For some, social media is a way to stay connected to friends, family, and the world at large. For others, it’s the engine that feeds much of the hate and stupidity that’s ruining society.
But for writer Premee Mohamed, it was a place to find an image that inspired her new dystopian sci-fi novella And What Can We Offer You Tonight (paperback, Kindle). In the following email interview about it, Mohamed not only explains how that happened, but what else influenced this story.
With Legacy Of Light (paperback, Kindle), writer Matthew Ward is concluding The Legacy Trilogy of fantasy novels he began in 2019 with Legacy Of Ash, and continued in 2002 with Legacy Of Steel. In the following email interview, Ward discusses what inspired and influenced this novel, and why it may be the end of the story, but not necessarily the end of the adventure.
When asked the inevitable “where did you get the idea for this story” question, writers will often cite something that happened in their real lives. And while that’s what writer Yoon Ha Lee did in the following email interview about his silkpunk historical fantasy novel Phoenix Extravagant (which is now available in paperback a year after being released in hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook), the real life something he cited was a paint. Not a painting, not his cat getting into his paints, but an actual paint.
Like the video games, to which there is no connection, Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International novels have people, well, hunting monsters…just in a different place, and in different ways, and more for profit than survival. All of which comes up in the newest installment, Monster Hunter Bloodlines (hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audiobook). In the following email interview, Correia discusses both the series and this latest chapter, as well as two other newly released books that have his name on the cover.
We’ve all heard the clichés about how you should write what you know, and how you should look for a void and fill it, and how you should always check before crossing the street… Well, it seems that writer Jadie Jang took the first two to heart (and hopefully the third as well) when it came to writing her new urban fantasy novel Monkey Around (paperback, Kindle, audiobook). In the following email interview, Jang discusses what influenced this fantastic tale, as well as her hopes for future installments.
While we’ve all suffered the indignity of waking up in an alternate dimension with no idea how we got there, it’s still possible to present a fictionalized version of this common occurrence that is as interesting as the real thing.
Take, for instance, Shirtaloon’s He Who Fights With Monsters series, a serialized litRPG portal fantasy tale that puts a humorous spin on things.
In the following email interview, Shirtaloon discusses the second installment, He Who Fights With Monsters: Book Two (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), as well as his plans for the future installments.
The legend of King Arthur and the Knights Of The Round Table has been told and retold, and in many different ways, from Monty Python to Bugs Bunny to the Transformers. And yet none of them have Arty getting coffee…until now. Which is just one of the interesting revelations in the following email interview with Swapna Krisha and Jenn Northington, the co-editors of the new Arthurian short story collection Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices (paperback, Kindle, audiobook).
While every fantasy video game owes a nod (and often more) to The Lord Of The Rings, so too do many fantasy novels owe a nod back to fantasy video games. Take A Blood Of Kings (Kindle, audiobook), the second book in Bryce O’Connor and Luke Chmilenko epic fantasy series, The Shattered Reigns which — in the following email interview — they say was influenced by the games in The Elder Scrolls series. Just not the same ones.
While many fantasy stories deal with war — either showing what led to it or what happened during it — we usually don’t get to see what happened afterwards…unless, of course, it leads to another war. But in the following email interview, writer J.P. Oakes’ explains why his epic and dark urban fantasy novel City Of Iron And Dust (paperback, Kindle) may take the aftermath of a goblin / fae war in a more chaotic direction.