Interview: SF Author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Writing the Petaybee Novels With Co-author Anne McCaffrey
Sep 10, 2009
In Maelstrom (published by Del Rey, January 2007), co-authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough continue their tale of the sentient planet of Petaybee and its population of refugees that began with the original “Powers That Be” trilogy and Changelings, the first volume in the spin-off “Twins of Petaybee” series.
Anne McCaffrey’s Inspiration
It’s a story of corporate manipulation, displaced people groups, a thinking and healing planet, and two “shepherd seals,” twin Petaybeean changelings who regulate the sea life on the planet. And it all began with Anne McCaffrey taking a short trip to Alaska.
“Annie visited me in Alaska, where I lived for about 18 years,” remembers co-author Scarborough. “I showed her the Northern Lights one night, took her out to see friends of mine who had dogsleds, and fed her moose spaghetti. When we decided to write together, we said, ‘What shall we write about?’ And she said, ‘Oh, how about the Irish and dogsleds?’
“Then we got the idea about doing this sentient planet and incorporating people who had been displaced by other people who wanted their land and resources.” However, adds Scarborough with a chuckle, “it’s not quite as political as it sounds.”
While neither writer would sum up the resulting novel as a story about “the Irish and dogsleds,” the inspiration remains.
The Sentient Planet
“When Anne and I started writing these books, we were trying to come up with something large and protective, like dragons. But what’s larger and more protective than a whole world? So we came up with a sentient planet. It feels pain. And the planet adapts everything that is put on it to its own climate and its own needs.
“The first three [“Powers That Be”] books were about a person from the outside who had been working for this company that is the overriding ruling authority. The heroine was an officer in the company corp who had been invalided out for a lung disorder. (The planet also has healing powers.)
“The catch to all of the planet’s adaptations, though, is that once people become adapted to it -- integrated into it -- they can’t leave again.”
Co-Authors and Friends
“Anne and I were friends before we became co-authors,” Scarborough says. “And I was a fan before I became her friend. I love her books.
“I met her the day I found out I sold my first novel. So she’s my good-luck token as well as my friend!”
The “Powers That Be” series – “We write series, not trilogies,” Scarborough explains – began with the novelists sitting down together in McCaffrey’s home in Ireland.
“Anne wrote the first 10 pages, and I said I knew where to go from there.
“Neither one of us are outliners. So we might plan several scenes ahead over the kitchen table or something. But basically, we just wrote whatever the scene suggested to us, and we had broad ideas about what we wanted. I’d write 20 pages and run out of ideas and then take it to her. She’d do 20 or 30 more pages. It was a lot of fun.”
Plugging into the “Powers That Be”
The following titles began the story of the planet Petaybee:
- The Powers That Be (Petaybee, Book #1)
- Power Lines (Petaybee, Book #2)
- Power Play (Petaybee, Book #3)
The spin-off “Twins of Petaybee” series continues the tale:
- Changelings (Book #1)
- Maelstrom (Book #2)
- Deluge (Book #3)
All can currently be found in print editions. The “Twins of Petaybee” series is also currently available in audio and Kindle editions.
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