Q. What was your dream job when you were younger?
A. When I was a teenager, I became an eager consumer of news, analysis, and commentary, particularly about politics. I read newspapers and magazines. I watched William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line” TV show. I dreamed of becoming a political reporter, thena syndicated columnist, then a broadcast-media pundit. And that’s precisely what I did after college — starting at a rural newspaper in my home state of North Carolina, then moving to Washington to work at a political magazine called The New Republic and a public-television show called “The McLaughlin Group.” I’ve written my syndicated column for nearly four decades and spent 25 years on television. In other words, I’m one of those oddballs who ended up doing as an adult precisely what I dreamed of as a kid.
Q. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
A. Nonfiction works by Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Ayn Rand, and William F. Buckley helped shape my worldview and writing style. I’m also a history nerd — from Edward Gibbon to Niall Ferguson — but I’ll have to admit that my greatest literary loves have always been science fiction and fantasy, including works by J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, C.S. Lewis, and, especially, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Q. How many books have you written?
A. Before turning to fiction in 2020, I wrote seven nonfiction books on such subjects as economic policy, business innovation, American politics, and family history. Now, I focus primarily on fiction. My historical-fantasy series, the Folklore Cycle, includes three novels from Defiance Press — Mountain Folk (2021), Forest Folk (2022), and Water Folk (2024) — as well as three novelettes published in literary magazines or websites.
Q. How much ‘world building’ takes place before you start writing?
A. All works of fantasy require readers to join authors in a suspension of disbelief, a leap of imagination. But after that, fantasy stories need just as much internal logic as any other kind. Magic, for instance, can’t just be all “hocus pocus, problem solved.” That’s boring and unsatisfying. Magic needs to be limited in power, or rare, or hard to master, or otherwise subject to constraint. In the case of my Folklore Cycle series, a historical-fantasy series set in early America, I spent lots of time devising the rules of my imaginary world before I ever attempted to fill it with characters and plots. Here’s an example: my magic system comes in two varieties, mage-craft and spell-song. The former affects only physical objects, the latter only moods and perceptions. Mages and spell-singers are distinct, neither capable of wielding the other’s power. And both kinds of magic are growing scarce. By following these seemingly simple rules, I was able to develop increasingly complex characters and plots.
Q. How do you do research for your books?
A. The novels and stories in my Folklore Cycle series blend American history with elements of myth, legend, and epic fantasy. The first book, set primarily during the American Revolution, features George Washington, Daniel Boone, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson — plus elves, dwarfs, stone giants, and sea monsters. Because I strive to make my historical content authentic, you might think I spend most of my research time on real-life people and events. But the truth is that even my fantasy content isn’t conjured out of whole cloth. It’s largely adapted from European, African, and Native American folklore. I spend a lot of time reading books, journal articles, and curated websites on both history and folklore. And because most of my tales are set in North America, I’ve actually traveled to many of the locations I feature in the Folklore Cycle. In some cases, I even rewrote action scenes to accommodate the specific geographic features — such as slopes, forests, and waterways — I discovered during my explorations.
Q. Who is your favorite character?
A. Each of my novels has six major point-of-view characters. Some are historical, such as the frontiersman Daniel Boone, the Cherokee hero Junaluska, or the military leader and politician Sam Houston. Others are purely make-believe. I thought the central character of the Folklore Cycle was going to be one of the latter: Goran Lonefeather, a Sylph (winged fairy) who drives much of the action in Mountain Folk. But the most popular character among readers — and, in retrospect, my favorite, too — is Goran’s friend Har the Tower, so named because he is a very tall Dwarf!
Q. Have any of your books been made into audiobooks? If so, what are the challenges in producing an audiobook?
A. I love audiobooks. So does a growing number of readers, who welcome compelling stories to listen to while commuting, exercising, or doing housework. I’ve met online with the professional voice talent who performs my books on Audible, offering suggestions and feedback. It’s a process I very much enjoy, though I do find it prudent to imagine as I’m writing what my dialogue will sound like in spoken word.
Q. How do you handle literary criticism?
A. I’ve spent most of my career expressing political opinions, which means I’ve spent most of my career handling questions, complaints, and insults. I’ve also written for many a tough magazine and newspaper editor. Constructive criticism is most welcome. The other kind doesn’t faze me, at least not anymore.
Q. Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you.
A. In addition to my day job running a charitable foundation and my journalistic pursuits, I’m also an educator. I teach public policy to graduate students at Duke University and tap dancing to tweens and teens. I haven’t yet decided which group of students is more mature.
Q. Where can readers find out more about you and your books?
A. At FolkloreCycle.com, readers can learn much more about me and my historical-fantasy series. Each novel and novelette has its own section offering background information about its characters, settings, themes, historical content, and featured monsters. (What would an epic fantasy be without monsters?) You’ll also find articles and reviews, broadcast and podcast appearances, an author’s blog, an events calendar, artist renderings of major characters, and nine-episode video guides for each novel. Readers can also sign up for a monthly Folklore Cycle newsletter.
Excerpt from the first chapter Mountain Folk: Book One of the Folklore Cycle
What was that?
Daniel saw movement in the thicket. He stopped short, placing one moccasin silently next to the other in the soft leaves as he hefted his well-worn hunting rifle and peered into the tangle of low trees and vines. He stayed frozen in place for what seemed like an eternity. Although confident in his ability as a marksman, Daniel didn’t want to risk his game taking flight.
With a rifle, it was a whole lot easier to hit a treed bird than one on the wing. Folks usually needed a fowling gun for the latter. Daniel listened intently. Presently, his keen ears picked up some rustling in the thicket, along with the sound of tree branches scraping together behind him and what seemed like footfalls in the fallen leaves much farther down the creek. Were there three birds in earshot? Or something else? Slowly, carefully, he cocked his rifle.
Then several things happened at once. The thicket suddenly exploded into a mass of shaggy fur, bared teeth, and beastly rage. Behind him, he heard a rustle of branches. And he heard a faint, eerie scream — like nothing he’d ever heard in years of hunting and tracking.
Perhaps that’s why he jerked. Perhaps that’s why his finger yanked the trigger prematurely rather than squeezing it.
Perhaps that’s why Daniel Boone missed.
