The Sword and Laser discussion

We'll be interviewing The Dirty Streets of Heaven author later this month, so get your questions in!

What inspired you to write a more noir style fantasy instead of a straight epic fantasy novel? Also do you ever intend to revisit any of your past story lines?

I know a lot of writers change their name in some way to indicate a different style of writing. Did you consider this before writing The Dirty Streets of Heaven, and how do you think the very different style of the book has been received by fans of your previous works? (I loved it, by the way)

^ *Lenti Fan Club Member* Not a real question, just a comment: Even though it's been a few years since either my guy or I re-read Stone of Farewell, we haven't lost the compulsion to mutter "Avi stetto" every time we pick up anything resembling a knife. It can be plastic, a steak knife, a box cutter, doesn't matter, we either say it out loud, or the little lenti-voice in the back of our heads says it! We can't be the only ones, right? :D

How much study (if any) of the lore surrounding angels did you do while writing "Dirty Streets Of Heaven?"

Having read the Otherland series I was wondering if you have ever logged onto any virtual worlds such as Second Life to see how current technology is progressing?

Hmm, I just noticed my original question is...missing, so I'll see if I can't recreate it. When you begin the process of writing, do you decide beforehand the genre you want to write in or do you let the story dictate where it goes? For instance did you set out to write a sci-fi story for Otherland?

Frank wrote: "Hmm, I just noticed my original question is...missing, "

They accidentally created a second thread, and you posted in the other one.

I recently read Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (after reading Dirty Streets of Heaven) and was struck by the similarities and differences between the noir style of both books. Did you have any struggle adapting the noir style for modern readers and the urban fantasy world you created? Do you think adding a noir bent to the story helped you tell it more successfully than just sticking to straight fantasy?

I'm wondering whether the name Bobby Dollar alludes to the old radio serial "Yours truly, Johnny Dollar". The surname Dollar is uncommon, both given names are diminutives and have the same vowel, and both are more or less hard-boiled.