The year? 2011. That’s when the world was introduced to Vanessa Michael Munroe, a force to reckon with, and a combination of James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Lisbeth Salander. Her creator is Taylor Stevens, a Dallas author who has a personal story nearly as interesting as that of her character. (Some might argue MORE interesting, in that Ms. Stevens’ own story is non-fiction.) The Informationist first set the stage, and The Catch is the latest offering in the series. In between: The Innocent, The Doll, and the novella The Vessel.
Taylor Stevens is currently on tour promoting the release, and (in addition to providing us a signed copy to give away here in Broken Arrow) has taken the time to answer a few quick questions:
McHUSTON: Your daring and dangerous protagonist, Vanessa Michael Munroe, has ventured everywhere from Cameroon to Dallas, Buenos Aires, and now, in your latest novel, The Catch, Djibouti, Africa. Is it fair to say that exotic locales are important to you and your characters?
TAYLOR STEVENS: Being able to travel and experience new cultures, sights, smells, and tastes ranks at the top of my list for fun, and the books and movies that I enjoy the most also tend to take me to faraway places, so I think it’s that same real-life draw to the exotic that makes these off-the-beaten-path locations so appealing as story settings.
McH: Over the course of the four novels and one novella that feature Vanessa Michael Munroe, did her makeup as a character ever change in a way you didn’t anticipate?
TS: Well, four novels and one novella was certainly a change I never saw coming. This series has grown book by book and with that Munroe’s character has grown, because in each new adventure she’s affected by the events of the previous one. But none of this was ever planned out from the beginning, so I guess, in that way, you could say all of her character growth has been a bit of a surprise.
McH: There are rumors of a James Cameron-related movie adaptation of the first Vanessa Michael Munroe book, The Informationist. If you were casting the lead role of the movie version, who would top your list of possible actresses to play Vanessa Michael Munroe?
TS: This is such a fun question and I think my answer sometimes surprises people because everyone has an idea in their head, and usually it’s a big star: Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Hillary Swank, Gina Carano – who is totally badass, by the way. If it was my choice, which it isn’t, I’d want an unknown actress who has no big-screen baggage so that she could take the role, own it completely, and make it hers, and in this way Munroe could be born on screen as a woman who is uniquely her own.
McH: Your novels are so detailed about so many underbelly operations – gunrunning, ransoms, cults. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your research as a novelist?
TS: The cult research was easy because nearly everything that happened in that story was a fictionalized account of something that had happened in my childhood, not necessarily to me – although some of it did – but to someone or someones that I knew. The rest has been a lot more challenging, as I strive for a high sense of accuracy. But I also know that the more detailed a story gets, the easier it is to get those details wrong. I’ve been blessed to know people who live in a lot of countries and who have vastly different life experiences, so it’s allowed me to draw on others for help to keep things real.
McH: As the person who defines her, what would you consider as Vanessa Michael Munroe’s single most important quality?
TS: She is very self-aware, and she takes ownership of every decision she makes, even when she’s doing wrong, which is often. Even if all of the choices suck, she acknowledges that she still has a choice in the outcome, and she owns that choice completely, for better or worse.
There are another fifteen questions rolling around in my head, but those will have to come at a point down the road. Thanks and a big appreciate to Taylor Stevens and Sarah at Crown Publishing for allowing us to share in the release of The Catch!
Our signed copy of the book will be given away next week, so get your name in for the drawing!
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