The Warden was one of 2023’s hidden gems; a slice-of-life story about a young necromancer determined to prove herself no matter the cost, and the unexpected depths to the mysterious town she finds herself sworn to protect. Warden Aelis de Lenti’s world is ripe for exploration, with enigmatic and mistrustful townsfolk, a threatening forest with its own dark secrets, and a pulse-pounding mystery to unravel. The Warden is a must-have novel for your bookshelf, and thanks to the release of a gorgeous paperback with stunning character art, there’s never been a better time to order a copy.
Author Daniel M. Ford has come to visit Earthshine Tower to discuss his novel, The Warden, and its upcoming sequel, Necrobane, as well as give some insight into his writing process and inspiration. Some minor spoilers below.
What would you most like readers to know about the village of Lone Pine before they embark on a journey with newly appointed Warden Aelis de Lenti, ready to do her duty in service to the Magister’s Lyceum?
Lone Pine is a village of independent minded shepherds and farmers clinging to the new border of what they might term “civilization” (I put this in quotes for a reason, as that word is usually defined solely by which side of a border you’re on). Though there isn’t a great deal of exposition about this in the novel, Lone Pine was once a thriving village deep inside a larger nation called Ystain, most of which was ceded to Orcs as the result of a recent war. Most of the people inhabiting it now are relatively new to the area, and many of them have deep connections to that war. None seem to harbor any real enmity for their one-time foes, but almost all of them were touched by that war in some way, and they have sought out a fresh start.
Aelis is a triumph of a character, striding onto the page filled with ferocity, pride, and boundless determination to succeed, no matter the scope of the challenge. Can you discuss how her character came to inhabit this story so fully?
I can’t start a book until I know who it’s about, and I knew who Aelis was right away. I wanted her to be everything you just listed here… but also a little too privileged for her own good. I’ve been an educator for almost twenty years, and I’ve taught so many young people like her and I think that bled into the page. I wanted to see what would happen when I loaded her with disappointment and disillusion and launched her into a world that wasn’t what she wanted. Disappointment, and how we respond to it, is a part of life. Hopefully readers are willing to come along with Aelis as she realizes what’s most important to a Warden… that her obligations to other people matter more than anything else.
A fundamental aspect of this novel is the strength Aelis draws from the allies she makes. From her very first champion, the taciturn innkeeper Rus, Aelis’ array of friends and lovers bolster her efforts to defend Lone Pine. Tun, the mysterious woodsman, beguiling half-elf mercenary Maurenia, and Timmuk the dwarven trader all bring a unique element to this novel. Can you elaborate on how these characters become important to Aelis and expand the scope of the story?
I think in all of my novels, I’ve wound surprising myself with supporting characters. I had no real plan for them (much like Aelis, I’m not a planner; I’m making it up as I go along). And I was sort of drifting along in the first draft and thought, “maybe let’s have an adventuring company show up in town.” So they did! And then Aelis saw Maurenia and fell hard for her, and anyone who knows me will tell you I have an affinity for fantasy dwarves, so I started writing more and more of Maurenia, Timmuk, and Andresh.
I also like to try and take these characters who could be very trope-laden into unexpected directions… which is how the Dobrusz are more caravan drivers and former bankers than miners and metalworkers (and also money-lenders in a totally legal and not at all menacing way!). As for Rus and Martin, well… there might be a little Easter Egg in their names based on a show I was watching when I first drafted this book in 2015. And their development came out of what I said above, about how pretty much everyone in Lone Pine was touched by the recent war. Rus and Martin maybe more than anyone. Moreso than most of the other Lone Pine folk, they’ve been around Necromancers and know who they are and what they do… so they aren’t afraid of Aelis like most of the folk are when she arrives.
As for Tun… I knew who he was before I started the book. His and Aelis’s friendship was the cornerstone I built from, which was in many ways influenced by the genre outside fantasy I read the most… private-eye or detective fiction. Often the “by the book/law-bound” detective character (like Parker’s Spenser or Walt Longmire or Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie) has a friend who lives outside the normal boundaries (Hawk for Spenser, Henry Standing-Bear for Walt or Bubba Rogowski) and can go places and do things the detective can’t. But the basis is always the unbreakable both-ways friendship that both characters know they can rely on. It takes some time to develop in The Warden, but by the end I hope the reader knows that Aelis and Tun are nearly inseparable.
One of The Warden’s greatest strengths is the delicate balancing act between the slice-of-life fantasy, and the deeper mystery that carries the series forward. There are so many hints of the larger world that Aelis inhabits, from her recollections of wealthy cities and magical halls of learning, to lost civilizations and the threat of war stirring in the shadows. Can you explore the process of creating the world and unique magic that breathes life into this story?
I world-build as I write the story. My process is character, then narrative, then world. But I knew I wanted the background of a recent war, and to have wizards called “Wardens” who act as investigators or frontier marshals. I thought it was best if there was a training system in place, with specific standards. And since I have some experience with academia, it made sense to build that out as a magical university made of constituent colleges devoted to each discipline, with all the pettiness, jealousy, backstabbing, and politicking that implies. Much of that is in the background of the story, but of course, Aelis didn’t want to end up in Lone Pine… someone had to send her there, and maybe that someone had a reason, or several reasons.
As for the magic, I don’t worry too much about magical “rules” so long as it’s not world-changing, godlike power. I want it to have limits and consequences, but I wasn’t writing the kind of story where a character would be learning all that and it would be explained in detail. I’m also soaked in 30+ years of playing fantasy role-playing games, so it’s easy to think of magic as systemic… but I also want it to be surprising. If it always follows a prescribed set of rules, I feel like it isn’t magic anymore. My favorite wrinkle in the magic system, if I’m allowed to have one, is what Necromancers actually do. Sure, Aelis can animate corpse or banish one… but she’s a physician, a surgeon, and that is so much more important to her, and so much more a part of who she is and what she wants to do with her life than commanding the undead, and I think that’s unusual for a black-robed “Necromancer” in fantasy.
Those who are familiar with tabletop roleplaying games will find themselves right at home with The Warden. Can you explain how your love of fantasy influenced the world of The Warden?
Fantasy has been everything to my imagination since my father read me The Hobbit when I was four years old. Then I saw the Rankin-Bass animated Hobbit, and had (still have!) a copy of the book with stills from the movie, and art in the style filling out the cut scenes (including Charles Vess drawing Beorn!), and that was the basis of my visual imagination of fantasy for years. Still is. Then I discovered D&D via the wonderfully dated-now Gold Box games, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve wanted to write fantasy, play it, inhabit it, since I was 11 years old, more than I’ve wanted anything else. It will likely not shock readers to hear that I run an RPG Club where I teach, that my wife and I are Rennies (Renfaire-goers) with large garb wardrobes, that I’ve been playing D&D with some of the same folks for 25 years. Fantasy is my favorite genre, not (only) because it’s escapist but it can literally be anything. I love the old tropes of axe-wielding, gold-smithing dwarves, and harp-strumming elven archers…but I also want to examine them, turn them around in my hands, and try to do at least somewhat new and interesting things with them. I hope fantasy readers who come to my books feel something familiar but at least a little different.
As an author, what do you feel was the most rewarding part of telling this story and seeing these characters come to life?
The first time someone sent me a meme about Tun! I know that’s a bit of a pat answer, but it’s thrilling to have people encounter the characters that I love so much and find that they ALSO love them enough to meme them or make fanart (still waiting) or to do cosplay (first Warden cosplay anyone sends me gets signed books!). I want people to find characters that they love the way I love Faramir or Susan Sto-Helit or FitzChivalry Farseer.
The Warden ends on a heart-stopping moment. Is there anything you’d like readers to know going into Necrobane? What can we expect from Aelis and her companions?
Lack of planning but really strong improvisational skills. I joke, a bit, but I hope that a part of these books is watching Aelis have to grow up, and fast. As the youngest child in a wealthy and powerful family, she’s never had to be responsible for anyone but herself before. Suddenly at age 22 or so, an entire village is counting on her… maybe more than a village, given the way book 1 ended. She can be brash and loud and inconsiderate and snobbish, but also, I think of what Tun says to her when they first speak in the first book: I think you are trying to help. And she is! She’s doing her best, and that isn’t always pretty, but she feels the weight of responsibility, and the people around her… like Tun, and Maurenia, and Timmuk…see that and respond to it. Not only is she trying to help, in many ways in Necrobane, she is the only person who can.
Daniel M. Ford was born and raised near Baltimore, Maryland. He holds a B.A. in English from Villanova University, an M.A. in Irish Literature from Boston College and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, concentrating in Poetry, from George Mason University. As a poet, his work has appeared most recently in Soundings Review, as well as Phoebe, Floorboard Review, The Cossack, and Vending Machine Press. He teaches English at a college prep high school in North East, Maryland.
You can find Daniel M. Ford at his website, and also on Bluesky.
