SciFiNow – September 2019

The Rage Of Dragons is an action-

packed epic fantasy set in a world in which

the Omehi people have been locked in an

unwinnable war for 200 years... but maybe

we’ll let author Evan Winter describe it:

“It’s set in a war-torn nation collapsing in

on itself,” he explains. “It’s the story of

one man, in the middle of that chaos, who

has everything taken from him but his

life, and he twists that life into something

unrecognizable, something monstrous, so

that he may have his revenge.”

You’ve talked about the importance

of finding yourself in a story, was this

always a driving factor in coming up

with this book?

It was. I believe stories are some of the most

powerful agents of change that we have.

When a story is told, the person taking it in,

on some level, experiences it as if it’s real.

They exist, for a while, in the context of the

other and, for social beings, the ability to

understand the other is not a good thing, it’s

a necessary thing.

So, stories told from the perspective of the

majority, any majority, have value. They set

the tone and default by which the rest of us

come to understand the society in which we

live. However, those stories cannot be the

only ones told. If they are, we lose all the

nuance that makes us unique and individual.

We lose the ability to see life from enough

angles to properly understand it and to better

value our shared humanity.

Could you tell us how did the character

of Tau came about?

I wanted to create an inevitable being that

was not a chosen one. What I mean by this

is that Tau is a reaction to his circumstances.

Sure, he’s an unusual and rare reaction but,

if you push enough people far enough, if

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BOOK CLUB

Interview

WORDS JONATHAN HATFULL

you put enough peoples’ backs to the wall, I

believe you’ll eventually find a few Taus who

will do some pushing of their own.

Action sequences are obviously a huge

part of the novel! Are they something

you particularly enjoy writing?

I find them to be thrilling pains in the ass.

I have to sink myself into the moment and

let it take over when I write them. Basically,

fight scenes are the most important element

that I do not pre-plan. I let them flow as best

I’m able and I’m always searching for ways

to make the words on the page move and

connect viscerally. That’s why they’re a pain.

It’s hard to write them, as I’d like to, when

I’m not in the mood to feel that energy.

I read every fight scene out loud to myself

many times over. I try to make the words

work within the weave and weft of the action

itself. I try getting them to a point where

nothing trips me up when I read them out

loud. If I can do that, my hope is that the

reader will be able to move as seamlessly

from action beat to action beat, racing across

the page at the same pace as the fight itself.

Was the idea of perpetuated cycles

of violence something you were

particularly eager to explore?

You’re exactly right. I’m interested in

exploring cycles of violence, how they work,

and why it’s so difficult to break free of

them. Of course, I have no answers, but this

feels like something I need to look at because

of how much harm these cycles

cause in the real world.

The Rage Of Dragons by Evan

Winter is available now from Orbit.

© Vivian Hui

Evan Winter

tells us about his

barnstorming

fantasy novel

The Rage

Of Dragons

“STORIES ARE SOME OF THE MOST

POWERFUL AGENTS OF CHANGE”

EVAN WINTER

DRAGON

RAGE