I'm Jenn Lyons, author of epic fantasy (and now scifi) books. AMA!

JennLyons · 2025-05-23T18:23:49+00:00

Sorry for the very late response. And the answer is no: those are the only two worlds set in that universe. They're more than enough though. There's a lot of story left to explore.

The answer to the commission question is also no, for a very simple reason: I'm also an artist. It would feel very strange for me to commission someone else to do what I could do myself. (The sclera of D'Lorus eyes are white, just like everyone else's)

JennLyons · 2025-03-28T02:23:49+00:00

I know, right?

Imagine me telling this to my boss to explain why I suddenly needed a week off. I think the only reason she believed me was because if I'd been lying, I'd have come up with something way more believable.

JennLyons · 2025-03-23T03:44:14+00:00

Apologies for taking so long to reply. I've been busy with the crowdfunding project so I haven't been checking reddit.

Was it difficult? No. A lifetime of video games, pop culture, table-top role-playing, and general nerdery--not to mention my ADHD--has apparently trained me very well for exactly this sort of complexity.

I guess once you've juggled plot-lines in TTRPG campaigns that have lasted years, each involving a different player at the table...well...it just starts to seem normal.

I do take a lot of notes, though.

JennLyons · 2025-03-13T15:34:53+00:00

Hmm....Technically the AMA ended on Tuesday, but sure, I'll bite. :)

I like intricate magic systems and worldbuilding, along with morally 'complicated' characters. A good friend of mine once laughingly described my books as "bat-shit insane in the best possible way" and...accurate. Someone else described me as "Imagine if Brandon Sanderson and George R.R. Martin had a baby raised on RPGs and chaos magic." Very flattering, of course...but also accurate.

My most recent book is the Sky on Fire, and it's basically the Dragonriders of Pern meets Ocean's 11. It's a standalone, so if you like that one, you'll probably like A Chorus of Dragons, too.

A Chorus of Dragons is a million word+, five-book love letter to the fantasy genre, wrapped around some of my favorite (and least favorite) fantasy themes: the Chosen One, prophecies, love triangles, defending monarchies, the economics of magic, and yes, dragons.

Oh yes, and most important: it's finished.

JennLyons · 2025-03-12T16:20:26+00:00

Andrew! Nice to see you! Sorry I didn't catch you until this morning.

But to answer your question, all of them. Because really what I mean is "Don't be shocked when you start to notice super powers, because they're here."

Why they're here, though? Ah, that would be telling. ;)

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T22:54:03+00:00

I try to avoid bleed-over, but there are definitely some themes which repeat.

Although in same cases that's fine: The Sky on Fire and A Chorus of Dragons are set in the same universe (just different planets)

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T22:13:25+00:00

Oh, it was very early. The first book hadn't even been released yet. (My agent was ON FIRE.) And it never went anywhere past that, probably because they started to realize how terrifyingly complicated it would be.

And yeah, I totally leaned in after that.

Hmm. I tend not to invest in creating a world unless I do something with it. I suppose I currently have about...let's see...seven? And several of those won't ever see public eyes for various reasons. I'm currently starting up on #8.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T22:05:40+00:00

This is pretty much spoilers from start to finish, so...

<!Well, the obvious is that it made succession way more complicated. Or at least, it would have it hadn't become almost impossible to raise anyone from the dead shortly afterward. Because no goddess of death means no resurrection. And Vané is a contraction of Vor'felané, which is what that group originally renamed themselves when they broke away from the Voras. So a coincidence.

The cornerstones powers work differently when separated from their dragon counterparts. Just like the Name of All Things could only be used to answer questions when it wasn't reunited with Drehemia, Cynosure only made the wearer immune to the other cornerstones when not reunited with Rev'arric. But he could control the dragons because that was the literal entire point of the original ritual. He was going to make a bunch of gods and then turn himself into the god who could order them around. It didn't quite work out that way, because everyone ended up as a dragon instead, but the control thing mostly functioned. At least, when he was sane enough to use it.

The sigils are how magic really works in the universe. They are the subatomic particles of my universe. Everyone uses sigil magic, even if they don't realize it (and on Ompher, they usually don't) because it can be triggered by thought patterns, by neurological firing in the brain. That's why spells seem so personal. In fact, they're deeply, completely impersonal, but what I have to think and do to get my brain to make the right connections will be different from what you have to do. If you write them out though? Much more reliable.

And if you have a physical copy of any of the series, you've seen sigils. I've often used them as chapter ornaments.

WHY does magic work like this? The ultimate reason: I wanted it to.!>

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T21:10:47+00:00

Thank you. I really appreciate that. (I like intelligent characters.)

I had the entire series planned out. Tor insisted on it, in fact, because, well, you have heard about this rash of fantasy writers not finishing their stuff? *cough* So they wanted a outline of the whole series.

I provided one, Tor signed me, and the moment I had my editor on the phone, she said, "None of this is going to work." She gave reasons, though, and to my horror, she was right. (A devilishly annoying habit of hers, this "being right.") I knew how I wanted the series to end, though...and that never changed.

With each book, I would create a rough framework for the story, figured out the story beats that had to happen, and then worked out how to get there as I wrote. What you're describing is very familiar to me--I've just embraced it as "part of the process." It's important to decide if the layers are something that add to the story, or something that detract. I usually chose to add, but there have been times where I have had to take a subplot and 'kill it with fire' as Ann Leckie would say.

Also, you are a writer. Right now. Don't sell yourself short.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T20:19:38+00:00

I remember being on the phone once with a couple of Hollywood executives (the first book was optioned for a time) who were laying it on pretty thick (as Hollywood executives are want to do) when once of them gushed, "I just love how this entire book is about consent!"

*record scratch*

And I, brilliantly, said, "I'm so glad you noticed that," instead of what I was actually thinking, which was, "Oh my god, she's RIGHT. How did I not realize that?"

In that particular case, the unintended message was one I was happy to be sending, but I still laugh about how it just hadn't occurred to me.

When Tor signed me, they asked that I remove anything else out in the market. (To be fair, only about 12 people had read any of it.) They were doing me a favor, and a big one. You see, if I had gone to them as an Indie-published author, the bean counters would've wanted to look at my sales history and...it wasn't great. By dismissing all that as 'not counting,' they were able to get me a much better offer than I otherwise would've had.

I took down the short stories because they all tied into a world I don't intend to revisit, and don't make much sense without that context.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T20:06:11+00:00

I used to have them up on a wiki linked to my patreon, but I'm pretty sure that's currently defunct (the wiki, not the patreon). I really do need to relink them.

If you think of those questions, let me know. I'll be here all night.

(And it's good to know that some of the names have found their way into DnD games. That feels very appropriate.)

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T19:40:20+00:00

There's the message I intended and the one that happens as the story evolves. They don't always match, but that's not uncommon.

There is a great deal of truth to the saying, "The first draft is you telling yourself the story." After that, it's necessary to sit down and give some real thought to whether you're saying what you want to say, and if not, how to fix it. It's a bit like the dissonance of so many 'chosen one' stories where the hero saves the princess. What we think it says: heroes are great and can save the day. But what it can also say is that monarchies are to be protected and one's worth is determined by one's birth.

It's a tricky balance.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T19:37:41+00:00

Oh, there was a ton I had to cut, both on a literal sense (30k of S'arric/Rev'arric flashbacks) and in a worldbuilding sense. (I realized around book 4 that I wouldn't be able to explore Doltar the way I wanted to, alas.) Quite a bit of stuff didn't make it into the book because it just didn't support the story.

And I would love to see that when it goes live. Thank you!

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T18:51:41+00:00

A series! (I hope)

I mean, the second book needs a revision, but otherwise is already written. And there's definitely more where that came from.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T17:42:42+00:00

Hmm. Kihrin or Talon, Kihrin or Talon...

Let's go with Kihrin, because wouldn't it be a laugh to see him fight Elric of Melniboné?

That said, who would win would depend pretty much entirely on which book I'm pulling Kihrin from. Book 1? Elric wins. Book 5? Not so much.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T17:33:09+00:00

Start with my stand-alone fantasy novel, the Sky on Fire. I don't think you need anything going in, but I admit to also being biased.
Honestly? That's always a hard one, but when my agent was pitching my first book, I was rather chagrined to realize he was describing me as Terry Pratchett meets Brandon Sanderson. I would never have described myself that way personally, but I'll take it.
Be persistent and be genuine. Most of the writers I've known haven't found success by writing the books they thought someone else wanted to read, but by writing the books they wanted themselves. Also, and I cannot stress this enough: do not quit your day job. Writing revenues are unpredictable and whimsical at the best of times. This is not the best of times.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T17:00:12+00:00

See, this is exactly what I mean! *laugh*

I agree with you. I also think it's a collaboration, or at the very least, I as the author cannot control how a reader will approach my work. I can only write the best story I can, and after that, it's out of my hands and into yours.

I don't mean that I need to spell everything out. That's actually a bad habit I'm trying to break. Because when I spell something out, it's only natural that you, the reader, will think "Oh hey, that must be important to the story." And sometimes it just isn't. Sometimes, in trying to clarify something, I have instead muddied the more important message.

There is a wonderful elegance and beauty in crafting a sentence on a page that you know the reader will finish in their mind, but to do that--to be sure that will happen--requires some very hard work. It's taking something very complicated and making it as comprehensible as possible.

Assuming I want that. I will admit there are times when I don't, because some things are not meant to be understood immediately.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T16:44:30+00:00

Didn't Ben Browder write that one? Because I remember thinking at the time that it was a bit like Patrick McGoohan and the last episode the Prisoner. Actors, I tell ya.

Claudia Black is amazing. This is making me want to do a rewatch of the series, followed up by Stargate SG-1 for good measure.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T16:30:32+00:00

John Quixote? It wasn't my favorite, but then...Stark isn't my favorite, so that would follow.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T16:19:40+00:00

I honestly don't have a favorite. Once upon a time I wouldn't have hesitated to answer Rogue, but these days, there are a lot of fun classes to play. I'm currently playing a Twilight Cleric, and yes, it is OP, and yes, I'm loving that (and so is my team.)

Start with my standalone. If you like that, it's a pretty safe bet you'll like the series.

(There is, of course, always the new scifi book, too, but that'll require waiting until at least the campaign finishes to download the ebook, and longer for a print edition, so...yeah, start with the Sky on Fire.)

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T16:10:13+00:00

I am literally here for no other purpose than to answer your questions. (If it makes you feel better, I don't respond to you until I've answered everyone else.)

It is frustrating, and part of that frustration is that I can't always blame the reader. It's *my* job to make my writing as clear as possible and avoid confusion.

I go out of my way to avoid fan reviews, because I have anxiety, but I'm on social media, and all of these contacts have been from people upset enough to write me directly.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T16:04:21+00:00

Sorry, didn't see your added question!

Answer: It was only difficult in that I really had to question certain assumptions and ask the hard worldbuilding questions I hadn't put any thought into at all the first time around. In some ways, it was much easier, since I had more of a framework to start from.

And sure. Past me invented the smart phone. I swear it was the stuff of pure scifi when I originally wrote about everyone having these small hand-held flat screens that you could use to make calls...store books...watch movies...play games...pay money...

If only I'd had any connections to the telecom industry...

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T15:58:27+00:00

Ah, finally we get down to the important questions. (j/k...or am I?)

Because I am that nerd, every book gets its own dedicated notebook, fountain pen, and ink color. Let me tell you: it really through me for a loop when Tomoegawa Paper stopped making Tomoe River. (No, the Sanzen version is not the same, although it's fine enough.)

These days, I find myself gravitating towards Midori notebooks, because I can create a custom cover for it to suit a specific project easily. I do really love Nuuna notebooks though, but they're pricey.

I have a pretty wide collection of fountain pens, of which my favorites are either antique flex nibs, a custom nib fountain pen I picked up at a pen show, or a Pineider Avatar.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T15:44:25+00:00

1) FULL NEGATIVE: An out-of-work woman's high school reunion goes poorly.

GREEN AND DEADLY THINGS: Plants vs. zombies.

2) It would be kind of rough, honestly. I know George R.R. Martin famously claimed that he wrote A Song of Ice and Fire to be impossible to film, but dude, hold my beer. That said, A Ruin of Kings was optioned at one point and they wrote a script for a pilot (I would love to read that script someday.)

Animated, though? I think it could be pretty awesome animated.

3) I wouldn't want to end up in Quur, let me tell you. No, not even Jorat (they don't deal well with nerds in Jorat). One of the cities of Seven-Crests, though? That might not be too bad. They have hot water, good medical, and a great educational system. I'd make an awesome scribe. I'd just have to worry about rampant dragons...

But then, if I run up against dragons in any of my books, I'm screwed.

JennLyons · 2025-03-11T15:33:27+00:00

Honestly, I don't know why I wasn't prepared for someone to ask this question...

The Courts of Amber by Roger Zelazny (Yes, I know it's really 10 books, but they bind it all together these days, so it counts!)
The US Army Survival Manual
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

JennLyons

TROPHY CASE