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SPFBOX Interview with Jeffery A. Smith

By September 20, 2024January 13th, 2025No Comments

Our SPFBOX interviews continue with Jeffery A. Smith, author of Cthoma’s Fated.

SPFBO (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) is a free online contest run by author Mark Lawrence. 300 authors compete across ten judging teams to see who will be the winner! You can read more about the contest [HERE]].

INTERVIEW WITH JEFFERY A. SMITH

Tell us a little about yourself and let our readers know which blog you’ve been assigned to for SPFBOX!

My name is Jeffery A. Smith, but most people call me Jeff (except my wife who calls me Jeffery (if she calls me Jeff then I’m usually in trouble for something)). I’ve been assigned to Captured by Words for SPFBOX.

What inspired you to write this book?
The idea hit one day about what would the story of a failed chosen one be like. I wrote the first two chapters and then let the idea percolate in the back of my mind for several years. When I went back to it years later, the story just flowed out of me.


Can you tell us a little bit about your writing or editing process? What’s most exciting to you about writing or editing?

I know where my story starts and how it ends as well as several key points along the way. The rest of the story I find as I write my way to each of the mile markers. I love finding characters and situations that I had no idea existed when I started writing the story.

 

“Glen Cook taught me that the hero did not have to be a paragon of truth and virtue. The gray character can do the right thing and that story was more interesting than the perfect person making the perfect decision.”

Who or what have been your major literary influences?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion was the most influential book that I read. It opened my mind to world-building and understanding how the history of a world can have an impact on the characters of the story. Glen Cook taught me that the hero did not have to be a paragon of truth and virtue. The gray character can do the right thing and that story was more interesting than the perfect person making the perfect decision.

What makes your SPFBOX book unique?

My main character was supposed to be the chosen one and now he is just a broken and disillusioned man. His journey to putting himself back together with the help of an unlikely friend while dealing with a severe injury was what really propelled me to write this story.

Do you have a favourite character from your SPFBOX entry? Tell us about them!

Jask Theran is the true hero of the story because he pushes Throug to be the hero that he should be.

 

“I love finding characters and situations that I had no idea existed when I started writing the story.”

How does your work fit into (or challenge) its genre?

Chosen ones are usually not middle-aged nor do they fail.

What do you hope readers take away from your SPFBOX entry?

I hope that people find that although the story takes place in a fantasy setting the characters and the world feel real. You might not want to live there, but you do believe that others live there.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently finishing up the first book in a series. The book is called Shroud of Whispers and is a murder mystery set in a world that I’ve been developing since middle school.


About Cthoma’s Fated

 

Every twenty years the red comet Cthoma lights up the night sky. Every twenty years, the emperor Shaucrim Vlaide must fear for his life.

Throug Slagger was meant to be the chosen one. Born under the comet, he was fated to defeat the emperor and end Shaucrim’s reign of terror before it began. Leaving his family when he was ten years old, he trained with an ancient order of monks and embarked on a quest to find ten powerful Ixafore rings, set on fulfilling the prophecy.

He failed.

For nineteen years, Throug has been trying to forget his failure at the bottom of a flagon. With one year remaining before the return of Cthoma, he is offered a chance at redemption. Thrust upon a journey the length of the empire and beyond, can he find the tenth ring, recover what has been taken from him, and face Shaucrim Vlaide under the red light of the comet, or is it already too late?

About the Author – Jeffery A. Smith

I fell in love with fantasy at a very young age when I saw Star Wars for the first time. Sure, I thought it was science fiction at the time but I’ve come to realize it is a fantasy story set in space. A couple of years later I read The Hobbit and then found Dungeons & Dragons. I know way too much about Medieval weaponry and customs. Luckily the woman I eventually married shared my love of Star Wars and I introduced her to D&D. We have three kids together and two of them are the best players of D&D I’ve ever met (I guess you need to breed your gaming group into existence). I’m a ok guitarist with a long-abiding love of music.
Steve Hugh Westenra

Steve Hugh Westenra

Steve is a trans author of fantasy, science fiction, and horror (basically, if it’s weird he writes it). He grew up on the eldritch shores of Newfoundland, Canada, and currently lives and works in (the slightly less eldritch) Montreal. He holds advanced degrees in Russian Literature, Medieval Studies, and Religious Studies. As a reader, Steve’s tastes are eclectic. He enjoys anything that could be called speculative, including fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, but has been known to enjoy a good mystery as well as literary fiction. He’s always excited to try something new or that pushes boundaries, particularly from marginalized authors. Steve is passionate about queer representation, Late Antiquity, and spiders.

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