Jeffro Johnson's book, Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons and Dragons, hit Amazon this week like the fist of an angry God.  It rocketed up the lists to claim the top spot in multiple categories, and has people talking all over the place.  One of those places is a podcast hosted by Declan Finn (aka A Pius Geek), a very Sad Puppy and Dragon Award nominee, and the author of Honor At Stake).  You can hear the whole thing here:



It would be hard to understate how big an impact Jeffro has had on my way of looking at literature.  Jeffro is pretty much the sole reason that Appendix N books are listed in the categories of books chosen by the Puppy of the Month book club, and we've had more than a few of them so far.  It was his advocacy that sold me on the inclusion of Appendix N works, and so in many ways this blog was started as an answer to his call to arms for the true believers and modern day heirs of Howard, Burroughs, and Moore.

So it was extremely gratifying to hear him endorse our little corner of the culture war (at about 1:23:00 in the podcast) when he said, "Those guys are onto something, and if they wanted, they have the talent to go in and put stuff on Amazon in the list of criticism and theory of science fiction...they could just go in and camp out there.  They would have a presence there that I don't think existed before."

That sort of acknowledgement makes it all worthwhile.

Puppy Talk: An Interview with Schuyler Hernstrom

Schuyler Hernstrom, author of this month's Puppy of the Month and frequent contributor to Cirsova Magazine, is a rarity in the new publishing world - an author without a major social media presence.  While his works are becoming increasingly well known, the author himself is something of a mystery.  Just as his writing harkens back to that of the old masters, Hernstrom typically parcels out information about himself in short paragraphs included with his works.  In what may be the longest interview published to date, he talks about his writing inspiration and shares a few small glimpses into his  adventurous life away from the keyboard.  Enjoy!

Editor: Rabid or Sad?

SH: Ya know, this is corny but I am actually going to pull a quote from my own work to answer. It is a bit early in the career to pull a stunt like this but it is so apropos I can’t resist:

He took a knife from his belt and cut away the flag and a length of cloth from the sleeve and turned to Tyur. He tied the thing to the hunter’s thick arm. Tyur looked down in awe.

“But I am not of your blood…”

“All who fight tyranny are of my tribe.”

The young man grasped his host’s shoulders and the old man returned the gesture.

Hopefully the whole thing will be in the Cirsova Eldritch Earth issue.

When was the moment you realized there was something lacking in today's fiction? Did that coincide with your desire to start writing?

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

Actually as a young man I was inundated with Vance, Howard, Lieber, Jakes, Anderson, everything. So when I would step out, and this is in the eighties, I would pick up a science fiction magazine from time to time and be sent flying back into the arms of these old paperbacks, or a comic. I didn’t know how to interpret it at the time. I figured there was the good, fun stuff, and the sophisticated, boring stuff. The dichotomy never really made perfect sense even back then. Herbert’s "Dune" is jam packed with all things I wanted when I was 12 but it is also an incredibly deep look at human history.  

I had no idea what the field was like when I finally sat down to write. I still don’t really understand it. I try to read up a bit, I follow Jeffro and read commentary on the state of the genre. I am coming late to the discussion but in the end everything points to much larger issues. I’ve come to find that my thinking on the genre is like putting a magnifying glass on the elephant’s tail. I feel like I need to go back to anthropology, philosophy, and try to understand how cultures create their values and what that means. When I feel as if I am living among ruins, is that just me being maudlin? Medieval Italians took stones from the Coliseum to build houses. What are we dismantling now?

In recent interviews, you revealed that writing is a second career that you started only after your 40th birthday.  What motivated you to start?  Do you have any formal training?

I’ve always wanted to do some writing but the time never felt right. I always felt like I would write a novel one day but how to even get started? But I get older, I get domesticated, and a friend of mine brings up short fiction and encourages me to try it, and here we are. He designs and publishes miniatures games and over the years I got to have fun writing fluff fiction for some of his books. He was thinking about writing some shorts for Pathfinder, I guess they do some short fiction somehow, and he prodded me to try it. I played around a bit and then just had fun with it, forgetting all about Pathfinder and not thinking about venues or anything. When the dust settled I had something I really liked so I just kept going.

When I was 19 I took a creative writing course and it was a bit of a disaster. I don’t want to harp on this because everyone is different but I have gotten nothing out of any formal instruction or written advice anywhere with the exception of one article, a piece written by John C. Wright that had a few paragraphs and explained why they worked. The article was short, I got it for free somehow, and it was gold. Pure gold. With all the how-to books and everything no one had actually explained the sleight of hand, the actual craft, right there, right in front of your face. I found I was doing it, but reading the explanation made sure that I could continue doing it, and do it better. I cannot imagine that info isn’t out there somewhere else. But I hadn’t found it. Now, again, everyone is different, and I have not scoured the earth looking for good advice on writing. So no one be dissuaded from their own research about how to be better.

A number of people have offered up suggestions for authors who have inspired your work ranging from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Jack Vance to Poul Anderson.  Do you have an author that you consider your primary influence?

That’s pretty tough. I write a couple different types of stories but the ones closest to my heart are the ones like "Athan and the Priestess". They happen in a sort of myth world that occupies some nook in my brain, living on despite constant assault from the modern world. The writer who best resembles that inner myth world is Dunsany. Howard and Vance are huge as well, probably in practical terms bigger influences, but Dunsany goes for that sort of transcendent quality I find irresistible

Terronus, by  Scott R. Pyle and
Schuyler Hernstrom

Who are some of your favorite authors writing today?

Cirsova kicked off a real renaissance for me in terms of new writers to check out. That is turning into a deep ocean. Outside of that pool there is Dariel Quiogue, a guy I found through Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, really good sword and sorcery there. Past puppy pick Niemeier is blowing my mind. The aforementioned John C. Wright is incredibly talented. And I am really excited about more stuff from Adrian Cole on the way!

With its strong grounding in epic fantasy, sprawling worlds, and constant action and adventure, your work could stand proudly among the ranks of the Appendix N books.  It’s clear that you have taken considerable inspiration from many of them.  As we all know, Appendix N was an expression of tabletop gaming.  Are you a tabletop gamer?  Did you discover these works through Gygax’s tome, or did you come to gaming through a love of fantasy literature?

Being marked as “N” quality is the highest compliment I could hope to receive. I do play D&D. I run a public 5E game and I have a B/X game for me and my buds. For me gaming and literature have always been intertwined. Appendix N was well represented on the shelves in my home growing up. My dad was into this stuff and I grew up in a house creaking under the weight of all the books. I feel really lucky. There were the books, the Frazetta covers, Savage Sword of Conan, games, movies, tv shows, all boiling in a giant cauldron. It spilled into everything, car and motorcycle culture with a nod to airbrushed panels and tanks, painting miniatures, heavy metal, tattoos, Wagner, everything, even bodybuilding and martial arts. Geek culture likes to arrange everything in little fandom boxes but for me it has always been such a multifaceted thing.  

Do you have a writing routine?

I don’t really have a routine. I have to be in a certain state of mind when I start something. Once it is begun, then I can feed off it to get back into that state of mind, like an engine that has been warmed up. I use a lot of music to get in the mood, and sometimes weed.

Are you planning to write a full novel or, as is common in fantasy, a multi-volume saga?

I don’t want to close the door on anything but I cannot imagine writing one of those sprawling sagas. It just isn’t in me. Those things are written with a different purpose than the one that motivates my writing. Nothing at all wrong with them, it just isn’t me. I have a novel in my head but I keep going back on forth with it. I am having so much fun with the short fiction that I don’t feel a burning need to do the novel, but then I think I really should.

Is there a genre you haven't yet tried but would want to? And, also, is there something you'd never write?

I think multi-volume things are off the menu as I talked about earlier. As far as other genres, sometimes I get the urge to write “literary fiction”.  There are a number of authors I like outside the genre, Ernst Junger, Mishima, Hesse, Dostoevsky, and sometimes I dare to think that I should be working on something to document the particular mental spaces that we occupy today. Then I remember that the things I would have to say would be likely be outside the boundaries of discourse set in place by our betters that it would never get anywhere.

As one of Cirsova’s regular contributors, has all of your work for that magazine been submitted blind, or do you do spec work to fill in holes in the editor’s line-ups?

It was pretty much blind but I got on the list for the Eldritch Earth issue so that is nice.

You’ve done an admirable job straddling the line between self-publishing and securing work through Cirsova magazine.  How has self-publishing worked out for you?  Any advice for the recent crop of authors picking up the pen and throwing their own hats into the self-publishing ring?

My strategy comes from Dean Wesley Smith. Get into some magazines and then have some self-published stuff on the rack for people who like your work. If it wasn’t for people like him giving us wanna-be’s the straight dope I would be pretty clueless. The publishing industry does a really good job of controlling the frame but between the internet and Amazon things are opening up. Larry Correia also dishes out a great deal of hardcore info about how the whole thing works. My only advice to people starting out is do some homework and be fearless. Considering the work I have done to promote myself, my venture into self-publishing has succeeded much better than I dared hope.

Unlike other contemporary self-published authors, you seem hesitant to advertise yourself or to have a social media presence. Why is that so?

I think it goes back to that little bio of Vance in the back of the book. That was enough back then. I take my work very seriously. I want my work to be more out there, more known, more prominent than me. I don’t want to have public stances on every event or issue that comes up. I don’t want to spend time creating content other than my writing. A great many writers are doing that, and I do not begrudge them any of it. They are doing what they want to do, putting themselves out there, partly to market their work and because they have something to say. I think that is awesome. It just isn’t me. When it is all said and done my career may suffer for this, but I just have to do it my way. Otherwise I would be faking it. I’ve been contacted by people that wanted to let me know they like my stuff or ask a question and I love it, I love meeting people. I am just not going to maintain any sort of real presence online.

Lore, Vol. 2, No. 5 contains Hernstrom's
short story, "Palace of the Androgyne"

"Thune’s Vision", this month’s Puppy of the Month selection, is your first independently available title.  Can you tell us what you have in store in the near future?

I don’t know! Ideas for stories keep popping into my head but I have a novel cooking back there somewhere and I honestly have trouble deciding where to concentrate my efforts. Whichever way I go I just want to keep making things. I’ve had a blast so far, I’ve met some amazing people, and I expect it is only going to get better.

The Puppy of the Month Book Club has given you their take on your work – do you want to take a few shots at our reviews?

Oh no. Anything that I disagreed with simply boils down to a matter of personal taste. I was surprised "Movements of the Ige" was so well liked. I imagined it would be thought of as a palette cleanser. Obviously I love it, but you just never know.  It comes as close as I can to an “idea” story. In Star Trek and other franchises, you have your warrior races. I like Star Trek, not knocking it, but I just wanted to take the warrior race to its limit.  Thus warfare is actually part of their ecology. And I like beauty, so let’s make it all beautiful. Why not?

Your Amazon bio mentions that you were enlisted twice and have been "a paratrooper, sailor, janitor, bouncer in Roppongi*, librarian, and a dozen other things, bringing a world wise slant to his tales of the fantastic. " There must be something funny or interesting there with such a life you could share with the Puppy of the Month Book Club.

Oh man. I have more stories than people have time to hear. When I was 19 I was bouncing off the walls. Remember before the internet when the only stuff you knew about an author was from a paragraph at the end of a book? I took note that Jack Vance was a well-travelled man. I decided to join the military and my mom begged me to go into the navy, the least dangerous one. I don’t know what she was worried about, this was after history had ended when the Soviet Union closed up shop but before the neocons had seized complete control. Vance had been a sailor so that was good enough for me. So I went into the navy. I can keep my mouth shut and obey complicated instructions so I did well in boot and got a school out of it. I picked intelligence analyst after watching the movie “Patriot Games”. I blame Polly Walker. At intel school I was the best at memorizing Russian weapons platforms so I got choice of station and picked Japan. I had an incredible time, got to visit a dozen different countries and sail all over the western Pacific.

After my enlistment was up I stayed over there. I had a job on the base and on the weekends I did the bouncing. It was pretty farcical. I think I got the gig based on my tattoo sleeves.  At the time I was built like an otter, very lithe, about 180 probably, and I’m 6’3”. But my comrades there were all very large, very fit men. Some of them had come over to get on the K-1 circuit. They were kickboxers. So as we settled into our roles it became clear that I was there as comic relief, a role I accepted with grace and seriousness. I worked in two different clubs, one in Shibuya and one in Roppongi. I never had to lay anyone out the whole time. There weren’t any bikers or skinheads over there, at least in those clubs, and when the Japanese party they just want to party. If anyone was going to be causing trouble it would have likely been me, and I was working, so there you go. My manager was a mountainous black guy, a true giant. He was a good natured man but one night the drink called up demons in him. As the club was letting out he got into it with a big group of natives and things went really south quickly. I will never forget the sight of him, bellowing his battle cries as a dozen Japanese men crawled all over him. People didn’t really “fight” fight over there, it is difficult to describe, more like a pushing match punctuated by the occasional pulled punch. In societies with high cohesion and homogeneity I think you are less likely to want to kill your foe during altercations. Anyway, it was like watching a tribe of goblins storming castle walls. Me and the other guys just pulled the Japanese off, one by one, and carried them to where “Big Al”, another large black man with hands like Christmas hams, was corralling them. The whole time the women were screeching and screaming. Even in mild distress the noises they make are still “kawaii”.

I travelled for spectacle and I got it. When I finally got back stateside I kicked around for a little bit and then went into the army, 11B, airborne, but a bout of Hodgkin’s Disease ended my military career right as Iraq was kicking off. It gets more and more boring after that. But I have my memories, tons of them, and I still manage to find some spectacle even after being domesticated. If you are stuck somewhere, fear not, just try to squeeze everything you can from the environment around you. I traded sunsets on the South Pacific and the thrill of parachuting for the hills of my home in Western PA. But they are beautiful hills and if they were all I could have it would be enough.

Great advice for all of us.  Any parting thoughts?

Thanks to everyone out there for the support. People have a million ways to spend their precious free time. If you’ve spent any of it on my writing you have my sincerest gratitude. And to all the other writers and content creators and bloggers, thanks for the help.  

Support your local Cirsova.

Author Interview: Brian Niemeier

Brian Niemeier is quickly establishing himself as a force within the sci-fi/fantasy publishing world as a force to be reckoned with.  He earned the distinction of being voted six of five for the Hugo's Campbell Award for Best New Writer, followed quickly by being awarded the inaugural Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel for Souldancer, the sequel to this month's Puppy of the Month. 

Despite the accolades and his busy schedule as a regular on both Geek Gab and the SuperversiveSF Roundtable, he graciously took a few minutes to answer a few questions from the Contributors.  Presented here as a Q&A, the questions for this interview have been edited for clarity and consistency, but Mr. Niemeier's words are untouched.

PotM:  Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for the Book Club, we’ve had a great time reading Nethereal.  Before we get to the book, let’s talk a little bit about you.  The big news first: Congratulations on your No Award, and even more so on your Dragon Awards win.  It was well deserved.  Where in the house have you chosen to display that gorgeous blown-glass trophy?  

BN:  Thanks.  The Dragon's on the mantel. I'm traditional that way. 

Rabid or Sad?

 

Yes.

 

What’s the best way to follow your writing progress?  Twitter, blog, mailing list?

I recommend my blog for keeping score on my long game: http://www.brianniemeier.com/

Facebook for my short game: https://www.facebook.com/souldancerbook/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Twitter for my fruit fly attention span game: https://twitter.com/brianniemeier

 

Let’s move on to the Puppy of the Month, Nethereal. It’s clear that you drew from a wealth of inspiration for both the story and setting of Nethereal.  Most readers will catch the references to pulp tales, Dante’s Inferno, and anime, and at least one described the setting to a less grimdark Warhammer 40k.  It’s clear from the many biblical references that you have formal training in Biblical study as well.  Are there any other sources from which you drew inspiration that casual readers might miss?

There’s a movement gaining traction in certain quarters, spearheaded by Jeffro Johnson’s Appendix N project and the Puppy of the Month Book Club, to revive the spirit of pulp era SFF. I enthusiastically endorse the pulp revival, but contrary to the impression that readers of Nethereal may take away from the book, my familiarity with the great pulp masters is honestly quite limited. I’ve mostly read Lovecraft and a couple of R.E. Howard stories. I do fully intend to explore Burroughs, Brackett, and “Doc” Smith; plus Walter B. Gibson’s work on The Shadow.

 

In hindsight, I think it’s safe to say that the Soul Cycle—Nethereal in particular—is responding to the same creative exhaustion in contemporary genre fiction that’s motivated the pulp revival. Almost every story released by the major movie studios and publishing houses is a copy of an imitation of a deconstruction of 70s and 80s homages to the pulps. Writers like Jeffro want to get back to the primary sources to work around the artistic dead end that SFF has devolved into. Certainly going back to the vine and growing a new branch from there is an approach that stands to bear fruit.

 

Instead of retracing my steps back to the main road, I came at the problem sideways; essentially by chance.

 

Anime and tabletop and video role-paying games—especially JRPGS—exert more influence on my writing than any SF book except Dune. The weird phenomenon of readers saying that these influences led me to produce something original seems counterintuitive at first; especially when you consider how derivative anime is of Western influences.

 

But the key difference between J. J. Abrams rehashing Spielberg and Hideaki Anno drawing inspiration from Childhood’s End is that with something like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Clarke’s story is filtered through the radically different perspective and tropes of Japanese culture. And tellingly, Anno wasn’t afraid to heavily salt his series with overt Christian imagery—something that, if you try it in the West, may not get you anathematized but will get your work pigeonholed into a very specific subcategory.

 

What this means for my writing is that I got most of my classic SF tropes secondhand through Japanese media; then distilled the hybrid influence into a kind of story that diverges from what most SFF fans are used to.

It's not terribly surprising that there would be such a convoluted path of inspiration behind Nethereal.  Anyone who has read the book will know why.  The background of the Netherverse plays a critical role in the storyline, and it’s clear that the two were developed in tandem.  Did you have specific plans for the sequels as you wrote Nethreal, and if so…how many sequels did you map out before you began writing the series?

The Soul Cycle sprang from a truly epic case of world builder’s disease. My initial notes on the universe go back over fifteen years.

 

I had four books in the continuous main series at least roughly outlined before I started writing—and I actually started with Souldancer before going back and writing Nethereal as the first book in the cycle—plus another series of four prequels that flesh out the background of ether-running, the origins of the Guild, and the history of the Purges.

 

All told, I’ve got four books in the Soul Cycle and four more books in an as-yet untitled prequel series planned. I’m also keen on the idea that multiple readers have suggested of doing an anthology of short stories that fill in the corners of Nethereal’s setting—fleshing out characters’ backgrounds and the like. That project is probably a ways off, though.

The Frisky Pagan had a specific question about the "clay tribe", the term the Gen use to describe humans. It is a curious term, with a certain religious significance.  Is there is a specific reason you chose it, and why the Gen use it to describe humans, but not themselves.

I'm glad TFP raised that question. Back before the Purges, the Gen culture had a strong tribal dynamic that affected everything from an individual's social standing to the professions that were deemed proper for him.

 

Gen tribes take their names from natural substances that are thought to exemplify a tribe's essence. You'll note that Jaren is identified as having Fire Tribe heritage. Leaders like the king of Avalon descend from the Gold Tribe.

 

The Gen had a million year or so head start on humans. They'd already mastered agriculture when we first started living in caves. At a loss for how to fit mankind into their social hierarchy, the ancient Gen named us the clay tribe. 

So in regard to TFP's second question, assigning humanity a tribe actually is the Gen's way of applying the nomenclature they use for themselves to us. It's a linguistic acknowledgement that both species are related.

 

Gen and human anthropologists have varying theories for why clay was chosen as the substance that best describes man. Some say it's because humans are more malleable and versatile than the Gen, which is largely true. Others consider it a term of condescension bordering on a racial slur that equates humans with a base material akin to dirt. Both could be right.

 

In terms of the meta-narrative, I drew from both the Genesis 2 account and Ovid's four ages.

Do you have a target release date set for the third book in the series?  How about a title?

Soul Cycle Book III is titled The Secret Kings. I’m working hard to give it a Christmas 2016 launch. For those who want a foretaste, there’s a preview of The Secret Kings at the end of Souldancer.

You suggested on Twitter that you would be writing a short story or two set within the Soul Cycle Universe.  Do you plan to self-publish those as well or submit them to a magazine such as Cirsova, Asimov’s, or  Clarke’s World?

This would be the proposed anthology I mentioned before. I would self-publish it; no question.

 

Old guard short fiction magazines are dying faster than the big New York publishing houses, though I’d definitely love to see one of my stories published in Cirsova someday. They seem to have discovered a winning formula of quality content and crowd funding that makes short fiction viable. So yes, Cirsova and Sci Phi Journal are about the only magazines I can think of right now that I’d consider doing business with.

You recently worked with Castalia House on a free give-away for Nethereal for those who purchased Grow or Die.  Do you have plans to work with Castalia House in the future?

Yes. I can’t divulge too many details yet, but Castalia House editors have already publicly stated that I’m in talks to write for them. I find the prospect highly exciting, since besides Baen, CH is pretty much the only publishing house that I have any interest in working with.

 

Now is also a good time to preemptively answer a couple of questions that several readers have asked me about my upcoming work with Castalia House.

 

First, rest assured that my CH project will not interfere with my ongoing work on the Soul Cycle.

 

Second, current and future works in the Soul Cycle will continue to be published by me as an independent publisher and author. Castalia House has expressed no interest in taking on publishing responsibilities for my indie books, and has in fact pointed out that doing so would likely be detrimental to both parties.

 

That said, I can’t wait until Castalia House unveils what we’ve got in store for our readers. It’s gonna be game-changing.

You're such a tease.  Castalia House has high standards, and your work seems a natural fit we can't wait to see what your collaboration has in store for us.  Thank you for your time, Brian, we look forward to reading more from you in the future.

Thank you. My novels Nethereal, and its Dragon Award-winning sequel Souldancer, are both available from Amazon.