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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Lev Grossman's THE MAGICIAN KING ML interviews the TIME Magazine writer and novelist Words by Marla E. Schwartz and this year the infinitely creative Lev Grossman made an appearance. Grossman, a senior writer, book critic and technology writer for TIME Magazine discussed his fourth novel, THE MAGICIAN KING, a New York Times bestseller and the winner of the John W. Campbell Award, which is a sequel to his critically acclaimed book THE MAGICIANS, also a Times bestseller. T In THE MAGICIANS, Quentin Coldwater, a student at a secret wizard college in upstate New York, becomes engrossed with a series of books set in the magical Fillory. He discovers it really exists and sets out to find it. In the process, he suffers a great loss and almost dies. But things turn around and he and his friends become rulers. THE MAGICIAN KING takes place two years later when Quentin and his friend Julia go on their own journey. The comparison to J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter dynasty will be made, but Grossman has created an imaginary world all his own, and don't think for a moment that these books are G-rated. An hour before his presentation he answered a few questions about his work. Miami Living: Is Quentin's journey similar to yours? Lev Grossman: Quentin is in high school, at the very beginning of THE MAGICIANS and is a lot like I was; I had problems with depression, I was anxious. I was very into reading but I wasn't as tall as he was and I sucked at math and he's very good in math. But in other respects, the kind of journey I ended up going on is much more like Julia's in THE MAGICIAN KING. I spent a long time without a career, temping and trying to get things together. here's no question that Miami Book Fair International is a dazzling example of bountiful literary talent, ML: Are you writing a trilogy? LG: There will be a third. LG: The truth is, since you asked, the title is almost the first thing. I'm almost superstitious about it. I've never changed a title of a book from that first moment. So I haven't told anybody about it. But I do have one. The title is like a seed and everything coalesces around it. ML: I really enjoy your work in TIME Magazine very much, especially your interviews with Jonathan Franzen and Mark Zuckerberg. Most people cannot seem to figure out how to traverse both professions, was that a difficult transition for you? LG: I'd always wanted to be a novelist and writing criticism was something I began to do in order to support myself. I found my voice as a critic much faster than I found my voice as a writer of fiction. ML: How do you find the time? LG: I've been taking leaves of absence from TIME. ML: Because you're considered the preeminent book critic in this country, do you have difficulty reading reviews of your work? ML: Do you have a title yet? LG: I don't. ML: When do you come up with the titles? LG: I have a lot of trouble with it. You'd think because I've written a lot of book reviews that the process would sort of be demystified for me. ML: Is THE MAGICIANS going to be on TV? LG: It's been optioned and is in pre-production. ML: Is someone else adapting it? LG: They got the guys (Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz) who wrote THOR and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. ML: Can people find information about your work at levgrossman.com? LG: Yes. I have a blog there. My twitter account is @leverus. ML: Thank you. LG: It's been a real pleasure. ML MIAMI LIVING 31