An Interview with AJ Marshall, author of Fate of the Scaled

AJ Marshall is the Typesmith Fantasy award-winning author of Fate of the Scaled: The Receding Wings, a book that took ten years to craft. Although the work is fictional, certain situations were drawn from AJ’s real-life experiences to give a more personal touch to the story.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

Writing is in my blood. Everything I see or hear or experience and every person I meet drums up some sort of story in my head and when I’m really lucky, those creative ideas come to life like Fate of the Scaled did.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

It’s a little silly, but when I was going to school away from home, I was pretty protective of the people I had gotten close to, which made one of them say for me to not go dragon whenever someone I cared about was being messed with. Fate of the Scaled was born from that simple teasing statement.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

For the longest time my book had a completely different title than it does now. It wasn’t until maybe four years ago or so that I finally came up with Fate of the Scaled: The Receding Wings due to the twist about the dragons at the end.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

“Voyage,” “Void,” “January,” and “Light,” all by Adrian Berenguer, as well as “The Rise” by Scott Buckley

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I only worked in two other professions; handling packages and, like most high school and college students looking to make extra money, selling Cutco.

What books did you read (for research or comfort) throughout your writing process?

I read The Hunger Games series. It’s also the last book series I’ve read so far.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

If I could only choose one thing that I want my readers to take away from Fate of the Scaled, it’s being brave in the face and adversity and always striving to do the right thing.

And my perfect reader would be anyone who immerses themselves in a story, and comes away from it more in touch with the truest versions of themselves.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.