An interview with Trent Jamieson

Interview by Fergus McCartan

Speaking with Fantasy Book Review today for our How Stories Connect Us series of interviews is Australian science fiction and fantasy author Trent Jamieson.

Trent is the author of the acclaimed Death Works and Nightbound Land novels. The Death Works series is an urban fantasy tale in which Death’s employees shepherd the recently deceased to the afterlife, easing their passing. That is until something goes wrong (and it usually does) and then even the departed want you dead. You can read an extract here of the fourth novel in the series, The Memory of Death.

Trent’s other major work, The Nightbound Land, consists of two steampunk/fantasy style novels, Roil and Night’s Engines, which are set in a world being consumed by a great darkness, destroying the land and its people day by day. Its only hope is a four thousand year old man and a young woman intent on revenge.

Trent is currently working on adapting one of his short stories, Day Boy, into a full-length novel, due for release in 2015.

If you would like to know more about Trent, you can check out his site http://www.trentjamieson.com.

Which book do you own that puts a smile on your face and makes you happy just by holding it in your hand?

I'm a bookseller by trade, and books generally make me do that. But if I had to pick one it would probably be The Hobbit. That book was a constant source of comfort in my childhood.

Which book or series do you read which makes you feel nostalgic, remembering the period in your life you first read it?

It's another Fantasy. Fritz Leiber's Nehwon books, (or the Swords series, or the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books it's all the same series, just given different names). There's such light and joy and wit and darkness in those books, and the glorious city of Lankhmar. Oh, and the land of Nehwon has such an engaging incarnation of Death – and I do love my Deaths!

Which book or series do you read that makes your blood pump and your palms sweaty?

Hugh Cook's “Chronicles of an Age of Darkness”, gee I'm all with the heroic fantasy today. It's nine books of weird fantasy, teeming with monsters and grumpy old wizards, and civilizations gone to pot. It's fabulous!

Is there a particular author that leaves you thinking: One day I would like to be able to write just like that?

Margo Lanagan, not that I ever could, but she is an incredible writer. But, really, most authors I love leave me wishing that. Krissy Kneen, Fritz Leiber, China Mieville, Ben Peek, James Salter, Marianne de Pierres, JRR Tolkien the list could go on and on.

The thing is these authors we want to write like are already there. They're markers on the map of your reading, but you chart your own direction.

It's finding the way that you write that is important, and then making it as purely, perfectly truly you. All the while that you being a changeable creature as well.

Which book or series do you think you could implant one of your own characters? Would you want them to thrive or want them to burn it all down?

The Lord of the Rings. Most of my characters would get a kick out of Middle Earth, some of them would thrive, and some would get with the burning.

I am very grateful to Trent for taking the time to speak with us today. If you haven't read any of Trent’s works, check them out, the Death Works series is a great read.

All Trent Jamieson Reviews

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