Peter Gribble: Pacifism, Philosophy, History, and Intuition Inspired His Fantasy Series

I had the pleasure of welcoming award-winning fantasy author Peter Gribble back to Let’s Go Live!, and it was such a joy to catch up on everything that’s happened since our first interview. Last year we talked about the first book in his City of Magicians trilogy, and today we celebrated the completion of the trilogy, complete with a major plot twist at the end of book three that has inspired Peter to expand the story into a six-book saga. He’s currently writing book four and hopes to have it released within the next two years.

Peter took us deep into the incredible world he has created, sharing how his lifelong love of history, astrology, mythology, and reading helped shape every aspect of City of Magicians. We also talked about his fascination with languages. Having grown up in Canada and spending part of his childhood in France, he developed a love of learning languages that continues today. That passion even led him to create an original language, complete with its own symbols, for his fantasy world. As if that weren’t enough, he also designed his own shorthand to capture story ideas, along with the legal system, court structure, and governing order that bring authenticity to his fictional world.

On the July 30 episode, we discussed:
00:00 Intro and welcome back
00:59 City of Magicians trilogy won the BookFest Gold Medal
06:05 The fantasy world's unique magic system and philosophy of consciousness
14:34 Bringing a lifetime of philosophy into fiction
17:04 History, pacifism, and the real-world events that inspired the series
22:34 Researching history, medieval courts, and ancient recipes
27:21 Building fantasy worlds through maps, astronomy, and original languages
33:05 Peter's daily writing routine and writing the ending before the beginning
42:29 Writing for twenty-two years and creating an award-winning trilogy
47:47 Learning multiple languages and the joy of lifelong curiosity
56:12 Where to find Peter and his books online
57:01 If he could wave a wand, where would he be in a year?

Let's Go Live! is my weekly Instagram interview series featuring indie and traditionally published authors, editors, bookstagrammers, book bloggers, and publishing professionals from around the world.