The gaslight and shadows of the underground city of Recoletta hide secrets and lies. When Inspector Liesl Malone investigates the murder of a renowned historian, she finds herself stonewalled by the all-powerful Directorate of Preservation – Recoletta’s top-secret historical research facility.
When a second high-profile murder threatens the very fabric of city society, Malone and her rookie partner Rafe Sundar must tread carefully, lest they fall victim to not only the criminals they seek, but the government which purports to protect them. Knowledge is power, and power must be preserved at all costs…
UK Print Date: 7th August 2014 ISBN: 9780857665201 Format: Medium (B-Format) Paperback R.R.P.: £8.99
North American Print Date: 29th July 2014 ISBN: 9780857665218 Format: Mass Market Paperback R.R.P.: US$7.99 CAN$9.99
Ebook Date: 29th July 2014 ISBN: 9780857665225 Format: Epub & Mobi R.R.P.: £5.49 / US$6.99
More Books in This Series:
2. Cities and Thrones (February 2015)
Excerpt from the Prologue:
In a firelit study half a mile underground, Professor Werner Thomas Cahill sweated and reddened under a councilor’s beady stare.
“It’s a wonder,” Cahill said, “bigger than we ever expected.” His hands rested, palms down, on the massive cherry wood desk in front of him, and he licked his lips, searching for words to convey scale. Towering walls crowded around him and disappeared in the darkness above. He felt like a rodent in a viper pit.
The owner of the desk drummed long, slender fingers across it, and Cahill marveled at how clean it was. A councilor of his standing should have a lot more clutter.
Councilor Ruthers leaned forward. “Professor Cahill, you are aware of what this means?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I trust that you’ve been discreet?”
“You’re the first person I’ve told, sir.” Perspiration condensed on the polished wood under his hands.
“Then you know the complications that would arise if this were to surface.” The words came out like the first sigh of snow in the autumn air, unexpected and chilling. Cahill took the councilor’s meaning and shivered.
“Of course, sir.”
Ruthers paused, waving a hand in the air. “That isn’t all I’m talking about.” What frightened Cahill most was not that Ruthers would threaten his life, but that this was, apparently, least among their shared concerns. “This is your life’s work – your dream. It’s the same for an odd three dozen as well.”
“Actually, sir, it’s about twice that if you count–”
“I don’t.”
Cahill swallowed. Working with other people was hard enough. But conniving and backstabbing? This was why he tried to avoid collaborative efforts. And politics.
The chair beneath him whispered as he shifted on the velour upholstery. Councilor Ruthers smiled in what he must have thought was a reassuring manner.
“Werner, don’t worry about this. Your job is research – let me handle the politics. Agreed?”
Cahill nodded. That was all you could do when Councilor Ruthers asked if you agreed.
“Excellent. I want you to begin taking inventory. Prepare a preliminary report for Dr Hask, including an estimation of time and manpower. We’ll start next week.”
“Next week, sir?”
“Phase two.” Councilor Ruthers pulled an inch-thick, bound folder from under his desk and slid it to Cahill. It seemed out of place on the otherwise immaculate surface. Cahill took the folder, feeling slick leather under his thumbs. The cover bore one word.
Prometheus.
Carrie Patel
Carrie Patel was born and raised in Houston, Texas. An avid traveller, she studied abroad in Granada, Spain and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Texas A&M University and worked in transfer pricing at Ernst & Young for two years.
She now works as a narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment in Irvine, California, where the only season is Always Perfect.
- Cities & Thrones – (World: 2015)
For me, the most interesting parts of stories and worlds are the portions most often left unseen. This is what The Buried Life is about. It’s the foundation of the city of Recoletta and the characters who inhabit it.
Recoletta is a city built on secrets—it exists beneath the ruin of a world that was destroyed generations ago, and its history has been happily forgotten by most of the people who live there. Casual corruption, back-room deals, and false fronts are the order of the day. Just as the city underground is covered by a layer of ornamental buildings, so the residents hide their scheming with tact and decorum.
The characters on the bottom rungs of the social hierarchy often make the keenest observers of these tensions. Stories about grand maneuverings and political machinations often focus on characters in positions of status and authority because they’re the ones with agency. I wanted to tell a story about what happens in the margins. Some characters must stoop to trickery and deceit because their own meager power turns out to be hollow. Others must tread carefully because they never had any power to begin with.
The Buried Life is a story about people trying to understand and survive a period of monumental change, but it’s also about the shifts within the city.
Recoletta exists at an indeterminate point in the future, centuries after a world-shaking catastrophe. It’s post-post-apocalyptic—it’s what springs up after society has long since crumbled and rebuilt again. Starting with those fractured building blocks, it was fun to try to piece them together, extrapolate forward several hundred years, and imagine how they might settle over time.
For example, they might leave large gaps between the social strata. If survival in the early days depended on rigid adherence to specific roles and duties, that might persist as class structure. The individuals at the top would have had the most useful skills and would have come from a broad mix of white-collar and blue-collar professions, including medicine, engineering, mining, metalworking, and plumbing. In many cases, they would have performed high-level and supervisory roles while those with less-useful skills got their hands dirty digging fresh tunnels. As a result, Recolettans at the top of the food chain are known as “whitenails.”
Similarly, habits and fashions would adapt to suit the circumstances. By the time of the events of The Buried Life, living underground is a matter of custom rather than one of necessity, but it has nevertheless reshaped notions of propriety and good taste. The most disreputable members of society are the surface-dwellers whose agriculture feeds the city. Most Recolettans have never traveled outside their city, and some of the most status-conscious avoid the surface roads altogether.
All of the what-ifs make for a fun intellectual exercise, but a setting is nothing without a story and characters that shape and are shaped by the environment. So it’s no surprise that the story of The Buried Life is about uncovering Recoletta’s secrets and upsetting its delicate and centuries-old balance. The central characters are the ones positioned close enough to the heart of the conflict to see the cracks form and watch the structure crumble. As for what they do after the dust settles, that’s the story of Cities and Thrones…
Coffee Books & Art interview with Carrie Patel
Today I am happy to host Carrie Patel on my blog and here I got some answers from her to satisfy some of my curiosity.
1. Did you do any kind of research to determine the details of your characters lives / lifestyles?
Since the world of The Buried Life is pretty different from our own, I had some freedom in determining many of the details. But since technology and society in Recoletta is loosely based on the 19th century, I did do a little research on the Victorian era to try and get some of the material details right—how Jane would wash clothes, what fabrics people might wear, what the inside of a manor house might look like.
2. The best book/s you ever read?
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It’s funny and fast-paced, and the voice of YT, one of the perspective characters, is incredible. I also loved Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose—it’s a mystery that takes place in a monastery, and it raises all sorts of fascinating philosophical and theological questions. Venturing too consciously into capital-T “Themes” in a story can be dangerous, but it’s handled beautifully there.
3. Who inspires you?
This may sound kind of silly, but I’m learning to take a few cues from my dog, Maggie! 
She doesn’t dwell on the past—I’ve never seen her “pout” when my husband and I come back from a long trip. She makes the most of each moment—she’s always game for a belly rub or a jog. And she knows how to fit in a good nap. More importantly, she loves company. I think she sees new people as sources of good things (like belly rubs), so she gives guests lots of love. 
4. Do you have strange writing habits?
I like writing in public (at coffee shops, for instance), but I strongly prefer to have my back to a wall. I know nobody really wants to read over my shoulder, but the idea that someone could brings out all of my writerly insecurities…
5. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Katy, Texas, which is a suburb of Houston. Now in southern California, it amazes me that outdoors can be so pleasant in July!
6. Did any real-life political incidents or maneuvering make it into the book?
No, I made it all up.
7. How did you get into writing?
It all started with reading. I loved books as I was growing up, and it occurred to me that someone must be writing them. I’d always enjoyed the writing process (both in school and for fun), so it was just a matter of finding the right story.
8. What do you consider your best accomplishment?
Getting a book published is definitely up there!
9. What is your favorite quote?
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C. S. Lewis
10. What sacrifices have you had to make to be a writer?
Giving up a lot of free time has been the main sacrifice for me. Especially with a deadline on the horizon, I’m not getting out quite as much as I’d like, but I’m doing something that I find rewarding and enjoyable, so it certainly feels worthwhile.
11. Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?
I think it can. When you’re browsing the shelves (or even the list on Amazon), the cover is inevitably the first thing you notice.
There’s a language to covers—they communicate something about the kind of story that’s inside.
A romance and an adventure story can take place in virtually the same medieval world, but their covers will be wildly different.
You’ve got a couple of posts on your site that talk about “gendered” covers, and I think that point still stands. (Oh! Thank you Carrie )
Books with “girlier” covers are probably less likely to get attention from male readers who enjoy other novels in the same genre. (So sadly right ! 
)
12. What do you think of “trailers” for books?
I didn’t commission one, and neither my publisher nor my agent raised the issue.
They can serve as another medium to get people to notice a book, but I don’t know anyone who really makes book-buying decisions based on trailers.
They seem like they’re still more of a novelty than something that gets a lot of consideration.
13. How did you come up with the title? Names?
“The Buried Life” is the title of a Matthew Arnold poem that crops up midway through the novel.
The poem deals with social facades, the fear of change, and eventual transformation.
As for the names, I generally picked things that just had a nice “sound” for each character.
Jane is supposed to be an everywoman, so that name fit for her.
And in the tradition of Irish cops, Malone felt like a great name for a detective.
14. What was the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Each new revision was another set of surprises, actually, especially in the early drafts.
The Buried Life is my first novel, and months, sometimes a couple years, passed between revisions. During the “off” periods, I was reading with new attention to the craft of writing and learning a lot as a result. Each time I came back to the manuscript, problems that had previously seemed insurmountable were suddenly manageable.
On the other hand, I’d catch plot and prose flaws that hadn’t occurred to me before.
15. What’s the worst job you’ve had?
My first job was as a sales associate at an entertainment media store one summer. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t a good fit for me.
I generally like to be left alone when I’m shopping—I’ll ask for help if I want it—but the store policy was to approach customers. And people can get nasty . ( I so understand this but I had the luck to experienced the other side of that)
I once had a woman scream at me because the cellophane on her CD tore when I was removing the security shell.(OMG!)
That was unusual, but I definitely have not had that experience anywhere else I’ve worked.
16. SFWA: To Join Or Not To Join?
I joined just a couple months ago.
I’ll have a better idea of the full range of benefits a year from now, but it seemed like a good channel for meeting other authors—there’s a reading series in southern California for SFWA members, and some of the larger genre conventions have receptions and events for members. At $90 for an annual membership, I thought it would be worth trying it out.
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