Getting 'The Band' Together: Questions For Nicholas Eames

Ever since Led Zeppelin took it up on themselves to sing songs about hobbits, rock music and fantasy literature have had an intimate relationship. But rarely has anyone explored that overlap as effusively as Nicholas Eames. The author's debut novel, , became an out-of-the-blue hit in 2016 thanks to its witty, rollicking mashup of sword-and-sorcery bombast with copious references to the real-world canon of classic rock: Everything from a town called Coverdale (as in David Coverdale, singer of Whitesnake) to a character named Moog (after the legendary inventor Bob Moog and his eponymous synthesizer). Also, the many bands of monster-slaying, treasure-snatching adventurers in Eames' novel operate — and inspire widespread worship — the