We’ve talked to Gail Z. Martin as her new epic fantasy collection of Jonmarc Vahanian short stories are being released from Solaris Books. She has also contributed to Modern Magic, a collection of twelve complete book-length works by masters of dark urban fantasy. An exclusive excerpt from The Shadowed Path can be read here.
Welcome back to SFFWorld, Gail. Many thanks for giving us some time here. I’ll start with a rather big question. In your own words, who is Gail Z. Martin?
Well, I’ll skip the existential element to that question, and say that I write stories, I take people on fantastical fictional adventures, I feel more at home in fandom than anywhere else, I love to spend time with my family and our dogs, and I really love to look out at the ocean.
With The Shadowed Path you return to your Chronicles of the Necromancer universe with the untold tales of Jonmarc Vahanian. Can you tell us a bit about it and are these all new stories?
When we meet Jonmarc in The Summoner, he’s a finely honed weapon, an amazing warrior, and a bitter man with a nightmare past. Throughout the books, we get glimpses of that past, but not the whole story. I’ve always wanted to tell his story, but he wasn’t the main character in those books. Then a couple of years ago, I started to tell Jonmarc’s past in a series of sequential ebook short stories that will eventually add up to three novels and which take him from the night his world changed until just a few years before the events in The Summoner. The Shadowed Path is the first 10 of those previously released stories plus an eleventh story that is exclusive to the collection, and it’s the first time there has also been a paperback option and not just ebook.
How do you feel this set of short stories complements the series?
This is the first third of Jonmarc’s journey. So readers not only get a better idea of what choices and events made Jonmarc the man he becomes, they also get to see Margolan in the heyday of King Bricen, before the coup, before the Usurper. And they meet a lot of secondary characters from The Summoner at a different point in those characters’ lives, under very different circumstances. So for example, in The Summoner, when Jonmarc takes Tris and the others to the caravan to hide them, once you read these stories, you’ll know why he was so sure Maynard Linton would take them in, even with the Usurper King’s soldiers looking for them.
Of course The Shadowed Path will appeal very much to the followers of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, but I think I’m correct in saying that it stands very well on its own also?
I think so. It’s the story of a young man who has lost everything, who has an implacable enemy hunting for him, who tries to make the best of the cards he’s been dealt, and who discovers that there is more to him–good and bad–than he has ever imagined. So I think the stories stand on their own and stand together as a serialized novel, and make a good introduction to the Chronicles of the Necromancer/Fallen Kings books for those who haven’t read the series.
You’re also taking part in a collaboration called Modern Magic which is a collection of twelve complete book-length works by masters of dark urban fantasy. How did you get involved in such a project?
I sat down with my friend and fellow author and Falstaff Books publisher John Hartness and said something along the lines of, “Damn, we know some pretty cool dark urban fantasy authors. We ought to come up with a way we could all do a project together.” And it just kind of took on a life of it’s own from there.
My contribution is Trifles and Folly, the first-ever collection of 10 Deadly Curiosities Adventures short stories, and the only place the collection is available. Twelve full-length books, thirteen bestselling dark urban fantasy authors, all for $1.99, only on Kindle, only for a limited time. It’s the kind of deal you might sell your soul for….
Have you been part of similar projects in the past and what are your expectations?
I haven’t done an ebook boxed set before, but I’ve been part of plenty of anthologies. I enjoy anthologies because there’s a real camaraderie to many of them, especially Kickstarters, and I’ve gotten to know some amazing authors that way. Every project that I do with other authors deepens relationships and opens new opportunities. So frankly, I’m having a great time, and I’m hoping that our readers will all try out the other authors in the boxed set and discover some new books and new authors to love.
Let’s finish with the age old, but always interesting question. What’s next? Do you have more new and exciting projects you’re working on?
I owe short stories to several upcoming anthologies, and later this year, the Alien Artifacts anthology comes out from Zombies Need Brains Press with an Iron & Blood tie-in Steampunk story, and Baker Street Irregulars comes out from Diversion Press with an alternate Sherlock Holmes/Deadly Curiosities story. I’ll be bringing out more short stories and novellas in all four of our indie ebook series that are extended adventures related to the four book series. Plus, I’ve got a new epic fantasy series coming out from Solaris Books in 2017 that I can’t talk about yet, so I keep referring to it as ‘the epically epic epic fantasy that cannot be named’, but I’m finishing up the first book right now, and will start on the second book soon. And I’ve got four other projects in various stages of development that I also can’t talk about, except that they would be amazing if everything goes well, which I hope it does.
Once again, thank you very much for your time.
Check out The Shadowed Path, my newest epic fantasy collection of Jonmarc Vahanian short stories in paperback and ebook from Solaris Books. And be sure to also look for Modern Magic: Twelve Tales of Urban Fantasy, a 12 book, 13 author ebook boxed set including Trifles and Folly, the first-ever collection of 10 Deadly Curiosities Adventures short stories!
From June 21-June 30 I’ll be doing my annual Hawthorn Moon Sneak Peek Event blog tour, and I hope readers will stop over to my website, find out what all is going on and where to find the posts, giveaways, contests and fun events. And of course, please look for The Shadowed Path at your favorite bookseller!
The Hawthorn Moon Sneak Peek Event includes book giveaways, free excerpts, all-new guest blog posts and author Q&A on 22 awesome partner sites around the globe. I’ll also be hosting many of my Modern Magic co-authors guest posting on my DisquietingVisions.com blog during the tour. For a full list of where to go to get the goodies, visit AscendantKingdoms.com.
About the Author
Gail Z. Martin is the author of The Shadowed Path (Solaris Books), Vendetta: A Deadly Curiosities Novel in her urban fantasy series set in Charleston, SC (Solaris Books); Shadow and Flame the fourth and final book in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books); and Iron and Blood a new Steampunk series (Solaris Books) co-authored with Larry N. Martin.
She is also author of Ice Forged, Reign of Ash and War of Shadows in The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven, Dark Lady’s Chosen); The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn, The Dread) and the urban fantasy novel Deadly Curiosities. Gail writes three ebook series: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures, The Deadly Curiosities Adventures and The Blaine McFadden Adventures. The Storm and Fury Adventures, steampunk stories set in the Iron & Blood world, are co-authored with Larry N. Martin.
Her work has appeared in over 30 US/UK anthologies. Newest anthologies include: Robots, The Big Bad 2, Athena’s Daughters, Heroes, Space, Contact Light, With Great Power, The Weird Wild West, The Side of Good/The Side of Evil, Alien Artifacts, Cinched: Imagination Unbound, Realms of Imagination, Gaslight and Grimm, Baker Street Irregulars, Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens.
Find her at AscendantKingdoms.com, on Twitter @GailZMartin, on Facebook, at DisquietingVisions.com blog and GhostInTheMachinePodcast.com, on Goodreads and free excerpts on Wattpad.
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Interview by Dag Rambraut – SFFWorld.com © 2016
