Dark Currents (45 page)

As I write this, it’s only been six months since I published
The Emperor’s Edge
, but quite a few folks have downloaded it, and I’ve had some questions come up. I know this sequel answered a couple (yes, more questions
do
revolve around Sicarius than anything else), but I thought it’d be fun to answer more here.

When will Sicarius and Amaranthe hook up?

Granted, the female readers seem more concerned about this than the male readers, but this is the #1 question I get.

The answer is…I’m not entirely sure. Do you think they should? He’s not really a good influence, you know. ;-)

How many books will there be?

I have tentative plans to write six books with each having a different person from Amaranthe’s team as the secondary character. This was Books’s story. I’m planning to do Basilard next, and Maldynado is jumping up and down, demanding to know when it’ll be his turn.

Will you do more on Amaranthe and her backstory?

For good or ill, there’s not always a lot of time to work character history into my adventures, and Amaranthe is the kind of gal who’s more interested in getting other people’s stories (AKA prying into other people’s lives) than sharing her own.

If you read
The Frozen Water Trade
, a short story in
Ice Cracker II (and other stories),
she and Sicarius are working for one of her old school friends, and there’s a little more on her relationship with her deceased father.

Are you going to put out print versions?

Yes. I’ve been slow to do this since it’s impossible to compete with mainstream publishers on price when it comes to physical books, but several people have expressed an interest (thank you!), so I’ll get some done soon.

How do you pronounce your characters’ names? And why’d you pick such weird names for your heroes anyway?

Amaranthe ~ Am ah ranthe

Sicarius ~ Si car ee us

Basilard ~ Baz i lard

Maldynado ~ Mal dih na doh

Akstyr ~ Aks tire

Books ~ okay, you probably don’t need my help with that one

Sespian ~ Ses pee an

As for the reasons why, most are arbitrary (I played Everquest with someone whose avatar was named Akstyr and I knew a Maldonado in the army and liked the sound of the name), but for my heroes, Sicarius and Amaranthe, I wanted names that meant something.

The Greek root of Amaranth(e) means “unfading,” and I thought that was appropriate for a heroine determined to have a place in the history books. The
Wikipedia article
has a lot more information on the name if you’re ever bored.

I swiped Sicarius straight out of a Latin-English dictionary. It was a bit on the nose (literally meaning assassin), but I liked the look of it. I don’t remember the Latin pronunciation, so mine probably isn’t accurate. You’re welcome to pronounce them any way you like.

Where did you get the idea to mix steampunk with heroic/action fantasy?

Well, I didn’t. I hadn’t read any steampunk when I started working on this (the world and characters date back to 2001 or 2002, and the first version of
Emperor’s Edge
came to be in 2005 or so). I’m sure steampunk was around, but I wasn’t aware of it as a genre. I just knew I wanted a different setting than the ubiquitous medieval fantasy I’d grown up reading, so I decided on an industrial-revolution setting, and that lent itself to some interesting places and contraptions.

As for action, with few exceptions, I’ve always preferred faster paced swords & sorcery or heroic fantasy novels to the sprawling epics, so it was natural for me to write the kinds of stories I like. I’m sure it’s no surprise that I tend to enjoy some mystery wrapped into the adventure.

Do you do a lot of world-building before writing, or did/does the setting emerge in the course of writing a book?

I don’t do a lot of world-building, ever, heh. I’m impressed with the creative settings some authors come up with, but I’m such a character-based writer that I’m only interested in the world insofar as it affects my characters and provides an interesting place for the action to occur.

I usually know the big things (government system, religion, economy, climate, etc.) ahead of time, but then I make up smaller settings and details as I go.

Are you going to write a sequel to Encrypted?

I’d like to someday. I have one plotted out with the first few chapters written. So far,
The Emperor’s Edge
has been more popular, and I’d always intended to do a series with these characters, so I’m focusing on those books first.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going with a publishing house?

Lots of reasons. The biggest one was an utter lack of interest in playing the Agent Hunt game and the slowness of the traditional system in general. I didn’t want to wait two years (if ever) to see my novels published. As an independent author, I can publish my novels within weeks of finishing the final draft.

Also, you keep a much higher percentage of the royalties as an independent, so you can theoretically make a living as a writer without selling bazillions of books. I’m not there yet, but maybe someday.

The only thing I feel I miss out on is the input of a professional editor who specializes in my genre. I know I have room for improvement as a writer, and I’m always sure my stories could be better, but I’ve been fortunate enough to find folks who seem to enjoy them as they are. (That would be you guys. Thank you!)

Have any questions or comments for me?
Stop by my site
and let me know. Thanks for reading!