Interview with C.S. Friedman

Q: How rewarding is it to see that The Coldfire Trilogy is still in print and has been re-released in trade paperback?

That is actually one of the key selling points of DAW to its authors; they will keep books in print for as long as there are readers interested in them. That is very rare these days, and it's one more reason I am happy to keep writing for them.

Q: Although The Coldfire Trilogy remains a fan favorite, your scifi works are not so well-known. What can you tell potential readers about THE MADNESS SEASON, IN CONQUEST BORN, THE WILDING and THIS ALIEN SHORE?

I'm not sure what "not so well known" means; In Conquest Born has a quarter of a million readers and has been published in five countries!

What readers should know is that the same qualities that they enjoy in my fantasy are there in my science fiction as well: big themes, compelling characters, and worlds that I try to make so fascinating they are a story unto themselves. In Conquest Born was my first novel and is probably my most famous, a sweeping epic of interstellar empires that have been at war for so long, they have forgotten the cause. Against that background two enemy generals, male and female, become bound together in a vendetta so intense it borders on sexual obsession. The Madness Season is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, the story of an almost-human Terran (well I don't want to give everything away!) who is forced to leave the Earth after it is conquered by aliens. Thus he must come to terms with his own identity even as fate pits him against Earth's conquerors. This book is especially popular with young readers, and won a Books for Teens award from the New York Public library, for its focus on coming of age issues, albeit in an unusual setting. The Wilding is a sequel to In Conquest Born, so if you like the first book, read the second. This Alien Shore is a fun book, in which humanity has been split into numberless genetic variants, all potentially at war with one another, and hackers spar in the datacurrents of an Outernet to which human minds are directly connected. The main characters in this one are a young girl who must flee her home planet and make her way among "alien shores" as she tries to find out why various corporations want to get hold of her, and an autistic computer security specialist who must leave his familiar home ground to hunt down the source of a virus that...well, imagine what computer viruses could do if human brains were part of the internet, and you get the picture. Lots of fun.

Many fans who "only read science fiction" or "only read fantasy" have told me that they love all my works, so I guess I am doing something right!

Q: I must admit that what initially compelled me to pick up BLACK SUN RISING was Michael Whelan's gorgeous jacket painting. How important is cover art to you as an author?

Well it is something an author has no control of. I feel very fortunate that DAW felt I was worthy of Michael's art, and there is no question his beautiful paintings help get people to look at my books. That's why he is so successful as an artist.

Q: Characters often take a life of their own. Which of your characters did you find the most unpredictable to write about?

I'm not really from the "characters take on a life of their own" school. Generally speaking when I envision a character, I have a sense of where he needs to go, and since that journey serves my greater story, it's pretty important he gets there. Sometimes however I do create a secondary character with no intention for it to play a central role in my story, and then realize it has much greater potential than I thought. High Queen Gwynofar in Feast of Souls is one of the best examples of this that I can remember. She came into being because I needed a full royal family to give my story depth, but it soon became clear to me that she had the potential to be the lynchpin for a whole new set of plotlines, and so I developed her with that in mind. I have to say at this point she is one of my favorite characters in the trilogy.

Her story will culminate in volume 3.