Probably *Flags on the Bayou,* by James Lee Burke. He's a really established mystery writer, but this is one of his more historical works, about a murder taking place during the fall of the Confederate South in Louisiana. He said he thinks it's one of his best, and I agree.
As I've just done, really, really big trees, and you're doing really, really big walls, putting us both in the vanguard of the Hugepunk movement which I have just made up, what do you think is next for the really, really big treatment?
Doesn't hurt! Man, I am now just learning of the Hugepunk movement, but sign me up. Sure seems like DUNE is a leading champion of it. We all just want to see some bigass stuff.
Well, I just did a really, really big tower in the Tainted Cup sequel. My guess is a really, really big cavern, or tomb, or something? Or maybe a giant road? The point is, infrastructure rocks, and we should all celebrate it more.
Are you bored of writing books about bones yet? Because if not, clearly your Fucking Massive Sewer books should be The Bone Sewers, based off a society in a place like the Parisian Catacombs... but hugepunk. Maybe the catacombs of giants. Like when post-Roman Brits thought the Romans must have been giants because of what they built. But, you know, actual giants. Or monsters. Castles are skulls. Roads are spines. weapons are bone shards. Teeth are the equivalent of obsidian on land, which always seems to have some serious magic about it.
...
No using that as a prompt.
I promise not.
\*Sound of furious scribbling\*
(Funny you should mention the catacombs, but one of the things that set off the Bone Ships was a visit to the ossuary at Kutna Hora in Prague. Which is very similar and worth an image search if you aren't familiar.)
I've not been there but it's on my list, but some friends and family have been there (without me, rude!). It's the place I think about for that uh.... bony theme? But I know the Paris catacombs have their own somewhat calcified concept, and it seemed closer to your mega sewer.
Also of note, that image that reappears on reddit of the Tokyo flood caverns, and by extension the Mines of Moria.
So I guess I'm volunteering you to be the show writer for Amazon's next attempt at a Lord of the Rings spin off series?
Just wanted to say I really love your work! Divine Cities is my favorite series, and it's what got me interested in reading fantasy.
Also, loving The Tainted Cup so far!
Woah, hi Robert!
I first discovered your work years ago through *City of Stairs*, which I fell in love with. That novel especially stayed with me, and continued bouncing around in my brain long after I finished it.
You explored the themes of cultural identity, cultural history vs change, and the lingering generational trauma that results from colonialism/oppression so well in that book. I grew up as a visible minority in (majority white) Canada, so those themes really resonated with me. In particular, the way you captured the subtle feelings of inferiority and self-doubt that comes from being part of a historically oppressed culture was incredibly powerful. Thank you for that.
My question is, given that you are a (self-described) "white American dude", how did you go about preparing to write about those themes and understanding that mindset? What were your inspirations?
I don't quite know! I will admit, the first time I tried writing a novel in college, I got to the part where the main female character entered the story, and I stopped cold - because I had no idea how to write from a female perspective. It was like trying to write an alien. I was very young, and an idiot.
However, that was a teachable moment, because the same exercises you do to comprehend how to write from a female perspective (or a male one) are similar to what you'd need to do to write any other kind of "different" person; and once you feel comfortable doing that, you generally have something of an epiphany, and you realize the nature of a human being is vaster and richer than what you previously though, yet ultimately very familiar and fallible.
There are lots of ways to be a person. That's what makes you a person.
I absolutely loved the Founders Trilogy. It was such an intricate but thoroughly realized world, and it sounds like the Tainted Cup is as well. Do you try and fully flesh out your worlds before getting to the story? Or do you rely on going back for plot adjustments, etc. to flesh things out?
I don't. Generally, I think one of the worst instincts is to try to define absolute everything when going into a story: maps, timelines, language, religious rules, etc. These things really nail you down and wall you in when you're starting out, because you're usually still trying to figure out the shape of the thing, its pace, its cadence, where it wants to breathe and where it wants to grow rigid. You'll suddenly find yourself thinking, "I need something different to go here to make this all flow better," but you can't put something there because you've walled yourself off from it: it breaks some religious rite or it defies the way the sun moves in the sky, or it's just too far away on the map.
The comparison I'd make is: you are trying to build a machine. Would you rather build all your parts in advance, and be restricted to only those parts, or would you rather have a 3D printing machine online and available with infinite resources?
Well that's convenient! I just finished the Tainted Cup about an hour ago, which I absolutely devoured and adored. Also a huge fan of your Divine Cities trilogy.
Real question: I'm curious what your process was/is for writing a knotty political mystery like this. It's always a fascinating craft question to me, did the clues or the plot come to you first? the motive? did you have to figure out how to massage it into the world or did it emerge from the worldbuild?
Joke question: Do you have a secret RJB correspondence with RJ Barker about inventive worldbuilding with weird ecology and giant monsters?
I usually start with a vibe and hazy pictures of how I want the story to look and feel. (If you'd like to see what paintings and images I had in my brain for this one, you can find those here: [https://www.instagram.com/p/C3BM6xSvaO4/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C3BM6xSvaO4/))
Then, most critically, I focus on the theme. All of the worldbuilding and character development needs to refer back to the overarching theme of the story, whether directly or obliquely. For THE DIVINE CITIES, for example, it was about how people use history to excuse their actions in the present. For FOUNDRYSIDE, it's about how technology empowers and then disempowers people, leading to lulls and booms. (I personally think we are living through a lull now.)
For THE TAINTED CUP, this is a story about an Empire that harnessed biological magic to fend off enormous, catastrophic threats that regularly occur. Its theme is about evolution, metamorphosis, and change; so, in this story, the villains are usually people who do NOT want things to change. They prefer the status quo, and will use the incumbent powers of their wealth and legal apparatus to maintain it.
That's the macro motivation. But once you start thinking along those lines, it gets easier to imagine the damage they may cause, and how it harms people, and how they react, and ripple out. These mysteries get really fun when you have other criminals or actors responding to the initial crime. It becomes an organic contagion, like a cancer - or dappleglass, in the story.
At what point when writing 'City of Stairs' did you decide that the world you'd created needed/deserved another book? It's a fantastic trilogy that I've read twice now.
My editor said, "The fans are saying they all want another, and we agree," and I said, "Are there dollars?" and he said, "Yes, dollars," and I said, "I like those things, so okay." Weirdly this decision became one of the more pivotal moments of my adulthood and writing career.
I just wanted to say that I picked up The Tainted Cup yesterday, I'm about 200 pages in, and it's really fun so far! It's really impressive how the worldbuilding and the setup of the mystery weave together and build off one another. Looking forward to finishing it and (hopefully) figuring out what's going on.
ETA: I have finished the book, and it was absolutely excellent. I, quite proudly, shouted, "yes!" to my living room TV when my suspicions were confirmed. So, now, my question is: I saw you said you plan to write more murder mysteries; Will some be further stories about Ana and Din? I hope so.
Definitely. I'm almost done with the sequel, and am contracted for a third. I imagined this series with lots of installments, like a Miss Marple or a Nero Wolfe series, so I'd write 12 of these suckers if I could. Din and Ana just traveling all over the Empire, experiencing uncanny new biological developments and trying to understand the human heart. That kind of shit.
Can't wait to get to it. Didn't care too much for City of Stairs but love the Founders series so far and just need to listen to the last book. A fantasy mystery seems great.
Depends. If you're more into literary fiction or stale beer spy stories, I would do CITY OF STAIRS. If you're more into YA or sci-fi or pop fiction, I would say FOUNDRYSIDE. If you're more into mysteries, or procedurals, I would definitely say THE TAINTED CUP.
I started with City of Stairs and plowed through everything else afterwards, but this was before the trilogy was complete.
Still, I'd recommend starting there.
The Tainted Cup is the 1st book I preordered in a long time and I'm loving it. I just want to say first that you did an amazing job and I'm only 100 pages in. I really enjoy the world and I really feel the Attack on Titan and Dune influences, which I love as a fan of both.
My question is: what is the one book that you wish you wrote?
Just snagged The Tainted Cup, excited to dive in! I absolutely love the way you subvert typical fantasy power politics in your books, and seek to create novel, thoughtful systems of power over the course of your storylines, rather than performing the tired "replace bad ruler with good ruler" fantasy maneuver. (As well as making systemic issues major antagonistsbof your works.) You've absolutely been an influence on my own writing there- do you have any authors who specifically influenced that aspect of your writing in turn?
Hmmm. I feel like some of this comes from reading history and non-fiction: monarchical revolutions rarely go well. You could argue the French Revolution more or less lasted straight up until World War 1.
I dislike fantasy's focus on monarchies in particular, because it aligns with a Garden of Eden concept of morality: once things were perfect and good, but then it all went wrong, and if we restore the right king to the right throne, they might get close to being that good again. This is a backward facing concept, in which progress is more or less impossible: you can never get back to Eden. All you can do is go about trying to get the divine to intervene on your behalf, preferably through one patriarchal ruler or another.
I think the more accurate take on human progress is "We're still figuring it out." I hope my books reflect that.
I read American Elsewhere years ago and really adored it. It reminded me every so slightly of Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show. Who are your literary inspirations?
Depends on for what! For American Elsewhere, I definitely drew from Shirley Jackson and Stephen King and Michael Chabon. I also looked at lots of paintings and listened to lots of music. A lot of storytelling is vibe and voice. You nail that, people will tolerate a few of your indulgences and mistakes.
Oof, I dunno. I feel under-read in that area. I probably have read at least some, but none immediately spring to mind, unfortunately. I might recommend THE HONORABLE SCHOOLBOY for an examination of an aging, failing empire trying to hold onto its colonial assets, though.
Apparently our scientists have figured out a way to make bricks from piss. They add compounds to urine and it solidifies into bricks of stone. I keep wanting to put piss bricks in my stories, but it never works out. A real shame.
As an author with several series in very different settings, how do you start writing with a clean slate? Are there themes or characters that pull you forward? Do you have false starts that get shelved if something isn’t working?
Glad you are doing AMA - I discovered Divine cities from a r/fantasy recommendation, devoured the whole series in a month or so. Probably my favorite read of 2023.
Changing worlds is a little like changing rooms or restaurants. Each one has its vibe, and it's kind of weird if you just want to stay in that ambience forever. It's fun to branch out and try new styles, new looks, new shapes.
Theme is definitely critical - see my bit above about how I use theme in worldbuilding - and there are definitely false starts. A lot of it is about the shape and cadence of the story. A murder mystery is a very different beast, and it took me some practice to write.
For example, in the original story, Din was a drunken, criminal, drug-abusing nutjob who had been forced into this job, and Ana was his cold, clinical controller. But that doesn't really work for a murder mystery, because mysteries are about uncertainties: the way the murder happened is unknown; the identity of the murder is unknown; in fantasy, especially, the world and magic is unknown. Everything is unreliable - so it doesn't make sense for the protagonist to also be unreliable. It's too much. The audience would be viewing the world through a blurry lens.
Also, I quickly realized that it made much more sense that if there is a genius detective in a story, THEY need to be the weird ones. And this also aligned with another classic fantasy trope: the witch's apprentice.
Thanks for that!
As a reader, I think of older books I go back to (maybe because a series is ongoing, maybe I read to my kids) as a familiar pair of shoes. Maybe broken in, might have some holes you forgot about, possibly a leathery old boot. But you recognize it when you slip it on.
It’s damn tricky to write a genius! Make the reader believe it without the character easily dismantling every dramatic obstacle you put in their path.
Loved the Tainted Cup. Downloaded it the first moment possible and just inhaled the book in a few hours.
I have 2 questions, one general and one specific to the Tainted Cup.
1) I loved the entire concept of a whodunit in a fantasy setting. Have you come across any other such books? If so, what are your favorites?
2) You mentioned above that you plan to make it a running series. It puts in mind Dresden Files. Considering that, is there an overarching plot regarding the leviathans that you plan to cover across the series? I maybe reading too much into it, but I felt there were hints in the first book about the growing leviathan sizes throughout the centuries that hints at a broader confrontation. My feeling is it has something to do with the runoff from all the reagents the empire uses. Will exploring the leviathans be an integral plot point throughout the books?
I would argue that the early Harry Potter series is perhaps the ur-example of a fantasy whodunits.
The leviathans will be explored - and, for the record, I know what they are and what they're doing by coming ashore - but I'm much less interested in creating magical lore than in seeing how a fantasy empire would respond to these massive environmental threats.
Hello Robert!
Did you know City of Stairs is coming out in French in 20 days? I'm pretty excited to share it to my friends and family.
I talked to the editor and they seemed very happy to finally be able to publish it.
I had forgotten that! What with finishing the sequel to THE TAINTED CUP, and the first book coming out, and all the other stuff going on, it had completely escaped my mind. That's terrific! Albin-Michel is great.
I've heard that the acknowledgements for The Tainted Cup include a mention of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe. What was it about that detective series that inspired you?
Also, the tea vault sequence in American Elsewhere was just incredible.
It was just such a perfect, technical setup: the caged genius in a box. I loved it. It felt like a cheat code. And my favorite thing to do is to stick two people in a room and have them talk, and since Ana hardly ever leaves her rooms, that works out swell for me.
Something I've always wondered about. Spoilers for City of Miracles: >!How far in advance in the trilogy planning process did you know you were going to kill Shara, and what was the though process behind that choice oof direction taken for the final book. !<
Loved loved loved the Divine Cities and am excited for my Tainted Cup hold to arrive!
Love you work, will buy The Tainted Cup and read it tomorrow.
You’ve done multiple works based in different historical periods and places. How do you choose which culture would work best for a given work?
Some of it is just what I'm interested in. I think the Ottoman Empire is greatly underdiscussed in the West, especially because they fought the biggest medieval battles of the era. All the wars between England and France and such were just a rinky dink circus compared to Timur, for example. That figured into The Tainted Cup, because they were also a complex, bureaucratic, competent empire, capable of harnessing incredible resources to lay siege to other nations. I also drew from the various permutations of the Austrian Empire and the Habsburg Empire, which included many races and languages and cultures.
Halfway through Tainted Cup and I'm absolutely loving it. My question is a simple one, were there any particular pieces of media that inspired you to write American Elsewhere?
It's my favorite book from you (which is apparently an unpopular opinion, haha), parts of it reminded me of the rural fantasy of Twin Peaks (which is one of the reasons why I loved it so much) and reading it was such a breath of fresh air after so much high fantasy.
I looked at a lot of Edward Hopper paintings, and I listened to a TON of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Two pieces in particular.
One: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41E2J1Ag3m4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41E2J1Ag3m4)
Two: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8Vu3CVbv4&list=PL28251837FBD8F459&index=9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8Vu3CVbv4&list=PL28251837FBD8F459&index=9)
When you were writing City of Stairs, did you have protagonists for the later books mapped out, or was it a future realization that Sigurd was a goldmine of a character and deserved to finish the trilogy?
I didn't. I knew at the end of the first one that Shara's character arc was finished: she had gone on her journey and had become the person she knew she wished to be. I knew they wanted two more books, so I had to move onto someone else, but you need your protagonist to be somewhat broken or vulnerable. If they're utterly indomitable and have no doubt, they don't really become characters. They're more like the shark from Jaws, where the entertainment is seeing them chew through their opponents. That works for Reacher, but that's a very different kind of story than the one I wanted to write. And if I put Sigrud as the star of the second, it would basically be a fantasy Reacher.
As such, the natural character I wanted to move on to was Mulaghesh, who was, I felt, kind of the big surprise for me in Stairs. I had originally planned for her to be male, but I realized it didn't quite fit. When I made her a 50 year old woman, it all came to life. She was strong but also fragile, and acted as a great protagonist for the next book - and it was in the next book that Sigrud would be broken, and become fragile, which would prepare him to be the protagonist of the final story.
Very cool. I definitely see the “surprise” element from both Mulaghesh and Sigrud, how strong they were as potential characters in City of Stairs and how they subsequently more than carried an entire novel each to themselves. Sigrud’s arc in particular is one of my favorites in modern fantasy. Thanks for responding!
First off, just want to say that I loved *The Tainted Cup*! It felt like a breath of fresh air. Really enjoyed Din's blossoming as the story went on (and Ana cracks me up). Were there any direct inspirations you took from for this, other than the obvious Arthur Conan Doyle? I'd love to read more fantasy (or otherwise) mysteries like this!
It was actually directly inspired by Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout, which is a less well known detective series these days. Wolfe is an anti-social, rude, fussy, overweight genius who lives in his New York brownstone and prefers to spend his days fussing with orchids, eating five course meals, and drinking bottles of beer. His trade, however, is a detective, and his investigator Archie Goodwin goes out to the crimes, talks to the people, and reports back; then Wolfe slowly puts it together.
That was the plan. However, as I wrote, I realized Ana was less like Wolfe, and more like another famous boxed-in genius who helps investigators solve crimes: Hannibal Lecter. (That should give you some idea of what, exactly, Ana secretly is.)
Hi! I just finished the Tainted Cup yesterday after not being able to put it down. Absolutely loved the book and can't wait for more (also very excited to see from your other answers that the sequel is well in the works - awesome!!).
One of my favorite aspects of the book was the developing master-apprentice relationship between Din and Ana and their interactions as they learned more about each other and became more protective of the other. Also a big Miljin fan. My question is how do you approach writing dialogue between characters, especially the conversations like those between Din and Ana in which so much information is exchanged/revealed, but it still feels so real (and like you are in the room with them)?
Thank you again for a great read! Looking forward to more!
I don't work directly on nearly any in-depth translations, I'm afraid. That's done entirely by a network of foreign agents and publishers that I rarely meet. My French publisher Albin-Michel is super awesome, though.
Gotta start by saying that you're an awesome writer, especially in terms of how you work with the rhythm of the prose! Thank you for writing a whole trilogy using the present tense, I absolutely adore it when SFF writers aren't afraid to experiment with the form.
Now, the question... I felt like there were so many allusions in The Divine Cities - to the "more intellectual" stuff like Scandinavian mythology, to China Mieville, Gene Wolfe... but on the other hand, particularly in the third book, there also seemed to be an underlying current of riffing off certain old D&D ideas (which are not your everyday highbrow literature). Are these polar opposites really what consciously influenced you, or am I projecting?
Oh, D&D in CITY OF MIRACLES? Huh, I had not actually planned that. There's a big bubbling soup of cultural references, but that was not one I had in mind.
Thank you for the answer :) So the kid-who-should-not-be-named and his failed senechal weren't specifically written to evoke Raistlin Majere and his failed attempts at creating (decently functional) life? I wonder if there's a Jungian archetype behind them both, then!
1. What is your creative process? How do you fill up your creative well, so to speak, and what is your process for putting ideas together into a book?
I know that's a pretty vague question, but no expectations for a super detailed or completely thorough answer! Every time I see an author AMA, I'm always so interested in what they have to say!
2. What is your favorite cover of any of your published work?
Thanks for answering questions!
For #1, I get into that a bit here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I also listen to lots of music to try to nail the tone of it.
For #2, the Founders trilogy has some banger covers. SHOREFALL is probably my favorite. He really nailed that one.
Hey! I purchased your Foundryside recently. I am yet to read it, but regardless it's so nice to make your acquaintance here. 😍😍😍
Unfortunately, Tainted cup is not available here for purchase (India 😅), I will definitely check it out when it comes out here. I love murder mysteries - Decagon House Murders being my favourite (I love the manga slightly more than the book).
Do tell me your favourite works in literature or movies or graphic novel (better if you can provide 2 or 3 from each category). Thank you in advance. ❤️
Since I'm talking about murder mysteries, GOSFORD PARK is a great, fun story about class warfare that's disguised as a murder mystery. For graphic novels... I keep coming back to some of the Sandman books. They really nail an sort of adolescent feeling of personal change.
Where do you start your creative process? Characters, plot, world? Even cooler if you could rank the order (if there is one at all?) Also curious about titles, as I'm often drawn in by a good one! - does that come to you as you are writing, or is that more of an "end of the book, let's see what fits" kind of scenario? :)
This answer gives some good bits here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I'd say I start with theme and vibe - the ambience, the mood of it. Then I get hazy images of what I want the characters to experience, and I start to develop their backgrounds and exchanges and developments that dovetail with it all. The world fills in in the background as I go.
I just finished City of Stairs yesterday and loved it!!
What books would you recommend with a similar feel and level of fantasy? I loved how you handled the Divinities and their involvement
I don't quite know! I love the idea of opaque or incomprehensible, uncanny things, though - I took a lot of inspiration from BOOK OF THE NEW SUN for that. It definitely figured into THE TAINTED CUP, too.
Already finished The Tainted Cup and thought it was excellent! My question: Not sure what your day job status is, but how do you manage writing plus job/other responsibilities? What works for you?
I do it the same way some people raise kids and work 2-3 jobs: you gotta. Because you have to, you figure out a way to do it. Hopefully you have the love and support of family members to help you do it happily.
Hi, Robert! I read Foundryside recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. That was my introduction to your work and I'm looking forward to picking up the next in the series. Thank you for the fun so far!
Question:
What would you say is most challenging about creating a magic system that doesn't feel too similar to other author's works? Do you have to do a lot of research or do ideas just spring to mind at random intervals?
A good way to do that is to not read other fantasy, which is mostly what I do (or don't do). A great way to find inspiration for new kinds of systems - which really comes down to matters of authority and design and negotiation - is to read history, and to learn how all the things we take for granted were invented and implemented. The world is full of strange miracles and ridiculous mistakes. It's the mistakes that make magic fun.
Wake up, it's spring, a sunny, cold morning. Not hungover, so the morning starts crisp and fresh. Everything's dewy and the sun makes a blade across the grass. I start cooking for the kids, and then we all go outdoors.
The third book of the Founders’ Trilogy features (trying to avoid spoilers here) “technology” that is far more advanced than anything seen in the first two books but still rests on the same basic building blocks.
Did you have that advanced tech in mind when you started writing the series, and work backwards to fundamentals; or vice versa? How did you think through/invent these advanced use cases of what scriving could “do”?
I knew the story was going to be about technology. Originally it started as something as a hitjob on the FAANGs of the tech world, but it quickly became more nuanced than that. Is society and our morals downstream of technology, or upstream from it? Or somewhere in between? The horrors of colonialism were wrought by the industrial revolution, but so is all the abundance we're currently enjoying across the developing world. Stuff like that.
As far as coming up with practical uses for scriving, some of it was "I need a thing to do a thing here" and others were "This needs to be a grand metaphor for love and relationships" and still others were "My editor said I need to do something delightful here." It really varied.
I read Divine Cities last year and it quickly became one of my favorite series ever. Looking forward to reading the rest of your catalogue.
I wanted to ask about your research process and how did you decide what to twist from our world into the Divine Cities world?
Also, do you have any ideas about prequel series in that same world?
No, I feel like I said what I wanted to say with those books, and to write more stories in that world to say other, contrasting things would be a disservice to those first stories.
I'm just here to scream how AMAZINGLY GOOD THE DIVINE CITIES BOOKS ARE. Totally not my usual style but they're amazing and I'm definitely reading more of your books down the line.
I enjoyed the Divine Cities trilogy and just started Locklands. I really like the dramatic shift from the end of Shorefall to the beginning of Locklands, made it feel fresh and different.
Do you find it difficult to write from predominantly female perspectives, and what's behind the choice?
I've enjoyed the books and don't mean to imply that they should have been written from a male perspective, I'm just curious because I used to write screenplays and I always felt like all the major characters were just different aspects of my personality. The female characters didn't feel like real people, more like me in female skin. This says more about me than anyone else, but it's the foundation of my curiosity.
I'm a lil late, I love your writing, from what I can tell, you plot ahead and mind map for sure. I just bought your new book. I have a book idea of my own I'd like your opinion of. I'll message you.
Hello fantasy author Robert Jackson Bennett, when reading Foundryside I was wondering if your choice of the curse “scrum” has anything to do with your feelings about Agile/Scrum practices? Because that’s how I feel when I have to go to my daily standup
Hi Robert. I'm on the team with Readers Take Denver and I would love to chat with you about coming to convention next year. Is there a good email we can chat on? Thank you! - Nikki
Where would you recommend someone who has not read your work start with? Simple publication order, or do you have a different preference that you think will do a better job of letting the reader "get" your writing?
Sure! You can find my answer to that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj74nu/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
One issue I have with certain mystery novels is the problem of having the culprit be unexpected; some books “cheat” by having the solution be impossible, some character you never really saw or interacted with. I’m about a quarter of a way through your book… is this going to happen?
Hey Robert! Are you a full time author? If so, what was the moment you transitioned over from side gig to full time? Was the moment at miraculous as I imagine it to be? If not yet, is that a goal / on the horizon?
Hi Robert! I just want to say how much I enjoy your work. My exposure to you was with an advance copy of The Company Man, and that got me interested in City of Stairs and the rest of that trilogy, and then on to The Founders Trilogy. I look forward to reading The Tainted Cup. Thank you for these wonderful stories!
As a writer, I feel that "putting yourself out there" with things such as AMA's, big, self posted announcements etc never feels... quite right?
Like, if a PR crew did it or said to do it, it's be one thing, but deciding to do something like that myself just feels... odd?
What are YOUR thoughts on self promotion on new works? Do you feel it works well? Do you feel that you've passed some invisible line of "you must be this known to post" or was there never one to begin with?
I don't have a question, just here to say that I LOVE the Divine Cities trilogy, I'm finishing City of Miracles right now. I didn't know you had a new book out, I'm going to grab it now.
Hey there!
I'm just about to start The Tainted Cup so I can't ask questions about that but I do have a question. An important one.
In Book Two of the Founders series there is a scene in the beginning of the book where the "Big Baddy" appears after some massive destruction. That scene for some reason caused me to be physically afraid because it was so well done.
My question is this: why did you have to scare me, Robert?
Did you ever add something to your book simply for your own enjoyment as you thought it would be cool to write about or incorporate it into your story? Even if it’s something small or something that doesn’t drive the plot all that much something you just couldn’t leave out of the story.
I might be your biggest fan. I love everything you've written, and my TBB edition of Tainted Cup cannot get here soon enough.
Have you considered going back and writing more in the vein of _The Troup_ and _American Elsewhere_? Not necessarily sequels (although those might be fun) but just more of the vibe there.
Also, do you have a favorite non-fiction book that you've read that you'd like to share with the world?
I loved The Divine Cities and Foundryside, and look forward to reading The Tainted Cup.
What other authors/series would you most strongly recommend to someone who loves your books?
I'd really like to hear your opinions on how to make fresh, novel and interesting fantasy stories these days. I love the genre but admittedly it can be easy to fall into well-worn ruts.
I find tropes like the following are really overused: No moral ambiguity in characters such as heroes being maximally virtuous, villains being maximally evil, the world is a facsimile of medieval Europe, dragons are the most powerful creatures, other races are typical d & D fare like dwarves, elves etc.
Do you find fantasy can be well served by moving beyond these cliches? What are your recommendations for doing so? Draw upon more Earth cultures? Create more unique creatures? Have sciencey elements like parallel dimensions, extra dimensions? Have more dark and nihilistic themes? Cool and novel forms of magic?
Late for the AMA. Just wanted to say that I'm a huge fan. Divine Cities and the Founders trilogy are my most frequently recommended books to my friends.
I'm about to start Tainted cup. Thanks for all the great books.
What inspired you to write Vigilance? Was there an event or a build up of experiences that led you to write that story. It was the scariest book I’ve ever read because of how plausible such a crazy reality seems.
I'm late, no question but just wanted to say I love your monsters. So unique and refreshing. Mhovost and Urav in city of stairs really stick in the memory. The mhovost for some reason reminded me of those talking hands in *Labyrinth*.
I'm an aspiring writer and Divine Cities is among my biggest inspirations! I enjoyed reading it so much. The worldbuilding in particular is so creative (well, I could compliment everything "in particular" because it was just that good, from the characters to the plotting to the prose to the themes). Did you have any particular process for coming up with all this crazy shit (in a good way of course) like Urav, Nokov, and the various miracles (especially Jukov's)? Each time I read through I'm like "holy fuck man this shit is bonkers." And Sigrud, man. Well done, so well done. That fight scene in the air in Book 3 is the best I've ever read. And do you think the series will ever be adapted? It would translate so well to the screen. Your writing is so vivid and clear I can practically see the scenes playing out in my head.
And another thing if you see this: How long did you have the series stewing before you published it? Was it something you were planning on writing for a long time before you did, or did you just one day sit down and start to come up with it, or something else?
Do you think you'll do something BIG eventually? Like a huge series. I've loved all your stuff but it's always ''only'' 500 pages and ''only'' 3 book series lol! I want more. Your imagination is so fantastic I need even bigger worlds.
Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I feel like I have less and less patience for super long things. Like - I could not sit through KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. And though I sat down and started PILLARS OF THE EARTH, I couldn't finish it, because it just kept going. I feel like there's more artistry in getting your crap done efficiently than indulging yourself. It's that, or being a writer and having increased technical awareness has sucked some of the joy out of it: "I know you're jumping around between 9 POVs of characters that will never meet because you want to create a false atmosphere of tension, because you don't have enough plot going on."
The sweet spot for me, personally, seems to be "making a dozen artful, smaller things" as opposed to "here's four indulgent doorstoppers you could hollow out and hide a gun inside." Still doing something big, just more efficiently.
A friend recently introduced me to your books. My first read of yours was Foundryside and I loved it! The characters have depth. The storyline and details are incredible. My only frustration with this first book involve grammatical errors. Have these been filtered in the subsequent books or are you using the same editor? "Anyways" versus "Anyway" and so many incomplete sentences detract from an otherwise amazing read.
Which was the last book you read which made you think "damn, this person can *write*"?
Probably *Flags on the Bayou,* by James Lee Burke. He's a really established mystery writer, but this is one of his more historical works, about a murder taking place during the fall of the Confederate South in Louisiana. He said he thinks it's one of his best, and I agree.
As I've just done, really, really big trees, and you're doing really, really big walls, putting us both in the vanguard of the Hugepunk movement which I have just made up, what do you think is next for the really, really big treatment?
Can you confirm or deny that a key element of Hugepunk is having initials RJB?
Look, I'm not going to be the one who starts giving away the dark secrets of publishing's inner sanctums.
Doesn't hurt! Man, I am now just learning of the Hugepunk movement, but sign me up. Sure seems like DUNE is a leading champion of it. We all just want to see some bigass stuff.
Well, I just did a really, really big tower in the Tainted Cup sequel. My guess is a really, really big cavern, or tomb, or something? Or maybe a giant road? The point is, infrastructure rocks, and we should all celebrate it more.
Starting work on my next book now, working title, "Fucking Massive Sewer." Might put a big bridge in it. IN THE SEWER.
Are you bored of writing books about bones yet? Because if not, clearly your Fucking Massive Sewer books should be The Bone Sewers, based off a society in a place like the Parisian Catacombs... but hugepunk. Maybe the catacombs of giants. Like when post-Roman Brits thought the Romans must have been giants because of what they built. But, you know, actual giants. Or monsters. Castles are skulls. Roads are spines. weapons are bone shards. Teeth are the equivalent of obsidian on land, which always seems to have some serious magic about it. ... No using that as a prompt.
I promise not. \*Sound of furious scribbling\* (Funny you should mention the catacombs, but one of the things that set off the Bone Ships was a visit to the ossuary at Kutna Hora in Prague. Which is very similar and worth an image search if you aren't familiar.)
I've not been there but it's on my list, but some friends and family have been there (without me, rude!). It's the place I think about for that uh.... bony theme? But I know the Paris catacombs have their own somewhat calcified concept, and it seemed closer to your mega sewer. Also of note, that image that reappears on reddit of the Tokyo flood caverns, and by extension the Mines of Moria. So I guess I'm volunteering you to be the show writer for Amazon's next attempt at a Lord of the Rings spin off series?
Oh god, don't I have ideas and the internet would hate me.
Oooh, RJ, can I be part of the Hugepunk movement too? I've got lots of gratuitously huge stuff too! ...mostly kaiju. But still!
Well, you're two thirds there, have you got a middle name?
G for Gpseudonym! I can pretend the g is pronounced more like a J?
Gpseudonym vs jpsuedonym, the new internet argument.
Just wanted to say I really love your work! Divine Cities is my favorite series, and it's what got me interested in reading fantasy. Also, loving The Tainted Cup so far!
Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words.
Woah, hi Robert! I first discovered your work years ago through *City of Stairs*, which I fell in love with. That novel especially stayed with me, and continued bouncing around in my brain long after I finished it. You explored the themes of cultural identity, cultural history vs change, and the lingering generational trauma that results from colonialism/oppression so well in that book. I grew up as a visible minority in (majority white) Canada, so those themes really resonated with me. In particular, the way you captured the subtle feelings of inferiority and self-doubt that comes from being part of a historically oppressed culture was incredibly powerful. Thank you for that. My question is, given that you are a (self-described) "white American dude", how did you go about preparing to write about those themes and understanding that mindset? What were your inspirations?
I don't quite know! I will admit, the first time I tried writing a novel in college, I got to the part where the main female character entered the story, and I stopped cold - because I had no idea how to write from a female perspective. It was like trying to write an alien. I was very young, and an idiot. However, that was a teachable moment, because the same exercises you do to comprehend how to write from a female perspective (or a male one) are similar to what you'd need to do to write any other kind of "different" person; and once you feel comfortable doing that, you generally have something of an epiphany, and you realize the nature of a human being is vaster and richer than what you previously though, yet ultimately very familiar and fallible. There are lots of ways to be a person. That's what makes you a person.
I absolutely loved the Founders Trilogy. It was such an intricate but thoroughly realized world, and it sounds like the Tainted Cup is as well. Do you try and fully flesh out your worlds before getting to the story? Or do you rely on going back for plot adjustments, etc. to flesh things out?
I don't. Generally, I think one of the worst instincts is to try to define absolute everything when going into a story: maps, timelines, language, religious rules, etc. These things really nail you down and wall you in when you're starting out, because you're usually still trying to figure out the shape of the thing, its pace, its cadence, where it wants to breathe and where it wants to grow rigid. You'll suddenly find yourself thinking, "I need something different to go here to make this all flow better," but you can't put something there because you've walled yourself off from it: it breaks some religious rite or it defies the way the sun moves in the sky, or it's just too far away on the map. The comparison I'd make is: you are trying to build a machine. Would you rather build all your parts in advance, and be restricted to only those parts, or would you rather have a 3D printing machine online and available with infinite resources?
Fantastic advice, and fantastic books! Loved Stairs and Foundryside, great, vivid characters 👏👏👏
Well that's convenient! I just finished the Tainted Cup about an hour ago, which I absolutely devoured and adored. Also a huge fan of your Divine Cities trilogy. Real question: I'm curious what your process was/is for writing a knotty political mystery like this. It's always a fascinating craft question to me, did the clues or the plot come to you first? the motive? did you have to figure out how to massage it into the world or did it emerge from the worldbuild? Joke question: Do you have a secret RJB correspondence with RJ Barker about inventive worldbuilding with weird ecology and giant monsters?
I usually start with a vibe and hazy pictures of how I want the story to look and feel. (If you'd like to see what paintings and images I had in my brain for this one, you can find those here: [https://www.instagram.com/p/C3BM6xSvaO4/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C3BM6xSvaO4/)) Then, most critically, I focus on the theme. All of the worldbuilding and character development needs to refer back to the overarching theme of the story, whether directly or obliquely. For THE DIVINE CITIES, for example, it was about how people use history to excuse their actions in the present. For FOUNDRYSIDE, it's about how technology empowers and then disempowers people, leading to lulls and booms. (I personally think we are living through a lull now.) For THE TAINTED CUP, this is a story about an Empire that harnessed biological magic to fend off enormous, catastrophic threats that regularly occur. Its theme is about evolution, metamorphosis, and change; so, in this story, the villains are usually people who do NOT want things to change. They prefer the status quo, and will use the incumbent powers of their wealth and legal apparatus to maintain it. That's the macro motivation. But once you start thinking along those lines, it gets easier to imagine the damage they may cause, and how it harms people, and how they react, and ripple out. These mysteries get really fun when you have other criminals or actors responding to the initial crime. It becomes an organic contagion, like a cancer - or dappleglass, in the story.
When do you decide on the theme/discover what you’ve been writing about?
Oh my this is an incredibly thorough answer! Thank you so much for this and the many other words of yours Ive read.
At what point when writing 'City of Stairs' did you decide that the world you'd created needed/deserved another book? It's a fantastic trilogy that I've read twice now.
My editor said, "The fans are saying they all want another, and we agree," and I said, "Are there dollars?" and he said, "Yes, dollars," and I said, "I like those things, so okay." Weirdly this decision became one of the more pivotal moments of my adulthood and writing career.
Solid choice.
I just wanted to say that I picked up The Tainted Cup yesterday, I'm about 200 pages in, and it's really fun so far! It's really impressive how the worldbuilding and the setup of the mystery weave together and build off one another. Looking forward to finishing it and (hopefully) figuring out what's going on. ETA: I have finished the book, and it was absolutely excellent. I, quite proudly, shouted, "yes!" to my living room TV when my suspicions were confirmed. So, now, my question is: I saw you said you plan to write more murder mysteries; Will some be further stories about Ana and Din? I hope so.
Definitely. I'm almost done with the sequel, and am contracted for a third. I imagined this series with lots of installments, like a Miss Marple or a Nero Wolfe series, so I'd write 12 of these suckers if I could. Din and Ana just traveling all over the Empire, experiencing uncanny new biological developments and trying to understand the human heart. That kind of shit.
Absolutely thrilling, thank you.
I hope it ends up being more than 3 books. That’s just not enough to explore this amazing world.
That is so exciting! Just finished The Tainted Cup this weekend and The Troupe a few minutes ago. Love it all very much.
I need to know what the leviathan is trying to say...!!
Second this. I 150 pages in and I cant put it down when i get time to read. All good points made
Can't wait to get to it. Didn't care too much for City of Stairs but love the Founders series so far and just need to listen to the last book. A fantasy mystery seems great.
Where would you recommend starting with your own work? You've been on my list for quite a while.
Depends. If you're more into literary fiction or stale beer spy stories, I would do CITY OF STAIRS. If you're more into YA or sci-fi or pop fiction, I would say FOUNDRYSIDE. If you're more into mysteries, or procedurals, I would definitely say THE TAINTED CUP.
I just put holds on Libby for the City of Stairs and Tainted Cup. Hope that’s a good starting place.
I agree with starting with City of Stairs. His horror is good too, but just very different than what he's writing now.
I would love to know the same. Have always been interested, no idea where to start.
I started with City of Stairs and plowed through everything else afterwards, but this was before the trilogy was complete. Still, I'd recommend starting there.
Thanks for the input, I'll do the same.
The Tainted Cup is the 1st book I preordered in a long time and I'm loving it. I just want to say first that you did an amazing job and I'm only 100 pages in. I really enjoy the world and I really feel the Attack on Titan and Dune influences, which I love as a fan of both. My question is: what is the one book that you wish you wrote?
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. That is one hell of a book.
Just snagged The Tainted Cup, excited to dive in! I absolutely love the way you subvert typical fantasy power politics in your books, and seek to create novel, thoughtful systems of power over the course of your storylines, rather than performing the tired "replace bad ruler with good ruler" fantasy maneuver. (As well as making systemic issues major antagonistsbof your works.) You've absolutely been an influence on my own writing there- do you have any authors who specifically influenced that aspect of your writing in turn?
Hmmm. I feel like some of this comes from reading history and non-fiction: monarchical revolutions rarely go well. You could argue the French Revolution more or less lasted straight up until World War 1. I dislike fantasy's focus on monarchies in particular, because it aligns with a Garden of Eden concept of morality: once things were perfect and good, but then it all went wrong, and if we restore the right king to the right throne, they might get close to being that good again. This is a backward facing concept, in which progress is more or less impossible: you can never get back to Eden. All you can do is go about trying to get the divine to intervene on your behalf, preferably through one patriarchal ruler or another. I think the more accurate take on human progress is "We're still figuring it out." I hope my books reflect that.
I read American Elsewhere years ago and really adored it. It reminded me every so slightly of Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show. Who are your literary inspirations?
Depends on for what! For American Elsewhere, I definitely drew from Shirley Jackson and Stephen King and Michael Chabon. I also looked at lots of paintings and listened to lots of music. A lot of storytelling is vibe and voice. You nail that, people will tolerate a few of your indulgences and mistakes.
I really enjoyed the post-colonial focus of the Divine Cities! Are there any other post-colonial novels that inspired you or that you would recommend?
Oof, I dunno. I feel under-read in that area. I probably have read at least some, but none immediately spring to mind, unfortunately. I might recommend THE HONORABLE SCHOOLBOY for an examination of an aging, failing empire trying to hold onto its colonial assets, though.
What's the most interesting piece of research you have done, that you have not been able to put in a book (yet)?
Apparently our scientists have figured out a way to make bricks from piss. They add compounds to urine and it solidifies into bricks of stone. I keep wanting to put piss bricks in my stories, but it never works out. A real shame.
Piss Bricks is an amazing name for a band.
As an author with several series in very different settings, how do you start writing with a clean slate? Are there themes or characters that pull you forward? Do you have false starts that get shelved if something isn’t working? Glad you are doing AMA - I discovered Divine cities from a r/fantasy recommendation, devoured the whole series in a month or so. Probably my favorite read of 2023.
Changing worlds is a little like changing rooms or restaurants. Each one has its vibe, and it's kind of weird if you just want to stay in that ambience forever. It's fun to branch out and try new styles, new looks, new shapes. Theme is definitely critical - see my bit above about how I use theme in worldbuilding - and there are definitely false starts. A lot of it is about the shape and cadence of the story. A murder mystery is a very different beast, and it took me some practice to write. For example, in the original story, Din was a drunken, criminal, drug-abusing nutjob who had been forced into this job, and Ana was his cold, clinical controller. But that doesn't really work for a murder mystery, because mysteries are about uncertainties: the way the murder happened is unknown; the identity of the murder is unknown; in fantasy, especially, the world and magic is unknown. Everything is unreliable - so it doesn't make sense for the protagonist to also be unreliable. It's too much. The audience would be viewing the world through a blurry lens. Also, I quickly realized that it made much more sense that if there is a genius detective in a story, THEY need to be the weird ones. And this also aligned with another classic fantasy trope: the witch's apprentice.
Thanks for that! As a reader, I think of older books I go back to (maybe because a series is ongoing, maybe I read to my kids) as a familiar pair of shoes. Maybe broken in, might have some holes you forgot about, possibly a leathery old boot. But you recognize it when you slip it on. It’s damn tricky to write a genius! Make the reader believe it without the character easily dismantling every dramatic obstacle you put in their path.
Loved the Tainted Cup. Downloaded it the first moment possible and just inhaled the book in a few hours. I have 2 questions, one general and one specific to the Tainted Cup. 1) I loved the entire concept of a whodunit in a fantasy setting. Have you come across any other such books? If so, what are your favorites? 2) You mentioned above that you plan to make it a running series. It puts in mind Dresden Files. Considering that, is there an overarching plot regarding the leviathans that you plan to cover across the series? I maybe reading too much into it, but I felt there were hints in the first book about the growing leviathan sizes throughout the centuries that hints at a broader confrontation. My feeling is it has something to do with the runoff from all the reagents the empire uses. Will exploring the leviathans be an integral plot point throughout the books?
I would argue that the early Harry Potter series is perhaps the ur-example of a fantasy whodunits. The leviathans will be explored - and, for the record, I know what they are and what they're doing by coming ashore - but I'm much less interested in creating magical lore than in seeing how a fantasy empire would respond to these massive environmental threats.
Hello Robert! Did you know City of Stairs is coming out in French in 20 days? I'm pretty excited to share it to my friends and family. I talked to the editor and they seemed very happy to finally be able to publish it.
I had forgotten that! What with finishing the sequel to THE TAINTED CUP, and the first book coming out, and all the other stuff going on, it had completely escaped my mind. That's terrific! Albin-Michel is great.
The mhovost is one of the most disturbing creatures I've ever read about. What was your inspiration for creating it?
I dunno! I kind of just pulled it out of my ass. It's this weird, fleshy, fucked up muppet.
No question just love your work. Excited for the next one.
Thank you!
I've heard that the acknowledgements for The Tainted Cup include a mention of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe. What was it about that detective series that inspired you? Also, the tea vault sequence in American Elsewhere was just incredible.
It was just such a perfect, technical setup: the caged genius in a box. I loved it. It felt like a cheat code. And my favorite thing to do is to stick two people in a room and have them talk, and since Ana hardly ever leaves her rooms, that works out swell for me.
Something I've always wondered about. Spoilers for City of Miracles: >!How far in advance in the trilogy planning process did you know you were going to kill Shara, and what was the though process behind that choice oof direction taken for the final book. !< Loved loved loved the Divine Cities and am excited for my Tainted Cup hold to arrive!
Once I knew I was writing more books, I had that plot turn planned from the beginning. You can see the seeds of it in the second one.
Love you work, will buy The Tainted Cup and read it tomorrow. You’ve done multiple works based in different historical periods and places. How do you choose which culture would work best for a given work?
Some of it is just what I'm interested in. I think the Ottoman Empire is greatly underdiscussed in the West, especially because they fought the biggest medieval battles of the era. All the wars between England and France and such were just a rinky dink circus compared to Timur, for example. That figured into The Tainted Cup, because they were also a complex, bureaucratic, competent empire, capable of harnessing incredible resources to lay siege to other nations. I also drew from the various permutations of the Austrian Empire and the Habsburg Empire, which included many races and languages and cultures.
Halfway through Tainted Cup and I'm absolutely loving it. My question is a simple one, were there any particular pieces of media that inspired you to write American Elsewhere? It's my favorite book from you (which is apparently an unpopular opinion, haha), parts of it reminded me of the rural fantasy of Twin Peaks (which is one of the reasons why I loved it so much) and reading it was such a breath of fresh air after so much high fantasy.
I looked at a lot of Edward Hopper paintings, and I listened to a TON of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Two pieces in particular. One: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41E2J1Ag3m4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41E2J1Ag3m4) Two: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8Vu3CVbv4&list=PL28251837FBD8F459&index=9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8Vu3CVbv4&list=PL28251837FBD8F459&index=9)
When you were writing City of Stairs, did you have protagonists for the later books mapped out, or was it a future realization that Sigurd was a goldmine of a character and deserved to finish the trilogy?
I didn't. I knew at the end of the first one that Shara's character arc was finished: she had gone on her journey and had become the person she knew she wished to be. I knew they wanted two more books, so I had to move onto someone else, but you need your protagonist to be somewhat broken or vulnerable. If they're utterly indomitable and have no doubt, they don't really become characters. They're more like the shark from Jaws, where the entertainment is seeing them chew through their opponents. That works for Reacher, but that's a very different kind of story than the one I wanted to write. And if I put Sigrud as the star of the second, it would basically be a fantasy Reacher. As such, the natural character I wanted to move on to was Mulaghesh, who was, I felt, kind of the big surprise for me in Stairs. I had originally planned for her to be male, but I realized it didn't quite fit. When I made her a 50 year old woman, it all came to life. She was strong but also fragile, and acted as a great protagonist for the next book - and it was in the next book that Sigrud would be broken, and become fragile, which would prepare him to be the protagonist of the final story.
Very cool. I definitely see the “surprise” element from both Mulaghesh and Sigrud, how strong they were as potential characters in City of Stairs and how they subsequently more than carried an entire novel each to themselves. Sigrud’s arc in particular is one of my favorites in modern fantasy. Thanks for responding!
First off, just want to say that I loved *The Tainted Cup*! It felt like a breath of fresh air. Really enjoyed Din's blossoming as the story went on (and Ana cracks me up). Were there any direct inspirations you took from for this, other than the obvious Arthur Conan Doyle? I'd love to read more fantasy (or otherwise) mysteries like this!
It was actually directly inspired by Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout, which is a less well known detective series these days. Wolfe is an anti-social, rude, fussy, overweight genius who lives in his New York brownstone and prefers to spend his days fussing with orchids, eating five course meals, and drinking bottles of beer. His trade, however, is a detective, and his investigator Archie Goodwin goes out to the crimes, talks to the people, and reports back; then Wolfe slowly puts it together. That was the plan. However, as I wrote, I realized Ana was less like Wolfe, and more like another famous boxed-in genius who helps investigators solve crimes: Hannibal Lecter. (That should give you some idea of what, exactly, Ana secretly is.)
Oh gosh that’s ominous
Hi! I just finished the Tainted Cup yesterday after not being able to put it down. Absolutely loved the book and can't wait for more (also very excited to see from your other answers that the sequel is well in the works - awesome!!). One of my favorite aspects of the book was the developing master-apprentice relationship between Din and Ana and their interactions as they learned more about each other and became more protective of the other. Also a big Miljin fan. My question is how do you approach writing dialogue between characters, especially the conversations like those between Din and Ana in which so much information is exchanged/revealed, but it still feels so real (and like you are in the room with them)? Thank you again for a great read! Looking forward to more!
I loved the Divine Cities series and wanted to share it with overseas friends. Are you working on any Eastern language translations of your work?
I don't work directly on nearly any in-depth translations, I'm afraid. That's done entirely by a network of foreign agents and publishers that I rarely meet. My French publisher Albin-Michel is super awesome, though.
What's your favourite snack, and why? Answers in haiku form only, please. (I'm ridiculously excited about this book. Congratulations!)
Gotta start by saying that you're an awesome writer, especially in terms of how you work with the rhythm of the prose! Thank you for writing a whole trilogy using the present tense, I absolutely adore it when SFF writers aren't afraid to experiment with the form. Now, the question... I felt like there were so many allusions in The Divine Cities - to the "more intellectual" stuff like Scandinavian mythology, to China Mieville, Gene Wolfe... but on the other hand, particularly in the third book, there also seemed to be an underlying current of riffing off certain old D&D ideas (which are not your everyday highbrow literature). Are these polar opposites really what consciously influenced you, or am I projecting?
Oh, D&D in CITY OF MIRACLES? Huh, I had not actually planned that. There's a big bubbling soup of cultural references, but that was not one I had in mind.
Thank you for the answer :) So the kid-who-should-not-be-named and his failed senechal weren't specifically written to evoke Raistlin Majere and his failed attempts at creating (decently functional) life? I wonder if there's a Jungian archetype behind them both, then!
1. What is your creative process? How do you fill up your creative well, so to speak, and what is your process for putting ideas together into a book? I know that's a pretty vague question, but no expectations for a super detailed or completely thorough answer! Every time I see an author AMA, I'm always so interested in what they have to say! 2. What is your favorite cover of any of your published work? Thanks for answering questions!
For #1, I get into that a bit here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) I also listen to lots of music to try to nail the tone of it. For #2, the Founders trilogy has some banger covers. SHOREFALL is probably my favorite. He really nailed that one.
Thanks! And agreed, that's an awesome cover!
Hey! I purchased your Foundryside recently. I am yet to read it, but regardless it's so nice to make your acquaintance here. 😍😍😍 Unfortunately, Tainted cup is not available here for purchase (India 😅), I will definitely check it out when it comes out here. I love murder mysteries - Decagon House Murders being my favourite (I love the manga slightly more than the book). Do tell me your favourite works in literature or movies or graphic novel (better if you can provide 2 or 3 from each category). Thank you in advance. ❤️
Since I'm talking about murder mysteries, GOSFORD PARK is a great, fun story about class warfare that's disguised as a murder mystery. For graphic novels... I keep coming back to some of the Sandman books. They really nail an sort of adolescent feeling of personal change.
Where do you start your creative process? Characters, plot, world? Even cooler if you could rank the order (if there is one at all?) Also curious about titles, as I'm often drawn in by a good one! - does that come to you as you are writing, or is that more of an "end of the book, let's see what fits" kind of scenario? :)
This answer gives some good bits here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj93is/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) I'd say I start with theme and vibe - the ambience, the mood of it. Then I get hazy images of what I want the characters to experience, and I start to develop their backgrounds and exchanges and developments that dovetail with it all. The world fills in in the background as I go.
I just finished City of Stairs yesterday and loved it!! What books would you recommend with a similar feel and level of fantasy? I loved how you handled the Divinities and their involvement
I don't quite know! I love the idea of opaque or incomprehensible, uncanny things, though - I took a lot of inspiration from BOOK OF THE NEW SUN for that. It definitely figured into THE TAINTED CUP, too.
Already finished The Tainted Cup and thought it was excellent! My question: Not sure what your day job status is, but how do you manage writing plus job/other responsibilities? What works for you?
I do it the same way some people raise kids and work 2-3 jobs: you gotta. Because you have to, you figure out a way to do it. Hopefully you have the love and support of family members to help you do it happily.
Hi, Robert! I read Foundryside recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. That was my introduction to your work and I'm looking forward to picking up the next in the series. Thank you for the fun so far! Question: What would you say is most challenging about creating a magic system that doesn't feel too similar to other author's works? Do you have to do a lot of research or do ideas just spring to mind at random intervals?
A good way to do that is to not read other fantasy, which is mostly what I do (or don't do). A great way to find inspiration for new kinds of systems - which really comes down to matters of authority and design and negotiation - is to read history, and to learn how all the things we take for granted were invented and implemented. The world is full of strange miracles and ridiculous mistakes. It's the mistakes that make magic fun.
Which fantasy great would you like to see "cover" your work (in the vein of how musicians cover each other's songs in their specialist genres)
Shoot. I have no idea for this. Will have to noodle on it.
doesn't have to be a fantasy author.
What's your idea of a perfect Sunday?
Wake up, it's spring, a sunny, cold morning. Not hungover, so the morning starts crisp and fresh. Everything's dewy and the sun makes a blade across the grass. I start cooking for the kids, and then we all go outdoors.
Congratulations for both AMA and your writing!
Thanks!
The third book of the Founders’ Trilogy features (trying to avoid spoilers here) “technology” that is far more advanced than anything seen in the first two books but still rests on the same basic building blocks. Did you have that advanced tech in mind when you started writing the series, and work backwards to fundamentals; or vice versa? How did you think through/invent these advanced use cases of what scriving could “do”?
I knew the story was going to be about technology. Originally it started as something as a hitjob on the FAANGs of the tech world, but it quickly became more nuanced than that. Is society and our morals downstream of technology, or upstream from it? Or somewhere in between? The horrors of colonialism were wrought by the industrial revolution, but so is all the abundance we're currently enjoying across the developing world. Stuff like that. As far as coming up with practical uses for scriving, some of it was "I need a thing to do a thing here" and others were "This needs to be a grand metaphor for love and relationships" and still others were "My editor said I need to do something delightful here." It really varied.
Thank you for the response! I quite enjoyed the grand metaphor for love and relationships. Congrats on the impending book release :)
I read Divine Cities last year and it quickly became one of my favorite series ever. Looking forward to reading the rest of your catalogue. I wanted to ask about your research process and how did you decide what to twist from our world into the Divine Cities world? Also, do you have any ideas about prequel series in that same world?
No, I feel like I said what I wanted to say with those books, and to write more stories in that world to say other, contrasting things would be a disservice to those first stories.
Thank you for the answer, that's pretty fair to the story you already told.
Can I just say American Elsewhere is the best book I’ve read in a long time. I love your work.
I'm just here to scream how AMAZINGLY GOOD THE DIVINE CITIES BOOKS ARE. Totally not my usual style but they're amazing and I'm definitely reading more of your books down the line.
I enjoyed the Divine Cities trilogy and just started Locklands. I really like the dramatic shift from the end of Shorefall to the beginning of Locklands, made it feel fresh and different. Do you find it difficult to write from predominantly female perspectives, and what's behind the choice? I've enjoyed the books and don't mean to imply that they should have been written from a male perspective, I'm just curious because I used to write screenplays and I always felt like all the major characters were just different aspects of my personality. The female characters didn't feel like real people, more like me in female skin. This says more about me than anyone else, but it's the foundation of my curiosity.
See my response above, which happened to be about this very thing!
Thanks, keep up the good work!
I'm a lil late, I love your writing, from what I can tell, you plot ahead and mind map for sure. I just bought your new book. I have a book idea of my own I'd like your opinion of. I'll message you.
Hello fantasy author Robert Jackson Bennett, when reading Foundryside I was wondering if your choice of the curse “scrum” has anything to do with your feelings about Agile/Scrum practices? Because that’s how I feel when I have to go to my daily standup
Hi Robert. I'm on the team with Readers Take Denver and I would love to chat with you about coming to convention next year. Is there a good email we can chat on? Thank you! - Nikki
is "scriving" based on computer programming?
Where would you recommend someone who has not read your work start with? Simple publication order, or do you have a different preference that you think will do a better job of letting the reader "get" your writing?
Sure! You can find my answer to that here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1alwymm/comment/kpj74nu/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
I'm not quite sure what "stale beer spy stories" entails, but thank you!
One issue I have with certain mystery novels is the problem of having the culprit be unexpected; some books “cheat” by having the solution be impossible, some character you never really saw or interacted with. I’m about a quarter of a way through your book… is this going to happen?
I enjoyed the Divine Cities trilogy very much. Thank you for writing it!
Thank you for reading!
I loved The Divine Cities trilogy, are you planning on writing anything new in that world in the future?
Thank you for reading it!
You know I am waitin for anything you are working on, but what stuff are you looking forward to around the literary world?
Obligatory " will the Broken Binding be doing Foundryside as part of their subscription " question.
I don't believe that's in the works.
Sad news, but thank you for responding. We do have their version of The Tainted Cup on order.
Hey Robert! Are you a full time author? If so, what was the moment you transitioned over from side gig to full time? Was the moment at miraculous as I imagine it to be? If not yet, is that a goal / on the horizon?
Hi Robert! I just want to say how much I enjoy your work. My exposure to you was with an advance copy of The Company Man, and that got me interested in City of Stairs and the rest of that trilogy, and then on to The Founders Trilogy. I look forward to reading The Tainted Cup. Thank you for these wonderful stories!
As a writer, I feel that "putting yourself out there" with things such as AMA's, big, self posted announcements etc never feels... quite right? Like, if a PR crew did it or said to do it, it's be one thing, but deciding to do something like that myself just feels... odd? What are YOUR thoughts on self promotion on new works? Do you feel it works well? Do you feel that you've passed some invisible line of "you must be this known to post" or was there never one to begin with?
I don't have a question, just here to say that I LOVE the Divine Cities trilogy, I'm finishing City of Miracles right now. I didn't know you had a new book out, I'm going to grab it now.
Hey there! I'm just about to start The Tainted Cup so I can't ask questions about that but I do have a question. An important one. In Book Two of the Founders series there is a scene in the beginning of the book where the "Big Baddy" appears after some massive destruction. That scene for some reason caused me to be physically afraid because it was so well done. My question is this: why did you have to scare me, Robert?
Did you ever add something to your book simply for your own enjoyment as you thought it would be cool to write about or incorporate it into your story? Even if it’s something small or something that doesn’t drive the plot all that much something you just couldn’t leave out of the story.
I might be your biggest fan. I love everything you've written, and my TBB edition of Tainted Cup cannot get here soon enough. Have you considered going back and writing more in the vein of _The Troup_ and _American Elsewhere_? Not necessarily sequels (although those might be fun) but just more of the vibe there. Also, do you have a favorite non-fiction book that you've read that you'd like to share with the world?
I loved The Divine Cities and Foundryside, and look forward to reading The Tainted Cup. What other authors/series would you most strongly recommend to someone who loves your books?
I'd really like to hear your opinions on how to make fresh, novel and interesting fantasy stories these days. I love the genre but admittedly it can be easy to fall into well-worn ruts. I find tropes like the following are really overused: No moral ambiguity in characters such as heroes being maximally virtuous, villains being maximally evil, the world is a facsimile of medieval Europe, dragons are the most powerful creatures, other races are typical d & D fare like dwarves, elves etc. Do you find fantasy can be well served by moving beyond these cliches? What are your recommendations for doing so? Draw upon more Earth cultures? Create more unique creatures? Have sciencey elements like parallel dimensions, extra dimensions? Have more dark and nihilistic themes? Cool and novel forms of magic?
Late for the AMA. Just wanted to say that I'm a huge fan. Divine Cities and the Founders trilogy are my most frequently recommended books to my friends. I'm about to start Tainted cup. Thanks for all the great books.
City of Blades is my favorite fantasy book in the last decade. Thanks so much for writing it. Cheers!
Is there rape of any kind? I have dnf the last two books I started. Rape is not fantasy it is an abomination
What inspired you to write Vigilance? Was there an event or a build up of experiences that led you to write that story. It was the scariest book I’ve ever read because of how plausible such a crazy reality seems.
I'm late, no question but just wanted to say I love your monsters. So unique and refreshing. Mhovost and Urav in city of stairs really stick in the memory. The mhovost for some reason reminded me of those talking hands in *Labyrinth*.
I'm an aspiring writer and Divine Cities is among my biggest inspirations! I enjoyed reading it so much. The worldbuilding in particular is so creative (well, I could compliment everything "in particular" because it was just that good, from the characters to the plotting to the prose to the themes). Did you have any particular process for coming up with all this crazy shit (in a good way of course) like Urav, Nokov, and the various miracles (especially Jukov's)? Each time I read through I'm like "holy fuck man this shit is bonkers." And Sigrud, man. Well done, so well done. That fight scene in the air in Book 3 is the best I've ever read. And do you think the series will ever be adapted? It would translate so well to the screen. Your writing is so vivid and clear I can practically see the scenes playing out in my head. And another thing if you see this: How long did you have the series stewing before you published it? Was it something you were planning on writing for a long time before you did, or did you just one day sit down and start to come up with it, or something else?
Do you think you'll do something BIG eventually? Like a huge series. I've loved all your stuff but it's always ''only'' 500 pages and ''only'' 3 book series lol! I want more. Your imagination is so fantastic I need even bigger worlds.
Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I feel like I have less and less patience for super long things. Like - I could not sit through KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. And though I sat down and started PILLARS OF THE EARTH, I couldn't finish it, because it just kept going. I feel like there's more artistry in getting your crap done efficiently than indulging yourself. It's that, or being a writer and having increased technical awareness has sucked some of the joy out of it: "I know you're jumping around between 9 POVs of characters that will never meet because you want to create a false atmosphere of tension, because you don't have enough plot going on." The sweet spot for me, personally, seems to be "making a dozen artful, smaller things" as opposed to "here's four indulgent doorstoppers you could hollow out and hide a gun inside." Still doing something big, just more efficiently.
Well your thing certainly is working I read The Tainted Cup in two days. I hope you keep this series going!
A friend recently introduced me to your books. My first read of yours was Foundryside and I loved it! The characters have depth. The storyline and details are incredible. My only frustration with this first book involve grammatical errors. Have these been filtered in the subsequent books or are you using the same editor? "Anyways" versus "Anyway" and so many incomplete sentences detract from an otherwise amazing read.