I’m lucky enough to be around other authors and have the chance to hear their stories, their advice, their strategies and who they are behind the covers of their books. Here is a brief chat I had with Ed McNally.
Q: Tough question, but describe your books in 5 words:
“Muskets, Magic, and Matilda Lanai.”
Q: How long have you been a writer and what inspired you to become an author:
In grade school, a teacher submitted a poem I’d written in class to the local paper, which ran it. My name in print, I was hooked. 😉
Q: What is the Norothian Cycle Series about:
It’s an epic fantasy series, so it falls into that dangerous category of being about everything. Life, death, love, war, politics, adventure. And occasionally stinky cheese and debonair devils.
Q: I noticed a collaboration with other authors, how did that come about:
Yeah, a couple years ago myself and some authors who write in a variety of genres decided to put some short story collections, linked to a theme (The Apocalypse, Christmas), but approached from different directions. We called ourselves the “Eclective” as we were operating under the premise that quality stories would appeal to readers across genre lines. It was great fun, and we became good friends, but as a sort of marketing idea, it’s not great. Turns out a lot of readers really like what they like, basically to the exclusion of anything else. So for any given collection, fantasy fans like the fantasy stories, romance fans like the romance stories, horror fans like the horror stories, etc., and few of them are very interested in anything else. Live and learn.
Q: What other authors would you compare your books to:
I’m definitely more Tolkien than GRRM, to the extent that some sense of fun and wonder still appeals to me more in fantasy writing than unrelenting darkness. But at the same time, I like a bit more complexity in characters and themes than just classic Good v. Evil. Basically I like to read, and try to write, stories about people I could actually stand to be around.
Q: What’s the plan for the rest of 2014:
Book VI of the Norothian Cycle, the conclusion to the series, is underway in fits and bursts. It is taking a lot longer than I had originally hoped, but it is getting there bit by bit.
Thanks, Ed.
Here is an Amazon link where you can find all of Ed’s books.
http://www.amazon.com/M.-Edward-McNally/e/B004Q27UKQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1405087943&sr=8-2-ent
