Raymond E. Feist

looked at my library and couldn't find it, which means probably one of my kids took it.

So I ordered a new copy and I got a fancy schmancy one that's illustrated and all that.

And then I read and realized, yeah, it's a classically wonderful piece of work.

Right now I'm revisiting some older books that I've read, but I don't read a lot while I'm working.

You know, I have this to read pile sitting in the corner that as soon as I finished Master of Furies,

the new book, I'm going to take a break for maybe a couple of weeks and just sort of sit around and read.

And I'll never catch up.

My to-read pile keeps growing faster than I'm reading.

I tell you, it's difficult for me to read fantasy because the older I get, the more I want to grab a pencil and start playing editor, which is horrible because other writers are not supposed to be writing like I am.

You know, for me to have the hubris to, you know, George Martin and I were and Joel Rosenberg and I were talking years ago about the mistake that a lot of young writers make in imitating other writers.

As Joel and I would say, you know, I write really lousy Joel Rosenberg and Joel writes really lousy Raymond D. Feist.

Oh, not get rid of, not excise.

I'm not word cutting, but rather, oh, this would have been more clever had you had this guy say this.

Or, oh, I would pause here and go, meanwhile, back at the ranch, we were seeing this over here.

And I was just like, no, it's not your story, Feist, leave it alone.

The things that overwhelm me where they have me from page one

That's where I find myself swept away.

And as I said, I don't read a lot of fiction anymore.

The most recent book I read was my favorite biography of Shakespeare.

It's called Will in the World, How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt.