Found this on WotC homepage..

[Asmo]

"The author of this first planeswalker novel is Ari Marmell, who has contributed to many, many fantasy worlds across several games, including significant contributions to D&D. His resume is as impressive as his persona. I had an opportunity to meet with Ari at the Wizards offices earlier this year, and his excitement for being part of this new series was infectious. Needless to say, we're excited to finally see the new era of the planeswalkers kick into high gear with the introduction of these epic, character-driven novels."

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/db39

I´m looking forward to this!

Asmo

 

[Mouseferatu]

Woo-hoo! I can finally talk about it!!

Of course, I can't say any more than just appeared on the site. But I can talk about it.

 

[Mark]

You can talk process. How long did you work on it? What sort of schedule did you keep? What were/are your biggest influences? How long have you wanted to work on a project like this? Etc.?

 

[Truth Seeker]

Sooooo...

talk Dammit!!

Woo-hoo! I can finally talk about it!!

Of course, I can't say any more than just appeared on the site. But I can talk about it.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Cool! And as some friends of mine actively, I've picked up playing it casually.. and your novel, about Jace Beleren, is incidentally about the planeswalker I like most (so far). I'm going to pick this up.

Cheers, LT.

 

[RangerWickett]

Is this the same novel you obliquely mentioned on your blog a few months ago, or is that something different?

 

[Darkwolf71]

That's awesome, Ari!

Looking forward to picking it up.

 

[Asmo]

Do you have time to actually play some Magic? If so, what´s your opinion about the game?

Asmo

 

[Mouseferatu]

Is this the same novel you obliquely mentioned on your blog a few months ago, or is that something different?

Probably.

That is, the only two novels I've obliquely mentioned (as opposed to flat-out discussed) are this one and an original novel. So not knowing for certain what the context was, I can just say "I think so."

 

[Mouseferatu]

You can talk process. How long did you work on it? What sort of schedule did you keep? What were/are your biggest influences? How long have you wanted to work on a project like this? Etc.?

The first draft actually went pretty quick. It had to, due to fairly tight deadlines. Second draft was one of the longest rewrites I've had to do, but I think the results were definitely worth it.

Schedule? 2,500 to 3,000 words, six days a week. Even for me, it's pretty grueling to keep that up on a project as long as a novel.

Influences? Hmm... I'm not sure how to answer that. I can tell you who my favorite authors are, and I know they've all influenced aspects of my writing, but only aspects. For instance, I'm a big fan of Steven Brust's Taltos novels, but I moderate the amount of his influence based on the novel. For instance, the main characters in some of my novels have a lot more of the Taltos "smart-ass quotient" than in others. (The Magic novel has only a moderate smart-ass quotient, whereas some of my original novels have an incredibly high one.)

I'm also a huge fan of really intricate, complex plotlines, ala Joe Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5. But again, while I like those, they're only appropriate for certain books, so it's only a "sometime influence."