In Other Worlds
Every other week, your host Jess will be sitting down with the authors and audiobooks narrators that bring the litrpg, gamelit, and fantasy genre to life.
In Other Worlds
Episode 1: TJ Lombardi
On this premiere episode of In Other Worlds podcast, TJ takes us through his creative journey from concept to publication. Blending the nostalgic warmth of Pokemon with the mech battles of Pacific Rim and Gundam, Golem Master represents something unique in his catalog. Unlike his darker Dying Breed and Scalpel Chronicles series, this young adult adventure aims for accessibility without sacrificing emotional depth. "I wanted a story that a dad and his son could listen to while driving on a fishing trip," TJ explains, "but with real life lessons woven throughout."
What's next for the Golem Master series? TJ reveals his plans to expand to five books, with increasingly epic stakes as protagonist Pepper's journey intersects with the mysterious Rift Wars. Book two releases June 20th, with more revelations about the demons threatening this fantastical world. For readers captivated by TJ's mechanical golems and emotional storytelling, there's plenty more adventure on the horizon.
Ready to step into a world where Pokemon meets Pacific Rim? Dive into Golem Master and follow TJ's journey at Facebook.com/TDB or through his Patreon at Warrior Publishing.
You can find TJ's book on Amazon here:
**The Dying Breed book 1 - https://amzn.to/43fmdzG
**Bloodbath Chronicles book 1 - https://amzn.to/3GShIDT
**Golem Master book 1 - https://amzn.to/3S2hTPa
You can find TJ online at these website:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TDBSeries
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@tjlombardi
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/WarriorPublishing
**Amazon links are affiliate links. If you'd like to not use them you can search TJ Lombardi on Amazon to see all of his available titles.
You can find everything In Other Worlds at www.iowpod.com or on socials:
You can also subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date on new LitRPG and cozy fantasy releases and be updated when new episodes launch via iowpod.com
Jess: Welcome everyone to the very first episode of In Other Worlds, a LitRPG, Gamelit and Fantasy podcast. I am Jess, your host, and today for my first guest ever, I have TJ Lombardi. He is the author of the Dying Breed series, Scalpel Chronicles and, most recently, Golem Master. Tj, how are you?
TJ: I'm doing amazing. You know I've been a huge fan of the show Jess, ever since you got started. I was like absolutely want to come on and hang out on this epic podcast.
Jess: Well, thank you for being my first guest ever for my epic podcast that has now started. So, I know you probably talk about your book all the time and people are like tell me what your book is about. So just give me like, the shortest little rundown that you can. But then I mostly want to know what you think makes this story, Golem Master, unique.
TJ: Oh man, that's a. That's a great question, Thanks.
Jess: I'm gonna be keeping you on your toes.
TJ: Clearly, clearly. You're asking the hard pressing questions, Jess.
Jess: That’s my job.
TJ: Condensing the story down. I think, like many other people, I can remember the exact place and moment when I first saw Pokemon and I fell in love with that and thought it was amazing. And so for me, I really also enjoyed the movie Pacific Rim, I really enjoyed Gundam and I really kind of liked Hugh Jackman's Real Steel movie and so for me, I just had really been playing with this idea of like how could I make a world where all of these things are smashed together but also just really have a story very much like Pokemon that has that warm, loving attraction to it, has that nostalgia feeling that I had and so for, it was probably a good two years, ever since I started writing I had this idea just percolating and Michael Chatfield, a beautiful human being, love him to death. He was on a panelist, a panel excuse me for Guildify-Con, and the question was asked you know what could we be doing more in the genre? And he just, like off the cuff, was like you know, we should be doing more with golems.
And I remember I was just sitting there I was like, oh my God yes, this is it. This is how it happens and the lightning struck and I immediately, like I had the prologue and chapter one written in my head instantly and I wrote them I think that Christmas but it wasn't until March of 2024 that I actually sat down and started writing Golem Master, and I haven't stopped since. I think you know what is so unique about this book and what is so different, One: It's unlike anything else that I've written in the LitRPG genre as far as it's written for a teen audience and above. I really wanted a story that a dad and his son could be like driving on a fishing trip or camping trip, listening to it together, the audio book and just having a good time bonding over it. So I wanted that. But at the same time I really love to have very hard life lessons thrown into some of my books, and so with this story there is a lot of real things that are happening in the world and happening within Pepper's life that he has to overcome and he has to learn and develop. So this coming of age story I think is really blended in well, that it's going to be very hard and heavy emotionally, but there's still these moments of joy and pure exhilaration, I guess you could say, when those accomplishments and achievements happen.
Jess: It is really really different from your other series Dying Breed and Scalpel Chronicles. I haven't read Dying Breed, but I have read Scalpel Chronicles and it is dark and it is gritty and it's bloody and it's violent and it is very much not a young adult book. Were you worried at all when you wrote the YA book that any of your core group of fans who liked that dark, gritty writing wouldn't kind of cross over to the YA book?
TJ: Not really. I wasn't worried about that at all and the fact is is that when I would, when you would say, like my core audience of readers it's so small that I haven't really seen a transfer over. And you know, Harmon Cooper and I, what I love about the genre is there are so many authors that once they see you and know of you within the community, like hey, this person is a part of the community, they're of the community, they're willing to help each other out. I reached out to Harmon before I went really publicly and live with Golem Master and I asked him, do you regret doing multiple books all throughout the genre, keeping under the same pen, and then I also reached to out to someone else who had done a different pen name. You know, in Harmon's case it was very interesting and he kind of said you know, I wish I had stayed on one true path and really focused on that. And so that was his advice was you know, stick to one thing, use a pen name for another. And the other person with the pen name, they were like no, I don't think it matters really, I don't see any difference. So, I was really torn and conflicted. I'm like, okay, I'm getting two different things here, somewhat, but it was my mom actually that really helped me with the guiding advice and she said TJ, I look at this like actors who do movies, and you may grow up with an actor who does one type of movie in a certain genre and then all of a sudden they come out with a totally different movie and you're just blown away with how incredible their acting is. I don't see why you should be worried about having a book that does that. I wasn't worried about readers being converted over from the dark stuff to the light. The only worry I have is readers who find the light and then go and find the dark and are like, oh my god, how can he write this?
Jess: that's, uh, that'll be quite a quite a drastic change yeah. I mean on the plus side, you do very like bold on the covers. They say m for mature. There is no, I mean, even the covers are dark and gritty. So, there's no mistaking that for a, a YA novel.
TJ: So when I did the dying breed, I did the rating on the back side of the book and then I do ratings on the, the amazon publishing page, cover, you know, detail page, and then on book two of the dying breed and book two of the Bloodbath Scalpel Chronicle series. Both have content warnings at the very beginning. I did have one person who read book two of the Dying Breed and they reached out and they said I have to stop, I can't read this anymore. And she's like I had no idea that you were going to do this. I'm like what are you talking about? Like there's a content warning, there's this, this, this. She's like I didn't even see any of those. So, there's times when the Amazon, especially on Kindle, will put you in front of that content guidance warning and just start you on the prologue or chapter one, so unless the reader goes back and sees it. But I just do the best I can to at least warn people like yeah, this may not be your cup of tea.
Jess: But yeah, the couple that I have read you load up that book and it starts you right there, on the first page of chapter one. It doesn't even like, it just skips everything. So, Harmon Cooper, he's in the book, isn't he? Doesn't he have a character in the book?
TJ: He does.
Jess: Yes, you put a lot of people in this book. Was there anyone who didn't enthusiastically like, wasn't enthusiastically excited about being in the book?
TJ: I think there's a lot of people who still don't know that they're in the book, so there's 47 specific characters that are named and recognized at the very end of the book and it was a way for me to be like hey, this is truly a cast. Like my editor was like, really Like you have three peoples all named Ryan. Don't you think you should switch it up and I'm like no cause they're all real people and, yes, they're going to be Ryan, cause you have multiple Ryans in real life.
Jess: That could get confusing for people, though, who don't know. Who don't know, like all the authors in the community
TJ: Yes, no, and so that was her concern. So that's where, especially with the Ryans because you had Ryan DeBruyn and Ryan Maxwell, because their parts were so close together, I did the best I could to switch Ryan Maxwell to Rhino, which is one of his nicknames, so that it would help differentiate that. And I kind of did a Brian, where I didn't really tell a lot of people that they were in the book. I just did it. Some people did know, like Kt Hanna because I love her to death. Ryan DeBruyn, I told. But like some people, like Michael Chatfield, he is kind of mentioned but he doesn't have an actual part. Who else? Daniel Schinofen, he's mentioned but he doesn't have like necessarily a part. So, I didn't really tell a lot of people that they were necessarily in it. So no one's really reached out to be like, how dare you? Because Ryan DeBruyn's character I love Ryan to death, he's such a beautiful soul. He starts out with kind of this, Mr. Miyagi, like very, a little awkward but very motivational and kind of like reflective, and it just goes downhill from there to where I'm like this would be an hr complaint so quickly. So yeah, it just gets worse in book two and book three, so hopefully he doesn't get too upset.
Jess: I personally really liked the neighbor with the energy drink company. I was like I want to try some of these energy drinks. So, when are you starting your energy drink company with? All the drinks that you came up with in the book.
TJ: I have briefly looked into that. The problem is is that I don't think the cost would be worth the investment right now. We're at the part now in society and production that you can literally just put in basic ingredients and put a basic label and have it drop shipped anywhere and for something like an energy drink. I would consider myself a connoisseur where back in the day I would drink every single energy drink, like there is American Whoop Ass, Socko, Diesel, like just every single drink that I would find anywhere. I would drink it just to try it. So, I've tried some really terrible energy drinks.
Jess: There are some bad ones out there.
TJ: Yeah, so I mean for me if I was to have a Golem Master or Big Duck Energy drink company the quality of flavors have to be there.
Jess: It's got to be Big Duck, and it's got to go right up here next to my, uh, my bloodbath hot sauce.
TJ: I've thought about the energy drink. There's something in the works, secretly only about two people know about it. People are going to get to those who get an arc copy of book two will see it and have a piece of it, and then we'll release everything else on Patreon so people can see what they have also been helping me with and it's a. It's a very beautiful way, I think, to highlight the Patreon members, because I have very small a number, but I'm very blessed with how much they uh they helped me out. I'm hoping that by the end of 2025, something really cool is going to happen and then, going into 2026, I'll easily be writing Golem Master 4, maybe even 5 around 2026, and so there's some really cool potential for having some fun with this new item.
Jess: How many books do you think are going to be in the series?
TJ: Well, that's a great question because the story has really changed from the very beginning, and some of that was from beta readers on royal road that gave me some great feedback. One person loved how realistic Golem Master was and they felt so connected to the characters, whereas another individual said dude, I can't take anymore, you're beating him up too much. And he ended on the chapter right before Kyle comes in and gives him a ride home. so I was like dude, you stopped at the wrong point. Dude, two more chapters at least so that that really changed a lot of my perspective. And book two was not even planned for. There is, it was about chapter two into book two. I'm writing it and Trent and Pepper are together, and Trent says something to Pepper, and I went for a walk, I think, later that day after I wrote it and I'm like that's brilliant, why am I not going down this path for a second? So all of book two is a side quest of a tale, but it was one of my most favorite books to write because I loved the new characters that come into play, the dynamics where a lot of people reading book one may have felt one way, but by the end of it they're shifted. And I think I play that nicely as well in book two, that you get really attached to characters and then you're surprised by how it ends. Book two was on a plan, so book three now shoved us back. We're probably going to be at 200,000 words plus in book three. So, with that I know for sure there's going to be a book four. I think the series will end on five books
Jess: But you seem like you're at least a little bit of a pantser right, like you don't have it fully logged out from book one to the very end of the story, how everything is going to go. Like you're, it seems like you're kind of just kind of letting it go its way.
TJ: It's a, it's what I consider a hybrid. So, I started as a planner or plotter. The Dying Breed, every single chapter for the first three books were completely mapped out, one at a time. Bloodbath was almost mapped out completely to a certain point of where I knew exactly what, like the fight scenes, the battle scenes. I knew every single round that was shot or fired, like where it went like literally. I had PowerPoints with arrows. So I knew exactly like OK, he's going to shoot four times at this person that was going to bring his ammo down here. He's then going to shoot over here and he's going to reload right here for this reason. So it was extremely planned out. In Golem Master, I've done a hybrid where I have plot points and I know, so I would plot out maybe 30 different points of like this is that has to happen, this, this, this is this, and then I would just go one by one of kind of a, as you know, like a slice of life, we're gonna do this, and at any time, if I'm like, oh, I really like this. I want to explore this. I just see like where is it going to shift the plot points and what do I need to cover down to get myself back on track. So, it's been a really fun hybrid way to explore certain things, and it’s because I'm not a full time writer. I spend time away from the manuscript and it really in my mind. It allows my mind to continue to regurgitate and work quietly, subconsciously. And so, it was just yesterday. I'm downstairs in the kitchen and I'm cooking up dinner and getting things ready and then all of a sudden it hit me. I'm like, oh my God, this is it. This is the next piece that connects the plot points. It was just like, yep, this is awesome. So it's been a great hybrid, allowing myself to have the creativity to have fun, but allowing myself to keep on pace because I know exactly what the last chapter of the story is going to be and I got all emotional. I'm like, nope, we're not ready. We're not going to go there. We got so much more,
Jess: But eventually, eventually, you're going to make us all cry.
TJ: Eventually, unfortunately, all good things come to an end. I think. I think that's what makes stories great is having an ending. You know, eventually something ends. To me, if you can end a story where the person is like, oh my god, what if? Or oh my god, could, could this happen? You've gotten them to a point where, like you gave them a conclusion ending like oh my god, that was so beautiful. I love that. Oh my god, I wish there was more, because what if this had happened? That's when I think you have a great story, and it allows the reader the chance to creatively imagine their own side stories and side quests of how things could have happened
Jess: So in book one you kind of touch on the like war, the demon war that happened, but you don't really go into it in depth. Is that going to be explained more in the later books or is that going to play a bigger part in the later story?
TJ: Yeah, um, it is, it is and it isn't. So that's a part that has changed as well. There is something very specific that was supposed to happen in the original book three. There was something a royal road member asked me while they were reading book two and they're like, oh, is this, this, this? I'm like, oh my god, that's brilliant. I love that. Yes, that is exactly what that is, and so I put that in there, and then again my brain started to go down this rabbit hole. I'm like, dude, let's flip this around from what the original book three event was supposed to be and let's do it this way. That would be fucking cool. Book four I don't think people are gonna see coming and it's gonna be such a shock to some of the readers systems. We're like, oh my gosh, and it it's so needed to completely change everything. Like I've been planting these seeds ever since that moment that that reader asked me. In book two, I started planting seeds and it's just going to be a great fruition. With that being said, though, in book two... So book one laid the foundation. You had some very much Pokémon vibes and Real Steel vibes of the combat. Book two, you're gonna see more of the of the Pacific Rim and the Gundam series, where Pepper gets to observe a far greater rift portal and sees the true military defensive scale that is going on and he has a very key interaction with someone that kind of shows him like dude, you have no idea what you're talking about. You think you know the Rift Wars. You don't know anything. Well, there's another scene that I wrote at the towards the end of book two. It's about three chapters long and I get emotional but it was really me reliving the moment that I got to go visit the 911 Memorial in New York City and the museum there. So my best friend, he got to take me and I wanted to stay there all day. Like I almost didn't want to leave the museum because it meant so much to me and so much to so many other people. So there is a very key scene that really sets in how impactful the Rift Wars was. So there is that in book two and then in book three you're going to have more of the Gundam, more of the Pacific Rim, fighting demons and building some more tension within that.
Jess: I was going to ask, are we eventually going to see the golems fight the demons? Are they going to be used to fight demons? That's what I want to see. I want to see the golems eventually not fighting each other, but being used to fight the demons
TJ: Okay, so spoiler alert. Yes, so that is going to be part of the tension. So in in book two you get introduced to what is it? The scudo fives, which are basically like the mechs that are fighting the demons. And so scudo five pilots are, of course, considered like insanely talented. And what Pepper realizes as he's moving up in the ranks, he's getting more exposure to the military side and he's finding a lot of gladiators that were competing in the golem league, who may not have been good at gladiator combat, were moving over to become scudo 5 pilots and fight the demons. And there's very similar tactics. And there's there's the hardships of, hey, you have to fight as a team, you have to move tactically, you have, you can't just be a solo. So he's, he starts to work in that and he's like this isn't for me, I am a solo guy, I'm, you know, a golem fighter, but he is going to have an opportunity to showcase that as well to the military. I don't want to give too many spoilers, but you are going to see more of that continue to develop and I'm about to write that scene of Pepper specifically fighting demons, right before the major stuff of book four happens.
Jess: Ah nice. Are we going to see more of the underground Golem League?
TJ: You get a hint of that in book two. It's very much the underground where you know it's a darkened alley and Pepper's riding down it and the guy's like what are you doing here? Get out then. And that was supposed to be a major plot point for the main series. Before I started to shift it, you're going to see parts of it. And there's a part where I don't know how I want to do it, but it would more than likely be book five that we really start to see the underground side of things. You see a little bit more in book two. I might bring it back up in book four just to say like, hey, it is there, it is a thing. Oh, actually that's a good point. I could bring it up earlier in book three. Yeah, you’re gonna see a little bit, but maybe not as much as you want.
Jess: Nice. So, and you don't have to pick someone out of Golem Master, this can be out of any of your books. Like. What character do you feel that you relate to the most?
TJ: Oh gosh
Jess: Like, do you have any that are kind of semi-based on your personality or, you've like, peppered in things that you've done?
TJ: There's definitely been things I've peppered in that I have said. When I first started writing, almost every character I wrote had a part of me in it. Liam in the Dying Breed was very much based off of me. When I went into the military I was so naive, I had been sheltered for so much in life that when I got into the military I was like, oh my god, like it wasn't just a culture shock in the military, it was a culture shock of society to realize wait, like other people were raised completely different than what I was, and so Liam was very much based off of that. Mala is a dick from the Dying Breed and granted, he's so. Yes, a lot of my characters have crossover uh references. So Mala in golem league is truly based off of Mala from the Dying Breed. Mala in the Dying Breed is a complete dick and an asshole, and that was very much what I was to a lot of my troops at certain stages of their career for specific reasons, and it wasn't necessary to be a pure asshole because of hatred or anger or malice intent, because if I ever finish the Dying Breed, a lot of people will see Mala was doing that to Liam on purpose. A lot of my troops who realized what I was doing, really loved and respected me because they're like you were hard and you were harsh, but you were fair and you had a reason for everything you did and it made me such a better person because I still gave them the love and support that they needed. So, Mala had a little bit of that Cashms Codgarak from the Dying Breed, they had and Abec. Actually they had a lot of my reflection and my stoicism and my hey balance out everything. So those are all parts of me. Bloodbath, heh.
Jess: That's a rough one, that's uh..
TJ: Did you, did you finish even book two?
Jess: I, yes, uh, and then I started book three, but I've not finished book three
TJ: Okay, because I was like I don't even think she made it through book two because it's so harsh
Jess: It is very.. it's a lot. It's a lot
TJ: Yeah did you read the end author's note as to why?
Jess: I did not, but I will. Now I will.
TJ: Well, that was okay. So with the Bloodbath, I just call it the Bloodbath series that had a lot of the dark side of me put into it. Being a military guy and being someone who's worked in first responder career fields for all of my career, you see the worst side of humanity and you see so many injustices go unpunished. And for me, uh, the Bloodbath series was specifically written, I would say, to a certain point, for book two, because I absolutely hate that and I wish we were doing more to stop it and I don't feel like we are. So I was like I want someone who's going to inflict the most brutal punishment and, yeah, suffering on these people because of it. There's a lot of dark, suppressive stuff that I've just poured into it. But even for me at book three, I'm like he, he's gonna kill him. I'm tired of killing people, like really.
Jess: It was a lot of killing. It was a lot of killing
TJ: I think I, I think I actually did count it up and I think in book two we I kill more people in Bloodbath than like the first one or two movies of John Wick. So, I'm like, yeah, so that's where I'm like, if you people want combat and dark grittiness, .
Jess: This is it. How do you think that your career in the military affected your writing?
TJ: Uh, you know, actually let me go back. So Bloodbath, yes, like there was a lot of darkness and a lot of that was right when I was getting out of the military and so I just poured a lot of frustrations and stuff into it. But I feel like I really needed to get that out of my system and I'm glad I did, because it's a complete series, it's done, it's out there In Golem Master. I would say it's probably the book series where I am least putting myself into it and I'm trying my best to let the characters just speak to me as I'm writing as far as what do they want? How would they act. So, I've spent a lot of time with some characters just trying to let them be who they are, but I've done my best to really add moments or phrases or things that I think are important or that have really been influential to me. So I would say Golem Master is, yeah, definitely the book series that is probably the most expressive from its own source. To get back to this question now, how has the military affected my writing? I think one has been the discipline aspect. It's one where I am very routine. Everything. I do my best to have a routine, have a schedule, have a plan of. Okay, you know, today we're going to do this interview. As soon as the interview is done, we're going to grab dinner, then we're going to come in, we're going to smash out 3,500 words period or whatever. Tomorrow, all day, tomorrow, writing dah, dah, dah, dah dah. Then we do X, y, z. So being regimented, being planned and being disciplined because there are so many days you do not want to do this, and there are days where it's like dude, you just have to get in front of the keyboard and start and start with the first word, then start with the first sentence, and then start with the next sentence, and then, by the time you're in a paragraph, and then, if you can get into three paragraphs, maybe you found a little bit of like. Ok, fine, then the golems did this and Pepper did that, and so there's been a lot of discipline, right.
Jess: Yeah, that's true of a lot of things though, especially going to the gym.
TJ: Oh, 100 percent,
Jess: You can pull into the gym. You don't want to go, you just go inside, just just do one set, just do one set,
TJ: Yeah,
Jess: And do one set, just do one set, yeah, and that one set. Usually, by the time you're done with that, you're like okay, let's, let's do it
TJ: well, I think, from a military aspect then, like adding into it right? so there's that aspect. The next aspect would be my resiliency. You have to be, in my opinion, you have to be resilient if you want to be a writer in today's world, especially independent. Because day after day. You're just going to get beat down. You're going to get. You're going to beat yourself down. You're going to be beat down by the social media response, by the lack of readership, by whatever it is, and there I've only done this for three years now. So many times I've wanted to quit. So many times you get so discouraged because no one literally no one has read your books. I have had private messages sent to me telling me I should be ashamed for recommending my own books to people online. I have had people block me or ban me from groups saying I can't self-advertise. You see, some of your posts get downvoted on Reddit so that it doesn't get circulated to other people almost every other day there's something that will probably try to discourage you from doing this and you just have to have the resiliency of like nope, I'm going to keep doing this and I think the military helped me out with that. My best friend, he's told me he's like dude, you're the most resilient person I know. I know so many people and if I put any other person in your life and through the things you've been through, they would have taken the easy road out. They would have ended it long ago, and yet somehow you keep getting back up. You're like, well, that sucked. Gotta keep going, though, and you just keep pressing, and so, yeah, this is now my third book series, and I just keep doing it because I'm like you know what, eventually it's going to take off and eventually it's going to, you know, finance itself in the long run, but I just love doing this, I love being in this world, I love getting to write stories and tell stories and, yeah, they'll more than likely be here long after I'm gone, so
Jess: Well, it's good that you love doing it, because I'm sure that also helps. It goes a long way towards helping keep you motivated and hopefully your Patreon supporters help keep you motivated, and people like me who love your books help keep you motivated.
TJ: Yeah, I mean, you know, those are those things. Like, it's just those people that keep showing up and like, dude, I love this, I love that. Gosh, appreciation is the shortest lived human emotion, right? So I mean, you and I both work nine to five jobs on top of doing this crazy stuff and you know, you have maybe your boss's boss or a coworker come in and just say, you know, Jess, man, I really appreciated how you helped me out on that project last week and, dude, we got it done early and, yeah, the bosses loved it. So, thanks so much. Like that, that was just awesome, right. And you're like, oh, yes, okay, that's cool, right. And so for five minutes you're like, oh, yes. And then your boss comes in and he's like hey, what the hell, like, did you not see my email this morning? Like, I need a response right now, like the guys are waiting on me and I'm waiting on you, or all of that appreciation is just faded away. So, I think you know there's times when our friends, our buddies, whatever, just reassuring one another, telling each other how much we appreciate, like little things, it goes a long way. So yeah, man, like I appreciate hearing, even though I have a small readership ah, it makes my heart happy to just know that other people love the worlds I build
Jess: What has been, what's the hardest part about creating these worlds, or getting these worlds out onto paper and out of your head?
TJ: The hardest part? Editing. Oh, I hate editing. Oh God, oh the editing is the worst. Oh man, the editing is the worst. The financial aspect is the worst.
Jess: Yeah.
TJ: To you know, I'll be very realistic with people. I think a lot of people see success that, actually we were talking about this author earlier in this podcast. He and I had a very, we have very deep conversations and one of the things that he and I both agree on is new authors need to have expectation management. There’s many people when, they start out on a new creative endeavor and they're like, oh my god, I have a thousand friends on social media, or ten thousand friends, dude, if, if five, you know five hundred help me out like, oh that'll be great, and it's like you mean the five or the ten yeah and your mom and your husband or boyfriend are like two of those five. Like I think a lot of people just think I'm going to do this, I'm going to put this out there, it's going to take off and that is just not the expectation they should be putting on things. The expectation I think is best said by Brandon Sanderson in his writing seminars he posts online for free on YouTube. You need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for this to be 10 to 12 years and for me, when I got into it, I said, okay, can we do this for five years without bringing in an income or, you know, any type of real positive growth, revenue, return, whatever so now I'm like well shit can I do 10 years, 12 years. Thanks Brandon. But the reality is, depending on the books you're writing, the quality of work and what you're investing into this book, the average independent published book is going to cost $5000. To put it in perspective, last year I did just under $14,000 of investment, only to see $500 return.
Jess: I've never thought about how expensive publishing books would be. That's yeah, yeah, because you've got artists and, and audio book narrators.
TJ: So thankfully I'm, I'm in a spot where I can financially cover that right. Many people cannot. Like I am very blessed in the position that I am to get to do this and be able to finance it through my other career. But there's many people that don't and so you have to find ways of like okay, I'm going to use AI for a cover. I'm going to use AI for my editing through Grammarly. I'm going to use this, this, this, to try to save money and cut corners. But yeah, that's where it's like okay, well, you know, for me, I'm going to pay for a human artist to do my artwork. I'm going to pay for my editor to. You know, because I don't, I don't really like the AI editing, so people use Grammarly or whatever. I don't like that. I love the fact that when I use Catherine, I get to learn as I go through her edits. I'm like OK, I'm slowly getting better and better by seeing her feedback. And it's always nice because she'll put in little comments of like oh, I laughed my ass off. Oh, this is hilarious because in England, like, we see it this way and you guys see it that way, so it's been really fun, but it's a very. If you're going to be doing this for a solid amount of years, are you at a position to look at your family and say, hey, you know this is what I want to invest in and and that's a conversation each person has to have, but that's the next burden. The final burden, I would say, is saying goodbye to your characters
Jess: Ah, that's difficult from a reader's perspective too, though. That's also very difficult as, as a reader, is finishing a story and just knowing that that's it and that character is done. Now it's like you've lost a friend
TJ: I think there's sometimes when readers really get upset at the authors of like, how could you do this? I loved this character. It's like, yeah, I love that character too, but I spent you know hours before the character was ever put to paper, hours with the character while I was writing them on paper. It was super emotional for me to say goodbye to Trevor and Sasha um in in the Bloodbath series and I was like, damn it, man, you know, uh, Drebin, Drebin is mentioned in Bloodbath. He was from book three of the Dying Breed. He was one of the best characters I felt I have ever written, and when I had to say goodbye to him I was like, oh my God, I have to say goodbye to this character that I absolutely love. And so for me that's like, okay, he's in Bloodbath, oh, and guess what he's going to be in Golem Master too. You just need to find out where he's going to be. So, yeah, it's so hard saying goodbye to the characters that you fall in love with, as a writer or as a reader
Jess: Yeah, yeah, I know you've said in other interviews that you do audiobooks because you just don't have the time to sit down and, like, read a physical book. Were you a reader when you were younger?
TJ: I did yes and no. So, I grew up reading Chronicles of Narnia. Well, like, mom would read to us and then I would read some. But Chronicles of Narnia was one we did the Sugar Creek Gang was a story series. Gosh, I would fly through those books and they're just fun adventure, like kind of a tom hardy, you know, bunch of kids growin up in a country setting where there was the old, uh, haunted mansion you know out in the country and there was another gang of kids that they would get in fights with all the time and I'm like you guys are letting me read this like. You guys won't even let me listen to rock music like what is going on and then I did choose your own adventures for a very long time
Jess: Those were fun.
TJ: And then there was a series called Left Behind that took off during my teen, young, young, teen kid years. Well, they did a young, a left behind for teens series, those books. I that was probably the only time in my life I would literally sit down, read that book cover to cover and be like where's the next one, where is the next one? I was reading so fast, faster than the author could write them. But back then there wasn't a big like Barnes and Noble that would carry those books in a selection. So, I remember there was like this catalog that we would get in the mail, that you could order books from you, you know, and so I would just wait for that catalog to see, like, is the next book available? Then, like, tell mom, like, order this freaking thing because I want it. But it was in my late teen years. That's when I faded away from reading. I got into computers, computer games, music, and then I did not want to read a book because I thought it was a waste of time. Until I got into the military. My mom and dad gave me Lone Survivor as a Christmas present. The year that I I just got out of basic training and tech school. I'm home visiting on Christmas, they gave me this book. I'm like, great, a freaking book. Ok, so I get on the plane to fly to my first duty station and I'm like, all right, you know what? I'm just gonna take this book with me. Whatever, I'm sitting in the airport terminal in Portland, Oregon, I read like the first two, three pages and I'm in freaking tears. I'm like, damn it, big, tough military guy we can't be crying over here like like this is bullshit. So, for the entirety of my military career all I would really read is military, military history, leadership, philosophy. And then I started again to the personal development, self-development, physical fitness and readiness and health. So I did not read any type of fictional books until Ready Player One.
Jess: Fantastic book.
TJ: And then the Land by Aleron Kong, and that was where I was at a point in my military career where I was serving in search and rescue. So every night I was doing rock marches on the roadway, and I was like well, I need some audiobooks to listen to something on these long road marches. And so, I finally picked up the land because it kept being recommended to me on audible and then I was like holy shit, this is really cool Nick Podehl is amazing. Okay, I still had no idea what LitRPG was. I was like damn, this book is legit. There's a lot of detail in this book and then, three years later, I'm like reading all these LitRPGs. I don't even like barely read anything else that I used to.
Jess: It takes over, yeah, it takes over. So would you say, ready Player One and the Land were like your introduction to lit RPG.
TJ: I would say Ready Player One does qualify as a LitRPG, but it was really The Land that introduced me to LitRPG. I just didn't really know what it was at first. For me personally, I love Aleron. I don't agree with him on everything, but I've gotten to spend time in that man's living room. I've gotten to spend time at his dining room table having a meal with him and playing Settlers of Catan, which he and I need a rematch, because he convinced the table to go against me because I was going to win.
Jess: For shame.
TJ: I love that dude in so many different ways and I will definitely support him and defend him. I think he played such a major part in the genre because he just influenced so many other people and encouraged so many other people to help build the community to what it is today. So that was definitely the introduction for me, and I'll give him credit all day long.
Jess: Nice. I actually don't think I've read any Aleron Kong books.
TJ: Oh man.
Jess: I know I'm probably one of the few people in the LitRPG sphere that hasn't read his books, but I'm so far behind. I am fairly new to LitRPG. Actually, I've only been reading LitRPG for maybe the last two years
TJ: yeah
Jess: I didn't even know it was a thing until then
TJ: It's crazy how it's this sleeping giant like it's. it's truly been huge and exploding in size and yet still so many people don't understand. But thankfully now it's, the genre is getting the exposure that I think has been there all along. It's just one of those things where every rose has a thorn, so a lot of good is coming out of it. There's going to be some bad that comes out of it, but it's just the nature of things. You have to keep moving forward.
Jess: Yeah, yeah, I think that's true of. Pretty much any genre or form of media. Where did you get the hoodie?
TJ: This one?
Jess: Where can I get a hoodie?
TJ: So, when you go to my Shopify website, go all the way down to the bottom click view all. Go to page number two and scroll all the way down and you will see the Golem Master Classic unisex pullover hoodie, which is this one it is in white and yellow, and then the Golem Master 2 Hoodie is on there. This one has got all of the Patreon members listed.
Jess: Nice.
TJ: And then for Golem Master 2, I believe your review is on the back of Sweatshirt 2.
Jess: Well, that's going to have to be the one that I pick up.
TJ: So yes, they're on my website. Yeah, it's purple, this one's yellow, and then book three will be blue.
Jess: Ooh, so circling back uh, now that you've got book, book two is done and to your editor,
TJ: Book two of Golem Master is author copies are coming in. Uh, hopefully tomorrow.
Jess: Nice
TJ: I. The biggest thing with the author copies is to confirm that the cover is going to come out good on the color balance. But those files I have the files to re-upload. I will have author copies ordered by the end of this week and pre-sale it's up for pre-order. It'll be published on 20 June of this year. So, book two is completely done 20 June. Book three we're at like 155 000 words and yeah, we're gonna be cranking all the way to 200 probably
Jess: And so, with having book four and five also kind of planned out, is there anything that you wish that you could go back to book one and change?
TJ: Oh, that's a good question. Well, I did plant a lot of seeds in book one. Because I thought the trajectory is going to go this way. Some of those were the underground Because of what the underground was really supposed to be building towards later on. I don't know if I would have had it as heavy. And the character Tim O'Byrne, he really comes in and plays a part in book one. He's really faded out in book two and even in book three. So I don't know if I would go necessarily as heavy on his character for certain reasons. But at the end of the day, you know, sometimes you just have to let things be the way they are. And I think book one, even though I beat up Pepper in the very beginning pretty hard, I think it was worth it in the end to the readers who stick with it and see the why behind it all. Because that was where, to a certain point, Eli Gardner you know from the equine ranch she is my amazing cousin she has her own equine ranch. She's slowly building it for the, the whole therapy and recovery services, and she's an incredible author as well. So it's like, well, I've got to have Eli in this book. So well, what are they going to do? Like, how's Eli going to be connected? She's going to be this other avenue and of course, that's what forces Pepper to be in very close quarters with the other person so it was all a perfect fit for me to have life lesson connection my friends and family involved, so I don't know if I would change anything in book one, I think. I think it's pretty cool the way it is
Jess: Nice. So, during my my deep dive of doing my research for this episode,
TJ: oh no,
Jess: You're actually a pretty talented photographer
TJ: Yeah, I guess so
Jess: I would say I was looking at some of your photographs. I was looking at some of the astrophotography that you did
TJ: oh yeah yeah yeah
Jess: and some of the landscapes, and it's really good.
TJ: Thank you
Jess: It's very good. The nighttime sky was beautiful.
TJ: So, the guy who taught me about astrophotography is a very good friend of mine. He's one of the smartest people I have ever met in my life and he is one incredible badass. And talk about resiliency, like he is resilient. He is mentioned in book three of Golem Master and he is going to have a really cool part. Actually, I got into photography before I joined. I had a really nice camera that I saved up and bought, and my car was broken into in Salem and it was stolen, so I never got it back. That obviously broke my heart. The other thing that was worse was they stole my, they took my backpack, which had the camera in it, but it also had a journal in there
Jess: Oh no
TJ: And I had written like one of the hard, hardest parts of my family's life. I had written in there like what we went through. There it is. I thought of it like you know what universe, you know what god, you did that part for a reason like you wanted me to let go of of that part of my life. So I joined the military and I was like man, I should get a new camera. I should get a new camera. Years go on, years go on, I'm in Vandenberg and I am going through the hardest part of my military career, day after day, and so finally I was like you know what I'm going to, I'm going to do something for me. I'm going to buy a camera. I'm going to go out and take photos. And so I bought a nice camera and that forced me to get outside and to start taking photos. So I did that for a while and then some of my exercise photos that you may have seen like those are people that I worked alongside in the military I really wanted to do fitness photography and so I was like you know what, I'm going to just focus on landscape and astrophotography and then action shots, because I did a lot of my military guys. having a law enforcement, military combat background. I was like I know where, I know what they're going to be doing for this exercise or scenario, so if they're focused on that, I know where I can position myself to get a cool action photo. I've done some really cool stuff with my camera. It's got me a lot of recognition. I'm hoping this summer to get back and to start doing some more of that.
Jess: You should. They were good.
TJ: I was actually thinking of just buying my van and driving all across the US, getting to a spot I wanted to be at taking photos and then or nighttime photos and then writing. So I would do my writing and one portion of the day, do my adventuring and photography and that's. That's a back burner.
Jess: So I mean, that sounds like a pretty stellar way to do it yeah
TJ: There are worse things in life for sure, yeah, but yeah, thank you. The photography is stuff that I I really don't highlight because I want to highlight the books, but I I really love nature and that's where a lot of the Dying Breed had a lot of those nature aspects in it, another part of why search and rescue is just so incredible to me Abeck, who's in the Dying Breed, was really influenced by my buddy, Matt Marshall, who was on search and rescue with me and in the military as well with me, served with me. He's a Native American descent and we just loved nature and we love connecting with it.
Jess: Where can people go to find your books?
TJ: For me, Amazon is the easiest way to go. It definitely helps the algorithms right, because it'll help hopefully generate more readers. Word of mouth is obviously the best. Amazon you can find me nice and easily there and then my website's where you can get the sweatshirts. If you want to order a personal book from me directly, I can happily ship them out to anyone who would like one.
Jess: And then, what about your social medias?
TJ: I'm old school millennial, where I grew up on Facebook and I live on Facebook, so you can just go to facebook at forward slash TDB. That's my main author page that you can check me out there. That's the easiest way to reach out
Jess: and then what's your Patreon account?
TJ: Patreon is Warrior Publishing. We have all of book three up and you have links to all of my books if you want to read them on pdf. I try my best as well. Once our audiobooks are out, all my Patreon members get audiobook codes so they can download and listen to the books as well. But yeah, warrior publishing for Patreon
Jess: And I'm gonna have links for everything posted to make it easy for everybody. If someone has already read your books and enjoyed them, what is something they can do to help you out?
TJ: Spread the word. That would be wonderful, Amazing. Make sure you leave reviews. It's always encouraging on the down days I love to go through and just read those reviews and remember people love the books. So leave a review. Tell your friends, tell your family, share it on any social media group that other readers can check out.
Jess: TJ, thank you so much for coming on,
TJ: Of course,
Jess: My first guest. Hopefully we'll have you on again later in your series or when you write your next series
TJ: Discarded warrior man. I'm excited for that one.
Jess: Oh, is that another series you're working on?
TJ: Yes, yeah, well, so I'm not. I, I've got the cover, I've got the concept. I've got the title. It's going to be very fun and, to just put it in perspective, it's currently my take on Stranger Things and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blended together, so I think it's going to be something that people will enjoy.
Jess: Interesting.
TJ: Yeah.
Jess: Well, thank you everyone for tuning into my first episode. Until next time, keep leveling up.