I was lucky to get an interview with Andrew D Meredith, the author of Thrice, one of this year’s #SPFBO8 entries.

Please, tell us a bit about yourself…
First off, thank you Rune for this opportunity. I think the greatest aspect of the SPFBO Competition is the community. And you’re no exception! It’s been a very long road that led me, finally, to the Indie Community—from working in bookstores during the rise of the eBook, to a short-lived career as a professional game designer at Asmodee/Fantasy Flight Games over ten years ago, to now. The best part about the journey has been looking back at where I’ve come from and preparing for the road ahead. Perhaps that’s why I’m always drawn to, and find myself writing, travel stories. The journey is what gets you to your destination, but its the way-stops along the way that mean something to me. Right now the journey has me and my family living on a small farm in Eastern Washington, surrounded by an orchard, peacocks, and sheep. (It’s a huge inspiration for Thrice’s sequel.)

Why did you decide to take part in the SPFBO?
I only decided to switch my focus from the pursuit of Traditional Publishing to Indie Publishing after the Pandemic hit. As the Trad community seemingly slowed to a halt, it was a good opportunity to slow down, assess, and take the time to determine the best path forward for my books. Those two years were a steep learning curve. The patient observation of the Indie Community and its various outlets led me find SPFBO7, which was in full swing when I found it last year. I watched, waited, published Thrice, and anticipated the moment when I could submit my book for consideration. The Indie Community is the Rivendell of the Indie Community—a place to make friends, translate a few moon-runes, and prepare for the journey before you. As an extrovert I couldn’t pass up that chance.

Why should we buy your SPFBO8 book?
Thrice is at its heart a father-and-son journey. Slavic-Fantasy inspired, it follows Jovan, a Needle-Smith and the boy left in his care, Leaf, as they seek to find out why every bounty hunter and ne’er-do-well seems intent on killing Jovan and taking the boy. (That Leaf has within him a seemingly limitless well of soul-searing magic probably has something to do with it.) With its Slavic-mythology inspired setting, and blunt protagonist it was Brandon Sanderson and his editor from Tor, Moshe Federer, who pointed out the rather obvious correlation to the Witcher during a pitch critique—it was a comment that meant a lot to me during the final edits of the book. So if you’re looking for a Witcher-style setting, and a Mandalorian “keep-the-child-safe” story, then Thrice should be on your TBR pile.

What got you into writing? And how long have you been doing it?
That road goes back a long way to when I was thirteen or fifteen in the mid-90s. I had the audacity to write all of one chapter of a wildly derivative book, and mail it with a cover letter to DelRay hoping that would be enough for them to pick me up and pay me to write the rest. Oddly I never received a response…

Why did you choose to write fantasy? And why pick this particular fantasy subgenre?
Fantasy has always been my first love—from Eddings and Dragonlance, to Robin Hobb and Lois McMaster Bujold. I took a break back from fantasy around 2010 and read outside the genre, only to come flying back when someone gave me a copy of Mistborn. Suffice to say that rapidly pulled me back in. When I started writing Thrice it was meant at first to be an experiment and palate cleanser from the project I had out to literary agents at the time. I spent some time researching the market in 2018 and the rising subgenres that were developing and decided on Slavic-Fantasy as something that would be only slightly outside of my wheelhouse. It provided me the chance to do a little research, and expand my horizons.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?
The creative process defines me as a person, and always has. When I was in Highschool, the medications I was on for Tourette’s Syndrome put a hard stopper on my creativity and left me feeling dead inside. I made the choice to quit those, and cope without them, for the sake of my creativity. I don’t regret that decision for a moment.

What’s the hardest thing about being a writer?
Time Management. Of course everyone suffers from distraction. But the elephant in the room, whether it be research marketing, making time to work on a map, or really anything that keeps you from putting more words on the page…it all has to happen, and all of it “right now.” But it’s all worth the struggle.

Do you have a tip, app, tool, or resource you recommend to authors?
Know Thy Self! Take some time to get to know your own creative process. It sets you up for success in the long run, because you have a toolbox to fall back on. And just as important, it a call out for Beta Readers to your Social Media group. The larger the group the better. It helps you temper the responses and yourself. (Once your book is out there its going to get hard critiques, and it’s going to hurt. If you haven’t innoculated yourself to criticism with a large group of beta readers you seriously won’t know how to handle it. The larger the group too, allows you to learn how to disregard the meaner notes (unintentionally or not). Over time your Beta team will shrink to a handful that you trust. But to start, go wide.

What new projects are you working on?
My long form epic fantasy, the Kallattian Cycle starts releasing on July 25th with books 1-3 dropping on the same day in all three formats. And it’ll continue with books 4-6 in November. This is only the beginning, and all is set to continue on into the coming years. It is a multi-point-of-view story of mercenaries, holy orders, and a dark figure wearing a chainmail cloak of bone that makes him invisible to his intended victims: the pantheon of gods. You can find out more and pre-order by following me on social media, and through my Linktree.

Anything else you would like to say before we close?
We’re on the cusp of greatness in the Indie Community. Stigmas are being shrugged off. Creativity abounds. And it is in no small parts in thanks to the SPFBO community and those that have entered before. It is only by taking that chance and diving in, and trekking alongside others that we’ll “simply walk into Mordor.” Community makes family, and I hope to get to know people I’ll call friends for years through the competition and beyond. Thanks again Rune!

Interesting answers Andrew and welcome to the awesome and extended SPFBO family.

Best of luck in the competition and with sales, and thanks for doing the interview!