On the 20th of June 2018, Brisbane City Hall hosted a meeting with Raymond E Feist as part of Brisbane Libraries’ Writers in Residence series, an initiative aimed to bring greater attention to the written word. Sponsored by Dymocks Books in Brisbane and Brisbane City Council, the authors are encouraged to promote their newest works in the form of interviews with known literary commentators, meet and greets with their fans and signings of their catalogue. Other authors in the 2018 series include the likes of Jay Kristoff, Janita Cunnington, and Michael Rowbotham.
Raymond E Feist has been a staple in the fantasy genre since he was initially published in 1982 with the first book in his Riftwar Saga, Magician. Following its widespread success, Feist quickly followed up the title with two more novels, Silverthorn (1985) and A Darkness at Sethanon (1986), rounding out his initial trilogy, The Riftwar Saga. Between the publication of Sethanon and 2013, Feist expanded his world of Midkemia to include another 24 publications as well as the collaborative publication of 3 novels based in Kelewan with Janny Wurts. Collectively, the 30 novels published within the period from ’82-2013 are known as the Riftwar Cycle and are Feist’s most popular works. Aside from Riftwar, Feist also has a number of short stories under his belt and the cult classic Faerie Tale, a supernatural thriller originally published in 1988. His latest publication, King of Ashes was published in April 2018 and was the subject of Feist’s attendance in Brisbane.
Upon arriving at Brisbane City Hall around 5pm, it was quite obvious that Feist had a following who were desperate to meet the man himself. Although we were just over an hour early, the line already snaked around the building from the front doors of City Hall to almost three-quarters of the way to George St—a distance which was easily 350m, and there were still people joining until 6:20 when they finally opened the doors. Once they did, it was absolute havoc within a building which is usually so orderly and plain. Dymocks Brisbane had set up to the left hand side of the doors to the auditorium selling both signed and unsigned copies of Feist’s latest offering, King of Ashes, and people weren’t wasting time on getting their hands on the loot. Ushers were tentatively endeavouring to direct people to the upstairs balcony so the crush of people wasn’t unmanageable when everyone went to leave, but we went for floor seats because I planned on taking photos. People were pushing their way through the doors of downstairs so they could get the best view. Carefully we entered the main auditorium and found seats four rows from the stage in the middle aisle.
After we got seated, I thought I would take the opportunity to take some photos of the crowd and stage while I still had the chance. The main usher was delightful and tried to direct people around where I was perched trying to take photos of the set before Feist’s grand entrance (thank you kind sir, I got a few good shots *hat tip*). Generally speaking, the crowd was well-behaved, respectfully excusing themselves as they attempted to sneak past those already seated and courteously asking if empty seats were being held. However, there was an incident whereby I witnessed a child, whose parent had temporarily left their seat, being berated by a ‘fan’, an incident which had the potential to sour said child’s experience with the literary world. It was then a short 20-minute wait for Feist to finally appear! Following a short speech by Rebecca Randle of Brisbane City Libraries, the man himself, accompanied by the evenings MC Aimee Lindorff, entered the auditorium to riotous applause. The audience was then notified that with a 1300 strong crowd, we had doubled his Melbourne appearances number. Of course, the crowd went nuts again!
Environment will shape your story if you want it to or not. Go next door to see the King and it’s a novella, a short story — Feist on world-building.
The first question asked by Lindorff was, of course, ‘Why now?’. Feist proceeded to explain in his own quirky way that now felt like a good time to write another book. After family problems, health issues and just generally feeling crappy for a good while leading to a hiatus from writing, he woke up one morning to a voice asking him ‘Who is the King of Ashes?’. After months of wondering, more time remembering how to world build (apparently World of Warcraft helps with this, as does Dungeon and Dragons) and then finally sitting down and writing the story, the result was the first instalment of The Firemane Saga. In true Feist style, when a baby cried, he quickly proclaimed that there are critics everywhere and the questioning was once again resumed.
You and I have our own dialogue. And it happens at separate times. And only you get to hear both sides — On telling a story and the praises/criticisms he receives from his readers.
When asked about telling a story and how he builds his characters, Feist told the crowd that he simply thinks hard about what makes people ‘do the damned foul things they do’. He also made comment that the dialogue he has is two-sided, but only the reader gets to hear both of them. A sneaky comment about him having set a precedent for number of books in a series by our MC lead to a firm no from Feist, with him stating there would be only 3 books in the Firemane series to uproarious laughter from the hordes.
On whether he would do any more collaborations, Feist stated that while he would love to collab with various authors, but it’s a money thing and publishers nowadays don’t really like the idea of it. There was talk of Lucifer being renewed and the fact that Firefly never would be, Feist’s long-term publication meaning he is Harper’s longest running author, and when asked his motivation for Nakor, he firmly replied that he had no idea.
The time then came for the mass exodus so the signings could begin. As everyone began to rise from their seats, Feist made one last speech to the masses, explaining that he has been coming out to Australia since 1987 and it has become a sort of second home. He also made comment that unfortunately due to time constraints and nerve damage in his hand, he would be unable to sign more than one book per person, there would be no personal dedications, and there wouldn’t be any posed photos as there was just under two hours to get everyone out the door. With close to 1300 people all vying to be first in the signing line, the crush within the auditorium was beyond ridiculous. As everyone started to leave, Feist hung around for a little longer talking to one lady, a long-term subscriber to his mailing list, even ‘dating back to the Cornell days’. It was quite a touching moment to behold with Feist commenting that he hadn’t seen her for almost 15 years, but actually remembered her and he hoped that she would continue to read his works.
While the wait was long for signings, the general consensus was that people were happy. I spoke to a few lovely people about various signings they had been to and I sang my love of Kristoff from the roof tops—many google searches and ‘I’ll have to check him out’ ensued. The line gradually snaked through the building to the Toowong room where Feist was trying to sign all his greatest hits. Almost 90 minutes later, when it finally came time to get my book signed, Feist was ever the well-oiled machine, making quick comments to everyone and fastidiously signing everyone’s various editions. After quickly sneaking around the table and getting a giggle from Feist as I selfied away, the night was over. The hall was abandoned once again. A 2.5 hour drive home rounded out the night, and mini me was the happiest she has been since she last ‘met a famous person’.
