When fantasy writers talk about the things that influenced their work, they often mention other fantasy stories: The Lord Of The Rings, Game Of Thrones, Harry Potter, and so on.
But in the following email interview about The Legacy Of Arniston House (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), the fourth book in his urban fantasy series Edinburgh Nights, author T.L. Huchu says this novel also takes influence from a video game-inspired TV show of the bloody battle persuasion.
Over the years, the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” has been turned into a classic cartoon by Bugs Bunny, an iconic musical by Stephen Sondheim, and a blood bath by Family Guy.
But in the following email interview about Cursed By Fur (paperback, Kindle), her take on the classic fairy tale, author D.C. Gomez’s Red says she’s turned the hoodie lover into, “…an assassin / serial killer with a vendetta against werewolves.”
We all love dogs, and we all love watching videos of otters.
But a seven foot tall otter dog with a taste for human flesh…not something I’d want to see on TikTok. Or in my backyard.
In my new interview with author Sherri Cook Woosley about her urban fantasy / horror novella Mother’s Instinct (paperback, Kindle) — the latest installment of eSpec Book’s Systema Paradoxa series — she discusses why she decided to get up close and personal with the Dobhar-chu, the 7-foot-long, human eating, dog / otter hybrid from Irish folklore.
In the following email interview about his dark fantasy novel The Dissonance (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), author Shaun Hamill not only discusses what inspired and influenced this story, but also why — despite its timeframe and because of its location — it may or may not also be an urban fantasy story…and why he doesn’t really care either way.
Like many of the authors who’ve penned installments of eSpec Book’s Systema Paradoxa series, Bjorn Hasseler chose to tell the story of a cryptid near and dear to his heart…er, home.
Though as he explains in the following email interview about his contribution, Hidden Fury (paperback, Kindle), it was also strongly influenced by something else he sees at home…on his TV.
While virtual reality doesn’t count as reality, yet, it someday might.
Which brings me to Keith Anthony Baird’s new dystopian / cyberpunk science fiction / urban fantasy novella SIN:THETICA (paperback, Kindle), in which a bounty hunter has to hunt his bounty in VR.
In the following email interview, Baird discusses what inspired and influenced this story.
When working on a story, writers will sometimes figure out the character’s back story as a way of determining what that character will do, and why.
Though in the following email interview with author Tim Akers about The Eccentrics (paperback, Kindle), the third book of his urban fantasy series Knight Watch, he explains that the idea for this book, and the one that preceded it, Valhellions, were actually conceived of us as the backstories for the series’ titular first installment.
With Wicked Problems (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), writer Max Gladstone is presenting the middle piece of The Craft Wars Trilogy, a new subseries connected to his epic urban fantasy hexalogy, The Craft Sequence.
In the following email interview, Gladstone discusses what inspired and influenced this second book of three, how this series connects to The Craft Sequence, as well as whether or not you need to go back to the beginning of that series to comprehend this new one.