Realm Wars looks like an exciting story. What can you tell us about Drake?
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From the very beginning of the book, Drake gets
metaphorically thrown into the deep end. He wakes up in an unknown place with
no recollection of who he is or where he’s from. He’s also not given very much
time to adapt and assess things before he gets tossed into other problematic
situations throughout the story. Drake’s character is about trying to find the
best way to move forward with the hand that gets dealt to him, even if at times
it seems like there’s no good decisions available.
That’s an amazing cover.
Can you tell us a little about it?
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I’m not an overly artistic person myself, but my
girlfriend is passionate about that kind of stuff and was willing to put up with
my craziness and help me design it. I wanted something simple, but
eye-catching. I also wanted something that could be used for the entire series
without a crazy amount of modification. She came up with this design and
suggested that each volume have a different background color to differentiate
them. I knew I liked it and got positive feedback from some close friends that
was positive, so we decided to go forward with it.
How did you come up with the story in Realm Wars?
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I liked writing both fantasy and science fiction
books growing up. At one point around fifteen or sixteen, I thought it’d be
cool to put the two together in a world where they’re at war against each
other. From there, I came up with the idea that the magic within the fantasy
portion of the world would be unique to each character, which is where the idea
for Gifts came from. Since then, it’s just been about writing and re-writing
the actual story itself and figuring out a plot that I felt confident about.
How many books do you have planned for the series?
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I just released Volume 2 this week, and I have
ideas stretching out to Volume 6 or 7. I have an ending in mind, but there’s a
lot of ideas within this world that I think would be fun to explore. Part of
the reasons the books are relatively short is because it allows me to progress
the story forward a small amount; see what people liked and didn’t like; and
then take that knowledge forward in future volumes.
Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when
writing Realm Wars?
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Getting out of my own way was tough. My
standards for myself are pretty high; so I’ve written and scrapped at least ten
different versions of the story before arriving here. I would write a full
story, set it down for a few months and then read it as if it was someone
else’s book. I’d then proceed to tear it apart and start from scratch with my
notes in mind. This version of the book was the only one that I read and said
“hey, this is halfway decent. Maybe people will like this.”
What do you like to do when not writing?
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My full-time job is in cyber security and I also
own and run a martial arts school by where I live. If I’m not doing anything
related to those, I’m usually watching a series online or playing video games.
Those two activities help me be more creative and come up with ideas for
stories.
Where can readers find out more about your work?
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As of this point, the Realm Wars Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RealmWarsOfficial)
is the main page for keeping up-to-date. If something gets released within the
series – or I release a new series entirely – chances are you’ll find out about
it there.