In The Order War, Justen and his brother play a game called Capture. Will you ever provide the rules of the game?

That’s unlikely, although I envisioned the game as a cross between a number of existing games, because I never fully fleshed it out.

In The Magi’i of Cyador and Scion of Cyador, a book of poetry is consistently referenced and partly quoted. Do you have any plans to publish it separately or along with other poetry you have written?

At this point, I have no plans to publish such verse. In the future, if it appears likely that there is an audience for it, I may.

You recently indicated that you were still writing Recluce novels. When can we expect to see another book?

Tor has currently scheduled the next Recluce book — Arms-Commander — for release in January 2010.

Are you still active in the environmental field, and do you plan to revisit the worlds of either Flash or The Ethos Effect?

While I still try to remain current by reading the literature in the environmental field, or as much of it as I can squeeze in, I’m no longer an active consultant. At present, I have no plans for additional novels in either the future world of Flash or The Ethos Effect.

Will you ever write another story in the Spellsong Cycle?

While it’s highly unlikely that I’ll write any more about either Anna or Secca, another book in that universe is always possible, although I don’t have any immediate plans to do so.

Throughout your novels, the storylines contain a deep sense of morality with the “good” characters always having a deep sense of what should be done and what will fix the current problem, usually “morally.” Is this a sign of your deep belief that people can do the right thing, or does it point to some other types of belief that supersede the differing belief systems alluded to in your books?

I’ve always made ethical issues and conflicts an integral part of virtually every book I’ve ever written, but I don’t believe that any religious system has all the moral and ethical answers, including those about which I’ve written. That’s not to say that religious beliefs do not have an ethical or moral basis, but, from what I’ve observed and learned, in practice a theologically consistent religious system cannot address all moral issues without creating ethical conflicts.

You seem to have an endless supply of pleasant, easy-to-pronounce, invented names. Do you make these up unaided, or do you have a computer program that helps you?

For better or worst, I come up with the names out of my head and not through cybernetic assistance.

Will there be any more stories in the “Ghosts” setting?

It’s unlikely that there will be any more novels following Johan and Llysette that are set after Ghost of the White Nights, but my editor has suggested that other novels in that world might be welcome.

You write with insight about your characters’ vocations. How do you research a vocation?

Whenever possible, frankly, I write about vocations where I have some first-hand knowledge of the vocation. That’s why Lerris in The Magic of Recluce was a woodworker, although he’s far better than I ever was, and why so many of my military protagonists are pilots. It’s also why I write about characters involved in business, economics, politics, and the environment. When I do have to write about a character involved in a field I don’t know well, it takes a great deal longer, because that requires reading and researching in depth the vocation, talking to and watching people involved in it, and, if possible, persuading them to let me try, as an amateur, some tasks. For that reason, for example, it took me far longer to write The Magic Engineer than any other book I’ve written since I became a full-time writer.

Out of all the characters or books you have created, what is the most outrageous or hilarious criticism you’ve received about each book or main character?

Since my fiftieth-first book is about to be published I don’t have time or space to research and/or document all the criticisms, but overall the most striking and amusing criticism I receive isn’t so much a single criticism as the fact that for almost every book I’ve written someone somewhere has claimed that it’s fluff or simple and someone else has found that same book deep and/or thought-provoking. By the same token my style has been described as both simplistic and complex and at times poetic, even for the same book at times.

Out of all the characters you have created, do you have a favorite?

This question has come up often over the years, but my answer remains the same. From my point of view, asking an author about a favorite character or book is like asking a parent about a favorite child, and that’s not answerable unless you only have one child and you’ve only written one book or one character, because you love them all, if for very different reasons.

Have you ever thought about published as a separate volume some of the books you have within the Recluce Saga, for example, the Book of Ryba or the Book of Ayrlyn?

At this point, I have no plans for such a book, since I’m still writing Recluce novels. It’s possible that, once I close the Saga, I’ll consider such a book, but not at present.

In The Magic of Recluce, Lerris describes his staff as having been soaked in “ironbath.” While both the term itself and the sturdiness of the staff imply that the process hardens wood, could you provide a bit more insight into the process?

Lerris’s father and his good Uncle Sardit are actually engaging in a bit of misdirection. Although the staff was certainly soaked in a solution that will help harden wood, it was also imbued with a certain amount of free order that is designed to eventually make the holder more aware of his or her connection to order and which accounts for much of the additional strength. Lerris, of course, is not aware of this when he receives the staff.

The Frankans in The Ethos Effect are obsessed with ethics, but in The Elysium Commission, they are neither technologically superior nor ethical. What happened?

This was something I frankly didn’t even notice because, in my mind, I was writing in different universes. The Frankans in The Ethos Effect are an ancient and ethical alien race; those in The Elysium Commission are merely another greedy and territorial bunch of humans. But… all things considered, I should have used another name in The Elysium Commission.

Will you ever write a novel in the Recluce books where the protagonist is a woman?

Actually, in the Recluce novel that I’m currently working on, the main character is a woman, although it’s likely to be 2010 before that book sees print.

In the story “Iron Man, Plastic Ships” [from Viewpoints Critical] your protagonist is named McCaine. Since this was written about the time John McCain appeared on the political scene, was your protagonist named McCaine because John McCain was a pilot prisoner of war?

In point of fact, “Iron Man, Plastic Ships” was written in 1978 and first appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in October 1979. John McCain was first elected to Congress in 1982 and was still in the Navy at the time the story was written. Because I was also a Navy pilot during the Vietnam era, I was certainly aware of John McCain, although we never met, but I have to say that any link of names had to be either subconscious or coincidental, because I certainly don’t remember even thinking about it.

Will you write a prequel or sequel to Adiamante?

I won’t say that it will never happen, but at the moment it appears unlikely.

In your opinion, who would win in a “western style” showdown: a chaos/order mage, a Spellsong singer, or a talent wielder?

Obviously, the question assumes all are comparatively equal in ability, because one who is strong in one area would always overcome one of a different persuasion who was a weak representative of that class/type of magic. That said, a spellsong singer would win hands down because she could direct greater forces from a greater distance. If any were suddenly thrown together without advance warning, the order/chaos mage would prevail because those skills take less preparation to use.

Have you given any thought to writing about the universe from which the Angels and Rationalists in the Recluce books came?

Actually, I’ve thought about it a number of times, and the question does come up often. Right now, I’m more interested in writing about differing universes, but I’m not ruling out that possibility for the future.

Will there be any more writings in the Ecolitan Universe?

At this point I have no immediate plans to write another Ecolitan book, but that doesn’t mean I won’t at some time in the future.