The Redemption of Jarek follows a man struggling to find his place in the world following his banishment from the only home he has ever known and the throne he was destined to occupy. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Readers of my previous material with long memories might recall when Alathea mentioned one of the fights in this book, or perhaps that goes too far back. More recent is how Jarek shows up in The Fate of Lenn, takes a beating, slinks away, and is never seen or heard from again in that book. His whereabouts near the end of that book may have even been mentioned in passing, but with no explanation given. In short, I have set the table for this story since way back, and it was waiting for me to be ready.

A personal challenge was to explore the redemption of an already introduced character who could be considered a minor antagonist during his first appearance. I have written pure villains who were killed, and some who were stopped without having to die. I have written a sympathetic book about a villain who genuinely wishes to save her world from suffering and loss she had to feel, and I hoped readers picked up on the toxic forces teaching her toxic lessons from the beginning of her life, her inability to be better than them, and how this could apply to some people in our world. I had yet to write about anyone who faced that antagonist’s defeat and, when offered a slim opportunity to do something different, successfully took what they learned and became their own kind of hero.

I find that authors sometimes ask themselves questions and let their characters answer them. Do you think this is true for your characters?

When composing the early drafts of the story, everything progresses a certain way because I have certain things in mind that I wish to happen. I couldn’t leave it like that. Over the course of revisions, trying to see the world as these characters do, I think I develop a better idea of how some things should go based on my improved understanding of what these characters would say/do. Some of the “discussion” scenes of this book retained a necessary goal given their purpose in the story, but how the characters arrive at that goal shifts to better fit the personalities involved. How do they argue with each other in the most in-character manner? It’s also important to determine how Jarek would handle his “council”, a glorified band of powerful criminals who once had royal patronage/sanction for their actions. Can he take for granted that they are on board with any plan he makes just because they didn’t have an immediately better option for a leader when they found themselves outlawed?

There tends to be an in-character answer to these questions. While the story at the top level didn’t stray far from my plan (and can’t, because it’s a prequel and certain events are canon to existing works), the way it arrives at this destination is much more fitting.

Is there any moral or idea that you hope readers take away from the story?

I often write about leadership figures because I like to contrast duty and responsibility with entitlement, but that’s just one dimension of things. I have a few things I hope the reader considers in case they haven’t before:

1. What does redemption mean? How do you arrive at it when there’s no culturally specific rite, no rubric handed to you, yet strange circumstances give you an opportunity to continue to act after your terrible failure? And what if those who have the most right to dictate your path to redemption are no longer available for guidance?

2. Some might perceive Jarek as broken by the end of his adventure, but others will see him as transformed. The path of redemption may begin with deep resentment, but by the end of it, you may resemble those you hated and wronged the most.

3. Sometimes, those who insist everyone must perceive them as absolutely powerful, absolutely dominant, those who display a need for absolute control of everyone and everything around them, they are the most broken and insecure people of all. The meaning of an imperial mask in this story has not changed at all since I wrote about Alathea. You are meant to ask what it’s there to hide. After all, this is a story about her first ancestor to insist on wearing one, and he, too, insists on being perceived as fearless, indomitable, and wise. How desperately far he feels he must take this act poses a greater long term threat to him (and by extension his people) than most of his enemies.

Also, while the current leadership of the Russian Federation didn’t invent using prisoners/captives to bloat an army to intimidating size, or to have more lives to throw at a bloodbath, I was thinking specifically of them and to some extent their mercenary partners when I wrote the chapter “Debtors and Prisoners”. Elcimer, too, must not waver or compromise, nor must anyone ever see him afraid. I wish despotic villains were relegated to historical and speculative fiction, but here we are. The archetype lives on for a reason.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

My decision to release this book so soon after the last might not have surprised anyone more than me. In my initial view, I had an original trilogy, and a prequel trilogy, and that was that until I had some other idea beyond this series. Yet, to finish this interview with one of the facts that started it, I laid the groundwork for this story in its predecessors. I have the strangest feeling I am running out of time, and I trusted no one else to finish this for me.

Time will tell if I’m going to surprise myself again.

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