David Alastair Hayden Interview
David Alastair Hayden is the author of Wrath of the White Tigress and Storm Dragon’s Heart. He also conducts a lot of interesting interviews with members of the publishing industry, such as this one with Lou Anders, publisher of PYR books.
I have read and enjoyed Wrath of the White Tigress. I really respect Hayden for his intrepid storytelling, and have been wanting to discuss Swords and Sorcery with him for a while.
With this weekend’s release of The Jason Momoa Movie, I mean Conan, I thought now would be a good time for this discussion.
He also collects typewriters. This is cool.
You write Swords and Sorcery. What is this and how does it fit in to the Fantasy genre? Specifically, you write what you call Daggers and Deviltry. How does this differ?
Sword & sorcery fiction grew out of the pulp fiction era in the early 20th Century. You know how a gritty noir detective story feels? Sword & sorcery is like that, except it’s fantasy. Yeah, that’s a broad definition. Joe McCullough called it “fantasy with dirt,” which is a pretty good description, too. S&S can be very realistic or highly fantastic. Mostly, it’s just not high fantasy. Lord of the Rings is not sword & sorcery. Conan is. Game of Thrones is not. Elric of Melnibone is. The line gets blurred with some heroic fantasy. Some people like to split hairs. I don’t.
You can find a much better definition here, from my friend Howard Andrew Jones. http://www.howardandrewjones.com/sword-and-sorcery/a-new-edge
I intended Daggers & Deviltry to be a reference to the really dark sword & sorcery that I like best, with lots of magic and evil, but also as a safe term since sword & sorcery was damaged in previous decades by horrible pastiche novels and B movies. The category has become more popular recently and the puss has mostly drained from the wound. I figure it’s okay to use the S&S term again. Also, Daggers & Deviltry confuses some people, so I’ve stopped using it as I had previously. I will use it for other branding. Perhaps a collection of my stories, or something like that.
Which one book would you recommend as representative of this sub-genre?
How about I do a few authors instead? Robert E. Howard, considered the father of the genre, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, David Gemmel (though some might quibble his work as being heroic fantasy).
A common argument– complaint, maybe–that I overhear is that there’s nothing new to fantasy, everything is either a re-hash of Tolkein or paranormal romance. How would you contest that?
As far as basic story structure goes, nothing is new. I’ve studied a lot of mythology and storytelling and… I don’t want to bore your readers. Suffice to say: Everything is new; nothing is new. Originality is overrated. I think sci-fi and fantasy fans tend to worry about this a lot more than most readers. I mean, there’s nothing new in thrillers or mystery or romance either, so why should fantasy be any different?
On the other hand, the details and specifics of every story are different and frequently highly original. Every author mixes the basics differently and brings new things to the table because every writer is intrinsically different.
And I have yet to see as many Tolkien clones as some readers like to claim. I have only seen two or three close copies, and even those didn’t have the same texture as LotR.
And for the record, a reading of Northern European mythology will dull one’s view of Tolkien’s originality. Not saying he didn’t create a lot or original material, but he also borrowed a good bit himself.
Who did the gorgeous cover art for Wrath of the White Tigress?
Sandara. You can find her work at sandara.deviantart.com. And it is amazing. Took a long time to compile a list of artists who could work within my budget. Took even longer to contact them. But once I saw her art, I knew it was the right look.
Finding an artist for my second book, The Storm Dragon’s Heart, was even more challenging. But again, I found a great artist in Leos Ng “Okita.”
What’s your metric for being a successful writer?
- To write a lot of fiction. (I’m happiest when I’m writing. I’d like to see my productivity increase dramatically.)
- To have a lot of well-entertained readers.
- To make a decent living.
What’s coming up for you next?
In back to back months I just released The Storm Dragon’s Heart and Wrath of the White Tigress. The print editions of both should be available at the end of this month (There was a technical delay.)
Next up is Arthur Paladin and the Shadowed Manse: a middle grade sci-fi/fantasy adventure. Should be available in late September or early October. Arthur Paladin is the first novel I wrote on a manual typewriter, and I’m immensely proud of it.
November should see Chains of a Dark Goddess, a sort of spiritual sequel to Wrath of the White Tigress. It’s a darker, more complex tale than Tigress. And one important character, my favorite I suppose, appears in both books. The setting for this tale moves westward. Where Tigress took place in an area inspired by Morroco and India, Chains takes place in an area more like the Holy Roman Empire. I think the two tales will eventually link up in a sequel.
In Decemeber, perhaps, will come Legacy of the Lost Gods, the first book in The Shogakami Talismans Saga. (Yes, I know. More deities. What can I say? I was a Religious Studies major in college.) This is an adult epic fantasy, not sword & sorcery, and one of the main characters is Turesobei from The Storm Dragon’s Heart, only he’s all grown up and … a bit mysterious. The sequel will follow in January or February: The Autumn Gate.
After that, I should be slowing down a bit. All the backlist will be out and the next novel I write may very well be determined by which of these books is selling best. I do hope to write some short stories along the way.
What’s with the typewriters?
Aha, one of my favorite subjects! I collect vintage manual typewriters. (I have no use for the electric ones.) I also write with them. I’ve already completed one novel, on a 1955 Hermes Rocket and plan to write all of them that way from here on out. The smell, the sound, the feel… The lack of distractions.
I think writers should have an interest in the tools of the trade, just as a painter would have an interest in brushes, paints, canvas, and pallettes. Obviously, that mostly concerns wordprocessing software these days, laptop models, and operating systems. For me, that includes typewriters. I am, admittedly, clueless about writing by hand. But I’ve never done much of it and I’m really bad at it. I sometimes forget how, really. I’ve been using computers to write everything since I was a kid in 1983, except when I was made to write by hand in school. But perhaps I’ll pick it up at some point. I do find it interesting. Just so impractical for me.
I am sometimes puzzled by writers who’ve never considered anything outside opening a document in Word and typing away. But honestly, there are many things that baffle me concerning most writers.
Word on the street is that there isn’t a lot of money to be made writing books nowadays. Judging from the fact that you granted me this interview I would guess that you are not drawing in the bucketloads of cash. What drives you to write and publish?
I’ve been telling stories all my life, in one form or another, often just to myself. It’s in my blood. It’s just what I do. I have other skills, I could be other things, but telling stories is one of the few things that makes me truly happy.
I think there are profits to be made still, but my thoughts there would run long and deep.
I certainly wouldn’t mind bucketloads of cash… And I’d do the interview anyway.
What are you reading now?
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, the current selection for our local book club, and The Lost Continent by Cutcliffe Hyne.
How do you like your demons served?
No. No. I like my demons to serve. It’s important to remain their master. I wouldn’t eat them. They’re too useful for that.
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We see a lot of folks arriving here with the search terms to find illegal pirated free downloads. If you are here for that reason, piss off. 
Cool interview. My Main Man is into the original Conan books by Howard and has read everything by Moorcock. Perhaps her needs DA Hayden added to his collection for his birthday. I listened to one of those iTunesU productions about Tolkein’s writing and it went in depth about how he drew from old northern European languages and myths. So, truly, a good writer is putting their insightful spin on tales that already exist in the world.
Great interview.
My mom bought me an old Underwood when I was 10 or so and I have to admire that David could complete a novel on it in this day and age-I didn’t have the paitence and moved to the PC.
I love the “nothing’s new” statement. I’m reading Embassytown by China Miéville. Very interesting similar “grandfather” concepts from Babylon-17, by Delaney.