TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW BOOK
Wand Smoke: Broken is the first of my gunpowder fantasy series of novels and short story collections. In a fantasy world roughly similar our own during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but plagued by hobs, faeries, occult spirits, and other folkloric elements, a blind man and his adopted daughter must learn to let go of their will to revenge on the very world that has made them outcasts.
If I were to summarize the plot...
Just outside a small coal mining town by the name of Village South dwells the bitter, blind, drug-dealing troglodyte, the self-styled cult leader and Lord of Fear, Canti. Together with his sole follower, the Serpent Cursed girl known only as Broken, this wannabe villain seeks power in occult magic enough to take his vengeance on humanity—that is, until his leaden soul is turned to gold when both he and Broken learn what it really means to achieve revenge: to become despair, evil, and the incarnation of tyranny.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE TITLE FOR THIS BOOK?
The series title, Wand Smoke, came to me when I wrote the chapters of the same name. Those two chapters, “Wand Smoke parts I & II,” feature genre elements more typical of gangster films and western novels, which I felt represented the series as a whole—it’s really a fantasy western / fantasy frontier cross genre blend.
As for the novel title, Broken, while Canti is really the main protagonist and point-of-view character, his relationship with his adopted daughter, Broken, symbolizes what this book is really about: broken people are healed when they take responsibility for healing themselves.
Lastly, I should mention why I chose to run the series and book titles together. Wand Smoke captures the genre-mixing so well, I wanted it center stage, and I thought it was catchier than Broken. That’s really the whole reason.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK?
After trying my hand at a sprawling, epic fantasy novel, I wanted to write something much more local. This is most evident in the setting. Many of the set pieces, such as the River Deep, hills and mountains, surrounding forests, and coal mining towns are reflective of and inspired by where I live and grew up in West Virginia. The tone and atmosphere bear the same inspirations—bleakness, smog, poverty, drug abuse, and small town corruption abound.
WHAT DRIVES YOUR CHARACTERS IN YOUR STORY?
At first, both Canti and Broken are driven primarily by a will to vengeance. It is the reason they take interest in occult magic. However, as they plot progresses, their motivations and end-goals change. For Canti, he comes to care a lot more about his role as a father figure for Broken. As for Broken herself, she’s still struggling to re-learn right and wrong from her former perspective.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS A PIVOTAL SCENE IN YOUR BOOK AND WHY?
It’s a bit of a spoiler to talk about, but the scene in which Canti realizes that the yokels of Village South actually want him around—that they expect him to be a part of their community and miss him when he isn’t there—is a major turning point for the character. Shortly after that scene, Canti also comes to terms with his own imperfections, imperfections which have hitherto resulted in him pushing away both friends and family. He takes counsel from a more experienced, more responsible parent and citizen, and determines to seek forgiveness for his recent transgressions.
IF YOUR BOOK WERE TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE, WHO WOULD BE YOUR CAST?
If you’re asking me about actors, I have no idea. But I can give you the main cast of characters: blind cult-leader Canti, the Serpent Cursed seer Broken, Deputy Grant, alchemists Gnostius and Domhnall, mystic Virva, and the specter of Old King Ogier.
WHAT CRITERIA DID YOU USE WHEN SELECTING THE COVER FOR YOUR BOOK?
My only criteria for book covers are that I don’t hate them, which begs the question, “What covers would I hate?” The answer: composite photos of action scenes or poses with the characters front and center. Such covers scream generic so loudly that I won’t pick up a book with one on principle.
I chose Wand Smoke: Broken’s cover because of its representation of a mountainous land covered in purple miasma—very fitting for the setting.
WAS THERE A MESSAGE IN YOUR BOOK THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO CONVEY?
Yes, that self-overcoming and responsibility are the spiritual cures to unfulfilled wills to power and impulses toward tyranny and revenge. I mentioned growing up in West Virginia. Here, most people give up or give in to some form of self-medication to deal with the disappointment with their lives and with themselves. The few that don’t and won’t try to numb the pains of self-consciousness, like myself, struggle between despair and resentment. This novel is a metaphorical map of a narrow pathway out from being trapped by these feelings.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE AS A WRITER?
My greatest challenge is despair. When I am sitting alone each early morning, before the sun has risen because it is my only time free to write, I am sometimes stricken by the horror of the reality that what I’m writing might not be worth anything to anyone. After all, I’m one author among hundreds of thousands, most of whom will never be read due to the sheer volume out there. It is difficult to endure this knowledge and to keep my head down—to keep writing in spite of the uncertainty. How I’ve maintained morale thus far is yet an enigma to me.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR NEW WRITERS?
Embrace imperfection, and realize that writing is the journey and not the destination (even though you won’t feel like it at times). My biggest mistake starting out was to think I had to be good right away, or that my first drafts needed to be clean and acceptable. The reality is, whether you’re a new writer or an experienced one, when your writing, you’re not primarily producing a story or novel (though you are also doing that). Primarily, you are producing a better version of yourself. Everything you write is practice and exercise as to make you better at writing. With that in mind, if you’re new, realize that you’ll have to produce a lot of work before you start producing anything that you’re really proud of—and that’s alright! It is as it must be. Just don’t give up, and keep writing. So long as you are honest with yourself, you’ll become a better author over time.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE READERS CAN VISIT FOR UPDATES, EVENTS AND SPECIAL OFFERS?
I blog on my website, wildislelit.com. I also post stories and excerpts there whenever I have something new about to release. I’ve done a giveaway through my mailing list as well, and intend to do them more regularly in the near future. I do indie author book reviews there as well, and I intend to expand and host a podcast as well (one day). If you enjoy fiction or philosophy, you’ll enjoy what I post there.
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