The Office of Shadow

Novelist and comics writer Matthew Sturges recently spared some time to discuss his 2009 novel, Midwinter (2009) and its sequel, The Office of Shadow, which was released in June by Pyr. The Office of Shadows is “a group of covert operatives given the tasks that can’t be done in the light of day … The new leader of the ‘Shadows’ is Silverdun. He’s the nobleman who fought alongside Mauritane at Sylvan and who helped complete a critical mission for the Seelie Queen Titania. His operatives include a beautiful but naïve sorceress who possesses awesome powers that she must restrain in order to survive and a soldier turned scholar whose research into new ways of magic could save the world, or end it.” Discussing the mechanics of Sturges’ approach to his novels made this interview quite enlightening for me.

Tim O’Shea: Do you still get a kick out of reading the Library Journal review of last year’s release, Midwinter, which included the line: “Joining Neil Gaiman in making the crossover from comics to prose fiction, Sturges represents a strong, new voice in fantasy.”?

Matthew Sturges: I’ll take any review that puts my name along with Neil Gaiman’s in the same sentence. I realize that it doesn’t create an actual equivalency, but it’s definitely a nice thing to read. It’s true, though, that there aren’t many writers who do both prose and comics. As far as being a “strong new voice in fantasy,” again I’ll take it, but it’s hard to feel “new” when I’m three months shy of forty.

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