Jim’s Comments (group member since Jun 25, 2012)

Jim’s comments from the Q&A with James Maxey group.

I know for me a lot of how sexuality of characters is received is based upon intent (or perceived intent) of the characters portrayed.

As much as Infidel winds up in various fanservicey situations (bathing, clothes too tight or skirt too short, the chainmail bikini, etc...) she herself is not a sexual being. At least she is never do such things for the intent of titillation or to catch the eye of anyone. Even when she was in the company of the man she loved, she never paid special attention to her appearance.

Judicious Merchant is not presented in a sexual life. Her is "going native" Had Lord Tower ended up in nothing but a gourd and had the narrator (Stagger) given loving attention to his form (or even just Stagger noticing Infidel noticing) then we might be a little closer to a logical comparison.

I was recently reading an overview of myths from across the world and from various cultures. In a lot of ways there is more suspension of disbelief required in those things that actually have fervent adherents (your myth is my religion and visa versa) than we ask of the audience of a sci fi or fantasy story that begins with the conceit of "everything you are about to experience was completely made up by one or more persons for your entertainment"

Do you find people connecting more to the fantastical elements of your worlds? (multiple planes of existence brought into being by belief) or the most reality aspects of your fantasy world? (how magic in Bitterwood was discovered to be the work of nanobots)

Did you feel influenced from the mythology of other works? I notice Pratchett's Discworld also has a variety of afterlives based upon the personal beliefs of those dying.

How does it feel to be back in publication? Were you ever worried you would not find a new publisher for your work?

Why do you write so many stories with a POV character who does not / cannot physically interact with the events that surround them? (Nobody, Stagger, Silent as Dust)

Will we see any standalone books based on the Wanderers? Specifically the Pirate Wars? Even if it's not a full fledged novel, what about short stories?