Why did you start a fantasy series, after writing the science fiction Jaran books?
I love to read both science fiction and fantasy, and always have. I think of them both as speculative fiction, fiction that explores landscapes other than the one we live in. Fantasy tends to be set in a mythical past; science fiction tends to be set in an unknowable future. After writing four volumes of the Jaran saga, exploring that unknowable future, I needed time in a different landscape, and I decided the time was right for fantasy and a chance to explore a mythical past. Will there be another Jaran book? The Jaran saga was originally conceived of as seven books, each one a standalone novel that had its place in a larger sequence. That conception hasn’t changed: the Jaran books aren’t really, as it may seem, about Tess and Ilya; they’re really about the Jaran culture and how it changes over time. So, since the first four volumes are actually three books (I know, I know, this gets terribly confusing! Check out the bibliography!), that means there are still four books to write. I ha
