In my monthly newsletter, I started a new section called 3 Questions. This is a short format interview I'm conducting with fellow authors. We're talking about books that I've read, and questions I want to know the answers to. If that sounds interesting, you can sign up for the newsletter HERE. Feel free to contact me and let me know if there are any authors you'd like to hear from (fair warning, Patrick Rothfuss won't tell me when his next book is coming out either).
The December edition will include 3 Questions with Duncan M Hamilton. November was with Alec Hutson, see it below:
"This month, we’re talking to Alec Hutson, author of The Crimson Queen. CQ was Alec’s debut novel and one of the Top 5 Epic Fantasy debuts in 2016 (guess who else is on that list?). It was also the Judge’s Favorite in the 2016 Ink and Insights competition and was a 2017 Reader’s Favorite for Epic Fantasy. If you haven’t read it, click here to check it out on Amazon.
Q1: What fantasy books and worlds have inspired you?
AH: When I was very young, I lost myself in The Wizard of Eathsea, The Chronciles of Prydain, and the old Forgotten Realms novels. I read Game of Thrones when it was released in 1996, and it completely changed my sense of what fantasy could be. Later, New Weird authors like China Mieville, KJ Bishop, and M. John Harrison were hugely influential. For worlds, Westeros, certainly. Faerun. Krynn. Bas Lag.
Q2: After finishing Crimson Queen, I couldn’t wait to dive into the next book and learn more about the world. Can you give us a sneak peek of where the story will go and when to expect it?
AH: The next book will be Shadow King, and I expect to have it ready to go sometime this Spring. Most of it is already written, but I’m going to make sure I’m completely happy with everything before I usher it out into the world. The story will follow three main POV threads – Keilan, Demian / Alyanna, and Cho Lin. The first three characters will be familiar to readers of Queen, and Cho Lin was introduced in a story in my short story collection The Manticore’s Soiree. She’s the daughter of the Shan demon hunter who was tasked with recapturing the Chosen in The Crimson Queen. That duty now falls to her.
I have the story arc for the three books in The Raveling trilogy all set. Readers will get to wander around fairly widely, with extended stops in The Empire of Swords and Flowers and the Frostlands. I may write further books in Araen, as I do enjoy the world and I think there’s plenty more to explore.
Q3: How did you get into writing?
AH: My aunt owns a very large and excellent independent bookstore in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I grew up among the shelves and worked there when I was younger. I read voraciously as a child and my lifelong dream has been to instill the same sense of wonder in others that I enjoyed.
Bonus Material: Alec Hutson lives in Shanghai China, loves ultimate Frisbee, and the first chapter of CQ was written after exploring the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia."
