Aloha to Michael J. Sullivan and THE HEIR OF NOVRON

On this day in 1789, the citizens of Paris storm the Bastille.   It was an epic event that changed European history.   Fantasy author Michael J. Sullivan offers an epic series, the RIYRIA REVELATIONS, that comes highly recommended by Elf, The Reading Reviewer.  I invited Michael to join us today at SOS Aloha!

THE STORMING OF THE BASTILLE by Jean-Pierre Houel

Kim:  Congrats on being able to speak (and type) that you are a full time novelist. What did you do to celebrate - any special indulgence? 

Michael:  The road to “independence” is a long and gradual one. While I’ve signed some very good contracts (and celebrated them with nice dinners out with my wife), it’s really not like flipping a switch. In other words, there isn’t a definable moment when everything changes.

It’s more like climbing a mountain, feeling the satisfaction of reaching the crest, and then finding row upon row of more peaks that need to be traversed. There are many accomplishments along the way but always a new challenge to face.

That being said, the thing that really solidified things for me is when my wife quit her “day job.” For years we lived off of her income while I worked on realizing my dream of writing for a living. She loved her job, so it wasn’t a hardship, but I’m so glad that we are now both home together, and she doesn’t have to get up each day and “work for the man.”

Here's a mountain to climb - the Na Pali on Kaua'i!

Kim:  We're nosy here at SOS Aloha - please share your favorite sight, sound, and smell from where you live.

Michael:  As to my favorite sight, that’s easy: my wife’s smile. She is a very hard working and intense A-type person. When she enjoys something it really transforms her. She literally beams, and I often hold that vision in my mind’s eye when she’s not around.

As to sound…I’m about to go on vacation and take my son to a place I found to be very special. It’s Arcadia National Park in Maine. Early in our life together my wife and I went on a trek throughout New England and this was one of our favorite spots. We were poor so we drove and camped. While staying at Black Woods Campground, we would get up each morning and walk down to the sea. We would sip coffee or tea sitting on the rocks draped in fog. The world was mostly quiet, every noise muffled and dampened, and the sounds would drift in from sources unknown: the sound of a bell on a warning buoy or a fog horn in the distance. Occasionally you’d catch just the hint of a low conversation from someone enjoying the same experience, hidden out of sight somewhere nearby in their own little crag of rock. It is one of my fondest memories, and I’m excited that in a few weeks I’ll be back there again and able to share this with my son.

As for smell, it’s probably cliché, but I’d rather be truthful than original, so I’ll go for the scent of fresh pine when raising a tree each Christmas. My father was a crane operator at a steel plant and worked nights so he was usually coming in as I was waking up. We would spend some time in the wee hours of the morning sitting on the couch, watching the lights on the tree before he would go off to sleep. The house was always quiet and it was just the two of us, but those days were short lived as he died while I was still just a boy. I’ve always found that smell evokes the strongest memories and each year I’m reminded of those times that were so very special to me.

Kim:  What were the challenges and rewards of publishing through a small press? Now with a traditional publisher?

Michael:  The small press experience was an interesting one. It was the first time that someone showed an interest in my work and willing to invest money to see it find an audience, so of course that will always be a very rewarding memory. The owners of that first small press had all the best intentions, but because they were always strapped financially they themselves struggled. There were many times when the books went “out of print” because the warehouse had not been paid and would not ship books until the publisher “got current.” I actually ended up buying about 900 books directly from the warehouse to get the books flowing again.

Traditional publishing is actually pretty effortless. You have a whole team of people helping to get the books ready: editors, proof readers, cover designers, sales people, marketing, PR, and on and on. It’s actually nice not to having to do it all yourself (I actually self-published five of the six books between the small and large press contracts). Orbit is the fantasy imprint of a “big-six” (Hachette Book Group) and so there is an exceptional amount of pride in having an organization at that level saying “you are good enough.” The only challenge with that venue was with regards to contracts. There are a lot of clauses that are “standard” in the industry that I have issues with because I’m a maverick and don’t want to be told when and how I produce my books. I understand from a business practice the publisher wants to protect their investment, but I also abhor anything that infringes on my freedom. For instance, as I write this I’m not allowed to produce any novel until August 2012. On an intellectual level I can appreciate why a publisher would want such clauses, but on a personal level I found them difficult to accept.

Kim:  Tell us about your fantasy worlds - what inspired them?

Michael:  A lot of fantasy books focus on the world building aspect. I myself have 8,000 years of history that is part of the world of Elan and have developed races, religions, customs, conventions, political structures and the role of the church in that society. But to be honest, for me I look at world building as merely a stage. Of the three pillars of writing: character, plot, and setting, I put the least amount of emphasis on setting. I subscribe to the concept of the iceberg where just a fraction of what I have created is actually shown to the reader. I don’t want to expose more of this “framework” just because I put so much time and effort into its creation. Having all that background provides me a resource to tap to add color, and there is a richness that comes from knowing all the details, but unless it adds to the plot, or affects the characters, I don’t spend a great deal of time detailing the world.

My story, like most fiction, is really about the characters. What life experiences have made them how they are now, and putting forth obstacles that will shape what they are to become. I chose a “traditional fantasy world” (one resembling Medieval Europe) because I liked the familiarity that such a setting has for fantasy readers. I didn’t want the setting to take center stage, but I did want to utilize aspects of this time period to my advantage. For instance, Elan is a male dominated society, and as such I’m able to show the contrast of women who break the conventions imposed by their society to become forces to be reckoned with. They stand toe-to-toe with their male counterparts, but their strength is shown through intelligence rather than by donning leather and wielding a sword.

Kim:  What's new from Michael Sullivan? What's next from Michael Sullivan?

Michael:  As I mentioned I can’t publish any novels at the moment, so the three books of The Riyria Revelations (Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, and Heir of Novron) are my most recent releases. They are still pretty new, having been released from Nov 2011 – Jan 2012. I’ve also put out two short stories: The Viscount and the Witch and Greener Grass. Viscount is a Riyria short that I wrote for current fans (to give them something to hold them over while waiting for the Orbit book releases) and for new fans to get a quick introduction into my two main characters.

Greener Grass is actually much different for me. It’s a science fiction short about a man from our time who travels to the future in the hopes of finding a cure for his cancer. In this piece I present several perspectives, and it’s meant to say more about the reader than the writer. What I mean by that, is that based on your beliefs you may find the future as being dystopian or utopian, and the ending a tragic transgression or a fitting punishment.

As to what’s next. I have completed three novels since finishing The Riyria Revelations, and I’m deep into writing a fourth while simultaneously preparing (doing research) on my next big series that I hope to start in the fall.Of the three completed novels, one is a standalone and the other two are related chronologically (although technically they could be read independently of each other). The standalone is called Antithesis, and it is a contemporary fantasy about a man who becomes the unlikely recipient of a powerful magical ability, without realizing that having it has also painted a target on his back. I’ve received some beta feedback on this, and for the most part it is just “sitting” until I have some free time to incorporate that.

The two books that are related have been submitted to my publisher and they have made me a nice offer. We are still working out the nitty-gritty details (that has more to do with “other stories” and the possible timing of them) so I don’t want to say too much about these books as I don’t want to “scoop” any announcement that they may have planned.

The current book I’m writing is entitled Hollow World and was inspired by Greener Grass. It doesn’t use the same protagonist but it does involve another time traveler that arrived before Dan Sturges and explains why Dan receives the reception that he did.

In many ways these four novels are meant to provide a runway for my next series. I wrote all six-volumes of The Riyria Revelations before publishing the first and would like to do the same with this next series. This provides me the freedom to interject characters or incidents in earlier volumes when I discovered some nice twists and turns in later ones. Because it may take me two or three years to write that series, I need a nice pile of books that can come out during the wait.

Mahalo, Michael, for visiting us in paradise!   I am giving away a Hawaiian Fantasy gift pack to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about fantasy novels - what draws you to them?

2.  This giveaway is open to all readers.

3.  Comments are open through Saturday, July 21, 10 pm in Hawaii.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, July 22.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii

Waimea Falls from
FANTASY ISLAND

To learn more about Michael and his books, check out his website at www.riyria.blogspot.com.

Check out Elf's review of THE HEIR OF NOVRON at this link.

Kamehameha's heirs continued to live on this land.