James Lowder's page

Lowder's working on his own stuff a lot these days, but he's been in our wheelhouse since the beginning, and we have the highest regard for both his writing and his advice!

Thank you, James. Very kind of you to say.

As you note, I am not doing a lot of shared-world work these days. Shared-world fiction is difficult to get right, both from a writing and publishing vantage. That said--and as I've noted to James--if schedules and subject matter can align, I certainly would write something for Pathfinder.

For the Pathfinder fans: James and Erik did a lot of work before the line's launch to figure out how best to structure the books so that they could both maintain the game world's integrity and allow writers enough elbow room to make the projects creatively rewarding. They've brought in talented people to write the initial books. They're asking all the right questions of the world's fans and of publishing veterans who have worked on shared-world book lines. In short, they're doing everything possible to make the program run the right way. I have very high expectations for the Pathfinder fiction line.

Some people get upset when you don't like or won't consider reading something they recommend because they identify strongly with the books they enjoy. Rejecting one of those books is like rejecting them personally; even if you don't intend it that way, that's how it can be perceived.

As for the whole fantasy versus literature debate, I generally disagree with C.S. Lewis on, well, pretty much everything, but he got something right in Experiment in Criticism. You can never tell what a reader will get out of a book. That relationship is personal and intense, so a book that you might see as terrible can have a genuinely profound meaning to someone else. That's not to say you can't criticize a book for having a dumb plot or weak characters; just keep in mind that someone else may be seeing something really worthwhile there, even in a work that most would dismiss as "low art" crap.

Personally, I don't recognize the high art/low art distinction and enjoy Dante and 8 1/2 right alongside The Spider and Five Million Years to Earth.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Meanwhile, Azoun's daughter and head general have a fit of the Lawful-stupids and counsel Azoun to disabuse the army of their misconception because it's a lie. Other leaders argue that he shouldn't because the army cohesion is too important. At least Azoun agrees with the smart military leaders in this case.

These character choices were written to show the distinctions between philosophies, not game alignments, and to highlight the tension in Azoun's character between his idealism, which he shared with his daughter at her age, and the rather cynical realpolitik of characters like his adviser, Vangerdahast. And I would suggest, too, that a character's idealism does not have to equate with stupidity, just as a character's ruthlessness does not have to equate with stupidity. Game alignments don't enter into it.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

And since I'm at it, mind if I recommend Mike Ashley as a good scholar and writer for an introduction to one of your future Planet Stories collections? He's one of the best pulps scholars I can think of and I'd love to hear his comments on Kuttner or somesuch.

Mike's great to work with, too. He put together a book of T.G. Roberts' Arthurian stories (The Merriest Knight) for me at Green Knight, and even wrote a short story for one of my original anthologies. A gentleman and a scholar.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Done and Done.

Thank you! Yes, we would certainly love to do more. It all comes down to demand, though.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

I am loving every story in this book, and particularly the way the stories jump from "fantasy" to "sci-fi" and back, meaning they never get mixed up in your mind.

Creating a readable mix, a line up that shows some range, is one of the editor's jobs for an anthology. Glad you're enjoying what we put together!

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Yesterday I read the most interesting sentence ever in "Worlds of their own".

Worlds of their own wrote:

Perhaps that day he had been the man the boy he had once been had thought he was going to be.

I had to read it twice to get the meaning, but I am not native in English.

I don't know why, but that sentence grabed me.

So, thank you Paizo for publishing such pearls.

Even to native speakers that's a bit of a challenge. I know I had to read it a couple times when going over the story for publication. Glad you're enjoying the book!

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Thank you very much!

I’ve just put ‘The Pagan King’ in my cart and ‘The Land of Forgotten Men’ on my shelf.

Happy to help. There are quite a few gems in the Pendragon fiction line, both reprints of classics and originals. (By way of full disclosure, I was the exec. editor for the line.) Paizo has most or all of them available for $1 each. For you speedy readers, pick a couple up for the downtime between PS releases. ;)

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

I’ve not yet read anything by Edison Marshall, but I found a book of his at a library sale, it’s titled “The Land of Forgotten Men”.

Marshall's Land of Forgotten Men is a pioneer adventure set in Alaska, not a fantasy. If you want to give Marshall a try, Paizo has copies of The Pagan King for sale for $1. It's a fantasy-historical Arthurian novel, more heavily leaning toward the historical. For $1 you can't go wrong. It's part of the Pendragon fiction imprint.

Cheers,
James Lowder

That being said, I'll have to pick this one up. I've always been fascinated with Kali and the Thugee.

A couple of Thug-related films to watch as you're waiting: Gunga Din (the 1939 Cary Grant classic) and The Stranglers of Bombay (a rather good 1959 Hammer production). Of course, the Thuggee are the main baddies in the Beatles romp Help!, too. I'm not as much of a fan of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or the Pierce Brosnan flick The Deceivers, but they do have plenty of Thugs.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Just a heads up - the novel ideas section of game trade magazine has 2-3 reviews of books every month... this month it's all planet stories stuff.

Which books do they cover?

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

James, I have to say, I've only read the introduction so far, but I loved it. I really enjoy your insight into various aspects of publishing, especially shared world fiction (I know I've raved about your essay in Len Wein's Unoffical X-Men before, and your intro here was no less insightful).

I've thought about the subject--the pros and cons of writing in shared worlds--quite a lot, and some of the material in the WoTO intro dovetails a bit with the essay I wrote for The Unauthorized X-Men. Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed it!

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks to everyone who dropped by at the Gen Con signing or picked up Worlds of Their Own at the show. The book is so new that the signing was my first time seeing the printed version, and I'm really, really pleased with how it looks. I hope you all enjoy the contents as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you.

Cheers,
James Lowder

Also it seems as if you could vote more than once...

At least, I could.
But I won't. Probably...

According to the ENnie staff, certain IPs make it appear like you can vote more than once, but the system simply overwrites the old vote with the new one, so you're not registering more than the last vote you cast.

By the by, while you're heaping the well-deserved love on Paizo in the ENnie voting, those of us who worked on Hobby Games: The 100 Best would be happy to accept your leftover good vibes when you get to the Paizo-less Best Regalia category ;)

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

We don't have electronic rights for these books, I'm afraid. Even if we did, from what I can tell, Amazon is asking copyright holders to create new contracts with Amazon as the publisher, so we'd be out of the loop anyway—we're not the copyright holders for these books.

The most recent issue of the Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America presented an annotated version of the required Kindle contract. The contract is not one most authors who read the fine print would jump at, I'm afraid.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

He's even done work for Paizo—most recently, he's the editor of our upcoming Worlds of Their Own anthology for Planet Stories!

Working with Paizo on Worlds has been a blast. I can't say enough good things about James Sutter and everyone else at Paizo who has been involved in the book.

Jim

James, is there anything cool that you haven't been associated with at one point in time or another?

Oh, lots and lots. :)

For the things I've been associated with, though, I've been very lucky in finding publishers willing to let me participate in lines and projects I care about.

And it's kind of hard to believe I've been working in the industry as my full-time gig for 20 years as of this summer.

Cheers,
Jim

Hi:

I worked on the Pendragon fiction line. I can answer questions on the books for you, if you're still mulling over a purchase. The books cover a wide range of styles and approaches to the Arthurian material, from titles that are very accessible (Exiled From Camelot, for example, or either of the anthologies) to brilliant, but challenging reads (Life of Sir Aglovale). Some of the novels are very serious. Others very light. The Arthurian Companion is a top notch encyclopedia.

Cheers,
Jim Lowder

Hey, Paizo guys--James Lowder needs a moniker, like Great Plague Lord or High Lord of the Mists. To Mr. Lowder, thanks for stopping by the boards; I love your work!

Thanks for the kind words about my work. And happy to support the boards. I've read them quite a lot, but figured this topic was one to which I really should contribute.

The comments about genre and Shakespeare are all quite good. Genre can be a creative trap for a writer, but there's also no reason why someone can't do interesting and original things with the rules and expectations of SF or fantasy or mystery or romance. And whether someone gets shelved in the "genre ghetto" section of US bookstores or the more prestigious "general fiction" section can be as much a matter of marketing as content.

Cheers,
James Lowder

Hi:

I thought I'd chime in here with a couple of comments.

While readers may dislike the works of Salvatore or Greenwood or other writers who do work connected to RPGs, it's incorrect to suggest that they must keep writing shared-world books because they cannot sell work otherwise. Salvatore's Drizzt books may sell better than his Demon Wars books, but several large publishers have jumped at the chance to publish that creator-owned series--Del Rey, CDS, and now Tor. They know the books will do very well and know that readers value them. Salvatore's Demon Wars books have had some very positive reviews, too. Same with Greenwood, Cunningham, Weis, Hickman, and many of the other writers who do shared world work. They return to the shared world settings for a variety of reasons, and it might be easier for them to land those contracts, but they typically can sell plenty of creator-owned work, too.

As for quality--to dismiss something because it is published in conjunction with a game is problematic. Not all "game" fiction is of equal quality, nor is it created in the same way. Take the zombie anthologies I put together for Eden Studios, marketed in connection to their All Flesh Must be Eaten RPG. Technically, these are game fiction. However, the stories are not linked in a shared setting, don't share characters, and all the stories are creator owned and copyrighted. In other words, they're just good zombie stories, published under a game-related banner for sales purposes. Reviewers were confused--since they have their preconceptions, too--but they eventually caught on. Half the stories in all three books--including one by Ed Greenwood--made the honorable mention lists of the prestigious Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthologies, and the anthologies and different stories from the books were finalist for several awards outside the gaming industry.

Now, that's not to say there isn't a large amount of bad game-related fiction--and bad non-game-related fiction, too--on the shelves. But the only way you're going to be able to tell is to judge each book on its own, by whatever critical standards you utilize.

Cheers,
James Lowder