“So What Kind Of Books Do You Write?”
A while back, someone asked me exactly that question; “So what kind of books do you write?”
Here are some of my possible answers:
I see The Wall of Night series, which I’m current working on, as “epic” and/or “high” fantasy in the tradition of works such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar trilogy. It’s also been described as “dark fantasy,” which I would agree with to the extent that there is a great deal of darkness in the story.
The Wall Of Night series is also:
Adventurous—this is a tale of quests and journeys, dungeon crawls and rooftop chases, battles, melees and contests of arms.
Magical—in fact Robin Hobb described The Heir of Night as being imbued with “strange magic” and I think that’s a fair enough description …
Twist-y and Turn-y—this is definitely not a story where, however classical the epic frame, you can ever rely on things always remaining as they initially seem…
I also write books that are (imho) all about:
Friendship—and the conflicts of loyalty and honor that may arise from this, both within and external to the “band of brothers” is one of the strongest themes that runs through the series.
And yes, Love—which began to come into the series in The Gathering of the Lost and evolves further in Daughter of Blood. (I’m not saying any more though, because that would be a—hiss—Spoiler.)
And that’s about enough to be going on with, I reckon! 😉
Having read the first 2 books in the Wall of Night series, I would agree with this description. Strange magic, love and friendship, adventurous.
The “twisty and turny” aspects I would describe as political intrigue.
I regard dark fantasy as being the notch just above horror, which these books are Not, but there is darkness in that there is a lot of bad stuff going on.
Overall, a great story so far and very balanced. No one aspect over-shadows the others.
Political intrigue is also very apt, although for “twist-y and turn-y”, I was also thinking about the layer-within-layers of the plot.
I must admit I’ve always been a bit unsure about exactly what ‘dark fantasy’ is, but am interested that you see it as ‘more than’ Horror, whereas (when I read this term in relation to my books) I had thought “maybe fantasy with darker/some horror-trending elements…” Which could fit, but Horror or “more than Horror” is a “definitely NOT.
But thank you, thank you for the overall vote of thanks. 🙂
But thank
Clarification ! I do not read horror. Horror is more scary than dark fantasy. I actively avoid reading horror.
I do read dark fantasy, but not often. “Above” horror in that it is less dark and scary.
I don’t regard your books as dark fantasy or horror, but there is darkness in that there is a lot of bad stuff going on.
Ah — thanks for that clarification.:)