FAQ

I've read your published books and look... I really don't see how you can be writing a third one about Chevenga.  I mean, you killed him pretty dead at the end of Lion's Soul.  Are you resurrecting him, a la Jesus, or is it reincarnation, or what?

Revised and expanded means just that: revised... and... expanded.

First revision is: delete the epilogue of Lion's Soul.  The book now ends with this line: "This paragraph, it seems, is farewell."  Now start reading asa kraiya.

 

Do I have to read the dead tree books to read asa kraiya?

Ehh... yes and no.  What you want to do is read The Philosopher in Arms online first.  After some soul-searching, I decided to write asa kraiya standalone, but then after doing it for a while and getting much of The Philosopher in Arms posted, I changed my mind and did some major revisions to the first parts on Sept. 10, 2009, eliminating a number of flashbacks to scenes which now appear in PA. I didn't feel it was working well enough and there were huge spoilers for people who arrived there by accident.

 

So you've got a prequel that's incomplete (PA) and a sequel that's complete (ak). What's up with that?

Well, two things. First, I wanted to offer something new for people who've read my books before, right off the bat. Second... I needed to finish asa kraiya for emotional and spiritual reasons.

So I wrote and posted it, and it just took a shorter time than PA is taking.

 

The world was created collaboratively, wasn't it?

Sort of.  In the late 80s, Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and I noticed that we were all writing in a post-apocalyptic world, and so decided to combine our settings. Thus all the cultures were created individually but then set to rub up against each other.  We published a cluster of books (series is the wrong word, because they are not linear) under the overall title "Fifth Millennium" (as they take place somewhere between A.D. 4,000 and 5,000) with Baen Books.

The whole series is nicely described, complete with images of all the covers, on this website.  (You're right, S. Day: nothing is impossible.)

Though a line on the back-cover blurb of Lion's Heart made it appear that I was writing in a world created by Shirley and Steve (Stirling), it was put in for sales reasons and is not actually true.  The nations of Yeola-e, Laka, Tor Ench, Haiu Menshir and Arko were all my creations, though the other two authors sometimes offered ideas, and Shirley has been particularly interested in Arko more recently and has contributed a great deal to the development of it.  So while Chevenga visits parts of Shirley's portion of the world, he otherwise lives entirely in settings created by me. (At least so far.  You never know where he's going to go.)

There is one culture that is a true collaboration between Shirley and me: Anarktika, possibly the most interesting nation we've come up with so far.  Stay tuned for more. 

 

You bill asa kraiya as "a novel of transformation."  Why?

The obvious answer is that it's about Chevenga's transformation.  But sometime in early 2008, while doing preliminary work, I realized that Chevenga is not the only one who's going through a transformation. In some cases it's part of the plot (as with Esora-e) or in a flashback (as with Surya).  In fact there's a whole culture that's going through a transformation... and further cultural transformations impend. Transformation, as those who have undergone it know, is contagious; one person transforming will transform those who are close almost automatically, or at the very least, the relationship.  The upshot is that possibly every major character in the book might experience some sort of major change.

 

What do you feel now, as the author, about Lion's Heart and Lion's Soul?

Well, I wrote them a long time ago, so naturally I think they're full of flaws... flaws of inexperience, flaws of lack of knowledge, flaws of execution.  All the flaws I spot, I'm fixing in versions that I post.  But I still love all the characters (Chevenga especially) and, despite being my own worst critic, I can still pick the books up and lose myself in a scene.

Incidentally, the titles are Baen's, not mine.  They didn't like my titles, which were The Sword of Saint Mother and The Path Unconceived. Many years ago I was going to call the series The Sword and the Chain, but Joel Rosenberg went and beat me to it.

 

How is the new version, The Philosopher in Arms, different from the old two-book series?

It is much longer, much more in-depth, much more detailed. There is more of everything: more sub-plot, more violence, more sex, more philosophy, more characters, more characterization of existing characters, more dialogue, more spirituality.  The basic arc of the story is still the same but it is much more fully told, now.

 

What do you feel about asa kraiya?

asa kraiya is the book that I cried when I finished, because that meant I had to quit writing it. It was kind of like, "Phew, it's over. Wait... it's over? Waaaaaaahhh..." I usually plan my books, but this one I didn't except very generally, because twists kept coming to me. It kept surprising me. I never knew what I would come with next. It's by far the most inspired thing I've ever done.

asa kraiya is right at the edge of what I am capable of writing, because it's right at the edge of what I am capable of understanding.  I'm not sure I actually do entirely understand it, and wonder if I ever will, and that's part of why it's so fascinating to me.

Now that it's finished, I've begun to hear from readers how reading it has touched them personally and even caused transformations in their lives. This -- as well as telling an entertaining story -- is what I was hoping for, so it's deeply satisfying.

 

How long have you been writing about Chevenga?

Since 1974 or so, though there was a lengthy hiatus right after I published the books, then another between 1999 and 2007.  In all that time, he and I both have gone through a lot of changes.

 

Why did you come back to Chevenga after leaving him for a while?

I think I realized I wasn’t quite yet finished saying everything I had to say using him as a character, and returning to it with greater knowledge and maturity I found I really enjoyed.

 

What inspired you to create him and his setting?

He came from something very deep in me, and he has many meanings; that's all I can say.  The setting draws from all sorts of sources, including more than one culture from utopian fiction, and many facets of real cultures, both ancient and modern, that I found interesting.

 

Ahhh! There are a zillion unfamiliar names and dates and places in the text... is there a reference?

Don't panic!  Yes!  The Millennipedia.  I should mention here that I put it together at the behest and with the help of my dear friend Melissa Gold.

If you feel something that isn't in the Millennipedia should be, please say so in comments or by email.)

 

You're letting us read it for free—how are you going to make any money?

Donations, patron payments and advertising revenue. If you enjoy my writing and thus find it of value to you, please donate, because that way, ultimately, you'll see more of it when I am able to drop other means of income. Advertisers pay for the privilege of their messages being in front of your visiting eyeballs. (So please avail yourself of their products/services!) Patron service at $4/month entitles you to the premium content and other goodies.

 

Are there versions of the books available in e-book, print or printable download or other formats?

Not yet, because I've been so busy writing that I haven't got around to doing this. I plan to. Look for downloadable PDF, an ebook version, and hard copy. Once PA is done, I plan to split the existing Chevenga memoirs, which will be over a million words at that point, into ten or more retitled books.

 

Are you ever going to go on hiatus without warning?

Not unless there's an emergency of some sort, and I'll explain it, plus tell you when I'll start posting again. If I know I'm not going to post when I usually do for some reason, I will let you know beforehand. If an extended power or Internet outage keeps me offline, I'll explain when I'm back.

 

Are you going to keep this up indefinitely?

That's the plan.  But you never know where life is going to take you.  I won't attempt to post daily on two weblit works at once again, unless I make enough money at it to quit doing other paid work, because it was burning me out. If I ever lose my inspiration, I won't keep going just to keep going, because that just doesn't work either for a writer or for readers.  I have lots of ideas, however.

 

Hey, I went back and read an earlier post and it was different! Did you revise it or something?

Yes. I did what I call a ninja edit. I think it was Herman Wouk who said that he's not that great a writer, but he's a great rewriter. I work like that too, so that you could say that maybe my writing method doesn't suit the Internet... or you could say it does, because revising is so quick and easy! Anyway--I always do it for one reason only: to make my work better for you, the reader.

 

So Shirley Meier is posting a new Fifth Millennium book online too. What does that mean, "interlaces" with yours?

Yes, she is, it's entitled Eclipse Court, it's the story of Minis, the son of Kurkas Aan (the tyrant mentioned above) and it's here. "Interlaces" means that we are each writing from the points of view of characters in the same world who interact with each other.  So by reading both, you'll sometimes get the same scenes from different points of view.  We'll be sure to cross-link when that happens.

Shirley and I have created scenes by role-playing them together for many years, and now we do it by Google Docs, so that each scene's dialogue is all in effect written beforehand.

At the moment we have plans for three fully-collaborative Fifth Millennium works: The Fool on the Mountain, The Games and Anarktika. See my "other works" page for lots more info.  Stay tuned (but be patient).

 

Why are you publishing online when you've already published traditionally?  Why don't you just keep doing that?

Four reasons.  First: Let's say you go out and buy a hardcover book for $20.  How much of that money do you think goes to the author, the person who's taking you on the journey you're enjoying as you read?  If it's a typical contract: $2.  Yep: 10%.  How about when it comes out in paperback and you can buy it for $8?  Does the writer still get $2? Nope... most likely it's 48 cents, then 64 cents once it sells over a certain number.  6 and 8% contracts are common.  (This may be very different for the J.K. Rowlingses of the world.  I wouldn't know.)  I never got more than six per cent myself.  Miniscule, you say—but standard.

When, however, you click on an online author's "donate" button, or view an ad, the author gets 100% of the revenue, minus web and advertising expenses (which are relatively low.)  What you pay for reading doesn't go towards growing and cutting down any trees, putting ink on paper or transporting material items with weight around the landscape—all expensive processes.  So there's a big money saving there, which benefits both author and readers, and which I think will eventually result in online literature becoming a cultural force to be reckoned with (just as the political blogosphere has become a political force to be reckoned with.  I have environmental concerns in the back of my mind too, actually... I like reducing my literary carbon footprint.

Second, this way I have total editorial and marketing control.  A good editor is quite possibly a writer's best friend, because they make you look good, and I appreciate being edited in ways that improve the quality of my work.  But when you get things like being asked to remove gay content, being sent negative letters from the publisher's beta readers because he thinks you have an ego problem, or a back-cover blurb that convinces all the reviewers your original work is actually a coat-tail on someone else's (all these things have happened to me), you kind of get to wanting to do your own thing.  As well, on the Internet, I don't have to play to an audience that a particular publisher has cultivated.  The audience that likes my work will find me.

Third: there's also the whole gatekeeper thing, which is maybe where it gets as close as it gets for me to sour grapes.  I have been taught that if you do good work and you get it out there, people will be interested and appreciative.  But in the traditional publishing industry, there is a very small group of people who determine whose work is going to be promoted.  Are they qualified?  They themselves are likely to tell you that they don't have the ability to predict what will go over well.  I've seen books expected to soar flop totally, and books that 47 editors rejected as crap become bestsellers on the 48th.  (The only financial safety in publishing is same as the stock market: diversity of holdings.)  In that sense, no one is qualified.

On the Internet, however, there are no gatekeepers. (There are people who would like to be gatekeepers, but they have no real power.) My ability to be out there is limited only by my imagination and motivation. If you read any or all of the Chevenga books, you'll see that I am an extremely democratic-minded person, and the Internet is the ultimate democracy in terms of what rises to the top.  I like that.

Fourth: I like the idea of interacting directly and immediately with readers.  When I was corresponding with Alexandra Erin about how to do this, she said that if I was used to traditional publishing I might have trouble adjusting to people immediately commenting.  But to me it seems like Nirvana. So please, comment away! Comment early, comment often!

Update, July 2011: Also because e-literature is the way of the future. The booming sales of e-books have proved that.

 

Who are your literary influences?

First and foremost, Mary Renault with her stunning novels of ancient Greece.   She was my writing goddess when I was a teenager.  I aped her style unashamedly, and learned a lot.  But there were many others including James Joyce, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and Gene Wolfe.  I couldn't help but be influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien, but not as much as many fantasy authors.  My journalism training has to be counted as a literary influence, too.

 

If you like Mary Renault so much, why don't you write an ancient Greece novel?

Funny you should ask...  I am writing an ancient Greece novel.   It's about Alexander the Great.  Stay tuned to this channel.  Oh by the way, if you think anything ancient Greek and especially Alexander-related is cool, you'll like the travel blog of my two-week trip to Greece in June 2008.

 

Who did the cool artwork on the website?

Mostly Larry Elmore, the artist who painted the covers for the two Chevenga novels.  However, that's going to change over time as I add material and illustrate it with images that I have done myself.  I use a piece of software called FaceGen, which generates 3D human faces, and can also sample them from photos, allowing you to manipulate them in any way after that.  I read Chevenga's face into it from Larry's painting for the front cover of Lion's Heart, and now have a template that I can use, with the aid of Corel PhotoPaint, part of CorelDraw Graphics Suite, to make Chevenga portraits. (What I'm waiting for is solfware that does the same for the whole body -- Poser isn't there yet, imo -- so I have head-to-toe templates for Chevenga and other characters.  I know it's just a matter of time.)  Check out the Millennipedia every now and then for new character shots.

 

Do the pictures of Chevenga really look like him?

Yes.  When I learned that Larry would be doing my cover art, I sent him a pencil sketch I had done of my protagonist.  He clipped it to his easel and rendered it into colour quite exactly for Lion's Heart.  The images I've done after running the face through FaceGen also match what's in my mind pretty well, with the further advantage that they look more like photos. The front-on shot of Chevenga I use for avatars and the book "cover" art, the profile on the FaceBook fan link and a few more I have up my sleeve were done that way.

I'm working on the "definitive asa kraiya image" (DAKI) which is a complex photo-realistic piece using the Elmore/FaceGen Chevenga face plus twenty-odd photos all altered and placed as image components.  There are two versions of it, one in which you can't see Chevenga's aura and which is now the banner image on the asa kraiya page since it's complete... and one in which you have "Surya-vision" and you can see the aura, complete with scenes from Chevenga's past, which I'm still working on.  My goal is to figure out how to put it on a website with a scroll-bar across the bottom of it so you can make the one fade into the other. If you know how to do this please contact me.

 

So you do computer artwork, too?

Yep.