I'm very pleased to host an excellent new writer, Amanda McCrina. Amanda is the author of His Own Good Sword and is now working on the sequel, as well as a standalone novel called Aquae. I was fascinated by her worldbuilding and how it shaped her characters, so that's what I asked her about. Thanks, Amanda, for agreeing to blog for me and giving me such full and thoughtful answers! You can purchase Amanda's novel and read excerpts from her works in progress at her webpage .



1. Your historical fantasy is set in a world that's a lot like Roman Britain. Were you always interested in the Roman empire? do you remember how and why you got interested? And do you think this setting is particularly relevant today?

I've had a vague interest in Rome since middle school, when I first read Rosemary Sutcliff; her Roman-Britain novels remain some of my favorites. But really it's only been in the last couple years that this has turned into a full-blown academic passion.( Read more... )

My sister told me to go look at Eddis Sounis Attolia on livejournal, because there was a link to an exciting interview with Megan Whalen Turner. There is! If you don't know who she is (and especially if you do), go here:

http://hipwritermama.blogspot.com/2009/11/wbbt-megan-whalen-turner.html

It's very cool1

Here's Michelle Paver, with a few beautiful wolves, talking about Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. wolf is my favorite character, too!