(This is a slightly modified version of an essay that originally ran on John Scalzi’s blog

I know this is called “The Big Idea,” but my new fantasy novel Magebane didn’t grow out of a single big idea.  Instead, it grew out of four ideas: three big ones, and one not-so-big one. (But “The Big 3 1/2 Ideas” isn’t nearly as catchy a name.)

First: it is, of course, one of the hoariest of fairy-tale tropes that an enchantment can be broken with a kiss: typically, a prince kissing a princess. But one day while I was musing on this (and since I have a young daughter, princesses are something I have mused about quite often), I had the notion of writing a story in which a kiss didn’t just break an enchantment, it broke all enchantments: a story in which a kiss between a (sort-of) prince and a (kind-of) princess would bring magic itself crashing down in ruin.

Now, that’s a somewhat subversive notion in fantasy fiction. Typically in fantasies the destruction of magic is not something devoutly to be wished: instead, they’re all about the restoration of magic, or at least the triumph of good magic over bad magic. But magic is, ultimately, a form of power: and like all power, it can be abused. Particularly if some people have it, and others don’t.

Second: since I was already thinking subversively in terms of making the overthrow of magic a good thing, I continued thinking subversively about another common fantasy trope, the idea that restoring the rightful king to a throne can solve all that has gone wrong in a kingdom.

In the real world, restoring absolute monarchs to power is generally not seen as a good thing. I mean, an absolute monarch is just a dictator with a jeweled hat, when you come right down to it. In the real world, we (well, most of us, at least) celebrate the overthrow of tyrants…even the ones that have been, perhaps, less tyrannical than some of their peers.

Where, I asked myself, are the democratic revolutionaries within fantasy fiction?

I decided to create some.

The third big idea: what happens in a world with magic when technology (any sufficiently advanced version of which, as Arthur C. Clarke famously said, is indistinguishable from magic) begins to give those who cannot wield magic the same abilities as those who can?

With these three ideas in hand, I fired up my story-making cauldron, tossed them in, stewed and steeped and stirred them for a while, and eventually poured off 150,000 words of what I’d like to  think is pretty tasty story.

In Magebane, the tyrannical MageLords, who rule by virtue of their magical power (pretty much their only virtue), were thrown down from power centuries past in their old kingdom by the Commoners, the non-magical people they rule, with the help of something or someone called the Magebane. Fearing for their lives, the MageLords used magic to flee to the far side of the world, where they established a new kingdom, protected from attack by an impenetrable magical barrier.

But now there are various MageLords who would like, each for his or her own reasons, to remove that Barrier; there is a new Magebane; and there are, bubbling up from the increasingly technological advanced Commoners trapped in the kingdom with them, rumors of a new rebelliousness.

What no one in the kingdom realizes is that the Commoners outside, for whom the MageLords are nothing but myth, have explored the world right up to the Great Barrier itself…and that their technology has advanced far beyond that of the Commoners within the Barrier. That is, no one realizes it until one young man crash lands in the kingdom aboard the experimental airship that has just flown over the Barrier…

Yes, that’s right: my big fat fantasy novel is also steampunky!

As for the small idea that is also part of the Magebane mix? That’s the setting. The hidden  kingdom of the MageLords is largely prairie in the south and forests in the north, with lots of lakes.

It has, in fact, the same geography as the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, where I live. And there’s more: in the kingdom’s capital, there is a white stone palace on the southern shore of a manmade man-made lake…just as there is in Saskatchewan’s capital city of Regina, where the Saskatchewan Legislative Building rises on the south shore of Wascana Lake, just a couple of blocks from my house.

Alas, the real lake and the real park surrounding it are not magically protected from winter’s ravages like the one in the book. You could call that wish-fulfillment, if you like, and I daresay you’d be correct.

But then, you could also call the whole book a kind of wish-fulfillment: a wish for fantasy that recognizes that even a benevolent dictator is still a dictator, and that whatever Tolkien may have primed us to believe, The Return of the King is not necessarily a happy ending.

Also, a wish for more fantasy with airships.

Because airships, like bow-ties on The Doctor, are cool.

Here are the links:

Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, Kindle Edition

Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, Kindle Edition

Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, Smashwords Edition

Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, Smashwords Edition

All are priced at $2.99, but here’s your reward for reading this far in the post: if you buy from Smashwords, you can use coupon FM22T for Interstellar Rock Star and coupon SZ72L for Double Trouble to reduce the price to under $2! But use ‘em soon: the coupons expire February 4.

And just as a reminder, here’s some critical praise for the first Andy Nebula book:

“The action in Andy Nebula moves along at a cracking pace and the characters are well-drawn…Andy Nebula is fast and furious enough to keep even reluctant readers turning the pages, and young teen fans of fantasy and science fiction will not be disappointed.” - John Wilson, Quill & Quire

“… gritty and clever…Willett tells a fast-moving tale that has plenty of color. He wastes few words and presents some good characterizations…All in all, a worthy addition to a young reader’s shelf of SF books.” - A. L. Sirois, SF Site , April, 2000

“It’s the combination of the familiar with the speculative that lifts Andy Nebula above the crowd…From page one we know we are in another time and place thanks to Willett’s deft and never-faltering use of a convincing invented slang…. There’s a whole lot of story packed into the 166 pages of this trade paperback…Get one copy for yourself, and another for a young person.” – Donna Farley, NCF Guide to Canadian Science Fiction and Fandom

“Willett writes in a humorous and flamboyant style not unlike an old-style detective novel…The novel is fast and exciting with lots of action.  It also involves broader themes like differentiating between the authentic and the contrived, values and measuring success, drug addiction and tolerance between species…The writing is trim and humorous but far from vacuous.  This book is fun to read.  Kids will like it, too.” – Jocolyn Caton, The Regina Sun

“Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star is a very good science fiction book.” - Jelena, a young reader (online book report)

“The book is like Star Wars plus drug dealers plus rock stars all joined into one book. If you like to read about that stuff then you will love this book…This is a cool book so check it out!” – Jonathan, another young reader in Manitoba

Willett’s novel will please fantasy junkies with its intricate details; yet there’s also an appealing poetry to Ariane’s story, best manifested when she learns to use her powers to merge with water and transport herself wherever it flows. Song of the Sword is a unique twist on the old subjects of teenage rebellion and self-discovery.

Read the whole thing.

It begins:

What inspired you to write The Shards of Excalibur? Have you always had an interest in Arthurian legend?

I have always had an interest in things Arthurian, or at least since I read T.H. White’s The Once and Future King as a kid, followed up with Mary Stewart and any number of other retellings since. But what inspired The Shards of Excaliburwasn’t initially my interest in the Arthurian legends, but a very specific place: Wascana Lake, the man-made lake in the heart of Regina where Ariane sees the staircase descending into the water and meets the Lady of the Lake for the first time. I live near Wascana Lake and have for 20 years, so I’m often walking around it. One day I was particularly taken with a heavy mist turning golden in the morning light, and thought, “It looks mystical. Anything could be hidden in that mist.” And then I thought, “Well, why not?”

Read the whole thing.

The feature is called “A fantastic life” and begins thusly:

Edward Willett has a few things on his plate these days.

In fact, he could probably use a few more plates.

Known in these pages as the editor of Fine Lifestyles Regina, and sister magazines Fine Lifestyles Saskatoon, Fine Homes Regina and Fine Weddings Regina,Willett is also a writer of science books, children’s fiction and biographies, and a nationally recognized science fiction novelist. In the weeks leading up to publication of this edition, he was also completing a manuscript that was due to his publisher, working on the rewrite of another novel, and trying to make progress on a third book in which a publisher had shown interest.

Oh, and did we mention he is also an actor and singer?

“I’m on the fly all the time,” Willett says during a recent interview that is interrupted at least four times by his ringing cell phone. “I get up in the morning and think, ‘Okay, what do I have to do today?’”

As a freelance editor, writer and performing artist, Willett has worked 17 years for the privilege of being so busy. In 1993, he walked away from a full-time position as communications officer for the Saskatchewan Science Centre.

“I had an offer from Prairie Opera in Saskatoon to do a two-month school tour,” Willett recalls. “So I knew I had two months of paying work coming.

“That seemed like enough,” he adds with a laugh. “I was perhaps a little braver than I realized.”

Read the whole thing.

The story, by Tim Switzer, begins:

Tense Viewpoint – Friday 3pm
Science Fiction And Comedy – Friday 4pm
Book Launch – Friday 7pm
How Did That Get On My Book Cover? – Saturday 2pm
Reading – Saturday 6pm
Religion In Fantasy And Science Fiction – Sunday 10am
How To Write A Fight Scene – Sunday 11am
Author Magic 8-Ball – Sunday 3pm

Keeping me busy, aren’t they? But that’s OK. I like having lots of panels.

While I’ll definitely be at the mass book launch on Friday night, I don’t know yet if we’ll (as in, me and my publisher) will actually manage to have copies of Song of the Sword on hand. It’s not officially released until October 15. But I’m hoping!

The review, by author Robert J. Wiersema, almost gave me a heart attack with the first sentence, though. It begins:

Authors who incorporate, interpret, or subvert Arthurian legends in works of contemporary fantasy take a huge risk: the failure rate of such books is staggeringly high.

Gulp. Fortunately, he continues with:

Every so often, though, a writer is skilled enough to utilize the stories of King Arthur and Camelot to significant effect. Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry trilogy is definitely on the list. So, too, is Song of the Sword, the impressive new YA novel from Regina writer Edward Willett.

Whew! That’s all right, then. (Me, compared with Guy Kay? It is to blush. Although we both have a connection to Weyburn…he was born there, I lived there many years…so, who knows? Maybe it’s something in the water.)

Wiersema goes on to summarize the story (very well), and then adds:

It’s an audacious conceit and a daring subversion of the Arthurian mythos, and Willett backs it up with a taut, compelling narrative, well-drawn characters, and a keen sense of genuine peril and true wonder. It’s a powerful, fun, engaging read, and it’s the first of a series, so readers have much to look forward to.

His only caveat: he wonders if young readers may not be familiar enough with the Arthurian legend for my reworking to resonate as fully with them as I’d like, and worries that if this is the first time they run into the Arthurian cast of characters, my book could “skew” their initial reading of their legends.

I hate to sound heartless, but…I think I can live with that!

With our Fall books soon on the way, we want to start introducing you to some of our new authors! This week, we have a behind-the-scenes Q&A with Edward Willett, author of the upcoming novel, Song of the Sword, the first book in the Shards of Excalibur series.

Why did you choose to re-envision the story of the Lady of the Lake and Merlin?

I’ve been fascinated by the legends of King Arthur for as long as I can remember. There are so many of them, and yet there always seems to be room for one more. So… this is mine.

Read the whole thing!