They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with D.B. Jackson, whose latest book, Time’s Assassin, came out July 7th from Falstaff Books!
What does D.B. love when he’s not writing about time-traveling teens who are younger than they look? Spoiler alert: a gateway fantasy from a master of the genre, a controversial Star Trek pick, a fantasy series that’s woefully under-read, time travel with a price, and a little something to sip on while reading. Intrigued? Read on to learn more!
It sounds so simple at first. List a few of my favorite things in speculative fiction? Sure, no problem. Easy-peasy.
And then the time comes to write my post, and upon sitting down in front of the computer, I hear in my mind nothing but crickets. It’s not that I don’t have my favorites. Of course I do. No, the problem is knowing that no matter what I choose, someone out there is going to hate it. Someone is going to wonder how I could be so lame as to choose that for my post.
The fact is, I live in out in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny little rural college town on the Cumberland Plateau. It’s beautiful here, but our internet service is terrible, and the University library, while well-stocked in terms of scholarly holdings, is a bit stodgy when it comes to videos. And it’s currently closed due to the pandemic. The upshot being, we can’t stream anything, and we have limited access to DVDs that aren’t ours.
As it happens, the current state of the world has sent my wife and me into a nostalgic binge. We’ve been reading old books, watching old movies and TV, and enjoying old pleasures immensely.
Favorite Books
Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road) has long been my reading comfort food. I reread the trilogy nearly every year, and am in the process of reading it again right now. I love all of Kay’s work. His prose is exquisite, his worldbuilding and character work are rich and compelling, his narratives are tight and always satisfying. I am the first to admit that the Fionavar series pales next to some of his later works (I recommend Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, Under Heaven, A Brightness Long Ago), but these were the first fantasies he wrote (after helping Christopher Tolkien prepare The Silmarillion for publication) and the first books of his I read. I fell in love with his storytelling because of this trilogy.
The trilogy is essentially a cross-world or portal fantasy: Characters from our own world find themselves in a magical alternate world that needs saving. The catch is that Fionavar is not merely an alternate world. It is the first of all worlds, and what happens there echoes through all others, including our own. If evil prevails in Fionavar, our world will fall eventually as well. Moreover, many of our world’s myths come to life in the series. Our heroes encounter Arthur and Lancelot, the Wild Hunt, the Snow Queen/Ice-Queen, and others. The result is thrilling, heartbreaking, truly magical.
Favorite Star Trek Iteration
Okay, here is where I really expect to step in it. A few confessions to start: I never, ever liked the original Star Trek series. I know, it’s sacrilege to say that, but it’s true. I found the storylines hokey, the effects amateurish, the acting terrible, and the characters annoying as hell. In particular, I didn’t understand how anyone could like Shatner’s Kirk. He was macho and little else, and that sort of hero never worked for me. I much preferred Star Trek: The Next Generation, and loved Picard as a hero. He was thoughtful, keenly intelligent, honorable, admirable in pretty much every way. But still, I recognize the series’ flaws. We own the DVDs, and will occasionally go back and watch, but there are many episodes in each season that we skip.
I have not yet seen the new Picard series, and though I have seen a few episodes of Discovery and really liked them, I don’t know the show well enough to judge.
But I will confess that I love, love, love the J.J. Abrams reboot movies, particularly Star Trek and Into Darkness. To my mind, they are everything the original series should have been. The actors pay homage to their original series counterparts (Karl Urban as “Bones” steals every scene he’s in). The action is non-stop, the effects brilliant, the scripts clever and just campy enough. I know this is an unpopular opinion, that many people feel Abrams made the movies too glitzy and not true enough to Roddenberry’s vision. I simply disagree. Maybe not being a fan of the original series, I feel freer to enjoy this new interpretation.
Favorite Series You’ve Never Heard Of
I’ve never been a comic book guy, and I’ve never been a gamer. Books brought me to speculative fiction, and books keep me here. So this is another book category. One of the privileges of writing professionally is the opportunity to get to know writers who might not enjoy the vast fame of the genre’s luminaries. I first met Lynn Flewelling at a World Fantasy Convention early in my career. We happen to have the same agent, and she introduced us in a hotel bar. Lynn is smart and funny and charming, and she writes like a god. Her Tamir trilogy (The Bone Doll’s Twin, Hidden Warrior, The Oracle’s Queen) is spectacular. Few people know of it, which is a shame. It is haunting, beautifully written, and thought-provoking. I recommend it with all my heart.
My Favorite New Books by Me
My newest novel was released by Falstaff Books earlier this month. Time’s Assassin is the third and final volume of The Islevale Cycle, a time-travel, epic fantasy series that also includes Time’s Children and Time’s Demon. The Islevale books tell the story of Tobias Doljan and Mara Lijar, fifteen-year-old Walkers, time travelers, who go back fourteen years to stop a war. They are trapped in the past and forced to protect and care for the infant daughter of an assassinated royal. The key element to all this is that time travel in my world exacts a price: For every year they go back in time, they age that amount, which means that they arrive in the past as twenty-nine year-olds, but with the thoughts and emotions of teenagers. They are pursued by assassins, caught up in castle intrigue, and have to match wits with a host of Ancients, as my demons are called. In Time’s Assassin, all the plot threads I’ve developed come together in what I hope and believe is a satisfying conclusion.
These are, to my mind, the best books I’ve written. Time travel is difficult to write, and from the beginning this was an ambitious and challenging project. I’m deeply proud of the final product. I hope you enjoy the books.
Favorite Libation to Enjoy While Reading or Watching TV
I am a Scotch drinker, like my dad before me. And my current favorite Scotch is the Dalwhinnie 15 Year Highland Single Malt. It is a light, crisp, slightly sweet Scotch, that is easy on the peat and just lovely to drink. I splash a tiny amount of water in it, give it a few moments to open up (much the way a good red wine benefits from some breathing time) and sip it neat. Yum.
D.B. Jackson is the pen name of fantasy author David B. Coe. He is the award-winning author of more than twenty novels and as many short stories. His newest novel, Time’s Assassin, is the third and final volume in a time travel/epic fantasy series called The Islevale Cycle.Volumes I and II, Time’s Children and Time’s Demon, are already out and available.
As D.B. Jackson, he also writes the Thieftaker Chronicles, a historical urban fantasy set in pre-Revolutionary Boston. As David B. Coe, he is the author of the Crawford Award-winning LonTobyn Chronicle, as well as the critically acclaimed Winds of the Forelands quintet and Blood of the Southlands trilogy; the novelization of Ridley Scott’s movie, Robin Hood; a contemporary urban fantasy trilogy, The Case Files of Justis Fearsson; and most recently, Knightfall: The Infinite Deep, a tie-in with the History Channel’s Knightfall series.
David has a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Stanford University. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. He and his family live on the Cumberland Plateau. When he’s not writing he likes to hike, play guitar, and stalk the perfect image with his camera.
D.B. Jackson Website || David B. Coe Website || Blog || Twitter || D.B. Jackson Facebook || David B. Coe Facebook
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My favorite Guy Gavriel Kay is also the first thing I read by him: Ysabel. It stands wonderfully on its own (which is good, because when I picked it up to read, I had no idea it was related to The Fionavar Tapestry), and it still lingers with me. I know I’ve read Under Heaven, but beyond that, I’m blanking. I did try The Summer Tree, but unfortunately bounced off of it. 🙁
And I hear you on JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. I have no relationship to the original at all, and have only seen handful of episodes from the other series (and the movies from Next Generation onward), so I really, really loved Abrams’ version. Then again, I still count myself a fan of Alias, Lost, and Fringe, so….
Thanks for the comment, Shara. I LOVE Ysabel, and when I realized the Fionavar connection the very first time I read it, I literally had tears in my eyes. It was like finding a long-lost friend. Guy and I have become online friends and we drink Scotch together when attending cons. He’s wonderful — charming, erudite, self-deprecating. I recommend all his work. Tigana is a personal favorite.
Be well, and thanks again for the comment.
Oh, how wonderful!!! I’m so glad you’re friends with him, and that you have this wonderful tradition.