Q: How do you pronounce your name?
A: “Cherie” is pronounced like the beverage “Sherry.” “Priest” is pronounced like a man in a cassock. But I also answer to “Cherie” pronounced the French way (shuh-REE), because hey – let’s be honest: That’s how it’s spelled, and it’s not a far leap nor a ridiculous mistake.

Q: Is Boneshaker suitable for Young Adults?
A: I think so. But you be the judge (see below).

Boneshaker is a story with two main point-of-view characters, Briar Wilkes (aged 35), and her son Ezekiel Wilkes (aged 15). So there’s lots of good, solid, young-protagonist-adventuring going on. And generally speaking, this book does not contain the sorts of things that might upset your average parent.

To wit: (a). There is no sex in this book; (b). there is very little swearing, and this minimal swearing is relegated to variations on the word “damn” and the occasional four-letter word for poo, because let’s be honest, that word has been in use for a really, really long time (as have other, more ire-raising words, but those do not appear); (c). there is some violence, but it is largely zombie-on-zombie violence — or people-on-zombie violence (with a little bit of people-on-people violence thrown in, especially towards the end, I confess).

So although this is definitely an adventure book with a great deal of excitement, mystery, threat, undead menace, and whatnot … on the whole it’s actually pretty clean, if you want to judge “clean” by the standard of “naughty bits hanging out and/or highly alarming language.” If you want to judge it by “how many zombies get shot and/or how many pirates attack each other while airships crash and mad scientists cackle wickedly as they blow things up” then that’s another standard altogether, and I regret to confirm my failure to meet it.

Q: Why aren’t these books available in the e-format of my preference?
A: I don’t know.

To paraphrase John Scalzi, it’s heartwarming how you think authors have any control over this whatsoever. Boneshaker is available on the Kindle. And that’s all I know. This is simply not up to me.

Q: Is Boneshaker the start of a series?
A: Sort of.

Boneshaker is set in an alternate-history universe that I’ve dubbed “The Clockwork Century” [:: points up at the URL in your address bar ::]. It was the first full-length project I wrote using this world setting, although previously Subterranean Magazine produced a “novellette” called “Tanglefoot,” which you can read in its entirety over here, if you are so inclined.

In addition to 2010’s Dreadnought and Clementine, there are two more projects planned for the Clockwork Century setting: Ganymede (fall of 2011) and Inexplicable (fall of 2012), both from Tor. Though all of these books include characters who pop up in Boneshaker, none of them could really be called a “sequel.” They’re independent adventures featuring some of the same people, living very eventful lives someplace else … with the tentative exception of Inexplicable – which will be set in Seattle.

Q: Why is your world setting so chock full of inaccurate history?
A: It isn’t inaccurate, it’s alternate.

To be clear, I’m well aware that the Civil War ended well before 1880, that Seattle never had a big wall around it, and that neither King Street Station nor the Smith Tower were built until the 20th century. Furthermore, contrary to a few reviews and reports, I know good and well that in the 1860s Seattle had virtually zero population density, and that the mere survival of Stonewall Jackson would not have saved the Confederacy.

Likewise, I’m pretty sure that the Confederacy never had any war dirigibles (though both sides did, in fact, employ balloons); the Klondike gold rush happened much, much later than I said it did; and there’s no such thing as a sonic zombie-stunning weapon (to the best of my knowledge).

This is not to say that the Clockwork Century is wacky and senseless, because it isn’t. I would like to think that even the wilder, weirder things about this world setting meet a certain standard of logic. Sometimes warped logic, yes — but none of it is random. All of it springs from little tweaks — little changes, here and there … dropping stones into the pond of history and watching to see where the ripples go.

Q: Who does your cover art?
A: Jon Foster

I had exactly zero input on my covers — and nothing to do with how fantastically they’ve turned out. That’s all due to the fabulous Jon Foster, who composed the cover art, and the designers at Tor and Subterranean.

Q: Can I write stories set in the Clockwork Century?
A: Hrrm. You’re asking about fanfic, and this is tricky.

Realistically speaking, I cannot prevent fan fiction; and honestly speaking, I am disinclined to try. Yelling at people on the internet does not seem like a super-productive use of my time.

So here’s my official stance on the subject: If you do feel moved to write Clockwork Century stories of your own, please don’t try to sell those stories or publish them anywhere — and please don’t send them to me. I’m not allowed to read them, and you’re not allowed to make money off them. We could both get into legal trouble, me and you, whoever you are.

Otherwise, knock yourself out.

Q: This sounds like it’d make an awesome movie. Will there be a movie?
A: At this time, there are no plans for a movie.

Don’t get me wrong, that would rock. But even if someone were to option the movie rights, there’s an excellent chance that a movie would never get made. Hollywood is funny like that. Even so, I’d love to see this in movie form and maybe, one day, if I’m very lucky, someone will pick up Boneshaker and run with it.

Got any more questions? Drop me an email at cherie.priest@gmail.com, or post it here in a comment. I’ll do my best to give you a proper answer; and if enough people are wondering the same thing, I’ll add your query and my response to this page.