fel

fel asked Brian Staveley:

Were you intimidated to publish The Emperor's Blades, seeing that it was your debut book? And what other authors would you say have inspired/influenced you?

Brian Staveley Thanks for the question, Felicia. I was thrilled and a little bit terrified. Tor had bought it, which was one vote of confidence, but I had no idea if anyone would actually enjoy reading it. Plenty of books fall flat on their faces, and so it was such a relief and joy when The Emperor's Blades met with such a warm reception. I'm tremendously grateful for all the readers who have reached out to me to tell me they enjoyed the book, and also to those who have offered up their specialized knowledge sets (veterinarians, surgeons, linguists, mathematicians, etc) as I work on the next volumes.

The question of influences is always a dangerous one, but I think Ursula Le Guin simply cannot be beat.

More Answered Questions

Slick

Slick asked Brian Staveley:

Hello Mr.S!! Have you made any concrete decision on which characters you will be focusing on for your future short stories? Would you be amenable to requests?

Charlie

Charlie asked Brian Staveley:

One of the biggest complaints I hear from other reviewers is that they expected Valyn to be a much smarter leader having been in special forces training for a number of years. The other is that considering Kadens importance to the future, he seems to be have his life placed in peril rather often which leads to the question what happens if he died??

Kailey

Kailey asked Brian Staveley:

I am a huge fan of your work. I have been wondering about what modern day ethnicities would correspond to the main characters, particularly the Annurians. The Urghul are described as being roughly Northern European (light hair/skin/eyes). In regards to the main characters, the covers depict them as being Asian, maybe Japanese. In the book, however, they are described as having a dark complexion. What is your vision?

All answers from Brian Staveley…

4,256 followers

To ask Brian Staveley a question, please sign up.

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions