I’ve been running a series of interviews with authors that are releasing new books, particularly dark fiction. I hope you’ll take the time to check out their work. Today, please welcome indie author, David Dalglish.

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To start, can you tell me a little about yourself.

I'm twenty-six, married to a wonderful wife and have an equally wonderful daughter. I graduated several years ago with a Mathematics degree. I'm currently working as a para-professional for Special Education, and plan on pursuing a Spec Ed. degree over the next couple years.

How long have you been writing and how did you get to this point in your career?

The earliest I can remember writing was far back in Elementary School. I wrote a hundred hand-written pages about a character named Magus assaulting a castle with his undead horde. I blatantly stole the character from a Super Nintendo game. By 5th grade I was reading Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton, so writing felt like a natural extension of my reading.

In High School I had a phenomenal English teacher who gave us time every day to write. I wrote a story titled The Guardian which focused on a group of men entering a mine filled with gold which was haunted by a creature made of pure darkness and teeth. I wrote a continuation, followed by another, until it bloomed into a 120,000 word novel. Several characters of that long ago novel have remade their appearances in my current series, especially within The Death of Promises.

As for where I am now, that evolved from a constant desire to tell stories. When I researched the evolving e-book market, I decided it was my best opportunity to reach readers. I contacted a man named Peter Ortiz to do the covers, hammered my first couple books into publishable form, and then released my first book, The Weight of Blood, onto the Amazon Kindle.

You have a new book out, The Death of Promises. Tell me what inspired you to write this?

At the end of The Cost of Betrayal, I was left with a deep schism between the two main characters. One of them, Qurrah Tun, had made many promises to his lover, and I felt like I had to know what would become of them. The title should give a hint as to how that turned out.

I have a keen interest in dark fiction. Tell me how you would classify this book and what’s dark about it?

The Death of Promises is like my Empire Strikes Back from Star Wars. What was once a clash between two brothers has grown and grown until even gods have begun to interfere. Under no circumstances do I feel obligated to make the ending happy. I have a story to tell, and by god, I'm going to tell it.

I never thought to make this series 'dark fantasy', but I've encountered more and more that insist on that label. Perhaps it is because I am willing to kill off main characters. I've read too many books where the hero is like some 80's hero movie, dodging a million bullets, slaughtering a thousand bad guys, and finishing without his hair even mussed. I'm not like that. When magic flows and swords clash, blood is going to be spilled, and it'd be a bit predictable if it was always the bad guys who bled.

The other thing I've noticed from reviews is that readers seem surprised that actions have consequences. Perhaps I'm naïve, but is this really such a problem in fantasy? My characters make mistakes. They make bad decisions. I am adamant that those decisions mean something. For good or ill, all we are is our decisions, and to belittle those by magical or deific intervention insults me. If you're used to reading fantasy where the boy hero is worshipped everywhere he goes, is never contradicted, and his every plan is successful in thwarting the bad man, then my stories might be a bit of a shock.

Sometimes we have to be ruthless in writing/editing. We cut scenes, eliminate characters or even kill them off. Tell me what was the hardest of these in this book.

I care for my characters, some more than others. One in particular, a goofy wizard named Tarlak, has always had a soft spot in my heart. In a rather crucial scene, I killed someone close to him. The tragedy of death is not to the one dying but to those that live on, and having to convey Tarlak's sorrow was rough. There's this moment when he first sees the body, and even as I write the scene I know that he will never be the same again. I miss who Tarlak once was, but I won't change it. I won't wash it away or have an angel return the dead back to life. Death, life, decisions: these things have to carry weight otherwise my entire story is nothing but fluff and mindless action.

This blog is called Random Musings, so give me a random quote from the book – something you’re particularly fond of.

Qurrah to his lover, Tessanna: "I will burn this whole world to ash. I will keep my promises."

This appears to be part of a series. Tell us about the series, and what can we expect from you next?

When I first started the Half-Orc Series, my goal was to create a villain that would rival my personal favorites, such as Artemis Entreri, Raistlin Majere, and Grand Admiral Thrawn. I've since deviated from that plan, but to say how would give away too much.

The series follows two brothers, Harruq and Qurrah Tun, as they go from being homeless thieves to mercenaries to paragons of their deities. The Weight of Blood introduced the gods and gave a taste of the war they want to unleash. The Cost of Betrayal focuses on results of the brothers' decision to turn away from their dark god, Karak, as well as developing their relationships with the women they love.

Both brothers hurt the other deeply, and the Death of Promises then shifts to how each try to live without the other. To fulfill his promise, one brother swears allegiance to Karak once more and then leads a massive siege that was one of the most exhausting but enjoyable parts to write in my entire series.

As to where it's going…The Shadows of Grace is the fourth book, which I hope to finish editing by the end of summer. I'm also writing a single one-shot novel about a character of mine named Haern the Watcher. It is called A Dance of Cloaks. I'm only a third of the way in, but I hope to have it for sale before the end of the year.

Any final comments or thoughts?

I'm glad to be given the chance to ramble about my work, so thank you for that, David Burton. I crave interaction with readers, and I could talk about my characters for hours. Hopefully there's a few people out that there enjoyed my ramblings, and even more so that have enjoyed my story of Harruq and Qurrah Tun.

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David, these sound great and I love the covers! Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions and best of luck. I hope you’ll be back for The Shadows of Grace!!