A
Parliament of Crows
by
Alan M. Clark
Genre:
Southern Gothic Crime, Horror
In
A Parliament of Crows, the three Mortlow sisters are prominent
American educators of the nineteenth century, considered authorities
in teaching social graces to young women. They also pursue a career
of fraud and murder. Their loyalty to one another and their need to
keep their secrets is a bond that tightens with each crime, forcing
them closer together and isolating them from the outside world. Their
ever tightening triangle suffers from madness, religious zealotry and
a sense of duty warped by trauma they experienced as teenagers in
Georgia during Sherman's March to the Sea. As their crimes come back
to haunt them and a long history of resentments toward each other
boils to the surface, their bond of loyalty begins to fray. Will duty
to family hold or will they turn on each other like ravening crows?
Alan
M. Clark grew up in Tennessee in a house full of bones and old
medical books. As a writer and illustrator, he is the author of
sixteen published books, including 11 novels, a lavishly illustrated
novella, four collections of fiction, and a nonfiction full-color
book of his artwork. His illustrations have appeared in books of
fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, young adult fiction and children's
books. Awards for his work include the World Fantasy Award and four
Chesley Awards. Mr. Clark's company, IFD Publishing, has released 42
titles of various editions, including traditional books, both
paperback and hardcover, audio books, and ebooks by such authors as
F. Paul Wilson, Elizabeth Engstrom, and Jeremy Robert Johnson.
GUEST POST
What
is your favorite part of this book and why?
I
don’t really do favorites, but I particularly enjoyed Carolee’s
flight from the sisters’ lodgings in Brooklyn to escape Mary’s
grief over the loss of an infant. Carolee’s trek is something of an
odyssey through dangerous 19th century New York streets at night. She
knows she should be frightened, but then realizes that, based on her
crimes, she, herself, is more dangerous than most of those she sees
in the night. She is much more concerned with severing her connection
to her sister’s grief so that she doesn’t have to “feel” it
anymore.
Are
your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely
from your imagination?
The
answer is that both are true. When writing fiction based on history,
we know the highlights of what happened with a character, as often
their most interesting deeds are recorded. We frequently don’t know
what emotionally motivated the person. That’s part of the mystery
that gets me interested in writing a tale from history. I have to
give the character experiences that help form their motivations, and
demonstrate their decisions and choices through scenes involving
their actions and dialoque.
Do
the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them
come to you as you write?
Most
of my characters’ emotional development comes while I’m in the
process of writing.
What
kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
Mostly,
I start a project, putting words on the page, then research what I
need to along the way.
Do
you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
One
story at a time, generally.
Pen
or type writer or computer?
Computer
word processing
Advice
you would give new authors?
Same
advice I give artists and illustrators—be tenacious in pursuing
your dream.
What
makes a good story?
Well
developed characters facing conflict that test them and brings out
emotional qualities not forseen.
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