·
What is
Pia?
Pia is a world of my own design, like so many
other fantasy worlds. I was heavily inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R.
Martin, Angie Sage, Jenny Nimmo, and so many other authors, but didn't have
anywhere useful to put my thoughts. When my friend finally introduced me to
Pathfinder, I had finally found my outlet. I began designing the world for my
first campaign in 2014, which became the plotline for this very book!
·
So then, what was taken
from Pathfinder?
Not a thing! We used its rules and mathematics to play the
game, but nothing more. This book contains the events and characters I designed
and wrote, in a world I built from scratch.
·
When will the book be ready
for publication?
As soon as it is finished the editing process and my editor
reviews all 6 chapters, I will commission a cover, format my interior and
digital files, and send it off to the printers!
·
Will the book still be
released if the Kickstarter fails?
Absolutely! If we don't hit the funding goal, I will still
be publishing the book on Amazon and perhaps a few other retailers. It will
just take a significantly longer time, that's all.
PAOLO RUGGIRELLO
Tell your readers a little about
yourself, where you grew up, where you live now, where you went to school, etc.
Let them get to know the personal you.
I was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on October 31, 1993. I
have a brother and two sisters. I lived in Michigan until I was around eight
years old, at which time we moved to Oxford, Pennsylvania. I love the house and the land we had there. When
I was about twelve years old, we moved to New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, where I
met one of my closest friends. I’m very glad we still talk today, despite
having moved again when I was 16 to Devon, Pennsylvania. I met some absolutely
amazing people there, and we all became lifelong friends. Shortly before I
turned 26, I moved to Bloomington, Minnesota, to live with my girlfriend, whom
I love dearly. I’ve met some very interesting people here, for whom I am
grateful.
What inspired you to author this
book?
I was always encouraged to use my imagination for as long as I
can remember, both as entertainment and as a problem solving tool. I love
thinking and creating exciting stories and would spend most of my time in class
living in the vast universes inside my head. One day almost ten years ago, I
played a game of Pathfinder with some friends and had an absolute blast. I fell
in love with the game and immediately set to work crafting and building another
universe, but this time I wanted other people to live in it with me. The work
began sometime in 2014 when my brother wanted to play as a ninja. I created the
setting, the story, the characters, everything! Now, six years later, the story
has come to an end, and I wanted to share it.
Who has been the most
significant influence on you personally and as a writer?
It’s truly hard to say that any one specific person has been
the most significant influence on me. Everyone in my life has added something
unique to my perspective. Every TV show, comic, movie, and book I read inspires
me to look at my world in a different way. As I constantly grow and learn, so
does my own world and writing. I think if I absolutely had to pin it on
someone, it would be Tolkien. I always liked and enjoyed fantasy, but when I
really absorbed his writing, I fell head over heels for the genre.
What were your struggles or
obstacles you had to overcome to get this book written?
Since the book is based on a plot I wrote for my brother and
my friend using Pathfinder’s rule system, the biggest limitation was finding
time to play. I think it took over a year of writing and scheduling to finish
the game’s story finally. Then after I decided to turn the events of the
campaign into a book, the obstacles became almost completely financial. I hired
a professional editor, which was expensive. Artwork was expensive. Marketing is
extremely expensive. Somehow, though, I’m slowly making it work. I guess I got
lucky that I never hit any major bouts of writer’s block when working on the
book. Whenever I felt burnt out or tired, I would just hop over to another time
period in my world and work on that, or do something else entirely. I just
never worried about it.
Tell your readers about your
book.
The Kantohrins, colloquially called The Cutthroats, rule with
an iron fist and tax their people into extreme poverty. Some of the farming
clans begin to resist their rule with shrewd, cunning maneuvers and undermining
schemes. With taxes rising every year, the small resistance just isn't enough,
and the people's rage becomes more and more palpable. Musashi and his wife,
Qwen, led Miami and Aiko against the Cutthroats for many years. The Cutthroats
raid their farm, destroy their crops, and blow up their dilapidated estate. As
Miami and Aiko are fleeing the scene, they encounter the strange Bertucio and
his companion, Strawberry, in a secret tunnel. The fleeing rebels enlist the
help of this outlandish duo as they make their way to a secret hideout and
await further instructions. Will they be able to find their fearless leader and
his wife before it's too late? Can they liberate the island, or will they
succumb to the violent civil war that threatens to engulf their beautiful home?
Who is your target audience, and
why?
My target audience is readers between the ages of twenty and thirty.
The book is about oppression and rebellion; there’s going to be combat, people
are going to die, it’s going to contain some mature concepts.
What do you consider your
greatest success in life?
So far, I’d consider it to be this book.
What one unique thing sets you
apart from other writers in your genre?
I think what really sets me apart is that I don’t like to
address the reader directly if I can avoid it any other way. Instead of explaining
directly to the reader how something works, I strive to demonstrate it with my
characters’ actions or words. Also, I heavily dislike clichés and try to avoid
them as much as possible without compromising the integrity of the world.
