Michael Senft

Special for The Republic | azcentral.com

Two years ago, Beth Cato was nervous.

While she had already published numerous short stories and poems, the Buckeye author, baker and food blogger was jumping into the big leagues with her debut novel, “The Clockwork Dagger”, a steampunk novel featuring a young healer involved in a murder mystery on an airship. So she was still unaccustomed to release parties, blog tours, convention appearances and interviews with the likes of NPR and “Entertainment Weekly.”

But it paid off, with “Clockwork Dagger” earning a Locus Award nomination. A 2015 sequel, “The Clockwork Crown,” followed, along with a trio of eBook novellas, one of which, “Wings of Sorrow and Bone,” garnered a prestigious Nebula Award nomination this summer.

And on Tuesday, Aug. 23, her third novel, “Breath of Earth,” hits shelves. Set in an alternate San Francisco in 1906, “Breath of Earth” presents a steampunk world where the US and Japan have allied against China and geomancers harness the power of earthquakes to drive airships and weapons of mass destruction. The novel is already garnering buzz on sci-fi sites like Tor.com.

It feels like leveling up. But Cato is still nervous as she gears up for the publicity onslaught, which begins with a pre-release launch party at the Poisoned Pen on Aug. 22.

We sat down with her recently to talk about the new novel and the tragic history that inspired it.

Question: So tell us about “Breath of Earth."

Answer: It’s alternate history San Francisco, but spoiler alert, the earthquake still happens. Why it happens is what makes the difference.

Q: The details in San Francisco surrounding the earthquake of 1906 were particularly vivid. How much research went into the novel?

A: As you saw there was not only a lot of magical worldbuilding but also a lot of historical worldbuilding. That was a challenge. If you look at the back of the book there is an exhaustive list of everything I read while researching the books. And I’ve continued to build on top of that. Since I finished the rough draft I’ve continued researching more and more every month.

Q: The last time we talked you mentioned that “Clockwork Dagger” was inspired by the video games you played growing up. Was there any particular inspiration for “Breath of Earth”?

A: Well, I first heard of geomancy from “Final Fantasy Tactics” for Playstation, it’s a character class. The character of Fenris is heavily inspired by “Final Fantasy V.” And even the title came from the videogame series “Breath of Fire.”

Q: Fenris, the transgender airship mechanic really connected and contrasted the turn-of-the century San Francisco with its current open and inclusive image.

A: At the turn of the century, San Francisco was almost like the Barbary Coast. It was wild, free and full of debauchery. But that wasn’t seen as something good — there was this idea that after the earthquake destroyed the city it would rise again like a Phoenix. A bright, moral Phoenix. It wasn’t until the ‘60s that the image of San Francisco began to change from something crass to something beautiful.

Q: There seems to be a current trend in steampunk and weird western novels to introduce more non-cisgender characters, like in Elizabeth Bear’s “Karen Memory” and Lila Bowen’s “Wake of Vultures.”

A: I actually wrote this three years ago, so I can’t take credit for being part of a trend, maybe a nice coincidence!

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Q: So this project pre-dates the “Clockwork” novels?

A: That’s the weird time-warp of traditional publishing. I wrote “Breath of Earth” in the time I knew I had a verbal deal for “Clockwork Dagger,” but not an official contract. So I couldn’t write “Clockwork Crown,” because I hadn’t gotten my edits back for “Dagger.” So I wrote it, then had to put it aside while I wrote “Clockwork Crown” and then the short works that followed.

Q: Speaking of your short works, I understand they’ve been collected into a new paperback?

A: Yes, “Deep Roots” includes the three novellas and came out Aug. 2. I’m excited that we were able to release it because there were a lot of people who didn’t have e-readers who wanted to read these stories, especially after the Nebula nomination.

Q: The most striking part of “Breath of Earth” was its look at race relations. You openly examine the American horrible treatment of Chinese immigrants in California.

A: It was important for me to include that. I grew up in Hanford, California. Hanford’s Chinatown was a quarter mile away from my house. And in school I learned about the Chinese working on the railroad in the west, but the textbooks never talked about what happened after. There’s a few mentioned about how there were laws and they weren’t treated well, but it is very sanitized. It always bugged me because it seemed like something was missing.

Why does Hanford have a Chinatown but Fresno doesn’t? There were Chinese everywhere, where were their Chinatowns? It wasn’t till I researched “Breath of Earth” that I realized the others were firebombed, or the Chinese run out of town. And even though Hanford’s Chinatown survived, in my research I came across an editorial in my hometown newspaper, the “Hanford Sentinel,” from the 1890s, imploring housewives to do their own laundry to take business away from the “heathen celestials.” Be a patriotic American, do your part. My hometown paper.

So it was important for me to relate this history to the earthquake. And reading about it was disturbing, it was comparable to the Holocaust in many ways. But in this case it was my state. And I wasn’t taught this in school. We should have been taught this and we weren’t. That’s one of the reasons I included so much of my research material in the back of the book.

Q: I know I’d heard similar things but never realized the extent of discrimination.

A: In a way I’m trying to educate people, to show them that yes, there really was a dog tag law. The Chinese were the first to have to carry a photo ID to prove they were American citizens. In the 1890s. They had to prove they were citizens or they would be deported. The Nazis didn’t start that sort of labeling. We were doing it here.

That should be taught, but I don’t think it will. As liberal as Sacramento is, and how high their education standards are, I don’t think they’ll touch that issue. Which is a shame.

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Q: The attention to detail shows. “Breath of Earth” seems like a major step forward as an author.

A: I do think I’ve leveled up. This was the kind of project that if I thought of it five or ten years ago I wouldn’t have been able to do it. The research alone would be overwhelming. Dealing with the cultural issues, the historical issues and even the language issues. It’s important for me to get it as historically accurate as possible. There has to be some give and take, but overall I wanted to make sure I got it right.

Q: Was there additional pressure to follow-up the “Clockwork” duology?

A: There’s always concerns. Will the audience I built follow me to the new series? It’s alternate history, will that introduce me to a new audience? Will there be a backlash because I dared to include a transgender character?

Mostly it was confronting my fears. There were times when I spoke with my agent, saying I wasn’t sure if I should put this out to editors. I don’t know that I can get it close enough, if I’m ever going to feel comfortable with it. If it wasn’t for my agent, I probably would have given up on it. Or kept researching it until the end of time.

Thankfully she had a gentle sit-down with me and said, “No. This is fantastic. Finish these edits and we’ll start sending it out. Because you have something magical here.”

Beth Cato signs 'Breath of Earth'

When: 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22.

Where: Poisoned Pen Bookstore, 4014 N. Goldwater Blvd., Scottsdale.

Admission: Free, $14.99 for “Breath of Earth”.

Details: 480-947-2974, poisonedpen.com.

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