Author Interview: Dave Smeds

From lands distant or nearby, familiar or utterly strange, historical or imaginary, from ancient times to the Belle Époque comes a treasury of luscious, elegant, romantic fantasy. Come with us on a journey through time and across boundaries, inspired by the longings of the heart and the courage residing in even the meekest person.

I met Dave Smeds in the early years of my writing career through the pages of the early volumes of Sword and Sorceress, in which we each had stories. We discovered a shared background in martial arts, as well. His beautiful designs grace the covers of many of the anthologies I've edited, including this one.
Deborah J. Ross: Tellus a little about yourself.  How did youcome to be a writer?Dave Smeds: One way to put it is that it was an entirelynatural thing. I did a lot of reading as a kid, and wanted to create my ownstuff. The only thing as alluring as writing fiction was to be a comic bookartist, but while I took some steps in that direction and still do make some ofmy income as an artist, I just wasn’t fast enough or good enough to realizethat particular pipe dream. Your question, though, makes me aware of howgenerational my choice was. I was born in the mid-1950s. In my youth I didn’thave the distraction of iphones and cable channels and the World Wide Web.Heck, at first, there wasn’t even any color on the television programs I watched.My leisure entertainment came in the form of paperbacks, print magazines, andcomic books. Those outlets were a big deal back then to the whole society interms of providing sustaining creative entertainment and edification. I wantedto be part of that big deal. I wonder if I would have headed in that directionif I had been part of the millennial generation. I think the answer wouldprobably be no.

DJR: Whatinspired your story in Lace and Blade 5?DS: The theme of the series is along the linesof “swashbuckling tales of romance” and of course I pointed my muse in thatdirection, but when it comes to the Lace and Blade series, my muse has prettyconsistently been a contrary wench. I saw an image in my mind of the loneadventurer wandering the land. That seemed pretty spot-on in terms of theme,but when the fellow came completely into view I saw that he was the pilot of agondola on a river, à la Charon on the River Styx if only Charon had possessedsex appeal and if only the river weren’t so singular of purpose. My plan ofcourse was for the story to involve a romance. That element is in fact in therein the final draft, but to my surprise it is unconsummated, which is not one ofmy usual modes.

Once I had the idea ofusing a river as a setting, I’m afraid I had no choice but to go forward. TheKings River of the southern San Joaquin Valley runs along the edge of the farmwhere I grew up. I spent many an hour on that waterway, floating on tractorinner tubes below the bluffs and oak trees. The water was snow melt from theHigh Sierra so it was bracing even in July, but that was great because the airtemperature of a Fresno County day in July is usually above a hundred degreesFahrenheit. I also really appreciated the safety aspect. If you get a tired ofswimming when you’re in the middle of a lake, you’re screwed. If you get tiredon a river, just tread water for a few moments and the current will carry youto the bank and you don’t have to drown after all.


DJR: What authorshave most influenced your writing?DS: In the early days, I never thought of myself as deeply influenced by any particular author, except perhaps in the sense that I loved to write heroic fantasy, and back then, anyone doing that was standing on the shoulders of Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien. In retrospect, I see L. Frank Baum's influence upon the way I structure a story. Joseph Campbell speaks of heroic fantasy as the so-called hero’s journey, as if all examples are like that, which is to say, they are tales in which a protagonist, usually a young man, pulls himself up by his bootstraps, stands alone, and takes full credit for completion of a goal. But Baum did not write that way. He wrote what is better described as the heroine’s journey, in which his protagonist, be it Dorothy Gale or one of the many others, does not fight battles, but instead makes alliances. That’s a more subtle, complex, and dare I say, meaningful process. I see plenty of works out there that adhere to the Campbellian mode. Many are about a female protagonist and many are written by female authors, but they’re still the hero’s journey. That’s fine, but I on the other hand will go on doing what Frank showed me.
DJR: What’s themost memorable fan mail you’ve ever received?DS: A letter from a man who had served as anofficer in Vietnam, thanking me for writing “Short Timer.”

DJR: How doesyour writing process work?DS: My process would drive any other writer nuts, I suspect. The ideas -- whether it is for a scene, a character, a setting, a plot, a premise -- bubble up and I go with what fascinates me at the moment. I see the whole story as a piece and fill in the pieces almost randomly as if assembling a jigsaw puzzle. I might write the ending first. I might write a little bit that fits two-thirds of the way along. Often I will start at the beginning, but it's just about unheard of that I proceed from page one to the end in chronological order. I think that's happened only three or four times in forty-eight years of writing, and only with very short pieces.

DJR: What haveyou written recently? What lies ahead?DS: Just shy of thirty-two years after I beganit, I have finally completed a full draft of The Wizard’s Nemesis, which completes the trilogy that began withThe Sorcery Within. As I jot down theanswers to this set of interview questions, the editing and proofing andproduction phase of the novel -- and of the new editions of the first two books-- is still to come, but publication is now officially “pending.”
DJR: What advicewould you give an aspiring writer?DS: Forget about it. Quit right now. I don’tneed any more competition.

DJR: Any thoughtson the Lace and Blade series or thisbeing its final volume?DS: I’m particularly discouraged to learn thisis it, at least for now. It had barely started up again. I did four pieces forthe series, skipping only volume two. For whatever reason, be it the theme orserendipity or faith or just the workings of that contrary-wench muse, I feelas though those four pieces are among the ten best stories of my career, and Iwas looking forward to having the chance to aim at that standard again.

Dave Smeds has authored novels (including TheSorcery Within and X-Men: Law of the Jungle), screenplays,comic book scripts, and articles, but is best known for his short fiction. Hiswork has graced the pages of Asimov's SF, F&SF, Realmsof Fantasy, and a plethora of anthologies, including most particularly theSword and Sorceress series and the Lace and Blade series. His wonderful short fiction piece, "The Wind's Kiss," first appeared in Lace and Blade 4. It's a marvelous story, exquisitely written, full of pitch-perfect heart. Now it's also available in Dave's collection Swords, Magic, and Heart (see the cover below).