Today we are very excited to have #ColdWitch Lead Writer Lindsay Smith on The Back of the Box to answer a few of the Big Questions about souls and space and all that good stuff. In addition to her work with Serial Box, Smith has also authored the YA espionage thrillers Sekret, Skandal, and Dreamstrider. For a taste of her fiction, check out Kingmaker on Tor.com!
Through a haze of cigarettes and vodka there lies a version of Prague where spies practice sorcery in their games of intrigue. While the world watches the bitter rivalry between East and West fester along the Iron Curtain, the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame continue waging their ancient war of magic. Kept to the shadows, this secret contest crosses the lines of politics and the borders of nations with impunity – the intrigues of spies may know clear sides but the battles of witches spill out over all. Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long line of Ice witches and sorcerers; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, suspicious allies at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself. Released in weekly text+audio episodes, The Witch Who Came In From The Cold began January 27th and is written by Lindsay Smith, Max Gladstone, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Ian Tregillis, and Michael Swanwick.Read it or learn more at SerialBox.com!
Can you describe your most recent project in one sentence? Witches, spies, and interesting combinations of the two wage secret wars in 1970s Prague. Who is the author or book you will always recommend?For high fantasy, you can’t go wrong with N. K. Jemisin or Scott Lynch. The former for the incredible, engrossing worldbuilding and the latter for the razorwire wit. First Love: Book edition. What was it and when? (i.e. what book made you love reading?) Slaughterhouse V. I read it much too young and it ruined me for books that don’t combine at least 3 different genres in wonderfully subversive ways. You now have a time machine – to where and when do you go? Ooh, tough. My first inclination is to go to somewhere dark and dramatic, like the Russian revolution or WWII France or some medieval cult, but I don’t really want to get killed straight off the bat. I could see bumming around in a Parisian café in the 1890s, maybe. That seems relatively safe. Aside from the tuberculosis. If you could have one magic spell up your sleeve, what would it be? Whatever spell the Voynich Manuscript is supposed to conjure, if it is indeed a spell. If it is, I imagine it’s a pretty wacky and exciting one. Barring that—teleportation. Always. Where is your happy place? Scotland, Norway, the mountains of Japan… somewhere cloudy and rocky with lots of greys and greens. If your soul was manifested outside of your body in the form of an animal (like in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series), what would it be? A fox, but not a particularly cunning one. Maybe one of the foxes on that Japanese fox island that just hang out and snuggle and eat a lot.
