What drives your art? What forces you, rides you, hustles you, controls you until its latest needs have been met? What really drives you to create speculative fiction art, be it words or images?

Bill: I’ve been writing since I was 14. I’ve made it the centerpiece of my life. A well-written sentence moves me more than a motif from a Bach fugue or a Chaim Soutine brushstroke. I occasionally write SF and fantasy. I love it for its transcendental possibilities: the transcendence of the mundane.

Allen: At a fairly early age I discovered I had a knack for interesting quips; many a bully told me how much they admired my penchant for clever turns of phrase while they beat the crap out of me. I was a slow learner but I eventually realized paper was a better venue for my words then school yard thugs. Soon after this epiphany I discovered that I could weave my words into stories, and that the practice gave me great pleasure. This holds true today. I love playing with words; it beats watching television or getting pulverized by troglodytes.

If there was the possibility of becoming any speculative fiction character ever created (except your own), would you? Who? Why?

Bill: I’m happy with myself, so, no, I wouldn’t choose to be anyone or anything else. If I had to, though, I’d be Corwin from Roger Zelazny’s Amber novels. Great swordsman, great lover, snappy dresser. And kind of an immortal god/superhero, to boot.

Allen: I like who I am as well, but if I was forced to make a choice I’d be Cugel The Clever, a quick thinking, witty rogue created by the great Jack Vance.

If you could only take one author’s works compressed on an e-book reader on a “one-bag-only” one-way trip to another galaxy, whose works would it be and why?

Bill: Shakespeare. The “why” part of the question really isn’t necessary to answer.

Allen: Gotta go with the Bard as well, although I’d try and sneak the complete works of Jack Vance in my pants for the trip.

Why Gerhard and Ez-Arod? What initiated their story and made you complete this particular tale?

Bill: Why Gerhard? He’s Conan meets Corwin meets Robert Parker’s Spenser. He’s my kinda hero. Funny, self-absorbed, and totally kick-ass.

Allen: Let’s not forget Ez-Arod, Gerhard’s reluctant companion. He’s Cugel meets Mouser meets Norton Jester’s Milo meets a sliver of James Randi. Ez-Arod is intelligent, selfish, witty, sceptical, self-absorbed and very young. I enjoy him because he’s the sort of character that can be a hero and a cretin at the same time.

In the privacy of your favorite writing nook, do you act out your protagonist’s actions? Do you know how to use his weapons? Do you wear his clothes? Do you talk like him?

Bill: I’ve done martial arts, no sword practice. I mutter like Gerhard to myself, but rarely on public transportation.

Allen: I sometimes recite paragraphs from stories I’m working on while mountain biking. People only think I’m schizophrenic when I stop for traffic lights.

Quick: List your first thought as your answers to these questions about the future of genre fiction:

Printing Methods: Offset or Print-on-Demand?

Bill: Digital, no dead trees.
Allen: Offset. Books ain’t going anywhere.

Reading Formats: Electronic or Print?

Bill: Electronic.
Allen: Print.

Book Tours: Physical or Virtual?

Bill: Physical–fans want the elusive autograph, handshake, hug, etc.
Allen: Physical–Do fan’s dress up at book signings? If so I want to hug Xena or Red Sonia and get their autographs in my little black book. I can dream can’t I?

Reading Habits: Dead, Dying, Alive, Growing?

Bill: Constant.
Allen: Ditto. Plus, I’m lucky enough to work in a bookstore!

Length: Flash, Short, Novella, 1970’s novel (60k), 1980’s novel (80k), 1990’s novel (120k), 2000’s novel (150k)

Bill: All of the above.
Allen: More of the same.

Robert E. Howard, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Fritz Leiber, Karl Edward Wagner, Louis L’Amour, Frederick Faust, Ian Fleming, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rafael Sabatini . . . the list could go on. Some lived long lives, some flared and burned out young. All lived life hard. All wrote pulse-pounding action-adventure, often dipping into the many different genres they share, yet each eventually establishing their name within a specific one. What do you believe you have in common with these authors, and what makes you so sure speculative fiction – heroic fantasy fiction to be precise – is your genre? Or is it?

Bill: Gender. Fantasy and mainstream will blend and fracture so many times in our lives that their borders will disappear.

Allen: I’m in Bill’s camp. Also, I care more about the skill (or lack of it) that spun the yarn then I do about its classification.

Terrific answers from both of you! Thanks for taking your time to thoroughly answer each, Bill and Allen!

William Clunie and Allen B. Lloyd are old college buddies who get together from time to time and spin yarns by the pickle barrel.

Review Praise for “An Uneasy Truce in Ulam-Bator”

“…Lots of fun adventure, here. I hope to see more from this duo—the characters, and the authors.” ~ Wesley Lambert

An excerpt

…Something laughed behind him. As Gerhard turned, gripping his sword tightly, a dark, sinuous shape slammed into him, knocking him against a dune. Stunned, the warrior shook his head and cursed. Cragmar lay before a serpentine beast, well out of his reach. The silth, coiling and writhing without pause, lifted Cragmar with a splayed tail and licked it.

The creature’s face was beautiful, like masterwork jewelry: unblinking eyes of jade set in finely carved alabaster, crowned golden, sneering lips. The serpent’s tongue flicked at the blade again. Gerhard stood and braced himself.

“Take,” the creature said and flung Cragmar at the warrior’s feet. “Fight,” it hissed. “Die.”

It lunged.

Gerhard rolled to his left, dodging the beast. He snatched Cragmar from the sand and swung it at the swaying thing. The blade slashed nothing but air. The snake behind him laughed…

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Related posts:

1. Mini-interview: Steve Goble
2. Mini-interview: Bill Ward
3. Mini-Interview: S.C. Bryce
4. Mini-interview: Nathan Meyer
5. Mini-interview: Angeline Hawkes

Tags: Anthologies, RotS

This entry was posted by Jason on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Authors, Interviews, RBE Presents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.