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Michael J. Sullivan (Author of Age of Myth BOTM) Q&A
Hi Michael. I haven't read any of your books and was wondering how much Age of Myth might spoil the earlier series.
Ryan, good question, but it won't spoil anything. I've just listened to Age of Myth and it's fine to start there. But I hope you'll try out the other series as well, starting with Theft of Swords. It's wonderful, and it's complete! And if you like audiobooks at all, the narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds is fabulous. MIchael, I was impressed that so much of the book is driven by strong women characters. The women are each distinct personalities and have different strengths. I think it's rare for a male writer to give female characters that much space. I'm just sorry I have to wait (is it a year?) for the next book that you've already written.
I really enjoyed the female characters in this story too.
Ryan wrote: "Hi Michael. I haven't read any of your books and was wondering how much Age of Myth might spoil the earlier series."It shouldn't at all. The two are meant to be read independently of each other and I've had enough feedback from both new and veteran readers to know that goal seems to have been met. That said, it will make the experience different than the other way around (which isn't a problem). For instance you'll know some things about some things that Riyria readers won't - like the "true nature" of certain characters because you saw what they are really like rather than the mythologized version of their history. So for you it will be a lot of "Yeah, right, that's not exactly the way things went down." So whereas a Riyria person might accept the historical recounting as facts you'll know they have been distorted over the years.
Bottom line, each path (Riyria than Legends or Legend than Riyria, as well as Just Riyria or Just Legends), should produce an enjoyable reading experience. Will it be different depending on the route you took, sure. But you shouldn't find yourself in a situation where if you do pick up "the other" (whichever the other turns out to be) that you'll not be happy with what you find.
I'm not sure if that made things more or less confusing....but the TL:DR answer to your question is "none at all."
Robin wrote: "Ryan, good question, but it won't spoil anything. I've just listened to Age of Myth and it's fine to start there. But I hope you'll try out the other series as well, starting with Theft of Swords. It's wonderful, and it's complete! And if you like audiobooks at all, the narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds is fabulous. Haha, should have read ahead before answering Ryan then I could have said "Yeah, what Robin said." But yes, there are a lot of people reporting the same thing - that you can certainly start with Age of Myth and be fine.
Robin wrote: "MIchael, I was impressed that so much of the book is driven by strong women characters. The women are each distinct personalities and have different strengths. I think it's rare for a male writer to give female characters that much space."
Thanks Robin. I think the fantasy writing community is really taking to heart part of it's past where women have ben little more than side-characters or love interests. To me, the new problem is a trend to write women like men. In other words making them kick*ss fighters who can defeat legions with swords. I'm seeing a lot of books where the main character is written much like a man would be but the gender was changed. Which is fine, certainly better than what we've had. But I still wanted to do more.
My wife (the other Robin) was a successful business woman in a very male-dominated field (Engineering). And one thing I really learned from watching her is that women and men go about things quite differently. Where men will see asking for help to be some indictment on their masculinity, women are far better at co-operation and consensus building rather than the "my way or the highway" that is all too common when men approach things.
So, what I wanted to do with Age of Myth is have my women still be women, but use their brains, teamwork, and co-operative side rather than just strapping on armor and having a 110 lb person besting a 180 lb muscled man. I like the way it's turning out. And I'm glad to see others seem to be as well.
Robin wrote: "I'm just sorry I have to wait (is it a year?) for the next book that you've already written."
Yes book #2 will be released in the summer of 2017. A lot of the reason for that is there is a big difference between "written" and "done." As for books #3 - #6 I'm not sure what the release dates were. I knew that books 1 - 3 were in really good shape once I finished them but 4 - 5 (and now 4 - 6) needed a lot of work. I'm now mostly done with that heavy lifting. Should have #6 rewrite completed soonish. The books are MUCH better for the effort and although they are largely the same as the first draft, there have been a lot of important changes for the better. I think it is pretty possible that Book #3 will also be a summer release, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to start to compress the releases for 4 - 6. There are many factors that will determine all of this, and it's really too early to tell. But I think that will be the case.
Veronica wrote: "I really enjoyed the female characters in this story too."Thanks Veronica! Glad to hear it.
Michael wrote: "To me, the new problem is a trend to write women like men. In other words making them kick*ss fighters who can defeat legions with swords. I'm seeing a lot of books where the main character is written much like a man would be but the gender was changed."Funny you should say that because I wrote this in my review: "the story also had some smart, sensible, strong-willed, and brave female characters all of whom, I am happy to say, managed to be all those things without resorting to the overly hostile, rude, I-have-a-huge-chip-on-my-shoulder-so-you'd-better-not-mess-with-me attitude that seems to define most female characters nowadays. As if that's the only way a woman can be strong.
If your goal was to write more multi-faceted women, I'd say mission accomplished. Thanks for that. :-)
Veronica wrote: "Michael wrote: "To me, the new problem is a trend to write women like men. In other words making them kick*ss fighters who can defeat legions with swords. I'm seeing a lot of books where the main c..."I hadn't thought of it that way, but that's totally true, and furthermore your male characters aren't that kind of supernatural and superego fighters either. Those that can fight, such as Raithe (and Hadrian in Riyria), are reluctant fighters. They dream of settling down with a family. They don't fight to show how great they are.
And you have characters like Malcolm who are totally unexpected heroes when the moment demands it. You have worlds where everyone's contribution is needed, and those who don't see that are the villains. It's interesting to compare the racism of this book with Riyria - the targets are different but the evil is the same.
There's a lot of talk about how Game of Thrones matches the darkness and viciousness of modern society/culture/politics. I can sure see that, especially lately. I admire that series but I wouldn't want to live in Westeros. I think your books show the society I hope to live in. Bad things happen but people of all backgrounds work together. Sometimes people learn and change. (I have hopes for the Prince after his experience in this book). Sometimes things are even funny. The other author I think of that way is John Scalzi, who is more in the realm of farce, but who always has a message about inclusion and learning to be better than we are.
Michael wrote: "I'm not sure if that made things more or less confusing....but the TL:DR answer to your question is "none at all.""Thanks for your response Michael. I understand exactly what you mean. It's probably comparable to how my (much) younger brother saw the Star Wars prequels before the originals. He believes he actually got a better Star Wars experience watching it in that order.
Veronica wrote: "Funny you should say that because I wrote this in my review: "the story also had some smart, sensible, strong-willed, and brave female characters all of whom, I am happy to say, managed to be all those things without resorting to the overly hostile, rude, I-have-a-huge-chip-on-my-shoulder-so-you'd-better-not-mess-with-me attitude that seems to define most female characters nowadays. As if that's the only way a woman can be strong. If your goal was to write more multi-faceted women, I'd say mission accomplished. Thanks for that. :-) "Thanks Veronica. I do think strength can be demonstrated in many ways. Hostility is one, of course, but there is a full spectrum of possibilities and I'm hoping that I painted with a colorful palette.
Robin wrote: "I hadn't thought of it that way, but that's totally true, and furthermore your male characters aren't that kind of supernatural and superego fighters either. Those that can fight, such as Raithe (and Hadrian in Riyria), are reluctant fighters. They dream of settling down with a family. They don't fight to show how great they are.Indeed. Again, I think for most well-meaning people (and I try to write people who are basically good at heart) violence is an option of last resort, not what one rushes to right away. Royce (especially in the early years) doesn't yet know that, but he does learn and adjusts his behavior. That's one reason I don't really want to write any "early years" of that character (say when he was in the Black Diamond). He would be much different than he was in Riyria Revelations and even in Chronicles (which is closer to that time) he's had time to be influenced by others and that is helping to break down his walls.
Robin wrote: "And you have characters like Malcolm who are totally unexpected heroes when the moment demands it. You have worlds where everyone's contribution is needed, and those who don't see that are the villains. It's interesting to compare the racism of this book with Riyria - the targets are different but the evil is the same.
Yes, unfortunately it always seems like there is plenty of hate and it often stems from those who want to think themselves better than others. It's a theme that I'm able to explore even further in Hollow World (my science fiction novel). In a world where everyone is EXACTLY the same, you can eliminate the hierarchy...but what happens when you interject into that system people from the past who aren't genetic copies of one pattern? Well, old habits are easy to creep in once more.
Robin wrote: "There's a lot of talk about how Game of Thrones matches the darkness and viciousness of modern society/culture/politics. I can sure see that, especially lately. I admire that series but I wouldn't want to live in Westeros. I think your books show the society I hope to live in. Bad things happen but people of all backgrounds work together. Sometimes people learn and change. (I have hopes for the Prince after his experience in this book). Sometimes things are even funny. The other author I think of that way is John Scalzi, who is more in the realm of farce, but who always has a message about inclusion and learning to be better than we are."
I'm fortunate in that I don't have to "interact with the real world" much. That allows me to keep my glasses rosy. I like to think that people are basically good, and that has been my experience, but it's also what I look for. Sometimes we find what we expect to find. It's easy when most of the time is spent with people's who actions and deeds are under your control ;-)
Ryan wrote: "Thanks for your response Michael. I understand exactly what you mean. It's probably comparable to how my (much) younger brother saw the Star Wars prequels before the originals. He believes he actually got a better Star Wars experience watching it in that order. "Great analogy...although being an old-timer I'm going to hold the opposite opinion of your younger brother ;-) But yes, a different experience because you know things but both paths produce enjoyable experiences.
Michael wrote: " I like to think that people are basically good, and that has been my experience, but it's also what I look for. Sometimes we find what we expect to find. ..."I like this Michael, and I think it's very often true (though of course not always) that people live up to what we expect of them, whether for good or ill. I'm thinking of all the educational studies that showed that when teachers expected particular students to perform well, they actually did better than other students. Life can be like that I think. Our perceptions can make a kind of feedback loop with what we're looking at
I don't know anything about your work, but I have my copy of Age of Myth, and I'm looking forward to it! Thanks for offering the questions thread!
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Greg wrote: "I like this Michael, and I think it's very often true (though of course not always) that people live up to what we expect of them, whether for good or ill. I'm thinking of all the educational studies that showed that when teachers expected particular students to perform well, they actually did better than other students. Life can be like that I think. Our perceptions can make a kind of feedback loop with what we're looking atThere is a great speech (what every boy knows about becoming a man) done by Robert Duval in Second Hand Lions. He says it better than I could...
"Sometimes, the things that may or may not be true, are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honor, virtue and courage mean everything; that money and power, power and money, mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And remember this, this is the most important: true love ... True love never dies. It doesn't matter if those things are true. A man needs to believe in them, because those are the things worth believing in."
Greg wrote: "I don't know anything about your work, but I have my copy of Age of Myth, and I'm looking forward to it!
Great! I do hope you enjoy it.
Greg wrote: "Thanks for offering the questions thread!
You are very welcome - thanks for having me.
Paul wrote: "Glad to get my copy in the post yesterday. Love the cover art . Great choice"Thanks! The cover art is great, and Del Rey was really great about letting me contribute to the design in a number of ways.
First, they asked me about my favorite artists and picked my #1 choice. (Marc Simonetti has done my French edition covers and as created covers for George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett and many more).
They took my advice on possibly imagery - and again picked my #1 choice.
Worked with me on the fonts used offering many alternatives along the way.
This wasn't my experience with the covers that Orbit did with my Riyria books. I basically saw them when done and there wasn't much opportunity to change them.
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I actually have signed work from Marc , he was in a Pratchett forum with me a few years back and I'm definitely a fan of what he produced for the Discworld books.
Paul wrote: "In the past I have asked writers about who did their cover art and they had no idea, not through any fault on their behalf so its nice to see a publisher give you that level of input.I actually have signed work from Marc , he was in a Pratchett forum with me a few years back and I'm definitely a fan of what he produced for the Discworld books. "
Larry Rostant did the imagery for the Riyria covers. He's done some really nice work in the past, but I think he was may have been rushed for The Riyria Revelations (I don't think it's his best work).
Marc is great - I got a hold of his Coverama coffee table book and it's one of the few things I'd grab on my way out of the house if a fire was coming. Such a talented guy.
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Also highly recommend his Deviant Art page.
I will probably start Age of Myth next week.
Finishing Mark Lawrences latest first then I have one other group read.
It will be an interesting group read this time as with Theft of Swords many members had already read it , conversation was great but this time we will be reading much more as a group.
@Paul - Nice! Coverage does indeed have stunning stuff inside, and I'm honored that it has several pieces for my books. And yeah, it's great to go through both Marc's site and his Deviant Art Page. So glad to hear you will be starting Age of Myth soon. I do hope you enjoy it. Hope you have enjoyed Mark's latest and you find some great conversation with the upcoming group read.
Hi Michael,Thanks for taking the time to do this again!
Just starting Age of Myth and super excited for it.
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I assume you enjoyed the cheeky twist at the end
Oh I am so tempted to read this with the group but I was late to the party and have only just finished Theft of Swords. I loved it so much that I immediately bought the Rise of Empire and Heir of Novron. The fact that they are both 2 books each makes them are great value on audio as you essentially get 4 books for 2 credits!
Sarah wrote: "Hi Michael,Thanks for taking the time to do this again! Just starting Age of Myth and super excited for it."
Well thanks for having me Sarah. Really enjoy being here.
Paul wrote: "Loved it . Great story , well paced and really enjoyed the characters. The slow lead in really built the characters up well. I assume you enjoyed the cheeky twist at the end"
Hey Paul, glad you enjoyed the read. Yeah, the ending was something I was very excited about. Early on when I was writing the book I had some problems because I had some POV chapters when we were in (view spoiler). At some point I realized I could get a lot more drama if I didn't show things from that perspective - that cleared up a bunch of issues and also made that ending possible. Fun stuff.
Margo wrote: "Oh I am so tempted to read this with the group but I was late to the party and have only just finished Theft of Swords. I loved it so much that I immediately bought the Rise of Empire and Heir of Novron. The fact that they are both 2 books each makes them are great value on audio as you essentially get 4 books for 2 credits! Hey Margo, thanks for giving the books a try. Glad you enjoyed the first two enough to continue through the series. And yeah, the 2-book omnibus version definitely makes them a great deal. Six books for the price of three!!
Glad you are getting to experience the joy that is Tim Gerard Reynolds (the narrator). He adds so much to the experience. When you get don with Heir of Novron, drop me a message and I'll send an afterword you might enjoy.
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Thanks Micheal, I'll look forward to that. And I want to add my thanks to you for being so accessible to the group. It adds an extra dimention to the read to know that the is there to answer questions and is also a reader ;-)
@Paul - thanks! Definitely put a lot of work into making that the case. Glad to hear that we accomplished the task!
Margo wrote: "Thanks Micheal, I'll look forward to that. And I want to add my thanks to you for being so accessible to the group. It adds an extra dimention to the read to know that the is there to answer questions and is also a reader ;-) "I truly think I get more out of these interactions than you guys do - seriously. I mean after all, writing for a living has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I've written so many stories that no one ever read, hearing that people are reading.....and also enjoying...is beyond comprehension. I keep wondering if I'm going to wake up one day and realize it was all just a dream.
Well, if I'm living in your dream, please try a bit harder to improve the lot of your minor characters LOLActually you are bringing a little pleasure into mine ;-)
Margo, I've followed your lead and purchased Age of Myth on Audible so that's next on my reading list. I read the Riyria book on kindle so I'm looking forward to finding out how the audio book compares.
Michael,I'm about half way through the book. First a compliment then a question. I think (so far) you've done a delightful job switching perspectives at interesting/"cliffhanger" moments on the story. It's keeping me engaged in a very good way.
What was some of your thought process as you chose did character names as they all seemingly have classic mythological reference? It's seems a sort of melting pot of pantheons.
Dawn wrote: "Margo, I've followed your lead and purchased Age of Myth on Audible so that's next on my reading list. I read the Riyria book on kindle so I'm looking forward to finding out how the audio book comp..."I think it's the same narrator as the Riyria books. He is very good, I'd be surprised if you regret your purchase ;-)
Margo wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Margo, I've followed your lead and purchased Age of Myth on Audible so that's next on my reading list. I read the Riyria book on kindle so I'm looking forward to finding out how the au..."Yes, Tim Gerard Reynolds narrates all the books in this world. I think there needs to be a law that no one else can ever narrate them!
ok, so now I can't wait to read this! Abandoning current book and going straight to Age of Myth
I'm up to chapter 8 and totally agree. Michael, you must never get anyone other than Tim Gerard Reynolds to narrate your books, he is absolutely brilliant! Each character has a distinctive manner of speech and I never lose track of who is talking. I'm particularly impressed by that the women's voices are so convincing, particularly Suri (hope I've spelt it correctly) an adolescent girl must be quite difficult for a narrator but he does it brilliantly.The book has me hooked already so I'm off to hear the conversion with the Oak and I'm particularly intrigued by the white door...
Margo wrote: "Well, if I'm living in your dream, please try a bit harder to improve the lot of your minor characters LOL Actually you are bringing a little pleasure into mine ;-)"Hey Margo...I think you'll be pleased about the growth of the "minor characters" - in fact they aren't - it'll just take a bit to get their stories going. The thing that really surprised me when writing this series is the realization of who I thought was going to the "mains" really aren't. I wanted to show how the lives of the "little people" snapped the world. It takes time, though, writing the entire series means I'm looking at (a) the story arc of a particular book (b) the story arc of the series and (c) the arcs of each character. Fun stuff.
Dawn wrote: "Margo, I've followed your lead and purchased Age of Myth on Audible so that's next on my reading list. I read the Riyria book on kindle so I'm looking forward to finding out how the audio book compares."Hey Dawn, thanks for picking up a copy, and thanks for reading Riyria. I predict you'll enjoy the audible versions. Tim Gerard Reynolds (who is the narrator, is truly talented and I think his contributions really makes the experience even better. I hope you enjoy it.
Melanie wrote: "Michael,I'm about half way through the book. First a compliment then a question. I think (so far) you've done a delightful job switching perspectives at interesting/"cliffhanger" moments on the story. It's keeping me engaged in a very good way.I really enjoy writing books with a few POV's (I've only written one with a single POV (Hollow World), and doing so really does allow me to "jump perspective" at key points. The danger, of course, is that take people to a different person when they don't want to go - lol. But it's a technique that has been working for me so far.
Melanie wrote: "What was some of your thought process as you chose did character names as they all seemingly have classic mythological reference? It's seems a sort of melIting pot of pantheons.."
Elan is a fictional world so names there don't have any relation to names in our own history (Persephone for instance). I have a long list of names that I've been compiling over more than a decade and when I create a character I go to it and pick a name that seems to match. It's funny, as my wife is preparing for the beta for book #2 and she is complaining that I have too many "V" names. When reading book #1 I had too many "M" names. Many of which were changed and for a while it was a problem for me because in my head they are forever what I named them the first time around.
I should mention that some of the names: Persephone, Nyphron, and Mawyndulë are talked about in my Riyria books (they're historical figures in those books), so I had to keep the names. When I wrote Riyria Persephone was a minor passing reference, never expected to have a whole series about her day and age. Had I known then what I know now, I probably would have gone with something else.
Margo wrote: "I think it's the same narrator as the Riyria books. He is very good, I'd be surprised if you regret your purchase ;-)."You are correct! Tim Gerard Reynolds has narrator: Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, Heir of Novron, The Crown Tower, The Rose and the Thorn, The Death of Dulgath AND Age of Myth. I agree with you that I think Dawn will be pleased with his work.
The only book of mine that has a different narrator is Hollow World, Which uses Jonathan Davis. Also an excellent narrator. The reason I went with him for that book is because it's sci-fi and required a "mid-Western" accent as the main character is an "old guy from Detroit." He did an excellent job on it - and Tim and Jon are buds and both love each other's work.
Robin wrote: "Yes, Tim Gerard Reynolds narrates all the books in this world. I think there needs to be a law that no one else can ever narrate them! "There is...kinda. When I was shopping Age of Myth for audio publication there were three studios vying for it: Recorded Books, Audible Studios, and Podium Publishing. For each one I had one requirement - they had to agree that Tim would be the narrator. They all agreed. Now of course Tim can always refuse, he's not an indentured servant. But he loves my writing and Robin and I usually go up to New York for the first few days recordings (and to take Tim out to dinner the night before), so I think the chances of him saying no are pretty slim.
If I have anything to do with it, and these days I do, Tim will always be "The voice of Elan."
Dawn wrote: "ok, so now I can't wait to read this! Abandoning current book and going straight to Age of Myth"Nice! Glad to hear it. I do hope you enjoy.
Dawn wrote: "Michael, you must never get anyone other than Tim Gerard Reynolds to narrate your books, he is absolutely brilliant! Each character has a distinctive manner of speech and I never lose track of who is talking. I'm particularly impressed by that the women's voices are so convincing, particularly Suri (hope I've spelt it correctly) an adolescent girl must be quite difficult for a narrator but he does it brilliantly. Your wish is my command! Yeah I, too, have been impressed with Tim on all counts, but particularly Suri (and yes you spelled it right). There were two voices that Robin was really concerned about the most - Suri and Gifford and when we were in studio and Tim narrated them - it was dead on.
Dawn wrote: "The book has me hooked already so I'm off to hear the conversion with the Oak and I'm particularly intrigued by the white door..."
Wonderful. Yeah both the door and Trilos are important threads that run through the whole series (not surprisingly). A lot more on both those fronts ;-)
Michael wrote: "Margo wrote: "I think it's the same narrator as the Riyria books. He is very good, I'd be surprised if you regret your purchase ;-)."You are correct! Tim Gerard Reynolds has narrator: Theft of Sw..."
Michael my comment was in no way intending as a critisism of you writing - you mentioned that you felt you were living in a dream; I was requesting that you work some magic on your dream readers - me I want a cure for my dyslexia so I would be able to get the pleasuse I once got from reading print books. It was a facetious comment :-)
Michael wrote: "Now of course Tim can always refuse, he's not an indentured servant. But he loves my writing and Robin and I usually go up to New York for the first few days recordings (and to take Tim out to dinner the night before), so I think the chances of him saying no are pretty slim."That sounds like an incredibly fun and rewarding dynamic!
Hey Margo - no worries - I didn't take the comment as criticism. Dyslexia does make reading so difficult - thankfully their are audio books (which is what my dyslexic daughter uses a lot now. It's a curse in some ways, but also I've found that dyslexics are blessed in others. Sarah is incredibly creative, intelligent, and a truly creative problem solver. It's just too bad that we've not found a way to have the educational system recognize that people with dyslexia (who test poorly) aren't really "poor performing."
Andrew wrote: "That sounds like an incredibly fun and rewarding dynamic! "It is both indeed! So fortunate with the incredible people who lend their creative talent to my books.
Just finished Michael ... extremely enjoyable! It was a wonderful change after the darkness of A Little Life (which I finished just before this one - an extraordinarily beautiful book but also very dark & disturbing). I didn't expect to at first, but I even found Malcolm quite entertaining by half way through. Nyphron, Persephone, & Suri were all fun to root for, and Gryndal was equally fun to root against.
My favorite part was when (view spoiler)! I gave out a little whoop of delight (out loud). Then I was equally happy that (view spoiler). There's a good heartedness to parts of this book that I found very appealing, comforting even. A perfect tone for a light enjoyable read.
Anyway, no question here really, just comments. I'm looking forward to the next one. Hopefully there's more coming up with the Dherg at some point; I'm curious to read more about them.
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Dragons & Jetpacks
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A Little Life (other topics)A Little Life (other topics)
Age of Myth (other topics)
Theft of Swords (other topics)
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Thank for choosing Age of Myth for August's read. I do hope you enjoy.