By Jon Sprunk, author of Shadow's Son, published now in hardback.
Assassins. They're all around us in the fantasy world, in books, comics, movies, television, and video games. Sometimes it seems like we can't get free of their dark deeds. But why do we enjoy their exploits so much?
My main character, Caim, wasn't originally conceived as a cold-blooded killer (none of us are, right?). When the first inklings of the book began to percolate in my brain, Caim was a different kind of rogue, a cat-burglar who relied more on his wits than his weapons. But somewhere along the line as I plotted out the story, I began to notice some similarities to another tale I had written a few years earlier about a professional assassin who is betrayed by his employer (don't search for it - that story never got farther than my hard drive). Anyway, I started over, this time focusing on combining those ideas.
The result was Shadow's Son.
As to why I chose an assassin as a main character for that earlier story, I can't really say why. That piece was a writing exercise that I carried on for a few thousand words because I loved the character so much (which made him a natural fit to become the new Caim). I suppose some part of it is a desire to delve into the darker side of life. Most of the fantasy I read growing up was about knights and royalty and hobbits-the 'nicer' denizens of epic fantasy. Even the grittier stuff with larded with heroes who rose above their surroundings rather than wallowing in them. I wanted a character more like those found in The Black Company by Glen Cook, people who were too busy surviving to worry about the line between good and evil.
Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk
The trick, of course, is how to make an assassin - a person who kills for money - a likeable character. There have been plenty of examples in contemporary fantasy. One of my favorites is Kalam, the Bridgeburner and former Claw assassin from Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. When I read Gardens of the Moon for the first time, I was immediately struck by some similarities between Caim and Kalam. Not only were both more than capable fighters, they were also fiercely independent personalities. And each was fighting his own inner demons.
I believe it's this inner conflict, the fight between what is right and what's expedient, that drew me to Caim. He may never become a "good" guy, but there are certain things he won't do-like back down in the face of injustice-and I believe there's a certain nobility in that.
Now, if we can only get him to stop killing people...
