Q&A With James L. Hill

Mickey Mikkelson as always is gracious enough to connect me with several great authors and literary figures, one of which is James L. Hill, the historical fantasy author of The Gemstone Series. Book one is titled The Emerald Lady & the second book is titled The Ruby Castle. The Emerald Lady especially sounds like something I would love to read since it is a pirate mermaid romance. 

Q: James, would you like to give a brief description of each of your books in The Gemstone Series and talk about where the idea for the books come from? 

A: The Emerald Lady was conceived when I wanted to do NANOWRIMO. It was a new way of writing for me, so I wanted to write in a genre I had never done, fantasy. I was a sci-fi and crime novelist. I decided on a pirate/mermaid love story because I like that period in history. I love the idea of big ships and adventures on the open sea.

The mythology includes dragons as the trio that rule the world and that is what created the idea of a series. The Ruby Cradle was meant to explore the three forces that shaped the world, good, evil, and innocence. With the longevity of mermaids and a need to communicate over centuries, a further dive into human history builds the basis for this book. We get to see the interaction between dragons, humans, and mermaids play out and how it shaped the world.

A third book is in the works, called The Diamond Warrior, which will wrap up the series.

Q: I do enjoy reading books with history and magic whether it’s blended together or apart. What drew you into writing historical fantasy? 

A: I love historical stories. It is fun writing and imagining how history would change or could be explained by what you write. History gives you so much material to work with and fantasy allows you to break the laws of the natural world. You can paint whatever picture you want on the backdrop of the facts of what took place. Historical fantasy allows me to be extremely creative with my stories. Even more so than science fiction.

Q: How long does it take you to write a book? 

A: That is an interesting question. Using the NANOWRIMO method I can get the basis of the book done in the one-month time frame of the contest. But to get a book in publication takes years. I don’t think I wrote a book in under a year, most of them took about three years. I will put a book aside for a couple of months between edits. I like to clear my mind of the story and come back to it as a new venture each time.

Q: How many books in the Gemstone Series can fans expect there to be and are you currently writing book 3?

A: The Gemstone Series will be three books. I am working on The Diamond Warrior now. I have 50,000 words so far but I am thinking of changing some of the ideas I started with.

Q: Are there messages and emotions you want readers to learn and feel once they turn the final page? 

A: Of course. We write to convey a message and induce feelings in our readers. The Emerald Lady is about the corruption of power and hate. The true joy from the endurance of love and its triumph. The Ruby Cradle is about the evil that flows through the world and how fighting one evil can unleash greater ones. It asks the question can justice be rewarding when the sacrifice is a price so high to pay.

Q: If Hollywood were to get the rights to your series, who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created?

A: Unfortunately, I do not know actors that well that I have any in mind. I see an actor in a role, and I associate them with the character they play, not the person they are. There are plenty of great actors, male and female, that transcend their identity to become the character.