[Jacquin]

Once again fortune smiles on us.

Best Selling author Matthew Woodring Stover has kindly agreed to answer people's questions regarding his work.

Please follow the guidelines that Gemquest laid down in RAS's Q&A thread and I'm sure we'll all get along fine.


I'd like to start the ball rolling.

One of the things that stood out the most to me with your work was the quality of the fight scenes. Could you tell us a little about your martial arts background and how it influenced the way you write?

J

[juzzza]

Awesome.

When you are done there Matt (I think we are allowed to fire two at a time?), you are one of the new, exciting writers who many believe will take fantasy forward away from the epic series style works (nothing wrong with epics), what do you think of others leading the revolution like China? Who are you enjoying?

Thanks

[MWStover]

Okay.

At least I've finally found my way here . . .



Listen: no time to answer questions right now (I'm off to WindyCon), but I'll try to get back with answers ASAP, maybe even later tonight, if I'm sufficiently sober.

[Jacquin]

No rush at all, we're just grateful you can spare us the time.

Enjoy Windy and have a beer (or five) for me!

J

[MWStover]

My martial arts background didn't bring anything to my work; it was my work that brought me to martial arts.

This is the literal truth: I was seventeen years old, and I had this idea about a character I wanted to write -- his name was Caine. I was a big Bruce Lee fan, having been mesmerized, as a child, by Kato on the old GREEN HORNET TV show. But I had read lots and lots of fantasy novels where the heroes met the villains In a Mighty Clash Of Swords, and then the villain falls . . .

I wanted to write something that would feel REAL. So I enrolled in the only martial arts class that was available to me at the time, as a freshman at Drake University: tae kwon do. And I joined the fencing club (eventually becoming vice president). And I made friends with a guy who had learned English quarterstaff from some SCA guys at Cornell College. And basically, I have gone on to learn as much as I can about as many different kinds of fighting as are available -- right now, I'm becoming a terrific shot with a 1911 and am about to enroll in an Urban Combat Shotgun competition league . . . because when I write it, I want it to feel REAL.

And because it's a hell of a lot of fun.

As for who I'm reading in the field, I'm afraid my current favorite is a guy doing classic Epic stuff, because he's doing it better than anybody has in a long, long time: Greg Keyes. THE BRIAR KING kept me up late, turning pages.

The other fantasist I particularly enjoy is Graham Joyce. THE TOOTH FAIRY is dynamite.

I'm not too up on China Miéville. I read PSS, and while I admire his imagination -- I particularly liked the concept of "crisis energy" -- I wasn't too impressed with the book's construction, and I'm not overly enthralled with his world-view. I mean, sure, okay, the guy's a socialist, so he can't really allow himself to have heroes, because to a socialist, progress only comes through collective action, right? I, on the other hand, think that all you get through collective action is a Republican Congress . . .

But he can certainly write, and I do intend to read THE SCAR. I just haven't gotten around to it yet, that's all.

When I read for pleasure, I usually read classics.

I should also point out that there is no "leading away from the epic" going on in fantasy. Non-epic -- and non-heroic -- fantasy has always been out there, and always will be. And is usually among the best of the genre.

Have you guys forgotten Gene Wolfe? How about Jonathan Carroll?

Can anybody say Ray Bradbury?

[Gary Wassner]

Do you think that anyone has written anything in the last twenty years in fantasy that will continue to be read twenty years from now? And if so, why? What is it that makes Tolkien so enduring?

[MWStover]

Do you think that anyone has written anything in the last twenty years in fantasy that will continue to be read twenty years from now?

Other than mine?





Did you miss those three names in that post above?







I'm staying out of the Tolkien thing. Been there, done that. Sorry.

[Gary Wassner]

Actually, I read those three names. But you merely said you enjoyed them. I can't read your mind. Do you also think they will endure over time?

[MWStover]

Actually, I read those three names. But you merely said you enjoyed them. I can't read your mind. Do you also think they will endure over time?

You CAN'T read my mind? What's wrong with you?

Have you fallen to the Dark Side?


Seriously, though:

Yes.

In fact, they already have: many of their most important works were published twenty years and more ago, and are still being read today. I have no reason to suspect that they will fade in the next twenty.

Well, except for Jonathan Carroll, who I threw in just to make myself sound hip.

Mostly I mean Gene Wolfe and Ray Bradbury, who I guarantee will still be read a hundred years from now, not just twenty.

[Spears&Buckler]

Greetings, Matt. Good to see you at SFF World. I understand that you had been ill recently (Hope that situation has cleared up for you!), and it was somewhat serious. Would a scenario like that which has impacted your life so much find its way into your work? And if so, how often do you feel that that happens in speculative fiction these days? Thanks.