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(2002-09-30)Q. Who do you consider your readership to be? RP: People who hunger for a story that will burn as brightly in their adult minds as stories once did when they were children Q. Are you satisfied that you have accomplished that? RP: That I have sincerely pursued this aim with all my heart and mind is enough for me. In the end, whether the book succeeds, only time will tell. Q. Who are your favorite authors writing today? Who are your favorite authors throughout history? Do you read fantasy yourself? If so, do you like series or stand alone books? Who are your favorite fantasy authors? RP: I have to admit to not reading much fiction. Perhaps this comes from a need to have some escape from my work - though it might also be that powerfully written novels have sometimes intruded on my own 'voice'. Favourite authors: Stanislav Lem, Ray Bradbury, Ursula Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Robert Louis Stevenson... though if you were to ask me tomorrow, you would almost certainly get a different list. I don't really read fantasy... though that is as much from ignorance of what's out there than anything else. Like everyone else, I suppose I like series if I'm enjoying a book - not wanting it to stop. Favourite fantasy authors: Gene Wolfe, Tolkien (of course), Frank Herbert - specifically Dune - which I believe to be a peerless masterpiece. Q. What motivates you most when you write? Do you write in a specific environment? Does writing enrapture you? RP: In the early stages of a book, I love the excuse to bury myself in obscure research and the exploring and invention of my world. When I am writing, I enjoy 'seeing it' - the action of the book plays through my mind as a ravishing film. I generally write at home in my huge and dishevelled study beside a window, amidst (dangerously) tottering piles of reference books, in front of my Apple Mac, playing Shostakovitch, Tibetan ritual music, Tangerine Dream etc... Writing can result in me leaping around my room with delight or sink me into a well of despair and everything in between... Q. The world you have created is quite unique. What inspired its look and structure? Many have said that it seems almost oriental, and yet to me it has the feel of ancient Egypt. What about for you? RP: It is a wide swathe of history as seen through the lense of my mind. I have devoured history since I was perhaps 8 years old. East and West, the modern and the ancient are now so deeply mixed in me that I can no longer tell where anything might have come from... Q. Readers are very anxious for your next book to come out. Can you tell us when that will be? RP: If you are talking about the final book of the Stone Dance - then it will be at least a couple of years... I am sure you can believe me when I say that I wish it might come far sooner. I have at least a dozen books planned after this one and would like to get to them. However, the structure of the Stone Dance is extremely complex and demanding. Everything has to be done right. Once it is complete, I am pretty sure that people will see the Stone Dance in a wholly new light... 
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