Welcome, travelers. Today, we’re excited to take a trip to the Otherworld that is resplendent with wonder. That’s because we’ll be talking to author Raymond Duane about the hero of his titular book, Quinine, as well as the world that he comes from, which is astounding in more ways than one. Presented in equal parts traditional fantasy and bombastic unseen experiences, Quinine is something many fantasy readers won’t want to miss, so let’s hear from the creator how it all came together.
Tellest: Greetings Raymond! I wanted to start off by thanking you for sharing some of your time with me to discuss your book and the universe that your stories take place in. You can tell that you’ve got a lot of heart for the work you do, and I’m sure that’s a full-time job all on its own. I’m excited to talk about Quinine, though, and about what you have in store for both the character and the books next.
Raymond Duane: Hello, Tellest, thank you for your time and attention. I appreciate it. Quinine will continue to struggle with his inner demons and his place in the Creation Continuum. He’s not comfortable with being Goddess’ chosen soldier. At the moment, I’m updating a previously published adventure in which Quinine follows a mystical path that leads to an unexpected encounter with a strange life force. One other tale is ready to be polished and a few others are rolling around in my head.
T: That’s exciting news, and I’m eager to dive into what’s hiding in the vault in order to find out what comes next.
T: I like to think that understanding where a storyteller has come from enhances what joy their stories bring. To that point, we usually start these interviews with a fundamental question: What inspired you to become a storyteller? Did you have a favorite author that you read when you were younger? Or was there a family member who had a gift of talespinning, or something else altogether that helped you make this decision to spread words to others?
RD: My mom was a reader, and she always had her nose in pages, mostly mysteries, like Travis McGee. I remember being shocked at some passages—my mom read this! Her mother, too, my Grammie. I spent every Friday night at her house and was introduced to the classics, from Dumas to Stevenson, Steinbeck and Walter Scott, Twain, they all touched me. She’d read to me, and it was the best entertainment all week.
T: Would you say that you were driven by one specific writer more than any other in how you decided to develop your own writing style? Or are you a happy amalgamation of many storytellers, along with some of your own homegrown style?
RD: Writing might be like golf in that you need to find your authentic swing, your voice. I wasn’t smart enough to have a plan, so I went through all kinds of permutations, including a phase of sentences as long as my arm, like William Faulkner. I’ve learned that for me shorter is better, like Hemingway. I don’t compare to those writers, but they each inspired me. Same with Tennessee Williams and his emotion. Lawrence Sanders comes to mind, too, for his craft. He made it look so simple.
T: You’re humble, but you’ve got a lot of great work to show for yourself. It’s hard to compare ourselves to the classic masters, but among those people who have written a modern fantasy that reminds us of the tales of yesteryear, you’re definitely standing tall!
How do you find the balance between humility and hubris, and at what point do you find the sweet spot that helps you write more and write well?
RD: That’s why I write early in the morning before my internal editor kicks in with the red pencil of doubt. I don’t lack for confidence, but writing is truth telling and that’s often hard. I wouldn’t call myself humble. What you see is a cautious reaction to such high praise. I keep thinking, “Is he talking about my book?”
T: Though this Quinine presents in some ways as the first in the series, you’ve been working on Quinine stories for quite some time. You’ve played around with it in a fun way, presenting this new release as a sort of unearthing of the truth, like archaeologists are digging up information that wasn’t already there. What made you decide to recreate the story?
RD: With so many myths and legends surrounding Quinine’s life, I wanted to make sure readers had a better handle on who he is and of the world he inhabits. I don’t think the previous volumes did that. Along with the additions, I needed to polish and clarify. Writing is rewriting. There is, however, a point when you need to stop and go on to the next and hope it’s better.
T: I thoroughly enjoy the way that you present it as well. Almost like a scribe is telling the tale, and there’s always a chance for some details to be left out, or to perhaps be rosier or darker than how the events actually transpired. In a way, it almost leaves it to be interpreted as an unreliable narrator.
That leaves possibilities open in other directions as well. You’ve got a pretty big cast of characters, and you could venture off to get their perspective of how things went, which might vary drastically from what we’ve seen in either the legacy content or this refresh.
RD: Quinine’s friends make his life more interesting, and I enjoy the tangents they provide, but I don’t want to get too far away from him. One of the upcoming books, New Castle Mistress, is a first-person account by Urne, a scribe for the periodical. He’s an unofficial chronicler of Quinine’s adventures. Since Urne works for the periodical, many people consider him unreliable. Quinine trusts him.
T: We’ve already made the nod toward archaeologists, but especially with Urne’s role, we also see a splash of journalism as well. In every case, you’ve got a lot of the story being presented as a discovery. When it comes to how you have discovered Quinine and his tales, what has been some of the most surprising revelations you’ve made?
RD: That I found him at all. The first stories still unpublished are about his adoptive parents and their adventures and battles with Viscera, the iconic Castle Mistress, and Quinine evolved out of the process. These stories are Quinine’s backstory. What comes to mind is that I kept writing and pulled all of this stuff out of me. I’m not sure where it came from.
T: Along with this retelling of Quinine’s origins, you also had several other books that rounded out the universe you were writing about. Are we eventually going to see those recreated in some fashion as well? Or is this almost like a new timeline, with new directions that you might be exploring?
RD: A bit of both, it’s polishing and adding, but the heart of the timeline remains true. Keep in mind that as the oldest known Creation story, these adventures are a translation of the ancient stone tablets discovered in 1955 in the remote mountains of Tierra del Fuego, with several old languages to be interpreted, so there are a lot of moving parts. The new covers and the map represent unearthed work inspired by ancient artists.
T: You’re every bit the showman when it comes to these stories, and for better or worse, I can’t distinguish what is real or not. I’m not asking you to break character if it damages the brand to do so, but would you say you’re having fun in the way Goldman wrote about a classic “Morgenstern” masterpiece?
RD: It’s real from a certain perspective. I’m definitely having fun living on the Hand in that I’m a researcher at heart and these adventures are translations of the ancient tablets, which tell of a female deity battling an evil invisible force for control of eternity. So, on the periphery, it’s like S. Morgenstern in that the tablets are the real author, but it’s no Princess Bride and I’m far from William Goldman.
T: We’ve talked a bit back and forth so far about who you’re not, but if, at the end of your writing journey, you wanted to be remembered as an ideal version of yourself, who would you want people to see you as?
RD: An ideal who? The greatest ever, of course. Ha! Failing that, as someone who preserved through the doubt, tried to get it right and had a lot of fun, which hopefully translated to the page.
T: We talked earlier about the inspiration to write, but let’s talk specifically about how the inception of Quinine—and the strange and wonderful world that the book takes place within—came to be. When did you have all the components in place in your mind that gave you your eureka moment, and let you know it was time to move ahead with the idea?
RD: It started early in the century. I wanted to impress my wife, Jill, who loved fantasy and was a voracious reader. I think I did, but I was still working when she died last year. I wanted a theme that included the disconnect between people and nature and wanted it to happen on a world unlike any other, with creatures found nowhere else. What’s cool about the Hand is that readers can carry the world around with them. Look at their left hand and see the adventure.
T: That is a remarkable way of looking at it. It’s not often that you see people take an adventure and simultaneously make things that are so complex while also giving it an accessible experience that is inviting to everyone.
There is a certain bittersweetness to the Quinine series with what you’ve said in mind. But I’m sure Jill’s memory strengthens the world in many ways, and you keep a part of her legacy alive within the pages you write. Have you done anything since her passing that immortalizes her more within the world?
RD: What I’m doing now, polishing and getting it right. She was there for the creation of the world. The first manuscript was a 250,000-word doorstop I thought was a book. She loved it, but I realized nothing happened and what I had done was build the world and its Herstoria (all stories are Her stories). So along with some other early writing, I had a sort of encyclopedia as a foundation of the stories.
T: You basically created a world bible. Do you still have stones whose secrets have remained covered? As you’re writing new stories, and polishing everything up, do you continue to add to that bible, in a sense?
RD: Not so much stories, but details. Perhaps I expand the bible, but my approach is that it’s a jumping off point. The bible is the collected knowledge of the world, its Herstoria and its future. Knowing all that makes it easier to make choices. Think of it like telling a joke. You wouldn’t start without knowing the punchline. The knowing also keeps writer’s block at bay.
T: I’ve said in a few of my write-ups of the book that it reminds me of some very traditional fantasy properties. From the front cover to the way that the villains are presented, I get big Conan vibes, but also echoes of my childhood and Masters of the Universe. Was that intentional, or just a bonus for readers like me?
RD: No question the Conan books (not the movies) informed and inspired me. And I love Skeletor. I think the traditional aspect comes from my early introduction to books and the proper, well-mannered way the old writers wrote. My writing isn’t as good, but I do have a lot of fun. That’s the thing with the Conan books, everything is larger than life. I try for that, but also, I don’t want to get in the readers’ way.
T: You certainly captured the grand experience. And I think that your writing shouldn’t be discounted, because you have some very good prose that can easily hook readers. There’s a way that you describe things, or how characters talk, that feels very intriguing.
The one thing that you can sometimes run into with “big and bombastic” is that you get a sense that you need to start one-upping yourself to keep things interesting. Do you ever have that problem with Quinine? Or is the nature of the world, and the fact that it can keep growing something that continues to delight you?
RD: The world is big and there is so much that can happen. I think I can avoid the trap because of the knowledge I’ve acquired about the Hand. Plus, in a sense it’s not my call. I already know these stories are big and there’s no sense exaggerating. For example, in Tick Tock Goddess Clock, Quinine encounters the Hurum, a massive sea monster, the largest creature in the world. How he survives is absolutely fantastical and perhaps unbelievable, but that’s how the ancient seers described the event.
T: Geology is a humongous component of what makes the Hand so exciting and expressive. Do you have a love for grand landscapes and impressive points of interest like that? Or is it something that you had to learn to enjoy for the sake of the stories you were writing?
RD: Nature is astounding in its beauty and power. I don’t get out as much as I used to, but I spent much of my youth in the mountains, deserts and the shore. I don’t think the world culture is as respectful of Mother Nature as is necessary. Our arrogance hurts more than it helps. That disconnect with the world around us is part of the Quinine stories.
T: To follow up on my last point, because things have that sort of a bombastic feeling, I immediately get this feeling that your world, as complex as it has the possibility to be, is actually quite accessible. I get the sense that it would make for a great TV show, that a toy line would be a fun thing to explore, and so forth and so on.
RD: What streaming service? Ha. From your lips to Hollywood! That would be fun.
T: Hey, I’m just saying, Eternia has been having a huge resurgence over the past few years, and it looks like it’s going to continue growing in the near future. There are worse comparisons to make than to He-Man and She-Ra!
If you had to pick one or two characters who you would love to see an action figure of, who would it be?
RD: By the power of Greyskull, yeah! Quinine and Shield would make great action figures. Plus the dragons, not only Lhwyd and Draconta, which we meet in the first book, but the Originals from Wächt Island, who play a big part in the Hand’s Herstoria.
T: We’ve talked about how I envision the characters, and how they could show up in different mediums, but let’s get in your head for a second. If you had to take Quinine (and friends) out of the pages of a book and drop them somewhere else, where would you want to see them?
RD: A movie, of course. I’d love to see an actor make Quinine come alive. Someone young like Alan Ritchson, Mike Colter, Jason Momoa. If you want to cast a bit older, I’d say Idris Elba and I think Dolph Lundgren would be great.
T: Quinine is a huge part of what we’ve talked about so far, but your catalog extends beyond the bounty hunter. What are some of the other stories you’ve written that you’re excited to talk about, and how do they compare to your longest-running series?
RD: Jill and I wrote a book, “Fort Jafra: Beware the Rae Forest,” which takes place in a mystical India and is full of dragons and creatures of myth and legend. I’m working on a follow-up, but without her… I have two one-off in science fiction. In “Think-Painter,” one of the main characters is searching for the Original Thought, the idea that started all thinking. In “Thumb Tech,” people have evolved to have long thumbs and tech is based on that physical attribute, until the main character is born with “normal” hands and threatens the status quo.
T: You have a pretty wide breadth of stories that you have told, and that you have planned to tell in the future. What do you think is the one that takes you most out of your element?
RD: I’m not sure I have an element. Writing is hard and it’s often uncomfortable whatever is spouting from the keyboard. I’d say the two sci-fi books were tough. Too much reality in them. Make-believe is safer. I do want to write a contemporary mystery with a private investigator. I have a protagonist solving sexual troubles in Porn Valley. Sex is probably the biggest fantasy world of them all.
T: As we’ve mentioned before, you’ve got a tremendous amount of content in this world already, whether it’s part of the legacy stories, or part of this new unearthed version of the Quinine saga. If someone wanted to find you on the web, to stay up to date and to get news when you’re ready to deliver it, what’s the best way for them to go about that?
RD: raydbooks.wordpress.com, which is kind of deserted right now. Lots of food and cooking posts from during the pandemic, but not so much lately. I plan on putting up a post about the new Quinine and try to be attentive to the site. I hope.
T: Raymond, I wanted to thank you for sharing some of your time discussing Quinine and the other books you’re working on. It was a delight to read your newly published book, and it was a great opportunity to get to know more about you. I’m hopeful that many other people are eager to find out more about Quinine and spend their time on the Hand!
RD: Thank you. I appreciate this opportunity to find visitors to the Hand.
T: I would once again like to thank Raymond Duane for picking apart some valuable time to speak to me about Quinine, his world, and the other projects that he has been working on. We too often take for granted the amount of work that goes into spinning up a world from the recesses of our mind, and it seems Duane has done an impeccable job with the magic and majesty of the Hand. If you’re interested in this world, please check out Quinine by Raymond Duane on Amazon today!
Michael DeAngelo
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