I was lucky to get an interview with Drew Montgomery, the author of Gods of the Deep, an #SPFBO9 entry.

Please, tell us a bit about yourself…
Hi! My name is Drew and I’m from Texas (the swampy part, not the desert part). Besides writing, I have a ton of other hobbies, ranging from video games (enough to make it a career) to sports (baseball and football are tops) to craft beer to gardening to history and traveling. I of course love to read, typically fantasy, though I venture into all sorts of other genre fiction, whether historical, sci-fi, westerns, or horror amongst others. And we also have a new little human in the house, so that’s taking up a lot of my time lately.

Why should I buy your SPFBO9 entry?
Gods of the Deep is about a culture that is slowly slipping away as the wheels of progress turns, while at the same time, focuses on those same people as they deal with an existential crisis brought on by that same progress. It’s far from typical fantasy fare, taking place in a confederation of scattered islands with a rapidly industrializing economy largely driven by whale oil, a factor that has led to encroachment on traditional fishing areas. As demand increases, isolated communities become less isolated, whale hunting grows to encompass a wider area, and the sea gods that those in the northern reaches worship begin to take notice.

Elements of Lovecraft, Dishonored, and Seven Samurai fill the pages, with dashes of magic and steampunk mixed in. It definitely walks a thin line between fantasy and horror, mashing up two of my favorite genres into something I hope fans of both can enjoy.

What got you into writing? And how long have you been doing it?
When I was in elementary school, right in the middle of my dinosaur phase, Jurassic Park came out. I wanted to see it more than anything in the world, but my parents would not allow me (rightly or not is still a topic of family debate). To fill the gap in my life, I consumed every bit of media and merchandise I could, and when that wasn’t enough, I wrote my own version. I was even at that point a voracious reader, but that kick started something in me, and I’ve been writing ever since.

Have you participated in the SPFBO before and where did you hear about the competition?
Yes, this will be my fourth time. I don’t remember where I heard about it, but it was fairly early, though it took a few years before I decided I had something published that was worth submitting.

Why did you choose to write fantasy?
I’ve always seen reading as escapism, and I think nothing embodies that more than fantasy. I dabble in other genre fiction, but there’s something different about creating an entirely new world and bending it in a way to make an engaging story.

Which other author has had the biggest influence on your writing?
Probably George RR Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire. I had read other fantasy, but it was the one that really jumped me deep into the genre. Obviously the series has the whole unfinished cloud hanging over it, but I think more than any other work, it has taught me about things like worldbuilding, pacing (good and bad), attention to detail, and subverting expectations.

If you were to win the SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?
Seeing how it’s benefited past winners, I can’t imagine it would be anything other than a boon, if only to bring attention to it. More than that, though, is just the validation of others enjoying what I’ve written enough to honor it in such a way.

What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?
Every part of the process creates its own challenges. I guess the biggest challenge is knowing when to put something out there. I feel like I’m getting better at it, but there’s still some anxiety, no matter how many editing passes are done, that something is not quite ready to be released.

Do you have any tips or an author app, tool, or resource that you can really recommend we try?
I’ll be honest, I’m kind of boring when it comes to writing tools, a lot of Microsoft Word and Google Docs. I do use Scrivener for my world building and outlining, and I’ve found that to be helpful, but I also have a lot of usability complaints. Being a software guy, I’ve been brainstorming what the perfect tool for that would look like, at least in my mind, but not sure if it’s something that’ll ever see the light of day.

And now it's time to yank out your Palantir! Let’s talk about the future. What new projects are you working on?
I’ve got a couple of pieces I’m editing and a couple of unfinished ones that I’ve been poking at, some in new worlds and a couple in worlds I want to revisit. I also have an action/horror trilogy set in an alternate earth that I’ve been working on as well, but I want to have that complete before releasing any of them, so it’ll probably be a while before it sees the light of day.

Apps that are based on artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGTP and Midjourney, along with apps aimed specifically at authors, have caused quite a stir. Do you expect these new technologies will make your life as a self-published author easier or harder, and do you expect that they’ll mean you’ll earn more or less?
I don’t think we’re as close as some people would like to think to AI being able to write good, entertaining novels. At the same time, that certainly won’t stop people from trying, and I fully expect that unless measures are put into place, we’ll start to see them flooding the market, which could certainly have an impact on authors.

I do think, and we’re already seeing this with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, that AI is going to have a much more real impact in the corporate world, with businesses looking to save money by utilizing it to supplement or replace existing workers.

Do you have any dreams you’d like to share?
I’ve been writing for a long time, much longer than I’ve been publishing, and it’s always been something I’ve done because I enjoy it. I would love nothing more than to be able to make it something I can support myself fulltime, but more than anything, I want to be able to continue enjoying it. I would gladly sacrifice any real earnings to ensure that I can still find enjoyment in creating my own stories.

Anything else you would like to say before we close?
I appreciate the opportunity to interview. I’ve been reading these since you started, and I know it’s got to be a ton of work to put together, so thanks for creating a platform for all of us to be featured on.

I wish you the very best in the SPFBO. I hope a lot of readers discover your writing.
Thanks for doing the interview.