Spotlight: Fantasy & Sci-fi Author Dave Niemitz
Today's Spotlight covers Fantasy & Sci-fi writer Dave Niemitz, author of The Faerie Knights series, A Sea Cold and Deep, and more.
Note: This is an old Spotlight being moved over from . Some slight changes have been made at the featured Author’s request.
Hey there and welcome to this week’s Author Spotlight featuring fantasy and sci-fi writer Dave Niemitz. He has been publishing for the past two years, but has been writing for much longer than that!
Dave is also a teacher; he lives with his wife, son, a black cat named Charlie, and a Pug named Duncan. He holds a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also has a newsletter, which you can find and sign up for over at Caffeinated Terrier Press.
Throughout the course of this Author Spotlight– which is split into two main parts– you’ll learn more about who Dave is, and the books he’s written. Designed like an interview, our first section is the About the Author portion, where we cover Dave himself.
Then we’ll move on over to his works– including an upcoming release– and all of his links so you can check his works out further. Let’s dive right into it!
I am a teacher and author with three novels currently published, and two more coming in July. I teach Film as Literature, and hold a Masters Degree in Creative Writing.
My first fantasy trilogy, The Faerie Knight series, is a fantasy inspired by Arthurian Myth, medieval romances, and the British Romantic poets, such as Keats and Lord Byron. Originally serialized on Royal Road, the Faerie Knight has achieved over 100,000 views, and is now available on Amazon. The cover art for all three novels in the series is created by my wife, Sarah, an artist and costume designer.
My ongoing project, Guild Mage, surpassed a million views on Royal Road and will be released by Mango Media in July, with an audiobook by Podium.
Below are questions Dave answered for the Spotlight.
What was the hardest part of getting a book published?
The hardest part, for me, is the marketing. I love writing and creating worlds, and for me that is one of the most enjoyable parts of my day.
When other things in my life are stressful, writing is a way to relax and recenter myself. Marketing, on the other hand, is very unnatural for me. I’m a bit of an introvert by default, and really have no formal training in how to build an audience.
Thankfully, I’m not doing this alone. My Authors Coop, Caffeinated Terrier, is wonderful about encouraging each other and sharing opportunities.
More recently, I've had an incredibly positive experience with my agent, Max, and with the people at both Mango Media and Podium.
If you’d like to, can you tell us more about Caffeinated Terrier?
Sure! My friend Shiloh made a discord server, at first just for people we knew to encourage each other, give feedback, and share opportunities. As we added more people, we started to talk about forming a coop so that we could collaborate and vend at various events.
We’re all currently writing and editing for an anthology we plan to release this winter, tentatively entirely “A Season for Stories.” Current plan is for Sarah to do that cover, also. It will include short stories set in the Faerie Knight and My Boss is the Devil worlds, for readers familiar with those.
What is your writing process like?
I write in the morning, and I build a Spotify list for each project. Before I start, I begin taking notes, including visible inspirations, for characters, places, and clothing.
I began by setting 500 words a day as my goal, but after more than a year I now write about two thousand words a day.
My wife is my first reader; I print everything out and she goes through it making notes. Then I go through her notes with a different colored pen, and take that back to my computer.
I’m a pantser; I discover my story as I go, based on the characters’ motivations, conflicts, and desires. The ending of my first novel, A Sea Cold and Deep, surprised me, and for me that’s part of the magic of writing here.
What advice do you have for new or aspiring writers?
Write, read, and don’t underestimate what you can learn from a creative writing program. Every course I took, every professor I met, taught me something.
Finally, however, you have to build the habit of writing every day. I never imagined I’d draft two novels in less than a year, but the more I built the habit, the faster the writing went.
How do you handle writer's block?
The short answer is that I don't really get writer's block.
The long answer is that some things are easier to write than others, I have more ideas than time to write, and sometimes I need breaks.
But I have one sci-fi book out that I will write a sequel to if I ever get around to it; a third novel in the Faerie Knight series that's 60% done, with ideas for maybe a 4th; two short stories partially complete; and a new series in planning. That's way more than I can actually do.
I do find that I need a place where I can be alone and set the mood for myself, though - I can't write with my son coming in and out of the room asking for things, for instance. I have Spotify playlists to get me in the mood for a particular piece (here's the Faerie Knight list):
Without spoiling your books, is there a character you've written you relate to most?
I wrote Trist and Clarisant, in the Faerie Knight series, in direct response to a lot of the tropes of romantic relationships I see in a lot of fantasy. I wanted them to be more adult - he's 22 and she's 23 at the beginning of the series, if I recall correctly - and I wanted their relationship to really fit within the political and literary framework of medieval romances.
I very much wanted to avoid the manufactured conflict of characters who can't communicate, and to try to show a more mature, healthy relationship as it progresses, where the married couple is honest, committed, and work together.
My wife Sarah (she does the covers and maps!) and I sometimes watch TV where the writers can't seem to depict a functional relationship - the second season of Carnival Row really felt like an example of that to me. We got this wonderful season 1 story of former lovers finding each other again and forgiving, and after all that when they're finally together and theoretically on the same side in season two, they immediately start backstabbing each other.
It just felt like the writers couldn't conceive of how to write them as caring, loving, trusting partners, so they wrecked the show.
Do you have any book recommendations you think people should read? Which ones, and why?
Phillip Pullman's current sequel trilogy to His Dark Materials, The Book of Dust, has been something that I've really enjoyed, and I'm looking forward to the last one coming out.
If you haven't read any of William Gibson's recent work, The Peripheral/Agency duo examines some wonderful ideas about how ongoing crises could cascade into a cataclysmic future. I know Neuronancer is the big famous one, but these are great in a different way.
I recently binged 274 chapters of Ave Xia Rem Y, by Mat Haz, on Royal Road. It's a very good Cultivation series actually written in english, instead of translated, and it's very aware of the tropes within the genre.
What do you think makes a story great?
What I love feeling, and what I want everyone to feel when they read my work, is just falling into the world and the story and losing yourself. I felt that way when I read Lord of the Rings for the first time, and Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, and so many more pieces. There's something magical about it, like a reading high that you keep chasing looking for the next book, the next series.
From an author's perspective, of course, the difficulty is accomplishing that. Creating a world that feels both lived in, but also full of wonder and terror. Balancing verisimilitude with flights of fancy, and bringing characters to life. I can hope that what I fall in love with writing, readers will fall in love with, but I never know for sure until people get their hands on it. But yeah, I won't write anything that I'm not excited about. I don't write to market, I write what interests me.
Is there anyone whose inspired you to write your books?
A laundry list of authors: Shakespeare and Milton, Phillip Pullman, George RR Martin, Robert Jordan, Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey, CJ Cherryh, Alan Moore, Tad Williams, Neal Stephenson, Mallory, Christina Rossetti and Keats, Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu, Poe, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Daniel Keys Moran... I could go on.
As far as people I know, the first would be my mother, Susan. She went back to college when I was young, and wrote a substantial amount of a science fiction novel on a typewriter. I remember reading it as a kid and being kind of astounded that someone I knew could make something like that... that authors were real people, not some kind of separate other existence. I have a wonderful writing Coop where we spur each other on with word counts, share marketing ideas and opportunities, and give each other feedback.
This section takes a look at the books from The Faerie Knight Series and A Sea Cold and Deep. The synopsis for each is pulled from their Amazon pages. Lastly, we’ll be covering Dave’s upcoming projects, and any of his links.
The Faerie Knight Series:
Trist will be the strongest knight of the age... so long as he keeps sending souls to the Faerie King.
Trist's older brother, Percy, was better than him at almost everything - except for swordplay. Percy was their father's heir, and Trist was perfectly content with his future as a Knight of Narvonne, supporting his brother and protecting their family's land.
In a single night, a beautiful faerie of the Court of Shadows shatters everything Trist took for granted.
Now an Exarch, Trist must Tithe souls to Auberon, the Faerie King. Trading those souls grants Trist power, and he'll need it. Three Hundred years ago, an ancient evil nearly destroyed humanity in a Cataclysm. Now, that evil is rising again, and Trist will have to confront it if he wants to protect the people he loves.
A Sea Cold and Deep:
Katakura Kaito is a young transport pilot in the occupied colony of Europa. When he attains local notoriety for rescuing two wounded people after an insurgent bombing, he wants nothing more than to get back to his normal life, but the insurgent group Shumokuzame tries to recruit him to push their message in the media.
Annie Winters is an officer in the United Colonies Armed Forces, freshly arrived on Europa as part of the occupation. She believes in the Unification, and her mission to win over the hearts and minds of the populace. When her squad is attacked by insurgents, she is determined to find those responsible, but her commanding officer views her as too young and inexperienced to be trusted.
When Kaito and Annie meet, they both want to explore the intense attraction they feel, but the growing rebellion on Europa threatens to place them on opposite sides of a war.
Dave’s upcoming project is called Guild Mage: Apprentice— the first in a series of the same name. While there is no set release date, we already have a look at the book’s cover, and what it’s about.
Guild Mage: Apprentice by David Niemitz
There are a lot of things wrong with Liv Brodbeck. She’s too small, for one thing.
When she works in the castle kitchens with her mother, she can’t carry a sack of flour or roll a keg of ale.
Baron Summerset’s chirurgeon says that she has brittle bones, so she isn’t allowed to wrestle or sword fight with the other children. Even sledding downhill in the winter brings the risk of breaking an arm or a leg if she falls.
Everyone says that she ruined her mother’s life when she was born. Not when they think Liv is in the room, of course, but she overhears all the same. In the kitchen of a less kind lord, a cook bearing a bastard child would have been more than cause enough for both of them to be out on the street.
No, a child like Liv doesn’t have much hope. But when she accidentally unleashes a surge of wild magic, she takes her first step on a journey which will lead her from the kitchens of Castle Whitehill, to the cold palaces of the Eld, and beyond, to the graves of gods...
I mentioned it at the beginning of the Spotlight, but Author Dave Niemitz has a newsletter for his blog. You can head over to Caffeinated Terrier Press to sign up for his newsletter and stay up-to-date on all things Dave Niemitz. You can also use it as an opportunity to learn more about the other Authors who are a part of his coop.
And thank you to David as well for working with to make this Spotlight post happen— through all of its forms. You’re a great individual, and honestly just so amazing.
Thank you to everyone reading through this as well! I really hope you found this post enjoyable, and perhaps inspired to pick up one of David’s books. Subscribe to BookStack and you’ll get notified when posts like these come out. See you next time!