your stories? (i.e. dialogue, characters, narrative, etc.)

First, let me express how happy I am you chose Below the Surface for the collection. When I read antihero in your description, I knew Saka was perfect.

I love good dialogue. Love, love, love it. I'm a huge fan of Kevin Smith, and I just recently started rewatching old episodes of Letterkenny. The dialogue is so scathing in Letterkenny, you sometimes have to watch a scene twice to begin to grasp what was said. It's amazing. I attempt to make my dialogue as natural as possible. I read and reread it aloud. Find the right inflections, the perfect wording, maybe an accent.

Next is character. I love to blend tidbits of the characters' past experiences into the story. Build the clay moppet into something tangible and familiar. An eye roll, a nervous gesture or tick, a saying common to a character. By the end of the story, you should feel like you know the characters.

Do you see yourself coming back to the noir/hard-boiled style in future works? And speaking of future works, what projects have you got on deck for your readers?

There are most certainly going to be more stories with Saka. She's not finished. I would love to see what she does next.

As for future works, I am finishing up my first book, The Dragons of Kalda. After that, there will be a sequel which will blend the post-apocalyptic and fantasy genres. I'm also planning on writing a novel based on two of my favorite characters from the short western story Colt Dragoon. If you like Addie McBride and Sheriff Everett Hamm, then you'll love what I have in store for them in the future.

I do love a good Western, and I think there will be several readers on the lookout for more adventures starring Saka. Thank you for joining our noir collection!

If you'd like to read some lighter fare from Vroomfondel42, check out her YA Fantasy The Dragons of Kalda.