Fantasy Book Club discussion

At Libby's request, if you have any questions about anything to do with the series, the writing, the illustrations, or the book publishing industry, from my experience, I'll share anything I know that might shed light on your interests.

Janny, in the years that the series languished due to the publisher problems, you never finished it anyway. I would think that you would have HAD to, but I guess real life demands made it a lower priority. Did you think about it pretty constantly? Do you think it helped for you to have the break? Did the years change anything?

Sorry, lots of questions & not really fair since you can't spoil it for us. Whatever you can say would be interesting.

Jim, I never stopped! The one thing I can control, will be - I will finish this series.

The oversimplified nutshell (publishing's radically changed, today, from an era once more secure for long-term projects) HarperCollins, London never withdrew support. I began overseas with Grafton, survived the merger when Grafton was overtaken by Collins, and again, when Collins got swallowed/merged with Harper...the buying editor was long gone, but someone in the London office always stepped up and stayed with me. In effect, I was writing for British releases, awaiting a re-launch in the USA.

Here, things took a different track.

I was with Penguin USA/Roc. They'd done grandly with Master of Whitestorm, and I sold them Mistwraith as a finished manuscript. The book released beautifully. Then my senior editor MOVED to Warner...his assistant was promoted, and did a stupendous job, until he left, too...and a new person replaced him.

My first editor, by then, had left Warner and was starting a brand new line at HarperCollins USA. London wanted me there, with all my books at the same company...and that editor was a savvy man - made sense to return to his "fold" - with London overseeing, "clear sailing" seemed reasonable. I had the assurance that Mistwraith would be bought back from Roc and the series would flow uninterrupted.

Also, HarperCollins USA bought: my trilogy The Cycle of Fire for re-release, four more series titles, and a short story collection, all hardback. A strong commitment, enough to leave book I at Roc, temporarily.

Well, this scenario didn't last...the buying editor transplanted into another department, leaving the books to his assistant. And Harper, London and Harper USA waged Politics and a brand new editor hired in as head of the line. I was handled by the assistant editor, and the "crash" of the ID market (independent distributors) sucked shocking sums OUT of the publishers' pockets - disastrous amounts. (You've checked the interview on Leisure Radio/The Curious Mind where I explained that train wreck). Also paper escalated drastically - publishers were cost cutting, frantic to stop bleeding red. ALL OF THE SUPPORT was pulled on release of Fugitive Prince.

Then two mergers swept the company...all the editors were OUT, stuff fell between the cracks, since no staff was left who knew how things ran. In the folding/dismantling of the HarperCollins Prism line into EOS, forty two hardback releases per year were slashed to twelve.

The backlist paperbacks also got mangled while orphaned - fallen out of print, unnoticed in staff changes - and the lag disrupted the "auto reorder" sequence at the chains, which is all computer driven. When the books were reprinted, somebody clever in production eliminated mention of Book I (still at Roc) and scrambled the order of the title list - so books had no record of the series, in order, and only spotty shelf presence.

With no champion in house, and even though both series hard bounds past merger reprinted - the books did not survive the cut.

Book I meantime, fell out of back list in the merger when Ace swallowed Roc.

This cascade hit at release of Peril's Gate - a critical moment in the series, and the "tipping" point volume for the Alliance of Light, third arc sequence. Readers were (justly) miffed at Some series writers for dragging out volumes, and at Others for Not Finishing, and then 9/11 kebashed the book market for 2 years.

London kept going.
I had to choose whether to wait, revert ALL my rights (years) and re-start in the USA, and do this with loss of shelf space - you don't print, you lose your patch.

Also, I was distressed at the rate of mass market "returns" - paperbacks destroyed for "credit" - not recycled - grown to ridiculous proportions, and the toll on the environment, and publishers was ruinous.

I opted to place books in hardback and trade paperback ONLY, with a respected independent - this gave my impatient readers a US release. Then, I hoped, the independent press could gain national distribution (which they did not have) and my name might help leverage - and while rights to the other titles reverted, I could decide what to do about mass market, all at once.

The independent produced library quality books - no returns. No waste.

Well, the independent folded.

London stayed on...and changed their ways - now all their paperbacks are produced by paper from sustainable forestry practices - they bear the FSC seal - to know more (http://harpercollins.co.uk/green).

When I got back the rights, I chose to move differently - let HarperCollins, London import the titles and move them through distribution channels they had here in North America. That is the edition you can buy, now. The editors in the London office have committed to finishing out the last 3 titles in the series, and I have the next all but done in draft, now.

I may add - I worked on these title for 20 years before I chose to sell them. When I began, there was NO epic fantasy marketplace...people laughed and scoffed I'd never sell them. I worked on, when a glitch in my London agent's office crossed wires, and the next volume failed to be submitted for a year...I worked in despair, thinking London didn't want the book...not realizing it was accidentally never presented...and London's editor, ultra British and polite - stayed quiet mistakenly thinking (!!!) I'd lost interest...NOT!

When I asked, finally, regarding the submission - I was told, "What submission???"

Well, things at the agent's straightened out fast, but fact remains - I would finish the series, regardless!

The ending is intricately planned for, the contract is signed, my creative output is extremely steady (a book about every two years) and there is no question, MONEY has nothing to do with this. It's been a frustrating road, writing on, while waiting...and knowing - the two volumes that put the scorching finish on the Alliance of Light arc were nearly invisible, here.

Endurance and persistence paid off. All the books are coming back, in order, under an editor who cares. It's up to the readers to enjoy the result.

The last note: at the outset, I NEVER planned to write all of this massive series end to end...I'd wanted to do one off titles in between - but the pressures of the marketplace and publishers' preference wanted the books end to end. The exception was To Ride Hell's Chasm. I'd finished the series title, Peril's Gate, and the emotional intensity of the ending of that volume left me spent out. I foresaw a shift in venue coming - I pleaded and begged to write a one-off. Also, at that time, many readers were moaning about endless series...there was not proof in the pudding, yet, as to how I was wrapping up the third Arc, subtitled Alliance of Light. Some whingers though Wurts could not FINISH a story. Well. I was ticked enough to take up the gauntlet.

I secured the one-off, wrote the book in a fire-scorch roll - eight months! Then resumed the series with the climactic part of the third arc.

There's never been a "gap" in my production, just impacting circumstances. The proof's in the pudding. Arc III should deliver its impact.

Janny - I'm hastily collecting the other books in the series so I can move right on to the next. The 1st book is so very detailed and engrossing and I imagine the others are similar. Did you envision the entire series when you began Curse or did it develop as you wrote? The scope of work is so vast it would be interesting to know how you have developed and maintained it.

Janny wrote: "Jim, I never stopped! The one thing I can control, will be - I will finish this series.

The oversimplified nutshell (publishing's radically changed, today, from an era once more secure for long-te..."

The story of your plight with publishing seems basically like a back and forth between "We love and support your series" to "What have you done for us today?" I for one am really glad for your commitment. Not every author would have hung with that. Many would have been, like, "Show me the MONEY!"

Libby wrote: "Janny - I'm hastily collecting the other books in the series so I can move right on to the next. The 1st book is so very detailed and engrossing and I imagine the others are similar. Did you envis..."

Libby - wow, thanks, I appreciate your commitment! Enthusiasm like this helps establish the future of long projects, no question. I have done my utmost to merit that faith.

Yes, on the planning - 20 YEARS, before book I reached print. I did not offer it until I knew precisely where it was going, and that my skills as a writer could handle the sweep of the concept. The opening chapters of Mistwraith were written 17 times...and book I, revised thrice, in full draft, until the stepped sequence of opening worked. Only the pertinent facts were developed, and the rest, not in play yet, stay "veiled" by the readers' complacent assumptions.

Most events were written out in depth, up through Peril's Gate's ending, before book I saw the marketplace. The forward notes files for the rest, with complete, key scenes, now run to hundreds of pages. Backfile history is also immense. No, I am not trying to replicate Tolkein's fascination with myth and language, but striking at something different. But his precident taught me: having the back-scope and forward vision to KNOW where this story places, far in advance, makes selection of scenes for story more vivid, and keeps a check rein on what is important.

Some stuff that's but a mention in Mistwraith will balance whole-scale revelations, later. The character cast stays extremely contained. The "backdrop" does not overwhelm their scenes because their experience unfolds the tapestry of the story. Their epiphanies and their growth unveil what was there, in the first place.

So, yes, I've spent a whole lot of time stitching the pieces into a taut fabric.

Here's what to expect:

Each ARC covers one "phase" of the Light and Shadows conflict. The epic shifts angle and thrust, at each internal finale. The last scene at arc's endings will "conclude" a phase, and introduce the premise of the one coming.

Arc II, Ships/Warhost was conceived as one volume, but only printed that way in US hardback release. If you get the US hardback, don't buy Warhost - it's included - the split is marked 'part II.' Ships in its divided form has a pause point, but the break is better at the end of the Arc. The now established characters and story allow for some breathing room, more humor, a few significant new characters. Some brighter aspects and back-history will unveil.

Arc III, at five volumes, begins with Fugitive Prince. Expect the story to "gear down" as it establishes a new staging point - so don't mistakenly think it's meandering - NOTHING is gratuitous. It's beginning a clock-spring sequence...laid to tighten with extreme care. Some readers may falter here, assuming the pace dissipates. It does not - this is opener for Arc III, just as Mistwraith was opener for the series. Even so, it WILL deliver the two-stage plot punch you've become accustomed to with my stuff - and that Ships and Warhost delivered. If you look at all five volumes of Arc III, they each have peak moments, and a zapper ending - but in total, IF you look at the contour for the entire 5 volume Alliance of Light - you will encounter, in macro scale, the same one-two slam - Fugitive Prince and Grand Conspiracy are the builders, Peril's Gate is the tipping point/mid-story impact where everything opens up and unveils for finale , and Traitor's Knot rams into the quickened cascade, with Stormed Fortress ENTIRELY climactic peak.

The other books have the same stripe. The plots will not be predictable or fall limp. The details continue to connect in profound ways. Do be extremely careful of spoilers in advance! And realize that all of the action in every volume will compound - nothing's there that's not going to wind up into a power punch later.

The most lovely return gives me great vindication - I knew when the US program fell apart, I ground my teeth, aware that readers up to then could not yet see the joy of the finale, The books were unwritten, that would provide proof - now, that's changed. Arc III is complete, and new readers may encounter the whole.

Arc IV, writing now, again changes thrust, only two volumes, and the last arc, just one...by this point, a series reader has grounds to trust the handling, that I don't let down the delivery. The rhythm, as the new arc lays down it's geared track occurs with this difference - Alliance of Light was "tippping point" for the series - most of the bits are in place, now, and the last three volumes gain momentum - the last cascade toward the finale's payoff, so in effect, the entire series is contoured with the same stamp as each volume, in microcosm.

Today I have (yes, I did start out very young and tender of years!!) THIRTY FIVE YEARS of intricate planning, as I write the closure sequences. The last two books will denue at a scorching, bright pace.

You will not be able to see in advance which elements of the conflict resolve, when, or how. You won't have advance grounds to predict which suspense will wait to click into place at the culmination of the last volume, or know how things resolve.

Nobody's guessed it. Not yet.

I've seen enough nay-saying opinions about "the bloated death of epic fantasy." Well, this is not an adventure tale for hero-worship or an adolescent, testosterone fancy. I am not disparaging such tales - as a reader, I've loved my share of them, too. This series is not carving that sort of legend. Taken with a matured set of values, it won't wear itself out for lack of insight or depth.

I've aimed to include the elements of human endeavor - heroics, yes, confounded moral conflicts, yes, struggle where appropriate, humor that's not postured as nonstop gratuitous entertainment, heart, yes, loss with meaning, yes, human love and insightful relationship, yes, but above and beyond, Light and Shadows was crafted to offer an odyssey of the spirit.

Charles wrote: "Janny wrote: "Jim, I never stopped! The one thing I can control, will be - I will finish this series.

The oversimplified nutshell (publishing's radically changed, today, from an era once more secu..."

Charles, that's the nature of the corporate landscape, that measures itself (at this moment) by quarterly PROFITS. Sf/Fantasy has been the stepchild, too, in that, in many cases, the executive mind-set does not understand speculative imagination. So money cuts, staff cuts, and the brutality of a sink or swim marketplace carries a heavy price.

The trick is surviving. Perseverance and faith - that the cream will rise, eventually.

I see a lot of whinging that "there are no opportunities" or that, "too much talent, too few slots" - maybe true...but...if you look at how many authors launched out in the seventies, gone by the eighties, launched in the eighties, utterly obliterated by the nineties - began in the nineties, and lost - and even, "hot stuff" in 2000, and into oblivion, now. There has never been a "forgiving" landscape for creative endeavor.

I'd like to see more and more varied opportunities available - but the question becomes - WOULD readers support them?

I can list you ten authors, in an eyeblink, doing jaw dropping, astonishing work - and they are getting no buzz. I can name you several authors of great quality who GOT NO BUZZ for the first ten years or more of their careers. But they stayed in, kept at it, and now - they are being found in refreshingly high numbers.

Staying in the game is everything, and recalling that it is a PRIVILEGE to borrow someone's time, for an art form. The act of appreciation is never to be mistaken for entitlement. The artist has to be genuine, first, and then, trust their audience to be genuine, too.

It's a balancing act to negotiate, always. I feel like an explorer turned loose with a compass, in an uncharted territory. You know the direction you want to travel, and what supplies and stamina you have for the journey - it's about navigating the landscape that is available, now, to get where you are going. Sometimes you have an easy trail, and sometimes you are crossing ravines, mountains, swamps...you pick a new route, and don't get mired down - the trail opens up, at next turning. If you stop and mope, that's the end.

So I look at it this way: take the next step, anyway, search out the next opening you could not see, from the last step's vantage, and above all, don't drop your compass!

Yes, the entire world is somewhat teasy toward readers of fantasy. I unashamedly refer to my favorite genre as "my elf books."

Janny,

Reading your in-depth comments for this discussion has been a joy.

If you are ever in Los Angeles, I'd love for you to come and speak at a Greater Los Angeles Writers' Society meeting, of which I am a charter member. We have an active Speculative Fiction Critique group, composed of equal #s of fantasy and s/f writers with a couple of horror/paranormal romance folks thrown in for variety.

It would be an honor to host you.

For confirmation & a bit more on what Janny has said about the competitiveness of publishing, the last post here, by Gary, #65, is pretty interesting reading:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

It's not a super long post, but Gary touches on how the slush pile is read & just how much work is submitted. It's pretty amazing. I wonder how anything makes it through any more.

Charles wrote: "Yes, the entire world is somewhat teasy toward readers of fantasy. I unashamedly refer to my favorite genre as "my elf books." "

Fear of the unknown was, once, a precaution, a necessary trait for survival. Fear of imagination - rampant today - seems to be that original needful quality, compounded by "keep the pack mindset, and never stray" - to like fantasy you have to be willing to alienate yourself from the normal. The Big Clingers, the Cliquers, and the Fit Ins don't get it, although, from what I see, as an increasing trend, they are starting to.

Betty Ballantine once observed that the readers of SF/Fantasy were the most intelligent, thinking crowd of people she had ever met.

It makes sense - they view life from more than the established angle, and discontent, continue to search for more answers.

I said before, "escape" is not escape at all, but our natural human desire to reach for different answers. We imagine as we want to be, with no constraints, and make choices in our "real" world, pro or con, based on how we shift our values and preferences. Stories are great shifters - they relieve stress at the least, refresh our spirits, or move us in new directions, or bend our paths away from self-destruction, or save us a mistake, or provide us with inspiration at the best.

elf books - that's priceless.

Leslie wrote: "Janny,

Reading your in-depth comments for this discussion has been a joy.

If you are ever in Los Angeles, I'd love for you to come and speak at a Greater Los Angeles Writers' Society meeting..."

Leslie - (blush, thank you!)
If I came to L. A., I'd accept with pleasure, and deliver the favorite: The Five Things They Forgot To Tell You About Your Creativity and Talent.

Let's wish for it.

Jim wrote: "For confirmation & a bit more on what Janny has said about the competitiveness of publishing, the last post here, by Gary, #65, is pretty interesting reading:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/85..."

Jim, I read Gary's post. While he makes some accurate points, I do not buy into its message - which, basically, is "There are No Opportunities."

First off, opportunity is colored by belief. If you believe there are none, or if you try and fail, and decide YOU are not to blame, then there are NO OPPORTUNITIES, and your job becomes, convince others that they have none, too. Misery Loves Company, you are not successful, but you are not alone. AND - your brain being the trained, associational DOG that it is, pavlov's response means you bear out your own conclusion: you NOTICE all the things that indicate there are no opportunities.

People who believe that there ARE opportunities will see another set of associations: they will see openings and work to act on them. Their brain will "notice" successes and find paths to get there.

Don't drop your compass!

Look at this article, it describes what I mean:
http://www.richardwiseman.com/resourc...

Next, to see the reality of the business, you can't look at the sour grapes of people who've tried and failed to break in. See from INSIDE what this attitude looks like. I recommend the cynical but funny slant, shown by an agent in an uproarious blog called Miss Snark...read the back files. You'll get some laughs on the way to being sadder but wiser.

Now, let's take some "case in points." Yes, slush readers are college kids, or whatever - but ones with the literate intelligence to read stories...readers have the literate intelligence to read stories, and look, THEY know what they think is "good" - so - yes, who's judging whom?

I have SEEN what arrives in slush piles. Trust me, looking at 50,000 of these and rejecting the pile of them, but a few - well, if you saw what got tossed That Fast, you'd agree. It's quite easy to separate diamonds from dross. MOST of the dross is quite unbelievably inept. I do not say this unkindly. Most aspirant writers haven't a CLUE.

There are VERY few schools/workshops who truly teach how to write fiction well - plenty slant for literary - but to write for the market - very few...the few there are, WORK. I know of two: Odyssey and Clarion. There are few BOOKS that teach fiction technique. I know of two: Techniques of the Selling Writer for prose, bar NONE, and Robert McKee's Story, which was written for scripts, but is an all encompassing survey that covers PLOT.

People don't tell you that learning to write grows the neuronal connections in your BRAIN to do it...I've seen totally inept wannabes PRACTICE the right techniques, (write day after day) and LEARN to do selling prose in 5 hard years. Persistence CREATES talent. Desire preceeds.

Next, even though the huge conglomerates have merged into a tiny market share: MORE people are reading today, the population is LARGER, so is demand, by the numbers. Two, MORE BOOKS ARE BEING PRINTED TODAY THAN EVER BEFORE.

The problem becomes not one of lack of opportunity, but one of CONNECTING to a readership.

Moby Dick would not sell today, NOT because it isn't a good story, but because modern readers won't wait around for it...they have short attention spans.

Aspirant writers FORGET two things when they submit their deathless prose: suspense and engagement.

Suspense = what is at stake. IT is PARAMOUNT to have a sense of what your character stands to lose/what goal they are aiming for NOW.

Engagement = the fascination of curiosity. Curiosity is the #1 human motivator - so, wit, sparkle, a driving fascination HAS to emerge.

Without one or the other, you get a yawn.

The aspirant writer must realize that NO success stays in place as an accident....case in point: the DaVinci Code. You will read so many opinions (negative) about this "thriller" - and yet - it was continuously on the best seller list....why?

For one thing, it tapped several immediate sell points: DaVinci is well known. Code - invited curiosity to decipher. Then, it went straight off into a HUGELY popularly controversial subject: religion, and more, it opened the gates to the possibility of a suppressed sacred feminine in a chauvanist culture...well, let me tell you, you may not like the story, but people got engaged!

I cried when I read this book. NOT because of the story - but because, growing up, automatically as a screen, I'd soaked in that "religion had nowhere for women to be honored" except in the dumbed down role of "motherhood" as cast by a masculine angle. Didn't matter if this story was any good, or if you liked the prose or not - those things are subjective. But that story tapped into a magma well of pressure - no wonder it exploded!

Your slush reader is going to SENSE engagement...not infallibly, not all the time, but eventually, IF you have it, your work will fall into the right hands. One major fantasy author with a series - sold after FORTY FOUR rejections.

To reach the right hands: you must know your work, realize WHAT it is, tailor it to be understood, then, aim correctly at the right market....not every book that is good is SUITED to be commercially produced fiction...and if not, there are other venues for it.

"You have to know somebody."
Well, that can help, being a face, not a name...no mystery there - how do you meet the editors/agents? you have to GO TO WHERE THE EDITORS ARE...they appear at public venues. Conventions. Lectures. For SF/Fantasy, World Fantasy Convention, Worldcon, DragonCon, the SFWA Nebula Weekend, chock full of "lectures" on the biz from knowledgeable, successful pros. These people answer intelligent questions. They may accept a polite offer for coffee or a beer, if they are not rushed or overwhelmed.

The whingers who say "you have to know someone" were too lazy to stir off their backsides.

When I wanted to WRITE, I went to library talks/readings with authors presenting, to cons, to lectures, to pro author signings. I asked questions, I asked for help. I listened to my successful contemporaries, and aimed where their wisdom showed the way. I got involved with publishing at the ground zero /learned about production by working part time at a quick PRINTER, doing brochures and pamphlets. I did not sit about changing stories with losers, I wrote, and went where the action was to SEE HOW THE BIZ FUNCTIONED.

I have posted a blog at http://www.Redroom.com on my author's page about today's trends - and posted here on GoodReads that opportunities exist, that publishers today are cost cutting SO frantically, they are more likely to cut off a writer on the margins and buy in a NEW one, cheap - than keep another's sliding career - but more often than not, those posts are ignored, or in some cases, even, shouted down by the crabs in the bucket who say there are No Opportunities.

If anything the internet has made it TOO EASY to run to vanity press/self-publishing. The glitzy ads are so alluring...it's easy not to look any deeper, and give way, than to wait out learning a little more, resharpening craft to a truly professional edge, and then aspire for the more traditional alternative. The ignorant are instructing the ignorant, and whole COMPANIES are spending money to suck in dreamer writers who refuse to put their feet on the ground, hard, and never look up to realize how the industry works at all.

There's alot more to say, here. If people are interested, the discussion can continue. I have always believed knowledge is better than ignorance.

I can personally attest to the truth of EVERYTHING Janny just talked about in her last post. THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES, PEOPLE!!! Look at what happened to me. I got orphaned, yes. Happens to a lot of authors. Did I sit on my backside crying? Well, yes...for about an HOUR!! Then I got said backside in gear and made things happen. I prepared myself to take advantage of those opportunites I KNEW would present themselves because of my own proactivism. I'm now with a fabulous new publisher and things are looking very rosy, indeed.

Like Janny says: if a writer aspires to raise her/his skills to professional level, then the work must be done. I'm learning every day and my writing will only get better as the years progress, I've no doubt.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!

People give up too easily.

Great talent is no guarantee of success. Sometimes talent quits, and sometimes mediocrity just keeps on pushing, and becomes competent enough to make the grade. Persistence coupled with honest revision of the skillset and development of the ideas wins out.

More, the odds are in your favor IF you put in the work and sweat and honest revision to sharpen skill sets. If you had 100,000 people love your work, you'd be a smashing success in the genre market - there are BILLIONS of readers of the English language on this planet - odds are, your idea will 'hit' with that tiny fraction. You just have to get out there and reach for the dream. Of course, using the golden rule and etiquette on the way. It becomes a small world, very quickly, if you alienate the very people whose interest you wish to attract.

@ Janny - a few plot detail questions that have been bugging me.

#1 When Arithon and Lysaer were 1st attacked by the Mistwraith entity Arithon left his lyranthe behind so it would not be accidently crushed. Later on Asandir tells Kharadmon that Arithon is tuning the lyranthe. When did he go back to get it? I ask because after the attack it would seem risky to leave the wards of the tower again. I know the lyranthe is quite significant and symbolic so I’m just wondering if I missed something here.

#2 It would appear from the expressions used by the characters that the Athera and Dascen Elur share the same gods? Is this true? Is this addressed in the later books? I’m curious as to what culture existed on Dascen Elur before the royal lines took refuge there.

Libby -

#1- The lyranthe would have been picked back up later. It was placed aside to keep it from being damaged in the all out flight through the ruin...no, I did not mention that it was recovered...possibly an oversight, but I'd think, implicit, given its value. Asandir could have retrieved it without problems, and, if the princes left the tower, after that, they'd have likely gone under escort.

#2 - what culture exists through any of the Worldsend gates, linked to Athera, would have originated from Athera, since the Fellowship Sorcerers built those gates, each one for a reason. There is a lot more to know about these linked worlds, and what they were before the gates were erected...but that is deep deep into the back history - in most cases, far deeper than this series is designed to go. Some pertinent facts will be unveiled in Volume 3 (Warhost) and a bit more in Volume 9 (in draft, now).

At the time of the prince's exile, the populations through West Gate on Racinne Pasy (red desert world) and Dascen Elur was very small. The directional sealing of the gate shifted the demographic a lot, but yes, the culture derived from a common root.

You can find an indepth description of the origins of the feud between s'Ffalenn and s'Ilessid, from Dascen Elur's history, in the FAQ section of the Paravia website. It's more involved than some folks presume.

Each of the gates, and the culture on the other side of it, had a purpose. The connection ties into the Fellowship's bound charge, with regard to Athera, and directly involves the formation and upkeep of the Compact, a sworn covenant with the Paravian races, which both provided surety for, and gave Mankind a restricted leave to settle on Athera.

The subsequent volumes will define that issue very clearly. You will come to see how all the bits fit together...The Fellowship Sorcerers arrived on Athera in Second Age Year One...Mankind settled in Third Age Year One - which is a very long time span. Vol I barely scrapes the surface, and you're right, it leaves a lot of questions open that will be filled in by the action, later.

Janny - thanks so much for the response and for participating in this book discussion. It's just a treat to read a book with such a well developed backstory.

Libby wrote: "Janny - thanks so much for the response and for participating in this book discussion. It's just a treat to read a book with such a well developed backstory."

Pleased to answer any questions you may have, or that may arise later on.

It's my hope, one day, to have a "companion" volume to this series with some short fiction covering significant events, some of the artworks, and other stray notes. If this relaunch is successful, we shall see. Certainly I have a lot of material!

If you haven't looked into the Paravia Sketchbook in the Gallery on the website, there are drawings of some of the places - with plenty more yet to be uploaded.(time!)

There is also an interactive map, created by Jeff Watson who masterminds the web page, which will flash images and significant historical notes as you run the cursor over the significant site.

No questions just now, but a big thank you for offering so much insight into the writing and publishing worlds, as well as into your own history of writing this series. Wow.

John wrote: "No questions just now, but a big thank you for offering so much insight into the writing and publishing worlds, as well as into your own history of writing this series. Wow."

John, you are warmly welcome. If questions arise later, do feel free.

One question that occurred to me while going thru these threads, I have never asked a successful artist before.

I have held the position that the best art supersedes the artist and goes beyond the artist's intentions. I wonder if during your discussions of your works, you have discovered things, truths, ideas that you did not intend or realize where there.

Kernos wrote: "One question that occurred to me while going thru these threads, I have never asked a successful artist before.

I have held the position that the best art supersedes the artist and goes beyond the..."

Oh, what a fascinating point!

Definitely, YES. Could that ever open up a whole new angle of discussion.

As I checked in, today, I see that you've opened up a lot of threads - I will address them bit by bit, first, so as not to overwhelm the group, and second, so I can give each of your insights the thought it deserves.

Kernos wrote: "One question that occurred to me while going thru these threads, I have never asked a successful artist before.

I have held the position that the best art supersedes the artist and goes beyond the..."

Friend Kernos,
I wouldn't speak for Janny, specifically, but as a general response, I can tell you that one of the most acclaimed essays in modern literary theory, now one of the Noble Truths in criticism, addresses this exact question. In this one-paragraph stunner, T. S. Eliot's "The Intentional Fallacy" states plainly that a published text becomes a thing of it's own, with whatever nuances, spins, interpretations, and associations it picks up over time. How much an author anticipated, or planned, can only be known by that author, though.

Charles wrote: "Kernos wrote: "One question that occurred to me while going thru these threads, I have never asked a successful artist before.

I have held the position that the best art supersedes the artist and ..."

A book becomes something Else with each reader's journey - no two alike.

To know the author's interpretation - yes - you only have that lifetime.