Author Focus – Sean Crow

Author Focus is back, shining an enthusiastic and bright spotlight on another author who deserves to be more widely known. This time I’m featuring US writer Sean Crow, who has just completed his Godless Lands fantasy trilogy with the release of Blessings of the Devourer.

Tim – Welcome to Author Focus, Sean. We’ve talked about doing this for years and now it’s finally happened! Let’s start by telling the readers about you and what first sparked your interest in creative writing.

Sean – I’ve been working in education going on fourteen years at this point, five of which I was teaching in a correctional facility while the rest has been focused in Special Education. I have three beautiful children who are the light of my life and we live in the mountains of eastern Oregon.

I’m not sure what really sparked my initial interest in writing, but it was something I enjoyed from an early age. In elementary school, I remember how much I loved free writing because it wasn’t restrained by the confines of an assignment. That said, my teachers weren’t always my biggest fans. I remember once, in fourth grade, my mother was called in because my teacher thought that my writing revealed some disturbing qualities. To be fair, I was REALLY into the old Warcraft lore, so my stories had demons with shields covered in human flesh, lots of bloodshed, and the characters, all the kids from my class, fought and died in a war without end. Thankfully, my mother was always my champion. She told that particular teacher she was proud of what I wrote, regardless of what it was about and wouldn’t have it any other way.

I was never a big reader until my father introduced me to David Gemmell. I owe a lot to those two men, as they opened the door to a world of literature that I otherwise may never have discovered. At that time, while I enjoyed writing, I was really into sports and put my creative side on the backburner until after college. I’d write short stories here and there and they were generally well received, but I really started to take writing seriously after my first child was born. I cut out a lot of the noise and old hobbies from my life and took to perfecting my craft. Since that day, I haven’t looked back.

What’s the Godless Lands series about? Can you introduce us to the key characters?

Godless Lands was the first novel I decided to move forward with publishing independently. It was originally meant to be a one and done, but it evolved into something more as the years went on. Essentially you have a world ravaged by the Blight; in layman’s terms, the bubonic plague on steroids that affects nearly all plant and animal life as well. The first story takes place roughly a decade after the Blight fades away from the world. From that point, you are left with Havens, the remains of walled off cities that locked themselves in while the disease ravaged the world. The broken remnants of humanity are left to pick up the pieces, and not all of them maintained their humanity during the process. Riven, worshipers of the Hungry God, resorted to managed cannibalism in order to feed their people, twisting both the minds and souls of all who were forced down that dark path. Unable to sustain on their own population, the people of Riven now hunt the territories of the other Havens in search of more.

The first book follows Ferris, a former soldier of Brightridge Haven, also referred to as a Dove. Having been infected with the Blight, he is the only known person to survive it. Yet the disease changed him, turning his skin a pale gray and altering his body, preserving it to the point that many who see him don’t even consider him human.

Bethany and Katrina, a runaway Baroness and her only daughter, have taken to the Godless Lands in order to escape an incestuous fate at the hands of the Baron of Brightridge. A man mad with a desire to see the royal bloodline of the old world continue. In their desperate flight, they encounter Ferris, who, against his better judgement, decides to help.

Igs, once a Pathfinder of Brightridge, tasked with scouring the world outside the Haven for any sign of life, now lives on the Farm. A collection of runaways from the various Havens have gathered in this secreted land away from the aristocracy of the old world, and Igs sees it as his job to keep them safe.

There are many more, Sir Arlo the Death Knight, the Butcher of Riven, Donovan who is the guardian of the Farm and its way of life, Zia, who guides the people of the Farm, and so many more. The series covers a rough 20+ years of time.

What’s it like to have finished the whole series? Did you always know how the whole story was going to end and were there any particular struggles in getting to this point?

It was a fight for sure. I wish I could say this last novel just all came together, but it was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to write. It was supposed to be done last year, but I just could not get my mind wrapped around a finale. Life has a way of gut punching you at times and I had lowered my guard enough that I took a couple of good body blows. Lost a lot of my drive, and my spirit was pretty low. Wasn’t sure I’d ever pull out of that spiral, but faith and family helped me get back to my feet and continue the fight. Now I’m super excited to get this out in December.  

I generally think of my novel ideas working backwards from the climax but a lot changes in between those big moments. Then, when I get to them, the characters have grown in different directions than I had initially planned and the ending shifts.

You’ve collaborated with some incredible artists on your books. I love the work of Tomas Duchek on Godless Lands and Anthony Valiukonis on Valhalla Steel. Both of them really capture the essence of your characters. What’s it like to work with them and how much input do you have on their artwork?

Both artists are top notch guys. I’ve been very blessed to have been able to work with them. The story idea for the Godless Lands was actually inspired by Tomas’ work. It was early in my career and I was looking for ways to improve my craft, so I would reach out to artists whose work gave me ideas and ask if I could write a story about their piece. The first illustration of Tomas’ I saw was titled ‘Death Knight’. Funny enough, the short story I wrote eventually became the introduction for the novel Godless Lands. After that, Tomas and I spoke a few times and he ended up creating a piece inspired by the Doves I described in the short story. I ended up writing two more short stories before talking with Tomas about writing a novel. So many of the characters featured in that book are based on his artwork so I always try to credit him when I can.

I met Anthony in a similar way. I eyed one of his projects which became the short story The Pale Queen. I continued to write about that world in a few more stories. Meanwhile, Anthony and I talked about different ideas and soon became good friends, playing games online when we found the time. One day I was riding on a bus listing to Swedish Pagans by Sabaton when the idea of gun-running Vikings fighting a turf war with chem-dealing Fae jumped into my mind. I started working on the world in my notebook and approached Anthony with the idea the next day. He was excited and soon we started to develop Valhalla Steel.

I first discovered your work through Valhalla Steel, which is a very different project to Godless Lands. What was the inspiration behind those stories and do you have any plans to return to this world?

Well, I sort of answer it in the last question, but there is a bit more to it.

I love mythology. Not just Norse, but world-wide. Also, back in my college days, I played a homemade system developed by a friend that was futuristic with supernatural elements to it. I absolutely love the genre mix up and really latched onto the whole concept. I’m already developing the next novel, which I will really dive into once Blessings of the Devourer is on the market.

My plans for that world don’t end there. Starting January 2025, my partners and I will be launching Honorbound Gaming, with our focus set on a tabletop RPG set in the Valhalla Steel universe. My team and I have already created the rules and are in the process of prepping three Kickstarters for some of the legendary figures from the series. Already we have the 3D render of Yuri, the Iron Bear, and have the concept art for Satiago, the broken Crusader. Our manufacturing partners, Beethreedee Miniatures, are in the process of printing up the first round of Yuri models and we went on a tour their facility in mid-December, so exciting times all around!

You write short stories as well as full-length novels. What do you like most about writing short stories, and how does this differ from approaching a novel-length work? Is there a format you prefer?

You know, short stories really helped train me to write novels, so they hold a special place in my heart. Short stories are the building blocks of storytelling. Like running, or any athletics, you start small. Build up your endurance and develop your body until you start to improve, then you increase the weight, add more miles, and take on greater challenges. Just like the body, you have to condition your mind if you want to perform.

A lot of my short stories eventually become the inspiration for long term story ideas. That, or I use them to dive into world concepts I’d like to try out. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they help me realize that it’s not the direction for me, at least at that time. Whenever folks say they want to write a novel, I encourage them to start with a short story.

Is there anything else you want to tell us about before we wrap this up?

I’m a pretty open guy, so if you ever have any questions about my work or writing in general, please add me on social media and send me a message! I’m always happy to talk shop 😊

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. Good luck with the launch of Blessings of the Devourer!

Find out more about Sean and his work via the links below:

Amazon Page – Amazon.com: Sean Crow: books, biography, latest update

Social Media – Facebook