The Ascension Legacy: Book 1: The Shamed Ranger
Forced to live in shame for his father’s accused crime of murder, Riorik, a young elf, vows to restore his family’s honor and prove his father’s innocence. After Riorik discovers an ancient legend might be connected to his father’s circumstances, Riorik and his friends leave all that they know behind in the search for the truth.
This book can be purchased by clicking the picture. The Shamed Ranger is Book 1 of 3 - of The Ascension Legacy. You can follow Gary's pages to receive updates. I have included links to at the end of the post. My interview with Gary will give you a better look inside where his creativity and being an author began.
What inspired you to write this book?
Gary: It started when I was working for a videogame developer. I started working on a game concept design document that included game story details and background. Over time, after leaving that job, I continued developing the story but not the game. After years of contemplation and tinkering, I retooled the game story for a novel that ended up turning into a series. Gaming has always been a passion of mine and you could say that my love of games and the intricate stories they weave was the original inspiration to write my own stories.
What is your favorite childhood book?
Gary: I would say a tie between Animal Farm and The Indian in the Cupboard. I read both of them multiple times as a kid and those were the only books that I enjoyed enough to read more than once. They both included some interesting storylines and imagery that I connected with at the time. It has been 30 years since I read either of them but thinking about them again after all these years stirs the desire within me to pick them up once more.
What does literary success look like to you?
Gary: Success varies by what your individual goals may be. For me, it was just to have my books published and available for public consumption. I do want my books to sale because the more books sold then the more people there are hopefully reading it and that is what I really want but I don't measure success buy units sold or royalties received. I did not set out to be an author to "get rich" but rather to bring the adventure in my head to the masses. I would love to see my books turned into a movie or TV series or to become a best seller. I don't know any author who wouldn't, but I don't measure my success by those standards. I just wanted to tell a story and by that measure, I have succeeded.
Does your family support your work as a writer?
Gary: Absolutely! My wife is always very supportive of my efforts. If I say that I want to go work on something related to my books, she always understands, even if it is in the middle of the night. Other family members ask me questions about my work and enjoy telling others about their relative "the author".
How do you select the names of your characters?
Gary: I'm a big gamer, especially MMOs. My friends and I have played online games and tabletop games together for a few decades now. Given that The Ascension Legacy series was inspired by my gaming background, a lot of my characters were named for the variety of characters I've created over the years in my different games. And not only that, many of the book's characters each had personalities, physical traits, and capabilities often inspired by their video game namesakes. For many of my characters, the connection between their character and their name is far deeper than just this series of books. Often times they are the written manifestation of video game characters that I may have played for years online with my friends or created with pen and paper to share adventures while we sat around a table at someone's house. Each name has a special connection with me because they are names that I use to represent myself through these avatars when playing with others.
How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
Gary: It didn’t really. I had done a fair amount of research before attempting to publish my first book. After going through the publishing process it confirmed for me that many of my efforts were valid. Perhaps insufficient in terms of final quality but all necessary to the completion of creating a final publication. It has opened my eyes to other options and endeavors that might be incorporated in future endeavors but otherwise no significant changes to my current processes.
Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
Gary: I read them but don’t pay them much attention. Reviews are very personal to the readers. Some may like one style of writing while the next may prefer another style. I write the stories I want to tell in the manner that I want to tell them and accept that it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For those that enjoy my books, great. For those that don’t, sorry. Beyond that, I don’t worry much about it.
You can follow Gary on:
His Website, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Gary and Family
