Another interview today, as author E. A. Setser drops by to chat about his fantasy book,
Elder Blood, and other writing related things.
Interview with E. A. Setser
Why don’t you begin by telling everyone a bit about
yourself?
Ah, let’s see… I grew up in and around Knoxville, TN. Like a
lot of folks that get into writing fantasy, I was an outcast as an adolescent,
and that carried over into adulthood. That was part of my motivation to move –
the other being employment – out of there and head for Cincinnati, OH. Right
now, I work at a sign design and manufacturing company. I do material
purchasing – shopping around, tracking down the best and quickest deals,
negotiating with vendors – database administration, costing, pricing,
production work, technical support and repairs. I’m kind of the company
spackle.
Been married for three years. We have one kid, a little boy,
three years old. For anyone who cares, we were not married when he was born,
but we had been engaged for six months when he was conceived. We’re looking at
pre-schools for him and looking to get into Cincinnati proper (living in
Covington, KY, couple miles short) before he’s in 2nd grade.
Could you please tell us about your book, Elder Blood?
Gladly!
This is the jump-off point for my ongoing series, The
Epimetheus Trial. I call it that because, while it’s the first book, it’s not
the beginning of the timeline. Anyway…
It spans two generations, starting 17 years before the meat
of the story. The first few chapters time lapse across that period, setting up
establishing events along the way and giving insight into what made the
characters and their world the way it is.
It takes place in a fictional world, on an archipelago
continent called Ouristihra. People of ArcNos, the world’s military superpower,
start turning up traces of a clandestine high-powered organization. These
Avatars of Fate, as they’re called, eventually surface and seize control of
ArcNos by pushing their newest protégé up the hierarchy. This splinters the
nation, and those not among the elite and their chosen, are cast into the
gutters. Also, a couple of the Avatars use the term “god” on a couple of
occasions, but the very concept of religion is non-existent in Ouristihra.
Connected to some of these groups and people of interest are
four members of a previously extinct (that’s established further in the next
book) alternate hominin species. They’re called Hybrids, and they’re born to
human parents but all have a unique inhuman trait plus power over certain
aspects of nature. Oddly, the Avatars of Fate start coming around about when
the first of them are born.
So, we’ve got this power struggle over ArcNos with the rest
of Ouristihra at risk depending on the outcome. On one side, there’s the new
autonomous empire, driven by members of the Avatars of Fate. And on the other
side, there’s the parliamentary republic with the help of the Hybrids. But
there are spies, moles, double-crossers, informants, that sort of thing.
What drew
you to write in the fantasy genre?
I’ve always
had a strange imagination, so this gives me a lot of freedom. It also helps not
having to do as much fact checking if I start talking about historical events,
but it’s mostly the freedom to build my own cultures, characters, history, etc.
What is the hardest part of writing fantasy fiction for you?
The freedom comes with a lot of responsibility. So far, what
I’ve written spans over 4 decades – some years being significantly less
detailed than others, but it still impacts the canon – and covers an entire
continent. That’s a lot to keep track of, ranging from personal nuances to
cultural events affecting international relationships.
You’ve used the term “industrial fantasy” to describe your
book. Could you expand on its meaning and elaborate on why you favour that term
as opposed to say, “urban fantasy”?
I wouldn’t really call it urban fantasy, as very little of
it is, well, metropolitan. The meat of it takes place in the divided capital of
ArcNos, primarily among the parliamentary republic and the Hybrids. They’ve
turned the Subtransit (their subway system) into their own city, thus later
earning them the name the Subtransit Resistance.
But this war is fought with a combination of near-future
technology and archaic weaponry like lance launchers and trebuchets. That’s due
to a lack of time and funding, of course. There’s also this sort of industrial
coming of age under the surface throughout it all.
You also added a few science fiction elements to the book.
Did you deliberately set out to blend genres or was it simply a natural
progression of the story?
Mostly a natural progression. We’re talking about different
nations with different levels of development. For some outside group to be
perceived as a threat in such a way as the Avatars of Fate, it would make sense
for their technology to be greater than that of the most developed nations.
Plus, you have to figure the average person from a
third-world country would look at our cell phones the same way we look at
teleportation pods and light sabers. So, it’s also a matter of
sci-fi-by-perspective.
Some of your influences range from ancient mythology to
modern politics to theoretical physics and that’s quite a variety of interests.
Is there a similar thread that you find in all three, something that shows in
your writing?
I never thought about it – once again this was a matter of
working multiple cultures and time periods into one story – but I suppose there
is. Think about ancient mythology. You’ve got power struggles and hierarchal
networks and conflicts comparable to those of modern politics. You just have to
substitute “mortals” for “the working class.” Oh, and get rid of the arranged
incest and pedocidal cannibalism. But thematically, there’s a similarity there.
Also look at the powers ascribed to many of the gods of
ancient mythology. A lot of this same stuff is done in science fiction, which
is rooted in theoretical physics. Sometimes vice versa. Not long ago, I read
something – I think by Michio Kaku – positing that a highly advanced
civilization could potentially gather a large quantity of highly condensed
matter and energy, wrap it in the fabric of space, and push it outside of their
universe, perhaps via a black hole.
So yeah, there are definitely similarities if you know where
to look. But this was mostly a matter of blending cultures and eras in a single
set of stories. Really though, politics or religion, it’s all a matter of who
you pay homage to and what they promise to do for you. Also a matter of who’s
real, of course.
Who are your writing inspirations?
My influences are more informational and experience-based. I
might get ideas from current events or stuff I read in scientific articles.
Reading Michio Kaku has given me quite a few ideas for new technology as well
as origin stories behind the eventual mythology.
Are you working on another book or project?
Yes I am, in fact. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the
initial draft of
Into Antiquity, the
second book in The Epimetheus Trial. It takes place five years after
Elder Blood, but it also explores events
in between the two as well as during and before
Elder Blood. Hence the name, of course. I can’t divulge too much
without spoiling the first book, but I will say that an old threat is
resurfacing, and our characters are about to discover there’s a lot more behind
it all than they anticipated. Also, where the tagline for
Elder Blood is “Everyone has their secrets.”
Into Antiquity is going to be “Everyone has a story.
You can check out more on
Elder Blood at its Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ElderBlood
