Hi, Ryan! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

After escaping my hometown in Central Florida, I began studying to become a chemical engineer so I could mine asteroids. Since then, I’ve mined no asteroids, but I have worked in tabletop game design, Broadway musical production, and even taught English to middle schoolers. These days, I live in Oakland with my partner and our dog, which may be a demon. I work to defend democracy at UC Berkeley, which still doesn’t involve asteroid mining, but I apply that overactive imagination to conceiving of ideas (hopefully) readers don’t see coming.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

Though I don’t remember it, I’m told I demanded to be taught to read so that I could play Pokemon Yellow on the Gameboy Color. Video games and books became my obsession. I can remember wanting to make my own from basically the moment I have real memories, but I didn’t write my first story until my senior year of high school, when my history teacher tasked us with imagining how an authoritarian regime might come to power in a country of his choice. After that, I was hooked, and as it turned out, writing about authoritarian regimes got… relevant.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The Berenstein Bears and the Green-Eyed Monster
• The one that made you want to become an author: Eragon
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Pedro Paramo

Your debut novel, Seven Recipes for Revolution, is out now ! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Magic Chefs, Giant Monsters, Revolution

What can readers expect?

I wrote Seven to have all the things I love in epic fantasy: big sweeping magic, underdog stories, betrayals and court politics, and magical creatures—all with my own spin. But it’s also a love letter to food and the communities it gathers and a critique of class politics, animal abuse in Factory Farms, and how we use food as a weapon.

Where did the inspiration for Seven Recipes for Revolution come from?

In March 2022, I was working for 70-80 weeks in a Broadway theatre, and I was drowning. I hated my boss. I’d just moved to the Northeast from Southern California. I missed the sun, craved street tacos, and wanted nothing more to finish Attack on Titan, but of course, Feb 2022 was still in the middle of the whole Season 4 Part 2 business, so I was stuck wanting on all fronts. Then, as I walking home from a shift at 2:30 AM, I had an idea for a character: Paprick the Butcher. I got home, opened up a word document that I intended to use for character notes and wrote: “Before he was Paprick the Butcher, he was Paprick, a butcher.” At this point, I’d written 6 novels that I hadn’t been able to publish. I’d meticulously outlined all of them with character bibles and plot outlines and documents, documents, documents. I never intended for those words to open the book, but that voice became one I couldn’t forget and has started the book since that night.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

There’s a chapter toward the end of the book called Table Manners that I had so much fun writing. It allowed me to play with all the things about Fine Dining that I find interesting from the perspectives of people on complete opposite sides of the spectrum on the topic. And it ends in violence, of course, which is always fun to write.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

The first draft of the book was actually science fiction, set in the future on another planet. At some point, I just realized it wasn’t working, and I wondered whether I could rip away all the “this is how this works” science, call it magic, and strip out the tech. The only way to see was to try it. I spent a lot of time combing through to pull it off, but it clearly worked.

This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?

Arduous. I’ve been writing novels for 14 years. I queried 6 books to no success before Seven Recipes. I racked up more than 500+ query rejections from agents, and really started to approach the line of am I stubborn or deluded? There were many times I considered whether Seven Recipes would be my last attempt at getting an agent.

What’s next for you?

I am very fortunate to have a 3 book deal for the What We Eat trilogy! I turned in edits for book 2 a few months ago, and I am knee deep in drafting book 3.

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

I absolutely loved both The Outcast Mage and The Raven Scholar. I’ve also had the tremendous fortune to read an incredible book coming out later this year that I can’t wait to discuss with readers: The Tower of the Tyrant by JT Greathouse.

Will you be picking up Seven Recipes for Revolution? Tell us in the comments below!

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