He was a goofball, and he wasn't finished growing. At eight months, Rufus was big enough for a 3'6" child-already taller than a gnome-to ride. It wasn't until I met Rufus, a friend's Samoyed puppy, that Appleslayer got a personality and a name. I decided early on that I wanted her to ride a dog, but it was a generic dog at first. I originally envisioned Keren as spending more time on horseback, so Zae also needed a mount to ride if they were going to adventure together. There isn't a me-analogue and then "the other main character." This is especially important because the novel is the first time we get to see Keren's point of view. My hope is that both characters ring authentic because both of them are driven by sides of me. When I write Keren, I bring out that using-cynicism-as-a-shield side of myself. When I write Zae, I bring out that playful, questioning side of myself, and I often channel Dr. Keren gave me an opportunity to explore and chip away at the stereotype in our culture of holy knights as emotionless, unquestioning valor-machines. Keren came into being because a character like Zae has to have a contrast to work off of. She gives me an opportunity to take things to their literal extreme, to question things people don't question, to think about the names of things, and to approach a fascinating world with the kind of wide-eyed wonder that we all eventually lose when we live in a place and see it every day. I've come to love Zae's skewed perspective on the mostly human world around her. I had a great time diving into the gnome mindset. They're long-lived, fey-tied creatures, so they have an outsider perspective on humanity. In Pathfinder, gnomes crave novelty and don't have many hang-ups about how they get it. Gabrielle Harbowy: I love Pathfinder's take on gnomes, which was why I wanted to feature one in the first place. Liane Merciel: What inspired the two main characters in this piece? But enough from me-let's hear from Liane and Gabrielle!
So it was gratifying but not surprising that the fans felt it, too! And now, 3.5 years and a new publishing partner later, the book's finally hitting shelves, and I couldn't be happier about it. For my part, I'll just say that I knew since the very first installment of "Inheritance," Gabrielle's web fiction story that introduced the main characters of Gears of Faith, that Keren, Zae, and the bold riding dog Appleslayer, were going to star in a novel someday-there was something so deep and genuine about all three of them, and their relationships with each other. In the madness of the Starfinder launch, I wasn't able to do my usual blog about the new Pathfinder Tales novel, which was a real shame, given that Gabrielle Harbowy's Gears of Faith is a novel that's been so eagerly awaited by fans here on the Paizo boards! Fortunately, Pathfinder Tales author Liane Merciel (of Nightglass, Nightblade, and Hellknight fame) swooped in to save the day, interviewing Gabrielle on what it was like to write the novel.
Interview with Gears of Faith Author Gabrielle Harbowy
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