I wanted the magic in this place to feel very grounded in the setting, magic that wouldn’t make much sense elsewhere. This was the first element to come into place for me for Red Valley. Where did you get the notion of the Lie and the Liars? Inertia isn’t much of a reason for a town to exist, but sometimes it’s enough. But the people stick around, maybe because they feel safe, or maybe because they’d rather face the devil they know than whatever hunts the foothills and long empty highways. No one is bringing lumber through town anymore, and whatever gold the River had it keeps for itself now. A few challenge it, mistake the King’s absence for weakness. It’s the King who gives unusual gifts to the people in town, as long as they promise to use them how he wants. It’s the King who keeps the peace, keeps the dark things at bay. Locals know it for what it is, what they’ve been told all their lives: the influence of the King. Newcomers sense it, and usually don’t stay long. There’s always been something unnatural about the place. Then they used to float lumber down from the mountains to Red Valley mills, but that was before trucks filled the roads and the River turned mean. The people who built the town came to California for gold, imagining nuggets under every hill, in every creek. Red Valley is the kind of place that exists more from inertia than intent. There is certainly a sense of menace and decay in the small towns in that book that I tried to emulate in Red Valley, Can you tell us more about the town of Red Valley and its history? I do think American Gods by Neil Gaiman had a part in Red Valley, even just in expanding my mind on what fantasy could be when I first read it. Influences are always tricky to enumerate I’ve got decades’ worth of novels, movies, and video games bouncing around up in my head, and it isn’t always clear what inspired what. If any, what were your influences when writing The Liar Of Red Valley? Once I started imagining what a fantastical rural California town would be like, the idea of the Liar came first, followed by the King, and the rest came together pretty quickly from there. So for this one I wanted to make it a bit easier on myself so I set it in a town very much like the one I grew up in. My last two books were set in the 1950’s in Germany and Cuba, which required a lot of research. We spoke to The Liar Of Red Valley author Walter Goodwater about genre, magic and monsters… When did you first get the idea for The Liar Of Red Valley? In a town like this, friendships are hard-won and bad blood lasts generations, and when not everyone in town is exactly human, it isn’t a safe place to make enemies.Īnd though the Liar has power - power to remake the world, with just a little blood-what Sadie really needs is answers: Why is the town’s sheriff after her? What does the King want from her? And what is the real purpose of the Liar of Red Valley? Set in the small town of Red Valley, California, where you follow the rules if you want to stay alive, The Liar Of Red Valley follows Sadie who has unexpectedly become the Liar: the keeper and maker of Red Valley’s many secrets.
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