Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Evette Davis, whose debut novel The Others (The Council Trilogy, Book 1) was published on 17th September 2024.
The protagonist, Olivia Shepherd, is a political consultant, and so are you. How much is Olivia based on yourself?
All her bad habits are mine. I’m only half joking…she’s a mix of dozens of consultants I’ve known throughout my career. She’s also an amalgamation of lots of women I’ve known over the years who have struggled with how to find their voice as they move through the world.
The Others is set in contemporary San Francisco, where you live now. How far is the city itself a character or theme in the novel?
San Francisco plays a significant role in the story because the City is full of supernatural beings, sometimes obscured by our world-famous fog. Major landmarks are featured. For example, the DeYoung Museum is the headquarters of a secret society Olivia is asked to join. I love San Francisco and the Bay Area, and it was a pleasure weaving familiar places into the story. Hopefully, readers will get a kick out of seeing familiar landmarks in a new light.
Olivia discovers that she is an empath and is drawn into a magical underside to San Francisco, the realm of “The Others.” What can you tell us about the Others and the world they inhabit?
The Council is the magical entity we need right now: a secret society of supernatural beings – witches, vampires, shapeshifters, etc. – who intervene in world politics and events to maintain the balance of peace. Their members are, in some cases, hundreds of years old and have experienced many wars and events and try to avoid similar things from happening in the future. They are headquartered in San Francisco but have offices and members worldwide. As far as San Francisco goes, these supernatural beings are living their lives in parallel to humans, riding the subway and pitching in major league baseball teams just like anyone else.
You have spoken of your dislike of fascism and xenophobia. How far are these themes woven into the novel?
They’re woven into the entire trilogy. In The Others, Olivia runs an election for a congressional candidate, and there is an opponent. The political race allows me to explore the fragile nature of our public discourse and the stark choices people must make these days when choosing leaders. It’s a theme that follows all three books in The Council Trilogy. Think of it as a supernatural West Wing.
You describe The Others as an urban fantasy. What does that mean to you?
Fantasy stories set in contemporary, urban settings. As opposed to Middle Earth.
What characters does Olivia meet on her journey into the world of the Others, and who is William?
The first person she meets is Elsa, her spirit guide and a time walker sent to look after her. From there, she’s introduced to Gabriel Laurent, the head of the Council and a powerful French witch. Her best friend is Lily. She is a San Francisco librarian and a fairy. William is a 190-year-old vampire. The two meet by chance and are drawn to one another. William becomes her lover, but his secrets threaten to keep them apart.
How did you research and create the mythology of the story and set it against a contemporary backdrop?
The backdrop was the easy part. I’ve lived in San Francisco for more than twenty years, so it’s very familiar to me. The mythology took some time as I explored the characters and fleshed them out. When I started writing, I knew I wanted my main characters to be modern versions of witches, vampires, and shapeshifters who hide in plain sight of the people around them.
Would you call The Others a Romantasy, and how do you feel about writing romantic scenes?
I guess it is! I like writing romantic/ sexy scenes, especially if my characters have great chemistry, like Olivia and William.
Why is the theme of female empowerment important to you, and in your writing?
It’s the puzzle I try to solve in my own life as a leader and professional. How do women find their power, their agency? How do they learn to use it constructively? How do we get or stay comfortable with authority, especially in a world where many people dislike strong women? My stories examine those issues, albeit camouflaged by fantasy or dystopian themes.
How do you balance life as a writer with a demanding day-job?
I’m also married and the mother of a college-age daughter. I guess my answer is that I continue to struggle for balance. Some weeks, I make plenty of time for writing. Other times, it must be postponed. Deadlines help me focus, and I haven’t watched television for many years. I’ve given up kicking back in the evenings after dinner to write.
The Others is part of a trilogy - how do you see it developing?
Great question! The second book in the series – The Gift – will be published in March 2025. The third and final book – The Campaign - will be out in the fall of 2025. In book two, Olivia finds herself in Eastern Europe hunting an enemy. Her revenge quest is almost her undoing, and then, in the last book, she battles a familiar foe while trying to elect a woman president. There will be lots of near-death experiences and some romantic twists and turns.
The novel contrasts the politics of present-day San Francisco with that of the magical realm. How did you compare and contrast those different kinds of intrigue?
For the contemporary characters of The Council, their magic is secondary to the political conditions, and they find themselves reacting as any human might with a few twists. For example, the Nazis in WWII knew vampires were working in the resistance and killed them when captured but used traditional means: i.e., a wooden stake and the removal of their head. But there are specific rules that apply to their world. Witches are forbidden to mate with humans, for example, but here is Olivia, Gabriel’s daughter, through an ill-fated romance.
What do you like to read, when you have time?
I read lots of sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction. I’m reading The Black Bird Oracle, Book 5 in the All Souls Series by Deborah Harkness. Next up is The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. I am also a sucker for historical romances. Especially series like The Ravenels by Lisa Kleypas. They all have happy endings and feisty female characters who defy the odds, and they’re so different from what I’m writing that I can laugh and enjoy myself without introducing problems for the characters dancing around in my head.
Are there any writers whose work you particularly admire?
There are too many to list, but a few that I would mention are Deborah Harkness, Ursula Le Guin, Elizabeth Kostova, Samantha Whisky, Ilona Andrews, and Jesse Mihalik. Lisa Kleypas and Nora Roberts are my heroes. I return again and again to the poetry of T.S. Eliot and E.E. Cummings, and I’ve been known to re-read Macbeth from time to time.
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About Evette Davis:
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Evette Davis is a science-fiction and fantasy writer. She is most recently the author of “48 States,” which Kirkus named one of the Best Indie Books of 2022. The book was also a quarter-finalist for the BookLife Prize 2023 and longlisted in the 2023 Indie Book Awards.
Davis is also the author of The Others, the first installment of The Council Trilogy, released in September 2024 by Spark Press.
Davis is a member of the Board of Directors for Litquake, San Francisco’s annual literary festival. In 2023 and 2017, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library honored Davis as a Library Laureate. Her work has also been published in the San Francisco Chronicle.
When she’s not writing novels, Davis advises some of the country’s largest corporations, nonprofits and institutions as a consultant and co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs, an award-winning San Francisco-based consulting firm. Before establishing her firm, Davis worked in Washington as a press secretary for a member of Congress. She previously was a reporter for daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Davis splits her time between San Francisco and Sun Valley, Idaho.
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