When I was growing up, Kevin J Anderson was my favorite author. Whether it was his Star Wars books, his Dune books, or his plethora of original fiction; there was always fun to be had whenever I read an Anderson novel. With the upcoming conclusion of his latest fantasy trilogy Wake The Dragon, I knew I had to ask him about it. In an interview with Anderson, we discuss the trilogy, Dune, his collaboration with Rush Drummer, Neil Peart, and much more.
Return to Epic Fantasy.
MR: What made you decide to return to the epic fantasy genre with the Wake The Dragon Trilogy?
Kevin J. Anderson: This is actually my third fantasy trilogy after Terra Incognito and, early in my career, the Gamearth trilogy (just reissued as Hexworld). I’m a big fantasy reader and a history buff, so this is a great challenge to me. The story is the thing, the big epic, sprawling, convoluted story, and whether it’s told in a galactic science fiction setting or a fantasy world, it’s the same process to me as a writer.
After all my Dune work with Brian Herbert and my Saga of Shadows trilogy, I was ready for a change of landscape. (I should also mention that my personal favorite book series of all my work is my Clockwork steampunk fantasy trilogy with Neil Peart from Rush; the last one of those, Clockwork Destiny, comes out in April, so I’ve always kept a foot in the fantasy genre).
Easy vs. Difficult Characters
Kevin J Anderson: Now that’s a difficult question. Because, I like to slip into the body and mind of all the characters as I write them, the Kings, the powerful elder race, the twisted villains, the grand heroes. For this trilogy, I think my favorite was Utho, an absolutely loyal “knight” who will do anything to protect his land … and he starts out as a hero, a Jedi, a faithful and invincible guy…and his own rules twist him and trap him until he turns out to be one of the baddest villains in the whole trilogy.
Did an inside look change things?
Kevin J. Anderson: As an experiment for a core group of fans with SPINE OF THE DRAGON, I allowed them to join a sort of “VIP Backstage” club, where they could see the drafts of the chapters and actually hear my audio files of me dictating the chapters as I wrote them. It was like a high-wire act because I knew people were watching my every move … but I am very confident in my abilities, my reliability, and I knew I would keep writing. It was kind of fun to let people backstage. I plan to do the same thing for an upcoming Kickstarter for a new Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. novel, let the fans come along for the ride of the creative process.
Seven Suns to Wake the Dragon?
Kevin J Anderson: The Saga of Seven Suns is like my love letter to science fiction—a sprawling galactic empire with lots of planets, races, space battles, killer robots, a huge cast of characters, and a huge and complex plot that took all my skills to keep everything under control. I was able to write such a large range of personalities and settings, and also tackle the biggest ideas, that’s why I love it.I used the same skills when I approached the Wake the Dragon trilogy…only three books, but still such a large cast of characters and such a big plot. At the end of Vengewar, book 2, I was hyperventilating a little, wondering how I was ever going to pull it all together and keep it under control. I think I did—Gods and Dragons is a perfect grand finale.
Working with Brian Herbert
Kevin J. Anderson: The movie is the result of many, many years of work and constant heavy lifting—not just from Brian and me, but other people in the Frank Herbert estate and all the people involved in the movie itself. Seeing the film’s success—not just financial and critical, but also with the core Dune fans—has been immensely gratifying.We’ve been involved since the beginning and the many, many iterations. We’ve been working together on the books for nearly 25 years, and this year has been a big payoff, not just in the books, and the movie, but also the board game, the RPG, and other games, and (a long-time dream of mine) Dune adaptations in the comics universe.
Kevin J Anderson: I was a close friend of Neil’s for over 30 years, and we had a great creative partnership. He brainstormed with me as he was developing the steampunk concept album Clockwork Angels (Rush’s last studio album), and after the story was developed and most of the lyrics written, he asked me to write the novel version of the story, which we did together. I absolutely loved working on that novel; it was a New York Times bestseller and nominated for several awards.After a few years, we went back to that universe for a companion novel, Clockwork Lives, which we both think is even better. It’s my favorite of all my novels, and Neil wrote me, declaring it “surely, your finest work,” and that book sparked the idea for a third one. After Rush retired, Neil was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he and I discussed the plot and characters of the third and final book, Clockwork Destiny.After Neil died in January 2020, I put all those notes away and couldn’t look at them. It took me a whole year before I finally got them out again and decided to tackle the project. I think Clockwork Destiny (which finally comes out in April from ECW Press) is the absolute best I could do. I’m very proud of it, so much so that I even recorded the audiobook myself, spending many days in the studio.
Terra Incognita
Kevin J Anderson: My writing has always been closely connected with music, going all the way back to my first novel Resurrection, Inc, inspired by the Rush album Grace Under Pressure. For Terra Incognita, I worked With ProgRock Records on two crossover rock CDs. I wrote the lyrics, which were like snapshots of characters or events from the novels, Erik Norlander wrote the music for the first CD, Henning Pauly wrote the second one. We had performances on them from some of my rock music heroes — Steve Walsh from Kansas, James Labrie from Dream Theater, John Payne from Asia, Michael Sadler from Saga, David Ragsdale (violinist from Kansas), great female vocalists Sass Jordan and Lana Lane… It was great and I love the music—I just replayed both CDs only a few days ago.But it was certainly a labor of love because it’s hard to get any traction for a non-touring band, even with those big names. I’m super proud of the CDs, though. You can listen to them on amazon music or Spotify. The group name is Roswell Six.
A Galaxy Unknown
Kevin J. Anderson: The galaxy doesn’t solve itself….
What’s Next?
Kevin J Anderson: At the present, I’m putting the finishing touches on The Heir of Caladan with Brian Herbert, the last book in our latest Dune trilogy, and I’m also writing the comic script for Volume 3 of the Dune graphic novel adaptation. Getting ready to promote GODS AND DRAGONS which comes out in a week and CLOCKWORK DESTINY. Next on the plate, I think, will be a brand new Dan Shamble novel—it’s been too long since I returned to that universe.
Special Thanks
We’d like to thank Mr. Anderson for his time. Gods and Dragons releases on January 11th, 2022. Signed copies of his novel are available at wordfireshop.com. You can find out more information about Mr. Anderson’s work at Wordfire.com.
