Magic and the Line Between Fantasy and Horror: A Conversation with Indie Author Steve Thomas

This week the Indie Beginning Podcast brings our listeners an interview with indie author Steve Thomas where we discuss his novel The Sangrook Saga, creating magic systems for your writing as well as other topics for our self-publishing friends. If you missed the introduction that Marie Kammerer Franke narrated or want a refresher before the discussion head back to episode 39. Speaking of my lovely co-host, she has disserted us for the week and is working on the next chapter in the ACN universe, so I wondered who would be best to help discuss necromancers and magic systems? Why none other than my good friend, the famous DM Billy Beard!  If you enjoy dark fantasy or are interested in learning more about the indie / self-publishing process, these discussion episodes are for you. Let us know what other topics you are interested in by leaving a comment or sending us an e-mail.

In this Episode:

1. The host’s first impression of this week’s featured beginning.

2. A review of reviews left for the Marvelous Mechanical Man. Don’t forget to review the show!

3. An interview with Steve Thomas / commentary from Dungeon Master Billy Beard.

Topic Questions:

1. Many great stories have been told through a series of short stories. Why did you choose to write The Sangrook Saga in this fashion? Were you inspired by any other novels?

2. The magic system has been praised in many of the reviews left for The Sangrook Saga. What is the basis for the mechanics behind the magic? Did you come across any problems with your magic system as you wrote? For example: did the mechanics evolve throughout the writing process and if so did this force you to go back and change anything.

3. The line between fantasy and horror can be either slim or infinite, The Sangrook Saga seems, to us and many of your reviewers, to walk the line in just the right way. Did you limit anything in the story based on one genre or the other? What other genres would like to mix, if any.

4.  You have written many books in the fantasy genre. Klondaeg The Monster Hunter is next on my list!  Have you thought about writing in another genre? If so would you write under a pseudonym and what are your thoughts on authors who write in multiple genres under the same name?

5. If you could summon some eldritch magic to go back and tell your early writing-self one thing about the life of an indie author, what would that be? And at what cost to your soul…

4. Final Thoughts

The Sangrook Saga is available on Amazon. Remember to leave a review for these stories as well as all of the stories you read. Reviews are such an important way to support an author and they only cost but a few moments of time. In fact, Reviews help podcasters as well. As a self-funded podcast there really isn’t money left over for advertising. Your reviews, word of mouth, and love of books is what keeps Indie Beginning running. If you’ve enjoyed this show please leave a 5-star review on apple podcasts, stitcher, or your preferred podcast platform.

All reviews in this episode were taken from Amazon. Music found in this episode was written and performed by Jahzzar and titled Look Inside. If you are an indie author and would like to hear you story featured on the indie beginning podcast go to ACNBooks.com/submit for more info.