Mike Taylor asked Michael J. Sullivan:

That is so insightful. Now for the hard ones....Dragonlance by Weis and Hickman? Influential or not? Now I have to know....is Beatrice, even remotely based upon anyone you know? (your wife?) Do you identify with any one of your characters over another (please don't say Nyphron!) Thank you for the replies and your stories. Love your wife's thoughts at the end. So, so cool! Hooked.

Michael J. Sullivan I've heard a lot of positive things about Dragonlance, but sadly, I've not read any of those books. I think you'll find that most fantasy readers are far more familiar with the genre than I am. So, no, not influential. That said, there are people who have compared my books favorably to that series so there must be some similarities.

No, Beatrice is not based on anyone I know -- and I won't tell Robin that you think it might be based on her ;-). There are bits of Robin in a number of characters including Gwen, Arista, Amelia, Thrace, Persephone, Moya, and Roan.

I have both a bit of Royce and a lot of Hadrian in me. I have Hadrian's affiable demeanor. I'd much rather sit down and have a beer with someone rather than getting in a physical confrontation. When someone in my family is in trouble, my Royce side comes out. I get very quiet, and I don't let anyone tell me what I can or can't do. A good example is when Robin was in the emergency room with a possible heart attack and the "receptionist" wanted me to fill out paperwork and the "security guard" didn't want me to get past him. Neither of them got what they wanted, but I found Robin pretty quickly ;-)

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