Thomas Locke: I wish someone would ask these two questions: How did you develop such a sense of natural flow out of a realm that doesn’t exist? How did you manage to structure a fantasy where the logic and surprise fit together powerfully? I feel this is a crucial element of both Emissary and Merchant…
Posts Categorized: Q&A With Thomas Locke
Q&A: How I grappled with using magic in ‘Merchant of Alyss’
Q: There’s magic in Merchant of Alyss. What do you hope readers take away from the “magic” element in the story? Thomas Locke: The issue of using magic was something I grappled with for some time. I found immense guidance from the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Four thousand years ago, when the…
Q&A: My Inspiration for Legends of the Realm Fantasy Series
Q: Please tell us about Merchant of Alyss and what inspired the story. Thomas Locke: Merchant of Alyss is the second book in my Legends of the Realm fantasy series. At the end of Emissary (book 1), the young mage, Hyam, loses the magical powers he had recently gained. When the Merchant of Alyss opens,…
Q and A: Why did you write ‘Merchant of Alyss’?
Q: Why did you write Merchant of Alyss? Thomas Locke: I began work on Merchant of Alyss before Emissary (book 1 in the series) had been accepted for publication. I had no idea anyone would accept these stories, since they were so utterly different from what I had been writing up to that point. But…
The Latest Happenings in My Writing Life
Lots is going on in my writing life! The Emissary film project is ongoing, and I’ll share details about that as things unfold. Merchant of Alyss, Book 2 in the Legends of the Realm series, comes out January 5, 2016. There will be at least one more book in the series, but I haven’t started…
Q and A: What keeps you sane in the middle of craziness?
Q: What keeps you sane in the middle of craziness? Hopeful in the middle of stress and life’s storms? Thomas Locke: I am going to skip the two obvious answers, my faith and my wife. These are essential to me. The crux of this question is, what else offers these positive elements in hard times,…
Q and A With Thomas Locke: Is Quantum Mechanics the Foundation for AI?
Q: Do you think quantum mechanics will be the theoretical foundation for true Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Thomas Locke: Yes; there are two reasons why quantum mechanics will certainly play a great role, in my opinion. First, the quantum world is an uncertain world. Just like with human consciousness, this uncertainty breeds an amazing amount of…
Q&A With Thomas Locke: What is Near-Time Sci-Fi?
Q: You refer to Trial Run as “near-time sci-fi.” What does that term mean? Thomas Locke: Near-time sci-fi is a story that takes place in today’s world, but one where reality is drawn around the unseen corner. A perfect example is Jurassic Park, where dinosaur DNA is extracted from amber, inserted into frog embryos, and…
Q&A With Thomas Locke: How do you research diverse subjects?
Q: How do you go about researching/understanding such diverse subjects as prions, quantum computing, and contract law? Thomas Locke: It all started with my nephew and dear friend, Mason Matthews, to whom Trial Run is dedicated. Mason is a theoretical physicist and was doing his doctorate in quantum computing at the time. He is, needless…
Q&A With Thomas Locke: Do you alter details of real places to suit the story?
Q: Several settings in Trial Run (Santa Barbara, CA, the Italian/Swiss border site) depict real places. How do you select these real-life settings for your stories, and do you alter details of these places to suit your stories? Thomas Locke: When John Grisham published The Client, a number of readers wrote in to say that he…
Discover how
it all began
in this explosiveprequel to Trial Run
Journey into
the Realm
with this ebookshort from Emissary
Recent Comments