Interview with L. B. Graham

Posted by Jordan
Categories: Blog
Tags: FFT-Interviews, interview, L. B. Graham

(Third in a series of interviews with the Motiv8 Fantasy Fiction Tour authors.)

L. B. Graham (blog.lbgraham.com) is a teacher and author who has written The Binding of the Blade, a five-volume fantasy series. Incredibooks recently did a brief e-mail interview with Mr. Graham.

Incredibooks: When you were younger, did you ever imagine that you would become an author?

L. B. Graham: Actually, I did. I loved reading and even storytelling, and I thought it would be neat to tell my own stories when I grew up. That’s why in High School, I started signing things with my initials — L.B. —since some of my favorite authors used their initials, like “C.S.” and “J.R.R.”

IB: Why did you choose fantasy to work with instead of some other genre?

LBG: A few reasons. First, I like reading it. Second, as a teacher, I know a lot of kids who like reading it. It struck me that while I was not Tolkien or Lewis, they were dead now and if others didn’t take up the torch to create fantasy stories from a Christian worldview, then kids looking for other fantasy stories would still read them, they would just read ones with other worldviews. This isn’t necessarily horrible, but it could be, and I thought there should be other options. 

IB: Who is your favorite character from all of your books so far, and why?

LBG: My favorite character in The Binding of the Blade, if I can slightly amend the definition of favorite, was Rulalin. He’s not the most likable, but he was fun to write because he was so reviled by most of my readers and I tried to show that his failures were indicative of human failings in general. I found that I identified with him in places, pretty strongly, because I’m a sinner who screws up and he came to really represent that in my story.

IB: How do you work allegory or Christian themes into your books without it being blatantly obvious or sounding preachy or clichéd?

LBG: I don’t go for allegory, a “this equals that” relationship between my world and Christianity — e.g., Pilgrim’s Progress. Instead I try to instill Christian principles and worldview in my world — i.e., there is a God who has created a moral structure and our actions have consequences. And, to avoid moralism, a sort of “be good” generic message, I try to show that all have flaws and redemption is possible. Specifically, the Christian theme I worked most to incorporate is the longing we all have for restoration — that the day will come when God will fix this broken world. 

IB: You just finished a series. Are you enjoying starting afresh, or has it been difficult getting started on something completely new?

LBG: Yes and No. Five books and  6+ years is a long time to spend telling a specific story. The world and characters in it were dear to me. At the same time, it was time to be finished, and it felt right to move on. I get ideas faster than I can execute old ones, so the pile of “possible stories to write” grows faster than the pile of “actual stories written.” So, it was nice to turn to something new. 

IB: What are you currently working on?

LBG: A non-fiction book and several different fiction projects. I recently changed agents, and when he and I have sorted out what direction to go, I’ll devote myself more fully to just one of those fiction projects, but we’ll probably try to market both the nonfiction book and a new fiction project in the near future.

Next time, we’ll have an interview with Sharon Hinck, so stay tuned!