The charms of an Agatha Christie mystery blended with the wondrous powers of witches is what you will find aboard Death On The Caldera by Mill Bay's Emily Paxman, who is going full steam ahead with her first published novel
The fourth time's the charm, as Paxman saw her lifelong dream realized after her novel was picked up by the U.K.'s Titan Books. While it's not the first book she's written; it is her first to get published.
"I've loved every book that I have written, but what is exciting is that this one is actually going to get read," said Paxman. "I don't think you put yourself through the pain of traditional publishing unless you really want to share your work with people. It's one thing to want to write, it's another to want to be read."
Paxman has been writing creatively since she was knee-high to a grasshopper, and jokes that by the age of five she was stapling pages together saying, "Look, mom I made a book." Growing up on Harry Potter and a big fan of Canadian author Fonda Lee, her laser focus has always been to become a science fiction and fantasy author.
She started off in the creative writing program at the University of Victoria, but at the time she was attending they did not teach genre fiction. Teaching science fiction and fantasy writing in an academic space was uncommon at that time, so she switched to graduating with an anthropology degree.
Her previous writing had focused on young children and adult, so she was stoked when she found the right fit to pursue her creative writing passion through a two year Master of Fine Arts degree from Chatham University in Pittsburgh — which was way more open to genre fiction. It was a great move for her, as she said the program strengthened her setting writing.
"What Chatham had going for it was that it had a focus on travel and place spaced writing which I thought immediately sounded like fun," said Paxman. "It was an amazing experience, I really think Pittsburgh is one of the most underrated cities in America, especially for us living out on the west coast because we know nothing about it. I loved my time there, it was a super fun city."
Paxman said her time there was so interesting and different from anything she had ever experienced as she lived in the centre of a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood where she would see at least six different synagogues and multiple Jewish denominations on her daily walk to campus.
"I remember the street I lived on was the main drag for the Hanukkah parade, and all these cars would drive by with menorahs on the roof," said Paxman. "So the cultural aspect was really fascinating, and the school was great, it was a really good fit."
What has also been a good fit, was the decision to leave Victoria and move to Mill Bay with her parents when they chose the charming seaside town as their perfect retirement spot. Paxman, who prefers living with her parents over living alone, has been in paradise ever since.
"I ended up really falling in love with the Cowichan Valley," said Paxman. "I got really involved in the theatre scene and it was a really wonderful decision in the end for me. I love how beautiful it is up here. Mill Bay, in particular, I can remember driving up here to vacation as a child, and the Thrifty's here is where we would always stop for groceries, and I remember always thinking that the the building looked like it was out of a Bavarian fairy tale, and who gets to come here regularly, it just seemed so magical, and then we moved here and now it's local to us as we now live in the seaside town with the half-timbered buildings."
Being a social person, Paxman said the solitude that comes with writing a book was making her go stir crazy, so deciding she needed to give herself co-workers she began auditioning for plays. She said it woke up a part of her that had been stagnant for a while. She was last seen playing Paulette in Cowichan Musical Society's Legally Blonde: The Musical.
When her fingers aren't typing, or holding a paint brush or script, she loves to have her green thumb in the dirt. While her dad's passion is fig trees, she admits to being the primary care giver to the main garden at her Mill Bay home which is not short on garden space. In fact it was an article she read as an undergrad that boasted of the positive affects gardening had on mental health that made her dig a little deeper.
"I feel like when you work in the arts it is really easy to accidentally monetize your passions, which can suck a bit of the joy out of them," said Paxman. "When I was a kid, my hobby was writing and then it became work. Work I loved mind you, but one of the nice things about gardening is that it is just for me. It pulls me out of my head, and actually makes me use my body and hands. I'd always wanted a food garden. Food security, global warming, and climate change are other areas I'm passionate about in my daily life."
Upon moving to Mill Bay, borrowing books from the Mill Bay library also became a part of her daily life, which led to her love affair with Agatha Christie, an author not taught in schools. That's a shame, she said, as they are usually fast paced and fun, and perfect for open discussion. She started with the famous Murder on the Orient Express, and has been full steam ahead with both the author, and her writing style since.
"The next one I read of hers was And Then There Were None, which I think is one of the greatest books ever written." said Paxman. "I love it so much. I think when you read Death on the Caldera, a lot of the aesthetics are similar to Murder on the Orient Express, but the plot owes a lot more to And Then There Were None, and Death on the Nile which are two of my favourites by her."
The plot: Death on the Caldera follows siblings Kellan, Morel, and Davina who are travelling home to the country of Halgyr where Kellan is to assume the throne from their father, who is on his deathbed. After a mysterious and sudden engine explosion, they are left stranded in the mountains. The plot thickens when Davina's latent witch powers that her brothers knew about but kept from her, are awakened. Tensions are thick, as an air of suspicion points to Davina when other passengers who survived the explosion suddenly start dying, proving that the blast was no accident and whoever is behind it, is still at work behind the scenes.
When it came to building the world within her book, the backdrop was inspired by both areas of the Rocky Mountains which Paxman travelled plenty through growing up while visiting family in Alberta, and a trip to Yellowstone Park she took while in eastern Idaho for a friend's wedding just prior to moving to Mill Bay. She describes part of the park as being very alien, almost like she was exploring another planet. Boning up on its history before the trip she learned that early explorers were often accused of telling tales when it came to describing its strange physical land formations, geysers, and thermal pools.
"The colours of the water, the land formations and the way everything has crusted over, it is a wild, wild looking place," said Paxman.
As Paxman explored the park in her free time, the repeating train of thought in her mind was, why wasn't there a fantasy novel set here? So she began blending elements and areas of Yellowstone,and the Rockies, such as Ainsworth Hot Springs, a location Paxman said is embedded into her book; particularly in regards to her characters from Halgyr, which is a land filled with caves and hot springs. When it came to research, Paxman committed to learning the flora and fauna of the Rocky Mountains for her world which mirrors its landscapes, as well the times of the late 19th and early 20th century, especially single railway trains which at that time were the only way to cross the mountains and quite the feat to build. She also educated herself on 1920s culture from food to fashion, making it a cinch to capture the era.
Capturing interest can be another story. Paxman knows this all too well having submitted other original books she had written for consideration before landing a literary agent who gave her a hard yes with this one. She admits that her past writing has not always been as marketable.
"Murder on the Orient Express with witches, that line sells the book," said Paxman. "Traditional publishing is a really hard and long process. You need to get a literary agent and send query letters, your agent helps edit it before sending out to publishers to see if they decide to pick it up and then edit it. This was the book that crossed the finish line for me on every metric."
Before obtaining a literary agent Paxman said she never got a "no" on the last book she wrote, she actually had received revise and resubmit requests which meant that she was in the ballpark of what they were looking for. When it came to Titan Books, which was established in 1981, both Paxman and her agent had suspicions that something positive was coming down the pipe. After one editor admitted it wasn't her cup of tea it was passed on to Rufus Purdy who she believed would have more of a thirst for it, and while he normally handles crime fiction she was right.
"You could tell that it was an enthusiastic handoff because we heard back from Rufus in a week asking what rights were still available for when he brought it to others," said Paxman.
While Paxman's spidey senses were tingling that this could be it, she still felt overwhelmed with shock by Titan's interest in picking it up, and it wasn't until she shared her amazing news with friends and family that their enthusiastic freak outs allowed her to follow suit with unbridled excitement. She remembers her first conversation with Purdy very fondly as he gave her the compliment that while he had seen many manuscripts which honoured Christie's cozy mysteries, hers was was the first he came across that paid homage to her ensemble mysteries.
"Death On The Caldera was one of my first acquisitions at Titan Books," said Purdy. "I tend to look for crime/thriller novels that lean into Titan’s ‘core’ areas of horror and fantasy — and by setting a Golden Age, Agatha Christie-style mystery in a bubbling, hissing, volcanic fantasy world, Emily provided me with everything I was looking for. Very few authors combine the crime and fantasy genres well, but Emily absolutely nailed it."
"I could have just burst into tears, I came across readers and agents who had tried to change my book to look more like something else but he understood what it actually was and knew which Agatha Christie mysteries I was pulling from," said Paxman. "I just remember this feeling of relief knowing I could trust this man to edit my book."
The reality is when going the route of traditional publishing, changes happen that authors need to be OK with. With Paxman cutting her teeth on the mystery genre, which was new for her, she said it was extremely helpful having Purdy so steeped in it.
"Ninety per cent of his notes were ways that he wanted to tighten up the mystery plot," said Paxman. "He felt I had the characters and world under control, but just wanted to move some scenes around so that it built more like a traditional murder mystery, which I hugely appreciated from him."
Paxman said she has truly loved this journey and process and is also very appreciative of Titan books and how great they have been to her, from sending out advanced reader copies, to the book schwag they have created for Death On The Caldera that includes a train ticket bookmark which will be sent to influencers.
Another one of her hidden talents is painting, and when Titan discovered her skills she was asked to design a rendition of her main cast of characters to be sent out, and saying it has her over the moon would be an understatement.
"Emily has been a dream to work with, having worked with many grizzled authors with several books behind them over the past 12 years, the greatest joy for me has been publishing this book alongside a young writer who has been so enthusiastic and excited at every stage of the process," said Purdy. "Her delighted responses to me sending her a first draft of the cover and upon seeing her words laid out on the page by a typesetter have been among the most uplifting moments of my career. It’s a reminder to us editors why we do this job."
Paxman's biggest advice for aspiring authors who wish to walk the same path is first to stay out of your own head and just finish. Don't worry about it being messy, or good. The second is being open to editing, learn to do it, and be ruthless in doing so, as a lot is likely to change when chasing the path of traditional publishing. Writing a query letter is a vital skill to learn, and those in the market for a literary agent may want to start searching for the right fit through Query Tracker at querytracker.net.
Paxman's first book is already receiving rave reviews online. Available on June 17, it won't be hard for readers to track down as it will be available through several online retailers and book stores across the valley, as well as Mill Bay library where Paxman's newfound passion for mystery began. To celebrate this milestone Paxman will be holding her book launch party at the Cowichan Bay Pub on June 17 at 2 p.m. Another chance to meet the author herself and have your copy of Death On The Caldera signed will be at Paxman's first book signing which will be held at Bolen Books in Victoria on June 21 at 1:30 p.m. This is just a sign of the times that more is yet to come for this new emerging author.
"This is a story about people who are trying their best, but their best isn't very good, and so they are creating a lot of their own problems through human failings as a result," said Paxman. "I hope this is the type of book that leads people to feel empathy for that, as opposed to being judgmental. I hope they like explosions and murder mysteries, and that they have a fun time reading it."
