Also, I wanted, with Gardens, a sense that we (as readers) are just stepping into a fully realized history -- we're taking a peek at a slice of events. Some of the criticisms I've read regards landing at a run or floundering for footing at the start are ones I humbly accept. Then a secret part of me rails that if I wanted to write of the Roman Empire do I need to start with the Etruscans? The Greeks? Cro-Magnon Man? Basically, I had to start somewhere.

For all the seriousness of the above, I was simply having fun writing Gardens. All the twists, the duelling perspectives, reversals -- with the character of Kruppe doing my dirty work, subversive-wise. Funny how the most easily written work I've ever done turned out to be the most challenging for readers. Got no explanation for that, I'm afraid.

My point? Well, I think there's a readership out there that'll go for complex stories, characters, worlds. I certainly hope so, since that's what I am trying to write.

In any case, I was and remain a fan of fantasy fiction -- one of the multitude whose buying habits are so vigorously analyzed -- and I buy a lot of books and a lot of it's trash and, dammit, I read it anyway. I'm insatiable when it comes to fantasy novels. And desperately searching for something worth sinking my time into. In other words, my buying habits don't accurately reflect my tastes, except in a most general sense (i.e., I buy fantasy novels) and even that's misleading -- I buy political thrillers, military adventures, historical, science fiction, international intrigue, mysteries, and contemporary fiction, too -- everything but romances.

And every one of those genres has contributed to my writing, to the creation of the fictional world of the Malazan Empire, some more than others -- when taking a writing degree at the University of Victoria I plunged into the novels of the Vietnam War written by veterans -- from Tim O'Brien to Gustav Hasford, I read them all. There's one influence (especially Hasford, with his laconic, brutal style and the sly, sardonic eye). I'd already devoured all the Ludlum and Tom Clancy novels (these guys can put together a complex plot), and Stephen King (seriously underrated as a writer, he is). Three more influences. Who else? John Gardner's Grendel, Don DeLillo's The Names. Ursula LeGuin -- ah, now we're moving into fantasy genre stuff. Okay. Stephen Donaldson's Covenant novels impressed me with their sheer risk-taking -- very complex characterization coupled with a latinate style that had me reaching for the dictionary. The first chapter to Lord Foul's Bane remains with me as a truly extraordinary piece of writing. Tim Powers, yeah, brilliant stuff. Glen Cook's Black Company novels, in which I see (or think I see) a certain Vietnam War literary influence. And, more recently, Paul Kearney -- his Monarchies of God is simply the best fantasy series I've read in years and years.

The non-fantasy-genre influences are probably responsible for the non-traditional aspects of Gardens of the Moon. Multiple points-of-view is pretty much standard practice in various thrillers and science fiction novels. Moral ambivalence, atmosphere and tone from the Vietnam stuff. And so on.

So much for books. My academic background includes a degree in anthropology with double minors in history and the Classics. When I finished that degree I walked out of the university with a working knowledge of history starting at 60 million years ago (we were shrews!) and ending at the fall of Constantinople to the Turks. Forgotten most of it now, but occasionally something filters through... A couple of other degrees in creative writing gave me the invaluable space in which to write without feeling guilty, and exposed me to a whole range of styles and genres besides.

I discovered gaming in my early 20s, settling into a GURPS-based system. Running games and writing novels aren't that different, and doing the former certainly helped me in the latter, especially when it comes to humility. In a game, the GM narrates but has no control over his or her characters, forcing a certain flexibility to plot-lines. What I take from my gaming days and still hold onto today is a sense of respect for the characters of a fictional world. Their lives are theirs and that life goes on beyond the confines of any particularly novel. Not really, of course, but you know what I mean.

The television project is set in a different fantasy world from the Malazan Empire, though it shares something of the dark, gritty atmosphere. No 'thees and thous' and if we introduce a white knight we'll kill him off ignobly in seconds flat. Not much in the way of heavy duty special effects, either. We'll see, I guess.

I've notes for various other novels in various genres, but at the moment it's all at a research stage and in a holding pattern. I'm busy with the third Malazan novel at the moment (a return to Genabackis, Paran and the Bridgeburners).

Returning to Genabackis in the third novel is proving a lot of fun. I've just hammered out the scene where Kruppe makes his first appearance in the novel and hopefully at least a few readers will find themselves grinning. Oddly enough, of all the comments I've received regards Gardens of the Moon, it seems the characters readers talk about the most are people like Anomander Rake, Tattersail, Whiskeyjack and Tool. Kruppe seems to have slipped past unnoticed. Not sure what I should make of that, since writing him was a blast.

In any case, all those comments on the internet are terrific -- I literally can't get enough of them. As for the promotional potential of the digital arena, it may be a while before print publishers get a full grasp, at least over here in the UK -- it may well be different back in North America...