Dear readers, tonight with us is an author and gamer who woke up as his alter-ego in his own fantasy books.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

A small house on the edge of a village outside Cheltenham in the west of England. Beyond the garden fence were woods and hills that we could run wild in, barefoot in the summer, padded up against the cold in winter.  Up the lane towards the top of the hill was a dark, muddy pond we called The Giant’s Bath.  And beyond that, through the trees, lay the open sky and the far horizon.

Did you have any favourite toys as a child? Any cherished memories?

A medieval fort I played with for hours. A small railway set. Little animals and characters I staged elaborate stories around. Books that I lost myself in. Tales of gods and heroes, sagas, eddas, adventures in this world and a hundred others, from the Odyssey of Homer to Narnia and back again, via the Ramayana, Middle Earth and Outer Space.

What do you do now?

I was, until this all happened, a widowed, retired schoolteacher living quietly by myself in my little bungalow not five miles from where I was born.  There, I spent my time online, in my favourite MMORPG, running my avatar, an apex-level battlemage/healer, Daxx.

What can you tell us about your latest adventure?

It all began when we won the World Championship of Sword and Sorcery, with tens of millions watching live online.  The others in my crew are Grell, the Orc avatar of an Australian guy, and Qrysta, the dual-wielding, sword-dancing avatar of an Asian American girl.  We only went and won the title.  World Champions!

After which, everything went very weird indeed.  I found myself all alone, in the middle of an untouched wilderness, armed with only a crappy, noob-level sword and shield.  And I was no longer Joss, but my own avatar, Daxx.  For real.  There was no sign of Qrysta or Grell.  And I could hear wolves heading my way.  If I was going to find out what had happened, and why, first I needed to survive.

Bad enough, you might think.  It very soon got worse.  Captured by two wiry little Woods Kin archers, I was marched off to be sold at auction as an outlaw.  And soon found myself drafted into a local lord’s army, being trained up by the fearsome Serjeant-at-Arms Jack Blunt—known to one and all as Serjeant Bastard.

It was some time before our quest revealed itself—a quest that meant going on the run with a noble maiden searching for her mysterious godmother, and learning of a foe far more dangerous, and powerful, than any I had faced before.

What did you first think when you first started to write?

I love RPG’s.  One evening, I wondered: what would it really be like, actually to be that guy, in that enchanting world?

There was only one way to find out.

Write it.

Since that moment, I haven’t stopped.  I’ve now written four books in the New Rock series, and am in the early stages of a fifth.  I can’t wait to find out what happens next to my characters—what they get up to, where they go, who they encounter, what problems and challenges they face.

What was the scariest thing in your adventures?

The last one before the next, even more scariest thing.  It’s always getting worse, before it gets better.

What is the worst thing about…?

Finding yourself in an unknown, strange new world, as your own avatar?  Do you want a list?!  I had no idea what had happened to me, or why.  When I found out, the answer was far weirder than anything I could have imagined.  But I’m here now, and I’m fine with that.  After all, this is what we do, my crew and I.  We are who we want to be, in a world of endless possibilities, doing what we do best.  Adventuring.

And there’s an added bonus.

I’m young again.

What is the best thing about it?

The ale.  And the new friends we’ve made here.  And the intriguing challenges that keep arising, that take us all over this remarkable world, to lands we could never have imagined or experienced in our previous lives.

Tell us a little about your friends.

I met Qrysta when she was soloing the End Boss in the toughest dungeon I’d ever attempted.  She was good, but not good enough to finish both him and his minions alone.  I stepped in to help, and with my Heals and Damages, and her sword-dancing, we eventually took the monster down.  Since that day, we ran together whenever we could.  When Grell joined us, we’d found the “tank” of our dreams.  I’d never seen an avatar more fearsome with a battleaxe.  He could soak up an enormous amount of punishment, and make mincemeat of anything within striking distance.  Meanwhile Qrysta would be slicing and dicing among our foes, and I’d be blasting damages into them from my battlestaff, while healing the other two whenever they got hit.

Grell loves to talk smack, not just at our opponents but also at us two.  He’s good at it, but not as good as Qrysta.  She’s as fearsome in a flame war as she is fearless in combat.  We were the best, the three of us.  We proved it, when we won the World Championship.

Moments later, it was heroes to zeroes.  Grell, when I found him, was the wimpiest Orc ever, a captive like me, with no clue how to use a weapon for real.  There was no sign of Qrysta.

We had a long way to go.

And a desperate challenge to face.

Any romantic involvement?

How dare you!  My private life is my own.  As are those of my friends.  You won’t hear a peep from me about the delightful aftermath of the night that, thanks to us, we took a rival lord’s town.  Or the remarkable occasion of Grell’s participation in a real, live Orc Mating Ritual.

Whom (or what) do you really hate?

Live and let live, is our motto.  Until the bastards need to die.  Which, if they are already dead, can present a problem.  Down and down, to the floor of the world, and an implacable enemy from before the dawn of history, far more powerful than us, returning from beyond death to reclaim his throne…

Far from a pleasant prospect.

Were we up to it?

What’s your favourite drink, colour, and relaxing pastime?

Beer. Green. Playing the five string banjo.

What does the future hold for you?

To keep writing more New Rock books.  Each has been its own challenge, its own opportunity, to explore, discover, experience.  Each writing session is different.  It’s by no means always easy, but there’s nothing I’d rather do.  I’ve found my bliss as a writer.  I hope to keep writing these stories until I drop.  I have no idea what I’m going to write tomorrow, even though I more or less know where I’m going.  How could I?  I haven’t written it yet.  Perhaps, at some point in the future, I’ll run out of ideas.  Until then, my characters and I will keep going forwards.

Can you share a secret with us, which you’ve never told anyone else?

You’ve probably guessed that my narrator, retired teacher Joss, who becomes Daxx, the heroic young battlemage avatar he created, is really a thinly disguised me.  That’s hardly a secret.

A secret I will share is that each book contains clues as to what will happen in later stories.  I doubt that you will notice them, as you pass them by.  When they are pointed out, you’ll think back, and go, oh yeah…

And will join the dots.

Richard Sparks’ writing credentials span the gamut of the entertainment world, from film and TV and books through lyrics for operas. These include iconic shows like Not the Nine O’clock News (BBC TV) and The Secret Policeman’s Ball (BBC TV, performed by Rowen Atkinson and directed by John Cleese). Richard was born in England and now lives in Los Angeles, writing both fantasy novels and opera libretti (both original and translations of classic works).

You can find Daxx on the pages of New Rock, New Role.

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