More Questions from an L.E. Modesitt Fan

[Kenneth]

This has probably been brought up before, but I will ask anyways, what authors do you read, and which ones have influanced you the most if at all?

[fortyseven]

Non-human sapient beings could travel through time or another timeline to meet humans. This need not be simple or fast though.

[lmodesitt]

Because I read widely, it's difficult if not impossible to sort out all the influences, or the relative degree of impact, at least for for most of those I've read. I started reading SF in the late 1950s and have kept current with the field all the time, with the exception of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when I was preoccupied with events in Southeast Asia.

Certainly, earlier SF influences would include Clarke, Asimov [but almost exclusively for his science columns], Dickson, LeGuin, Heinlein, Zelazny, vanVogt, and others. In the greater sense, however, probably the most impact is from the poets -- W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Auden, Frost, and Stevens.

Certainly, every writer I've read has some impact, and some of those influences are positive [as in... that's really good!] and some are negative [as in... Lord, don't ever let me do that!].


L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

[Emperor]

What influences would you say brought about the fantasy side of your writing? would it go to the poets? or have their been authors who helped bring about your "what if's"

[Hunter B]

Mr. Modesitt, I was wondering, do you have a sketch or something like that of Gerswin's (Forever Hero) knives? I'm about to re-read the trilogy again, and I realized, I never had a good picture in my mind... If you do have a picture, would you mind posting it, or if not, describe them in more detail?


Spellsong War:

Spoiler: show

In the end, when Anna casts the youth spell on Jecks, why doesn't he turn young again, as opposed to his wound just healing quickly? Sorry if I read it wrong, but it just struck me as odd.

[lmodesitt]

Frankly, I don't have sketches of Gerswin's knives, and while I had a definite idea of how those knives were constructed when I wrote the book, I hope you'll pardon me if I plead that I don't recall those details twenty years later, after almost forty intervening books.

I can answer the question with the spell Anna used to heal Jecks. It was a modification of the youth spell, and one of the key phrases is "as though young." The emphasis was to "bring him life," not necessarily to bring him youth. In addition, she was not at full strength when she had to cast that spell, and it is a Darksong spell.


L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

[Hunter B]

I hope you'll pardon me if I plead that I don't recall those details twenty years later, after almost forty intervening books.

Haha, it's not a problem, really. While I would have liked to know, I can always use my imagination for it.

I can answer the question with the spell Anna used to heal Jecks. It was a modification of the youth spell, and one of the key phrases is "as though young." The emphasis was to "bring him life," not necessarily to bring him youth. In addition, she was not at full strength when she had to cast that spell, and it is a Darksong spell.

Ah, thank you very much I thought I was missing something. Should have read more closely.

[DocKurtz]

Another fan question - I've read most of the question posts and don't think it has been asked. If it has, I apologize.

I've read the Recluce series a few times now with the exception of the last book published which should arrive tomorrow. I have not read any other LEM series for reasons posted elsewhere (addictions to Sword of Truth and a troubling and disappointing one to Jordan's WoT).

I've always been facinated by the first part of Fall of Angels dealing with the space battle; angels & demons, etc. Do any of the other series deal with the SciFi story that gave way to the Recluce series? If not, are there any plans to do so? It seems there is a whole other world there dealing with the nomad angels, the 'real' mirror towers, etc that would be interesting and engaging.

-Doc

[lmodesitt]

Because I see all my novels in the conext of a wider universe, there will always be untold stories. At this point, I don't have any plans to write what might be called the "Sybran Stories," but I also don't have any plans NOT to write them.


L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

[DocKurtz]

Thank you.

[fortyseven]

It'd be interesting to find out what has happened to the Angels and Rats since Fall of Angels.

[reas0nabledoubts]

I have currently been reading Scion of Cyador, and have a question.

In Both Magi and Scion of Cyador, Lorn reads, hears, and learns of the "Firstborn" and how they came to That world and sculpted the land and imprisoned the Accursed Forest. The Silver Volumed book that he has been reading and has gotten from Ryalth also may be a clue.

We already know what the Angels haev gone through, with the book Fall of Angels.

We know nothing of the "Rationalists", and how they created Cyador and set up a land unlike any other.

And so, my question is: Are there any ideas or thoughts to any books on the Firstborn (Rationalists) and how they came about?

To me, it only seems fair to have both sides of the story, since we already know of the Angels and what befell them, that we also know of what happened with the Rationalists.

[lmodesitt]

At this point, I have no plans for writing anything about the firstborn. That doesn't mean I won't... or that I will, but if I don't write about what interests me, you can bet it's not likely to interest my readers, because an author can seldom make a subject interesting to his or her readers if it's not of interest to the author.


L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

[Emperor]

Sculpted the land? sounds like terraforming lol.

Has a story from the timeline location of after The Magic of Recluce and the death of Choas ever come to your mind?

[reas0nabledoubts]

I meant Terraforming haha.

I do have another question.

In most of the books, the Chaos Mages throw "Firebolts".

Could someone explain what the Firebolts are like? Some of the books have the Chaos Mages using "FireBALLS" Now, i know what that is, but what is a Firebolt? Im assuming its like a Bolt of Fire, something straight and not round?

[lmodesitt]

As I've mentioned somewhere before, it's highly uinlikely that I'll ever write a Recluce story in the time period after The Death of Chaos, simply because, to be accurate, it would have to have an entirely different "flavor" than the others, among other things.

Firebolts tend to be more like arrows of chaos.


L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

[DocKurtz]

Firebolts tend to be more like arrows of chaos.

Wow, was I way off. All this time I was envisioning them as little square headed bolts with flames for threads just SCREWING themselves into their victims. I guess now I know why we never heard of firenuts (well this reason and the obvious euphemistic one). /sigh

Next I'm going to find out the fountain of choas Nylan raises from the earth is nothing like the little silver spiggot with a rusty button to press (like the ones from grammar school hallways) spewing lava all over the place. I mean we used to love sticking our thumbs on those things and spraying our mates in 3rd grade ... I just assumed Nylan was reliving grammar school days. /double sigh

-Disillusioned Doc

[CodeBlower]

All this time I was envisioning them as little square headed bolts with flames for threads just SCREWING themselves into their victims.

Well, I wasn't quite as far off on this one as you were ....

I mean we used to love sticking our thumbs on those things and spraying our mates in 3rd grade ... I just assumed Nylan was reliving grammar school days. /double sigh

-Disillusioned Doc

... however, I'm going with a Buckingham Fountain (in Chicago) look for this one.

((Hoping I'm closer than I was on "bolt".))

By the by, I always assumed the "bolt" was something comet-like -- but an arrow would make sense -- like a crossbow bolt.

[CodeBlower]

To me, it only seems fair to have both sides of the story, since we already know of the Angels and what befell them, that we also know of what happened with the Rationalists.

If you "do requests", Mr. Modesitt, this one would be one my list as well. For some reason, I'm thinking this all started over some little mis-communication between the two space-faring races and suddenly turned ugly.

[colour of candor]

haha I always envisioned firebolts as more like sith lightning or something

[reas0nabledoubts]

I have Another question in mind, and i apologize for having so many, but i am very intrigued over the books i am reading right now.

How is Lorn such a skilled Lancer, despite his chaos enhanced skills? The other Main characters in the other books Do get injured, yet Lorn does not receive any superstancial injuries. He only gets mentally hurt from the overusage of chaos.

He seems to be able to defeat all his enemies with ease; unlike other characters who suffered greatly for doing a great feat or defeating a strong enemy. He does not seem to have any flaws in his Lancer capabilities.

Nothing seems to hold him back and i find that he is almost TOO capable in his endeavors. Other than a few miscalculations, he seems to have done everything perfectly. Or am i missing something here?

If i had to guess, I am guessing it is because he thinks before he acts, or learns what he must before he acts. I just would like someone to reiterate on my comment. Thanks

[DocKurtz]

How is Lorn such a skilled Lancer, despite his chaos enhanced skills? The other Main characters in the other books Do get injured, yet Lorn does not receive any superstancial injuries. He only gets mentally hurt from the overusage of chaos.

If I were to hazzard a guess I would think it stems from a couple of things. First Lorn spent years in the mage school. The chaos mages of the time demonstrated obvious knowledge of combining order and chaos. They lost this discipline over time (as we see in Fall of Angels). By contrast Nylan (et al in later books) has to figure it all out himself ... and starts with no sense of balance at all. It is only after visiting the forest that he starts to understand any of it and all of that understanding is limited to causing as much destruction as he can to defeat his enemies. Again this is much different than Lorn who generally uses as little chaos as possible (Nylan makes order blades, Lorn has a balanced blade made which he trickels chaos into).

I could be way off, but that has been my assumption.

-Doc

[Emperor]

With the video game background I have I always figured they(fire bolts) were just balls of fire, different sizes for the amount of energy the mage was able to pull together at the time. and as more and more and thrown they get smaller..... oh well

[DocKurtz]

I have a very long communte and will often help pass the time with audio books from the public library (or will buy them if the library doesn't have it and then donate it to the library after I'm done).

However I've never been able to find any LEM books in audio form. Am I not looking in the right places (Amazon, B&N, Borders) or are they not (yet?) available?

-Doc

[lmodesitt]

So far as I'm aware, not a single book of mine has appeared in audio format -- except for a few done specially for readers by the Library of Congress... and how that is done, I have no idea.



L. E. Modesitt, Jr.