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L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Saryn, even as a grey mage, had a hard time dealing with the backlash from killing people with order/chaos. Rahl didn’t seem to have the same issues – he was nauseous but not blinded or frozen in the same way Kharl or Creslin were, even when he killed large numbers of people. What’s different about him?
Rahl isn’t innately as sensitive to people’s feelings. His whole journey involves, among other things, learning to perceive and feel more beyond himself.
I’m back in Westwind on my readthrough and Ryba continues to be a very compelling character, even though we never directly see her thoughts. Where does her misandry come from? Did she already feel that way before the shift to the Recluce universe, and if so why, or is it something that’s grown in response to her experiences running Westwind?
Both. Her experiences as a Sybran commander made her wary of men in power, and Candaran males are far, far worse in their treatment of women. And when women will risk beatings, floggings, and death trying to get to a refuge (Westwind) in the middle of one of the least hospitable mountain heights in Candar, that does have a tendency to reinforce Ryba’s skepticism about men.
I still have difficulty in understanding, in peace time, how Congressional funding is directly (specifically through lack of funding) responsible for equipment not getting maintenance it requires. If a mechanism fails, the serviceman is dead: that is not acceptable. We send our young citizens to risk death in our defense; not just to die. So how does lack of funding determine what the Service maintains rather than determining the amount of equipment that can be maintained? Or how can they allow the use of equipment that is not ready to be used in peace time? How does this decision making effect the substance of these types of articles: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/12/weapons-production-munitions-shortfall-ukraine-democracy/680867/ https://thediplomat.com/2025/03/is-the-united-states-becoming-a-hollow-maritime-power/
Unfortunately, the answer is fairly simple. The amount of funds appropriated for the specific armed forces and their programs is set by Congress. The various services have limited latitude, determined by the authorization and/or appropriations language, to shift some funds within their budgets, but not to make major changes. So if Congress mandates, for example, a thousand more tanks, the Army gets a thousand tanks, even if they need APCs or ground support aircraft. In the Vietnam war, the Navy juggled funds to upgrade the H-2 from a one-engine jet helicopter to a two engine helicopter, because the original H-2 couldn’t operate effectively in the high density altitude of Southeast Asia. The Navy justified the funds juggling as necessary because Congress couldn’t or didn’t appropriate funds for the upgrade. The changes were not carried out as well as they might have been, and the number of pilots and crew lost to the problems created by malfunctions in the upgrades has never been revealed (at least to my knowledge). I have a certain familiarity with that problem, since I flew the “upgraded” H-2 for a time.
I have read all the Recluce novels. I started in 1991. I recently decided to go back and reread them all. I just saw the Recluce Chronology for the first time. Do you recommend rereading them in the order they were published or in the order of the chronology?
That’s a personal preference. For most readers, for a FIRST read, I suggest reading in publication order. For a rereading, I’d suggest the chronological order.
Is being a Natural Ordermage a psychological or physiological thing? Before the fall of Fairhaven, mages in Hamor seem to be reasonably well treated and even welcomed into the Mage-Guards. By Lerris’ time, Hamor is regarded as the most dangerous place to send a dangergelder. What changed and how did Lerris’ brother fair so badly there?
Being a natural ordermage is both psychological and physiological, in a way, being similar to being a natural athlete.
As for the changes in Hamor, those would take several books. All societies change, and Hamor is no different.
Thanks, as ever, for answering questions. In Natural Ordermage, Rahl is told that order magic cannot be taught and that he’s developed his skills strongly and late, so has no basic training. Lerris also seems to develop his skills late and is given even less information before his dangergeld. Why were the magisters even less willing to give Lerris any information on what he was capable of?
Rahl grew up in the hide-bound north of Recluce where everything was so traditional that no one had the experience and skill to tutor him. Nor was there a mage there powerful and skillful enough to deal with him. He’s also incredibly stubborn, and until he discovers Debri and lands in the ironworks at Luba, where Taryl finds him, that’s the first time in his life where he has the motivation and a mentor able to help him fully develop his skills.
In the case of Lerris, he’s also a questioning and whining late-bloomer who doesn’t connect with his father, and after what Justen and his father did years before, no one really trusts him… or wants to.
You said earlier that it was unlikely that your books would come as Mass Market paperbacks. Is that confirmed? or worth waiting? I have all yours as Mass Market and prefer same size.
Unfortunately, the economics of publishing mass market paperbacks have become so unfavorable that most publishers are unwilling to print books in that format and are instead publishing in the trade paperback format [the same size as hardcovers but all paper]. My publisher is no different, and I’m been told that future editions of my work in “paper” format will only be hardcover and trade paperback.
Will we ever see the story continue from after Lerris undid both order and chaos? The story as much as says they’ll drift back to restoration over time. Combine this with technological advancements and you’d have a rather interesting story.
While I’m reluctant to give absolute answers to questions, I’d say that it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll be writing a “post-Lerris” Recluce novel.
The white wizards after the fall of Fairhaven seem to be more evil and the world as a whole seems less safe. Is that true or is that just my impression? Either way, do you think Justen was right to destroy Fairhaven?
I don’t see the world of Recluce as less “safe” after the fall of Fairhaven. Had Justen not destroyed Fairhaven, even more of Candar would have suffered the ills that Fairhaven was perpetrating on Sarronnyn. The choice, in effect, was between evil concentrated by Fairhaven and dispersed evil from mages using chaos to their own personal ends. Empires often create stability or the illusion of stability, which people accept in place of uncertainty.
Will there be a sequel to the Imager trilogy? A sort of tying up of loose strings? (I do realize stories never end, just morph)
It’s extremely unlikely that there will be any more Imager Portfolio books. Each of the four plot strings in the twelve books is as resolved as they can be. Each of those primary protagonists has consolidated his power base to the point that any serious opposition is unlikely in his lifetime. While it’s technically possible that I could create yet another plot string, I personally feel that would weaken the overall strength of the Imager Portfolio.
Just finished Scion of Cyador, which I really enjoyed. Cyador seems to have changed a lot between Lorn’s time and The Chaos Balance. By the latter time, unaccompanied women seemed to be considered fair game and the Emperor was an unanswerable despot. What happened to change the culture so much?
Gender roles in human society are based on comparative power. The power that women hold in most societies is based on custom/tradition and occasionally law. Men’s power is based on physical strength. Unless law and custom limit how men can use their physical power, history suggests that in most societies (with the possible exception of nomadic ones) women will have fewer rights. In early Cyador (in the time of Alyiakal) men have more power than women, but enough women have the talent to use magery. This semi-balance lasts through Lorn and Kerial, but as the chaos towers fail, that changes.
I have recently discovered you as an author & enjoy the books. I wonder if there is a glossary somewhere of things like quints, half glass & kay.
For better or worse, no such glossary exists. Most such terms are derived from our world, however. “Glass” as an interval of time actually comes from hourglass; so half-glass is the equivalent of half an hour. “Quint” comes from the Latin “quintus” (fifth). “Kay” is short for kilometer (even in our world). I used such take-offs in my fictional worlds as part of establishing their difference without using terms totally unfamiliar.
In your Imager, Recluce and Corean fantasy series characters are able to magically shield themselves. There is a reasonably popular sub-genre of fantasy called portal fantasy where the main character is transported from our world to a fantasy setting which you’ve approached twice I believe with Cassius in your Recluce series and Anna Marshall in your Spellsong series. Slightly tangential to that genre is one where a character is transported from one made up world to another. Fall of Angels might fit in that category. I’ve been wondering for a while now what if a character who was a highly skilled mage after years of training and experience was transported from one of your fantasy worlds to another and had to start over learning a new magical system from scratch? I wondered if they might struggle because they have to unlearn a lot of ingrained ways of thinking about magic. For example maintaining shields is something they trained to do to the point that they barely consciously think about it and then have to learn a whole new method of shielding and their old way of thinking keeps tripping them up. Do you imagine the sort of protagonist you usually write having these kind of issues or would they be able to adapt?
I haven’t really thought about adaptation, but most of my protagonists are adaptable. As you point out, it would likely pose initial difficulties for all of them, but the degree of difficulty would depend in some degree on the differences between the magic system they had already mastered and the one of the world they then found themselves in. I suspect most would not be as proficient in learning/handling the new system. This would be especially true of most who were transported to Erde, because no amount of study will substitute for innate musical ability.
I think I may have spotted a contradiction/inconsistency. In “The Magic of Recluce” it says “The greatest strength of chaos is its ability to thwart complexity” but when Lerris observes everything about woodworking seems made to make it as complicated as possible Sardit answers “Of course it’s complicated. Do you want your work to fall apart at the first touch of chaos?” Have I missed something?
Sheer force of chaos can overcome anything not well-built, or even something well-built of weak materials. But sheer force of chaos cannot overcome a complex structure of superior materials that are also order-braced.
Oops on https://www.lemodesittjr.com/the-books/ – the 2nd to last icon in the Imager series points to Endgames when it should point to Assassin’s Price.
Thank you. We’re working on it.
Why are there so many pre established themes that “coincidentally” carry over from the original UFA/UFF – Rationalist universes? Will we ever get stories set before that tell how all this got set in motion to begin with?
All successful invaders/colonizers bring their cultural predilections/baggage with them, just as the English who settled Massachusetts and Virginia did, or the Spanish and Portuguese who settled Central and South America. The same was true of both the Rationalists and the black angels; it wasn’t coincidental. As for stories set in the past of both cultures… it’s unlikely, but I won’t foreclose that possibility.
I saw your post regarding the dearth of fantasy/sci-fi books. Specifically the list on Amazon. I just finished reading Titanium Noir by Nick Haraway and I think you might find it very entertaining. Of course, you might have read it already! I’m a big fan and thank you for all of your works.
Thank you. I’ll have to take a look at Titanium Noir.
I have been unable to find the answer to my question: How does the United States “transparently convey” to the American public what it should in order to allow the people to effectively govern the nation”? Can you suggest a reference, or example from your experience in government, how our representatives and government agencies can and do communicate with us other than via the media? Should the President and our individual representatives use TV/radio on a regular basis to notify the public of relevant practical, ethical, legal news (sort of a fireside chats? Or perhaps DOGE can use Transforming Government for the 21st Century?
Some members of Congress have always made an effort to communicate to their constituents on important issues. One member for whom I worked sent out regular newsletters. Another did short television presentations on issues. The underlying problem is that, in a nation as large and complex as the United States, the number of issues — and the associated complexities — makes communicating on all of them virtually impossible. I was once asked to explain an environmental issue — the tradeoffs between two approaches of meeting wastewater effluent discharge standards — and before I’d finished two sentences, I was told not to “deliver a long-winded epistle,” even though the trade-offs involved hundreds of millions of dollars for the manufacturing plants involved.
People want simple answers. Simple answers are ALWAYS misleading, often deceptive, and also often inaccurate. But people tune out long explanations.
In a representative democratic republic (which is what the U.S. effectively is) the best solution is to elect good, knowledgeable leaders, and for the federal government departments and agencies to hire good competent people. Despite all the bad press, federal departments and agencies actually have done a remarkable job over the years.
The more urgent problem is that in electing public officials, usually the best public presenter wins the election, and all too often the best public speaker is neither good nor that knowledgeable a leader.
I’ve always wondered, with your massive collection of written works, has there ever been a proposition for a movie and/or series? (I’m biased for the Corean Chronicles but, just imaging a war torn Alucius firing a darkened bullet into a diving pteirodon on the big screen, got me wondering.) Also, the art for your covers are phenomenal, and belong in a museum, how did you acquire these master artists? Is it a certain institution or was it all via commission/freelance?
So far, while I’ve had occasional inquires from the movie/cinema field, no one has ever made even a proposition for a movie or TV production/series. The artwork for my covers was handled by the art department at Tor, and, as you’ve noted, in general they’ve done a very good job, especially with the fantasy covers, although some of the SF covers are among my favorites (Haze, Archform:Beauty, Quantum Shadows).
I went to Barnes and Noble to buy the book Overcaptain in Gilbert, AZ. They had 4 of your books on the shelf, one hardback, four paperback, all of which I have. Why don’t they have more of your books?
The short answer is greed and algorithms. The long answer is more complex, and involves a number of factors. Back in the 1990s, B&N bookstore managers could actually stock books that better fit their clientele. Now, from what I understand, that’s difficult, if not impossible. Beginning in the 1980s, the IRS applied the Thor Power Tools decision to book publishing, which made it unprofitable for publishers to keep large backlists in stock in their warehouses. Then, with the rise of Amazon, B&N further reduced the amount of books stocked in stores, and buyers in bookstores can’t buy what’s not there. More important, they often don’t know what’s missing. In the 1990s, B&N stores often carried the entire Recluce series. That enticed readers. But today, B&N relies on algorithms to predict sales of books, even before they’re published, based in large part on sales of the previous book by that author. But for authors like me, that’s deadly and misrepresentative, because readers are still purchasing books I wrote thirty years ago. So B&N orders books based on the last book, rather than on my total sales in the past year, and they don’t re-order when they run out, which makes increasing sales difficult, and why your local B&N doesn’t carry more of my books — and why Amazon and other booksellers get a larger share of my sales every year.
