Olivia Waite writes queer science fiction, fantasy, historical romance, and essays. She is the romance fiction columnist for the New York Times Book Review. Her latest novella is Murder By Memory and she recently talked with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for Murder by Memory?
It was in the lockdown part of pandemic—I was reading a lot of Wodehouse with cruise ships and irascible aunts, watching a lot of Poirot and Murder, She Wrote, just anything to distract me from all that dread and fear. And then I saw someone ask: "Why aren’t there more locked-room mysteries set on generation ships?" And I thought, Yeah, why aren’t there? And my brain smashed all those things together, and I instantly knew what the ship might look like, and who would be solving crimes there. And the story just took off from there.
Are Dorothy, Ruthie, John, or any of the other characters in the novella inspired by or based on specific individuals?
My own aunts and grandmothers very much inspired Dorothy’s persistence and no-nonsense competence. I come from a long line of matriarchs who aren’t to be trifled with.
How did the novella evolve and change as you wrote and revised it? Are there any characters, scenes, or stories that were lost in the process that you wish had made it to the published version?
Writing a book is always a bit like crossing a river: you’re trying to get somewhere, but you still have to contend with the force of the currents. But with this book, more than any other I’ve written, those currents not only carried me along quite generously, but showed me a few other stops further downstream. By the time I’d finished the first draft of this first book, I had partial outlines for two more, and notes on even more ideas beyond that. So instead of scenes left out, it’s more like an upcoming itinerary.
I’m guessing, from your description of Violet’s yarn shop and Dorothy’s response to it, that you may be a knitter. Am I right? If so, how long have you been knitting?
My grandmother taught me to crochet as a child, but it wasn’t until after college that I moved near a good yarn store and really got into knitting. I’ve made sweaters for my nephews, for Mr. Waite and myself, and even a bespoke design for our much-missed mini-dachshund. I’m currently working on a fern shawl pattern to match the one Dorothy admires in Violet’s shop, so that should be out later this year!
Is Violet’s store inspired by some real places? If so, what/where are they?
Violet’s shop was a love letter to three knitting stores I’ve loved but which no longer exist. One of those—Seattle's The Fiber Gallery—closed only this year. The past few years have been cruel to small businesses, so if there’s a local yarn store you know and love, make sure they have your support!
If you were going to ask John to mix you a drink/memory, what would it be?
The feeling just before midnight at your favorite karaoke bar, when everyone’s picking songs you’ve forgotten you’ve loved and the whole bar is tipsy enough to sing along but not so drunk that the joy has started to sour. I imagine there’s a bit of fizz involved, champagne or elderflower tonic.
Are you a fan of the Mystery genre? What are some of your favorite novels, films, and/or series? Who are your favorite authors and/or filmmakers?
When I was young one of my aunts-by-friendship (elder family friend) used to bring me paper bags full of mystery novels when she finished reading them: Lilian Jackson Braun, Aaron Elkins. I moved on to bookish mysteries like John Dunning and Laurie R. King, and Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series. I also watched endless Law and Order marathons while doing homework in high school, so I still have a lot of nostalgia for those classic procedural rhythms.
Recently I’ve devoured the entirety of Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar series: an Oxford don of law history and unspecified gender solves murders in the early 1980s with a gaggle of former students turned estate lawyers. They drink endless bottles of wine at lunch and write wry letters to one another from Italy and Greece and the Channel Islands, and they’re gloriously queer and witty.
Do you have a least favorite? (I realize that you may not want to address this one, and if that is the case, please don't. But I also realize it might be so bad that it could be fun to answer.)?
The thing about books you hate as an author is that they’re sometimes the best kind of fuel. You can get a lot of writing mileage out of pure, wholesome spite. Fifty percent of writing is homage to books you’ve loved; the other fifty percent is yelling back at the books you didn’t.
So I don’t want to say specifically what those books are, because that’s like opening the furnace door and letting all the heat escape instead of using it to keep the boiler chugging along. Why use that power to lash out at someone when I could put it to better use? This is more about personal taste than proper criticism, of course—that’s a whole separate conversation.
Murder by Memory would make a marvelous film or television series. If it were adapted, who would your dream cast be?
Thanks to the way bodies work on the Fairweather, we could cast multiple actors for each role. It’s a real "have your cake" situation. Characters in the book don’t change race when they’re reembodied, but that would be easy to handwave on screen, so as to have the most fun possible. So Dorothy at various times could be Harriet Walter, Niecy Nash, and Stephanie Hsu.
Will you be taking readers back to the HMS Fairweather to join Dorothy on another case? If so, what are your plans for the series?
There are two more books currently planned in the series—book two is called Nobody’s Baby and it’s out this coming March. The short summary for this one is: A wild baby appears!
The longer summary: There are no children on board the Fairweather—pregnancy in space was deemed too risky and had too many unknowns, so fertility has been paused until planetfall. So Dorothy is flummoxed when her nephew reveals that a baby has been left in a basket on his doorstep. Where did this small human come from? Who does it belong to? And can Dorothy find the answers before Ruthie decides to raise it himself, and she has another nephew on her hands?
What’s currently on your nightstand?
I read romance and SFF so much for work, that to relax, I have to read something else entirely. Right now, for fiction that’s Marcel Proust, and I’m utterly obsessed even though it’s extremely slow going when you take it just a morsel at a time. I’m reading the Moncrieff translation to begin with, but when I’m done, I’d love to reread with Lydia Davis and see what feels different.
There’s also always at least three nonfiction books I’m working through for research.
Can you name your top five favorite or most influential authors?
Dorothy Parker, Terry Pratchett, Alyssa Cole, John le Carré, and Anne McCaffrey.
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
Jane Eyre. Still up there, tbh.
Was there a book you felt you needed to hide from your parents?
My parents let me read anything except Stephen King—but that was fine with me, since I was too sensitive to dread and had zero interest in anything marketed as frightening (rather than spooky or sinister, I loved Gothics and ghost stories). Except they did take away the Johanna Lindsey romance I found when I was five. Can’t blame them: it was not toddler-friendly.
Is there a book you've faked reading?
Not faked, but… when you’re a professional romance critic, everyone assumes you’ve already read Fifty Shades. I have not.
Can you name a book you've bought for the cover?
Oh, all the time. I’m a magpie, I can’t resist. I still daydream about the paperback cover of Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor—the one with the airplane and gold foil sacred heart. The book inside was… not what I wanted. I yearn to write something to match what I hoped that book might be.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Too many to name. But to pick just one? Their Eyes were Watching God tilted my whole world on its axis the first time I read it.
Can you name a book for which you are an evangelist (and you think everyone should read)?
In Seach of Lost Time. I’m not trying to be snobbish—I just wish I’d started it years ago, instead of letting the impenetrable reputation keep me away. Nobody told me about the lesbians. Or the page-long, gorgeous, brain-melting description of asparagus that ends in the single most elegant pee joke ever written.
Is there a book you would most want to read again for the first time?
Lucy Parker's The Austen Playbook.
What is the last piece of art (music, movies, TV, more traditional art forms) that you've experienced or that has impacted you?
Currently obsessed with The Pitt and trying to figure out why it feels so much more rewarding and cathartic than a lot of modern television—same with Interview with the Vampire, where I wasn’t even really a fan of the books but the show worked for me on every level all at once.
What is your idea of THE perfect day (where you could go anywhere/meet with anyone)?
Anywhere where you can wander from meal to museum to meal to museum. Cities like New York, Boston, London, Chicago, Seattle, Paris, Helsinki, and Rome. But also small coastal and mountain towns with art galleries and coffee shops and extremely niche history museums.
What is the question that you’re always hoping you’ll be asked, but never have been?
Where would you like us to send this ten million dollars?
What is your answer?
Please put that in a trust and fund a newspaper dedicated to solid criticism of romance’s extensive backlist.
What are you working on now?
Editing the second Dorothy Gentleman, and a Prohibition paranormal romance coming out next year from Bramble! Plus, the usual projects not ready to be talked about.
