1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?

As a child, I grew up reading books by Tolkien, Hobbs etc. and developed a strong interest in fantasy. In school, I found history to be a difficult subject and a trick I grew fond of was to substitute real events with more fantastical versions of them incorporating elements of magic and sorcery to make them more interesting and thus easier to remember. Even long after school, I’d look back at important historical moments and altered variations I had cooked up in my mind. Even to this date, I find these altered histories more interesting than novels that have clear demarcation of good and bad characters and ones featuring happily-ever-after endings.

For the last decade my focus has been on software and cloud infrastructure consulting. While architecting software systems, I have often wondered what if the real world was programmable like a computer. What if there was a system in place to enable us to define precise contracts and this system was freely and fairly accessible to all of mankind. I wondered if this would lead to betterment of humanity or bad actors would just find more creative ways to exploit it. The concept of runecraft in my books embodies this concept.

For many years, I built up adhoc storylines along these ideas and for a long time they were just disconnected fragments in my mind. But a year ago during a career break due to illness I decided to put my thoughts into words. To my surprise, I did manage to mash them together into a coherent storyline and the emerging result looked like something that at least one reader would enjoy – me.

So now I am taking the chance and putting in a bit more effort into transforming this into something that others may also find enjoyable. Whether or not that actually happens, remains to be seen.

2) What inspired you to write your book?

The primary inspiration is the observation that evil lurks in every corner and every heart. I am not a nihilist but one historical theme that has been very close to my heart is that cost of small mistakes and wrongdoings by many individuals add up over time, often catastrophically.

The atrocities committed by East India company in India, the brutalities by Mughal invaders before that, the injustices against lower castes by Brahmins, were all possible not because of a grand master plan by an evil genius but due to many many individuals making separate wrong decisions in self interest. Same holds for global events like rise of Nazis & fascists in the west or the bombing of Japan in the east.

We only realize the true impact of these decisions after catastrophic events like the genocide of ’71 (একাত্তরের গণহত্যা) in Bangladesh (where part of my family originally hails from), the Bengal famine of ’43, Massacre of Jallianwala Bagh etc. but by then the chain of misdemeanors is so long that there is no realistic way to serve justice meaningfully.

The storyline for The Revenge of the Wraith Paladin stems from a question I asked myself as a child – what if the Mughal invaders of India were an alien race from beyond this world.

3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope to inspire to inspire people to look beyond broad categorizations of good and evil and focus more on nuances and to question all they see and hear.

4) What drew you into this particular genre?

I was inspired by many many authors whose great works I have had the pleasure of reading over the years. In particular, I’d like to thank:

1. Michael Moorcock: For demonstrating that flawless elegance and mind-numbing horror can be blended together seamlessly

2. John Bierce, Stephen King and Sanderson: For demonstrating that complex plots and intricate systems of magic can and do work well for fast paced fantasy

3. Tower curator: For demonstrating that blood sorcery can be elegant.

4. Will Wight: For demonstrating that the concepts of authority and ascension can be such amazing plot drivers.

5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?

I’d sit down with Nazaar, the grandmaster. I’d try to understand how, despite of all the obstacles that he continues to face at every turn, he finds the courage to keep plodding forward with ever more ambitious plans.

He was the only character in my book who seemed to evolve on their own during my writing. Most of what we read about the grandmaster in The Revenge of the Wraith Paladin series, was just not present in my original plot plan.

6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?

Primarily twitter, discord and to some extent Reddit, where I have had some really nice interactions with people who love books & fantasy. I’d like to thank them all for the valuable advice and criticism that they took out the time to share with me.

I also remain very optimistic about the future of federated social networks like Bluesky and mastodon – they have small but rapidly growing community of book lovers. I’d encourage more people to be a part of these networks.

7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?

Bit too early for me to answer this, but I’d like to advise folks to write things that at least they themselves would enjoy as a reader. But if you do have something interesting to say, modern technology has made it easier than ever to put your thoughts forward and connect to a global community. Don’t wait too long – YOLO.

8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?

I am currently working on a parallel series titled “The Grandmaster’s Gamble” that explores Nazaar’s past. It has some overlap in characters with Revenge of the Wraith Paladin, but can be read independently. The second book of this series is also planned to be released later this year.

About the Author

Avid fiction aficionado and fantasy author dabbling in the grimdark, arcane and all things forbidden and forgotten.

https://paulgzareith.ink