Present Writers: Dorothy Heydt (Katherine Blake)

[mrissa]

This is the second of a new series I’m doing here on the blog: Present Writers. See the first post, on Marta Randall, for series details. I admit that I'm fudging a tiny bit here on the series parameters, because a cursory internet search did not give me Heydt's exact age--but it did say that she invented a conlang in 1967. If she was less than 11 when she did so, I apologize--and hats off for the small child achievement--but I think I'm safe in guessing that this is an author who fits.

And what an author. Heydt is not vastly prolific, but her work is highly varied. She's made several things available in free ebook formats on her website, so you don't have to spend any money to find out what I'm talking about. (Although you can kick in to support the author if you see fit!) There's a book about a physician who dabbles with witchcraft in Ancient Greece, a virtual reality novel dealing with esports before the term esports was a thing, a parallel realities novel that is some of the most engaging and thoroughly domestic fantasy I've ever read, and lashings of short stories. Heydt has range.

There are fight scenes in Heydt's books--A Point of Honor has a jousting knight for a main character, albeit a virtual one--and chase scenes and other pieces of excitement. But a lot of writers can do those well, too. Heydt really shines in making character interactions and pieces of speculative practicality come to life--the details that make a character or a world feel lived-in. Heydt's use of violence is considered, nuanced, and full of consequence--it is never a default, and in fact is often absent because it was not the right element for the story. With that sure a touch, Heydt makes The Interior Life a master class in what can matter in genre--and a strong contrast to what traditionally has been considered to matter.

When I first looked at Heydt's website, only a few things were there. She's added more since, which gives me hope. But in the meantime, I strongly appreciate what there is, I urge you to go give it a look, and then a long hard think, and then come talk to me about what you thought. Because we're so very lucky that she's present and sharing so much.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

The Interior Life is a favorite book of mine. Some aspects are a bit dated/of their time, but it's a great concept beautifully executed. She makes seemingly simple actions like cleaning a kitchen or buying posters into compelling reading, and the whole book has a wonderful atmosphere of peace and growth and light.

A lot of writers will say that the work of a housewife and mother is as important and worth paying attention to as that of a queen or warrior, but they can't manage to show it in a convincing manner. Heydt actually demonstrates it.

[jenett]

Thank you for this! I read Point of Honor not long after it came out, and always loved it both for the ... practicality of the setting? She had put so much thought into how the gaming system works, and what skills you would need and what you wouldn't, and what it meant about your life choices outside the game.

(And then of course, the actual plot is basically all about geeky knowledge paying off in various ways, with a strong dose of Power of Story, and I am totally here for that.)

[sartorias]

What a great idea!

I read this post and thought, this is an excellent excuse to reread The Interior Life. And I've begun, but I've had so many interruptions that it seems it's going to take time to reread it.

Two issues here. First, I think it was on the shelves for a week or two. As many were, then. Writers talk about no publisher support now, well, it was the same back then. I only got a copy of Delia Sherman's The Bronze Mirror because I'd heard her read at a con, and I made a point of stopping at the B Dalton's every few days. It was there one day, two copies, and the next time I went a week or two later, it wasn't there.

Second thing

As I sank into the beginning, it occurred to me that when it came out, genre readers who managed to find it did not know what to do with it. So much of genre at that time was evolving through the bratty princess stage (you know, featuring heroines who in the early pages rebelled, "I hate sewing and womanly arts, and I'm terrible at it! I want to carry a sword and go on adventures!") so that this book actually appeared to be reactionary to some readers.

I think now that it was ahead of its time, or that the growing audience needed to get out of high/school/college/Buffy stage, maybe? But then many readers my age held their noses and went, oh please. We're just managing to escape from female domesticity, let's not have this again.

All without seeing what the story was truly about.

Well, I'll enjoy sinking into it again, as I can.

[mrissa]

I definitely think Heydt was ahead of her time in a number of ways, but the one you mention may have been the most frustrating. Even now I think we walk a fine line between "there is value in traditionally female labor" and "if you are assigned female at birth you should definitely stick with traditionally female labor because that is your ONLY value," but I think Heydt threads that needle deftly.

[sartorias]

Yes. I'll try to remember this post when I finish, and come back to it.

[themagdalen]

I have now read Witch of Syracuse and it has made me quietly very happy, thank you.
Working on the next one.

[ethelmay]

Heydt gives her current age in this recent comment, FWIW: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.arts.sf.fandom/4bgqtcc-Lw0/o4a1OFqwAQAJ