Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of The Bewitching, The Seventh Veil of Salome, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Mexican Gothic, and many other books. She has won the Locus, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. “The Lure of Stone” is her second appearance in Uncanny, a beautifully crafted novella of gemstones and sorcery, set in a richly developed fantasy world.
Uncanny Magazine: This is such a lovely secondary world fantasy, vividly imagined and immersive, set in the same world as “The Return of the Sorceress.” What drew you back to this world? What was your starting point or inspiration for “The Lure of Stone”?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I normally don’t like to return to a setting, but when I wrote “The Return of the Sorceress” I was inspired by Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborea cycle, which has many different stories set on a fabulous continent inhabited by fantastic civilizations. Naturally, I figured I would do the same thing Smith did: write several stories, all unified by their setting. I would also write them as novellas. Foolishly I decided this would be a simple task, but it turns out selling a novella is difficult. There are not many markets for that length. Subterranean published the first novella, and here is the second one.
Uncanny Magazine: What was the easiest part of writing this novella? What was the most challenging thing?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I had a dream about a giant floating head, probably inspired by an old t-shirt my husband owned, which had an Olmec head. I scribbled it down and decided it would be a perfect element in a Sorceress story. Then, when I started writing, I remembered I don’t like writing action scenes and I had a number of them, all occurring at brisk intervals. My favorite thing to write is dialogue, not action scenes. I should have been a screenwriter instead, but I never learn.
Uncanny Magazine: I loved Yalxi as a character and particularly enjoyed her interactions with the nahual. What do you need to know about your characters and their relationships before you start writing? Do your characters ever do things that surprise you?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: There is a discovery process that takes place before I begin to write, when I try to figure out the mannerisms and tiny details that make up someone’s personality. With these two characters, I felt they were quarrelsome friends, and part of the fun with them was that back-and-forth banter. Anyway, rather than having completely different characters like Smith did in Hyperborea, “The Lure of Stone” has the same characters as in “The Return of the Sorceress,” which was not my intention. They just happened to come along for the ride.
Uncanny Magazine: If you were a nahual, what kind of jewel would you want to be contained in?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: God, something that is not a diamond. I feel that diamonds are overvalued. Opals are much more interesting.
Uncanny Magazine: Who are some of your literary influences? What’s something that you’ve read recently and loved?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: For this novella in particular, I was nodding back at some of the great sword and sorcery Golden Age writers (Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Clark Ashton Smith) and the New Wave that gave us the Elric Saga and the Morgaine Stories. As to what I read and like, it’s all over the map. I picked up Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality by Lindsay Wong because the cover had mushrooms on it. It’s a short story collection that veers between the dark and the hilarious.
Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I’m writing another novella set in the world of Sorceress because I truly never learn.
Uncanny Magazine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
© 2025 Uncanny Magazine
