The Blackened Yonder: Planar Lost: Book One follows a village priest and woman involved with a group practicing forbidden magic. Each faces internal conflicts and moral quandaries, leading them to form an alliance against the evil in their world. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I take a lot of inspiration from events in nonfiction that I read. Although I’m not religious myself, I find it interesting to write characters like Father Latimer and explore struggles of faith and moral conflict. For Athenne, I’ve read many stories over the years about people who joined terrorist or hate groups and regretted it, and I thought introducing such an element into a fantasy setting might be interesting to write about. That is not a commentary on the rightness, wrongness, or morality of any of the characters in the story, since such labels are relative to perspective, but it’s what initially led me to write that story. I also try to inject a little bit of myself into all my characters, for better or worse. I’ve never participated in a violent radical organization, of course, but I’m often conflicted!

The world you created in this novel is brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you wrote?

I’ve been working on the world of the setting since around 2013 and have a large document of lore that goes into extensive detail about everything in the setting. That’s primarily for my own personal reference. I draw much inspiration from real things in history. For example, I adapted elements of the system of matrilineal inheritance in the setting very loosely from historical and some isolated contemporary cultures, and certain places in antiquity. I try to fill in holes and gaps in things like laws and customs as I write, especially if it might cause a problem for the consistency of the story. My editor sometimes says no one will care about certain small nuances, but I do.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Initially, I wasn’t going to include any elements of romance in the series whatsoever, but eventually, it did come up for certain characters where it felt natural. Mostly, I wanted to emphasize the messiness of life, the variability of individuals, and the importance of friendship, friend love, and other non-romantic social bonds, especially between genders. Another important theme is loneliness, and the sense of alienation and isolation most of us often feel in life.

When will book two be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?

The second book is already available on Amazon. I’m hoping to release the third book and a prequel of sorts at some point in 2024. There’ll be four books in the series in total, excluding the prequel story. The second novel continues the Undeath event described in the first book and introduces many new villains and characters. In fact, many readers’ favorite character is introduced in the second book. She’s a side character but plays an important role in much of the story. The second novel features more action and fantastical elements, and I think the third book and prequel take that even further. I don’t want the books to be all action all the time, because I feel that can be boring, so I try to strike a decent balance.

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