Building Magic, Monsters & Morally Complex Villains: C.A. House | Author Spotlight

SPEAKER_05 0:00

In the author's spotlight, where the stories collide. Twenty authors waiting. Let curiosity guide. All genres invited. From horror district. Unravel the tales at our podcast heartbeat.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Welcome back to another edition of the Author Spotlight series. This is where we step behind the pages to meet the people who create the stories that we love. We'll talk about their book, their writing journey, and the story behind the story, and probably a few things neither of us plan to talk about. Because around here, the best conversations have a way of taking us somewhere unexpected.

SPEAKER_06 0:50

That is for sure. Today I'm putting CA House in the spotlight. CA, welcome to Travel Time Stories. I'm so glad to have you here.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I'm very happy to be here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:02

So before we dive into your book, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our audience and tell us a little about who you are.

unknown 1:09

All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Uh my pen name is CA House. I'm a husband, father of three, and I live in the Pacific Northwest. I love writing, reading. I've been obsessed with both since I was like in the fourth, fifth grade. Right. I love watching movies with my family. I'm a big fan of horror movies, actually. Yay. I actually hope to write horror someday if, you know, I feel like I've gained enough skill and I can nail it enough. I'm actually experimenting with some horror elements in the third book that I'm currently working on. So I also love playing games, video games. Oh, I love swimming. I love going to the coast. I love Oregon coasts. Not a lot of people do because they're so cold, but I love the stormy, windy weather here.

SPEAKER_06 1:55

Oh, yeah. That would be awesome just to go down there.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Me too. Yeah. Well, we're super excited to get to know you and to talk about Archblade, Legend of the Defiler. Your story takes the crew from the Starship Forerunner and strands them on a world of magic, warriors, and necromancy, where all their scientific knowledge, you know, may not be enough to get them home. And then right at the center, you have Angel, a scientist from The Forerunner, and then Lark, a warrior from the kingdom of Cesarea. I hope I'm saying that correctly. That's how I pictured it in my mind of me too. But these two people who really shouldn't understand each other's worlds at all, let's start right there with them. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Well, Angel is, she's an extremely talented scientist. She's focused her whole career on scientific theory and trying to develop new ideas and technology based on their people's energy-based prism technology. Because they did they discovered that they could create incredible amounts of power through the use of specialized prisms. And that's how they developed their faster-than-light travel technology. But all interest into technology ended there. But she's thinking, I think there's a lot more we can do. So she works on theories and ideas with that. Lark, he was raised by two very prominent people in his, in his world. His father was the leader of the Arcblades. His mother was one of the most prominent and powerful users of essence or healing magic. And he kind of grew up with the knowledge and the expectation that he would follow in that in one way or another. And when they come together, you see how those personality traits come with each other because he's he always worries about what's expected of him. He always worries like, I have to do the right thing and I have to do what is right. And with her, it's always like, I need to figure out the solution to this problem. I always need to plan ahead. And, you know, they don't necessarily those two ideas don't necessarily clash, but the way that they kind of come against each other and then eventually complement each other, I hope is a at least a good way that comes out in the rest of the book.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Yeah, I love the fact that, like you just said, you know, they don't necessarily, those two things don't necessarily oppose each other, but I think they bring out something in the other one that needs to be brought out. And without that, it's not coming out in the other person, if that makes sense. So yeah. Very much so.

SPEAKER_06 4:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

I I I really love that. Which came first for you? The ideal of combining science fiction and fantasy for these two characters from completely different worlds. Let's say the characters came first.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

I've had the I I didn't have exact names and personalities for them, but the aspects of who the characters are, you know, especially the intelligence against the passionate strength. That is something I've had in my head for a long time. The idea of combining the science fiction and fantasy, that's that's an interesting question because to one degree or another, I've actually been planning this book since I was in the fifth grade. Wow. The moment I started reading fantasy novels, I started with this book called Magician Apprentice by Raymond Feist. Incredible book. Strongly recommend to anybody who loves traditional fantasy, an incredible book. But I read it when I was in the fifth grade and I was obsessed. And I was thinking, oh my gosh, I want to write this stuff. So after starting with a blatant ripoff of one of my favorite fantasy games, which got me a good grade in this class, I wanted to try to come up with something on my own. And I've never really been able to put it together until, you know, a few years ago, when it just randomly popped in my head. It's like, what if I made this a science fiction and fantasy blend? And all the parts came together. You know, all the elements of like all the different science fiction shows I've watched and all the fantasy books I've read and the different ways that they come together. It made sense for my book, and that's what I finally was able to get a good plot with good characters, I hope. And yeah, that's how it all came together.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

I love that. Wow. That's fascinating.

SPEAKER_06 6:29

Two of my favorite genres, too, all in one book. And I think that is what really, I mean, got me right off. I was like, oh wow, this is really awesome. So Angel comes from a world where presumably she's been trained to look for evidence, explanations, you know, scientific reasons for whatever she encounters. And then you drop her into the middle of a planet where magic is real. At that point, all I could think of, what does that do to someone whose understanding of reality has been built around science, not magic?

SPEAKER_00 7:06

You know? Well, to her credit, I really love the idea of her thinking, I want to learn about this. I love that there's magic. I love that it's so integrated in this society, and I love writing her as a character that isn't threatened by things she doesn't understand, but she just sees it as a new challenge to understand it. And I really love the parts where Lark and Angel talk, and she comes up with this theory and this idea behind aspects of magic, and he just sits there like no one has ever thought of this. No one's ever taken this scientific approach to our system of magic that in some ways is almost theological because of their beliefs behind it, you know? And yeah, uh I mean there's a there's a lot of ways that they get lost because they're they're really unprepared when magic's used against them. But at the same time, I feel like she's she's set up as a key character to help make sure that they understand it better.

SPEAKER_06 8:05

Yeah. So was part of the fun for you exploring how quickly we label something impossible simply because it doesn't fit what we already understand or know?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah. I I feel like I feel like that's that's that's a such an easy trap to fall into. I've seen it my entire life. I see it a lot with other people's writing for their perceptions, and I wanted to embrace an entire story of like all these different people that challenge that. You have a preconceived notion, a preconceived belief, and circumstances force you to rethink it, that force you to think, I can do better than this, and I need to learn. I feel like that's an element I have almost throughout my whole book.

SPEAKER_06 8:48

Yeah. So if you personally had to choose CA, you're stranded on Durance and can take one piece of technology from the Forerunner or learn one form of magic from Durance. Which one would you pick? This was a hard one for me because I know what I want to pick, but I wanted to know what you want to pick.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

It feels like the best piece of technology would be their data pads because they function as a scanning storage unit, almost like a really advanced smartphone. It's kind of like a combination between a smartphone and like tricorders from Star Trek, and it feels like that's the most versatile piece of technology that could be used for survival, getting around, and understanding your surroundings. And then as far as magic goes, I mean, there's it's hard to say because there's pieces of that that you guys haven't ran into yet in the book. So I don't necessarily want to spoil anything, but there's there's aspects of magic that you see later that are very important about shaping and taking care of the environment around you.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

I I mean, I first off I loved writing that. So being able to experience that myself would be wonderful. So without spoiling too many more details, that would probably be my answer.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Okay. Well, I'm looking forward to getting to that.

SPEAKER_06 10:13

That answer up this afternoon.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Right, exactly. So something else that your characters uh there's the moral complexity and then the difficult decisions that the characters face. And your book hook actually asks a pretty big question, like how far will the crew go to make it home? That's a huge question. So was there, did you already have like a moral line you knew you wanted to force the characters to confront? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

I mean, the there there was a couple I had in mind. I mean, the biggest thing is about personal involvement in a conflict that doesn't seem like it's yours or that you should be a part of, because I feel like that's something that's toyed with to one degree or another in pretty much every science fiction media out there is when you run into another civilization, you know, how involved do you get? And they are really good about trying to make sure, you know, we don't do that. But then circumstances push you more and more to where you have to make a decision and decide, well, what's really best for these people? And that's the biggest one I wanted to make sure that I explored in my book.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Yeah. So when you when you're exploring this, do you already know what you would do in the situation? Or have you written choices where even you aren't sure what you would do?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

In the first book, I feel it's pretty cut and clear. You know, I'm it's to to me personally, it's a really clear choice as what I would do. And I feel like the majority of my readers might feel the same way. And, you know, I'm fine if they don't, you know. I I love the idea of, you know, readers coming up to me saying, you know, I'm not sure if I would have done this, and then talking about what the characters might think and feel. But in the later books, particularly, you know, two and three that I'm working on, I expand and make it a lot more gray. I make it a lot more complex and make it a lot more like I I don't know if this is a heroic act or if this is something I'm okay with. And, you know, I I I want people to think about that. I want them, I want, I want them to be kept up going, my gosh, I can't believe that happened. I don't know if I like this, but you know, at the same time they understand it. And yeah, that's that's kind of what I'm going for.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Yeah, that kind of leads to what I was thinking like, is is a good person still a good person after making a terrible choice for what they believe is the right reason.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

I feel like it's I feel like it has a lot to do with how they deal with the consequences and the fallout of that choice. I mean, it's easy to say, hey, I had no other choice, but it also matters whether you're willing to like stare in the face of those consequences and deal with them and take responsibility for them.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yes. I agree with that. So Angel wants to get her people home, and then Lark wants to save his people. So what happens when those two goals stop pointing in the same direction?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Well, oh, I mean, uh talking about what the characters you'll want and think. I mean, obviously they want to get home. And it's funny, is because there's there's reasons that they need to get home that aren't even fully revealed in the first book. They don't, you know, there's there's hints that are dropped and a little bit of a hook at the end, but they are very eager to get home. And at and yes, Lark wants to save his people, but he's also set in the fact that, you know, they're going to keep doing what they they're doing, and eventually they'll win. Eventually they'll figure it out. You know, he's he, I mean, he sees from the beginning about how the Forerunners technology is it's at risk of being just claimed as a prize, and he says to himself, no, I'm not going to be a part of this. I refuse to let this happen. So he's very passionate about not exploiting other people, even if it benefits his causes.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Yeah. I like that about his character.

SPEAKER_06 14:15

Yeah, me too, very much so. We also need to talk about your villains because you don't give us just one. You have two major villains who are apparently very different from one another.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:27

So without giving away too much, introduce us to them.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Well, they represent what I consider to be the two best kinds of villains. Because on one hand, you've got the complex, intriguing, even morally gray kind of villain that they have, you know, justification, they have reasons, and you you can't help but think there's things about this person I actually admire. And you can't help but think, if I was in their shoes, maybe I would have done the same thing, you know. I love that kind of complexity. Those are always the best villains. On the other side of that, I also love a pure, evil, unredeemable, just a horrible, terrible person. There's no complexity. There's nothing in there's nothing interesting about why or what they do. They just, they're evil, they like making people suffer, and it's easy to hate them. You know, you don't have to think too hard about it. You just enjoy hating who they are, you love seeing them fall, you love seeing them, you know, you know, they end up losing in the end, and you get that extra satisfaction from it.

SPEAKER_06 15:35

So yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

That was the inspiration between those two villains.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Yeah, I would liken I would liken that kind of villain to Cersei from Game of Thrones. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:46

Good example. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

So what makes each of these villains dangerous? Well, the meticulous complex one, he's dangerous because he's extremely intelligent and he he thinks and he plans almost everything. You know, he understands his enemies. He understands what makes them tick and the best ways to bring them down through, you know, surgical precision. The other one, what makes him dangerous is that he's so ruthless and that he gives zero thought or care to the consequences of his actions. And if he's determined enough, he just wants to see them burn. He doesn't care about what might happen to them or maybe even him to an extent. I mean, he has a lot of self-interest, but at the same time, you know, did not arguably one might be more dangerous because he's capable of more, but the other one's more dangerous because he will go further because of how you know chaotic and destructive he can be.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:49

So I wonder which is more scary to you. A villain who knows they're evil or one who genuinely thinks they're right.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Oh, the definitely the second one. It's always the second one because I mean, one that's the one that honestly believes they're right, they can do so much more with what they have available to them. They can recruit people to their cause. They can utilize resources and parts of their of who they are to achieve their goals. And it's it's all the things that make a protagonist so capable, but just turned around for evil causes. And, you know, it it feels that they are so much more dangerous. I'm trying to think of a good example, but uh but yeah, yeah. I mean, the other the other one obviously can be more dangerous, but they're simple in a way that, you know, it's not as complicated to take them out, for lack of a better term.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

I had an example that would fit that, but now I can't think of his name in the show. I can only think of his real name. So that doesn't help much. But from uh The Walking Dead, I was thinking of Jeffrey Dean Morgan. His character would fit that, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

I mean was that the governor?

SPEAKER_03 18:07

No, he's the one that carried the stick. He had like the huge following. He was one of the leaders. He wasn't the governor, but he had this huge following. He was this bad guy who, you know, loved to kill people. If you're listening to this, drop the name in the comments.

unknown 18:24

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Good idea. Because I know somebody listening knows who I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_06 18:29

So, CA, do either of your villains see themselves as the hero of the story?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

The more complicated one, for sure. He he knows what he's doing is wrong. He knows that he's gonna be viewed as a villain, but as you find out, there are reasons behind what he does. And what's interesting is, gosh, this is hard to do without spoiling anything. You learn more about who he is and his background. And, you know, actually, um, this isn't this isn't spoiling too much, but I'm actually planning on writing a book because the first three books kind of all happen, you know, one after the other, almost like a separate trilogy. And then after that, I'm planning on doing a prequel book about everything that that centers on that villain and his life and what happened to him before the events of the first book. And that's gonna add a lot of important context and depth to his character. There are also gonna be some tidbits and things about who he was and his motivations in the second and third book, but yeah, Brig will explain that. We'll explain everything.

SPEAKER_06 19:31

So just little hints, huh?

unknown 19:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Little Easter eggs.

SPEAKER_06 19:35

Yes, yes. So what makes a compelling villain for you? Is it their power, what they want, or the facts somewhere underneath everything they're doing, we actually really understand them.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

I I think it's definitely understanding them. I mean, when you when you understand about what brought them to the person they are now and the motivations behind their decisions, because I mean, it's it's it's too easy to just say, oh, this person's evil. They want to take over the world or they enjoy killing people. It's that's that's too easy. But, you know, the best ones are definitely the ones that have more complexity to who they are and what their what their goals are. And that's that's definitely what what I try really hard to bring out in that second villain.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Yeah. So you mentioned that Archblade uses familiar sci-fi and fantasy tropes, but then kind of turns them on their side or sideways. So what's one trope that readers would recognize immediately? And then what did you do to mess with it?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Well, one thing that always drove me nuts whenever I'd watch a science fiction show is when the showrunners just shrug off the idea, it's like, oh, I don't know what these people are all speaking the same language. Probably the biggest criminal is Stargate SG1. I love Stargate SG1. I've seen the whole series, love it to death. One of my favorite shows. I love watching it with my kids. I hate that they never address why everybody in the galaxy speaks English for some reason. I mean, I get why it's convenient, but I need something. I need, I need a reason. And I feel like that's something we see so much in sci-fi or even in fantasy, is there's no explanation about language or how they're able to communicate. So at the start of my book, I wanted to, I wanted to, you know, put poke a stick in that when they bring up that they've got a translator, which is, you know, a nice, easy solution, but it wasn't triggered because they're actually speaking the same language. So this goes from, oh, everyone's just speaking the same language and there's no explanation. It's like, no, they're speaking the same language, and that's an important detail we need to figure out because this should not be happening. We're talking two planets, like half a light, no, no, I like six months of fast yeah, I forget the distance, but it's really far. They're they, to their best of knowledge, they've had no interactions. So there's no reason they should speak the same language. So I like bringing that to the front and saying this this is something that needs to be figured out.

SPEAKER_06 22:08

Yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely right about that.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 22:11

Because not everybody speaks English when they're from different planets or whatever. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Exactly. Yeah. So did you ever worry about fitting neatly into one specific genre, or did you just decide this is my world and I'm going to build my story?

SPEAKER_00 22:28

That's definitely, definitely the second one. I I towed with the idea of going with a traditional published route because I just grew up expecting that's how things were done. I didn't even know that self-publishing was a thing. But the more I learned about self-publishing and being an independent author, the more I realized that's what I wanted because I've read so many stories about people trying to get their book traditionally published, and they come back with, well, we're sorry, this doesn't quite fit the right tropes, or you need to change these characters and these parts of your book to fit in with what's marketable. And I didn't want to deal with any of that. You know, I mean I I want my book to do well. I want people to love it, but at the same time, I would rather see it just fade into obscurity than completely changing it to be nothing like what I originally intended, just for the sake of making a few extra bucks.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Right. Yeah. I agree. Or when they or when they try to tell you, oh, well, your word count is, you know, needs to fit into this specific amount of words for your genre or whatever. It's like, no. Who who even came up with that? Like. Yeah. So I get it. And and also to, you know, not to knock traditional publishing, but I mean, I really feel like they haven't kept up with the times and the changing, like some of the so much of their parameters and everything that they use are so antiquated compared to the writers of today and the technology that we have of today that they could utilize to make things more streamlined. And no, I'm not talking about AI people. So before you start bringing out a pitchfork about that, I'm not referring to that. But just like some of the things we just mentioned, like, you know, having to have certain word count and you know, that that the story has to fit in this certain box for and only be one specific genre or that kind of thing, you know, they really need to broaden their horizons a little bit. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 24:35

Absolutely. It it really is time to to revamp some of those rules within the publishing industry and make room for for for more authors.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Right. And the whole query process as well is just absolutely horrendous. I'm sorry, it is. It's just, yeah, it's way too much. So, and and as you see, that's why so many authors nowadays are going the indie route and self-publishing versus, you know, trying to get into the trad pool and find a traditional publisher and go that route.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yep, that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

So if someone said to you that they normally don't read fantasy or even sci-fi, what would you tell them about Archblade?

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Well, I would tell them that it's a good, it's a it's a good, easily, easy approachable, easily approachable way to get into either genre. Because, you know, I love, I love sci-fi, but you know, there are some sci-fi books out there that's really out there. And it can kind of like fry your brain trying to understand it. And fantasy can seem just overly surreal, that you can't personally relate to anything. And so I would tell them that, and then this isn't just what I think. I've this is based on feedback from my readers, is that, you know, I feel like the plot is starts and leads with the characters that are relatable. So you see them reacting to these science fiction elements or these fantasy elements that the average person would think, okay, you know what? I would do the same thing. And that kind of relatability to the character in the situation would ease them into actually enjoying the genres.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Yeah, I can totally agree with that because I'm just gonna be honest here, because that's what we are on this show. Your book, I mean, the cover caught me immediately. Yes, and the name got me curious. But then I'm like kind of reading over the description, and I'm like, I don't know if that's really gonna be my thing or not, you know. But then when I sat down and actually started reading right from the very beginning, chapter one, those first few lines, I got pulled into the characters, and I'm like, oh my God, these characters are awesome. I want to see what happens to them, you know. So yeah, then then the whole genre just went out the window, and I wasn't even caring like what genre it was. I was focused in on the characters, and then, you know, the description of the world is really wonderful. So it really sucks you into that as well. So yeah, kudos to you on that.

SPEAKER_06 27:10

Thank you. I love hearing that. Definitely. So, CA, you you touched on this earlier, but there's a line in your bio that I don't want to skip over. Okay. You say, I dreamed of writing a book since I was a child and finally made it happen. Let's take us back there. How old were you when you first remember thinking I'm gonna write a book?

SPEAKER_00 27:36

I was 10. From the very moment I could start reading, I've loved reading. Like my parents used to regale me with stories of when I was three, and whenever we'd go on long road trips, I'd be reading aloud the the signs saying, Hey, we're gonna be in Reno and X Miles, and oh, there's that. And and I just I just started reading whatever book I could get my hands on. I mean, when I was younger, I loved reading uh Goosebumps. I loved reading the little kids' horror movies, horror uh books. But my my love of reading really exploded in the fifth grade because I saw Magician Apprentice on this little library shelf in my classroom. And it it was just fantasy. It was an old wizard, big beard, a pipe, a little dragon in his lap, this kid, which was honestly older than me, but in my mind, that was my age. That kid was me, and he was just looking upon this whole scene with wonder. And I was thinking, oh my God, I have to see this. I have to read this. And my teacher, Larry Tracy, said to me, if you can read this whole book, because it was a novel, it was fat. It was not something fifth graders normally would read. Yeah. But he said, if you can read this whole book, I'll give it to you. It's yours. And it took me long to do that. And he had writing projects as part of the assignments. I mean, we as a class, we had to write of like a a short story like four or five, six times throughout that whole year. And I mean, like I said, I did this blatant ripoff of a game called Dragon Warrior, which, you know, again, traditional fantasy. I loved it when I was a kid. And I just, you know, between reading that book and writing that, I knew that I wanted to write something of my own. I mean, it took a long time. But I I feel like so many of my life experiences and things I've been exposed to. And not to mention I've got wonderful support from my wife, who has been a vital process to my a vital part of the process. And with everything there, especially because of her, I finally was able to make it happen.

SPEAKER_06 29:41

So what stopped someday from being someday? And you finally turned it into, I'm doing this.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

You know, it's it's funny. My wife was actually talking about wanting to write, and she was telling just randomly one day, we were hanging out, and she was telling me, you know, I kind of have this idea for a book, but I think it's really stupid. And I said, Well, why don't you tell me? And she goes, I don't know. I don't know if it's good enough. And I'm like, well, here, let me tell you about my idea for a book. And I started spouting off all these things I've been, you know, thinking about ever since I was a kid, and all these story ideas. And, you know, she looks at me and she goes, You should write that. And she just, she just encouraged me and pushed me and said, This is a good story. You should you should write it, you should make it real. And she's been there every step of the way. I mean, she's helped me brainstorm, she's helped me write, she was pivotal in bringing Angel alive because the characters base on her so much. And she's helped me with editing. She's God, she's helped me with everything. I couldn't have done this without her. So I love that. Yeah, having having her support is probably the number one thing that helped bring all this to life.

SPEAKER_06 30:52

Was there ever a point during the writing of Archblade when you generally wondered whether you'd finish it?

SPEAKER_00 31:01

A number of times. I mean, there are there were so many times I thought to myself, you know, are people even gonna want to read this? This this comes off as a little stupid, but writing it and getting feedback, you know, I kept getting I kept getting the strong idea that it was worth it. I mean, there was this one point I almost gave up, but weirdly enough, I went to go see a movie, and it was it was this movie, it was just doing such a great job of showing how evil a character was. And it we it it had this weird motivation in me. I'm like, I I want to portray my own villain with this kind of intensity, you know? I wanna I want people to have that anxiety and fear in the bad guys I write, and kind of got me back on the rails and writing again. Love that.

SPEAKER_06 31:53

So you mentioned that you have kids.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 31:57

Do your kids do your kids understand what it means to you that dad actually accomplished this childhood dream? I mean, it's a huge teaching moment for your children, I think.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Absolutely. They they've all I mean, I I've got my oldest has f fully read my book. My middle child has difficulty following through with things. So he's read the start of it. My youngest has claimed he's read it, but I'm not entirely sure if reading it as much as like just reading some pages here and there. But at the same time, you know, I show them that, you know, if you work hard enough and if you have enough love and support from the people in life, you can do almost anything. Like, I mean, a great example, my my middle child, he is obsessed with becoming an environmental scientist. He's 14 and he wants to save the world. He wants to, he wants to go out and he wants to be with those scientists that are working on ways to fight climate change, ways to help our environment, ways to, you know, undo some of the damage that's been done. And then I've got a younger child that after he gave up his dream of being a YouTuber, because apparently every kid wants, every kid has that face when he wants to be a YouTuber, and it's it's up to us as parents to make sure that they know that, you know, that's not necessarily a realistic career choice. He wants to be an artist, he loves drawing, he's pretty good at it. And I've told him, you know, that's something you could do someday is, you know, if you get enough support and you're passionate about it, you could sell your artwork online. And um my oldest, he he wants to be an engineer. He's really passionate about doing that. And I love using my book and what I've done with it to show, you know, you can make this happen. As unlikely as it might be, you just have to, you know, push yourself.

SPEAKER_06 33:43

I love that. Yeah. Motivating motivating your kids. That's that's the best thing a father can do. So I was wondering how how does writing fit into life as a husband and a dad of three.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

It's it's tricky. I I found that it's really difficult to get my best writing done when I've got all these kids, all my kids around. Right. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, I feel like I need a serene, like quiet environment to really get this stuff done. And I'm a stay-at-home dad, so I I take care of my two younger kids. My older ones moved out, but you know, I spend my day taking care of them. My wife is a nurse, so I take care of her a lot. I make sure the house is in order. I do most of the cooking. And so my my schedule ends up being pretty busy. But I mean, at the same time, though, I'm always thinking about my writing. Like, I've like half the time when my my wife asks me, Hey, you're quiet, what are you thinking? And the answer is almost always like, I'm just thinking about that scene I'm working on, or thinking about a character and what they're doing, or man, I need to make this final confrontation really good.

SPEAKER_06 34:55

Yeah. So do you like have dedicated writing time, or when you have like 20 minutes, you're like, oh, it's go time.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

It's it's whenever it hits me, really. I mean, there've been some times when I've had like an abundance of free time, like the boys are in bed and I've got the house to myself. I think, you know, I really need to write something, you know, even if it's just a few sentences, I need to feel like I'm making progress. But aside from that, it's it's really hard to set up something permanent and regular for writing. It's it just it just comes whenever it comes.

SPEAKER_06 35:26

Yeah, there you go. I wondered about that. CA, what would the kid who dreamed about writing a book think if you could put Archblade in his hands today?

SPEAKER_00 35:38

He'd probably be shocked that it happened. That'd be the first thing. He would definitely recognize so many things about it, and he'd probably just be just speechless about reading a real book that came from him and real characters that had you know a real story happening around them, and just completely speechless and just at a loss for words. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

Yeah, me too. So, CA, usually before we close out when we get toward the end, we do a this or that round. So fantasy or sci-fi? Fantasy magic or technology?

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Oddly enough, technology, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

It's not gonna be that great. Scientist. Scientist, hero or villain? Villain. They're more machine.

SPEAKER_03 36:37

Oh, I love them.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

They're so much more interesting to write.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

I mean, I like writing for writing, but gosh, the villains are so much more pivotal to what happens in the story.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Right. I always choose villain, and people look at me when I'm like, I can't help it, people. It's always the best part. It it is. I mean, oh, here's a good one. Books are video games.

SPEAKER_06 37:02

Oh, that's gonna be a hard one for him.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

You gotta make me choose. You know what? I have to go with video games, but that's just because I love the big open world fantasy games that just drop you in a world and you get to immerse yourself so well. I mean, I love books, and my I I like to think I've got a pretty vivid imagination, but you know, playing something like Skyrim or The Witcher or, you know, Final Fantasy or any of the Dragon Quest games, you just you get so immersed into that world. And yeah, I think that that that kind of makes it win out.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

I think my son would agree with you. So yeah, he definitely would. Yeah. So plot everything or discover as you write.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Plot everything. I like doing both, but I'm more comfortable with plotting everything.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Swim through an unknown ocean or explore an unknown planet. Explore an unknown planet.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Ex swimming through an unknown ocean just sounds terrifying. So I love swimming, but whoof, that's scary.

SPEAKER_03 38:08

Right. I mean, I mean, Godzilla could come up and get you in the unknown ocean. Hey, we don't know what's way down there. We really exactly it's that's my point. So if your life were a book, what would the title be?

SPEAKER_00 38:22

The unlikely events of a young man who found a family and a life that he never thought he could, or something like that. I am shocked every day that my wife.

SPEAKER_06 38:38

I love that. So, CA, you accomplished a childhood dream. You wrote the book. So now I'm curious. What's the dream after the dream?

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Just outgrowing it and trying to cultivate some kind of community of fans that, you know, are interested in the characters, that are interested in the world, because that that was always something I really wanted was to be able to just talk with people about my books. And, you know, even if there's things that these that my fans disagree with, even if there's things they hate, you know, I want to understand how they approach my book and how they relate to my characters. And as I'm gonna as I'm gonna write more of these books and I put these characters in different situations, I am I'm looking forward so much to seeing how people react to that. Because there's there's so many characters that don't get enough spotlight in the first book. And I'm trying, I'm putting a lot of work into making sure that they get more time on the second, third books. Great example. Lauren, the pilot. I was like when I first started, I was like, ah, she's just a pilot, doesn't need to be an important character. But the moment, the moment I started writing her, I was thinking, I love her. She needs to do more. And so I ended up having her as like one of the main pivotal characters in my third book. So good. Yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

I like her. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm writing it right now, and I'm really enjoying what I'm doing with her. I can't wait for that one to come out too.

SPEAKER_06 40:12

So, CA, tell us, where can everyone find Archblade Legend of the Defiler and follow you?

SPEAKER_00 40:19

Well, uh, my book is available on Amazon, paperback and digital. It's on Ingram Spark, paperback and digital. I recently made my book available on Kobo Plus. I'm the there's a lot of people that's been um navig uh migrating over there. I know a lot of authors do because they don't make you sign an exclusivity contract. So that's a big bonus. Nice. I have tried to put my book everywhere that digital books to me found. I signed up with Draft to Digital, which does a lot of different storefronts. As far as where to follow me, I am on Facebook, I'm on Blue Sky, Threads. I'm on Threads a lot, actually. It's my favorite place to go and talk to people about books. I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, even though I am completely at a loss of how to utilize it correctly. But everybody swears it's a great place for authors to promote their books. So I'm just stumbling along there. But yeah, I'd say threads and Facebook are where I'm the most active. And I always encourage fans and readers to contact me if they want to ask me something about my book.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Oh, awesome. Awesome. Well, CA, thank you so much for joining us and letting us go behind the pages of Archblade Legend of the Defiler. And to everyone watching or listening, you can find Archblade and all of CA's information in our episode description and on our website, traveltimestories.com, and be sure to check it out. We will also have his book on our book recommendation page with the link to purchase.

SPEAKER_06 41:45

Yes. And remember, every book has a story, but so does the person who wrote it. So join us each week.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

In the splendor, in the office spotlight, we capture the heart with every story shared. A new world takes flight. As we gather tonight.