"Irons in the Fire" Musings

Juliet McKenna, author of the fabulous new fantasy novel Irons in the Fire, has been introduced in this guest spot over at Joshua Palmatier's blog.

With Irons in the Fire being my tenth novel, I’ve noticed something new about the way people say, "But I haven’t read your other books." What they’re actually asking is, "Must I read all your other books for this one to make sense?" Which is a fair question.

The answer is no. Irons in the Fire begins a new series, carefully written to be entirely comprehensible to anyone coming fresh to my work. This was something I and the editorial team at Solaris agreed on in the early stages. Once the final draft was written, we checked by finding a Solaris staffer who hadn’t read my other books. Indeed, he’d been banned from them once we signed the contracts. So he could find out if this new book made sense to a newcomer to my fictional world. I’m delighted to say it did. Better yet, he’s been on tenterhooks for the second and third instalments.

So what’s it about? Well, the unfolding of The Lescari Revolution does have roots in my earlier writing. My first series, the Tales of Einarinn, features men and women living on the edges of legality and society, including some mercenaries. They get caught up in the rediscovery of ancient magic and a lost land over the ocean and the consequences on different people, good and bad. That’s good and bad people, as well as good and bad consequences.

Check out the rest of the post.