Twenty-five years ago, Jacqueline Carey published Kushiel's Dart and changed what epic fantasy could do. To mark the anniversary, I sat down with her to talk about how she built the world of Terre d'Ange, why she wrote a heroine who is both a feminist icon and a divinely ordained masochist, and what she wants you to do when the first hundred pages feel like a lot. This conversation also kicks off our year-long Kushiel's Legacy readalong, so whether you have always wanted to read these books or you want to reread them with company, this is your starting point.
In this episode of Reading Under the Covers, a romance novel podcast:
- The coffee-table-book accident that handed Carey an entire theology
- Writing consent as a sacred tenet, and why she chose first person
- Turning the trauma-forged fantasy heroine on its head
- Why she threw out the rulebook on her own prose
- Melisande, and the villain you are not supposed to root for
- Joscelin, Cassiel's Servant, and an easier way into the series
- Her advice for readers intimidated by the size
- "Love as thou wilt," and what 25 years of readers have meant to her
Timestamps:
00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:48 25 Years Of Kushiel
01:42 Big Idea Origins
03:14 Writing Phedre Over Time
04:08 Feminism Consent Voice
05:03 Getting Into The World
05:42 Joscelin Retelling Entry
06:35 Building Terre Theology
08:36 Finding The Baroque Voice
10:34 Turning Tropes Inside Out
11:52 Crafting The Cast
12:46 Why Readers Love Melisande
13:35 Parallel Character Arcs
15:35 Returning To Joscelin
17:54 New Insights From Servant
19:10 Read Along Tips Themes
20:15 Love As Thou Wilt
21:00 Legacy And Reader Impact
23:01 Wrap Up And Read Along
Read along with us:
New episodes drop monthly as we read through the series together, so subscribe so you don't miss them, and come talk about each section with us in the Discord. If the show is your kind of thing, a rating or review helps other readers find it.
Heads up: the books, and parts of this conversation, touch on mature themes, including BDSM and the role of pain and consent in Carey's world.
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