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When I finished reading George Martin’s Storm of Swords, I desperately wanted more, but George takes a long time between books, and I really could not find anything else on the bookstore shelves that satisfied my craving. So I decided to write my own epic medieval fantasy, something similar but different. The first thing I borrowed from George was writing each chapter from the perspective of one point-of-view character. I love this writing style, the way it lets the reader and the author get deep into the character. It makes the story intimate and very personal, where the reader understands the dreams and fears of every POV character. The second thing I borrowed from George was complex plots and strategies. I wanted to write a big sweeping saga full of twists and turns that would surprise, shock, but also delight the reader, grabbing hold of your imagination and never letting go. But there were some things I wanted to do very differently. I wanted more women in the saga, not just women to bed and/or wed, but women that make a difference. From a sword-wielding princess, to a seductive priestess, to a queen who rules by coin and guile, to a silver-haired grandmother who wields knitting needles and knives, I wanted to explore how women gain, keep, and wield power in a medieval world. I wanted my saga to be a fast-paced sword-wielding adventure, but I also wanted it to be full of deeper meaning, so my saga explores the mechanisms of evil, the overarching theme the books. If the avatars of good cannot recognize or understand evil, then they will not prevail. And last but not least, I agree with George that some characters must die to make the risk real…but not all of them. If you love Game of Thrones like I do, I hope you will consider reading The Silk & Steel Saga. I’d love to hear how you think the two sagas compare.

This might surprise you, but one of my favorite characters to write in The Silk & Steel Saga is the Priestess. Yes, she walks on the Dark side, but she's such a delicious character, full of potent twists and turns. One of the main themes explored in The Silk & Steel Saga is how women gain, keep and wield power in a medieval world. To do justice to this theme I had to include sex, the good, the bad and even the ugly (my goal was to write sizzling hot, but never R rated). The Priestess was the perfect dark foil to explore this theme. I've read many fantasy books with female assassins and a few with succubae, but to be honest, none of them, not one, ever met my expectations. None of them were smart enough, or bold enough, and all too often both the sex and the poison had little to do with the plot. I wanted the Priestess to be different, a unique character in the fantasy genre, a beautiful, mature woman with a rapier wit who enjoys coiling men around her little finger. She plays the Dark side with gusto, intent on winning immortality. Seduction and poison are her weapons of choice, and she uses both to stunning advantage. Nothing is ever gratuitous, always devious with layered intent. The Priestess comes into her own in the 4th book of the saga, the book that bears her name, The Poison Priestess. "Like seduction, the Priestess took poisoning to an art form. Any assassin could slip hemlock into a flagon of wine but it took an artist to design the perfect death. Part of the secret lay in understanding the possibilities of each poison. Symptoms could range from the dramatic to the subtle, from tortured convulsions and visions of gods, to falling deep into a fatal sleep. And then there was the choice of dosage, strong enough for an instant kill, or parceled out to appear like a lingering malaise. But the real finesse came in the delivery, like slipping into a garden to paint baneberry on an apple just before it was plucked, one bite away from death. The Priestess smiled. She prided herself on creative kills, death by design, the artistry of murder." But poison is not her only weapon. "Glamour enough to steal a man's soul...and the skill to use it." Read The Silk & Steel Saga and discover a scintillating succubus wielding seduction like a siren and poisons like a master assassin, one of the most potent female characters in the fantasy genre.

To trope or not to trope, that is the question. What is a trope, you might ask? Tropes are the classical elements that define a story as belonging to the fantasy genre. A knight in shining armor, a princess who longs to wield a sword, the forces of evil personified in a dark villain, and of course, the all important quest. Most of these tropes have been immortalized by JRR Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings, but rightly or wrongly publishers today are looking for something "different", a new magical system or a bizarre monster-villain. Professional critics say the classical tropes are tired and worn out, unimaginative and dull, but as an author, I think it's how you use the tropes that truly matters. Why not weave a story in bright colors, gold, maroon and midnight-blue, instead of rust and grit and endless shades of gray? Why is gritty more interesting than vibrant? Like many die-hard fantasy fans, what I truly love are well-told stories steeped in the classical fantasy tropes. I yearn to dawn burnished armor, greaves and gorget and gauntlet, and to take up a sword and fight for love and justice, for kingdoms and crowns. To ride a foam-flecked mare through a moonlit forest in a desperate bid for escape. To weave sticky strands of politics with the Spider Queen in the hopes of snaring a traitor. To discover a sanctuary of knowledge where all the hallways are jewel-bright with calligraphy, every wall echoing with prophesies. To explore a land of towering castles and mysterious mists, where all the sunsets are crimson-red, the star-strewn nights are cobalt-blue, and the summer fields are malachite-green. And beneath it all, I want a tale well told, a tapestry brimming with complex characters, each with their own motives and aspirations. Give me a story bursting with plot twists that evoke surprise and wonder. And woven through it all, I want themes that pluck the heartstrings and challenge the mind. The classical tropes are not dead and boring, they are merely waiting for a fresh imagination to take up the sword and lead them on a new adventure. This is the epic fantasy that I love to read. This is what I strove to write in The Silk & Steel Saga.

I just read some great advice for writing a successful fantasy series and I thought I'd share it with you. The difference between a series and a saga is that the books in a series are stand alone. You can read them out of order or individually, but to really be successful, the author hopes to compel the reader through the entire series. Many authors count on the appeal of their characters to keep readers engaged, but JK Rowling used a better strategy. All of the Harry Potter books had two story arcs, the individual story arc for that book, like discovering the chamber of secrets, and the larger macro story arc that spanned the seven book series. JK Rowling's macro arc was defeating Voldemort. In every book, Harry Potter gains more clues and resources to defeat the dark enemy. This macro story arc draws readers through the entire series, racing to the final confrontation. Most series authors understand the need for compelling story questions for their individual books, but many neglect the greater story arc. The greater story arc is the real key to a super successful series. If you are writing a saga instead of a series, then by definition, the greater story arc spans across all the books. The secret to making a saga work, especially a long seven book saga like Silk & Steel, is embedding strong underlying themes. Strong themes keep the writer focused and on track, they buttress the central story arcs and compel the reader to the last page of the last book. I believe success is in the big picture, in using greater story arcs and powerful underlying themes. If you're courting success, consider the big picture when you write your sagas and series.

Great epic fantasy is so much more than just swords and sorcery. To engage a wide range of readers, I set out to write a fantasy that included love, sex, and epic battles. I've already discussed love and sex scenes in past posts, but this 'tidbit' about writing battles grew long, so I am breaking it into three parts, each with a key writing tip. To be honest, the challenge of writing battles scared me. Epic fantasy, almost by definition, includes sweeping battles, casts of thousands clashing with swords and shields, a struggle for life and glory. The Silk & Steel Saga is no exception. A sophisticated tale of Light versus Dark, my saga brims with a legion of battles. Writing battles was a task I needed to succeed at. Failure was not an option. Movies make battles seem deceptively easy to portray, a cast of hundreds multiplied and enhanced by CGI, and music, always music, to lead the viewers' emotions, prodding the audience to triumph or despair. Books have no music, nothing but words, making battles so much harder to convey. The trouble with writing battles is that in real life they're chaos unleashed, hack and slash, stroke and parry, kill or be killed. Hack and slash gets boring real fast, and 'boring' is the death of books, yet in epic fantasy, battles tend to be crucial to the climax. So how do you write a battle scene and keep from descending into pure hack and slash? Part of the solution lies in the character's perspective. Put a character on the castle ramparts and they can see the bigger picture, they understand the ebb and flow, the how and why, the grand strategy. This makes the battle more intellectually engaging, but protected by a castle battlement the risk to the character is diminished, so the tension is lower. To raise the tension, you can place your character in the midst of battle, but then the chaos of hack and slash tends to dominate...unless the character meets their ultimate nemesis. In LOTR, when Eowyn faces the Nazgul witch-king in the battle for Gondor, all the chaos falls away. The battle becomes a duel and the tension goes ballistic as everything focuses on two key combatants. In The Silk & Steel Saga, I used this "dueling" technique for one battle in The Skeleton King and two in The Battle Immortal, but this technique can only be used a few times (there are only so many nemesis pairs in a book). So think about your characters' perspective when writing battle scenes and save a clash between your nemesis pairs for your ultimate climax battles.

Check out the latest Silk & Steel promo video! Dare to enter the kingdoms of Erdhe! Enjoy!