In a few short days, the final installment of the beloved Harry Potter series will be released. What will a world of fantasy fans do after all the years of waiting? After the brief fury of reading that final book?

Will they lament the loss of the world’s best-known boy wizard? (more…)

Of all numbers, 666 probably has the worst reputation. But what’s so bad about it? Why is 666 deserving of such infamy? It is just a number, after all. What could 666 possibly mean other than six hundred and sixty six somethings?

Well, interestingly enough, an individual 6 does have a certain mystical meaning. (more…)

Since I’m on the topic of peeves, let’s get to a matter that’s very close to my heart: agents. To a writer, they represent a sort of literary Holy Grail. The quest to find a good one can be endless and seemingly impossible. Most agents themselves, like the Wizard of Oz, are rarely the people you expect them to be. More often than not, they will ignore you, talk down to you, invalidate your work. At best, they’ll take 15-20% of your hard-earned profit.

The myth is of the agent who coaches, provides excellent feedback, supports creativity — an all and all friend to writers. This everyman will promote you, believe in your work and find you a damned good editor. And though undoubtedly agents like these exist, in my experience, they are the exception rather than the rule.

Let me share with you some of my agent experiences. (more…)

I usually don’t rant. In all, it goes against my better nature. That said, I’ve been horrified by the number of academics flooding fantasy with ‘expert’ opinions recently. For my part, I’d like to make some small contribution to dispelling these misnomers. If they’re not dispelled the freedom the genre currently enjoys will slowly fade and we’ll all be stuck. For the ‘experts’ are now telling everyone what’s proper and improper to imagine. (more…)

Well with all the hype about 2012, I’ve been getting a lot of email asking whether or not Luthiel’s Song is based on the Mayan calendar and if I’m incorporating any of the possible doomsday scenarios into the Luthiel’s Song series. For my part, I’m honestly surprised folks have picked up on some themes in Luthiel’s Song so quickly.

The most frequent question is why does Oesha have two suns and is the second sun — Oerin’s Eye — a reference to Mayan (more…)

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

Albert Einstein

In my opinion, a great spirit is one who does not let the world get in the way of what they love. If you have a dream, or love of something, pursue it will all that you are. Don’t let those who would sit in judgment of you reign you in. This life, this time, is all that you have. Use it well and let true joy be your compass.

I am convinced that our poor Earth has suffered far greater calamities than even the oracles of science and religion have envisioned. Those disasters mentioned have been clouded by the dronings of unwavering belief and the plodding of numb logic. Sadly, it seems the way of meager human minds to cope with a terrible reality in comfortable disbelief.

In truth, our poor world was destroyed many times — her globe engulfed by fires from the hearts of galaxies or vomited from our own sun. Her continents overwashed by waves so vast they touched the clouds. Her precious creatures destroyed in episode after episode of cosmic violence.

Decimated and terribly diminished, the survivors made love and brought life anew. Is it not an awesome thing to know that these epic heroes are our very ancestors? That we arose from a thousand calamities — each great enough to be a world killer?

It is for this reason and for the love act that brings each new life that I write fantasy. For fact is too small to contain the whole truth of our spirit. The very summation of all life on earth is made real in us. The lessons of our ancestors live on in our very blood and bones.

So here’s to the memory of what has passed and to the inevitable challenge. Yes, these worlds will be destroyed again. Yet in each of you I see the strength and spirit to overcome any disaster and the hope to bring life even to the dimmest specks of night.

Who’s the fairest of them all?

The old witch in Snow White asked this question out of jealousy and, perhaps, fear. For there is great power in the ability to enchant through beauty, or song. It is a power, that, in myth is uniquely feminine. It is subtle and, by virtue of its ability to stay hidden, an even greater power than force of arms or violence. Snow White is but one enchantress. In other myths we know her as Tolkien’s Elbereth, or even my own Luthiel.

In the old tale she is poisoned by the apple and, as such, is made to sleep until she revived from slumber.

Poison apple? There is deep meaning here.

In this tale too, the old lady – the witch is the one who gives the apple. But who does she represent? (more…)

Quiet desperation is a term generally associated with salesmen who commit suicide. Yet sales never knew the high stakes of the publishing world.

Take me, for example.

I’m a writer who’s just completed his first fantasy novel. For many, this would be a mark of achievement – a reason for joy and celebration. But, for me, it has been an object of continuous worry. I cannot count the number of times the book has been revised or relay the endless disappointment that comes when a writer begins to understand that he will, never, as a practitioner of this noble and celebrated craft, please all people on all counts.

A writer would be fortunate to please only himself. It is a hard lesson, but with it comes the one kind of piece of mind a writer or, for that matter, any person may know. Never did the ancient adage ‘be true unto thyself’ hold more weight than when one sends the precious children of his thought out to earn the masses fickle love. (more…)

Many stories in fantasy allude to or are inspired by other stories. In a mythic tradition it is usual for one myth to draw from another. A number of people tend to take offense if one story has elements that appear to be derived. To the contrary, in my opinion, this is one of the strengths of the genre. We, as story tellers are delving into the great archetypes of the unconscious. It is only natural that we carry forward the work that has passed before in a way that is both new and includes original contributions.

Many have criticized the works of Paolini, Brooks, Fiest, Rowling, Ende, Beagle, King and even my own humble book for the presence of themes similar to past works or allusions to others. (more…)