Colin Bohl asked Michael J. Sullivan:

I am fascinated with The Legends of the First Empire series, and I have but one question. Seeing your influences, could you tell me what fictional work this series of yours reflects or perhaps is reminiscent of?

Michael J. Sullivan Influences are funny things. Many times you don't even know what they are until someone mentions it reminds them of x, or y, or z, and then you take a minute to think on it, realizing that you also had exposure to whatever was mentioned, and wonder if your subconscious "went there." Some of the things I know I was putting in there are going to seem somewhat disjointed, but they are what they are.

* The island of misfit toys - was a place in the claymation version of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer. I'm sure it still plays around Christmas time (it did every year when I was young). From it I got the notion of people who are basically "broken" in one way or another. They aren't your typical heroes with "a special set of skills" who are inearly-invincible bad a**es. They are the east opposite of that. And yet the very things that makes them "broken" also gives them some strengths that in the right situations can really make the difference.

* Our founding fathers - I've long been fascinated with history and always enjoy "the true" stories rather than the "myths" that we usually learn about. I also like how people can be cast in a different light depending on whether they end up on the winning or losing side. So the concept of "History is written by those that win" is something I really wanted to play around with. My Riyria books talk of the deeds of heroic folk from the past, but what if there were a whole slew of ordinary people who were the ones that really tipped the scales and made a difference. Because they aren't in power, their deeds would be largely lost in time while others could easily usurp their deeds and twist the truth about the vents and how they occurred.

* The wizard of Oz - Given the time period of this tale, it's interesting that the main characters are all women: Dorthy, The Wicked Witch, Glinda the Good Witch. And the main male role is a scam artist hiding behind a facade to make himself "seem great" when he certainly wasn't. It's also interesting to see how women problem solve differently than men. Dorthy didn't pick up a sword and slay the WW on first meeting. Instead, she builds a collation (and again they are misfits) and they work TOGETHER to do what needs doing. The tin man, lion, and scarecrow gain respect for Dorthy based on her actions, and they followed where she led.

I can see a lot of these things thorough the series "Legends of the First Empire" and even more so when considering the entire story arc (who only I and my wife know at the moment.

Hope that answers your question. I feel like it was kinda a ramble.

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