Gerrard Cowan is joining us today with his novel The Machinery. Here’s the publisher’s description:
For ten millennia, the leaders of the Overland have been Selected by the Machinery, an omnipotent machine gifted to their world in darker days.
The city has thrived in arts, science and war, crushing all enemies and expanding to encompass the entire Plateau.
But the Overland is not at ease, for the Machinery came with the Prophecy: it will break in the 10,000th year, Selecting just one leader who will bring Ruin to the world. And with the death of Strategist Kane, a Selection is set to occur…
For Apprentice Watcher Katrina Paprissi, the date has special significance. Life hasn’t been the same since she witnessed the kidnapping of her brother Alexander, the only person on the Plateau who knew the meaning of the Prophecy.
When the opportunity arises to find her brother, Katrina must travel into the depths of the Underland, the home of the Machinery, to confront the Operator himself and discover just what makes the world work…
What’s Gerrard’s favorite bit?
GERRARD COWAN
My favourite bit of The Machinery is the masks. It feels strange to write that. In fact, if you’d asked me the same question a year or two ago, I probably would have said something else. But after spending the past few months immersed in the editing process, it’s struck me how the masks’ importance grew over the years of writing. They aren’t just a key part of the plot: they’re a symbol of the kind of atmosphere I set out to create.
The Machinery is set in the Overland, a country whose leaders are chosen by an omnipotent machine. This has brought huge success for ten millennia, with the Overland defeating all rivals and excelling in arts, science, and war. However, there is a prophecy that the Machinery will break in the ten thousandth year: we have now reached that point.
I had the idea for the book about seven years ago. It started with just the central conceit of the machine itself; I had very little beyond this. I knew I wanted it to be a fantasy. I knew I wanted it to (hopefully) convey a sense of gloomy weirdness. But it took a long period of drafting and redrafting before I felt the book really captured the atmosphere I was going for.
The masks grew in importance as I worked on the book. They are worn by the Watchers, a kind of police/intelligence service that enforces the wishes of the Machinery. They come in many forms, and are commonly shaped into animal images (a raven, a wolf, a rat), though they can also be strange likenesses of people. They are not only designed to conceal, but to reveal; when a Watcher wears one, they are able to see into the heart and soul of whomever they look upon.
The Operator, an immortal being who is the link between humans and the Machinery, imbues the masks with these powers. He creates the masks for the Watchers, and delivers them into a place called the Hall of Masks, which is located in the See House, the Watchers’ home.
One of my favourite scenes in the novel takes place in the Hall of Masks. The heroine of The Machinery is Katrina Paprissi, an Apprentice Watcher who witnessed her brother being kidnapped by the Operator many years before. Her first encounter with the Operator since then takes place in the Hall. She is horrified to see him again, in the flesh, and her fear is heightened by the rows of strange, empty masks staring down upon her.
I always wanted The Machinery to have a kind of creepy atmosphere, like one of those old ghost movies that has no need for special effects, but sucks you in with strange noises and momentary glimpses of horrible things. The masks are key to what I was going for. First, they just look weird. Second, the prospect of someone wearing a raven mask and looking into your soul is kind of unsettling (I hope).
But it’s more than that. The masks will always remind me of the organic development of The Machinery. I like allowing things to change through the writing process; of course I make plans for my novels, but they must have the flexibility to absorb natural changes. I didn’t sit down at the beginning and think, ‘this book will contain weird masks.’ From what I recall, I was writing a scene with an ordinary mask, when suddenly it allowed its user to see into someone’s soul. A lot of ideas grow like that, and for me, it’s half the fun of writing fantasy.
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BIO:
Gerrard Cowan is a writer and editor from Derry, in the North West of Ireland. His debut fantasy novel, The Machinery, will be published by HarperVoyager UK in September 2015. It is the first in a trilogy.
His first known work was a collection of poems on monsters, written for Halloween when he was eight; it is sadly lost to civilisation.
