The Legacy of a Fool follows a young man who awakens in a post-apocalyptic world to discover harsh truths about his past as he fights to spare the world’s survivors from a devastating military project. Where did the idea for this novel come from?

The inspiration for this novel came from my childhood love of Nintendo games and some of the fantasy movies that were popular during the 1980s, such as The Last Starfighter and The Neverending Story. When I first came up with the idea of writing a novel, I wanted to write something that captured the same spirit that was present in those old video games and movies – I basically wanted to write something that would have inspired a younger version of myself.

The inspiration for the book’s main protagonist, Devin Skye, indirectly came from Eustace Scrubb, a character who appears in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle, the third, fourth, and final books respectively in C.S. Lewis’ fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. As a kid I was always fascinated by Eustace because he started out as a deeply flawed individual that, as a reader, you couldn’t help but hate, however, after undergoing a radical transformation, he eventually becomes a hero of sorts. I always found his character metamorphosis to be fascinating and even relatable in a very human kind of way.​

What is the most difficult part of your writing process?

The most difficult part of writing The Legacy of a Fool was getting into the heads of each of the characters. I wanted to make sure that I gave each of them a standout personality as well as a unique voice without going over-the-top. For example, Sarina’s diary entries come from the perspective of a soft, sweet, and loving young woman. However, as a male, I found writing her thoughts to be somewhat difficult. I owe a lot to my wife’s feedback as it regards getting the female voices and emotions correct.

The science inserted in the fiction, I felt, was well balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?

I tried to create and envision a future that was both fantastical yet, to some degree, realistic based on the trajectory that our modern society is currently headed down. The science fiction and fantasy elements that I created were intended to invoke a sense of wonder in the reader without going too far out in left field, so to speak. I tried to introduce just enough realism that, with a little bit of imagination, the reader could see some of these elements as a plausible reality. In short, I wanted to create a world in which humans were able to achieve a great deal of their potential in both the technological and spiritual realms.

Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on? 

​Yes, I am really excited about my next novel. I’ve decided to step up the sci-fi elements by including more modern-day conspiracies, such as the Mandela Effect, glitches in the matrix, time travel, and mysterious alien encounters. While this novel can stand alone, there will be several occurrences from The Legacy of a Fool that will link into it.

I hope to release my next novel later this year. Please stay up to date by reading my blog on my website: www.jhendersonbooks.com. I usually post once a month about upcoming events. You can also stay in the loop by subscribing to my mailing list found on my website under the contact me tab.

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