Tidestep: The Water Anchor follows a restless blacksmith’s apprentice whose search for a stolen ancient artifact draws him into a conflict over memory, mortal freedom, and the hidden forces shaping history. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

This story was the convergence of some concepts that had been circling around in my head for a few years. First, I listened to a number of podcasts where they discussed what it would look like if humans were not alone. Would a being who watched intervene, or would they just observe? Second, screenwriting taught me the power of story, and a few other podcasters reinforced it: humans are hardwired to hear and decode stories better than other forms of information. Third, I loved fantasy stories when I was young, and I wanted to try one that tied all this together.

How did you develop the novel’s central idea that knowledge can be preserved, distorted, forgotten, or weaponized?

Mostly through studying history, politics, and religion. It turns out there is no one “history” that is correct. Anyone who’s lived through enough of it sees that what ultimately gets recorded and believed is a subjective view, personalized to the person recording it. Politics is a different but similar example: various major political groups have recorded overlapping histories differently, according to their beliefs, over the last decade. Which one gets passed down is still an open question.

Which member of Zaphiel’s company was the most challenging, or enjoyable, to write?

Every character has enjoyable and challenging moments while writing, but I think Marek was the most fun to write because she does so many things that are unexpected. Rylor was also very enjoyable because there were multiple scenes that turned out much differently than I thought they would when I started writing them. Rylor just decided to do or say something different than what I was planning.

What does the Water Anchor represent beyond its role as an artifact within the story?

I don’t want to give away too much because the role of the Anchor Stones will become clearer over the series. Each Stone represents what our distant ancestors thought were the essence of the world: water, fire, air, soil, spirit. From Zaphiel’s reading of the runes on the stone and the epigraphs on the header pages at the beginning of each of the book’s five parts, a reader can see the stones are clearly thematic. Water signifies service, flow, and reflection. Each of those themes is present in this book. The entire ensemble of Anchor Stones will form a complete picture when the series completes.

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