Fans of Chenda and the Airship Brofman, your long wait is over! 

The Gospel According to Verdu , a sequel to the popular debut work by Emilie P. Bush, has been announced and the official release set for the Steampunk World’s Fair in Somerset, N.J, (May 20-22, 2011).  Emilie Bush took a few minutes to answer our questions regarding her upcoming second novel and the world she created.

PN - Can you give us a brief description of The Gospel According to Verdu?   

EPB - Sure - The Gospel According to Verdu [GAV] picks up where Chenda and the Airship Brofman [CAB] left off - Verdu has been left behind in Tugrulia. He's rather pleased with himself for having found the Pramuc, the one foretold who will save his people from the various oppressions imposed by the emperor. However, he sacrifices his freedom to make sure she can escape to the west. He's between a rock and a hard place and there is no one who can save him, so he finds a way to save himself - and in it he finds a way to save all of Tugrulia on his own.

PN - I've heard that your first book was written in a kind of sprint, almost springing forth fully-formed, and yet this second work took quite a bit longer to finish. Tell us about the differences in your writing process this time around. 
 
EPB - The first time around, I was inspired, had insomnia and my children napped. With GAV, I had to take characters that I had fully developed in the first book, and then have them evolve again. That's more challenging. I salted the first book with details that I knew I would need should I get the yen to carry the story forward, but characters don't always behave. They really do have a life of their own. It took a bit longer, but I think, in the end, this is better than the first book on many levels.

PN - Given the differences in your process, did you find any differences in pacing, mood, imagery or characterization in GAV when compared to CAB? 

EPB - Well, the nature of the story had more to do with it than the process. My husband teased me that GAV is the adventure of Chenda getting the band back together. And it's kind of true. All of the characters from CAB get separated from the others, their stories are inter-woven in a single narrative, but not always in a parallel chronology. That's a huge difference from the first book. 

PN - How have your characters changed and matured from the first book through this one?  As their creator, do you find them more or less flexible now that their personalities are established and has your relationship with the characters changed accordingly?
 
EPB - Yes - Chenda is hugely evolved. The more you write about a character the less flexible they are, but that is easier in some ways. It's a lot more simple to look at what I have a character doing and say, “Is that something this chick would do? Would he really react that way?" I sometimes resent myself for writing the characters in a corner, but then I just have to try to be a better writer and find a way to get my characters where they need to go.

PN - Your works show a great degree of ethnic and cultural diversity in your characters, geographies, and languages.  Can you tell us how your own experiences may have influenced your work in these regards?  Also, how would you answer any challenges that there are colonial overtones in the relationships between the main characters and the Tugrulians?
 
EPB - I love the mingling of cultures. I love trying on new foods and clothes and perspectives. It's not always apparent how cultures are willing to share, and how they are determined to keep their identity by exclusion. Many of the scenes in this book come from things I saw while traveling in Africa and Eastern Europe, and also living in Atlanta. Conflicts between people and cultures, and even between man and god, are at the heart of the human condition. We all have to look at life through the filters of out own experiences, habits and mental health. Tugrulia is a closed society - like Brazil in the 50's and feudal Japan. Their government has closed its borders. So the only way to change is from within. This is not so much about a society being supplanted by another, it's about a culture that changes from within.

PN - Many of the themes of the Chenda books revolve around questions of faith and religion, particularly ideas of destiny and salvation.  Can you give us an understanding of the theologies in GAV?  How do each of the three predominant cultures in the works approach theology?  How do you hope that readers relate to the mythologies represented in the world of your characters?

EPB - In the Brofman series, there are three main groups of people. The Tugrulian Empire is practically a Theocracy. The motto is One Land, One God, One emperor... or something similar. There's one way - or the highway. Kite's Republic of the Western States is a republic, and it's a come as you please, smorgasboard of gods and thoughts. The third group of peoples, the Mae-Lyn, are in tune with both. They know about the Tugrulian's One True God, and they know about the philosophy of the west, but they value family and hospitality more than religion. They recognize that Chenda is a person who has been touched by the gods - they recognize what they see when they see it, which is what I find most appealing about the Mae-Lyn. They are good people who believe in taking in the best in others, and sharing the best of themselves. Pranav Erato gets to see the connection between god and man very clearly in this book. I must admit, I was really influenced by Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. I tend to think as he does about the power that comes from belief. But where he sees a bit of competition between gods and the people who believe, I see a continuum. I leave interpretation to the reader, but I am happy to debate the philosophy afterward.

PN - You've categorized your work as Feminist Steampunk Literature.  What does that mean for you?

EPB - I have no main female characters that are not whole. So many of Steampunk literature's ladies are one note players: dowdy librarian, clockwork hooker, girl passing as a boy in a military setting, blood thirsty sky pirate, etc. The women in the Brofman series are women, with all the gifts the gods gave to women: charm, tenacity, intelligence, feelings, hang-ups, and bodies. Candice is my favorite in that respect. She's small but she's mighty. She dresses as she pleases, works side by side with men at the university, she has motherly instincts and a short temper. She's tough but gets airsick. I have a lot of fun and I like her personally.  It's been pointed out to me that I work against Steampunk type with several of my characters; I guess there are not a lot of independent airships with the kind of civilized and disciplined crew that the Brofman has. Perhaps I am just looking for the world I want, and not finding it, I made it.

PN - So....did you find any surprises as the story unfolded for you?  Care to share some of your own personal reactions?

EPB - It surprised me that my friendships would dictate my story so much. I don't want to give too much away, but because I wanted to pay homage to my friends in book one, naming characters and so on after the people I loved, I leaned toward some characters in this book, and that turned the story in a slightly different way. I am really pleased at how GAV turned out. 

PN - What do you as the author want us to know about this new book?

EPB - I would like people to know that this book is ultimately about relationships: between friends, lovers, rivals, and gods. Things are never easy, and we ALL are different things to different people at different times. Sometimes, apart from our most beloveds, we are not our best selves. 

For more information on Emilie P. Bush and her works, please see her Amazon page, where you can purchase both hardcopies and Kindle versions of her works, her Facebook page, or her profile on Smashwords, which has digital versions for download in a variety of formats. 

She will also be appearing at these events and signing copies of her books:
Steampunk World's Fair in NJ (May 2011)
Atlanta Book Launch Party (May 24, 2011)
MARCon, Columbus OH
Con Carolinas, in Charlotte NC
Seattle West Coast Book Signing
MENSA Annual Gathering in Portland, OR

Patricia Nolde is an absent-minded professor with a wanderlust and too many unfinished projects.