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Settle in, my friends, you’re in for a treat! I somehow persuaded Erik Henry Vick, author extraordinaire with RA, to let me interview him. If you’re a regular reader of this website, you know I loved Errant Gods, the first book in his Blood of the Isir series, also featured on my list of books that have helped me on my chronic illness journey (I’m currently reading Rooms of Ruin, the second, which I also love). Erik has a wonderful dark sense of humour, an equally fantastic imagination — also pretty dark — and his books are terrific company. So is he, which is why I have not edited this interview at all. Make yourself a cup of tea, settle in, and enjoy spending some time with my Berserker friend.

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Please tell us a bit about yourself. 

I usually answer this question with something flippant like “I’m a level 49 Ninja Batman” or “I am a Viking.” While one of those is marginally true, I use humor to deflect the more serious part of the question, but you and your readers are probably interested in the serious part of who I am.

So, who am I? I’m just a guy fighting a Personal Monster™ the only way I know how. The term Personal Monster™ came from describing RA a “monster,” then “my monster,” and while writing my novel Errant Gods, I coined the term “Personal Monster.” I have a serious problem “accepting” RA, so I fight it with humor, by taking back parts of my old life where I can. It fits nicely with my Scandinavian heritage.

I have since decided that calling my Personal Monster™ a monster all the time was giving him too much power. I’ve since re-named him “Petunia the Wimpy” for those occasions where he gets uppity.

I’ve done many different things in terms of career, from investigation to working in the game industry to teaching at university. I have a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence (and an honorary Ph.D. in Sarcasm). I’m married to a real-life Supergirl, and we have a son.

Also, I’m a level 49 Ninja Batman Viking.

How did you make the leap to become a writer and what inspired you to focus on the horror/fantasy genre?

One of the ways I decided to take back part of my old life was to start writing fiction again. I wrote my first novel back in the early 90s (and it was published in 2001). I wrote another in the early 2000s, then switched to academic and nonfiction until Petunia knocked me for a loop (I was disabled 8 or 9 years ago). I tried to “relax” and “enjoy” being disabled, but…yeah, that’s not for me. I had a hard time filling the hours. I read and read and read, and binge-streamed shows and movies. One day, a show I was binging drew to its end, and I broke down. I had no idea what to do next.

Soon afterward, I decided I wasn’t going to be passive about being sick. I decided to fight. I needed a way to do something that mattered. I decided to write a book that portrayed what it was like to have a disease like RA—a so-called “invisible disability.”

The last part of the question is the easy and fun part to answer. I found myself reading a tremendous number of Stephen King books when I was still “relaxing” and “enjoying” being disabled. I also read a good number of fantasies. When I decided to write about having RA, I thought it would be funny to call it what it felt like at the time: a curse. At the same time, I had this idea about a serial killer who was really a wendigo.

I’m also drawn to the idea that myths are based on the myths of other civilizations, which are based on older myths, et cetera, all the way back to the kernel of truth. I thought it would be cool if the wendigo myth was based on something older and at the same time, real. Once I latched onto Norse mythology, I was amazed at how easily it fit.

What are some of the challenges of being a writer with a chronic illness?

I think it might be easier to talk about what isn’t a challenge 😊 I’m an indie author because I don’t think deadlines would be a good idea. Petunia loves to disrupt schedules and commitments. But before I could even think about going traditional or indie, I had to figure out how I could write at all, and one of the reasons I call my wife, Melissa, Supergirl, is how she embraced finding accommodations that would help me.

Sitting in an office chair for any length of time was difficult. Ditto holding a laptop in my lap. Solution: I write in a La-Z-Boy recliner. I have a customized sit-stand desk that functions as a swing arm to hold my monitors, keyboard and mouse over my lap. The swing arm has counter-weights which means I can move it even on my worst day.

Then there were the days when I have Mickey Mouse hands…although dictation software can make short work of that issue, as do a few other pieces of hardware—a programmable mouse, a programmable full keyboard, and a programmable one-handed gaming keyboard.

I don’t plot my stories—it’s more fun for me to allow them to grow organically as I write, so taking days or weeks off would be disastrous (and in the beginning, it was). To combat not being able to write every day (or sometimes every week), I adopted an idea I first read about in Stephen King’s Bag of Bones: the Next Note. At the end of any writing session, I jot down where the story is going, or what I think will happen next. I adapted it further, however, at Supergirl’s suggestion. I use OneNote to store my longer term “next notes” (a next next next note sounds silly). I can access OneNote from any device, so even when I’m trapped in bed, I can think about the story and make notes. I can also write on my phone or tablet, but that’s horribly inefficient. My next step is to work out dictating to my phone and letting the dictation software transcribe it later.

See a complete list of my gear on my website

Rooms of Ruin, the second book in the Blood of the Isir series, has just been released on audiobook. What is the series about?

Glib answer? The series is about a disabled man having to battle beings with the powers of gods. That the story is about how he overcomes the things in his path, starting with his disability, but also including dragons, Norse gods, magic, melee combat, and a universe that is much wider and yet closer than he first thought, with worlds connected by portals that allow instantaneous travel.

A more honest answer, however, is that the series is about invisible disabilities–in particular, as Hank Jensen (the protagonist) is a loosely disguised version of me, my invisible disability. The first book in the series grew from my idea of painting a picture of life with RA for others. It’s been sanitized, because I discovered that sharing the ugly details of my life with Petunia was too much for some early readers (as cathartic as it was to write it).

The hero in the series used to be a power lifter and has a bad case of RA. What was it like to incorporate your own experience as you were writing the story?

Above, I mentioned the cathartic aspect of writing about my disease and what it has done to me, but it goes much deeper. Writing about it as if it were happening to someone else gave me a bit of buffer (though it can still grab me and drag me around in a bed of broken glass), but even more than that, it was akin to therapy. I saw places in my own life where I could fight, where I could stop taking whatever Petunia wanted to dish out. I felt better writing—doing something productive. Plus, it felt like jabbing Petunia right in the eye with a sharp stick.

It goes beyond me, however. I’ve been extremely touched by the support, the courage of readers who contact me and want to share their story with me. It’s gratifying that something I did to escape my personal ninth circle of hell also has the power to uplift others suffering with their own Personal Monster™. For example, I was extremely touched by the review you wrote of Errant Gods — and more than a little proud. I reread that review when I’m feeling low.

What’s next for you?

I’m still fighting Petunia. Most recently, he gave me a gift—Avascular necrosis of the femoral head. The last three months have been painful (and there’s a bit of sanitization for you). I don’t recall February this year at all. I’m not sure either Supergirl or I slept more than two hours contiguously for the entire month.

But I have decided that it’s not going to stop me. It’s not going to keep me from writing anymore. It’s not going to keep me from living my life the way I want to. I think Hank would approve. (And if he doesn’t, I’ll just delete his disapproval from his brain and write in approval.)

I’m taking a little break from the Blood of the Isir series. Book three was released just as the AVN was making itself known and ends up being a good place to pause (Alex will be performing the audiobook, and Tantor Audio will be publishing it as well, though I don’t have a release date yet).

What’s next? Readers have been asking for a sequel to Demon King since the week it was released, and I will be releasing it this year. I’m finishing up a novel that hangs out in the Demon King universe (and there will be a bit of overlap, though it may not be apparent until the third book…Oh…) Well, I guess I may as well say there will be a sequel to the sequel.

I’ve got another big project planned for this year and two smaller ones (though they may not be published until next year. Send your letters to Petunia the Wimpy).

Oh, and book four in the Blood of the Isir series already has an opening scene and a title…

Thank you, Erik, for taking the time to answer my questions. I hope you find a way to smack Petunia down hard. You can read more from Erik on his website, and follow him on social media.