Caroline Ailanthus on The Elf, The Dwarf and the Telegraph (Book 1): Epic Fantasy, Democracy, and Environmental Justice
Host Edith welcomes returning guest Caroline Ailanthus to discuss her new epic fantasy novel The Elf, the Dwarf and the Telegraph: Book One, the first in a trilogy. Caroline explains the story’s large scope and ensemble cast, centered on three protagonists including Gwen, a transgender half-elf with a sword, in a quasi-Roman world on the brink of civil war driven by environmental justice, conservation, science, and threats to democracy. She reads an excerpt depicting a republic’s destabilization and autocratic takeover aided by oligarchs, noting historical inspirations from Sherman, Grant, Lincoln, and Julius Caesar and arguing that environmental problems and political instability are connected. Caroline describes her writing process, research-heavy historical models, spreadsheet character tracking, and structuring one arc into three books, and highlights deliberate Tolkien signals, immersive “history-like” worldbuilding, adult tone without explicit sex, and neurodivergent representation through human/elf/dwarven (“Deger”) neurological differences.
00:00 Welcome Back Caroline
00:54 What the Book Is About
03:42 Fantasy Meets Politics
08:59 Reading the Prologue
11:09 Origins of the Trilogy
15:09 Autocrats and History Rhymes
22:44 Timeless Fantasy Themes
27:47 Writing Process and Characters
31:40 Being Kind to Readers
32:35 Managing Character POVs
33:47 From Standalone to Trilogy
34:37 Civil War Research Scale
37:53 Where to Split Books
41:35 Is Tolkien Still King
45:11 Dwarves and Representation
48:26 Dark Ages and Paper
53:42 Why Read This Book
57:03 Neurodivergent Protagonists
59:55 Closing Thanks and Wrap
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