Dwelling in Probabilities

I've been reading and enjoying Laura's first book, Pantomime, and asked her to drop by and talk a bit about it and its sequel Shadowplay (due out in the U.S. 1/7/14). This is a really interesting series, and are amongst the few sfnal books I can think of featuring an intersex protagonist. Buy links are just below Laura's post - highly recommended!


 

Laura's post: The Micah Grey Series and Slipping through Society

I write the Micah Grey series, which is a young adult gaslight fantasy set in a pseudo-Victorian world of the Archipelago. My main character, Micah Grey, was born both male and female, running away from life as a noble woman’s daughter to join R.H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic. That’s the very short summary of the first book of the series, Pantomime, which came out in February, 2013. The sequel, Shadowplay, comes out January 2 (UK) and 7 (US), 2014, and moves from the circus to the magician’s stage, where two illusionists duel, with Micah and his friends caught in the middle. The world of Ellada, the country within the Archipelago where the stories take place, is a formerly great empire, now crumbling. They have rigid ideas of what constitutes proper society in the higher echelons, while poverty and corruption are rife.

Micah Grey is, in many ways, caught between the various levels of the world as he navigates his way from childhood to adulthood. It’s no coincidence that his last name is Grey. Micah begins as Gene, forced to try and fit the mould of a perfect noble family’s daughter, and the role chafes. After Gene leaves and transforms to Micah Grey, he finds himself at the bottom of society, on the streets, living hand to mouth. He lives afterward on the outside of society, such as in the microcosm of the circus and then the magician’s theatre, looking in and first observing the difficulties Ellada faces. And then, without quite knowing how, he finds himself drawn deep into Ellada’s troubles.

So, that’s my series in a nutshell. It has circuses, magic, mysterious blue domes, long-vanished civilisations, clockwork body parts, secrets, and romance. I hope you take a peek into the world of Micah Grey.
Info for putting the series together:

Website: http://www.lauralam.co.uk

Pantomime page (including ordering links): http://staticsplit.wordpress.com/pantomime/

Shadowplay page (including ordering links): http://staticsplit.wordpress.com/micah-grey-2-shadowplay/

Twitter: @LR_Lam

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauralamauthor

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/micahgrey/

Tumblr: http://lauraroselam.tumblr.com/

Bio:
Laura Lam was raised near San Francisco, California, by two former Haight-Ashbury hippies. Both of them encouraged her to finger-paint to her heart’s desire, colour outside of the lines, and consider the library a second home. This led to an overabundance of daydreams.

She relocated to Scotland to be with her husband, whom she met on the internet when he insulted her taste in books. She almost blocked him but is glad she didn’t. At times she misses the sunshine.

Pantomime was released February 2013 through Strange Chemistry, the YA imprint of Angry Robot Books. The sequel, Shadowplay, will follow in January 2014.