Novel in a blender

My more recent novel efforts have rather flowed onto the page by themselves. Mostly thanks to NaNoWriMo and the need to produce a plot and a host of characters out of thin air in thirty days. However, my first novel took forever to write and was influenced by all sorts of things. The novel grew and morphed as life experiences, books and tv shows were added to the blender.

Where did I fall in love with sardonic character voice, assassins and the idea that assassins can be heros too? Right here.

Vlad Taltos is the man. His telepathic jhereg companion is a close second. Their thoughts and private conversations still make me laugh outloud. I've read this book -- along with the rest of the series -- so many times over the years that the spine is more cracked than printed. Pages are falling out. The cover is taped on. Yep. I enjoy it that much.

When the internet hit and authors got websites, I even reached out of my writing cave far enough to email dear Mr. Brust to gush about his wonderful book. And he emailed me back. That was many, many years and many computers ago. I don't remember exactly what was said on either end, but I do remember that it made my day. Likely several of them.

That's when it hit me that authors were real people, not just names on book covers that I looked for on my weekly trips to the bookstore. It also then occured to me that I liked to write and I happened to be a real person too. hmmmm