An Interview with Ian Irvine - ViewfromtheMirror.com - March 2006

Do you have a favourite Runcible Jones character? Who are they and why?

Well, I guess it’s Runcie really, since he’s the viewpoint character, and he’s such a hero and a trier. He’s got nothing, and no one, yet he never gives up.

If you could be any character in the book, who would you want to be and why?

I like Mariam, because she’s so reckless. She’ll take anyone on, even Lord Shambles, in defence of what she thinks is right. And because she says the kinds of things that we just think about saying, but never would. I also like Thandimanilon, because she’s a great wizard, and wicked but in a loveable way. And of course the prentice sorcerer Jac Sleeth, because even I don’t know what he’ll do next, or which direction his youthful genius will take him – to good or evil. I’ve done a detailed synopsis of the five books, of course, so I know how I’ve planned the series, but I won’t follow that plan where I get more cunning ideas …

Is there anything you could tell us about the next book, ‘The Buried City’?

It begins about 6 months later. Runcie is back at the grotesque Nightingales, and Grindgrim Academy. He’s not bullied now, but things aren’t much better than they were before, because he’s ostracised by the whole school and his only friend, Mariam, has been sent to school on the other side of the world. Her parents blamed Runcie for everything that happened to her in The Gate to Nowhere and won’t let Runcie anywhere near her. Runcie has been keeping in contact with her via email, but that suddenly stops and her parents appear, demanding to know what he’s done with her this time.

 Mariam has vanished off the face of the Earth and Runcie is sure that the mostrously evil Lord Shambles has taken her back to Iltior, to force her to find the lost city, Anthrimorie, for him. If he gets the treasures in Anthrimorie’s Citadel of Magic, he’ll be all-powerful. And he won’t hesitate to kill Mariam, either. Runcie has got to do something, but how can he, stuck here …

Was Runcie’s father able to use magic or did he only know of it?

I can’t really answer that. What his father was up to is one of the key mysteries of the series.

What is the title of the book Runcie’s father wrote and has Runcie’s mother read it?

The book is called Theurgic Structures, it demonstrates that magic isn’t a fraud at all, but that the capacity to do it is innate in every human (just like the ability to use speech). It’s therefore a dangerous book, since magic is banned on Earth (though no one seems to know why). I expect his mother Millie has read it, though that question hasn’t come up yet.

Does the ability to use magic run in families or is it an entirely individual thing. For example, might Mariam have a relative who is fey?

It can be either, or both. Mariam could have relatives who are fey. In fact she’s already hinted that she’s like her scandalous, beloved grandmother (now dead) who ran away to the east.

Do Iltorians age the same way we do or do they have longer life spans like the Aachim from The View From The Mirror Quartet?

I can’t say. I suspect their lives could be a bit longer, but it’s not something I’ve had to think about yet. But certainly they’re not hugely long-lived like some of the greater species in the Three Worlds books, like Aachim and Faellem and Charon.

Is it possible/likely that the Numinator will align him/herself with one side or another or will he/she work alone?

Both of those things are possible. The Numinator is part of this series, and first appears in the second book, but again, though I’ve written a synopsis of the trilogy and know how I plan to write that part of the story, I won’t necessarily follow the plan if I get better ideas.

In Tetrarch, there is a passage;

 “The tower of a thousand steps, You are lucky Tiaan, there are many powers in this world and few as benign as I. They do not like being spied upon, had I not come back you would now be wishing you were dead.”

 Was Gilhaeth referring to, or thinking about the Numinator?

Yes.

Did he know who or what the Numinator is?

He knew a little, but perhaps not as much as he made out. I’d envisaged a greater role for Gilhaelith early on in that series, but later on realised that it wasn’t his fate to survive.

Would it give away too many secrets if you gave us a rough explanation of how the Numinator communicated with The Council member/s.

To be honest, I’ve never thought about that. I don’t know much more than that scene in Nennifer where he destropys Muss, so maybe it was something like that.

If there is no power left on Santhenar to do The Secret Art with, would it be possible (in theory) to draw power from the void?

It might be possible to do that (in theory), assuming they could find such a source, and open a portal into it safely.

 But actually, I never said that there was no power left on Santhenar. When the nodes were destroyed, all power associated with them was lost, but there were other older powers, such as those that Malien and Yggur could use. These were greatly weakened, but perhaps not entirely destroyed. And of course, devices such as crystals that had been previously charged with power will stiull retain it until it’s used, so there is a little bit of power. Like trying to fight a nuclear powered aircraft carrier with a slingshot.

In an interview you say,

 “ . . . The Well of Echoes has been designed to achieve one character’s centuries-old objective.”

 Is this referring to the Numinator or someone else? Could you tell us anything about the character’s objective?

I was referring to the Numinator, but I don’t want to talk about that objective because it’s a key mystery later.

You say that Maelys’ family wishes to return to their former glory. What is their former glory?

Well, nothing that special really. Her clan (Clan Nifferlin) had been an important local family for a thousand years or more. They  weren’t great players but they were  a close family who all lived together in vast Nifferlin Manor. However not long after Jal-Nish came to power their manor was torn down and the family was destroyed or scattered, though they don’t know why (or at least, Maelys doesn’t). They’re a proud family who are determined to regain everything that they’ve lost. They owe it to their family Histories.

Do the tears have their own will like the amplimet did? Could they take possession of Jal-Nish’s mind?

They could have a will, but if they do it’ll be in a far different way to the amplimet. Could they possess Jal-Nish? I don’t know at this stage.

Could an object/s used to store power (like the one Flydd had) be used in the fight against Jal-Nish?

Yes, though they’re a weak source compared to Jal-Nish’s overwhelming power.