In various fantasy works, you often have “lancers” as one of the primary types of troops. I’m not aware of any time in history when lancers were that prominent, although I am certainly not familiar with every era of history. Is there a reason, possibly related to how you picture the various magic systems impacting war, for the use of lancers so commonly?

The magic system was certainly the reason for the use of Mirror Lancers in the Recluce books, because in the time of Cyador, firelances were a stand-off weapon. Another factor is that the population density, especially in Candar, is comparatively low and the distances between communities, except along the Great Canal, mitigate against infantry… and there’s a lot of grassland.

But I suppose part of the reason is that, as a former Naval officer and pilot, I prefer not to deal with the grinding brutality of soldiers on foot making mincemeat out of each other, and I’ve created worlds where it’s not quite as necessary or workable.

Tor just revealed a new set of covers for the first three Recluce books. Was this really necessary?

Necessary? Perhaps not, but covers are one of the reasons why readers buy some books and don’t pick up others. The artwork on the early Recluce books was painted, and it was indeed painted by Darrell Sweet, more than twenty-five years ago. The marketing people tell me that it doesn’t have the same appeal to present-day younger readers as it once did. In addition, I personally believe that the new covers show more of the sweep of the Recluce books as well as provide a bit more accurate “feel.” In the end, the readers will determine whether marketing people and I are right.

Stylistically, are there things you did that you’ve changed over time? Or things you wished you could change?

All writers change over time, sometimes in significant ways, sometimes in very small ways. There are stylistic “innovations” that I tried and largely abandoned. In the early Recluce books, I included more “sound effects.” Readers HATED them. So I seldom use that technique any more. I also used “majer” as an alternative spelling of the rank “major,” but a number of readers simply thought it was an error or a typo. For consistency’s sake, I still use that spelling in the Recluce books, but if I had it to do over, I probably wouldn’t do it. Thanks to readers and friends, I now write more knowledgeably [or less ignorantly] about horses, and, of course, my knowledge of music has continued to increase, thanks to my wife, the music professor.