I didn’t win at the Nebs this year, but they’re the gift that keeps on giving nevertheless. SFWA’s got a lovely interview posted with me that I did while I was in France. An excerpt:
In writing Book One, what was the hardest part? The easiest?
Probably the political intrigue was hardest, because it interested me the least. I’ve written stories whose focus/purpose was politics, and when that’s what I intend, I enjoy writing it — the forthcoming Dreamblood novels are all politics, all the time — but in this case my purpose was to play with mythological archetypes. I suspect some readers wanted the opposite — more politics, less myth. But I wanted to write something inspired not by oh, George R. R. Martin or J. R. R. Tolkien, but by the myths and epics of old: Zeus’ tragicomic love affairs with mortal men and women; Nephthys, the Egyptian goddess who caused the Nile to flood by screwing around with her sister’s husband; the endless adventures of tricksters like Anansi and Loki and Coyote and Inari; the moon goddess Chang’e, who got turned mortal as fallout when her husband killed nine of the Jade Emperor’s sons… there’s just so much cool stuff there to play with. How can mere politics compare?
I was jetlagged and entranced by the French countryside while I answered these! So enjoy.