1) By tearing out my hair - and maybe making a private wiki for my world, as some doorstopper-writers I know have done.

The mix of 'experience levels' will continue, but even our younger characters will soon be forced to develop even thicker callouses on their souls.

Cheers, and thanks for reading!

Hm. I'd almost say that I *use* sword-and-sorcery to after *epic* fantasy's baggage. Gritty old hero instead of fresh young one. Putting the East at the center (weirdly, I'd argue Conan was more 'Eastern' than LotR, for exapmple). Short book versus long book. Working-class heroes instead of noble princes. Etc.

I've sold two sequels, and am working on them now. They will expand in scope in terms of geography and plot threads, veering closer to epic fantasy - while still maintaining a sword-and-sorcery core. Ninjas, crusades, renegade dervishes, and the Queen of the Djenn!

For me it came naturally. I'm pushing up on 40, and have always had a streak of grumpy old man. The motives and rives of teenagers aren't really what inspire me to write.

I probably had a bit of a head-start as far as knowing a bit more about various Islamic cultures than the average fantasy writer, but I still had to do a ton of research. A few sources included 1) Lifting plebian details from the 1001 Nights, which merges its fantastic tales with very mundane 'realistic' details…

Hey folks. I'm the author of the Salon piece. Thanks to those who ACTUALLY READ the article, and for the (mostly) thoughtful responses.

FWIW, while my talents aren't anywhere near GRRM's, I have in fact written my own fantasy novel. And some folks (incl io9) have dug it:

Well, hey, happy Monday to you, too! Glad we could keep things nice and grown-up here!

Nowhere in the actual article does it say 'White people are universally good in Tolkien.'

FYI, I do talk about the Summer Islanders in the actual Salon article.

Article author here ::waves::

Thank YOU for reading!

Not a lot of people bought it, but everyone who did started a band?

FWIW, humor is important to me as a writer, and I've def. tried to leaven THRONE with some. Though the humor's a bit crass sometimes - Adoulla farts at the dinner table, there's a medieval pseudo-Arabic version of a 'Your mom' joke, etc.

Yes, there's an awesome decoder wheel like Pool of Radiance / Rocket Ranger back in the day.

Hey, thanks. Also: Nas reference FTW!

+1 Howard's a fantastic author. He also does (and does well) fantasy/mystery set in actual Islamic history as opposed to a made-up world, the thought of which daunts me as a writer...

Great to hear! Some favorite writers whose influence is sometimes obvious and sometimes not: Fritz Leiber, Walt Whitman, Naguib Mahfouz, Chris Claremont, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Malcolm X, Robert Jordan, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Gygax.