Jacqueline Carey on Naamah's Blessing, the Terre d'Ange world and what comes next

​Fans of fantasy are probably already familiar with Jacqueline Carey, who's just completed the third book in her third New York Times-best-selling trilogy revolving around the world of Terre D'Ange and gods and goddesses intervening in mortal life; the latest novel, Naamah's Kiss, continues the story of Moirin, who's facing her destiny on the recently discovered continent of Terra Nova. We caught up with Carey to talk about how Terre D'Ange is related to our own world, the challenges of writing about human sacrifice, and what we can expect to see on shelves next.

Westword: How would you explain the connection between the world of Terre D'Ange and our own world?

Jacqueline Carey: I usually just kind of shorthand it and call it an alternate history. When pressed, I'll use a term one of my readers came up with, which is "cafeteria-style alternate history," because often when writers are talking about alternate history, they'll take one turn of events as a starting point. What if the Allies had not won World War II? What if the South had won the Civil War? Whereas mine is more going through the cafeteria line and saying, "All right, I'm going to resurrect Carthage."

In Naamah's Kiss, you have the beginnings of firearms -- and then you have Moirin absorbing all that knowledge and taking it out of the equation. Could that be considered a turning point for humanity?

That was another cafeteria-style choice. As I was bringing the timeline forward, I thought, "Do I want to introduce artillery?" And I thought, "I really don't -- so how in the world can I rationalize that?" And that kind of became a major plot point around which to build a novel.

Can we expect to see Moirin traveling to Terra Nova in this book? You seem to indicate she might ...

Yeah, I did. And I telegraphed in the early phases of the first book, when her first love, Cillian, is all about the discovery of the new land.

Can you tell us a little bit about what happens to her there?

The biggest plot line is one I had not decided in the beginning: That when the spirits in mockery give the Circle of Shalomon the gift of the language of ants, we arrive in the jungles eventually to find out that Rafael de Mereliot has gone full-on Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, and now controls an army of ravening ants.

Can you talk about the connection between Moirin and Morwen from the Imriel series -- and how she relates to the daughter Imriel and Morwen might have had together?

It's not really meant to be a direct connection so much as sort of an echo, which is why I altered the name a little. But I envisioned that scenario as it might have played out in Imriel's timeline -- but that she would be a reconciling figure -- and I think that's something that Moirin does wherever she's gone. She has been sort of a bridge between elements of conflict.