Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My career as a novelist mostly took place from 1979 to 2001. I started as a science fiction writer, branched out into fantasy and horror, and then into historical novels and magical realism. My most well known books from that period are probably “Vampire Junction,” “Mallworld,” and “Jasmine Nights.” I won the World Fantasy Award, the Astounding Award and was nominated for two Hugos and other awards, and was president of the Horror Writers Association.
In 2001 I had a sudden feeling I should enter a Buddhist monastery in Thailand and I abandoned everything. When I emerged, I rediscovered the career I had set aside before I started writing for a living, and for the last twenty years I have been running Thailand’s opera company, Opera Siam. I’ve composed several operas and directed many others as well.
Now, perhaps in the last phase of my life, I’m reconnecting with writing again. I’m tying up loose ends. But publishing has changed a lot, and I’ve gone from being published by major publishing houses to reissuing all my out of print books under my own imprint and publishing new books myself. About 70 of my books are currently in print if you search on my name in amazon and other sources.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest books, are “Homeworld of the Heart” which was really triggered by wanting to reconnect with readers who for three decades have been asking me to revisit my “Inquestor Series.” I’ve also recently published two short memoirs, “Nirvana Express” and “Sounding Brass.”
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I write a lot, and only after midnight.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would say first, the classics: the Greek playwrights, Shakespeare and Jane Austen; secondly, writers whose work I consumed as a child, like Theodore Sturgeon.
What are you working on now?
I’ve resurrected several projects that were in mid-air when I suddenly disappeared from the writing universe twenty years ago.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. (1) You must have something to say. (2) You must actually say it. (3) You must be willing to do the work to give yourself the technical ability to do (2) in order to express (1). (4) You must speak the truth no matter what the cost. (5) Remember that in the moment of creation, you are the only being in the universe who can express that exact thought in that exact way. You are alone. (6) Fear nothing.
That’s about it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t be so wrapped up in what you have to say that the characters all start sounding like you. (This is what Theodore Sturgeon wrote to me once, when I had only written a few books).
What are you reading now?
Ha, I just read some scandalous political books about Washington.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would say, Lewis Carroll — but I pretty much have that memorized. So: the complete works of Shakespeare.
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