Jim C. Hines is joining us today to talk about his novel, Kitemaster Here’s the publisher’s description:
Nial Sarnin is twenty-one—far too young to have lost her beloved husband, Jika. One year after his death, Nial prepares to fly a kite sewn from his wedding shirt, believing it will carry Jika’s spirit to the stars.
But instead of drifting gently skyward, the spirit kite moves under Nial’s direct control, revealing her as a Kitemaster—a rare gift in a world forever ruled by winds and magic.
Her newfound powers attract Captain Wolf of the kiteship Midnight Rain. With runaway Prince Vikaan, Wolf seeks to thwart Queen Kavaya’s ruthless ambition to dominate the skies and conquer all neighboring kingdoms.
Nial may hold the key to stopping Kavaya’s brutal reign and saving countless lives—including those she loves most—but only if she learns to master her extraordinary gift in time.
Every gust of wind promises hope, renewal, and a chance to reshape a world teetering on the brink in this inspiring tale of loss, resilience, and transformation.
What’s Jim’s favorite bit?
I’ve been told that you never truly learn how to write novels. You just learn (hopefully) how to write this novel. Then you have to learn how to write the next one, and the one after that, and so on.
After twenty-plus books, I find that advice to be infuriatingly accurate.
I spent longer than usual learning how to write Kitemaster. A key lesson was the importance of wonder.
That’s where the seed of this book was planted, after all. There I was, twenty-plus years ago, innocently reading a science fiction novel, when I came across a random bit about fighting kites that made me go, “Oh, wow. How cool!”
As I wrote and rewrote Kitemaster, I kept coming back to that feeling. I wanted the characters and the readers to experience that same sense of wonder. Like when the protagonist, Nial, discovers her magical gifts. And then the first time she goes up in a kiteship.
One of my favorite scenes comes a little later, when Nial is flying on the Midnight Rain with her new friends Xao and Vikaan. It’s nighttime, and the night river is flowing across the sky. That ribbon of visibly moving stars is very different from our own sky. And every once in a while, a star falls from the night river…
A cluster of stars spun along the southern edge of the night river, but one star in the group wasn’t moving with the rest. It was like a group of dancers where one person was performing a completely different routine. The rogue star twinkled with a hint of red as it moved against the current, drifting slowly south.
“I see it,” I whispered.
In some respects, I imagined the night river as a Van Gogh painting brought to life. Van Gogh captures that same sense of swirling movement. Flying on the Midnight Rain, Nial is treated to a clearer view than most have ever seen.
The star continued on its path. The red tint was brighter now. A tail of red-rimmed light began to grow from the star.
Fear tickled my rib cage. Left alone, that star would fall until it struck the ground with such force that it cracked the world, as legend said had happened once before, more than a thousand years ago.
A shadow flickered across the night river. It looked no bigger than an eyelash, and it moved so quickly I wasn’t sure I’d really seen it until Xao whispered, “Dragon.”
My heart pounded. My sweaty hands tightened on the rail. The two starfalls I’d seen in Allon-Li had been short-lived, and I’d never spotted a single dragon, but everything was clearer this high up.
The star continued to flee the night river. It passed behind a feathery cloud, painting it in a stripe of red light.
A second shadow shot across the sky in pursuit, then a third. They crossed the starlight in tighter and tighter circles.
“Use this.” Xao pressed a cold metal tube into my hand.
I ripped my attention from the night river long enough to identify the object. “Is this the captain’s spyglass?”
“Yes.”
“Does she know you have it?”
“I don’t have it.” Xao grinned. “You do.”
Side note: I love Xao. He’s one of my favorite characters ever.
With an exasperated sigh, I rested the spyglass on the rail to hold it steady. I carefully pulled the end of the scope until the stars jumped into focus. “Oh, ancestors…”
Through the spyglass, the star was like a lavender pearl wreathed in red fire. The tail was a brushstroke of red light. I tried not to blink. I was afraid of what I might miss.
A dragon flew through the circular field of the lens, too swift for me to see any details. The star broke apart in a flash of light. Shouts and gasps erupted behind me.
Chunks of star fell like burning rain. Larger fragments shattered into smaller ones as the dragons attacked again. Then, one by one, the burning sparks began to vanish.
Another cloud drifted past. By the time it moved on, the star was gone, every piece devoured by the dragons.
My hands trembled as I lowered the spyglass and returned it to Xao. Whatever else happened, I would never forget this night.
Nial’s reaction draws in part on my experience seeing a total solar eclipse for the first time last year. (Pics on my website, if you’re interested.) I remember the anticipation, the slow buildup as the moon edged over the sun … and then the absolute awe of totality. The sky darkened, the air cooled, and the sun turned into a fragile ring of light.
That’s the feeling I wanted for this book. Not every moment is as big and dramatic as starfall or a solar eclipse, but wonder comes in all sizes, and it can come even in the darkest of times.
I hope this book brings some light and wonder to the world.
LINKS:
BIO:
Jim C. Hines just realized he’s been writing for thirty years now. Whoa…
He’s the author of the Magic ex Libris series, the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, the humorous Goblin Quest trilogy, the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse trilogy, and the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes.
Jim won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Masters in English, and lives with his family (including several rather ridiculous pets) in mid-Michigan.
