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An Interview with Andy Peloquin · This Dad Reads

• Jason: Welcome back to This Dad Reads. My name is Jason. Today I'm chatting with the author behind Dark Fantasy series, Dark Blade, and Queen of Thieves, as well as the Cerberus Military Sci-Fi series. Beyond his own writing, he also works as director of publicity for Aethon Books. Today we're talking all about his creative journey, his work across genres, and what goes into building worlds readers can get lost in. It's Andy Peliquin! Welcome to the show, Andy. Andy Peloquin: Thank you so much for having me. That that introduction was made me sound like way cooler than I am. So for everybody who's watching, please lower your expectations significantly for this episode. Jason: Hey man, it I read that you've written like si millions and millions of words, upwards of like almost fifty books. Like, that's impressive. Come on. Andy Peloquin: It's it it is I'm saying it's forty five because then I don't have to count till it's fifty, but it'll probably hit fifty in twenty twenty seven, maybe twenty eight. Jason: Okay, hey, good to know. And I'm just gonna be like w I'm all for applauding ourselves and c taking a moment to you know, mark an achievement. So that's that's something to be said. That's something to be said. Andy Peloquin: It it will be a moment for celebration. I whenever I hit that fifty number, I will do something to commemorate. Probably just something chill hanging out with my so I live in Vancouver and two of my brothers live here. So we always end up doing things together. You know, the celebration. Hey, something cool. Let's go have dinner or let's have a barbecue or whatever it is. Just kind of low key. Jason: Yeah. Any excuse to go have some good food and drink and hang out? Andy Peloquin: Exactly. Jason: Hey, so I wanna start off this episode like I do with most of them. I just want to get to know you a little bit more. I wanna hear about kind of your your childhood, like where did your love for reading start? and what were kind of some of those formative books from your younger days. Andy Peloquin: So my journey to to fantasy was very I'm gonna say specific. I read a lot when I was when I was younger. I had the Chronicles of Narnia th box set, and I think Jason: Mm. Andy Peloquin: I read the everyone you know had read The Lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe. We watched the cartoon a million times, but I think I found the magician's nephew first. And I loved that story so much because it was like, wow, this is so new. and then I read I think I read the Chronicles of Narnia complete series back to back eight times or something over the course of a couple of years. Cause anytime I didn't have something to read, I would just reread it. and I will still argue that the Hor The Horse and His Boy is one of the best of the Narnia series. It's a very unpopular opinion because everyone's like, it's the worst of them. But I love the horse and his boy 'cause it's the only one that's actually like an action adventure one, that one in Prince Caspian. But I read a little bit Red Wall here and there, but it wasn't until Sherlock Holmes that I was like, wow, I really love this. My dad got me the complete work of Sherlock Holmes for my tenth birthday, and I binged the entire thick ass volume in a week. I was so locked in and I was I was just in love with this. And and to to be honest, Sherlock Holmes is sort of a fantasy character. Like there's no way he actually exists, right? So you Jason: Mm-hmm. Andy Peloquin: you give him magic instead of a really smart brain, it's fantasy. But it kind of set the tone for I like things that sort of beyond that defy reality or beyond sort of what is actually possible. And then over the course of a few years, I, you know, dabbled in whatever kind of books I could get my hands on. I loved the Tom Clancy's, I loved the the the John Grishams, but there was a moment when I was I I had gone back to Sherlock Holmes, you know, a comfort read. And was like, you know, this guy has written other stuff. And so I got into some of his other little, you know, writings. And then one of his contemporaries was Edgar Rice Burroughs. And I grew up watching the Tarzan cartoons. I mean the movies. Johnny Wisemuler, you know, classic cinema. so I read those. And then I found out that Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote another one that was set on Mars. And I was like, interesting. And so John Carter of Mars. This was sword and science and spaceship, right? So he is dueling the, you know, the aliens. He is doing amazing things. He's got a, you know, a ray gun. He's got spaceships. But really, it's a man and his sword. And there was something about that that just worked for me. And it was, it was, you know, kind of on the heels having loved the three musketeers and just kind of that that era sword fighting. And then from there, I discovered Conan the Barbarian. And I have not looked back since. since Conan, I was just so hooked on that sort of the sword of it all, I guess. Cause with like with the three Musketeers, you get there's a little bit of like the Flintlock pistol, but this the the expertise of the duelists, there's so much emphasis in that, and it creates a sort of a different focus the story. D'Artagnan trying to be the best swordsman. It creates this different emphasis of the story than say Tom Clancy, where all these guys are, you know, just super good operators. And I just loved something about that like intense focus on the skill that has just kind of kept me in fantasy for the last, I guess, 20 years now. Jason: That's awesome. And what how old were you at that point? Andy Peloquin: I was about eighteen, nineteen. Jason: Okay, okay, okay, so pretty formative. that's awesome. And then so how about how did that transition then go from were you always into writing? Like was that always something you liked to do, or was that kind of a gift that you nurtured and kind of figured out along Andy Peloquin: So I come from a very artistic family. My dad's been a st studio musician, performing musician for forty years. My my siblings are all artists and graphic designers, one's an actor. Like these are all intensely artistic people, and I can't really do a more than a mean stick figure. So I I was it was very clear to me that that art was not where my path lay growing up, but then I had a teacher who was super passionate about the arts and sciences. And he would do these science fairs and then these sort of creative expositions where everybody had to write something. Or he did a lot of like out of the classroom activities where he would like take us on a walk and he'd be like, all right, point to a tree or, you know, a a lake and he's like, compose a poem about something that we see on our walk. And it just instilled this idea of of looking for inspiration and just, trying to trying to be creative anywhere you are. And so I discovered that I was that I was good at it. But you know what at eleven, twelve, you don't really actually want to do more than the homework of it all. exactly. Jason: The assignment. Yeah. Andy Peloquin: And then I was about 15 years old and I had a lot of free time on my hands, as a lot, you know, most 15 year olds do. I couldn't go out, didn't have a lot of friends. I had a computer, but it had no internet because this was all pre internet days. the Jason: Mm-hmm. Andy Peloquin: dial up with that tone is still, you know, very, very Jason: Yes. Andy Peloquin: it's a memory that I have from those years. And my parents were anti video games. Jason: I I look upon it okay, I was saying I look upon that time fondly now. Andy Peloquin: Yes. It's it was a great it was a great time. It was such it was the Jason: Yes. Andy Peloquin: the the wild west of the internet where everything was new and and shiny and wonderful, but i it is very a a very different place now. But I had I had no access to video games, so I had Microsoft Word and Microsoft Paint, and that was everything this computer had. And obviously Microsoft Paint is just not the program for me. And so I I wrote what is every 15 year old boy's wet dream novel of Jason Bourne meets a Jason Statham action movie, meets Mission Impossible, meets James Bond, meets martial arts movies. It was like all of that crammed together. the opening scene was this dude snowmobiling down a mountain, having a machine gun fight with bad guys. So this was like absolute high octane, just the worst writing. But it was like I blinked and four hours had passed. And that it that escapism that I felt when I was creating something, it was the same escapism that I had when I was when I was reading. And I was like, this is a really cool thing. It it it gave me a sense of fulfillment that I hadn't gotten from, I I was in a band and I was playing the bass and learning music. And it was it was always more work than just sheer joy. But then when I started writing, it was just I love this so much. And this this story got five chapters in, and I realized this is not good. And so thankfully no trace of this exists anywhere in the world. I've long Jason: bummer. Andy Peloquin: since purged that hard drive. But but that kind of gave me the the the push to get into something creative. Like I discovered that I loved this sense of creativity. And it was my little art form. That none of my family had yet. So then I just tinkered around basically for the next decade until I was in my sort of mid-twenties and a friend of mine had started a comic book company. And I had been reading comic books like weekly for about five years at that point. And I I thought, you know, I could probably write a pretty good story. So I sat down to write a graphic novel script, what is now the sixth book in the Silent Champion series. and I just fell in love with it because I knew it was basically 300, but with elves and dwarves. It's called the Last March of the 13th Rifles. And I knew that everybody had to die by the end. So the only challenge was making their journey to die impactful, right? Like, how do I make you, the reader, love these characters so that when they die, you feel it, you suffer? Like that was that I knew that going into it. And it was so addicting. I was so addicted to just doing my best to dial up the connection that the reader had, or you know, me as the author that I had to the character so that when they inevitably died, or setting the stakes really, really high, or adding some cool new twist to the thing, to, you know, the enemy is definitely gonna kill them. there's this sort of last minute save, and it looks really cool and they're just so close to freedom, and then everybody dies. It was it was My love of dark fantasy came out in that moment, and Jason: Mm-hmm. Andy Peloquin: I realized I would never I would never be able to write anything else. Jason: That's so much fun. semi-related to that, like just talk you talking about the books that you like grew up reading and enjoying, they're like all over the place. And like you even like in the genres you've written so far, like you've bounced all around. So how do you kind of like focus yourself or like what does that process look like for you when you have this idea of something that you want to do? but maybe you've already had these other three that are backlogged. Like what's your process for like choosing the next story to write? Andy Peloquin: So I tend to be very business forward, art, not art second, but business drives art. And then the art Jason: Okay. Andy Peloquin: makes the business work. So I'm like, okay, what is the story that I think will actually reach readers and sell? Because when you're an author, the only way that you know people are reading your books is if your books are selling, right? Speaking in purely mercenary terms, if your book is not selling anything, nobody's reading it. Pretty straightforward. so the only one that I really kind of went into. without a plan was Queen of Thieves. I just had to write a story. I was doing sort of a a a creative writing intensive program and the I w I had already written the first book of what is now Darkblade and they were the the the course was like you can't do the sequel. You have to write something totally new. So I was just like okay I had created this city in the world of Darkblade and I knew that I wanted to do like the Marvel Comics thing of everything set in the same world. So I was just, okay, I gotta write this story next to it. And I had written the the Hunter, badass peak of his powers. And I thought, well, what's the like I can't do a character that's too similar, so let's just go diametric opposite. So I w went with an eight-year-old girl. And it just it was inspired by my love of Lies of Loclamora, where that series is one is like it's foundational for me because so much of the way that he He built his world and the religions and the tone of it. I loved it so much. I was like, I've I always wanted to have more Lies of Local Mora. I'm just gonna write my own. And that was where Queen of Thieves is born. And it's it remains that to this day. It's a very, very it wears its influences on its sleeves. but everything after that, so I knew that I had sort of epic fantasy, dark epic fantasy in Dark Blade, and Grimdark and Queen of Thieves. And young adult was having a big moment with with Jeff Wheeler's series, with A AC Cobble, his Benjamin Ashwood, and I was like, okay, I could do a young adult series. And that was the business decision. And then as an artist, I was like, All right, how can I make a young adult series that I, a dude who's, you know, pushing 30 at this point, would want to read and not be like, my god, I can't stand these teenagers and their, you know, angsty bullshit, right? And then the same thing with with the the silent champions. this was around the time that that malice and the faithful in the fallen was really having a resurgence. David Estee's King Fate Mark series, a lot of military fantasy was was was getting big. Malazan was obviously huge at the time, still is naturally, but I have always loved military fantasy. So, like the the black company, Malazan, Book of the Fallen. Again, my love of Rainbow Six directly inspired that. So Silent Champions was like, well, I want to do more Rainbow Six, but let's make it fantasy. So it was just identifying the things, the let's say the niches that I could target while also tapping into my love of things, or the Dragon Blood Assassin series. I'm not a big fan of dragons, but I was like, let's do dragons in a way that I actually enjoy. So that if I have a reader who says, you know what, I don't like anything that doesn't have dragons in it, I'll be like, well, here you go. So every every decision that I've made creatively. Is driven by the business of being an author. And then it becomes: all right, how can I make this a piece of art that I can be super, super proud of? Jason: And that's a really unique take on it, I would say. That's I would say that's not everybody's thing. It's a lot of people write what they're passionate about and then hope that they find the audience. But that's really smart. That's really smart. I would say too on the flip side of that, now like having so many books under your belt and like kind of maybe fall. I mean, some of that has to be kind of like following trends, right? That that can kind of be like all over the place, whatever's hot at the moment. I would I'm gonna ask you what piece of writing A are you most proud of now? in hindsight. And then B, if someone is looking to dive into something of yours that is like speaks just to you, no matter what genre it is, what book of yours would you recommend? Andy Peloquin: So I will say the character work in Queen of Thieves is I'm gonna say it's unparalleled. Like the the second half of your question, the the hunter's world, Darkblade is the one that is most like me. It is literally my story, my struggles as a stepfather, my journeys to being a parent, all of this written obviously are with a badass assassin, right? That's the one that built my world. It expanded everything like this is the the anchor. upon which I have built my author empire. But the Queen of Thieves character work is it's three books or six now, because there's bonus prequels and books between. But the character work is amazing. The plotting is amazing. The the pacing, it's it's it's some of my best writing and it's some of my earliest writing. and the battles in the silent champions, for people who like me love military stuff. I would hold I would hold the silent champions, the battles up against John Gwynn's The Faithful and the Fallen, against the Malazan stuff, against even, you know, stuff by Bernard Cornwell. I wouldn't say necessarily the words that I chose in terms of, my God, this is amazing writing, but like the pacing of the battles, the stakes, the tension, the drama, the the lead up, the build up to the thing, the s the the action in between, and then the consequences afterward. Like it is it is It is military fantasy that I that I wish there was more of because I didn't get enough of that in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Like they got a little bit of the bridge burner stuff, and I was like, this whole book is, I mean, this whole series is just all bridge burners. Jason: Nice, nice. You touched on something there that I want to circle back to now because this is this dad reads. That's a huge part of what I do and who I am as a father. I wanna know about your journey that you said it as in in parenthood and how has that affected you not only as a person, but as a writer and probably as a reader too. Andy Peloquin: Yeah. so let's say from from a reader perspective, I find that that any story that hits that the parental notes, I am immediately in. So right now I started yesterday The Wolves of War by John Gwyn, and knowing the story with John Gwynne and his daughter, Harriet, and then reading this in here, I have like teared up three times today. Because the the the love and tenderness that the parents show for their daughter, I can just imagine John and his wife feeling these things for their daughter and him writing this. Like I felt every single moment that I have read in there because I know for me as a parent, it's so it's so intrinsic to what I write. So with the there's a scene in in Darkblade, the first book, where it was like, what is the worst thing that I could think of happening to my daughters at the time? Time who were 12, 13, I wrote that into the story, and it just it broke me at the time. And then with with The Brightest Star, which is a Queen of Thieves bonus novel, there was a scene in there that I was like, okay, this is my daughter, but as a child, like picturing that again broke me. so anytime that I read something that has that Empire of the Vampire, that whole series with the stepfather vibes, it just it was like Right, every single one of those moments was just a knife to the heart. And it just kind of it it as an author, I find that the bond between parents and and children, it anchors something a lot more to me. So the silent champions, the the f the the main character, his father is the greatest general, and there's a lot of sort of neglect and absenteeism in their dynamic. And so I was like, well, if I, if I'm busy building an author career, how are my kids going to look at me, 20 years from now? And then the the main character, he has to pretend to be dead for for years so that he can carry out these missions and he has sons. And at that time, my sons were about the same age. So it was like, all right, how how could a father do this? How could he literally be in the room next to his sons behind a mask and not go to them? And so anytime that I get to do that, or right now in the the Dark Blade series, the the the hunter, he finds out I'm not gonna spoil anything, there is there are some connections with with older characters in sense of like teenagers and young adults, right? These deep emotional connections. And I kind of approach them from the perspective of my children right now, they're out of the house, right? They're in their their early to mid twenties. What role do I serve in their life? They live in a different city, they have jobs, they have, boyfriends, girlfriends. What do they need from me? What do they want from me? What do they expect from me? So I actually took my daughters out separately at different nights. And I I asked them that question. I was like, look, I'm doing research for a story that I'm building. Tell me. Tell me, you know, what do you what do you need from me? What do you want from me? What do I provide to you right now? that you're your real father or that you and it was so interesting one of them was like my friends make fun of me because I've never opened a bank account before or because I've never filed my own taxes and I know that I can come to you and I won't be judged and you won't make fun of me. And I was like, that is so so simple. It's so small, but there is so much power to that. and so just kind of like leaning into that knowing that the the father Child dynamic or stepfather stepchild dynamic in Darkblade is the driving force behind the story. I've leaned into that in every single way, and it's made everything so much more impactful because it's all like someone called it a an epic fantasy soap opera because it is a hundred percent just him and his relationships with everybody dressed up in an assassin cloak with stabby, you know, magical daggers and lots of and a high body count. Jason: Well, that's really what draws most of us to books, right? It's gonna be those relationships and the humanity that's Andy Peloquin: Yeah. Yeah. Jason: underneath all underneath all the shiny swords and elves, whatever. Andy Peloquin: Yeah, yeah, Jason: Yeah. Andy Peloquin: magic magic and everything, everything fantasy. sometimes I like when I when when I talk sometimes about my books, I don't even bother with the f fantasy bullshit as I call it. It's like, yeah, I could tell Jason: Yeah. Andy Peloquin: you all about why this magic twist is so very cool, but but really none of that matters as much as this character is putting his life on the line for A child that he has no responsibility to except he's decided to do it. Or an another another book that I just finished was an assassin who saves the baby destined to destroy the world. How could you how could you, not the father to this child, go through with this? I didn't know going into this writing process how he would be okay with it. And discovering that for me is so it's what drives this creative desire to be like. Posing a question like that, how could somebody be okay not only sparing a child that is the end of the world, but actually fighting to protect them? It makes no sense in a two-dimensional straight line. So then let's build that, let's make that interesting. And that for me is what drives every single story that I tell. Jason: I'm also gonna tuck away what you said for when my kids are out of the house because mine are not out of the house yet. I'm gonna be like, this is for research. w what's your what is our vibe right now? What what do you need from Andy Peloquin: Yeah. Jason: me? I'm totally tucking that away, even though I will not be have doing any research. Andy Peloquin: Totally. You know, it like if i I have found that that I have I have had conversations with an amazing range of people. so the Silent Champions was entirely built because the person who I was doing research for was a special forces person and I learned so much from him and then I wrote the Cerberus series because I was talking with this person and they were a sniper. And I was like, I need to write about a sniper because there was so much there. And every conversation was research. I've talked to people who have, you know, been survivors of horrible situations, recovering drug addicts. And you go into it with this mindset of look, I'm I am genuinely curious, not about the drama, not about the nitty-gritty, you know, like the the the scandalousness of it all, but I want to know about your human experience. I find that I have Encountered maybe two people who were like, I'm sorry, I'm just not comfortable talking about it. Everybody else was like, No, I actually want to share this piece of myself so that I can feel seen. And then when I show them, look, I wrote this thing based on what you showed me, like the whole Queen of Thieves story, that whole story, I still debate some of the choices that I made because they are dark, like they're they are not easy to read through. But then I talk to people who have been in cer similar situations and they were like, No, you you keep that in there. Because the choices that that the character makes as a result, it would be different. But then the way that you go about sort of rebuilding her after that, it shows the strength of somebody who has been through these terrible things. So so yeah, anytime you need to talk to any if you ever want to talk to anybody about anything and you want to like cut straight to it, just say, look, I'm doing research for a story, and they're usually pretty good. Actually, I called I called one of the biggest safe Companies in the US. And I was like, look, I am not trying to steal your secrets. I am I am an author. I'm trying to build a fantasy sort of vault. Can I please speak to one of your engineers? And they actually put me through to talk to one of their engineers. And I I ran my idea past them and they gave me some advice. And I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. Jason: So smart. That's honestly so smart instead of just making it up and hoping that it works. that's genius, Andy Peloquin: Mm-hmm. Jason: actually. I'm gonna stay on the dad note for just two more seconds. But in raising my kids, you know, so much of my passions and fandoms are so close to my heart and things that I've loved since I was a kid. And so I always want to pass as much along as possible, and really I want to pass along like a love for. story and curiosity and engaging with books as for as long as possible. and again, I come from the pre-internet days too. So I'm like reading is huge for me. and it's always my hope that like my kids are gonna like also love the things that I love. That doesn't always happen. So I'm curious about your own Andy Peloquin: Yeah. Jason: experience with that. Like how are your kids are they readers? What are they drawn to or did any of your influences rub off on them? Andy Peloquin: So two of my kids are readers. one of them stayed my oldest daughter, she really loved the the Percy Jackson. So anything Jason: Okay. Andy Peloquin: that has to do with the mythology stuff, she will devour it. Jason: Yes. That's my son too. Yes. Andy Peloquin: nice. I mean, mythology is where I started too. Like I would I would read the Encyclopedia Britannica and just go to the Greek mythology section or the Roman mythology Jason: Ha ha. Andy Peloquin: section. Like that was where I lived. one of my sons is also a reader. But he's a mechanic and so he doesn't have that much time to read and he hasn't yet discovered the joy of of listening to audiobooks while you do anything yet. I've tr I've tried. I've Jason: Audiobooks? Okay, okay, okay. Andy Peloquin: tried. but but the other two just they were they were never readers and they, you know, they they have their their lives. thankfully one of them he got together with with a lovely young woman who is into like like red walled warrior cats, like that kind of sort of animal based fantasy. So we Anytime I find a new book like that, I will send her a message or I'll send like I got her the Red Wall s book to start years years ago for her birthday. Like th there's always books sort of in the background, but none of them have been like like a proper book addict like me. Jason: there's still time. There's still time. Andy Peloquin: There is, there is. Jason: Yeah, yeah. I also now know, since you don't have kids in the house, how you read so much. Andy, we are we are connected. Obviously, we're gonna talk about eight thon books of it all soon, but like you read so much and you're writing so much, like is that is that your secret? Like that you just don't have kids in the house? Andy Peloquin: so I do a lot of my reading and my listening while doing other things. So, you know, us I live about forty, forty-five minutes outside Vancouver. So if I have to go, you know, into town, that's ten percent of an audiobook, that's not bad. I go to the gym for half an hour, you know, I'm lifting weights. That's an audiobook. I'm on the treadmill. I learned years ago to read on a treadmill. I can read while walking around the trails behind my house. You know, as long they're they gotta be good trails where they're you know, you're not walking over roots or walking off a cliff. They're they're they're easy trails. But like if I'm just trying to get to my nine thousand steps in a day or something, I can just walk back and forth and read. It's always easier on the on the iPad 'cause I can make the font about this big. Jason: Yeah. Andy Peloquin: doing it in a in an actual physical book like this is a little bit harder because the words are very, very small, but But that's just the the secret and being a speed reader. Jason: Also helps. Yep. I'm last thing I want to ask you about your process what for writing is are you like a panther? Are you a planner? Like how much do you like lay the groundwork for your stories or how much of it do you make it up as you go? Andy Peloquin: I'm about 75% planner and 25% pantzer. I need to know where Jason: Okay. Andy Peloquin: I'm going. I don't necessarily need to know how to get there. And sometimes the destination will change. because as you know, as I'm telling the story, I'm I'm on a path and a choice makes more sense in the moment, and then the story changes slightly. but but knowing where I'm going keeps me on track day after day after day, and because I'm writing every day. I'm in it. Like my brain is always marinating, stuff or stuff is percolating in the background. So then it's easier for me to just be like, all right, here's the next step and the next step and the next step. And then whether the journey changes slightly. but often I will be like, I don't want to know the nitty-gritty details of a scene. So I will just be like, the character does this. And then he you drop them in that moment and see what they do or how they do it. And it feels more organic, it feels more genuine because you are literally making it up on the spot. so that's kind of it keeps me on track to have an outline, but then anytime that the outline feels like it's a constraint that's going to stop me from making a better story choice, I will make that better story choice and reconfigure the outline or change it. Jason: That's awesome. I'm always interested to hear that because it's like all over the place, as you know. I mean, you I Andy Peloquin: yeah. Jason: know you interact and talk to authors all the time. I've talked to authors for years, and it's just so interesting to hear some people like I cannot not have a very specific plan. Or, you know, like our friend Andrew, who just goes in and does whatever he wants, you know. Andy Peloquin: Psychopaths. Straight psychopaths. No, I will I will tell you the the the difference between the two kinds of books. Like obviously there is, you know, many shades of c of of story under the sun, but I think the the people who are plotters, they will have stories that feel real cohesive. Like things may go off on a tangent or a side quest, but it'll all dovetail back together really, really nicely. It will feel more cohesive, whereas a pantser. Jason: Mm. Andy Peloquin: will be more shocking. they will take hard right turns that we as plotters won't because we know where we need to go. So it'll be an incremental turn here, or we can we can try to plan a hard right turn, but it's always got to come back around. Whereas with the Jason: Yeah. Andy Peloquin: with the with the Panzer, it's like, all right, I'm going here and I'm bored with this. All right, hard right turn. And then I'm going here and I'm bored left turn. And it ends up being really, really surprising. The hard point, the hard part of that is always at the end. Tying everything up really, really neatly. And you'll find that with say, some some murder mysteries and the murder mysteries that are just interesting, and my god, what's gonna happen next? And you're addicted, and you have to find out, and the ending feels a little bit mid. That is more likely than not a pants story, and that whole journey was spectacular, but then that ending just feels a little bit of a letdown because of that. Whereas a a a plotter would be like the Sanderlanch, right? Like with Sanderson, you're never getting a really hard left turn. Yeah, you're never getting that super Jason: It's all planned. Yeah. Andy Peloquin: hard left turn, but then you start building up steam and you start feeling like, things are getting bigger, things are picking up, and you get that pacing and you're like, my God, I gotta find out what comes next. And that's what makes that's what makes I think that's the strength of a Sanderson style story versus something like a Sebastian de Castell story, where it's just like, okay, we're hard right turning again. Jason: Right. But they're but they both have their place and I feel like I love them both for different reasons. And it's they're all so much and Andy Peloquin: yeah. Absolutely. Jason: I just yeah, so they're all so much fun. Well, I want to pivot a little bit and talk about kind of your history and your relationship with Athon books, Aython Vault. a lot of people who are watching this episode and listening to this episode have heard me talk about these books a lot very recently. And Andy, we just touched started touching bass because I was trying to find like Who the publisher of the DCC graphic novel was. And I was like, hey, I want to review this, I'm gonna talk about it. And then it spurred honestly, Andy, talking and meeting you and getting introduced to this whole world of lit RPG game lit. It's like it's literally changing the course of my reading and life, but it's Andy Peloquin: Hell yeah. Jason: blowing my mind. And I've felt I've been read I've read her my whole life, obviously, and I've been a part of fandoms for a long time. But this feels so different and so special. And I I just want to hear all about it. I wanna hear what was what was your history with that? And you're the director of publicity. I wanna hear the about the business side of it. I wanna hear all of it. Just tell me everything. Andy Peloquin: Sure. I will say, like, so I I haven't always been a big litRPG reader. I've always been fantasy guy, right? You can see the n 99% of the books on my shelf are fantasy. There's some sci-fi, this center row here, this is all Aethon Lid RPG, but then aside from Dungeon Crawler Carl and Don't Die Dave, no other lit RPG on my shelf. but the one thing that I discovered when I started, you know, reading lit RPG here and there, and especially now more so since I've been in it. Is LitRPG number one, it wears its influences on its sleeve. And as somebody who grew up kind of in fandoms like yours, like you, I love that so much. My books are an homage to Brent Week's Night Angel, to Scott Lynch Lies of Locke Lamora, to Tom Clancy, to, you know, all these like I love wearing my influences on my sleeve. So when I find a book that does that, it's like, I immediately know what I'm getting. A really good example of this is Shadow Slave. Shadow Slave is one of the biggest gr web novels in like I think the biggest net web novel in the world. We are putting it out in November. And I read it, I read the first book of Shadowslave for the first time about five, six months ago. because I'm doing the publicity, I gotta know what these books are about. Jason: Mm-hmm. Andy Peloquin: And and within fifteen pages, I was like, this is solo leveling. I had just finished watching the anime at the time, or about a month or so earlier, and I was like, okay, great. I know exactly what I'm going to get. It's gonna be weird, it's gonna be quirky, it's gonna be a different story, but it is so low leveling, or New Life is a max level archmage, which is another one coming out next month. I started reading it and I was like, this is Freerin. I I love this so much because I love Freerin. And so kind of having these these influences so clear. It makes it really easy for me to immediately connect with them. And then the stories don't have to get into any deep message. They don't have to have a theme. They don't have to, you know, educate me on something. Like there's a lot of books that are being put out right now by a lot of other publishers that are very, very clearly trying to convey something, right? Whether it's something on religion or race or gender or sexuality, whatever the case is, there is an agenda behind the books, whether it's the author's agenda, the publisher's, that's fine. With a lot of lit RPG, the only agenda is let's just do the most entertaining and action-packed or ridiculous thing, right? These authors are not coming here to change anybody's views. They will, like if you read He Who Fights with Monsters or Dungeon Crawler Carl, you can see the author's political leanings or their views on religion, all of that very clearly, because they're not making any effort to hide it, but it's not the driving force behind the story. So it's just a different way of of of Entertainment, it's entertainment without the the extra emphasis of something really, you know, deep and intense that we all have to learn and be better at. so I have really, really loved that so much. But to go back to your first question, I have been friends with the owners of Athon, Ret C Bruno and Steve Bolier for for years. They published the buried goddess saga back in 2018, around the same time that I put out The book that is now Darkblade. And at the time, the indie author community was it was and still is very much interconnected. Everybody would, you know, there would be the newsletter swaps, you would recommend the books, you would buy the books and review them. And it was all super cooperative and collaborative. And so, you know, I pushed their book, they pushed my book. We started, you know, working together on promotions and giveaways and all this kind of stuff. And there was always some kind of conversations every month, every week, every, you know, couple of months. We were always just kind of you know, the internet's a great place for connecting people. And then in 2020, I had I needed a break. The silent champions was intense. It is insane military action. It's big emotions. It is big set pieces. It is it was a lot to write. And I needed a break. So I started tinkering with this Sniper in a sci-fi world. And I just fell in love with the story, the character, the the action behind, you know, behind the long gun. There was so much. And I again, I've never read a book about a sniper in sci-fi. So I was doing something that felt like new territory. I loved it so much. But I had built up my audience around fantasy. And I didn't know anything about marketing to sci-fi. Athon Books had been publishing really successful sci-fi books at the time by Josh Hayes, by Rick Partlow, by a bunch of other people. And so I was like, guys, I have this story. Are you interested in it? And they published it. And they did, you can see up here, this whole series up here, it's 12 books. 12 book sci-fi series. They published them. And I was it was such such a treat working with them. they did such a great job of it. And so we started, you know. Working more closely in things, promoting the books, and just kind of became friends with them even more. And then a few years ago, I think it was 2022, Steve, who is Jamie Castle, he came to me. He was like, Look, you're the assassin guy. I have this idea for an assassin. I was Yep, in, immediately in. Jason: Ha ha ha. Andy Peloquin: And so he he basically had written the first chapters. Of what is what became Dragon Blood Assassin, the four book series. We wrote it together because he came in with such a cool idea that I was like instantly engaged with the idea, with the material, the character, the world. And then we, we we brainstormed this thing, this thing. It became about dragons, it became about blood blood magic, and and it's one of my favorite books to or series to have written because I got to work with him on it. And over the next year or so. Other things, came up. They got me to do a series that'll be announced probably next year. and and we just started, you know, talking more. I visited Steve. We hung out more. It was, you know, we just became better friends. And then in twenty twenty, yeah, at the at the end of last year, September, or no, in August, I had gone to WorldCon and I had such a good time. And I was making really good connections and just having a blast. And it was all because of the stuff that I had started doing on social media. And I I I called Steve up and I was like, Steve, I'm not talking myself into a job here, but I think you guys should start being more active on social media. On Instagram, on TikTok, we're seeing authors who are exploding because the the stuff that they're doing on social media or they're going viral because people are liking them. And and he was like, Yeah, when, you know, I was like, look, I'll put together a whole plan for you. I'll help you find a good influencer to be the face of Athons, social media presence, just to kind of just build you guys up more. You know, I'll be a consultant, whatever. And he's like, Yeah, we'll we'll talk about it, you know, in a couple of weeks. And then they called me up a few weeks later and they were like, Look, we have this job and we need somebody to do it. And so I, you know, I had I had never done the the publicity thing in this capacity, but I had been I've been an author, I've been a content creator, I have been a reviewer, I have done my own sales and marketing, like all my skills just kind of came together in a really interesting way. And so I was like, look, I'm I'm very, very willing to try. And it has been a really fun journey ever since. It's been just over a year of doing of basically living and breathing books 20 hours a day. Jason: I was just gonna ask at the end of that question, what does a typical day look like for you? But just just surrounded by books, everything books, which sounds like the dream, Andy Peloquin: Yeah. Jason: honestly. Andy Peloquin: It's it's literally I get up in the morning, my alarm clock goes off at five forty-five, and you know, I I get to my desk by six and I start off, you know, checking my Instagram or the Aethon Instagram or the Aethon Vault Instagram, and my email inbox is full on both my personal stuff and then the Aethon stuff. And I am, you know, taking calls from authors, I'm doing awesome podcasts, I am, you know, arranging events. I am doing everything books all day long. So it's yeah, my days are very, very long, but it's a very it's incredibly rewarding. And I get to work with people who I like, like Michael Chatfield and Seth Ring and Andrew Gibler. These people have been my friends for years. And now I get to help them succeed. It's even it's just like it's the best of all possible worlds. Jason: That's awesome. And even after talking to Seth recently and it just really sounds like this all is just stemming from just relationships and friendships and like people just supporting each other, right? And like obviously there's a business side to things, but I think when it's when it's founded on s like a shared love for something, like I think only cool things come from it. And I I feel that on the kind of, you know, creator reviewer is content creator side as well. and some of those emails are from me, so sorry about that. But Andy Peloquin: That's good. That's good. I I prefer an inbox where people ask me for things or they come to me with ideas instead of me having to go chase them. It just makes my job easier. Jason: Right. Yeah, there's usually never a shortage of ideas over here, just a shortage of time, unfortunately. So Andy Peloquin: Yeah, yeah, same, same. But that's the one thing that that that sort of defines Athon as a publisher and it makes us very, very different from from other publishers out there. So if you look at the way that that you know Tor or Orbit they do their tours, they'll have like an author go to a city and do an event with another author. And it's it's a pretty standard playbook. But then We're gonna we're gonna do something more than that. We're gonna do something bigger than that. So a good example of this is gonna be this this this event that we're doing in Salt Lake City, the the ultimate litRPG side quest. This is a huge experiment, but already, you know, we have got 250 people to 300 people coming to this thing. We have 10 authors there with their books, and we have all kinds of cool stuff. And so No matter what happens, it's gonna be a good time. And if we can find ways to do more stuff, like Andrew Gibler and Travis Bagwell doing their little mini tour of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, and then soon it's gonna be Southern California, and then there's stuff happening in, you know, in New England, and there's just gonna be more and more and more, and it's all built on this idea of we are in this together, even if an event that we do doesn't sell my book. I get to help somebody else sell their book, and then their growth is going to help me when the time comes. Like very much the indie, the indie mindset of a rising tide lifts all ships. That is the foundation on which Athon is built, this collaborativeness, and this is how we are actually seeing the growth that we have beyond just the, you know, the the sales numbers and the books and stores. Jason: Sure. Sure. And you guys are just honestly again, I've been in this space for a while and like there's very familiar with the traditional ways of doing things. and you guys are kind of honestly doing some catch up, right? Especially on the hardcover side or the r retail side, right? But it's you have this amazing catalog that like I feel like unless you've been in it, you don't know about it. All of this is brand new to so many people, me being one of them. And Like I said, eating every single title up and then, but then also realizing these are the starts to multiple book series, which is amazing in one regard, Andy Peloquin: Yeah. Jason: but also like, my gosh, my list just got so much longer because I Andy Peloquin: yeah. Jason: loved Battle Nage Farmer or I loved Backyard Starship, or you know, so but that's so much fun. But you guys also are killing it because you're giving the people what they want, which are physical books that are beautiful and that are designed really well and that come with sprayed edge. Like it's just so smart and it's I've loved it so much. As a consumer, I've loved it. And then as a creator, it's just like you're hitting all the checking all the boxes, if you will. Andy Peloquin: as as a guy who comes from from loving books first and then being an author second and then now doing this third, it it has been a it has been such a delight. And I I'm so happy that I get to kind of steer and offer suggestions and advice and say, let's try this. Like a lot of the things that we're doing now are things that I pitched, you know, a year ago and they weren't possible at the time. But then now we've been, you know, we've been doing more things and we've been trying and and it's been so fun to watch. Things happen like the the the convention exclusive dust jackets that we did at at New York City Comic Con. This is something that I've been doing for over a year now with the Queen of Thieves. And then seeing how much people love it, and then seeing how many people loved it at New York City Comic Con, it's just like, this is all stuff that's so cool. Let's keep doing more of these things and trying things that nobody else is doing, or trying them on a scale that nobody else is doing, and and especially like The the Athon mentality is like, Well let's try it and see what happens. Jason: Love it. Love it. and I'm just gonna say on a pressal note, I am so bummed. I'm not gonna be in Salt Lake this December. I almost literally Andy was gonna DM you and be like, How can I get there? I literally cannot go. I have a work Andy Peloquin: Okay. Jason: event, I have a conflict. I'm like so bummed out because I would be one of those 250 people there. Like, I will just someone needs to call me and put me on FaceTime in their pocket or something while they're there. Andy Peloquin: Yeah. I'm sure I'm sure we can arrange for that. We can do a great big TV for all the people who wanna come but but can't make it. Jason: Please, please do. I do want to go to lit RPG my con game is next year. Like I had to kinda take a year off of cons, but I'm gonna be I wanna go to lit RPG con. I wanna go to Gen Con again. So I'll I'll see I'll be out there with all my people at some point. Andy Peloquin: Yeah. And if if this if this if I can because I'm putting a lot of these logistics together, if I can make the logistics of this event work, then this is something that I will take with me wherever we go. litRPGCon the night before the convention, something big's happening. you know, New York Comic Con, something big's happening. Dragon Con. Because it's just it's there's a whole new readership at every single one of these cities. You know, people are not. Jason: Yes. Andy Peloquin: a lot of people are flying to Salt Lake City for Dragon Steel Nexus, but a lot of people aren't. A lot of people are coming Jason: Right. Andy Peloquin: to Atlanta for Dragon Con, but a lot of people aren't. And so every single one of these places is just a new audience. And it's all people who want more of what we're already doing, or you know, they they want more of what they love. Jason: know we're kind of g hitting close to our time. mentioned obviously books, you are surrounded by books, you're always reading, but what are some that have come across your desk or that you are reading currently or have read currently that you have really enjoyed? Andy Peloquin: man, that's well, Jason: That you can talk about. Andy Peloquin: so so Rover Powered. Rover Powered by Drew Hayes. Jason: Excited for that one. Andy Peloquin: it's so good. I mean, so I I went into this one with no real idea of what to expect. But I was like, it's a dog on the front. I'm sure I'll like it. And I adored this book. I think the best thing about this book is that it's it's written for a younger audience. So parents who want to get their kids into fantasy. Into progression fantasy, into Lit RPG. I am so excited to have this book on the shelf because I will be able to like I'm literally sending it to my sister for my nieces to read because I loved it so much. And that's one that I'm I'm immensely excited for. Shadow Slave is going to blow people out of the water. Like this this this series is going to be bigger than He Who Fights with Monsters, is what I'm hearing, which is very, very exciting, at least as big as he who fights with monsters. I really enjoyed New Life as a max level archmage because it's again it's it's Freerin coded and I loved the Freer and TV show so much. And let me see. So Life Reset by Shemer Kuznets, if you grew up playing heroes of might and magic like I did. It's just it's just the it scratches that itch. You get to play the goblin horde. You get to see the little monsters. They're crappy at the beginning, but then they level up and they get more badass. And I'm like, I remember playing it where, you know, the game, it's that shitty 2D graphics, but you're just having so much fun playing with like there are so many, honestly, there are so many books that I'm that I am so happy that I get to work on. I know that there is one coming in the next year. Year or so by Sebastian DeCastel. I have read early drafts of that one. He's one of my favorite authors and he's a friend. So I'm like, all right, just get this book done so I can start working on it, please. I'm super excited for that one. yeah, there's there's so many, so many good books coming. Jeremy Robinson, who just put out Project Nemesis today. he's got this one coming out in March, I believe. It's called Infinite. And the opening is like Project Hail Mary, where he's drifting in a ship and we have no idea what's going on. And then it just keeps taking a hard right turn and by the end this thing is it is it I was I was I was reading it while I was at New York City Comic Con with him and he would come by the booth to do his signings and I was like, Jeremy, what were you on? The fuck is wrong with you? It was so fun to to to actually have that experience reading and talking, you know, to him about it. So that's one that I'm that I'm very excited for next year. Jason: Awesome. I almost said the same thing when I saw Gibler or San Jose. I was a slap him after I read Bloody Sands. I like, What have you done to me? And what you don't even know, man. Andy Peloquin: that's another one that I'm super stoked for. Bloody Sands is Jason: Same. Andy Peloquin: it's it's such a good like that that series Jason: Killer. So killer. Yeah. Andy Peloquin: that series is top ten of the year for me. Jason: I agree. I heart agree. Well, Andy, I wanna know is there anything you can reveal exclusively about what's on the radar for Athon, maybe in the coming year? I know you guys do a great job of like kind of listing what books you have out, or is the new list of books gonna be coming out soon? Like what anything you could share? Andy Peloquin: Well, I will tell you I so right now everything up until spring, which is April, has been announced. So we have we have Defiance of the Fall, which is one of the biggest of our Lit RPG titles. That one is definitely coming out in April, which if you've seen that cover for that with the giant axe head, it is such a great cover. I literally just finished that book reading it three days ago. And I I immediately under not immediately. It took me a minute to get into it. But by the end, I was I was like, I immediately understand why people love this so much. It is such, such a banger by the end of it. I will say that summer, which is May through September, is going to be a ton of sequels. We're getting Battle Mage Farmer 2. We're getting The Ten Realms book two. We're getting Awaken Online book two. Path of a Jason: Jake's Magic Market book two. Andy Peloquin: Yeah, Jake's Magic Market 2, Path of Ascension is coming out. Jason: Okay. Andy Peloquin: That is one of our one of Athon's biggest titles. C Mantis, delightful human being. I'm very excited to to set up tours and stuff for him because he is such a cool dude to hang out with. that one is definitely one of the big ones. And we've got Return of the Rune Bound Professor by Actis. And that one is That one was really, really fun. It was a music teacher. He goes to a fantasy world and he doesn't know anything about magic. And so he basically tricks his students into teaching him about magic by saying, What is magic exactly? And makes them explain it to him. And it's all under the guise of his lesson. But it was so it was manipulative, but in a really fun way. And I really, really enjoyed that. And then, ooh, here's here's one Jason: Awesome. Well sorry, go ahead. Andy Peloquin: more. At The event that we're going to be doing in in Salt Lake City. There will be special copies of So You Wanna Be a Hero by Steve Bolier, by Jamie Castle, and Rhett C. Bruno, which is their it is this book, but that will be a really cool brand new cover. It's basically this is this is Steve and this is Rhett. They basically wrote this as themselves in a fantasy world, but Jason: okay. Andy Peloquin: very, very fun. And that book will be coming out in the summer of next year as well. Jason: Awesome. Awesome. Well, those are all things I personally am going to be looking forward to. Please, if you have not checked out Andy or Aethon Books or anything, give them a follow. I'm going put in the show notes of this episode where you can find him, find everything about Athon Books. Andy, before we go, where can people interact with you and or Aethon Books in the coming months as the 2026 wraps up? Andy Peloquin: So if you wanna follow me, you can go to my Instagram, it's AndyPeliquin Author. My website is Andy Peliquin. I'm on TikTok, I'm on Facebook, everywhere as Andy Peliquin Author. Aethon Books Instagram and Athona Vault Instagram. if you are into graphic novels and comics, like the Dungeon Crawler Carl graphic novel, The Vault Comics is a great place to to go check everything out. There is some really cool graphic novels coming in the next few months. There's this 1001 Saves the World, which is like this mutant weird thing in a post-apocalyptic nightmare landscape saving the world. It is really, really fun. I saw the sneak preview of it. There is Darkest Dungeon coming out. there is so much cool stuff coming from from Vault Comics, from Aethon Vault, and from Aython books. Like it is an embarrassment of riches over here. Jason: Never be bored with anything coming out Andy Peloquin: Right. Jason: of any of those imprints. Andy, thank you so much for hanging out. I could talk forever. Until next time, thank you so much for being here. Andy Peloquin: Thank you for having me.