Ask the Author: Alec Hutson
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Alec Hutson
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Alec Hutson
Hey Tim. I do have a sequel trilogy in the works and a lot of questions will be answered, but I don't have a firm date yet for publication. So many balls in the air!
Alec Hutson
Of course! Sorry I missed this first time around. Chris Fox called for 'space fantasy' stories for an anthology he was putting together, and that was the initial spark for Shadows of Dust. I had loved Spelljammer when I was younger, and I decided to try and do something similar but with my own spin on it.
Alec Hutson
Oh, thank you so much, Kenneth! Shadows is one of my favorite books I've written, I love to see it getting love. Unfortunately any sequels are on the back-burner right now - I'm in the middle of a series that I would have liked to have finished by now, but this past year was filled with tragedy for me and I'm way behind on my writing. But I'd love to get back to the Streams, hopefully not too far in the future.
Alec Hutson
Thank you so much, Daniel! I'd love to write more in the tributary but I'm working on other things right now . . . maybe next year!
Peter Vaughn
Really looking forward to more stories in this setting too!
Oct 25, 2021 08:16AM · flag
Oct 25, 2021 08:16AM · flag
Alec Hutson
A very good question, Michael! I do have an outline that goes into some detail about major plot points and the ending, but I've found that as the story unfurls unexpected things happen. I suppose I'm somewhere between a pantser and a plotter - I've had the major scenes of the series fixed pretty firmly in my mind for years, but the details have shifted as characters have grown and events I hadn't anticipated occurred. I'd say you've captured it pretty perfectly with your last sentence there. And thanks for staying with the series! The third book will be out in November.
Alec Hutson
Yes! It is the origin story for the Chosen, which are some of the antagonists of the books :-)
Alec Hutson
Oh, thanks Varun! I'm working on it - hopefully a summer 2019 release :-)
Alec Hutson
A day?! That's incredible. I'll work faster!
A day?! That's incredible. I'll work faster!
...more
Jul 12, 2019 05:56AM · flag
Jul 12, 2019 05:56AM · flag
Alec Hutson
Billr! I'm so sorry I missed this question when you first asked it. And in answer to your first question . . . yes. And to your second - the three-book arc I have planned for The Raveling doesn't skip ahead in years, but I am tentatively plotting a series that takes place in the future in the same world.
Alec Hutson
Hey Thomas, the arc for this series is three books, but I could definitely see myself returning to the world for future stories.
Alec Hutson
Marco! Thank you so much for the kind words. I've got a three-book arc planned out, and I'm most of the way through book 2. Should be out sometime in the first half of next year.
Alec Hutson
Hi, Emily! Thanks so much for your question, and thanks so much for your insightful review of Queen! I love getting feedback from good readers, as I think it'll definitely help my growth as a writer. Really, much appreciated.
I'm a teacher at an international school in Shanghai, and have been for over ten years. The Crimson Queen was my first book (like, literally, not even any others moldering in drawers anywhere), and I wrote it on summer vacations and weekends over the span of several years; now I'm feeling the pressure to finish the sequel by this winter, and I think I'm getting just a tiny taste of the pressure the greats like Martin and Rothfuss and Lynch must feel knowing they have to satisfy readers who are waiting for the next one.
The success of Queen has really surprised me, and I am planning in January (when my contract expires and our school years ends - I wouldn't leave my students mid-year) to quit my job and write full-time. Luckily, my lifestyle is easy to afford out here in China, and I'm excited to devote all my energy and focus to writing fantasy books.
Thanks again for taking a chance on an unknown, self-published author!
I'm a teacher at an international school in Shanghai, and have been for over ten years. The Crimson Queen was my first book (like, literally, not even any others moldering in drawers anywhere), and I wrote it on summer vacations and weekends over the span of several years; now I'm feeling the pressure to finish the sequel by this winter, and I think I'm getting just a tiny taste of the pressure the greats like Martin and Rothfuss and Lynch must feel knowing they have to satisfy readers who are waiting for the next one.
The success of Queen has really surprised me, and I am planning in January (when my contract expires and our school years ends - I wouldn't leave my students mid-year) to quit my job and write full-time. Luckily, my lifestyle is easy to afford out here in China, and I'm excited to devote all my energy and focus to writing fantasy books.
Thanks again for taking a chance on an unknown, self-published author!
Emily Rose
Hi Alec! Thank you so much for getting back to me. I immensely enjoyed TCQ and ended up devouring the entire novel in one sitting (as I'm prone to do
Hi Alec! Thank you so much for getting back to me. I immensely enjoyed TCQ and ended up devouring the entire novel in one sitting (as I'm prone to do when faced with irresistible adventure). I am astounded to hear that TCQ was a debut novel, and even moreso that it was a pocket project. This excites me because now I have an incredible sense of expectation for further installments, I can't wait to see what you can do with the full faculty of time at your disposal!
I had the good fortune to read some of Brandon Sanderson's early unpublished work, and while he has always been a genius with magic systems and world building, you can really mark his growth as an author between White Sand and Mistborn. I mention this because I thought TCQ had a particular thoughtfulness in construction that is usually acquired through several novels.
I read a review you wrote which said (paraphrasing) that everything is inspired by something else, and I've often felt the same. The same ideas are jumbled about by particularly beautiful minds and regurgitated in such elegant fashion that they somehow become new and fascinating. That said, what were your inspirations for TCQ and the characters in it? What are some of your favorite books?
Best wishes,
Emily ...more
Jul 03, 2017 12:58AM
I had the good fortune to read some of Brandon Sanderson's early unpublished work, and while he has always been a genius with magic systems and world building, you can really mark his growth as an author between White Sand and Mistborn. I mention this because I thought TCQ had a particular thoughtfulness in construction that is usually acquired through several novels.
I read a review you wrote which said (paraphrasing) that everything is inspired by something else, and I've often felt the same. The same ideas are jumbled about by particularly beautiful minds and regurgitated in such elegant fashion that they somehow become new and fascinating. That said, what were your inspirations for TCQ and the characters in it? What are some of your favorite books?
Best wishes,
Emily ...more
Jul 03, 2017 12:58AM
Alec Hutson
More great questions :-)
This is actually the first time I've been asked about inspiration, so I'll try to order my thoughts on the subject without sou More great questions :-)
This is actually the first time I've been asked about inspiration, so I'll try to order my thoughts on the subject without sounding too incoherent.
First off, I've always loved fantasy. My journey went from Narnia to Earthsea to the Forgotten Realms to Westeros to Bas Lag. At each stop the worlds got a little bleaker, the heroes more anti. And while I love Bakker and Lawrence and Martin, I wanted to try and write a modern high fantasy novel that wasn't grimdark, that didn't rely on bleakness or violence for its depth. I wanted to try and capture some of the wonder I felt reading the great fantasy books of my youth.
But I still wanted a depth to the characters and nuance to their motivations. So no evil lords brooding on dark mountains. I wanted my villains to not be evil because they enjoyed making other suffer or needed dominion, but because gaining what they desired (in the case of Alyanna, immortality) would cause suffering in others. From my observation of our world, that is really where evil comes from - not from some burning desire to do bad things, but because of a lack of empathy and callousness for the repercussions of our actions. So I started shaping the book that would become Queen by coming up with Alyanna and what had led her to leave the world in ruins. I think, in retrospect, that her motivation and character was partly shaped by the villains in David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Bone Clocks.
Cein d'Kara was inspired partly by an article I read on Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos. Brilliant and beautiful and striving to do what she thinks is right, but blinded perhaps by her own ambitions, and perhaps capable of doing very bad things if she thinks it will accomplish a greater good. I know I shortchanged her a bit in The Crimson Queen, but I hope I can deepen her character in the sequels.
Every other character has their own story and inspirations, but the relationship and conflict between those two will I hope define the series.
My favorite fantasy books in no particular order:
1. The Etched City by KJ Bishop
2. The Scar by China Mieville
3. Game of Thrones by GRRM
4. The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker
5. Lord of Light by Zelazny
6. Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
7. Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link (short stories)
8. The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard (short stories)
9. The Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuin
10. The Deed of Paksenarrion by Moon
Take care,
Alec ...more
Jul 03, 2017 03:05AM
This is actually the first time I've been asked about inspiration, so I'll try to order my thoughts on the subject without sou More great questions :-)
This is actually the first time I've been asked about inspiration, so I'll try to order my thoughts on the subject without sounding too incoherent.
First off, I've always loved fantasy. My journey went from Narnia to Earthsea to the Forgotten Realms to Westeros to Bas Lag. At each stop the worlds got a little bleaker, the heroes more anti. And while I love Bakker and Lawrence and Martin, I wanted to try and write a modern high fantasy novel that wasn't grimdark, that didn't rely on bleakness or violence for its depth. I wanted to try and capture some of the wonder I felt reading the great fantasy books of my youth.
But I still wanted a depth to the characters and nuance to their motivations. So no evil lords brooding on dark mountains. I wanted my villains to not be evil because they enjoyed making other suffer or needed dominion, but because gaining what they desired (in the case of Alyanna, immortality) would cause suffering in others. From my observation of our world, that is really where evil comes from - not from some burning desire to do bad things, but because of a lack of empathy and callousness for the repercussions of our actions. So I started shaping the book that would become Queen by coming up with Alyanna and what had led her to leave the world in ruins. I think, in retrospect, that her motivation and character was partly shaped by the villains in David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Bone Clocks.
Cein d'Kara was inspired partly by an article I read on Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos. Brilliant and beautiful and striving to do what she thinks is right, but blinded perhaps by her own ambitions, and perhaps capable of doing very bad things if she thinks it will accomplish a greater good. I know I shortchanged her a bit in The Crimson Queen, but I hope I can deepen her character in the sequels.
Every other character has their own story and inspirations, but the relationship and conflict between those two will I hope define the series.
My favorite fantasy books in no particular order:
1. The Etched City by KJ Bishop
2. The Scar by China Mieville
3. Game of Thrones by GRRM
4. The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker
5. Lord of Light by Zelazny
6. Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
7. Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link (short stories)
8. The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard (short stories)
9. The Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuin
10. The Deed of Paksenarrion by Moon
Take care,
Alec ...more
Jul 03, 2017 03:05AM
Alec Hutson
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Hi Oy! Thanks so much for reading, and nice to meet you! Ah, Xin. I liked him as well. To be honest, up until I was writing that section of the book I thought another character was going to die instead of him. But the story unfolded in such a way that it had to be him :-(.
I'm currently writing the sequel and the Chosen and the genthyaki are being their evil selves, doing wicked things :-) (hide spoiler)]
I'm currently writing the sequel and the Chosen and the genthyaki are being their evil selves, doing wicked things :-) (hide spoiler)]
Alec Hutson
Hi, Robert! I'm aiming for next winter / fall. It's all plotted, and I have 20k or so words down, but I do work full-time and I do want the book to be as good as I can make it, so I don't want to rush.
I will be releasing a few other works in the interim; I have several short stories set in the world of Queen that I'll put out in a collection this summer, and also a fun sword and sorcery adventure that's all finished and just waiting on a cover. I'll announce releases on my mailing list, which can be signed up for at authoralechutson.com.
Anyway, thank for the interest, and take care.
I will be releasing a few other works in the interim; I have several short stories set in the world of Queen that I'll put out in a collection this summer, and also a fun sword and sorcery adventure that's all finished and just waiting on a cover. I'll announce releases on my mailing list, which can be signed up for at authoralechutson.com.
Anyway, thank for the interest, and take care.
Alec Hutson
The title is The Silver Sorceress, and as soon as I receive the cover art I'll put a description of the book up on Goodreads and start a pre-order on
The title is The Silver Sorceress, and as soon as I receive the cover art I'll put a description of the book up on Goodreads and start a pre-order on Amazon. :-)
...more
Aug 14, 2018 04:40PM · flag
Aug 14, 2018 04:40PM · flag
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