Each week or so, I’ll pester one of my creative colleagues with five questions about his or her work. Most of these folks are friends, a few are secret enemies, and one has been blackmailing me for years.

Like several other distinguished colleagues, Jonathan Tweet first came to my attention through the pages of Alarums & Excursions. I could tell he was smart, but it wasn’t until I moved to Wizards from TSR that we met in the flesh.

After he, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams were tasked with a revision of Dungeons & Dragons, Jonathan invited me on a stroll around the company’s “Mana Pool” and asked my thoughts on the new edition. When he actually implemented my suggestion—although I’m sure I was far from the only proponent of a single experience table—I figured he was sincere.

A few weeks ago, I noticed Jonathan’s Kickstarter for Grandmother Fish and asked him to talk a little about his new book and the last few editions of D&D and related roleplaying games.

1. Why is it important to teach kids about evolution?

First of all, the great challenge of human life, something that no other animal faces, is the imperative “Know thyself.” You can’t understand what a human is without understanding evolution. The theory of evolution tells us where we fit in the world of living things and how we came to be. Neil deGrasse Tyson says that acknowledging our kinship with all living things is “a soaring spiritual experience,” and I agree.

Second, for a hundred years intelligence has been rising from one generation to another, especially in the industrialized world. Most of this increase is driven by an increase in scientific thinking, and evolution teaches us to see living things from a scientific perspective. We desperately need some kids to grow up and save the world from the perils we’ve created. The kids who grow up to save us will be kids who understand science.

2. What elements of your background in game design came into play while writing Grandmother Fish?

A big part of my career has been inventing new ways to engage the imaginations of young people. My game Everway, for example, used imagery to inspire players’ imaginations. Grandmother Fish coaxes children to mimic the sounds and motions of our ancestors. They wiggle like fish and hoot like apes. That’s a trick for inspiring a preschooler’s imagination, for getting them to engage with the story they’re hearing.

Another part of my career has been making complicated concepts understandable to beginners. I’ve done beginner products for Magic: the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Pokémon, Duel Masters, and other games. Grandmother Fish relies on that experience. Once again, I’ve figured out a new way to present complicated issues in an accessible way.

3. Two-thirds of the book is for kids, while the final third addresses adults. Do you expect to win over many adult Creationists with the book?

Creationists are committed to their beliefs, and if giant piles of scientific evidence haven’t convinced them that evolution is true, then Grandmother Fish won’t work, either. People believe things mostly for emotional and social reasons, which is why debates with creationists are so futile.

And that’s also why Grandmother Fish is designed to work on an emotional level rather than simply being factual. The book makes evolution personal to a child, and it gets them to love the idea that we are descended from animals. If kids like the idea of evolution, it will be easy for them to incorporate knew evolutionary knowledge as they’re exposed to it.

If you try to defeat creationism with evidence, it’s easy for creationists to get defensive and close their minds to whatever evidence you offer. But if you make evolution attractive and simple, it appeals on an emotional level, and emotions motivate humans more than abstract knowledge ever does. Creationism has suffered a lot because dinosaurs are so popular and appealing. In reference to dinosaurs and young-earth creationism, even Pat Robertson says that if you fight science, you’ll lose your children. Let’s make science popular and accessible, and people will naturally gravitate toward it.

4. Looking back on two versions of Dungeons & Dragons since the one you designed, how do you see the game evolving in ways you wish you’d thought of? And what elements of your version do you feel stand the test of time?

The classes in 4E are a lot better balanced than the classes in previous editions, and that’s a tremendous improvement. Spellcasters in general and clerics in particular are way too powerful in 3E. Fourth Ed also added the capacity for characters to recover lost hit points on their own, a concept that I launched in Omega World, my Gamma World variant from 2002. That’s a worthy edition to the system. The limit on healing in 4E is a huge boon to high-level play. In previous editions, it was too easy for high-level parties to replenish their hit points magically. I wish that 4E had been envisioned better so that it would have been successful. It’s unfortunate that the edition’s good improvements are largely ignored just because the overall edition was disappointing.

“Fifth Edition” looks like it will be more faithful to the D&D tradition than 4E was, and that’s good to see. It’s still going to be hard for Wizards to win back players, especially since they’re going up against Pathfinder, which is essentially an improved version of 3E.

It’s really heartening to see how many players are committed to Pathfinder. It’s been 14 years since 3E launched, and, in the guise of Pathfinder, it’s still the most popular version of the game today. No previous version of the game system has lasted that long. Our major accomplishment with 3E was giving players a tremendous amount of freedom, and that feature still resonates with players. For 3E, we ditched all sorts of limits: level limits by race, class limits by race, multiclass limits, etc. Players ate it up. With 4E, Wizards strictly limited what sort of characters you could create, and players rejected the system. The system that Monte Cook, Skip Williams, and I put together in 2000 still resonates because it’s the most open-ended version of D&D ever.

In 2013, Pelgrane Press released 13th Age, which Rob Heinsoo and I designed. It’s basically a version of D&D designed to give even more creative control to players and GMs. Mechanically, it’s simpler, faster, and better balanced than 3E, and it puts the players’ inventiveness ahead of the game system. Rob and I prefer RPGs that give players lots of creative authority, and that’s what 13th Age does.

5. If you could give every kid in the world a copy of Grandmother Fish and one other book (even if you had to write it yourself), what would the second one be?

The other book would be The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss. A universal problem in human society is tribalism, the conviction that one’s in-group is right and all out-groups are wrong. The story of the Star-Bellied Sneetches teaches children not to think that one’s own group is better than all the others. That book also contains “The Zax,” which is a lesson in not stubbornly insisting that one’s own way is right. That’s a similar lesson and also valuable.

Check out the Kickstarter for Grandmother Fish, which you can also follow @grandmotherfish or on Facebook and Jonathan’s website. You can peek at an early draft of Grandmother Fish here.

Each week, I’ll pester one of my creative colleagues with five questions about his or her work and, if I’m feeling wicked, deeply personal issues. Most of these folks are friends, a few are secret enemies, and one has been blackmailing me for years.

Jaym Gates hugs on first meeting. So, you know, brace yourself for that.

We first met in person at Gen Con 2012, but she’d already been attached to my then-latest Pathfinder Tales novel as publicist. She did a terrific job putting me in touch with podcasters and online magazines I’d never before encountered, and the work she did for Queen of Thorns was still helping me when she’d moved on to other ventures and King of Chaos rolled around.

Speaking of King of Chaos, Jaym was the one I consulted to make sure my descriptions of the horses and unicorn seemed reasonable to a woman who’s raised and trained the magnificent beasts.

Jaym is also an accomplished writer and editor, most recently of the anthology War Stories, which is charging toward its Kickstarter goal with about another week left to achieve total victory.
1. Before we met, we “met” when I heard one of the contributors to Rigor Amortis read her story at the Pure Speculation convention here in Edmonton. Something tells me there’s a story behind your first stint as anthology editor. Care to share it?

This is a where the “Jaym’s not allowed to make jokes on the internet” thing started. A couple of friends were talking about how passe zombies were, and I made some comment about how “it’s not over until there’s a zombie erotica anthology.” Even when people started getting excited, I figured I was safe, because no publisher would ever touch it. Then someone introduced me to Erika, who had a publisher who was willing to take a chance. The rest, as they say, is history.

3. While Edge Publishing brought out your first anthology, you’re Kickstarting your latest, War Stories, for publication with another traditional publisher, Apex. What’s easier and what’s harder about taking that route?

The easiest and hardest thing are actually the same, I think: Kickstarter allows the editors or authors more control in the final product. However, that also means that we’re doing a lot more than just choosing the stories. There’s still a safety net, but it’s smaller, and there are more balls to juggle. I mean, it’s great, it’s just more nerve-wracking.

4. Once again as a publicist, do you have a short and sweet summary of advice for authors maintaining their own websites?

CONTACT INFO. I can’t emphasize that enough. I can’t tell you how many times someone’s lost out on an opportunity I wanted to give them because I couldn’t find any way to get in touch with them. It doesn’t have to be a fancy website, just name and email. Seriously. Every author website that doesn’t have an email address makes a publicist weep.

5. No one spends more than a couple of minutes with you without realizing you’re a warrior at heart, but as a writer what unique perspective are you bringing to the War Stories anthology?

The first part of that statement may have made my day. I think the unique perspective I bring is that of a person between the civilian and military world. I’m not military, but I’m very much influenced by many of my friends and family who are. Since one of the big problems now is that the average civilian doesn’t have any understanding of what a service member goes through, I hope my perspective might help.

6. You’re also a horsewoman. Since they are such a staple of fantasy fiction, can you offer a few helpful tips to writers on capturing horse behavior?

Horses are frequently like big dogs. If they’re raised right, they’re loving, loyal, sweet, and protective. They’re also frequently aggressive, prone to idiotic flip-outs, and goofy as hell. Each horse has a very distinct personality, so they’re an excellent way to add some color and distinction to your story.

Check out the War Stories Kickstarter and Jaym’s website.

Every now and then, I pester my creative colleagues with five questions about their work. Most of these folks are friends, a few are secret enemies, and one has been blackmailing me for years.

Before I ever met Chris Carey, our mutual friend Pierce Watters told me we’d get along for several reasons, not the least of which was a shared interest in Pulp-era fiction and a non-debilitating academic background. When we finally met at PaizoCon in 2010, I felt as if I already knew him well, but I regretted we had so short a visit. By day Chris is an editor at Paizo, but by cloak of night he continues the adventures of Hadon of Opar, a hero created by the legendary Philip Jose Farmer.

1. I first discovered Philip José Farmer though Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, which probably wasn’t the best portal. How did you first encounter his work? And which would you recommend as a great starting place for newcomers?

I came upon Phil’s work through the gateway of Edgar Rice Burroughs. From the ages of twelve to sixteen I devoured just about every novel of Burroughs’s then published, and early on during that period I discovered Farmer’s Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Hadon of Ancient Opar on the bookstore shelves, both books being inspired, of course, by the works of ERB. I bought those up, along with the first volume in Farmer’s World of Tiers series, The Maker of Universes. I read the latter first and was immediately sold on Farmer’s writings. I think it’s a good place to start if you like adventure-based science fiction. But for the more groundbreaking work by Farmer, I might start with a novel like Night of Light or one of his short story collections. Farmer’s skill at writing short fiction is often overlooked.

2. Speaking of Doc Savage, who’s your favorite of the Fabulous Five? For those who aren’t yet fans, please describe the character and what’s great about him. (Bonus points if you can guess my favorite, and a scalding virtual stare if you can’t.)

Well, I’m going to guess Monk Mayfair, since isn’t he everyone’s favorite aide? Monk is the wise-cracking, hot-tempered, rough-and-tumble member of the group, who also happens to be one of the world’s most brilliant chemists. He serves as a welcome contrast to the rational, often Spock-like Doc Savage and provides a lot of humor by digging into his simultaneous rival and (in secret) closest friend, Theodore Marley “Ham” Brooks, the dapper lawyer of the group. Almost a Radovan and Jeggare thing, wouldn’t you say?

I read all of the original Doc Savage novels back in the day, and I was honored to contribute an essay to the deluxe hardcover edition of Farmer’s fictional biography on the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. I also loved Farmer’s Doc Savage novel Escape from Loki, which has many facets to it that often go unnoticed, because Phil liked to bury the bone deep. I’ve read little of [Doc Savage creator] Lester Dent’s work in recent years, though as far as pulp goes, my childhood love of Edgar Rice Burroughs is still as strong as ever, and I find the works of H. Rider Haggard to be much more rewarding to read in my adult years than I ever found them to be when I was a teenager. Haggard wasn’t a pulp writer, of course, though he often gets lumped in with the genre, as does Farmer. It’s true that Farmer’s first story was published in Adventure, and his next few appeared in Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Tales, but that’s just a technicality. I regard him very much as a modern, and if I had to label him based on his output, I’d probably put him in with the New Wave.

I should add that I don’t read only pulp. If you want to have breadth and depth as a writer, in whatever your chosen niche, you shouldn’t limit yourself as a reader. That goes both ways, I think. Don’t be too heavy all the time or too light.

3. Can you describe the process of collaboration with PJF and how your approach changed (or didn’t) after his death?

When Phil was still with us and I was completing his manuscript to The Song of Kwasin, the third novel in the Khokarsa (aka Ancient Opar) series, I had the golden opportunity to ask him questions. “How would you like the novel to wrap up, since this is the conclusion of a thematic cycle?” “How would you feel if I added this or that?” “You have this or that in your outline, but over here in one of the prior novels in the series you say this contrary thing. How about if I reconciled it like so?” Phil was retired from writing at that point, and his health was in decline. I received more feedback toward the beginning, when he was feeling better. He let me know what he wanted to happen at the end of the novel, and told me to drop certain elements from his original outline because he no longer thought they worked. But he also told me to do what I thought best for the novel. That was simultaneously a huge confidence builder and terrifying. I mean, this is the guy who transformed the face of science fiction with his story “The Lovers.” I touched base with Phil while I was in the process of writing, sending him batches of chapters, which his wife read aloud to him, and visiting him at his home in Peoria to let him know how the manuscript was progressing. Hearing back from Phil and his wife Bette that they loved what I was doing with the story provided probably the biggest morale boost I’ll ever get as a writer.

After Phil, and then shortly thereafter Bette, passed away, the process of continuing to write installments in the Khokarsa series was the same, but without having that golden opportunity to ask him questions. I’m a pretty much a purist when it comes to the established continuity and strive to remain in the spirit of what went before in the series. So I do a tiring amount of research and fact-checking for each story.

But I also know that Phil was a big believer in innovation as a writer. He was disappointed with the lack of creativity in some of the shared-world stories that were spun off of his own work during his lifetime. When I asked Phil what his single most lasting impact on science fiction was, he responded, “Giving younger writers the courage to come forward with new ideas as I did with ‘The Lovers.’” I’ve taken that advice to heart and keep it in mind while I’m working on the stories in the series. Thus, in my novella Exiles of Kho, a prelude story set eight hundred years before the main series, I was more comfortable adding some new major elements to the mythology. Khokarsa is a matriarchal society, and yet in the original novels by Phil, we never get to see anything from the viewpoint of the priestesses or learn any of their esoteric secrets. So I chose for my protagonist the priestess-heroine who discovered the valley of Opar, and we finally get a glimpse of some of the hidden knowledge and inner workings of the temple of Kho, the Mother Earth goddess. In Exiles of Kho and the upcoming Hadon, King of Opar, I also address the topic of prejudice in a society that permits slavery. This will play out even more in Blood of Ancient Opar, which is due out next year. These are topics that I’m sure Phil would have tackled had he been able to continue the series, and I try to think of how he might have come at them from unexpected angles that also would have been appropriate to the continuity.

4. Since you’re a fan of “Pulp” fantasy, what’re a couple of lessons contemporary fantasy authors can learn from the masters? That is, one thing we should do more like them, and one thing they did that we should never try.

Don’t be afraid to let tradition inform your writing, but don’t let it restrain, limit, or blemish your work either. In other words, embrace the mythic structure and modes of the storytelling of those masters, but move them forward either without the prejudice on display in those earlier works or by addressing that prejudice directly.

5. Now that you’ve written in the Pathfinder setting, for which you’ve been an editor for years, how much do you feel your insider status helps and/or hinders you creatively?

In terms of writing for the Pathfinder campaign setting, it mostly only helps, since I have a legion of experts within earshot every day I’m at the office. Of course, that’s also hugely intimidating. But when you’re writing shared-world fiction, you either get a thick skin and learn how to work creatively within an established framework, or you don’t do it. The idea that writers of mainstream and other genres outside of science fiction and fantasy aren’t limited by the boundaries of setting is ludicrous. To write a meaningful story, you need to have things you can do in the story and things you can’t. To do otherwise, well… let’s just say that’s not a story I’d be interested in reading.

Because the number of limited-edition copies is determined by pre-order, you can and should pre-order Hadon, King of Opar from Meteor Press right this minute. That is, by the end of June. And you can follow Chris on Twitter.