We chat with author Ari Marmell about The Eternal Warrior, which follows Gilad, who faces a catastrophic challenge when the most closely guarded secret of his immortal life falls into the hands of a cult of death.
Hi, Ari! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Yes, I can.
…
Oh, you probably wanted me to actually do that, huh?
Well, I’ve worked in about a zillion different kinds of writing (and by “a zillion” I mean about half a dozen). My professional career started with writing for tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons and Vampire: the Masquerade. Since that beginning, I’ve published about twenty novels and a whole bunch of short stories. I’ve also done dialogue and in-game lore writing for video games, and I’ve written several feature-length scripts.
Outside of the writing, I… Well, think about writing, mostly. I still play D&D, and I spend way too much time on social media. I’ve got two cats, one wife, and enough health issues to write a really twisted version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I seem to recall that I really started writing seriously in early college, but the storytelling goes back way further. For quite some time, I attributed my love of storytelling to playing D&D, which I’d been doing since I was eight years old. And that certainly contributed to it.
But some years ago, I realized that it actually started when I was only about four years old. I had a toy horse—one of those things with the plush head on a small broomstick, that you could just pretend to ride around the house—that we’d named Jack. My father, Howard, would tell me bedtime stories where Jack would come awake at night and fly me off to visit my favorite characters. Luke and Hand and Leia; Superman; Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.
I think that was what first planted the seed in my head. The revelation that these stories actually come from somewhere and that anyone could create them was a big deal for a kid that age, and I genuinely believe that everything else flowed from that.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Andre Norton’s Star Rangers. (I know for a fact it wasn’t the first, but it’s the first I remember.)
- The one that made you want to become an author: Subject to what I said above about my developing love of storytelling, Steven Brust’s Jhereg.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Erin Evans’ Empire of Exiles.
Your latest novel, The Eternal Warrior, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
“The Old Guard” meets “Reacher.”
What can readers expect?
Exciting and sometimes brutal action that draws on history (both recent and ancient) and mythology (both real and created for the setting), with what I certainly hope are some interesting and surprising character motivations.
Where did the inspiration for The Eternal Warrior come from?
That’s a bit of a tricky question in this case. Since this is a tie-in novel I was contracted to write, there wasn’t precisely anything that inspired me to create it, as there was for my non-tie-in books. Once I was contracted, Brendan Deneen (my editor at Blackstone) and I worked together on coming up with the story. When we had that, I certainly had certain inspirations for creating some of the characters—including some people I knew that I wanted to honor and represent—but the book itself was, at the concept level, truly a group creation.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Cassandra Reyes. I’ve never quite written a character like her before, and she’s also one of the characters I mentioned above who was partly inspired by real people I know. Getting to understand who she was and how to write her was deeply important to me, and she’s one of the characters I enjoyed writing most. Truth is, I wish she was a larger part of the book than she already is, and that I’d had more time to spend with her as the focus.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Hmm. I think I’m going to get overly real for a minute here.
Certainly it’s always tricky writing for an existing character with deep lore, especially a character like Gilad whose history is so lengthy and detailed. The folks at Valiant were great about providing sources of information, but it was still tough.
That wasn’t my main challenge, though. I was going through a very difficult period at the time of writing, and frankly the biggest obstacle to my work was my own brain. Overcoming that really just proved a matter of pushing through it, and I do want to acknowledge both Brendan and the Valiant team for accommodating a number of delays that, while certainly not extreme, still exceeds the norm for me.
What’s next for you?
That’s actually a really good question. I’ve got several scripts and script-related projects making the rounds, and if any of those go anywhere, I’ve got some follow-up stuff to work on. Otherwise, I’ve got a few new novel ideas—mostly darker fantasy or horror—that I’ll probably pursue. In the interim, I’m continuing to work on game material, both tabletop and video.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year?
While I haven’t been doing as much reading so far this year as I’d like, I’m currently having fun with Pauli Kidd’s The Dungeoneers, and I’ve just picked up Steven Brust’s Lyorn, which I’m greatly looking forward to.
