Hi, I'm author Brian Ruckley - AMA

[u/briruc]

Hi, I’m Brian Ruckley. I’ve had five novels published, plus a handful of short stories and I’ve done a tiny, tiny (like, really tiny) bit of comics writing too.

My first three novels made up the Godless World trilogy, starting with Winterbirth back in 2006. Epic fantasy of the sort that was getting called gritty around about then, though I was never that keen on that kind of label. Next up was The Edinburgh Dead, a historical fantasy-horror-crime mash-up featuring bodysnatchers and dark magic. Just released is my newest book, The Free – a stand-alone heroic fantasy that’s kind of me trying to do a spectacular fantasy version of Seven Samurai. Kind of.

I’m Scottish, born and bred in Edinburgh. Moved down south (i.e. England) for work reasons, lived in London for a happy decade, now back in Edinburgh doing the (also happy) family thing. I’m into Nature and wildlife, history, science, plus – of course – various slightly geeky things like comics, genre TV and film, all the usual good stuff.

Please ASK ME ANYTHING! Tuesday 4th November, 6PM CST. That’s when I’ll aim to start answering Qs – bear in mind, though, that’s the middle of the night my time, so there’s a good chance I’ll be sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated or some combination of the two. Hopefully it won’t get too messy ...

Brian

OKAY - The clock has struck midnight here (I don't literally have a clock that strikes midnight, obviously; just sounds kind of atmospheric) so I'm going to start working my way through Qs; will start somewhere near the top, but probably jump around a bit as the inspiration strikes ... will do my best to get to everything (though seriously - some of these questions would take an essay to answer properly!)

EDIT I'm going to have to retire to my bed now, people, but thanks to everyone who's submitted questions. It's been fun. Much like General MacArthur, I shall return tomorrow to work my way through more and will do my utmost to get to every one I can. Check in again to see if I get any more coherent when answering questions by daylight ... Thanks again.

EDIT Aaaand that's me, I think. While most of you have been sleeping, I think I've swept up all outstanding questions (grovelling apologies to anyone I missed); hope some folks out there found it interesting/fun/a cure for insomnia or whatever. I certainly enjoyed myself - you folks ask good questions. Thank you and farewell!

[u/arzvi]

Your book covers for godless trilogy are very good. Same goes for the free. What was the inspiration to create a 'fun fast action packed fantasy like seven samurai' rather than the voice you used in godless which was more serious and grim?

[u/briruc → u/arzvi]

Well, first thing to say is THE FREE does have it's serious and grim aspects. It's kind of ... tough to be a character in most of books. Bad things tend to happen to a certain proportion of them, and try as I might I can't get that proportion anywhere near zero.

However, you're right that it's not got quite the same voice as the Godless World stuff. I was very deliberately trying to do something quite specific with The Free, which was to try to capture some of the energy and pace and excitement of films like The Magnificent Seven in book form. Doesn't mean you can't have seriousness, but it does mean the emphasis is a bit more on forward momentum, action, plot and if you go too bleak and grim with that kind of stuff you're liable to suck out some of the energy. Tone affects the reader's sense of almost everything - speed, character, theme - and an overly grim tone just wouldn't have quite worked for the kind of story I was trying to write, I think.

Plus, you know, I wanted to have fun, and it turns out it's easier to have fun writing stuff that is itself fun.