Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as a writer.
I’m Jim Breyfogle, and I write speculative fiction. I wrote The Tales of the Mongoose & Meerkat and The Paths of Cormanor. I lean heavily into fantasy fiction, but often bits and pieces of other genres find their way in. I’ve been writing pretty much as long as I can remember but my writing took a turn when my wife said I should do more than just write the stories, I should try and get them published. That led to a whole new learning curve, actually several new learning curves - from the writing to the submitting to everything that followed. And, of course, I’m still following where it leads.

What are the most prominent influences on your writing? How do you incorporate those influences without being derivative?
So this is the sort of question many authors answer as “who are your favorite authors?” Which is totally fair since it’s the same media, but just listing authors is a little restrictive. I’ve written several stories based on songs. “The Cruel Sister” (featured in Cast of Wonders) embellishes a traditional murder ballad without really changing the story. “Roll the Sod O’er Me” (featured in Plasma Frequency) turns The Streets of Laredo into a weird western with vampires and sorcerers. In terms of literature, I grew up reading just about everything I could get my hands on from Michael Moorcock to Dragonlance and a ton of non-fiction history (probably why The Silmarillion is my favorite Tolkien book). That’s the trick, I think, to being your own writer. If all you read is Terry Brooks, your writing will sound like Terry Brooks. But if you read a lot of different things, you may draw inspiration from them, but it shouldn’t mimic any particular one.

Many authors say marketing is one of their biggest challenges. What tactics have you found to be most effective for getting your name out there?
Marketing is a huge challenge for writers, and I’m really the wrong person to ask about it. My wife calls me a “relentless introvert” and trying to get me to go out in public to promote my writing is like trying to “drag an anvil” (her words, not mine). I’ve been on several podcasts, I have a web page, and I have a naive belief that if my writing is good enough word will get out. I should probably do more.

How much do your audience’s expectations factor in to what you write? Does this ever cause you to hold back from experimenting?
I’m not really one to chase the popular market in my writing. One thing, I’m a slow writer. If I tried to cash in on the new hot thing, it would be cold before I finished. I’m also very story driven. I write the story that’s talking to me and that’s rarely what’s trending now. It’s helpful, because I can do what I want rather than chasing what’s popular. The Tales of the Mongoose & Meerkat are full of examples of my just messing around to see if I could get away with things. Never use flashbacks because they confuse the reader? There’s one in “Too Many Mangos” because I wanted to see if I could. Changing voices? “Fight of the Sandfishers” is in first person while the entire rest of the series is in third. I pretty much write what I want. I’m not trying to write crazy, hardcore stuff, so I don’t feel like I’m holding back. Unless it’s profanity. My dock workers don’t swear like dock workers.

Have you had any new stories published recently? Are you currently working on any?
I just had a Mongoose & Meerkat story published in the autumn issue of Cirsova and there will be another one in the winter issue. Next year they’ll be publishing the third anthology, The Redemption of Alness as well as the last stories in the magazine. We’re working on getting another, non-Mongoose & Meerkat book out after that and I expect there’ll be an announcement soon. I haven’t been writing as many short stories lately because I’m into the second book of what’s likely to end up a three book series. As I said before, I’m a slow writer, so I have no idea how long that will take.

Name one newer and one older book you have read and enjoyed recently. (“Newer” meaning from the past year or so, and “older” meaning written before 1980.)
I recently reread Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. His ability to grasp the nuances of summer in the midwest and get it so eloquently onto the page is something I can only dream of doing. Fantastic book. I’m backed up a little on my current reading. I just finished Tad Williams’ Into the Narrowdark. I have this year’s Wesley Chu book, The Art of Prophecy and about fifty other titles ranging from Stephen Gould’s Jumper (not a current title) to Frank Miller & Thomas Wheeler’s Cursed (kinda new) all waiting for me. That’s more than one, isn’t it?

Any final words?
Thanks for the opportunity to talk about writing. All the best to you and your readers!