In some of my other works I take away other elements of the world -- normalcy, sex drive, sense of time, memory, a loved one. Without some of these basics, characters have no choice but to do something to reclaim their lives.
Seems to me that there is no better way to experience the depth of loss than after the fact. No more powerful instrument of imbuing value in an object than parting with it.
And it is a quiet terrible thing, too, to discover the value of love this way -- when the object of love is no longer there, when love dies or goes away or changes. When it is too late.
My characters often start out with a loss of some sort, usually a loss of emotion or purpose or hope. What I do in the course of my writing is weave a thematic arc of fulfillment. It is my constant theme as a creator. It also hinges on expectations met and not met, and the act of genuine surprise. I love to fool my readers, but in a good way. If you've read any of my work, there's a good chance that at some point I surprised you.
DL: Do you use any mythology sources for you writing?
VN: So glad you asked -- I was nurtured on Greek Mythology and the classical epics. I lived and breathed Homer. Other mythologies -- the Russian, the Norse, the Persian, the Indian, Egyptian, etc. -- all came later. First and foremost were the Greeks, and they were all living in my head as though I were Zeus and they were a clamoring Chorus of Athenas.
Everything I write now might have roots in such myths, often disguised, often dissolved into new multi-ethnic myths of my own making. For example, when reviewing my novel Dreams of the Compass Rose for the _Magazine of F&SF_, master fantasist Charles de Lint called it "engaging and resonant, creating a new mythology that feels so right one might be forgiven for thinking that it's the cultural heritage of some forgotten country or people that have been lost to history." This of course I take as the highest compliment, since it was indeed my sincere intent.
DL: Your latest book, Lords of the Rainbow, is receiving some good reviews. Please tell me a little about the book. Where did you get the idea?
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