Gabrielle Mathieu lived on three continents by the age of eight. She’d experienced the bustling bazaars of Pakistan, the serenity of Swiss mountain lakes, and the chaos of the immigration desk at the JFK airport. Perhaps that’s why she developed an appetite for the unusual and disorienting. Her fantasy books are grounded in her experience of different cultures and interest in altered states of consciousness (mostly white wine and yoga these days). The Falcon Flies Alone is her debut novel.
You can find the series on Amazon, and to make it super easy, here's The Falcon Flies Alone, The Falcon Strikes, and The Falcon Soars. As always, if you have read it, please leave a review to share the love and help other readers find it too!
1) What was the inspiration for The Falcon series?
I had a vivid nightmare when I was in my twenties. The horror of the poisoning and the resultant madness, during which people tore each other apart, was balanced by the sweet thrill of turning into a spirit falcon and flying behind the world, into a place I couldn’t describe.
2) What was the most difficult part of writing The Falcon Flies Alone? Your favourite part?
The hardest part was how to structure the beginning. I wanted to open by placing my heroine, Peppa Mueller, in a dangerous predicament. Yet, I knew if I included no details about who she was and what she wanted, readers wouldn’t care that she was about to break her neck sliding off a roof.
I loved the plot complications that emerged after the first drafts. I admire crime and mystery writers like Elizabeth George, and it pleased me to be able to introduce some twists and turns as well.
3) What draws you to writing historical fiction?
I combine historical fiction with fantasy. I like nuanced writing, and write for adults or mature teens. This doesn’t mean I make my novels gruesome, with only sadistic characters. I just want things to be complicated, not in a dense, “tricked you now” way, but in a way that echoes our real lives and our understanding of events. I hope that the events I describe seem almost believable.
Using a historical setting gives a somewhat enchanted sheen to a reality-based story, and allows me the pleasure of visiting older neighborhoods in European cities.
4) Are you a planner or a pantser with your writing? Do you outline or just let the story guide you?
I’m a bit of both. As my writing has evolved, I’ve become more of a plotter. Initially, most of us are finding our style, and discovering our themes, so it’s hard to outline the first novel. It comes with practice.
5) What has been the hardest part of your publishing journey?
The biggest challenge writers face is finding their readers. Readers have a banquet of books to choose from, and the selection can be overwhelming. Getting the right book to the right reader used to be an art. Now it’s an algorithm.
6) What goals do you have for this series? What would be your "dream come true" moment?
I try not to have goals, because that sets you up for disappointment. Obviously, I, like most writers, would like to have a larger audience, but that audience connection is something I can only nourish, not command. Really, I’m grateful for every person who bothers to write a review and tells me how much they enjoyed the book.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Decide on your genre. Then read, read, read. Read widely, and sample various authors and styles. Find a good critique group. Learn the difference between someone who is offering critique constructively, and someone who wants to hurt you. And please do pay attention to grammar. You can still break the rules once you know them.
8) How much of yourself do you see in your characters?
Like Peppa, I was an only child who was rewarded only when I demonstrated adult behavior. I had a lot of book learning, but was somewhat isolated. I did want to make Peppa different from me in some ways though, so I had her be very self-conscious about her looks. Unlike Peppa, I never worried about finding boyfriends. I also initially wanted to be a doctor, like Peppa, but I didn’t have her math or chemistry skills.
9) How do you approach research for your writing?
Research gives me a great excuse to travel. It’s hard to say whether the locations inspire the book’s setting, or whether I seek out places as great backdrops. For The Falcon Flies Alone, I started out just researching areas in Switzerland, where I live. I looked for a remote village in an alpine setting, where the terrifying experiment takes place in my novel. Most of those places have barely changed since the fifties, and it was easy to imagine my recently orphaned heroine stepping off the train in the village of Gonten, uncertain and desperate.
I knew my third book in the series, The Falcon Soars, would take place in the Himalayas, since it involves Peppa’s failed romance with Tenzin Engel, who comes from India. In that instance, my plan for the book inspired our trip to Nepal and hike up to Annapurna base camp. Now I know what it feels like to walk until you almost drop. I never did find a real-life Tenzin though, which my husband probably appreciated. You can read about our real-life adventure here.
10) Is there anything you can tell us about the finale, The Falcon Soars, releasing soon?
My third book is set in Munich and the Himalayas, in 1967. I would have loved to see Kathmandu then. It must have been a paradise.
While hippies are lighting up in Munich’s English Park and protesting the Vietnam War, Dr. Peppa Mueller has put her nightmare past behind her and gotten her life firmly on track. There will be no more mistakes like the bloodbath in Ireland. No more occult drama. No more family secrets.
But there’s always calm before a storm. The final leg of Peppa’s difficult journey will take her to the snowy Himalayas, where she will rediscover old friends, confront her lingering heartache, and gain a new understanding of—and appreciation for—the spirit world.
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