Ian Thomas Healy Talks Candidly About The Archmage
Tell us about your latest book.
The
Archmage is a sequel to the novel Just Cause, starring the
super-speedy Mustang Sally along with the rest of the Just Cause superhero
team. In it, I explore the use of magic in a superhero setting. In this case, a
character named Wolfgang Frasier has been slaughtering other mages around the
world and taking their power for himself. He’s gotten so powerful that there is
only one other mage remaining besides him, the hero Stratocaster, who is a
member of the Lucky Seven hero team that Sally trained with at the beginning of
Just Cause. If Frasier manages to kill Stratocaster, his power becomes
absolute and he could plunge the entire world into darkness, becoming its total
ruler. This is, of course, his goal. Sally and the other heroes have no choice
but to try to stop him, even though his power is so great that he can call
armies of the dead out of the ground and turn anyone captured to his side. There’s
a nifty bit of time travel thanks to magic going awry that sends the team back
to the 1870s, and of course some great intrigue and epic, cinematic battles. At
the same time, Sally’s relationship with Jason is growing much more complex and
suffering growing pains all its own.
What is Local Hero Press?
LHP is an imprint I created
specifically for the release of my novel-length work and collections. I didn’t
want to simply release them under my own name as the publisher because with
such a wide variety of genres under my belt, I wanted something to tie them all
together. This way, if someone buys The Archmage, likes it, and looks to
see what else LHP has to offer, they might discover Blood on the Ice or Pariah’s
Moon or Troubleshooters.
You do write in a variety of genres. Tell us about some
of them.
I don’t like to be pigeonholed, so I don’t force myself to
stay in one genre if I’m interested in writing in a different one. This goes
against common wisdom of building a brand, from what I’ve seen on the internet,
so I’m forming my own uncommon wisdom instead. That again ties back to the LHP
imprint by creating a common thread beyond just my name. I follow my muse, so
I’ve gone from superheroes (Just Cause, The Archmage) to funny science
fiction (The Milkman), to cyberpunk (Troubleshooters), to
fantasy/Western (Pariah’s Moon), to urban fantasy sports (Blood on
the Ice), to religious symbolism (Hope and Undead Elvis) and even
more. And if my agent sells The Guitarist, I can add “Mainstream Young
Adult” to my genres.
You have an agent? But I thought you were self-published.
work only, and when we discussed the possibility of her
representing me, we both agreed that she could still effectively represent a
portion of my work and I could still effectively release my speculative and
adult fiction without interfering with one another. I am, in fact, searching
for a second literary agent to represent The Oilman’s Daughter, the epic
steampunk/space opera that I coauthored with my dear friend Allison M. Dickson.
What’s it like working with another writer so closely on
a project?
I’m not sure I have anything better to compare it to than a
successful marriage. We worked very closely together on the project (two time
zones separating us notwithstanding!). We had complete trust with each other,
and were able to discuss what should have been extremely divisive and difficult
issues not only with calm heads, but with a sense of joy that only two opposing
viewpoints between dear friends can bring. The best thing about working with
someone like that is going back through the manuscript and not being able to
tell exactly who wrote which parts. That’s just awesome.
The Archmage, book 2 of the Just Cause Universe
series, launches from all online retailers on September 1, 2012. Exclusive
signed editions can be purchased directly from Local Hero Press (http://localheropress.ianthealy.com).
Find Ian on Twitter as @ianthealy, and follow Local Hero
Press as @LocalHeroPress.
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorIanThomasHealy
and http://www.facebook.com/LocalHeroPress
Author website: www.ianthealy.com
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