Dear readers, tonight with us is a sneakthief, part of a crew on a mission to follow a cryptic message that arrived on a ghost ship.

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

I grew up on the streets of Brigstowe. I never knew my parents. I usually managed to find somewhere to doss down for the night. I’d have been lost without Old Fingers, who took me on as his ’prentice and taught me everything he knew about thieving. He said I was a natural. I joined the Thieves Guild as soon as I could, aged ten or so. I was soon one of their best operators. If it hadn’t been for an out-of-town lass who played me for a sucker I’d never have wound up drafted into My Lord’s army—and I’d never have met Daxx, and Grell, and Qrysta, and gone on all our adventures all over the world. Foreigners, they are, and with funny foreign ways—and Grell’s an Orc, from somewhere called Ozgaroo. But they’re my new family now. First family I ever had. Best family I could imagine.

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

Toys? Me? Only toys I ever had were ones I nicked, and sold on as soon as I could. Cherished memories? Well, if it hadn’t been for Old Fingers spotting me nicking purses in the market, I’d probably have been caught by the guards and hauled up before the reeve. He was the saving of me, and like a father to me.

What do you do now?

I find things. I’m good at finding. Ways, gold, hidden secrets and valuables. The others rely on me to find things. And use my knives when it comes to a scrap, of course.

What can you tell us about your latest adventure?

We only went and got on board this ghost ship like four blooming idiots—well, five if you count Little Guy, my dog, who adopted me when we was on the run from the authorities. Then we got into a mess, I can tell you—having to get tricky jobs done for this nasty piece of work while the whole realm was hunting us and wanting to kill us. First job was to fight a helldragon, and it only got worse from there.

What did you first think when you saw the man who sent you to take on the helldragon?

Well, there he was in this ruined underground temple, with no head, just this bubble on his shoulders where a head should have been, and his red-eyed imp glaring at us, and we couldn’t move nor speak, and he kept Little Guy prisoner while we had to go off and do his bidding, and my poor dog was bloody terrified…

What was the scariest thing in your adventures?

That bloody imp. Only a foot and a half tall, but with a stare in those red eyes that turned your guts to water. Didn’t enjoy the swamp full of crocodiles too much neither. Nor what was waiting for us the other side of it.

What is the worst thing about Being a Hero of the Realm?

Everyone wants to talk and be my friend. Me! I’m a thief. And now anyone will give me anything I want, it’s enough to drive me loopy. I couldn’t wait to go off adventuring with Daxx and the others again.

What is the best thing about it?

You never know what’s coming your way with this lot. All sorts of scrapes we get into. It’s never a dull moment. And many a scary-as-hell one.

Tell us a little about your friends.

Daxx is a battlemage. Can deal all sorts of attacks and heals with that staff of his. Qrysta: you’ve never seen a sword-dancer like her.  Quick and deadly. Grell just stands there bellowing and whirling his battleaxe and soaking up the punishment. Me? Slicing and dicing in the shadows. Or sneaking in where I shouldn’t and nicking things. The four of us can take down mobs five times our size, no problem.

Any romantic involvement?

Not since that out-of-town lass who got me arrested and thrown in jail and conscripted into My Lord’s army—which me and Grell and Daxxie deserted from double-quick. I keep my eyes open, though, you never know…

Whom (or what) do you really hate?

Well, that long-dead bugger Jurun was a challenge, I can tell you. Whooh!  Army of corpses, coming back to take over the realm. Mind you, the next trip was no picnic—not just one evil sod to deal with but a whole lot of them, and all in different places.

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

Ale, a fire, good food and my dog’s ears to scratch… Well, that and perching on a roof in the rain ready to slip in through some civilian’s window and relieve him of his valuables…

What does the future hold for you?

Blimey, if it goes on like this I’ll be very rich or very dead very soon.

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

I had to go off to this big Empire down south, leaving the others to do their tasks way up in the Ice Lands. Well, I was the only one who could sneak in unnoticed and do the necessary. And I’m not much of a one for the cold.

(Author’s note: You can read all about that in book three in the New Rock series, New Rock New Rules, which will be published in November 2025).

Richard Sparks was born in England, and is a graduate of Oxford University (Exeter College, where, like both JRR Tolkien and Philip Pullman before him, he read English Lang and Lit). Richard started out as a writer of stage plays, comedy revues and TV, for such shows as Not the Nine o’clock News. Rowan Atkinson performed his Schoolmaster sketch in John Cleese’s The Secret Policeman’s Ball. UK TV credits include The Famous Five, The Flying Kiwi, The Optimist, The Worst of Hollywood, and a lot of script editing. On being hired by Columbia Pictures TV, Richard moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1992. His lyrics have been recorded by talents as diverse as Dom de Luise, Eric Idle, Vanessa Williams and Plácido Domingo. He directed Jack Black in Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (LACMA). Richard has written libretti for several new operas composed by Lee Holdridge (TV’s Beauty and the Beast, et al.), produced by the LA Opera, as well writing new English versions of German and Italian classics. His non-fiction books, Diary of a Mad Poker Player, and its sequel, Getting Lucky, chronicle his adventures in the poker boom of the 2000’s. Along the Cherry Lane is his biography of the music producer, Milt Okun. Inspired by his love of online role-playing games, New Rock New Role is the first of four volumes Richard has written so far in the New Rock fantasy adventure series—described by sci fi author and critic Frasier Armitage as “funtasy at its best.” The first sequel, New Rock New Realm, was published in November 2024.

We have previously published an interview with Daxx, which you can read here.

You can find Oller and Daxx on the pages of New Rock New Role and the sequel New Rock New Realm.

Browse our archives for past interviews, or follow the site by email (bottom-right) to know immediately when your new best-book-friend makes an appearance.