Interview Diane Morrison

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Today we have a special treat, a holiday weekend extra interview with Diane Morrison here to tell us about her novel Once Upon a Time in the Wyrd West (part of the Wyrd West Chronicles).

Can you describe your world or setting?

The Wyrd West is a post-apocalyptic setting in which technology has become unreliable without an alchemical component, and magic and myth have returned to the world. After many years of recovery, technology has returned to about Victorian / Old West levels. As a result, myth and culture reflect this, only backed by supernatural powers. Gunslingers are a holy order of Law empowered to keep the peace and protect the common people. Their dark reflections, the Desperados, make deals with infernal powers to gain their abilities. Magic and faith of all kinds have measurable and observable effects in the world, and there are elves, gnomes, and other high fantasy races, as well as giant sentient bugs.

How did you build this concept, what research did you do?

The idea came when we were looking for a different sort of tabletop RPG setting, and it expanded as the stories began to take shape. I set it in a post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan because, when I was travelling through the province, I thought to myself that I had never seen such a perfect Western setting in my life. My research was primarily concerned with the culture, geography, towns, and climate of the places I describe in Saskatchewan, except that I based a country fair off of one that I attended that was more local, the Armstrong IPE.

Why did you choose this setting?

I’ve always liked Westerns as a guilty pleasure, and I saw a comparison that I don’t think many people do; the white hat gunslinger and sheriff is basically an extension of the Knight in Shining Armour archetype. I wanted to merge the two. In part, I was also inspired by Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I thought to myself, “What was Gilead like before everything went to hell?” That question inspired a whole new approach.

What’s unique about your world?

I don’t think anyone else has ever presented this particular combination of speculative elements before! There are post-apocalyptic westerns, and sci-fi westerns, and weird westerns, and steampunk westerns or cattlepunk; but nobody to my knowledge has ever put them all together, and nobody to my knowledge has ever blended high fantasy into the mix. Stephen King maybe came closest, but my world is nothing like his except that it has magic and gunslingers in it.

How do you explain the science or magic in your world?

A quick and dirty pseudo-scientific interpretation of string theory as it might relate to various systems of mysticism. What happened was that for a moment, all the different alternate dimensions of Earth simultaneously existed in one space. When that moment passed, bits and pieces of hundreds of alternate Earths, as well as the “original” Earth, were left mashed together like an ill-fitting jigsaw puzzle. So magic works in some places better than others, and technology is more or less reliable depending on location. This allowed me to draw upon my knowledge of real-world mysticism, magical practice, myth and faith, which is considerable. I’m a practicing Wiccan in my real life and have been for almost 30 years. I’ve read a lot about these subjects.

What was the most surprising thing you found out while researching/writing your latest book?

Did you know that there are kiwi farmers in Saskatchewan? I didn’t! But right now, today, there really are! I mean, that sounds like fantasy right there, but it’s actually a significant crop. Who would have guessed? Also, Saskatchewan produces something like 30% of the world’s canola (you Americans call it rapeseed.) And canola oil is a perfectly useful fuel.

How do you handle the food in your world?

Food is a lot like it is in modern Canada; multicultural and varied. There are more limitations because the society of my world is in the process of changing from an agricultural to an industrial one, and therefore it’s hard to get things like kiwis if they don’t grow in that area. And a lot of small communities find it easier to barter than buy, or to combine resources in an anarchist-socialist sort of way.

Do you have a recipe that you could share, maybe one that our readers could try, based on the food in your world?

Here, let me share with you the wonders of a uniquely Canadian multicultural dish: Butter Chicken Poutine! I don’t tend to do my own recipes easily – I tend to adapt them from other recipes. But this website has a decent variant: www.closetcooking.com/butter-chicken-poutine/. Don’t pay any attention to what he has to say about substituting other cheeses for cheese curds; real Canadians know you can’t do that or it doesn’t taste right. Also, you don’t have to make tandoori chicken before you make butter chicken; just make chicken and add the spices. And also, I’m pretty sure this guy didn’t invent this.

The key to getting it right is to make the fries (New York Style; that’s important too,) scatter the cheese curds over them (generously,) then make whatever gravy you’re using (in this case, the butter chicken sauce) and POUR IT OVER THE FRIES AND CHEESE CURDS WHILE IT IS STILL REALLY HOT. This melts the cheese curds to proper consistency.

What was the most mundane item that you used that really has cool tech or magic behind it?

Hard question. That would probably have to be the Gunslinger firearms, which get their power strictly from their mythic resonance; so, in other words, from the power of belief. Because the firearms were used by famous (or infamous) gunslingers of the past, they are believed to carry a portion of their power – and so they do. If a Gunslinger or a Desperado believed that such powers were possible from a standard firearm made yesterday, they would be. The power of belief is very strong and people can accomplish amazing things if they think they can. Put another way, “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

What did you include that you wish was real today?

I think magic would create as many problems as it would solve, so that’s hard to say. I think I’d enjoy sharing the world with sentient horses, though. And I’d love to be able to control the elements, or heal with the power of faith. The flip side of that, of course, is that people would be able to control the elements in harmful ways too, and if you can heal with faith, you could harm with it as well; so yeah, maybe on second thought I’ll skip those.

Anything else you would like to share with our readers?

I encourage you to give the book a try if you enjoy any one of the component genres in it! I find it sounds so different it’s sometimes a hard sell, but my reviews are excellent, and even people who were initially deterred have found they’ve really enjoyed it. At heart, my story is about people and how they interact with this strange setting, and I think they’re likeable and relatable. I love writing these stories, and I think it shows. I hope you enjoy them!