The Big Idea: Kameron Hurley
Posted on August 28, 2014 Posted by John Scalzi 22 Comments
Fresh off winning dual Hugos at this year’s Worldcon, Kameron Hurley is releasing The Mirror Empire, which is quickly garnering some of the best reviews for a fantasy novel this year, in part thanks to its startling and vibrantly original worldbuilding. But as Hurley explains, some of the most intriguing worldbuilding she’s doing here involves who she imagines at the books antagonists — and why it matters that she’s approaching them as she does.
KAMERON HURLEY:
Orcs. Mutants. Zombies. Demons. Monsters. Aliens. Undead. Robots.
Faceless evil.
Other.
The Other is always monstrous. Inhuman.
That makes it easier to kill.
Epic fantasy is often understood as a genre that pits good vs. evil, light vs. dark. Tolkien’s work became the modern template for this, inspiring numerous imitators that pitted the good merry few against the faceless hordes. Grayer-toned fantasy became more popular in the late 90’s with authors like Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin removing the faceless horde (aside from those white walkers, perhaps…) and giving us a fantasy where all the good and evil of the world was contained in people, not faceless creatures. We saw all the light and dark, the grim and hopeful, in our own faces.
My academic background is in the history of resistance movements, in particular in Southern Africa. I know all about the horrific things we’ll do to one another – things we couldn’t even imagine some faceless evil doing. But it was when I expanded the reach of my work into the study of genocide and mass violence – what makes ordinary people kill? – that I realized what my first epic fantasy series was going to be about, at its heart.
Because though we may seek to Other groups of humans to make it easier for us to kill them, the reality is that those who kill, and those being killed, are just the same.
We are all the same.
Oh, certainly, let’s not get too heavy, here. The Mirror Empire has blood mages and flesh eating plants and energy swords that sprout out of people’s wrists, satellite magic and semi-sentient trees, and all that cool, fun stuff we visit fantasy to experience. But the core of it, the big idea behind it, happened a few months after I returned from completing my academic work in South Africa.
Back then, I was thinking big – I was plotting my series arc without actually knowing who the Big Bad was. I knew I had a group of pacifist people fleeing from a force that wanted to destroy them, but I had no idea why this Faceless Horde wanted them dead.
While working out one morning, I had a vision of one of the protagonists traveling across the world, fleeing from these invaders who were wiping out his people, and he goes to a neutral country to sit down and work out a truce. He opens the door to the meeting room…
I remember the room. A stone room. A table. A bank of windows spilling white light, a cityscape with blue tiled roofs. He opens the door, and who does he see?
He sees his dead sister sitting at the table. He sees her rise. Smile. Hold out her hand. Perfectly healthy. Perfectly alive.
I realized who the Bad Guys were, in that moment.
My pacifist people were fighting themselves.
The questions this image provoked were many: how was she alive? How had her own brother not known she was leading this army? And, most importantly: why was she killing her own people?
I could have made up something lazy, of course – she hadn’t really died, it was all a trick, a dream. But a far more interesting possibility presented itself in that moment: two worlds. Reflections of each other. Mirror images. One world is dying. The other sits on top of it, just a slide through the veil between them. But to escape a dying world means murdering all of those who share their faces on the other side.
Killing your doppelgänger. Murdering a world, to save yourself.
The catalyst for this event, I decided, would lie in the heavens. It would be a recurring catastrophe triggered every 2,000 years by the arrival of an erratic satellite in the sky which bestows strange powers on the inhabitants. This heavenly body, unlike the others orbiting the world more regularly, gave specific individuals a very limited power: the ability to open doors between worlds.
Who those newly powerful people turn out to be, who they side with, and who controls them, make up much of the narrative push of the book.
But at its heart, The Mirror Empire is about the Big Idea. It’s just this:
What would you do if you had to kill yourself to live? How much would you destroy to save your own skin? Who would you be, if you gave up your own morality, your sense of self, to survive? Would it be worth it? What would you sacrifice, what would you save, in the face of utter annihilation?
These are questions every single character must answer, in the end.
They’re questions many are faced with every day.
It’s not a good vs. evil question. A light vs. dark question. It’s a human question.
A vital one.
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The Mirror Empire: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Indiebound|Powell’s
Read an excerpt. Visit the author’s blog. Follow her on Twitter.
Killing your doppelgänger. Murdering a world, to save yourself.
When I realized just what you were doing in the novel as I read it, Kameron, I thought. “Daymn, that’s brilliant.” I look forward to seeing how you carry this forward in the second novel.
I knew I wanted to read this one before The Big Idea post, but damn, I am utterly and completely sold now. Absolutely a must-read. Sounds like a killer book brimming with so many fantastic ideas.
That is mindblowing! Reading the Big Idea, I initially thought of China Mieville’s ‘The City and the City’, and it may have a similar starting concept, but this book very clearly has its own approach. I promised myself I’d get one other book that was published on ‘Lock-In Day’ and this will be it :).
I just got up to the point that 100% confirmed for me the Big Idea last night, and I’m with Paul that it’s super well executed. The idea of one people having to kill another to survive is an old one, but one people having to kill the mirrors of themselves? That is beautiful.
Angry Robot’s always provided me with enjoyable reading, they seem to be continuing. THis sounds awesome.
and the kindle version is on sale as well
nice intro by scalzi. i didnt realize she wont 2 hugos. going to check this out.
The more tht I’m hearing about this book, the more anxious I am to read it- can’t wait to pick up my copy!!
I believe the Elitist Book Reviews raved about the guy who gave her the quote on the front cover too. That got my attention as well. I remember flipping through it in the bookstore on Saturday. That is a terrific cover. Anyone else think that? I think most SFF covers are terrible and make the books look cheesy. This one is great.
I’m with Guess. The cover so enraptured me I was probably going to buy the book anyway. Then I read the big idea. Dang! Now I’m torn between deep jealousy and shouting Shut up and take my money.
*I* have the book already. *So* looking forward to reading it (have work I have to do first, darn it.)
Also, I’m glad I googled Kameron’s name and found her blog. Just sayin.
OK, I’m going to have to start reading fantasy again. This is a brilliant idea: basically grabbing the traditional fantasy epic by its most politically dubious parts and shaking it.
Like the Big Idea, hate the triggering event: mixing Very Bad Astronomy ™ with fantasy is usually NOT a good idea.
Sounds like a great book that I look forward to reading. Then I went to the author website and read “Her fiction has been translated into Romanian, Swedish, Spanish and Russian.” There must be a story behind that collection of languages – especially Romanian!
speakertoanimals: It’s a magical comet, doing magical things.
According to UPS, this book will be waiting for me when I get home from work tonight. Very excited to read it. I love Kameron Hurley’s books.
According to UPS this book is sitting on my doorstep waiting for me to get home from a work trip. Arrrghhh! Soon, oh book, soon.
PS – if you live in my building put the book back and step away
Yay comments!
…basically grabbing the traditional fantasy epic by its most politically dubious parts and shaking it
Quote of the day :)
Between this Big Idea and the Hugo-awarded stuff, Kameron is rapidly shooting to the top of my TBR list. Which is quite an achievement given the size of said list…
What a fantastic idea, I really must read this now.
Andrew Hackard–wait, magic above the orbit of the moon? Is that even allowed?
I wonder if we can book John Noble for the TV series :P
This Big Idea resonates strongly with the recent film “Coherence”