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L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
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.
Why are you using such an odd tense in From The Forest, etc.? I think you used it in other narratives too. I find it strange to read neither here nor there. I can find no reference to it anywhere. Did you create this idea yourself?
The tense I used in writing From the Forest is known as the “present tense.” I certainly didn’t invent it. It’s always been part of the English language, but the majority of English/American fantasy and science fiction is written in the simple past tense. I chose the present tense as a way of keeping the action and thought close to the present and the character.
I know this is a bit personal but how do you pronounce your name. Is it Mo-desitt Mod-esitt or Mode-sitt Over here in the UK I’ve heard all three variations and as I have pretty-well every book you’ve written over the past forty odd years when I first met your books in a San Francisco book shop I’d really like to get it right.
It’s pronounced MODD (rhymes with “odd”) — ess — it. Of course, the way the family pronounces our name breaks every pronunciation rule, which might be why others have a problem with it.
Still reading; hope you’re still writing?
I’m still writing, and there are three books scheduled over roughly the next 20 months: Sub-Majer’s Challenge in August 2025; Legalist in October 2025; and Last of the First in mid 2026.
Why did the Recluce marines attack Lerris and Tamra at the end of The Death of Chaos? Lerris had literally just defeated the attacking Hamorans, so I can’t really follow the reasoning.
Earlier in the book there are sections mentioning Heldra and the black squads. They were opposed to Lerris coming to Recluce in the first place, and they believed, accurately, that even if Lerris prevailed, Recluce would be devasted (and they’d lose everything, which they pretty much did). So it’s not surprising that they attacked at the end.
How far in advance do you plan the Recluce books? Did you already have Nylan’s story worked out when you wrote The Magic of Recluce? What about Cerryl’s story from Colors of Chaos when you wrote The Magic Engineer?
As I’ve written elsewhere, I wrote The Magic of Recluce as a singleton just to prove that I could write a fantasy. I had no plans at all for a sequel, let alone a series. So when David Hartwell asked for another Recluce book, I initially had a hard time coming up with The Towers of the Sunset. In any book I write, however, I put in bits of past history, because every viable culture has a past, and this habit/tool has allowed me to weave together the histories within the world of Recluce. Even well before I finished The Magic Engineer, I was thinking about how Justen ended up where he did and about Fairhaven and how it had to be more than just power-hungry white wizards.
In view of this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/democrats-defined-progressive-issues/680810/ – perhaps this is a way to rebalance US ideologies if the democratscan avoid the label of socialist progressives i.e. democrats? The Federalist Party was a conservative and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. It dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 1789 to 1801. The party was defeated by the Democratic-Republican Party in 1800. Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Jeffersonian Democratic Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. The party became increasingly dominant after the 1800 elections as the opposing Federalist Party collapsed/disappeared. Increasing dominance over American politics led to increasing factional splits within the party. Old Republicans, led by John Taylor of Carolina and John Randolph of Roanoke, believed that the administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, and the Congresses led by Henry Clay, had in some ways betrayed the republican “Principles of ’98” by expanding the size and scope of the national government. The Republicans splintered during the 1824 presidential election. Those calling for a return to the older founding principles of the party were often referred to as “Democratic Republicans” (later Democrats) while those embracing the newer nationalist principles of “The American System” were often referred to as National Republicans (later Whigs). So I thought an answer to the article by Eliot Cohen in the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/guide-politically-homeless-2024-election/680795/ would be to accelerate the split in the present Republican Party and form a Federalist, National Democratic, or Conservative political party. However: it looks like the international oligarchs are way ahead of me: the broligarchs are distinct from old-school American oligarchs in one key respect: Their political vision seeks to undermine the nation-state system globally. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/broligarchy-elon-musk-trump/680788/ What would Alyiakal or Dekkard do?
Both Alyiakal and Dekkard take steps to restrict the power of the plutocrats, Dekkard within the confines of the law (if barely), while you’ll have to wait to see what Alyiakal does in dealing with the power of the traders.
Unlike all previous books in the Saga of Recluce, the newest book, Overcaptain, does not have a whispersynced version of Audible. Why? It’s got the Audible versions but it’s not whispersynced with the kindle version.
I’m afraid I can’t answer that question. That’s something between Tantor, Audible, and Amazon.
