Is Jacqueline Carey trading fantasy for politics?

Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series is racy fantasy fiction: the heroine, Phedre, is a spy, courtesan, and sexual submissive who follows the God Elua, whose main precept is "love as thou wilt." Phedre embarks on amatory adventures and moves through an elaborately imagined world that's loosely based on medieval Europe. Carey has recently released a pair of novels, one of which, Naamah's Kiss, is set in the same fantasy world. The other, Santa Olivia, is set a few years from now and focuses on an American town near Mexico, where a plague has broken out. She spoke with Decider, in advance of her book signing tomorrow, June 26, at Tattered Cover, about her new novels and how being an author can sometimes lead to a political platform.

Decider: You've got another book coming out at the same time as Naamah's Kiss, Santa Olivia, which is based in a world closer to our own. What prompted you to write Santa Olivia?

Jacqueline Carey: It actually has its genesis in something I began 15 years ago. I had the setting and all the characters, but it didn't gel, and I realized I had something where the story was in the backstory. I ended up just putting it aside. But the concept and the characters and the idea of a protagonist who was literally incapable of experiencing fear stayed with me. I knew I'd return to it someday. And then current events prompted me, and got me thinking about issues like immigration, government propaganda, and control again, and it finally clicked.

D: Will we be seeing more of that world?

JC: I hope so. I have a second book in mind that is a little more lighthearted and more of a caper. It will depend on how well this does. But I think the idea's strong enough that I will write the book eventually, one way or another.

D: Last November, you risked antagonizing readers by endorsing Barack Obama. What made you decide to do that?

JC: I'd been real quiet about politics prior to that. But it was just my personal conviction that, at that point, it was an act of small cowardice not to use whatever small platform I had to make my voice heard. I did get a couple of protests but, by and large, people were pretty courteous. And you don't write books with the elements that I have without having a socially liberal leaning.

D: In Naamah's Kiss, we return to the world of your previous series, the Kushiel books, a few generations later. What drew you to return to that world, but with different characters?

JC: I love that world. It's rich, and there's a lot of it we haven't explored. I love doing the alternate history, geography, and culture that goes into making that world. At the same time, at the end of Kushiel's Mercy, I felt strongly that those storylines all had closure. So I let those beloved characters fade into legend in order to get a little distance and start again with a whole new cast.

D: Are there particular fantasy writers that you feel have shaped your writing and the worlds you create?

JC: The writers I tend to cite as influences are the ones I read in my youth, in my formative years. For example, Patricia McKillip, was the first fantasy writer I read where I realized the language could be lyrical and beautiful. Or the flip side, I'm really partial to Richard Adams' Shardik, which was the first book I read that was really quite gritty and realistic.

D: What draws you to writing fantasy rather than some other genre, like romance or mystery?

JC: I love creating characters who are larger than life, and fantasy is a very good forum for that. And I really enjoy doing the book and travel research when I have the time and ability to do so. I never liked being held accountable and forced to footnote, so I really love the freedom that fantasy affords to recreate the world.

D: Is it odd going to science fiction conventions and seeing people dressed as your characters?

JC: Not anymore. What struck me more was the first time I saw an actual tattoo of Phedre's marque [the tattoo worn by the main character of the Kushiel series].

D: How many tattoos do you think are out there of Phedre's marque?

JC: I couldn't begin to say. We're got over a hundred unique ones on the gallery on my website, and I don't know how many more each of those represents.

D: You've said that researching sometimes requires some odd moments in order to get some visceral details right. What's the oddest detail you've researched?

JC: Licking an egg.