Senses Working Overtime: Contributor Emmie Christie on her new novel, A Caged and Restless Magic
One of the many things that draws me to speculative fiction is the incredible breadth and variety of the genre, and that is reflected in the stories published here at Androids and Dragons. Some of these stories take place in our own world or in a near future version of our world. Many others exist in imaginative worlds of the authors’ creation. One such story is “Shingling the Roof of the Sky,” which appeared in Androids and Dragons earlier this month. Its author, Emmie Christie, has just released her debut novel, A Caged and Restless Magic, which also features rich, imaginative world-building. Recently, I asked Emmie about the inspiration for “Shingling the Roof of the Sky,” some of her other short stories, and the worlds of sensory magic she created for her new novel.
A & D: “Shingling the Roof of the Sky” was such a delightfully quirky story. It was fun to imagine the world you described, especially taking a dip in the space sea. How did you come up with the idea for this setting?
Emmie: I helped shingle my grandmother’s roof as a young teenager one summer, and I still remember the intensity of the heat. We had to kneel on the roofing felt as we nailed the shingles on, which is a protective layer under the shingles, and the sun’s rays seemed to magnetize to the black felt. Just next door, a bunch of kids splashed in a pool that I could easily see from the rooftop.
When ideating for this story, I pulled on that memory, of wanting so badly to just dip in that pool, and I thought, “Well, why couldn’t this be in space? What if I were to shingle the sky?” And that’s how the concept of this story started, and why my character Luce desperately wants to cool off in the space sea.
A & D: I couldn’t help but wonder about symbolism in the story. Luce’s grandmother’s house seemed perfect as a symbol for the Earth. Did you intend aspects of this story to be symbolic? If so, what did the various parts of Luce’s world symbolize?
Emmie: You are correct! I put a ton of symbolism in this little flash. I wanted to show Earth as something to care for and maintain, so I characterized it as a house. It is symbolic of how we should care for and provide upkeep for our world, just as homeowners do, and provide a sense of responsibility.
In the same way, I characterized the sun as a cosmic plant-animal, as a living organism that needs tending, because it’s important for us to consider not just our world, but other things outside of it, like the sun, or asteroids, or space itself. There are so many things we don’t know about our universe and the best way to care for it.
I wanted to show Luce and her grandmother as gigantic entities to help shift the readers’ POV, to inspire them to look at our solar system as house owners and gardeners of the cosmos might look at it.
A & D: Are there any other short stories you’ve written that you’re especially proud of?
Emmie: I have two that spring to mind:
“Someone Call Shadow Control!” is a flash fiction published by Daily Science Fiction. I’m proud of this one because the belligerent shadows are so cute to me, like little aggressive stray cats that just need someone to take care of them.
“Her First Full Breath” is a short story published in Ghost Orchid Press’s anthology, “Beyond the Veil: Supernatural Tales of Queer Love.” I’m proud of this one because I felt it broke the stereotype of gender roles between what a girl is supposed to want. My protagonist, Cam, wants to grow pearls in her chest like the boys do, but her mother is obsessed with keeping Cam’s waist thin enough that someone could hold it in one hand.
A & D: Let’s talk about your new novel, A Caged and Restless Magic. First of all, congratulations! Can you tell us a little about your protagonist, Saida?
Emmie: Thank you so much!!
Saida represents my obsession with fox-shifters, whimsical behavior, and traumatic pasts all rolled into one. She’s curious to a fault but has learned humans are dangerous and is terrified of getting close to them. She’s a magic gardener (I see a pattern emerging in what I tend to write!) and trims the excess of one world, then transplants it to another. For instance, she collects a dangerous beast’s yawn, or the lightning from a winter storm.
Her magics can speak to her, and they try to help her remember things that she’d rather forget, as her memory has been broken into pieces by something a human did. So, when she meets Alesio, she tries to fight her attraction to him with everything she’s got. But Alesio has a silver voice, and she needs his magic to transplant it to the world of Vision. So, she has to get closer to him. It’s not because he has pretty arms.
A & D: Now tell us about Alesio. I’m especially intrigued by the idea of someone who comes from the rough world of cage fighting but longs to create beauty instead.
Emmie: Alesio grew up having to care for his father when his father wouldn’t take care of either of them. That meant he had to do some things he’s not proud of, like fighting in the cage matches using sound knives and his uncanny natural ability to shield himself, as he is half-deaf. But now, he wants to reach for higher, better things, where no one can control him. He dreams of using his voice, not for violence, but for reaching another place. When he was small, he heard someone sing and their voice seemed to pull back the curtain of the sky to something beyond. Ever since, he’s craved that sense of beauty through singing. And the Cadenza, the prestigious concert hall, is where he hopes to find it.
Alesio represents the ambition and ache of singers, musicians, and performers of all kinds, that sense of being on the edge of “making it” while having to do something else. Meeting Saida turns Alesio’s whole world on its head, including his dream, and his perspective on what success looks like.
A & D: You’ve created a wonderfully imaginative world of magic for these characters. I love the idea of magic systems linked to each of the five senses. Can you explain how that works? What kind of magic happens in each of the sense worlds?
Emmie: The Sense worlds all belong to the Sensory Plane, and Between, Saida’s home, works as a kind of hallway that goes between the worlds. In each of the Sensory worlds, those senses are heightened. In the Taste world, for instance, you can taste the salt flats by walking on them or taste a dessert from a vendor in the city by just being near it. And when you eat things there, the flavor is so intense you must eat it slowly, or it’ll overwhelm you.
Much of the magic revolves around the overstimulation of the senses. In Vision, the amplified nature of sight manifests as chaotic gravity, such as shifting roads into the sky, or making trees grow sideways, overwhelming the eye with its lawlessness. The humans in each of the worlds are used to the magic and have workarounds that they consider normal.
The problem, however, is that the magic of the Sensory worlds is fading for some reason, and as it does, the worlds drift further and further apart and they take longer to teleport to. Saida, as the magic’s gardener, strives to keep the worlds together by transplanting the magic, but Vision’s magic has almost stopped working, regardless of her efforts.
A & D: Finally, is there anything else you want readers to know about this book?
Emmie: A Caged and Restless Magic is a portal romance fantasy. It’s a sweet, slow burn romance, and the tone is whimsical and somewhat dreamlike. It has my favorite romance trope of “Who hurt you? I will END them!” It has a ticking clock for urgency, ancient secrets to unravel, talking objects, sentient magic, and a touch of cosmic horror. I hope you enjoy this fanciful world I created.
A Caged and Restless Magic is available for purchase here, in paperback, kindle, or audiobook format.
To learn more about Emmie Christie and her work, visit her website, www.emmiechristie.com. You can also learn about cover artist Laura Shallcrass by visiting her website.
Editor’s Note: In case you were wondering about the reference in the title, it is from this amazing song by XTC, brought to mind by Emmie’s description of the sense worlds and their magic.