Featured Interview With Kal Spriggs
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a Science Fiction and Fantasy Author and a US Army combat vet. I grew up in the Colorado Rockies, but I’ve lived in Texas, New York, Kansas, Missouri, and Georgia. I currently live in Colorado, where I live with my wonderful wife, my infant son, our feline overlords, and a very put-upon dog.
I’m an engineer by training, with a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering. I love figuring out how things work and I think I apply that towards the worlds that I write in.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started reading full books when I was seven, and started reading fantasy books not long after that. The first fantasy novel I read was The Hobbit, which then led to the Lord of the Rings, and from Tolkien onto David Eddings, Terry Brooks, and a variety of other authors. Science Fiction and Fantasy have always been my passion, with the excitement of the fundamental questions being asked and answered. I started writing not long after and I’ve wanted to be an author since then. My first completed (and readable) novel was finished just after I graduated college and since then I’ve written ten novels, dozens of short stories, and a novella series, many of which are currently in print.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors currently are Jim Butcher and Larry Correia, between the two of them, I get almost all the urban fantasy that I can handle. In addition, I really enjoy Ryk Spoor’s Phoenix series, a traditional epic fantasy setting with some very interesting quirks… to include an intelligent toad who gets into all sorts of mischief.
I’m a huge fan of space opera and military science fiction as well. My favorite authors of the genre include David Webber, Travis S. Taylor, and John Ringo. All three give great military science fiction stories, ranging from epic scale to the nitty gritty details of combat.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is Echo of the High Kings. I wrote it while I was deployed to Afghanistan with the US Army. It is an epic fantasy novel written from the perspective that I disliked the traditional fantasy settings where the world is tiny, where nations and characters seem to exist in vacuum, and where themes have often become stale and repetitive. I wanted to explore a world under pressure from cultural changes, barbarian threats, improvements in technology and magic, growth in knowledge, and that existed in a greater universe. I spent over a decade thinking about how this world would work, the implications of a longer year (over 600 days), how the magic works, what technology doesn’t work, and how all this effects the characters.
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