The Secrets of Shadowcrest follows a faithful night serving England at a time when it is nearing a civil war who is sent on a secret mission to find and bring back a powerful artifact. What inspired the setup of your story?

Believe it or not, most of my story’s inspiration had nothing to do with England. My primary goal was to introduce the world of Cabalia, which I had created while designing board games as a hobby when I was a teenager.

Back in the beginning, sometime around 2015, Cabalia was a fantasy world set vaguely in Medieval times on an abandoned island somewhere in the Atlantic. There wasn’t much in the way of lore. It was just a backdrop for my board games to take place in. There eventually came a point when I felt the need to develop the lore of Cabalia further, and that’s when I started tethering the history of Cabalia to the history of the real world.

It’s a pet peeve of mine when I can’t grasp the calendar system and chronology of a fantasy world, where terms like “the third age” and “second era” get tossed around with little to help the reader understand how they all fit together into the timeline. So, I decided pretty early on to anchor my fantasy world’s history to our world. It could mean anything under the sun if I were to set the story in “the third age,” but if I set it at a specific year, like 1153 AD, the reader has a definite image in their head of where they are in history.

I don’t remember what exactly led me to pick that year as the time to set my story in — I think I just saw a synopsis on the internet of world events around that time and thought it looked interesting. When I did more research about the political situation in England then, I decided it would be the perfect starting point to introduce Cabalia.

In fantasy novels, it’s easy to get carried away by the magical powers of characters. How did you balance the use of supernatural powers?

It might sound like a paradox, but I really wanted to create a fantasy world that was realistic. Even with all the magic of the Cabalia, I wanted it to feel like a plausible version of our world. The thing about our world is that it’s full of limitations, so the magic system of Cabalia needed to be as well. This was a guiding philosophy for me, and I think it helped keep things in check. For every added benefit of magic, there needed to be a limitation or a counter.

A good example of a limitation is the mental effort required for the use of magic and the exhaustion it brings afterward. Sure, magic can be powerful, but it requires a lot more concentration than a snap of the fingers, and there is a cost to using it. It’s not possible to use it as a universal solution to any problem you face.

Aside from limitations, there also exist counters within the magic and alchemy systems themselves. Even the most powerful mage in Cabalia would find themselves in a pinch should an opponent poison them with the right alchemical extract.

Another thing that balanced the use of the supernatural is the real-world principle of practice vs. talent. In pretty much anything, there needs to be a combination of both practice and talent in order to succeed. It doesn’t matter how many hours someone slaves away practicing something if they don’t have a minimum amount of talent to make the thing possible in the first place.

The magic system works in much the same way on Cabalia. Not everyone has the talent to practice magic. For every mage that has what it takes to use it, there are others who don’t. Cabalia is filled with plenty of folks who have to rely on the natural world to meet their needs, just like anywhere else. Some have gotten quite good at it, like the Essari, and others are just average people living their lives the best they know how. It’s meant to be like our world, because it’s set in our world — just with some added bits that have their own rules to follow.

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

Hands down, I think the most important theme was the exploration of Cabalia itself. My primary goal was for the world of my board games to come alive for people, so it was essential to portray Cabalia in a captivating way. Whether I used vivid descriptions or character development, the underlying purpose was to present a world that people would find fascinating — hopefully, fascinating enough to want to read more of.

Another theme that was important for me to explore was that of faith, though that was not my original goal. Early drafts of the story didn’t mention my Christian faith explicitly. I had wanted to create a story that resembled Tolkien’s work, where there may have been religious influence on it, but it was not overt. Whatever my intentions, though, I suppose I just couldn’t help myself. It’s the most important aspect of my life, and it found a way of coming out through the character of Gaimis Zikennig.

When I realized I couldn’t bring myself to avoid the topic, I tried my best to present it in a way that didn’t feel forced. I’ve read too much Christian literature that sacrifices the natural flow of good storytelling to drive home a message, and I didn’t want my book to fall into the same trap.

It took the most time and effort to edit, but I wanted to present the truths of the gospel in a simple way through a conversation that could plausibly happen in real life. The tension between Zala and her brother Gaimis is something that has played out many times in real life, and will likely continue to do so for a good while longer.

Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

Yes, I do plan to write a follow up. It’s a little up in the air right now for how long that will take, given I have more responsibilities to manage than when I wrote the first book. It could take a while, but I definitely want to continue the story I started.

My intention for the next book is to provide a compilation of short stories and novellas that examines the history of Brinwin and Zala, as well as the Zikennig family in general. Readers will be able to experience many of the details of their lives that were only referenced to in the Secrets of Shadowcrest, such as Brinwin’s early days as a Keeper of Alchemy, as well as Zala’s time in the Mages College and the Hearthfell Guard.

It might seem counterintuitive to go backward in time instead of forward, but there is a method to my madness. The groundwork will be laid in the Zikennig siblings’ past that will come to a head in a third book, set after the events of Shadowcrest. That’s when readers will finally learn what happened to Zala and whether she’ll be reunited with William.

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