Six Books with Jeremy Szal

Jeremy Szal was born in 1995 and was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes epic fantasy and dark space opera of a character-driven, morally grey nature. His main series is the Common trilogy from Gollancz/Hachette, which includes STORMBLOOD, BLINDSPACE, and WOLFSKIN, about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. He’s the author of over fifty short stories, translated into fifteen languages, many of which appear in his short fiction collection BROKEN STARS. He was the editor for the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa until 2020 and has a BA in Film Studies and Creative Writing from UNSW. He carves out a living in Sydney, Australia with his family, where he loves watching weird movies, eating Japanese food, exploring cities, learning languages, cold weather and dark humour. Find him at https://jeremyszal.substack.com/ or @JeremySzal

Today he tells us about his Six Books

1. What book are you currently reading?

I'm currently reading The Strength of the Few by James Islington (a fellow Aussie!). It's engrossing, dark, twisty, and deeply intricate. I know that the puzzle pieces will inevitably fall into place soon, and now I'm just along for the ride, waiting for the penny to drop, while dreading what it coming.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

Red God by Pierce Brown. I first discovered Red Rising when I was still a teenager, back in 2015. I don't want the story to end, but end it must, as all stories do.

3. Is there a book you're currently itching to re-read?

Not a book, but the manga series BEASTARS by Paru Itagaki. I discovered the series just before COVID hit, and so many rainy weekends were spent cooped up on the couch, exploring this world of animal protaginists. The writing is rough around the edges, but the characters and story are so well executed, and the art is truly spectacular. I'd read the whole series again just for then artwork. Maybe I will.

4. How about a book you've changed your mind about - either positively or negatively?

I usually wouldn't do this, because I try to never speak ill of my literary brothers and sisters, or their books, but I've spoken with the author about this, so I'll make an exception: Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio. When I first read it, I thought it long-winded, melodramatic, dull and too stuffy and full of purple prose for it's own good. And make no mistake, the book is rough, as all debut novels are, including my own. But I heard that the series got better with each installment, so I gave Empire another read. I learned to appreciate the voice and style, found solace in the flowery language that helped to build this great galactic world, brick by brick. The third novel, Demon in White, almost had me light-headed with just how epic and awesome it all was towards the end. If I allowed my hasty first impression to get in the way, I'd have deprived myself of one of the best SF epics in modern publishing.

5. What's one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing

 Red Rising, by Pierce Brown. The entire series has been a part of my life for a long time, and has shaped me and my writing in a multitude of ways - something about a lonely, broken man, desperately seeking friendship and a home and a place where he belongs, resonated so strongly with me in my late teens, when I was seeing the end of university approaching and knew that I'd soon be ejected out into a new world to fend for myself. Although the world is one of limitless horrors and violence, it is also one of nobility and bravery, interspersed with epic and traumatic moments. I care deeply for Darrow and his cast of feral characters, and I know that I'll always have a home with them, whenever I flip open the pages again.

6. And speaking of that, what's *your* latest book, and why is it awesome?

My latest book is Wolfskin! It's the third book in the Common series, where the DNA of an extinct alien race is turned into a drug, making users permanently addicted to adrenaline and violence. The story is centred on Vakov Fukasawa, the protagonist, and his younger brother Artyom, as they're embroiled on opposite sides of a conflict that starts off as a drug war, and escalates into a grand galactic war, where the Shenoi - the source of the stormtech - prove to be not quite as extinct as everyone believed.

Wolfskin is awesome (although I could be biased) because I've finally been able to explore a bunch of the themes and plot lines that have been gathering speed since the first book. Vakov and Artyom have (mostly) healed their relationship and are now locked in and fighting side by side against the enemies that want to see them both dead. There's no secret as to who they are fighting - the Shenoi are not friendly, and here we get to see them in their full, grotesque, gory glory. And I think Wolfskin is the book where all the characters step up and truly set out on their own path, reach their full potential. It has always been my dream to write a fully-fleshed out space opera, on a scale similar to that of Star Wars, with tons of factions and aliens and ships and superweapons, and in Wolfskin, I was given the chance to do just that.

Of course, I've also tried my damnest to keep things centred on character as well, where Vakov and his relationship - both with his friends, family, and his own body, take centre stage, and I think I've achieved that. I had to make some hard decisions in this installment, with how each character would end up, but I do think that I've ended it the way it demanded to be ended. The way it needed to be.

And now, I'm just extremely happy for it to soon be out in the world.

Thank you, Jeremy!

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I'm just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.