Reader Question Day #8 – 135 pounds and additional DEMONSOULED books
It’s Friday! What better way to kick off the weekend than with Reader Question Day?
Manwe asks (concerning the cover art for SOUL OF DRAGONS):
Very nice cover art! Is that St. George slaying the dragon?
Yes.
The cover art for SOUL OF DRAGONS is “St. George and the Dragon”, by Gustave Moreau, a French painter who died in 1898. The dragon does not quite look like the way I envisioned the dragons in SOUL OF DRAGONS, but the image is striking enough that it works.
Kallinikos writes:
How many more DEMONSOULED books after SOUL OF DRAGONS?
Short answer: at least two, SOUL OF SORCERY and SOUL OF SHADOWS. Longer answer: I don’t really know.
I’d planned for initially only two more books, for a total of six. However, if I did, I realized that SOUL OF SHADOWS would have to cover about fifteen years worth of time, and would probably weigh in at about 250,000 to 300,000 words. That’s another three regular-sized books.
And, who knows what will happen? We might all die tomorrow. The inhabitants of Pluto, incensed that we declared their homeworld to be a “dwarf planet”, might arrive in their battle fleet to burn Earth down to a cinder to avenge the grievous insult. But I plan to keep writing as long as my health and finances permit, and as long as the books stay fresh.
So, practically speaking, at least two more DEMONSOULED books, and after that, I don’t know. Almost certainly more, though.
Jeri writes:
Is Caina Amalas a superhero? I mean, did you write her to be a superhero?
Not as such, no. Frankly, Sherlock Holmes and James Bond were more of an inspiration for THE GHOSTS series than any superhero comics. Caina doesn’t have any supernatural powers, and in fact loathes both the idea and the practice of sorcery in any form. Any special abilities she has comes the harsh training and refinement of both her intellect and her physique.
So I guess she’s kind of like Batman, yeah.
Bobmn writes:
I read on your blog that you lost 135 pounds in 2009. How did you do it?
Diet and exercise. Sorry, but that’s it. I wish I had a magic bullet to give you, since I know firsthand just how hard diet and exercise are, but I don’t. I will have to carefully watch what I eat and exercise five times a week for the rest of my life I don’t want to return to the sweaty country of morbid obesity. But, in all candor, if people with diabetes or gluten allergies can learn to monitor their diets, then I should be able to manage to learn not to eat three bacon cheeseburgers in a sitting (no matter how much I really really want to).
I don’t expect that of anyone else, but I demand it of myself.
-JM
“So, practically speaking, at least two more DEMONSOULED books, and after that, I don’t know. Almost certainly more, though.”
Very nice! My question is this, if and when you finish your Demonsouled series, what will you do next? Do you have plans laid out for your next series, or have you not considered that yet?
Also, Mazael or Caina, do you have a favorite between the two?
And one last thing: I do not recall seeing one, but do you have any maps for your fantasy worlds? Fantasy books usually have a map to go with them, though I don’t recall yours having them, unless I have forgotten (it’s been awhile). If not, would you ever consider doing one for Demonsouled/Ghost/Third Soul? Again, if you already have done them, and they were even included in your series, I apologize! It’s been awhile since I read some of the books, and my kindle has been with a relative of mine for the past month (so I can’t check it out for myself!). This reminds me, I really need to get that back!!!
“Very nice! My question is this, if and when you finish your Demonsouled series, what will you do next? Do you have plans laid out for your next series, or have you not considered that yet?”
I have ideas for two series. One is a fantasy version of the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD, with elves taking the place of the Romans, and humans the place of the Goths. The other is an idea for what happens when American Communists travel to a typical fantasy world (elves and wizards and so forth) and take it over with their technology.
“Also, Mazael or Caina, do you have a favorite between the two?”
Not really. They’re different kinds of characters – Mazael is more action-oriented, and Caina is more cerebral (though still with a lot of action). Mazael’s setting is a bit more like the “Dark Ages” (properly the Early Medieval period), while Caina’s setting is essentially a Renaissance version of the Roman Empire. So it’s nice to alternate.
“And one last thing: I do not recall seeing one, but do you have any maps for your fantasy worlds?”
I never really got into maps for these books. I used to always draw maps, but as I wrote more books, I found them limiting – it got harder to make stuff up, and the urge to micromanage and create a map with every little village and rock became overwhelming. So generally I don’t have maps, only instead a rough sketch of where everything roughly is.
I do have a map of the Grim Marches around Castle Cravenlock that came with the print version of Demonsouled, so I’ll have to see if I can dig that up.
Communists in a fantasy world does sound like an interesting idea. Would the point of view of the series be from the fantasy races or the communists?
As for the other idea, that too sounds like it would make a good book. Who would be the protagonist there, the elven/romans or the human/goths?
In either case, I think they both sound good, if you do end up writing them, I’ll make sure to pick them up.
On the map question, I meant maps of the world in which the stories take place, not local area maps. You find world maps to be limiting (at least to your writing)? And as for the rough sketches that you have, if you have any that are akin to a world map, would you ever post them on this blog? Or are they not really coherent like that, and just basically there to give you a framework?
“Communists in a fantasy world does sound like an interesting idea. Would the point of view of the series be from the fantasy races or the communists?”
Both. The POV would rotate between a half-elven surgeon, her human husband (a university professor and former Communist army officer), a halfling who escaped from the government’s concentration camps, a human secret police officer who truly believes in Communism, and the elven head of the secret police.
The hook of the novel would be that the inner circle of the secret police (all powerful wizards who predate the arrival of Communism) doesn’t really believe in Communism, and regards it as convenient tool to reach their real goal, which is far more sinister…
“Who would be the protagonist there, the elven/romans or the human/goths?”
Neither, though the (final) Elven Emperor would be a bad guy. Just as the Goths only fled into the Roman Empire to get away from the Huns, so to the humans would only flee into the Elven Empire to get away from something worse.
“And as for the rough sketches that you have, if you have any that are akin to a world map, would you ever post them on this blog? Or are they not really coherent like that, and just basically there to give you a framework?”
They’re not terribly coherent, I’m afraid. I used to do very detailed maps, but I found that they actually made it harder to write, so now I sort of wing it.