My brother lies-like, a lot-but always in service to telling a better story. My brother was also the inspiration for the two-headed ettin, Gregor and Dane (although they’re named for the Allman Brothers). Have you used any other real world inspirations with any of the other characters?

You have said there is a lot of your relationship with your brother written into the friendship between Clay Cooper and Gabriel (I am paraphrasing). That said, the death of one character can be a very useful tool for motivating another, which is why-Well, I suppose I’d better stop there… While this is a great tool for fostering tension and keeping the stakes high, I think it’s possible to do so while not killing off characters for shock value alone. When I wrote Kings of the Wyld I wanted it to be different from what I’d been reading for the last decade or so-which is to say books wherein the main characters could and would die at any moment. What difficulties do you face writing the death of a beloved character? Of course, fantasy readers (and agents, and editors) love a good trilogy, so while I devised the plots of books two and three shortly after finishing the first, it was important to me that each book feature a new cast of characters, so as not to devalue the point of the first.

I wrote Kings of the Wyld to be a standalone book, since it’s very much a story about a band’s last great adventure. Did you know where the storylines of Bloody Rose and Outlaw Empire were heading when you wrote Kings of the Wyld?

Nicholas eames outlaw empire