Richard Lee Byers Bravely Plunges into a new Forgotten Realms Series. By Tammy Kane

Richard Lee Byers is wielding his rapier pen to create a new Forgotten Realms trilogy. Richard is the author of such works as Unclean, Undead and Unholy (The Haunted Lands trilogy), and The Rage, The Rite, and The Ruin (The Year of the Rogue Dragons trilogy.) The new work combines fan-favorite characters from past novels with new heroes, mysteries, and perils.

Richard's characters are flawed and three-dimensional, and he uses tropes from other genres in his fantasy to craft plots that are fresh and unpredictable. They leave readers eager for more, and fortunately, more are on the way. The Captive Flame, Book One of The Brotherhood of the Griffon, is due out in April, 2010.

MC: What is the basis behind the new trilogy?

Richard Byers: We should probably preface this with a spoiler alert: Readers of my books Unclean, Undead, and Unholy know that Aoth Fezim and his mercenary band made it out of that trilogy alive. The new trilogy continues their adventures in the land of Chessenta in the Forgotten Realms.

MC: What makes your books so different?

Richard Byers: It would be an audacious claim to say that my books are radically different than everybody else's. I mean, there are a lot of books, and I certainly have my influences. But I do tend to mix genres to a degree. My fantasy novels reflect my love of horror, mystery, and historical adventure fiction, and that may make them read a little differently than the average fantasy novel.

MC: What keeps the series alive for you? What keeps you able to keep writing it and not get bored?

Richard Byers: If by the series, you mean the Forgotten Realms, it's a big fantasy universe that contains all the elements sword-and-sorcery fans love. And I've created many different characters contending with many different challenges, so, since I am a sword-and-sorcery fan, there hasn't been much danger of me getting bored. Now, if you mean, what keeps me from getting bored with the same hero who starred in one trilogy and is now starring in another, well, I deliberately made him a kind of resourceful, pragmatic character I enjoy writing. I also left him room to grow. He's not the same person he started out as, and, if his adventures continue into still more novels, he'll grow more before he's done. I've also given him some sidekicks who are fun in their own right, and who have issues and problems of their own to resolve. They help to keep things interesting as well.

MC: What made you start writing fantasy?

Richard Byers: I've been a fan of fantasy, horror, and science fiction since I was a kid. When I decided to take the plunge and try to become a professional writer, it was natural for me to take a shot at the same kind of material I enjoy. But I didn't feel comfortable tackling sf, because I don't know enough real science to write the kind of sf I enjoy. So that left the other two genres,

MC: Where do you get your ideas?

Richard Byers: Ideas come from a lot of different places. Sometimes you observe a person or situation in real life that makes good raw material for a story. For example, I recently sold a story inspired by the current debate over healthcare reform. Sometimes you get an idea from noticing what seems to be an accepted convention in a particular genre, then deciding to go in a different direction. I'm currently writing an urban fantasy. One of the things I've noticed about this genre is that the protagonists tend to be either private eyes or other this-gun-for-hire types. I'm trying to make my book stand out from the crowd by having a hero who isn't one of these.

MC: What inspires you?

Richard Byers: Inspired is another word that can mean many different things. On the most basic level, I guess I'm inspired to write stories because I enjoy the process, at least when it's going reasonably well. I get inspired to start or press on with a particular story for the same reason that a reader gets excited by a story: The characters engage my interest and my sympathy, I think the plot is taking some surprising and satisfying turns, etc.

MC: Have you ever gotten anything interesting from a fan? A Comment or item?

Richard Byers: A fan gave me a rubbing of H. P. Lovecraft's headstone. Since I'm a Lovecraft fan, I appreciated it very much.

MC: Tell me what kind of influence Lovecraft has on your writing. Are there glimmers of his ideas in your work?

Richard Byers: I like the way that, instead of sticking with tried-and-true creatures and concepts from folklore, Lovecraft created a whole new mythology and races of monsters. I also like it that most of his monsters aren't obsessed with us. The human race is of secondary importance if not completely inconsequential to entities like the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods. Lovecraft's work displays a sense of the size, age, and sheer strangeness of the cosmos that is very much in synch with modern science, and that earlier horror and fantasy generally lacked. There are definitely glimmers of his ideas and perspective in my stuff, and I write straight-up Cthulhu Mythos stories from time to time. I tend to avoid all the Lovecraftian buzz words like Necronomicon, Yog-Sothoth, etc., but if you pay attention to the underlying concepts. You know what I'm talking about. (If anyone would like to read one of these, check out the anthology Zombie Raccoons and Killer Bunnies, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes and available from DAW Books.)

MC: Do you think that great writers are born that way or do you think that anyone could be one if they wanted to? This is only an opinion question.

Richard Byers: Great is a loaded word. What defines great? Is it being eagerly read by millions now, having your stuff taught in school a hundred years after you're dead, or something else entirely? I'm more comfortable talking about being a successful writer. For that, I think you need a little talent. Some people simply don't have the kind of imagination to create stories, or have so little innate verbal ability that they'll never be able to tell them effectively. But that said, I think a writer can succeed with a modest level of natural ability if he simply has the perseverance.

MC: What do your readers have in store for them; why should they buy your new series?

Richard Byers: Well, let me put it this way. I write novels about complex, three-dimensional characters caught up in dilemmas that, despite their fantasy elements, are not unlike issues readers face in their own daily lives. And then I have the characters resolve those dilemmas in orgies of senseless violence. In other words, I got your monsters, your magic, and your sword fights. What else does a heroic fantasy fan need?