Steven Pressfield

Even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despite against our will comes wisdom by the awful grace of God.

Through pain, endless pain, comes eventually wisdom and that's what releases him in the end.

I have a recurring character, as you know, who is the Arcadian.

He is the one-man killing machine of the ancient world, Telamon of Arcadia.

And he's sort of a bit of an alter ego for me.

And he's been in three other books, two as a minor character, one called The Man at Arms, where the full book was all about him.

And he is a character that's been...

doomed for crimes he committed in the deep past to live lifetime after lifetime, always as a soldier.

So he kills and he is killed and comes back again and again.

And this, the Arcadian, is...

The lifetime where he hopes he will finally escape this kind of wheel of damnation.

So that was, you know, a fruition that I really wanted to bring him to.

Although I tell you, I just finished another follow up of this, a prequel.

So in any event, he's kind of my James Reese character, if you'll forgive that.

Listen, I love the character.

I want to ask you that.

Do you believe in reincarnation?

Absolutely, I do.

I mean, I hope it's true.

You know, when I'm on my deathbed, I'm going to be saying, I hope I get to come back.