Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Craig Cormick?

To misquote Miley Cyrus, “I’m just a guy.” Well, my kids think I’m just a guy, but they don’t know that I actually live a secret life creating wild new worlds, and sword-fighting evil villains and saving them from catastrophic harm.

Otherwise, I’m an author and science communicator. I’ve published over 20 books and over 100 short stories and about 20 academic journal papers and I love playing with genres, mixing fiction and non-fiction, playing with history and creating new things out of it.

I have several different lives and I know some people have Googled me and then asked, “Hey do you know this other Craig Cormick guy who has been to Antarctica/writes about biotechnology/is a social scientist/won this prize/etc.?” They are all me.

Your novel, The Shadow Master, is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in July 2014. How would you introduce the novel to a prospective reader? Is it part of a series?

I’d tell them that it’s a kick-arse tale of alternative history, love and conflict, madness and magic.

Yes, it is going to be part of a series, and I’m just completing book two right now.

For a bit more info on the book, imagine a city something like Florence. A walled city, to protect it from the plague that is ravaging the countryside. Then imagine two warring houses, the Medicis and the Lorraines. Both are battling for control of the city. And next imagine each House has in its employ a learned man – Galileo and Leonardo, who are versed in the arcane arts of science, that can control time and space and the very laws of nature. So science works like magic in this world.

Then imagine two lovers – Lorenzo and Lucia, who discover that together they too can change the natural laws of the world. But each belongs to a different warring house that refuse to let them be together.

And amongst all this there is a mysterious stranger – the Shadow Master. He is a hooded man that carries technologies not known in this world. He seems to understand all the mysteries of the Walled City, and even the long-lost secrets of the ancients, who built the walled city. And he possesses the knowledge as to how Lorenzo can save Lucia – and save all of civilisation while he is at it.

It’s got sword fights and mad clerics and bombs and magical shape-changing people and an army of plague victims and fire and water and a wise-arse mystery figure. It has everything except a car chase!

Gee – I’d read it.

What inspired you to write the series? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

I have been lucky enough to have travelled a lot in my work as a Science Communicator, and I was a conference in Florence a few years back, and while walking around the Galileo museum that I got this idea – what if science behaved like magic. So what if when Galileo invented the telescope it actually transported you across to what you were looking at – and what if the early chronometers actually slowed down time? And it all started forming out of that magical moment.

How were you introduced to reading and genre fiction?

For most of my life I’ve been what might be described as a writer of ‘Literary Fiction’ – but I crossed over from the dark side after meeting people who were writing SF, and attending some of their conferences – and I have to tell you the SF or genre fiction community is a lot less bitchy and more supportive than the literary crowd (oops – did I say that out loud?)

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry?

Like many authors I think it fair to say that I love writing a whole lot more than she loves me back. I’ve had some good successes, publishing over 20 books, but I’ve had a few spectacular failures too. The publishing industry itself is an arcane beast, I find, that is best kept on a chain, for you need to keep an eye on it, but if you get too close you’ll not only see the ugly side up close, but you might even get gobbled up and spat out.

Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

Good question, though I find that each different book I’m writing seem to have a different path to completion. Some I’ve just sat down and started toying with ideas and seen where they take me, and others I’ve meticulously planned and plotted out. I had a rough idea where I was going with the Shadow Master and let it take me on a bit of a voyage, but the sequel has been more carefully plotted out.

My general writing plan is to just get the words down first. (Novels are written by doing a few pages a day.) And then, when I’ve got those words down I can look at them and start reworking them. My general claim is that I’m not a great writer – but I’m a really great rewriter!

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

I still have my first book – it was called The End of the Second Eon and was a hand-written fantasy book, that I wrote and illustrated when I was about ten-years old. It had knights and ravens and magic and… hmmm, I’d better go and dig it out and look it over and see if it was truly atrocious as I fear, or whether there might actually be the gem of a good idea in there.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

I actually don’t spend too much time dwelling on the genre, nor the sub-genres and where things fit into it, as I think that can get in the way a bit of what you’re working on – striving to fit a genre rather than let the story wander a bit.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

There’s always quite a bit in my pipeline and I’ll probably need to call a plumber around to clear it out – but there’s Shadow Master and the Floating City (the sequel), a novel about Adolf Hitler having been found hiding in a small fishing village in Australia during the Falkland’s War, and I’m also finishing up a book on the science of the Australian Bushranger Ned Kelly. I’m editing a collection of pieces from all the different scientists who have worked on identifying Ned Kelly’s bones and remains that were recently located at a prison cemetery. It involves forensic pathology and DNA testing and archaeology and detective work through the records and is absolutely fascinating story. Watch this space!

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

Next to my bed are several books calling out to me, “Read me! Read me! Please read me!” Those calling the loudest are Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Robin Hobb’s The Royal Assassin, and a Smurf comic book.

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

I have a twin brother (“My Evil Twin” we both describe the other as). He’s a medical doctor, I’m a PhD doctor. We both have fairly similar tastes, though like many twins – when we’re living close to each other we tend to be buying different clothes and books and things – but when we aren’t in close contact it is like we revert to type rather than try and assert our differences, and start buying the same types of things as each other.

I’m sometimes asked, what’s it like to be a twin – but I have to ask, “What’s it like not to be?” (And it’s nice to have someone who will NEVER forget your birthday!)

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The Shadow Master will be published in North America and in eBook on June 24th 2014, and in the UK on July 3rd 2014, by Angry Robot Books.

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is James A. Moore?

I’ve been a professional writer for a little over 20 years. I started in comic books worked my way over to role playing games and then decided to try my luck with horror fiction. I’ve also written some science fiction and a few fantasy pieces. I’m currently working on a weird western, a fantasy series, a crime novel and a few other projects, including a science fiction apocalyptic piece.

Your next novel, The Blasted Land, is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in July 2014. It is the sequel to Seven Forges. How would you introduce the series to a new reader, and what can fans of the first expect?

Good question. I’d like to say it’s something different, and maybe that’s true but I imagine almost everyone makes that claim. It’s a sword and sorcery series. But one where I’ve set aside the legends and creatures I’ve read about before to come up with new dangers and, hopefully, a unique setting. I like to think of the series as a clash of cultures and a clash of theologies. Ultimately, however, it’s a story about an aging empire facing a threat that seems absolutely relentless and unstoppable.

I have always believed that every book should be able to stand alone. That said, I love a good cliffhanger. So the story starts off in this case EXACTLY where Seven Forges left off. I fill in the gaps, but I also try to do that without burying the previous readers in older details. It’s a bit of an interesting challenge as I haven’t really worked on a direct series before though I’ve had a few occasions where the characters I’ve written about in the past have shown up in new adventures.

What I’m working in, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to explore it in greater depth, is the differences between the two cultures and the dangers of dealing with a tide of fanatical warriors on a holy quest.

What inspired you to write the series? And where do you draw your inspiration from in general?

Honestly, I normally don’t know what sort of story I want to write until I have an idea that won’t leave me alone. That was very much the case here. I wanted to write something different and in this case the only setting that really seemed to work was a fantasy setting.

I’ve always loved a good fantasy novel but one of the things I wanted to do was avoid a lot of the tropes I’ve seen pop up over the years. So I decided to start up a fantasy series after taking a pretty long hiatus from reading any fantasy.

Most of my inspiration comes from the news. The world is a fascinating and terrifying place, I let it inspire me whenever possible.

How were you introduced to reading and genre fiction?

I’ve always been a voracious reader. When I was younger it was mostly comic books, and later I expanded into fantasy, then science fiction and then horror. I sort of worked in the reverse order when it came to writing.

How do you enjoy being a writer and working within the publishing industry?

I love being a writer. It’s really very much my dream job. It’s always a strange challenge because the industry is changing in so many ways and because no matter how much time I spend writing, I would like to have more time.

Do you have any specific working, writing, researching practices?

I have a full time job in addition to writing. I work in retail because the hours are flexible and can accommodate my often chaotic writing schedules. My first rule is that I write every day. The only exception is if I am at a convention, then I TRY to write every day and I normally fail. When it comes to research, I tend to study whatever strikes my fancy and let it percolate in the back of my brain. At least half of my ideas come from articles I’ve run across in magazines or online.

When did you realize you wanted to be an author, and what was your first foray into writing? Do you still look back on it fondly?

Well, I originally wanted to draw comic books. I wanted to be an illustrator. Turns out that you actually have to know how to draw for that to happen. After I’d spent a good amount of time working up several comics from beginnig to end I showed them to an editor from Marvel Comics who told me that my artwork was lousy, but that he could see the story I was telling despite the bad anatomy and weak backgrounds. He’s the one who suggested I try writing and as he was the editor for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser comic book (out from Epic comics, which was a branch of Marvel) I tried my luck with a Hellraiser story. He bought it a few months later. That was my very first sale, a story called “Of Love, Cats and Curiosity” That showed up in the 15^th issue I believe.

What’s your opinion of the genre today, and where do you see your work fitting into it?

My firm belief is that genre is what publishers make of it. I’ve worked horror, science fiction, crime and fantasy but to me they are ultimately all just different places where I try to sell my stories. I write the stories I want to write and worry about where to sell them afterward. I think that’s really the best way to go with it. First and foremost I have to love the story I’m writing or I can’t very well expect anyone else to like it.

What other projects are you working on, and what do you have currently in the pipeline?

Well, I’m going to pitch the next couple of books in the SEVEN FORGES series soon. But I’m also working on two novellas with the character Jonathan Crowley, who is one of my recurring characters. Both of the stories I’m working on with him are supernatural westerns. I’m working on a straight crime novel with a frequent co-author named Charles R. Rutledge. I’m working on a horror-fantasy novella called Bloodstained Wonderland with Christopher Golden. I’m working on a science fiction/apocalyptic novel for Earthling Publications. I have a mostly finished Jonathan Crowley novel called Boomtown that I intend to finish by year’s end. I’m also currently outlining a dark fantasy trilogy with Charles R. Rutledge that we intend to try to write this year as well. I tend toward the prolific side. Or at least the ambitious side.

What are you reading at the moment (fiction, non-fiction)?

I just finished reading Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It’s a phenomenal book. I also just finished reading White Knight a novella by Bracken MacLeod that I would recommend very highly. And I’m researching away on both the Old West and Mushrooms for entirely unrelated stories.

What’s something readers might be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a widower. I lost my wife of 20 years a few years ago. In fact I’ve got a very long series of essays about that very subject (decidedly nonfiction) available at my website.

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The Blasted Land is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in June 2014. Seven Forges is available now. For more on Moore’s writing and novels, be sure to follow him on Twitter and visit his website.