“It was a magical time,” Britain said. “Getting to interact with so many fans was a great honor, and an exhibit of my archives something I never expected would happen.”
Beyond being magical, the weekend was also historic. Britain was the first living female author to have an exhibit at the Cushing, which also features work by genre luminaries such as Ray Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick, and George R.R. Martin.
The series protagonist is Karigan G'ladheon, a young woman who is member of The Green Riders, the messenger corps in the fictional kingdom of Sacoridia—the main country featured in the novels. Having series of epic fantasy novels written by a woman featuring a female lead was (and to a degree still is) uncommon in the genre, although breaking that mold is not what Britain set out to do when she published the first book in the series in 1998.
“It didn’t occur to me that the novel was filling a niche,” she admitted. “I was simply writing what I knew, and I knew people like to see themselves represented in stories. Initially, there were some biased reviews saying things like ‘women can’t handle swords,’ but I never let them get into my headspace.”
What was in her headspace from an early age was a love of fantasy novels, and the Skaneateles, New York native often go hunting for books at local malls in Auburn.
“When I was 13, I read The Lord of The Rings series and absolutely loved it,” Britain said of her introduction into the genre. “From then on, I read fantasy books almost exclusively. I’d often trade books with a friend who was also into the genre.”
When she was a junior in high school, a friend of her mother drove her to visit IC, and Britain was immediately interested in the communications program. But she entered as an exploratory major, before shifting to cinema and photography, with a minor in applied writing.
“What I loved about writing was, unlike with film, I could still be the ‘director’ but also create the setting and the wardrobe and all the other details of the world I wanted,” she said.
Professor of writing Katharyn Howd Machan was Britain’s advisor and was accepting of genre fiction, including commercial genre fiction.
“That’s not something a lot of writing programs would have encouraged of their students back then,” Britain said. “There was a lot of snobbery in the field that writing science fiction and fantasy was just schlock.”
Though she tried finishing novels begun in high school while at IC, her busy schedule made it difficult. And then one day, her career path took an unexpected turn—with Machan once again playing a role.
