Q&A with James Maxey discussion

HUSH has a very different take on the world than most of my previous novels. I tried to write my Bitterwood series following science fiction rules, placing a lot of emphasis on making things seem realistic. With Hush, I've just jumped straight out of reality an into the "abstract realms," where stories shape the physics. The night sky is an ocean, and the stars are specs of ice. The sun is an obsessive compulsive dragon with a fetish for organizing time. Entropy can physically manifest as a rotting snake the size of an island and chase our heroes across the Sea of Wine.

Reality is under no obligation to make sense. Myths must follow a certain gut-level logic. But, in this era of human history, is there still a place for mythical thinking?

I was recently reading an overview of myths from across the world and from various cultures. In a lot of ways there is more suspension of disbelief required in those things that actually have fervent adherents (your myth is my religion and visa versa) than we ask of the audience of a sci fi or fantasy story that begins with the conceit of "everything you are about to experience was completely made up by one or more persons for your entertainment"

Do you find people connecting more to the fantastical elements of your worlds? (multiple planes of existence brought into being by belief) or the most reality aspects of your fantasy world? (how magic in Bitterwood was discovered to be the work of nanobots)

Did you feel influenced from the mythology of other works? I notice Pratchett's Discworld also has a variety of afterlives based upon the personal beliefs of those dying.