But first, many thanks to Morgen Rich, who tagged me and TS Gwilliam who tagged her. Check them out!

Morgen Rich: World Enough and Time ( http://www.morgenrich.wordpress.com ).

TS Gwilliam’s blog is roseshadows ( http://roseshadows.wordpress.com/ )

THE NEXT BIG THING - WORK IN PROGRESS
1.What is the working title of your next book?
THE FIFTH MAGIC

2.Where did the idea come from for the book?
I’ve been working on the Godsland story since the late 1990’s, though I didn’t get to start writing it until 2005. Each trilogy builds on the last trilogy, and I’m finally getting to write things I’ve been thinking about for more than fifteen years. It’s a lot of fun. And once I write it, it’s as if my imaginings are made real.

3.What genre does your book fall under?
Young Adult Epic Fantasy

4.What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I’ve always thought Kate Beckinsale could play Catrin, and my wife insists that Benjin will be played by Alec Baldwin. I don’t know, though, I make have to make a cameo…

5.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Power has returned to Godsland, and no one is prepared.

6.Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The Godsland series will remain self-published for the foreseeable future. It’s not that I wouldn’t welcome the right deal from a publisher, but asking a publisher to pick up a series that’s seven books in is a bit much, and I don’t expect it to happen. There has been some interest in my work from New York, and I may soon develop a project specifically for traditional publication. I think it and my self-published works will complement one another.

7.How long did/will it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I’ll start by saying that I’m fortunate writing is now my full-time endeavor, though I do still have some part-time obligations. Because of this, I expect to have the draft completed in fewer than thirty days. It’ll take considerably longer to be edited to my satisfaction. I’ll edit it, and then my beta readers will get it, after that I’ll edit it again. When I’ve edited it to my greatest ability, I send it to Andrea Howe at Blue Falcon Editing. Andrea has edited the entire Godsland series, and we generally do two full edits. After that, I feel comfortable sending it out to my fans, who’ve been great at finding things here and there that we’ve all managed to miss. I’m grateful for that.

8.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The Godsland series has been compared to The Lord of the Rings, Terry Brooks’ Shannara, and Harry Potter, but I would say it bears more similarity to The Magic of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt and The Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn–those books certainly helped inspire the series (along with Shannara and Lord of the Rings, and many others.). See my bookshelf here to see many of the books that inspired me to write fantasy.
http://www.brianrathbone.com/about-fantasy-author-brian-rathbone/

9.Who or what inspired you to write this book?
As mentioned above, there have been many writers who’ve inspired me, but I find myself more motivated now by my readers. They provide me with a great deal of motivation and good cheer, and this next trilogy is all for them. I can’t wait to bring it to them.

10.What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
One of the best things about The Fifth Magic I that there are six books leading up to it, and I’m making great use of history and tying up loose ends from previous story lines, as well as bringing back some old friends. For those unfamiliar with my work, Call of the Herald is the place to start. You can grab your free copy here: http://brianrathbone.com/free-fantasy-ebook.html

That was fun! And now to tag two more unsuspecting souls…My magic crystal 8-ball selected Nick Taylor http://nicholastaylor.co/ and A.M. Hargrove http://amhargrove.com

Reeling from the loss of the Regent dragons and her son to the black armies, Catrin Volker can take no more. Armed with power never before seen on Godsland, she goes in search of her son and her enemies. May the gods have mercy on those who stand in her way.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Fantasy author Ty Johnston’s blog tour 2011 is running from November 1 through November 30. His novels include City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb and More than Kin, all of which are available for the Kindle, the Nook and online at Smashwords . His latest novel, Ghosts of the Asylum, will be available for e-books on November 21. To find out more, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

I’d like to talk about what I hope readers will take away from my writings, and tied in with that, what I hope to accomplish with my writing.

First, as a writer, I have to come to some conclusions as to what interests readers, what draws them in, what makes readers generally approve of a novel or short story. Looking at it from strictly a business angle, a writer can study the markets and various online surveys, the bestseller lists, etc. Practical, yes, but somewhat cold. Another way to try to find out what interests readers is for the writer to look inward, to decide upon what he or she likes as a reader, because writers are readers, too, or at least they should be.

In my case, I vary in my literary interests, but I also tend to be drawn to particular genres more than others. I enjoy epic fantasy literature as well as horror. When a particular mood hits me, I enjoy classics and literary works. Historical fiction can also draw me in, if it is fairly accurate.

But beyond genre, what do I look for in my fiction reading. When I sit and ponder it, I find I enjoy a little action and adventure, as well as some intrigue. In darker tales, I often like the building of tension. In literary works, I prefer less escapism and more exploration. Exploration of what? Of the outside world as well as our inner worlds, of our thoughts and hopes and dreams but also our philosophies.

A mixture of all the elements I enjoy in fiction are what I try to bring to my own writing. I shoot for some action and adventure, with a touch of intrigue. I work to build tension, especially in my darker stories. And I try to give a brief look into our humanity, all elements of our humanity, though I hope not to be too heavy with this.

A reader might look at much of my epic fantasy works and ask, “Uh, where is this ‘look into our humanity’ you were talking about?” It’s there, though you might have to go searching for it. I use my characters to explore and discover different ways of thinking, different ways of looking at the world. I don’t mean anything snobby by this, just that it’s something I enjoy in my writing.

To go a little deeper, I tend to follow the views of late author John Gardner concerning heroes. In Gardner’s opinion, heroes were meant to be moral examples to humanity. That viewpoint might seem overly simplistic to some of today’s readers, but as a writer I find it a good starting point. I find interest in taking Gardner’s basic idea of a moral hero and twisting it some here and there. I’m not necessarily trying for an anti-hero, nor am I seeking to make a villain into a heroic figure, but I do find possibilities in walking the razor’s edge between what is heroic and what crosses the line. All of this is one of the reasons my heroes are sometimes brutal while some of my villains can have positive aspects in their character.

My horror writing takes a very different path. Usually when I’m writing horror, I am trying to build a particular mood, this mood allowing me to study the darker elements of humanity in all its forms. Also, often I’m just trying to make myself giggle in the middle of the night while writing alone in a darkened room. When I write horror, I don’t usually go for the gore factor, but I do find humor sometimes in the devilishly vile.

So, serious and silly alike, those are some of the elements I try to bring to my fiction writing. Do I sometimes fail? Yes, I’m sure I do. Often I know when I’ve failed, and I try to make sure readers never see such material, at least until I can repair it. Other times? Well, if I fail, it is up for the reader to decide, and I only blame myself. On the other hand, a writer can not always please every reader, and it would be impossible to try and do so. I try to write what interests me, and I hope it will interest others, because it is the readers who are truly important at the end of the day.

My eBooks at Smashwords

Including my latest short story: Redtooth

The following is a guest post by Urban Fantasy author Emmett Spain. You can check out his novel Old Haunts here

Having watched a copious amount of films and read a few hundred books in my 30 years on this planet, I have read/seen some absolute shockers, been compelled and terrified by the best of the worst, and endured a great deal that were more ho-hum than horrifying. And when you see that many, you start to notice some fairly obvious commonalities.

Let’s start with the scene where the villain gets introduced.

You’ve seen it before. The obligatory bad guy torturing or killing someone. The expository philosophical rant that comes before torturing or killing someone. Action movies thrive on this kind of scene in particular, and one suspects they’ll never entirely grow out of it.

For example, I saw “The Losers” recently, and watched another of these obligatory scenes. They tried to mix it up with the bad guy having an “I’m so laidback and ironic in the face of evil deeds that I’m totally cool” attitude, but sadly the performance fell flatter than a pancake dropped from a 30 storey building.

Now look at two of the villain introductions that really, really work.

Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter is slowly revealed, standing still and statuesque behind fibreglass.

The Dark Knight. The Joker wreaks murderous havoc in a bank, then slips off his mask for a massive close-up as he mutters in his twisted drawl, “Whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger.”

So we have two ways of setting up a villain - one with quiet poise and the other with wilful chaos. Both are hugely effective. But what really makes them work?

To find out, we need to go back a step.

In both instances the villains are mentioned before we meet them, and both times there is a sense of reverence toward them, as though they are each figures of legend to be feared and revered. Lecter we are told is a very dangerous man, and before we wind our way through to his lonely little cell we hear of his atrocities, his tendencies, and the danger he represents. These words are like salt on our palettes, kindling our appetites.

Why is that?

Because there is a part of every person that is curious, that wants to solve the mysteries of life, however small or large they may be. It’s those mysteries that keep us interested, that keep us reading or watching or paying attention. Setting up a character in hushed or reverent tones makes us eager to see them for ourselves. We want to solve the mystery.

On another level, a deeper level, there is a part of us that wants to reach out and touch the darkness, to be sickened and enthralled by the possibilities that lie within that infinite void of the soul. These characters represent a safe way to explore that darkness – a morally free way we might explore the urges buried within our collective psyches.

Does the Dark Knight take the same approach as Silence of the Lambs with the Joker? Think of the great establishing line relating to the Joker’s makeup.

“Makeup?”
“Yeah, you know. To scare his enemies. War paint.”

Of course, the Joker’s legacy followed him into the film, so I can understand the argument that the character was set up long before audiences entered the cinema. But this only serves to enforce the overall point – if you set up your villain properly before we meet them, then you can have them produce a lasting impression on readers/viewers without the need for torture scenes or pompous soliloquies.

Think of your favourite villain from books. Were they set up well before you met them?

In my novel Old Haunts I took a similar tack—I built up the idea of one of the key villains before I introduced him. Threaded throughout the novel are snippets of information regarding the vampire’s previous interactions with the characters, and their fear at the idea of running into him again. With this built throughout the novel the character has a presence before we meet him… and when we do it’s as cinematic as possible:

The archway curtain fluttered once more, revealing a hunching man draped in loose hanging rags. He looked tired, greasy, unwashed. His cheeks were sharp and sunken, his eyes deep and sad-looking. Around his eyes were dark, purplish circles that offset his pale skin. His short, roughly shaven brown hair was matted with blood and dirt, as were the patches of bare flesh exposed through the rags he wore. I spotted dark clusters of bruises at his ribs, and identical pale scars at both wrists that may or may not have been self inflicted.

He looked beaten and fragile, like a wounded animal in need of shelter and care. Yet when his sad eyes spotted the trio of vampires ahead of him, I registered a reaction from them I did not expect. Fear. In their eyes, in the way they stopped moving, utterly and completely. They were afraid of him. The man’s expression had not changed, had not come over menacing or dark in any way. He just looked at them, sad eyes regarding them with a pitiful, wounded expression. I watched as most of the vamps slowly backed away, making their way off the upper tier and toward the exit. The man turned to me and lifted his head, his brows knitting together in a pleading expression.

As his back straightened with a wince of pain, my heart fell into my stomach.

Around the man’s neck was a collar of metallic silk, an alloy pliable as fabric but hard as Kevlar. It’s the alloy of choice for mystical types—or at least it is for those who can afford it. It’s most often used as a focus for binding spells, to create a barrier that is strong yet malleable, but this … I had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t latched against his neck, wasn’t held in place by any sort of fastening or catch. At either side of the collar were small, dark holes in his neck where the alloy was sewn into his skin, leaving the surrounding flesh blackened and dry. I looked up from the collar and into the man’s pleading eyes. He looked to me for relief, for safety. To be taken away from this place, from this life. He looked at me with the desperate eyes of a man who wanted to die.

I watched as the metallic collar shimmered from dark grey to bright, reflective silver, as the metallic thread sewn into his skin tightened as if pulled upon. The man winced and keened, his neck and body stiffening as he knelt to the floor. As he settled into the ground I noticed a second shimmer in the doorway, and spotted a similar piece of metallic silk strapped to the wrist of a tall, middle-aged man wearing grey suit pants, leather shoes, and a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows. The alloy was not sewn into his skin but loosely clasped, and as he very slightly tilted his fist the shimmering stopped as if by command, and the collar at the kneeling man’s neck loosened ever so slightly.

As he stepped forward, the curtain of shadow that concealed his features peeled back up his arm, then slowly over his chest and head, revealing his face to my eyes.

The Vampire.

Sound good?

Old Haunts is available now.

Download Dragon Ore - free audio book

If you haven’t listened to Book One: Call of the Herald yet, get it here

Download Inherited Danger - free audio book

You can also check out the maps here

If you haven’t listened to Book One: Call of the Herald yet, get it here

Audio book versions of Inherited Danger and Dragon Ore will be available in the near future!

Download Call of the Herald - free audio book

You can also check out the maps here

Tia Nevitt has been kind enough to feature The Dawning of Power on her Fantasy Debut blog. Thanks Tia!

You can check it out here:

http://fantasydebut.blogspot.com/2009/02/discovery-showcase-dawning-of-power.html