In The Ethos Effect you used a quote along the lines of “cynicism is the last refuge of the disappointed idealist.” Where did that quote come from?

Actually, so far as I know, that is original with me, and I first used in when I was in politics. My original statement was, “Cynicism is the last refuge of the idealist.”

In The Ethos Effect you used a quote along the lines of “cynicism is the last refuge of the disappointed idealist.” Where did that quote come from?

Actually, so far as I know, that is original with me, and I first used it when I was in politics. My original statement was, “Cynicism is the last refuge of the idealist.”

Would you consider writing an “Encyclopedia” on the history of Erde [from the Spellsong Cycle]?

Probably not, because I’m never certain when I’m finished with the history of a world I’ve created.

Would you consider returning to the universe depicted in The Eternity Artifact in a future SF novel?

I hadn’t planned on doing so, but I also haven’t ruled that possibility out.

In The Magic of Recluce, why does Cassius have black skin? Was this just to have a “black” Black Mage?

No, that thought never occurred to me. The use of Cassius was much more to show, if you will, a number of things, such as Lerris’s indifference to racial characteristics, as well as set up a contrast to the later conflict between white and black.

What prompted you to write about matriarchal societies?

There was no single factor behind my decisions to write, at various times, about matriarchal cultures. Certainly, the facts that I’ve been married to career women, that we have six daughters, all of whom are successful professionally, that all of the women close to me have faced various forms of sexual/gender discrimination, and the fact that I spent some time as a single parent with prime custodial responsibilities all were contributing factors. I also wanted to explore, as it has been noted earlier, the use of power, and how it might be the same, and how it might be different, when exercised primarily by women. Needless to say, the reaction to these “explorations” has been mixed. I will note that there did not seem to be much gender difference between those who liked what I did and those who did not. Along these lines, the latest “exploration” of such issues, although not in a matriarchal society, is “The Lord-Protector’s Daughter,” which will appear in the August issue of Baen’s Universe.

Was there any particular reason why, in the Corean Chronicles, the map provided in the book was so dark that it was difficult, if not impossible, to read?

While the hardcover versions of the books had a good color map provided in the end-papers inside the front and rear covers, the interior maps in the mass-market paperbacks were merely black and white copies of the color map. I understand the decision was made in order to reduce production costs, because paying for drafting another map would have been costly. Like my readers, I was disappointed in this, but authors don’t often get to override publishers, especially when they write large books, as I do, which cost more to produce.

Why are you so obsessed with the proper use of power and the concepts of power?

While I would contest the fact that I’m “obsessed” with themes involving power, I certainly wouldn’t deny that all of my work has major concerns with the issues of power. The reason for this is simple. That’s life. Every relationship, whether personal or professional, has power issues behind it, Every society is based on a power structure. Earnings are based not only on goods and services supplied, but the relative power bases of suppliers and users. Anyone who doesn’t understand these fundamentals understands neither people nor cultures. Even when I write about fictional societies,I do my best to represent the kind of power dynamics that have pervaded any society that ever existed. Should such dynamics exist? That’s another question, but given human psychology, they do exist, and will continue to do so until something changes our internal “hard-wiring.”

Will you ever write another Spellsong Novel that completes the story of Anna and Jecks?

At this point,for a combination of artistic and marketing reasons, it’s unlikely that I will be writing any more Spellsong novels, either about Anna and Jecks or about other characters.

Do any of your science fiction books give any background on Heaven from the Recluce Saga?

The short answer to the question is “no.” The question, however, illustrates a perception about writers, one which is true of some, perhaps many, and not at all true for me. By that, I mean that some authors develop a “future history” and a great number, if not all, of their work falls within that time-line. I don’t. With the exception of the “Ghost” books, my science fiction work all takes the present of our world and extrapolates how the future might turn out under differing economic, political, and environmental outcomes. Some of these “futures” are represented by single books, some by two or three or four, but they certainly don’t represent a straight-line future history. Likewise, every fantasy series is independent of the others, and of the science fiction, although some events in Recluce and in the Spellsong Cycle do have links to our present and a possible future… but I haven’t yet written those futures… and my never do so.

Are all your characters modeled after people you know?

With two exceptions across all of my books, my characters are generally more composites of characteristics I’ve observed in others, rather than character “transplants.” Lerris, for example,exhibits the boredom I observed in one of my own children at his age, and several of my characters are pilots [as I once was]. Anna, the soprano sorceress, is largely modeled on my wife, much to her chagrin, and Johan Eschbach is probably the character closest to me in personality, abilities, and habits — except he’s much better at matters than I was.