1.- Could you introduce yourself to Jamreads’ readers?
Hi, I’m Anthony Ryan, author of various series such as Raven’s Shadow, the Draconis Memoria, the Raven’s Blade, the Covenant of Steel, the Seven Swords, and most recently the Age of Wrath. 

2.- What moved you to start writing?
Telling stories was a compulsion for me from a young age - I remember the other kids in the school playground gathering round me as I told ghost stories I made up on the spot. As I grew older and realized that writing was something people did as a job, it became my main ambition. Plus, to be honest, it’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at. 

3.- Your author career started with Slab City Blues, a SF Noir series. What was the idea behind this series?
Slab City Blues is set about two hundred years in the future when Earth has become dependent on minerals mined from the asteroid belt. As a result, orbital space has been heavily colonized. The stories are set in the aftermath of a bloody rebellion in which the oppressed and exploited orbital workforce have won independence. The principal character and narrator is a jaded war veteran who hunts criminals on a giant space station known as the Slab where there are extremes of both poverty and wealth. It’s populated by an eclectic mix of criminal exiles from Earth and genetically altered humans, including vampires and werewolves. Think Se7en meets Bladerunner in space.  

4.- Blood Song was your traditional debut, but initially was self-published. Could you tell us more about how the acquisition by the publisher was?
About four months after publishing Blood Song on the Kindle Store I got an email from an editor at Ace complimenting me on the book and asking if I’d like to have a conversation. It genuinely came out of the blue, although Blood Song had begun to pick up some momentum by then. It turned out an employee of the Politics and Prose bookshop in Washington DC had read the book and mentioned it to the Penguin Rep who in turn told Ace about it. I think I signed the contract about six weeks later and the rest is history. 

5.- If you would have to recommend an entry point to your bibliography to a reader, which one would you say and why?
Most readers seem to have come to my work either through Blood Song (Book One of the Raven’s Shadow Trilogy) or The Pariah (Book One of the Covenant of Steel) - so either would be a good place to start. They are distinct in that Blood Song is written in third person and The Pariah is a first person narrative. If your epic fantasy tastes lean more towards Game of Thrones then Blood Song is probably the one to go for. If you’re more of an Assassin’s Apprentice fan, then I’d go with The Pariah. 

6.- How would you say your process has changed since you published your first book?
I’ve definitely gotten faster as a writer, mainly because I had to. It took me six and a half years to write Blood Song - I had a day job and a lot of distractions at the time. Once I was legally contracted for book two, there was no way my publisher was going to agree to the same amount of time. As a consequence, I had to start planning my work in greater detail. These days I work on a chapter-by-chapter outline and I won’t start until I’m sure I have an ending. Whilst I deviate from the outline frequently as better ideas inevitably occur in the course of writing, the ending tends to stay the same. My working day usually consists of one writing session in the morning and another after 12pm. This gives me an average daily word count of between 1000-1200 words, though I tend to be more productive up towards the end. I try to make my first drafts as complete as possible, which enables a relatively quick editing pass before I submit to my editor. 

7.- Last year, you published Red River Seven under the pen name A.J. Ryan. Could you tell us more about why this decision was taken?
Because Red River Seven falls into the category of post-apocalyptic speculative thriller / horror, my publisher felt it would be a good idea to distinguish it from my fantasy work with a pen name. AJ Ryan is what’s called an ‘open pseudonym’ - which means I’m allowed to tell people it’s me and promote accordingly. It’s not like Stephen King’s Richard Bachman books or anything.  

8.- What inspired you to write your new series, Age of Wrath? 
As usual, my endless fascination with history provides the main inspiration for almost everything I write - in this case Norse history. Also, although the Norse-like Ascarlians play an important role in The Pariah, I felt there was a lot of potential in exploring them further. For example, I had alluded to the Sister Queens but hadn’t really explained who or what they were. I was also trying to put a modern spin on the sagas that underpin Norse culture whilst lacing in some details from real world history. 

9.- Apart from this series, you are also currently working on the Seven Swords series, published by Subterranean Press. What could you tell us about it?
The Seven Swords is a series of novellas concerning a quest undertaken by Guyime the Ravager, undying former king of the northlands, to find the seven demon cursed blades of legend. Although the series is set in a high magic world, it’s also a fairly grim place full of intrigue and danger, plus a lot of monsters and demons. Each volume has tended to be a homage to my favourite genres of fiction or movies. Book One - A Pilgrimage of Swords - is a quest-based fantasy adventure. Book Two - The Kraken’s Tooth - is an Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunt. Book Three - City of Songs - is a locked room murder mystery. Book Four - To Blackfyre Keep - is something of a zombie gorefest. Book Five - Across the Sorrow Sea - is a seafaring adventure. Book Six - The Road of Storms - is a battle-focused story a la Bernard Cornwell. As for Book Seven, well, you’ll see. 
Volume Six has just been published and I finished the seventh and final volume - The Infernus Gate - about a month ago. It’s been quite a ride and I’m very grateful to Subterranean Press for sticking with it for so long. 

10.- How would you say your studies in medieval history have influenced your writing?
Although my Wikipedia page says I have a degree in medieval history, in fact I have a general history degree. That being said, I have read extensively about the medieval period and it’s certainly been invaluable in writing The Covenant of Steel. When researching a period I’m always looking for the details of life in a pre-modern society rather than a broad sweep of the politics or genealogy of ruling dynasties. Despite the modern view of medieval Europe as a time of war ravaged, plague ridden chaos, these were in fact functioning societies for the most part, complete with laws, bureaucracy, and commerce. Also, contrary to popular belief, people had better teeth back then because they hadn’t yet discovered refined sugar. 

11.- What can we expect from Anthony Ryan in the future?
There will be two more books in the Age of Wrath series - appearing in September 2025 and 2026 respectively. There’s another book I’m contracted for with Orbit that I can’t talk about yet (sorry). There will also be more from AJ Ryan in 2025 - details to come - though in the US it’ll probably be published under Anthony Ryan this time. Once my current contracts are fulfilled I’ll need to come up with a whole new series and world to write about. Lucky me.