Obviously, the problem is what “baseline human” actually ends up meaning –––often a parade of straight white men running around with swords (although thank god we do seem to be moving on from that at this point). Which makes some sense to begin with, since it’s probably a fair assumption that the reader is a human being, and when you’re diving into some wild fantasy world it can make sense to start with the familiar. A lot of the fantasy canon is very normative about humanity –––humans are the baseline and orcs, elves, gnomes, etc, are rare and alien. K.: This was actually one of the first things that came together for me. How did you decide on the image of Csorwe, and was it important for you to make your main character so unexpected?Ī. Kenneth: One thing I find interesting in terms of your main character is that she isn’t your typical heroine. Thank you very much for interviewing me, for your kind words about the book, and for asking such interesting questions! This was a lot of fun to think about.

I was really drawn in by the main character and her world, the way you used “religion” and loyalty, and the image of giant snakes reading books in libraries. It was an amazing debut novel with several unexpected turns that made for an enjoyable ride as I read your book. I have included part of our greetings to help ease into the questions and answers and give a bit of an introduction. I hope I asked some great questions that you all will enjoy reading the answers to. Larkwood through email, a route I chose because we live on different continents and did not want her to have to wait for me. I had the opportunity to interview fantasy and science fiction writer A. Before you read this email interview, I want to thank Tor Books for giving us the chance to partner with them and review books and interview their amazing writers.

The unspoken name book 2