Interview with Eva Gordon – steampunk author

Hand of Miriam by Eva Gordon

In the past Eva Gordon has been better known for her fantasy novels, but recently her love of the Victorian era has combined and encouraged her to write steampunk. Now with her novel “Hand of Miriam” available on Amazon, Eva has spoken to me about writing steampunk novels, mummies and travelling the world on her steampunk airship.

Eva began her career teaching sciences in High School, but telling fictional stories to her students gave her the spark of interest she needed to write a fantasy novel. When that was published, she quit teaching to concentrate on writing full time. Since then her qualifications in Biology and Zoology have helped her with her research for the novels she’s written. Eva doesn’t just write in the steampunk theme and not get involved though: “Because I love the Victorian era and I have always felt like a Victorian lady, named Sadie Winstone, who travels the globe as an explorer of natural history, I was excited to learn about the steampunk universe. At steampunk conventions you will see me dressed as Biologist explorer, Sadie Winstone who travels in her airship, HMS Air Beagle.”

Eva Gordon AKA Sadie Winstone

She likes to cross paths of various genres in her work from fantasy to mythology, steampunk and maybe even a little cyberpunk: “I write genre bending paranormal/fantasy/steampunk novels with a strong romantic, suspense and adventure elements. Tormented heroes who travel the roads fighting for good, love and truth. I love to create stories that combine my passion for mythology, romance, suspense, natural science and animal lore.”

There’s no denying that Eva’s inspiration comes from the natural world given her academic achievements. For “Hand of Miriam”, she turned to Jewish mythology and incorporated the Golem into the story: “I’ve been a big fan of the Golem legend, and had a Golem in my fantasy novel, The Stone of the Tenth Realm. I love Jewish mythology, which includes the Golem along with other creatures and the concept of the evil eye. I also like the idea of multicultural steampunk books.”

Eva appears to be one of those authors that has ideas just spring up into her mind and not staring blankly at a sheet of paper for hours at a time: “I sit at the computer and the characters lead me through crazy scenes, twists and turns. One moment I’m sipping my coffee and the next I’m in the desert confronting an angry mummy.” However, she does build the characters and their back-story first. For authenticity, she also tries to use as many locations as she can that she’s personally familiar with: “I have visited most of the places mentioned in my novel, such as Prague and London. I love travelling for research. However, I do use the internet for some things.”

It’s the personable touch that makes her popular with fans of her books and with NY Editors, once she got them to read her work: “I’m a hybrid author which entails indie writing, working under a small press and having an agent help break through the walled fortress of the NY publishers. Two of my novels, including Hand of Miriam are being read by an NY Editor. Fans write to me a lot although it’s mainly to encourage me to get my next book out!”

Eva plans to write more steampunk novels in the future. She will expand Bayla’s universe and she’s on a tight schedule so don’t expect to be waiting for too long before another book is out. If she has time away from writing, she will pop along to the occasional steampunk event and has even sat on a panel of steampunk authors.

You can visit Eva’s website for more information by following this link: Eva Gordon – Raven Author