Seeker follows a weary seeker with a violent past who is pulled into a dangerous pursuit involving a kidnapped girl, raider factions, old grief, and a brutal king. How did the idea for Andrew “Ghost” Shelton first come to you?

The idea for Seeker and Ghost first came to me about ten years ago, when I started thinking about a hero who fought as hard to “keep the past alive” and recover what he saw as valuable (books, human history, etc) from the ruins. He was also a bit of a reaction to a lot of protagonists who are true “white hats” or deeply cynical and violent antiheroes. While there is a place for them in fiction, to be sure, I was drawn to the idea of someone who was less Lone Ranger or Punisher and more a man trying to salvage beauty and wisdom from a broken society. He thinks as much more than he shoots, and he listens more than he speaks. Ghost has seen enough of the world to understand its ugliness but he hasn’t surrendered his humanity to it. He constantly tries to weight out what is necessary against what is right. In many ways, he’s a man trying to live by an old code in a world that no longer rewards it.

Seeker combines elements of post-apocalyptic fiction and the classic Western. What inspired you to bring those two genres together?

I’ve long believed that the two genres inhabit a very similar space, as soon as you leave the urban environment. While many post-apocalyptic stories do focus on urban blight and collapse, I think that post-apocalyptic stories set outside those confines frequently drift more or less towards a frontier environment. As the modern societal institutions disappear, people gravitate towards smaller communities, local trade, stronger self-reliance, and deeper personal relationships. At its core, that’s the same environment that built the American West.

Having a very strong tie to Wyoming, I realized that if society were to collapse, much of the region around me would quickly and naturally resemble the frontier it once was. Post-apocalyptic fiction asks what happens after society falls, and Westerns usually ask how people build civilization in hard places. Combining the two just seemed a natural progression, because in some ways, they explore different sides to the same question.

How did you balance Ghost’s violent capabilities with his strong moral code?

Violence is a stark reality of an environment like the one in the world of Seeker. Hard people are asked to make hard choices, and sometimes, those choices end in bloodshed. However, I think that violence can’t be without consequence. Ghost is capable because of the world he lives in and the experiences he has suffered through, but I wanted to focus more on the cost of violence rather than the rush and excitement of it. Every time he pulls his weapon, there’s a reason. When he kills someone, there are consequences, even if he doesn’t get confronted with them right away.

His code doesn’t expect perfection. It’s just one man trying to do the right thing when there aren’t clear or easy answers. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he doesn’t – but he keeps trying. The struggle to try and remain upright in a broken world is a lot more interesting to me than a character who always knows the right way to go or the one who doesn’t care about the repercussions of his actions.

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

I am working on a sequel to Seeker tentatively called Seeker: Salvation.

The story continues Ghost’s journey as new threats emerge across the Rockies and the fragile communities of the region face dangers that could reshape the future of the West. Readers will see familiar characters return while learning more about the forces that shaped the world after the Red Death.

The manuscript is currently well underway, and I am targeting a 2027 release.

Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website