Author Interview: James A. Moore for City of Wonders

After reading the third book City of Wonders of the series Seven Forges, I finally nailed down what I consider my personal serious questions about the series and had them sent to the author, James A. Moore, through his publicist (Penny Reeve) for Seven Forges. It's my first time getting in touch with a publicist for Q&A instead of the author which I'm grateful for to not have some jitters. *sigh of relief* Oh, I still consider this an interview btw.

What more can I say? I'm in the sky having my bugging questions get answered and now I can have some peace of mind. I discovered lots of things including the identity of the amazing artist who created the covers for the series.

City of Wonders is an awesome book. Well, all books in the series are amazing! Not once did a sequel in Seven Forges hit that disappointing ground (that most other books suffer).

James A. Moore has written lots of great books under his belt. Overall, we got some great stuff in this interview about Seven Forges.

James A. Moore is the author of over twenty novels, including the critically acclaimed Fireworks, Under The Overtree, Blood Red, Deeper, the Serenity Falls trilogy (featuring his recurring anti-hero, Jonathan Crowley) and his most recent novels Alien, Sea of Sorrows as well as Seven Forges series: Seven Forges, The Blasted Lands, City of Wonders and the forthcoming sequel The Silent Army.

He has twice been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and spent three years as an officer in the Horror Writers Association, first as Secretary and later as Vice President.

James cut his teeth in the industry writing for Marvel Comics and authoring over twenty role-playing supplements for White Wolf Games, including Berlin by Night, Land of 1,000,000 Dreams and The Get of Fenris tribe. He also penned the White Wolf novels Vampire: House of Secretsand Werewolf: Hellstorm.

Moore’s first short story collection, Slices, sold out before ever seeing print.

He lives in Massachusetts, US. Meet him on his blog and @jamesamoore on Twitter.

Do you write for other publishing houses? What opted you to write for Angry Robot?
- Yes I do. I’ve written for Berkley, McMillan, Leisure, Cemetery Dance, Earthling Necessary Evil Press, and a few others. If they are willing top publish me, act professionally and handle their end of whatever bargain we strike like professionals, I will work with them.
  
  That said, I’m loving working with Angry Robot. How did I get together with Angry Robot? One of my very good friends, Charles R. Rutledge (He’s such a good friend that we’ve written several novels together with plans to do more) was reading a lot more fantasy than me and was nice enough to read the first few chapters of what would become SEVEN FORGES. He looked right at me and said, “Angry Robot writes this sort of stuff. You should send it to them.”
  
  If you know your friends are wise it’s not a bad idea to listen to them.
Aside from writing and biking, what are the other major interests that you do?
- The picture of me on the bike? That’s pure publicity. I don’t own a bike much as I would love to. I like meeting new people. I read voraciously. I watch waaaay too much TV. Most of my time is dedicated to working the day job and writing full time.
How long have you worn your hair long?
- Well. It’s short now, but there was over twenty years where I simply did not cut my hair. I had no desire to, and I had been told that I had to cut my hair and that pretty much made me decide I would leave it alone. Not long after my wife passed away I decided it was time for a change. Short hair is MUCH easier to take care of.
If you belong in a clique in school, which was it?
- Nerds. I was never very social at that age and I moved around a lot. Seventeen schools in twelve years of public schooling and I was normally the short, fat, new kid with glasses. At the last school I had a growth spurt and became the very tall fat new kid with glasses. Amazingly people treat you differently when you tower over them.
Can you suggest a music track/album/artist to listen to while reading your books?
- Actually, that differs from book to book. But right now I am listening to Two Steps From Hell, per your advice. Nice stuff!
Before the Sa'ba Taalor transformed into the malformation that they turned into, have you thought which characters were born good-looking in the perspective of normal people? If so, which characters were they (I like to know more about the male ones)?
- You know it never crossed my mind. I suspect Swech would be girl next door pretty. I know Tusk would be brutal looking but probably always have a smile. Drask would look a bit like your average football player, only with longish hair. Jost would probably be the one to catch a man’s eye. Delil is average in appearance but makes up for it by being strong where it counts. Tarag Paedori would be seriously handsome. Like Homecoming King handsome. The thing is, the Sa’ba Taalor look at the history of combat (by way of scars) and judge beauty that way. As a result, I tend to think along the same lines.
Are there other kingdoms beyond Fellein? If so, is there a chance that any of the current characters would get in touch with those other people?
- Fellein is one continent, but it’s a big one. Are their other lands beyond Fellein? Absolutely. The likelihood of seeing them is very small for the present time, but there are always chances for things to change in the future.
How big is the world of Seven Forges compared to Earth?
- Pretty close to the same size, maybe a little bigger, actually. Fellein is roughly the size of Australia.
I've read in one of your interviews that you were inspired by a game that propelled you to write the story of Seven Forges. Which game was this?
- Oh heck, I couldn’t even tell you any more. I used to write for role-playing games so that might have been a big part of it.
Is it possible that by the next book you'll be able to reveal to us all the Kings chosen by the forges of the Daxar Taalor?
- All of the kings have been revealed. Here’s the full list of kings and gods, just for you.
  
  The Kings of the Sa’ba Taalor
  
  Tusk—Male Sa’ba Taalor—Full name: Tuskandru, Chosen of the Forge of Durhallem and Obsidian King. (Brodem, Tusk’s mount.)
  
  N’Heelis—Male Sa’ba Taalor—Chosen of the Forge of Wrommish and King in Gold.
  
  Tarag Paedori—Male Sa’ba Taalor—Chosen of the Forge of Truska-Pren and King in Iron.
  
  Donaie Swarl—Female Sa’ba Taalor—Chosen of the Forge of Wheklam and King in Lead.
  
  Glo’Hosht—Gender Unknown—Chosen of the Forge of Paedle and the King in Mercury.
  
  Lored—Male Sa’ba Taalor—Chosen of the forge of Ordna and King in Bronze.
  
  Ganem—Female Sa’ba Taalor—Chosen of the forge of Ydramil and King in Silver. Sometimes called the “Mirror King,” because no other king so carefully reflects on all issues of war—as Ydramil demands.
I've read other series that promised to be comprised of 5 books only to be done in 3. I don't want another heartbreak. Is the series still headed to the 6-book route?
- Nope. There are only four books, sorry to disappoint, but I will very likely return to Fellein sometime in the future. But first I have the TIDES OF WAR series to write.
I'm expecting the map for Seven Forges to be available by the last book. Is there a chance that you will have one made, and soon?
- I have one being made right now. There’s a very real chance I’ll even put it online for people to look over when it is done.
Will there ever be a cover for Andover Lashk? You don't have to answer this, I don't want to spoil what it entails.
- Not as it stands. The last cover will be one of the Kings. I Won’t say which one yet, because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
Who is this super-duper amazing artist behind the covers of Seven Forges series? How did you acquire him?
- Alejandro Colucci is the absolutely amazing artist doing the SEVEN FORGES covers. I adore his work. He is incredible. You can find more of his work right here: http://www.epicaprima.com/
  
  And the fine folks at Angry Robot are responsible for finding him.
Did you specify to the cover artist how the Sa'ba Taalor should look like? (I assume it's Swech) Swech's face doesn't look malformed in the cover for City of Wonders. That's the thing I don't like about it besides the too-thin eyebrows.
- I gave Alejandro a list of descriptions from the book and let him do his thing. I love the work. Is it EXACTLY as I imagined her? No, but that’s part of the fun. I get to see how a truly talented artist interprets my words. I love that she is not too thin, not too delicate, as she is a warrior above all else.
Which cultures did you base the naming of the Sa'ba Taalor and the rest? And how did you go over the process of naming them?
- I yanked all of that out of my head. No cultures went into the naming because I wanted them to be as far removed from reality as I could make them without making them completely alien.
If Seven Forges were to be made a movie, which actors do you think should portray which specific characters (as I couldn't think of any)?
- Wow, that’s a tough one.
  
  Tuskandru: Dave Bautista
  
  Swech: Eliza Dushku
  
  Merros Dulver: Daniel Craig
  
  Desh Krohan: Rory Kinnear or Scott Adsit
  
  Drask Silver Hand: Jason Momoa
  
  Tarag Paedori: Vin Diesel
  
  Nachia Krouse: Jennifer Lawrence
  
  Delil: Zoe Saldana
  
  Jost: Karen Gillan
  
  Glo’Hosht: David Tennant
  
  Andover Lashk: I’d have to spend a LOOOONG time thinking about that.
Besides the release of the next book in the series, what should we readers look forward to?
- I really think TIDES OF WAR is going to be a blast. I have a book with Charles R. Rutledge called A HELL WITHIN that’s being shopped right now. It’s a solid, creepy, action-filled riot. I have a novel called SPORES that I’ll be finishing soon that is the stuff of nightmares. All of which, I would recommend heavily, but I am rather biased.

For the actors, I've watched their films save for Scott Adsit who's a voice actor for Big Hero 6 and cannot be seen on-screen. Vin Diesel is not too handsome to be Tarag Paedori. *lol*

About City of Wonders

Old Canhoon, the City of Wonders, is having a population explosion as refugees from Tyrne and Roathes alike try to escape the Sa’ba Taalor. All along the border between the Blasted Lands and the Fellein Empire armies clash and the most powerful empire in the world is pushed back toward the old Capital. From the far east the Pilgrim gathers an army of the faithful, heading for Old Canhoon.

In Old Canhoon itself the imperial family struggles against enemies old and new as the spies of their enemies begin removing threats to the gods of the Seven Forges and prepare the way for the invading armies of the Seven Kings. In the distant Taalor valley Andover Lashk continues his quest and must make a final decision, while at the Mounds, something inhuman is awakened and set free.

War is Here. Blood will flow and bodies will burn.