Patrick Buchanan, who, with his friends, stumbles upon a rogue biologist’s plan to reshape the world. In order to stop the scientist, they need to overcome their differences and fears and plunge themselves into a world of murder, vigilantism, and the darkest depths of a man’s mind, and along the way, they encounter an enigmatic creature that they’re not sure if they can trust.
Will they be able to trust this mysterious creature? Will their trust be misplaced? Brendan Walsh, the mind behind ‘The Raven Gang’, has kindly joined me so that we can look at what’s awaiting Patrick within these pages. Brendan, looking back do you remember how Patrick’s journey started? Can you tell us a little about the early days of this story?
I’m pretty sure the initial idea came from listening to Metallica’s Enter Sandman. I was 13 at the time, and I spent the summer forming a whole storyboard in my head. As I got older, the themes of the story changed, also with the aid of all the music I listened through throughout my teen years.
No doubt these themes changed as you got older and experienced more of the world. Did you find that these experiences were directly inserted into the book or was it more subtle and influenced things like character behaviours?
Some characters were inspired by various personalities I’ve encountered. Most of my life experiences can be seen in the character of Patrick. He and I have similar thought processes.
That’s handy! I’m sure it makes it much easier to decide on the overall themes and ideas to share when your thought processes are so close to Patrick’s. So, what did your thought processes ultimately want to share with readers who picked up a copy of this novel? What’s it all about?
I think it’s about accepting people, and how to be a great friend. With most friends people have, I think they will often have relationships solely built on material benefits, whether they realize it or not. I want to have characters who learn to care for others as a benefit in itself.
I love that you’re emphasising the importance of characters who genuinely care for each other, it’s a wonderfully refreshing change from what’s generally out there in the media. Do you find writing stories, both like this one that showcases the importance of relationships, and others that focus on other aspects of life get you energised? Or do you feel overwhelmed instead?
It often exhausts me, but the feeling I get after having written makes it worth it.
Oh, it sounds like there’s a great love of writing under the surface there! And with a great love of writing usually comes more writing projects. What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a sequel to The Raven Gang, currently titled The Serpent League, as well as an epic fantasy novel that I’m hoping will land me an agent. The Serpent League is my main focus though. Hopefully, my publisher likes it enough to sign me on for that as well haha.
Fingers crossed and good luck! I’m sure if nothing else, The Serpent League will be a fun way to get yourself a step closer to an agent, even if you don’t get one from this book. But let’s not get too bogged down thinking about the possibilities of agents, let’s have more fun with a sure thing. Let’s have fun with some quirky questions like, have you ever been on a literary pilgrimage?
No, but I hope to do one soon! I have a good friend who’s going to be attending the London School of Economics this year, and when I visit him, I aim to see a bunch of the literary sights pertaining to Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontes etc.
It’s great when friends go overseas, because it’s very important that you visit them when they go. And knocking off a few literary sights is a great bonus. Start planning that trip to have oodles of fun! Can you cry underwater?
Usually when I cry it’s only a matter of time before I’m underwater :D
*Laughs* With those many tears I think you just might be a medical miracle! I don’t want to dehydrate you, so my final fun question of the day will showcase your creative streak. Get creative, and tell us what new animal you would create if you could breed any two animals together?
It would be a bat+octopus. It would be a batopus! It would swim, crawl, and fly, and it would get along swimmingly with my pet rats.
*Laughs* Swimming, crawling, flying. It will do it all in style! Brendan, we’re all out of questions for today, but I’d like to thank you for sharing a taste of your style, and any readers who want to see more of this style can see it expressed in ‘The Raven Gang’ now!
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘The Raven Gang ( ASIN: B07D3DD7LX )‘.
Want to find out more about Brendan Walsh? Connect here!