L. E. Modesitt, Jr., was born in 1943 in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Williams College under the delusion that poetry was considered respectable and that fantasy and science fiction were not, a mistake he now attributes to youthful enthusiasm.
He has been a delivery boy; a lifeguard; an unpaid radio disc jockey; a U.S. Navy pilot; a market research analyst; a real estate agent; director of research for a political campaign; legislative assistant and staff director for a U.S. Congressman; Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues; and a college lecturer and writer in residence. In addition to his novels, Mr. Modesitt has published technical studies and articles (generally with boring titles), columns, poetry, and a number of science fiction stories. His first story was published in 1973.
Mr. Modesitt has weathered eight children, a fondness for three-piece suits, a brown labrador, a white cockapoo, a Siamese rabbit, and various assorted pet rodents. Finally, in 1989, to escape nearly twenty years of occupational captivity in Washington, D.C., he moved to New Hampshire. There he married a lyric soprano, and he and his wife Carol moved to Cedar City in 1993, where she directs the opera program at Southern Utah University and he continues to create and manage chaos.
TechCyberC Hi as you may punt if you don't send something to the screen every so often feel free to highlight my name and check Private chat and send something to me every so often. :) TechCyberC Tonight we have author L.E. Modesitt, Jr. as our guest of honor. Please allow Mr. Modesitt to answer one question before asking another. TechCyberC If Mr Modestitt is ready let's do it! LModesitt I'm ready... TechCyberC I'd like to start off by thanking you for some wonderfull read, Mr Modesitt. TechCyberC reads rather. LModesitt Wonderful words for any author to hear ::grin:: TechCyberC I see you write SF and Fantasy do you prefer one over the other? /ga LModesitt No... I like to write both; i prefer alternating, but that's not always possible. TechCyberC Good answer. Thanks. ;) RAfrCC The Magic Engineer is my favorite Recluce novel....Is blacksmithing a hobby of yours or was it just well reseached...it reads like something you've really done LModesitt Actually, the blacksmithing was one of the few trades I didn't know much about. That took a lot of research and meeting some smiths... RAfrCC well, great job then! Spinweaver Have you gotten tired of the Recluce universe yet? LModesitt Not yet; I've turned in The White Order, and I'm trying to finish Colors of Chaos. After that... well, I don't know. LModesitt It won't be another Recluce novel... though... not for a while Dayahla How many more do you foresee in Recluce? LModesitt I can't say how many more Recluce books there will be after Colors of Chaos... if any... RAfrCC Do you plan any more of the Ecolitan novels? LModesitt One shouldn't read reviewers, but you have to worry when they start writing about "Modesitt's interminable Recluce saga... ::gins:: LModesitt sorry meant to grin, not drink... but might indulge later... solid diet coke... Dayahla LOL grape LOL Jen Is there a sequel planned for the Soprano Sorceress? LModesitt The second book about Anna is The Spellsong War, and that will be released in hardcover in January; that's when The Soprano Sorceress goes to paperback. LModesitt In answer to a previous question... i don't have any plans for another Ecolitan book... Jen Great, thanks. RAfrCC One of the concepts I like about the Recluce Universe is the idea of an orderly(no pun intended) concept of magic with repercussions for the use of it. Where do your Ideas come from...concepts....sorry just slow typist LModesitt It's hard to pin down the "idea" business. I've always tended to read widely, and what I come up with is such amixture it's hard to pin down an exact source. However, I tend to be somewhat orderly, and I was/am fascinated by chaos theory and the thought of magic based on order..../ga GreyLenser Will you be catching the Nylan Saga up to the previous works, or are you heading out in the direction of the White side for a while? LModesitt I've only planned two books about Nylan... and currently don't plan any more. /ga GreyLenser Thank you. LModesitt I have to say "currently" .. because thoughts change. I never planned so many Recluce books in the beginning ::sheepish grin:: Jen Okay. What is a normal writing day for you and do you write full time? TechCyberC LOL LModesitt I'm now -- for the ast five years -- writing about 90%, doing some consulting for the other ten percent. I try to get on the computer between 8:30 and 9:00, and write most of the day... sometimes until 11:00 at night... but I'm also designed cook during the school year -- my wife is a universuty professor [opera...] university professor, so I lose a few hours here and there to the kitchen... /ga Ken will you ever publish something in the back of one of your books that lists the Recluse novels in cronolagical(spl?) order? sorry, had to ask ;-) LModesitt There is a chronological listing on both of the fan-generated web sites... I'm a little leay of publishing a list. People are already complaining that the map is accurate for only one time period. /ga sorry... a little leary... my thoughts get ahead of my fingers at times Dayahla LOL Ken thanks TechCyberC LOL MR Modesitt. Jen I haven't read the Recluce books yet, but I will. Was Anna based on your wife, then? With the opera? LModesitt Anna was and is very much based on my wife; the personalities and experiences differ in specifics, but I couldn't have written it without all she's taught me over the past sx years. Jen I thought so. Thanks. LModesitt six years ::blushes:: Dayahla LOLOL Jen Lol RAfrCC I'm curious, at what point in your life did you think that you might try writing science fiction or fantasy...early or late? LModesitt For a writer, it was late. I thought I was going to be a poet, actually had some poems published in VERY small iterary magazines. I didn't even try to write an SF story until I was 28; my first novel wasn't published untilI was 39. /ga lucy With the fingers getting ahead of you, would you prefer a direct mind-to-screen interface? TechCyberC ROFL! TechCyberC (sorry I liked that question) LModesitt No. that would be embarassing... I need the screen or paper to work out and sort things out. No one sees how much I write and re-write, and I'd prefer it that way. also the exercise of translating it to screen through fingers somehow helps the "feel."Long answer to a short question. /ga lucy Thanks. Dayahla Are the tools or basic things you use in your scifi a Modesitt thing, or are they from otehr sf? LModesitt It's hard to separate things, but outside of what one might call "basic" conventions, I try to use ideas and devices that fit the economics, sociology, and culture of the world(s) I'm working with, /ga RAfrCC Do you foresee a direction for your writing in the future....staying with science fiction and fantasy or branching off into another literary style? LModesitt I have done one book on Washington, D.C. [The Green Progression], and I may do another as a follow-up... but I'm happy in the genre. I couldn't explore many of the questions and issues I want to deal with in any other forum. /ga TechCyberC Do you like mixing fantasy and SF? RAfrCC thanks, I'll have to lok up the Washinton book then TechCyberC I like to read that BTW. LModesitt I like doing both... ::grins:: mostly, I try not to do both in the same book. Dayahla Of Tangible Ghosts was quite different...do you plan more in that area? I really liked that one..well, except for the lady ::grins:: LModesitt The Green Progression tells how Washington really owrks, but most people find it hard to swallow. But it's based on my 17 years in national politics and unfortunately, very accurate. /ga RAfrCC Ihad originally thought the recluce books wre pure fantasy, yet in the last one I read, you gave it a science fiction start....why? LModesitt There is a second book about Johan and Llysette/Carolynne. That's The Ghost of the Revelator, and it will be released in September/October 1998. I think it's even better than Of Tangible Ghosts, and so do those who've read it. /ga Fall of Angels had an SF start first, because I felt like it, and second, because I was suggesting that "fantasy" universe, at least, logical ones, might well be possible. /ga RAfrCC I loved the book, and the mixing of genres LModesitt BTW, if you want to be a writer, one good thing to do is read everything you can and trust your subconscious,/ga Jen Mr Modesitt, since you have far more experience than I, did you have difficulty publishing your first book? (And what was it?) LModesitt I had trouble getting short stories published [after the first] but not novels, at least not so far. My first book was The Fires of Paratime, which Tor finally reissued, after I got the rights back, in pretty close to the original form. Timescape required hefty cuts because I was an unknown writer. LModesitt and because they had signature limits at that time. /ga Jen Yeah, so am I. Thanks. TechCyberC Is that the same as THE PARAFAITH WAR? I'm reading that now BTW. Great book. LModesitt No. The Fires of Paratime was reissued as The Timegod. /ga RAfrCC Have you always published under your own name....or is there a pen name we fans should look for? LModesitt There are no pen names for my fiction. Along the way, I did ghostwrite a lot of speeches and technical reports and the like, but those are pretty boring. /ga TechCyberC Would you consider HAMMER OF GOD SF or Fantasy? LModesitt Besides, in that, you get paid so that someone else can take the credit./ga Dayahla That's no fun :) LModesitt I actually consider THE HAMMER OF DARKNESS science fantasy, although the publisher markets it as SF./ga TechCyberC I consider it SF for what thats worth, thanks. grape I'm interested in your poetry. Is there a collection? LModesitt No... there were only about a dozen poems published... BTW, did you know that, if you connect the fragments, all of Morgen's song in Adiamante is actually published?/ga grape thanks Dayahla You seem to make a point of showing both sides of the coin, good and evil, like Lord Sillek...any special reason? and yep, I knew about the song! LModesitt Well... Sillek isn't evil, by any stretch of the imagination, and some of the "order" characters in, say, THE DEATH OF CHAOS, are probably as evil as any. While there are truly evil people in any culture or set of cultures, often those we consider evil would consider us the same. I sometimes like to make that point -- very subtlely with my sledgehammer./ga Ken Until just recently(the past year or so) it was very difficult to find your books up here in Canada. Was there any specific reason for this?? Dayahla Thanks, Ser.. :) LModesitt I honestly don't know. The Canadian distributor has reported that I sell well in the Toronto area... ga Ken Thanks Jen Do you have any advice for unknown writers? (I'm sorry my questions aren't about your books, I've only read one so far) LModesitt I could fill several pages with advice, but I'll attempt to refrain. First, read a far wider range of tinhgs than your interests, including "technical" stuff. You should know how people and cultures and technologies operate. Second, write a lot. Third, write what you know and enjoy. fourth, don't copy anyone. A good copy is still a copy. /ga TechCyberC Mr Modesitt we've been at this an hour would you like to continue or go to open chat? Or maybe run off? Time to stretch at any rate. LModesitt How about another 15 minutes or so... TechCyberC Great! Jen Thank you. :-) Dayahla LOL LModesitt After that, I will have to run. TechCyberC Do you have a favorite author? I like to ask these type questions. LModesitt I... ::grin:: refuse to answer that exactly. There are a number of books I enjoy, and there will doubtless be more, but.. it's neither accurate nor fair to boil my likes down to a single name. /ga TechCyberC I like that, thanks. ;) TechCyberC How about certain types of stories? TechCyberC Prefer any certain type? LModesitt I like stories based around people who seem real with problems that could happen and concern people. I have to admit that I'm coming to dislike stories about 16-18 year olds who save the world, especially when theydon't bother to understand it./ga Jen Amen to that RAfrCC LOL Lizstrata LOL Me, too. .. how's about a 40something. Jen What kind of music do you like to listen to? TechCyberC I can releate to that myself. lucy Lee, you're showing your age. LModesitt That's The Soprano Sorceress! Lizstrata Okay, I'll read Soprano. . .but I'm an alto LModesitt I admit it -- but that way, I was old before my time./ga LModesitt An alto would be powerful in E lucy I'm older than he is. LModesitt IN Erde... the Matriarch is an alto... ga/ RAfrCC I'm an altobasstenor all at the same time...usually I just don't sing :-) Lizstrata Thanks, LEM, I like the matriarch notion. . .I'll identify. Fiona I loved Soprano Sorceress..great book Dayahla What is your fave book YOU WROTE Lee? LModesitt I can't answer that directly. How about three so far -- The Soprano Sorceress; Adiamante; and The Ghost of the Revelator./ga Dayahla Hmm, okie dokie...My faves differ though ::grins:: TechCyberC I can see I'm going to have to read the fantasy as well as your SF. BAH What makes those your favorites, Lee? LModesitt The Soprano Sorceress, because it's the first time I did an entire book from the female perspective; Adiamante, just beause; and The Ghost of the Revelator for the cultures, the people, and the overall "feel" and action. /ga TechCyberC Mr Modesitt I want to thank you for your patience and wonderfull answers! BAH Thanks! Dayahla Thanks, Lee!!! TechCyberC And of course for you writing too. Jen Thanks, Mr Modesitt. Jen Of course. Lizstrata Sorry I was so late. . .raining in So Cal. . .thanks LEM! grape Thank you LEM! LModesitt Thank you all... good to have been here... lucy Thanks, Lee. BAH Gonna have to read the log, I guess. Sorry I was late, too. JanCyberC .:::applauding::: Thanks Mr. Modesitt. Ken thank you Dayahla Lee, feel free to pop in any time!! We would love to have ya'! TechCyberC Mods poping in and out you are truely a trooper! Of course the chats are a little bit different than a GOH chat. LModesitt Good-night, all! JanCyberC Goodnight Mr. Modesitt! Jen Bye, LEM Lizstrata Nite, LEM! Dayahla G' Night Lee!!! TechCyberC Ni Mr Modesitt! grape Good Night BAH Nite, LEM! TechCyberC Thanks Again! lucy 'Night, Lee;. TechCyberC And thanks to everyone who joined us!
