Let me brag on Jim Melvin for a moment:
Critical praise for The Pit
Book 1 in the Death Wizard Chronicles
"Jim Melvin's Death Wizard Chronicles crackle with non-stop action and serious literary ambition. He has succeeded in creating an entire universe of interlocking characters -- and creatures -- that will undoubtedly captivate fans of the fantasy genre."
-- Bob Andelman, author of Will Eisner: A
Read part 1 of the interview here
Did any events from your life influence the series?
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Ah, yes. Too many to list. But it all started when I was young. I was lucky to grow up on a street on the waterfront that had about ten other boys my age, and we hung out morning, ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />noon and night. We played all the usual sports that young boys love: football, baseball, basketball, "kill the carrier," etc. But we also, as a group, were obsessed with playing fantastical games that contained magic, monsters, and super heroes. My love and fascination for magic and monsters stayed with me into adulthood.
Have you had an experience of dying and coming back? Or has someone you know had this experience?
From the moment we are born, we all begin to die, so I've certainly experienced the dying part. The coming back? As in a near-death experience? No. And I'm not one to believe that we're met by angels or deceased relatives that are there to guide you into the light. I believe that the energy that composes our mind/karma leaps immediately into a new body. The Buddha was once asked how this energy knows which body to go to. And he answered something along the lines of: "How does a falling leaf know where to land on the ground?"
I am intrigued with your Death Wizard. How did the character of the Death Wizard come to you?
Ironically, I conceived the Death Wizard and his meditative ways before I knew much about meditation. Most of the names and places in my series are direct translations from Pali, a derivative of Sanskrit. But my MC's name, Torg, has been with me since the late 1970s, when I first envisioned a wizard who could meditate so deeply that his heartbeat literally would stop. Fifteen years ago, my first wife and I were divorced. My second wife is a Western-convert Buddhist, and she introduced me to meditation. Since then, everything has come together. This is my time.
Do you converse with your characters or hear/feel them talking in your mind?
When I'm in the process of writing a first draft, I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the upcoming scene before I sit down to write it. As I'm falling asleep at night, while I'm in the shower, while I'm driving alone, I play things out over and over in my mind. Then, when I sit down to write, it usually pours out of me pretty smoothly. So in that regard I do converse with my characters. And I love them like members of my own family.
As you began writing this series, when did you know where you were taking the characters in the last book?
I began planning this series in my mind when I was 20 years old, but I didn't begin to write it until I was in my mid-40s. During all that time, however, I never quit thinking about The Death Wizard Chronicles. So by the time I began the actually writing, I knew in great detail most of what was going to happen, including not just Book One but Book Six and all those in between. This definitely was not one of those Stephen King deals where I started out with an idea and then riffed like a lead guitarist. I knew most things in advance and in excruciating detail. But of course, there were a few surprises.
Is there a spiritual or ethical point or principle that most readers of your book miss?
Yes. It's that though karma exists, we still are in control of our own fate. We can choose at any moment in any of our lives to do more good things than bad. And when we make that choice and stick to it, our karma eventually will catch up.
Thank you so much, Jim!
It was my pleasure!
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