Thaddeus Wontor is a classic example of an Indie author. He works hard in his daily life but has a creative drive in him that must be set loose in prose. His debut novel, Anthem: Prelude, is a little different from your typical fantasy novel. Will you find swords and taverns and non-human creatures? Of course. Will there be trolls fighting in the deep, scary woods? Nope. Mostly because there are no forests. That’s a bit of trick, so I’ll let Thaddeus explain it a little better.
Greetings – thank you so much for opening up your platform to share about myself and my work. My name is Thaddeus Wontor, and I just recently took a leap and published my first novel, Anthem: Prelude in e-format with Kindle.
Quick background: writing isn’t my day job. I was blessed with a few choices near the end of my senior year of undergrad (forever ago) in 2008: either accept placement into a health field-related doctoral program, or pursue a MFA in writing. I took a summer to decide, and in the end chose the former. Five years later, I now practice optometry in Winona, Minnesota, right alongside the mighty Mississippi River. La Crosse, Wisconsin, just a short drive south, is where my wife and I call home. When not flipping dials in the exam room asking the proverbial “1 or 2”, I’m either outdoors (our outdoor pursuits are endless) or I’m on the laptop, crafting.
For me, creating the Anthem trilogy was born out of the need to scratch a long overdue itch. The plot wasn’t so much built as grown, the characters grafted into existence by thousands of unique encounters, from experiences over a lifetime. I’m huge on imagery – I spend an inordinate amount of time visualizing my scenes and then attempting to translate those images into words. If the words don’t do the imagery justice, they get backspaced. Another thing I learned along the way is how close a tightrope walk it is to dabble with new universes. One grand idea I had early along in writing Anthem is to create a universe devoid of wood. No trees, I know – genius, right? I can’t tell you how many times that decision has come back to bite me in the ass. But the reward is in the challenge, and there has been much reward in writing this book.
To sum it up, Anthem: Prelude is a book of question marks. The story rotates around Sannin del Meara – a boy with a name that literally translates in the story to “adrift at sea.” There is much of the seventeen year old me melded into Sannin’s DNA. The confusion, the angst, the sweet and sour realizations of youth. It is, at its heart, a coming of age story set in a strange world as Sannin struggles with the loss of his closest friend (who is not human). It’s a take on a familiar situation, woven with the freedom and peculiarity that only the realm of speculative fiction can provide.
So if anything mentioned piques your interest, please download and check it out! Telepathic fish, pigeon-eating dragonflies, medieval combat, ocean adventures, assassinations, romance – I tried to sprinkle it all in, along with a few of my own life lessons distilled along the way. Be sure to look for another installment in the series due for release sometime Winter 2014. Thanks again for reading and for supporting Indie authors everywhere!
Personally, I found the telepathic fish incredibly interesting. I also think the world Thaddeus has created is ripe for a good gamemaster. You should definitely take a look at this one as well as other titles profiled in our Indie Books series. Support independent arts.
Head on over to Amazon to download Anthem: Prelude (The Wind and Waves Trilogy). Or check his author page where he’s already announced the title for book two.