Two weeks ago, in preparation of the release for Warriors edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, I reviewed five novellas from the anthology.
I also sent interviews to those writers.
Tad Williams has been extremely busy but he wanted to take part as well. He returned answers to my questions yesterday. His novella, And Ministers of Grace, was easily my favorite tale in Warriors. All of the strengths that Tad brings to his long fiction were present, and he has created one of the most memorable characters I have read—Lamentation Kane.
You can read my review HERE.
Here is the interview with Tad Williams:
1. How were you approached to write the short story And Ministers of Grace for the Warriors anthology?
That story has elements from a bigger story I’ve thought about for the last few years, so some of the concepts were there already. But what I wanted to talk about in this case was not the whole inter-planetary conflict, so much as its effect on one very unusual individual. As a “rationalist”, I’m very interested in other people’s experiences with faith and their beliefs.
2. You have written a number of short stories over the years, some tied to your novels, some stand alone. What is it about the short story format that keeps you coming back?
The chance to experiment and the chance to use different tools than I get to use with a novel. Things that might not work for the length of a book can be perfect at short-story length. Recently I’ve done some short stories that were all word-play, which I thought worked well, but would drive a reader mad over hundreds of pages.
3. In a world currently so polarized, I can’t help but see a lot of parallels between the worlds of Covenant and Archimedes. From a writer’s standpoint, what drew you to this material?
I’m fascinated with history and also by politics. At the moment, a lot of our conflict in the west seems to be with Islamic extremists. But we have powerful religious extremists in out country too. With whom do we have more in common?
4. How much research did you have to do regarding the Spirit?
Things that I’m interested in are usually on-going research projects anyway. So I’ve probably read 20 books or so on modern and ancient belief systems just in the last year, without any play except following my interest.
5. Lamentation Kane is one of your most intriguing characters—in my top three. Will we be seeing him in a future short story or perhaps even a series of books?
As I mentuioned, I’ve been considering a larger work. If I get to write this (I’ve been calling them the Arjuna books, when I talk about them), I now think Lamentation Kane will be one of the main characters.
6. As a final word and anything else you’d like to share, why should people read And Ministers of Grace?
First of all, I think it’s a good story. That’s always what’s most important to me. There’s more to it than just that. There are a lot of things in it to think about, for the religious and non-religious as well. But mainly because it’s a good story.
A big thank you to Tad and his wife Deborah for making this interview possible! If you haven’t read And Ministers of Grace, definitely give it a try. Tad has also recently published Shadowrise, the third book in his Shadow quintet, with the fourth book coming out later this year!
Have you read any of the novellas in Warriors? Would love to hear what some of you think!
More soon!
