The other Selection in Fall is Forest Mage, the middle book of the “Soldier Son” trilogy by Robin Hobb. And here’s what she had to say about her new book:

I like to write about things that scare me.  I write about them not only because it energizes my writing, but because it helps me to look at them and find out why they are so frightening. I’m not talking about monsters under the bed or vampires in the alley.  I’m talking about social fears that I suspect we all have, the ones that are politically incorrect to admit. 

There is that hesitation, that awkwardness when I realize that the person who is bagging my groceries so cheerfully has Downs Syndrome, or that the trainer I’m consulting at the YMCA is herself confined to a wheelchair, or that the nurse taking my statistics has a heavy accent to her English.  We do not recoil in horror, but for most of us, there is a moment of reservation.  “Is there someone else here who could help me? Someone who is more like me?” 

It’s a shameful thing to admit to, but there it is. Most of us perceive a barrier that usually vanishes as soon as one reaches across it. I chose to put Nevare on the far side of such a barrier, and the barrier is one that has become more and more of a boogey-man in our society.  How frightening is Nevare’s difference? Well, he’s not on the cover of the book, is he?