Dragon Week: Author Interview with AJ Calvin
I am excited to present Dragon Week, a weeklong celebration of the winged creatures which often rule our imaginations and the pages of our favorite books! Today, I’m happy to share an interview with A.J. Calvin, prolific fantasy and science fiction author.
WS: Thank you for joining me! Will you introduce yourself to the readers?
A.J.: I’m A.J. Calvin, a fantasy (and sometimes science fiction) author. I’m from Colorado, and when I’m not writing, I’m usually working in the lab (I’m a microbiologist by day.)
I’ve published five books plus one novella to date: The Relics of War series, The Ballad of Alchemy and Steel (novella), and Exile , book one in The Caein Legacy.
WS: How would you describe your writing?
A.J.: Most of my books fall under the epic fantasy genre, with the exception of Hunted (urban fantasy) and Wraith and the Revolution (science fiction, publication date TBD.)
I’ve been told my writing style is similar to John Gwynne by more than one reviewer. I haven’t read any of Gwynne’s books (yet), but I’ll trust their judgment on that matter.
WS: Your book, Exile, features dragons heavily. What inspired you to include them in your writing?
A.J.: Exile features one dragon in particular: Andrew. He’s a hybrid; he’s half dragon and half human, and that gives him the ability to shift between forms. At the beginning of the series, it isn’t safe for him to reveal what he is, and he stays human (for the most part.)
I’ve always had a love affair with dragons, and when I came up with the idea for Andrew’s character, I had never read a book featuring a dragon-shifter (I have since that time, but at its inception, I didn’t realize it was even a thing.) I thought it was a cool and unique trait for a character to have.
As to why I love dragons so much, I honestly don’t know what started it. I’ve always been fascinated by reptiles and dinosaurs, so maybe it’s an extension of that.
WS: The term “dragon-mage” immediately drew my interest. Details, please!
A.J.: In The Caein Leagcy , magic can only be used by those born with the Mage’s Mark. It’s rare, and sometimes doesn’t even run in families. Possessing a Mark by itself doesn’t make someone a mage; they have to actually train for it. And not everyone with a Mark chooses to be come a mage.
The dragon-mages in the series are dragons born with the Mark who have undergone the necessary training to use magic. While you don’t see much of them in The Caein Legacy, you will encounter them more frequently in the related series, The Mage War Chronicles , which I’m currently writing.
The magic each mage possesses is determined by the nature of their Mark. Some have more elemental magics, while there are others whose powers are more mundane. The mages who can send messages instantly over long distances are often sought after, and I have one character whose ability works like a lie detector. But each mage has their own brand of power, and they can’t acquire any more than that.
WS: There are so many different personalities given to dragons throughout fantasy history. What are your dragons like?
A.J.: I treat my dragons like I do the human characters. They each have their own distinct personalities, interests, flaws, likes and dislikes… They have their own society, but interact with the other peoples of the world on occasion.
I was sort of inspired by an episode of Ancient Aliens when it came to the dragons in The Caein Legacy and The Mage War Chronicles. The world you see in the books is not the dragons’ home world. They move between worlds when they deem it necessary, but leave some of their legacy behind on each.
WS: How do your dragons interact with your fantasy world? Did you have to adjust for their inclusion?
A.J.: In The Caein Legacy , the only dragon the reader really gets to see is Andrew for reasons I don’t want to go into due to spoilers. He has some natural strengths that a human doesn’t, but also some interesting weaknesses. At the beginning of the series, he’s hiding what he is, so he’s very careful not to exert too much strength when going about his everyday life.
Since the series was written from Andrew’s perspective, I went into writing it with the plan that there would be dragons. Or at least, a dragon. I don’t think I can say much more without ruining parts of the story.
One thing I’d like to add here is that my dragons don’t breathe fire. They can fly, some are mages, but there is no fire-breathing element involved.
WS: What role do they play in your books?
A.J.: In The Mage War Chronicles , the reader will get to see the dragons and their society much more than they do in my other series.
During that era, the dragons were more prevalent than they are in The Caein Legacy , but they kept to themselves more often than not. They have a select few dragon-mages with the ability to appear human (or like another humanoid race—there are a couple in the books). They’re referred to as emissaries, and act as ambassadors or liaisons to the other peoples.
The dragons aren’t universally accepted in that world, and those who aren’t emissaries rarely leave their stronghold.
For some people, dragons are a source of fascination, but for others, a source of fear. It depends on the character, where they’re from, and the situation at the time.
WS: Why do you think dragons have been so popular in fantasy over the years? Will they continue to be a large component in fantasy books?
A.J.: I think they’re popular because they’re so cool . Who wouldn’t want to see a giant flying lizard? (Unless it’s the variety that would rather eat you than chat.)
Still, I don’t think dragons will go anywhere. Humans have had stories featuring dragons for millennia—they show up in various mythologies, not just in modern fantasy. We have a fascination with creatures that are potentially dangerous and vastly different from us, but especially those that embody some form of power. Dragons fit all three.
WS: Do you have a favorite dragon/s in literature?
A.J.: The first one who always comes to mind when I think of dragons in literature is Arzosah from Katherine Kerr’s Deverry Cycle. (Smaug from The Hobbit is cool in his own right, but I loved Arzosah in that series.) She was a different sort of dragon from the books I’d read previously. Arzosah was intelligent, but she wasn’t driven by greed like Smaug. She had needs and desires, but they were more personal, and she certainly wasn’t a villain in the story (although she was feared.)Thinking about this now, I think she may have inspired my own take on dragons a bit, even though I read those books more than twenty years before writing Exile .
About the Author:
A.J. Calvin is a science fiction/fantasy novelist from Loveland, Colorado. By day, she works as a microbiologist, but in her free time she writes. She lives with her husband, their cat, and a salt water aquarium.
When she is not working or writing, she enjoys scuba diving, hiking, and playing video games.
Website: https://ajcalvin.net/
Twitter and Bluesky: @AJCalvin
Instagram and Facebook: @AuthorAJCalvin
