Fantasy author, Jeremy Madsen recently released his first full-length book entitled “The Pyromancer’s Scroll.” He says it was inspired by an idea he thought of in high school.
“One of the ideas I wrote down was called ‘The Hero Who Never Smiled,’” Madsen said. “I just wrote a couple of quick sentences about this hero going around saving people, performing heroics, but he doesn’t smile, he doesn’t laugh because he has a dark past.”
When writing “The Pyromancer’s Scroll,” Madsen wanted to create a book for an adult-level reader but wanted to exclude anything that could be considered inappropriate.
“It is a clean book. I was very emphatic on that with myself of no profanity, no references at all to any sex, nothing inappropriate,” Madsen said. “None of that is in there. So, it can be read by anyone. But I was writing it with adult readers in mind on the thematic reading level.”
Though Madsen wrote the book with adults in mind, he says he has received positive feedback from youth.
“I’ve been surprised at how many youths have read the book,” Madsen said. “And I think what happened is I sold it to a bunch of acquaintances — friends, family, neighbors — and they haven’t had time to read it, but they have teenaged kids in the home. And the adults are like, ‘Well I know it’s a clean book, so go ahead and feel free to read it.’”
Madsen said he wanted to write a book with influential themes that people could discuss. In the back of his book Madsen included discussion questions for readers to engage with.
“I very deliberately wrote a book that had a lot of deep themes to discuss — redemption, forgiveness, trust, mercy, justice, war,” Madsen said. “The characters are very nuanced where there’s these little details that if you’re paying attention, you realize that gets picked up later in the story.”
“The Pyromancer’s Scroll” is available for purchase on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble as well as Madsen’s website where you can learn more about his stories.
To listen to the full interview with Jeremy Madsen, go to BYU-Idaho Radio’s podcast on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.