Tuesday, May 15, 2012

My interview with Kai Meyer for BlackGate.com

Okay, catching up on my blogging still, last Friday I posted an interview on Black Gate with Kai Meyer, and have gotten more comments and feedback from that post than any other. Kai Meyer is a science fiction and fantasy author that you may not have heard of because he writes in his native German. Many of his books have been translated into English and have sold very, very well, but one series that has not been translated is The Stormkings, his Arabian fantasy series. It really, really needs to get translated. Here's his synopsis:

The story is set in the ninth century, during the reign of Harun al-Raschid. But it´s not a historical novel at all - actually I invented a kind of post-apocalyptic Orient. Five decades ago the jinn came out of the deserts, killed millions and enslaved the rest. Only a few cities are still unconquered. The first novel is the story of a journey from Samarkand to Baghdad, 1200 miles through the wasteland. Essentially it´s Mad Max on magic carpets. The hero, Tarik al-Jamal, was once the best smuggler on the sky routes of the Orient. No one rode a magic carpet like him - until he lost his love, Maryam, out in the desert, the “jinnland”, as people now call the deserts between Samarkand and Baghdad. Broken and lonely he now makes a living from illegal carpet races through the old town of Samarkand. But when his estranged younger brother Junis wants to lead an escaped slave girl, Sabatea, to Baghdad, Tarik fears for their safety and decides to dare one last journey through the desert and face the ghosts of his past. But out in the wastes they not only have to fight the creatures left over from the Jinn Wars, but also meet the Stormkings, guerilla fighters who ride on huge tornadoes through the desert. And that´s just the beginning. The story opens up considerably when Tarik, Sabatea and Junis arrive in Baghdad at the end of the first book.
See, what did I tell you? This needs to come out in English!!! Meanwhile, head on over to Black Gate to read the rest of the interview.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I didn't know that Kai Meyer had written that many books!

    I did try to read one of the Waterwalker books once, but I think I got the second one by mistake instead of the first one, so I didn't understand a thing that was going on, and I soon gave up. Maybe I should give his works another try, though! :-)

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  2. Sorry to take so long to reply, Melanie! I was in the US, and then really jet-lagged. I hadn't heard of Kai Meyer before, so I was really glad that he contacted me. Sounds like he's built up quite a big shelf of books over the years.

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