T.H. Alexander's love of writing began with a book . . . of all things.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You know the story—girl gets whisked away in a tornado to a magical world full of flying witches, talking animals and teleporting footwear.
To say the story didn't have some kind of an impact on a six-year-old Alexander would be a gross understatement. For Alexander, the very idea someone could create a world as fantastic and magical as Oz (and others)
by simply throwing words together switched something on within
him that he hasn't been able to turn off ever since. These
stories would allow him to cultivate and manifest his own
imagination and creativity that he used to write a
multitude of short or unfinished stories over the course
of the next eight years.
Not until Alexander was a freshman in high school
would he begin the story that would change everything.
The Lord of Salamander didn't seem all that special, at
first.
He wrote it on and off throughout the rest of his high
school years--you know, a little here, a little there.
Not until Alexander was a senior in high school, with some convincing from his creative writing teacher, did the Lord of Salamander begin to show its true potential.
As he neared completion of the novel, it became very clear this wasn't going to be just any old fantasy book. It was the fantasy book and, after graduating from Tom C. Clark in 2007, Alexander, guided by the advice of his creative writing teacher, would spend the next several years querying countless literary agents while also going to school on and off and working the occasional dead-end job.
What he didn't realize was within those years he spent looking for an agent, the publishing industry itself was in the midst of a monumental change.
Beginning in 2007, with the release of the very first iPhone, the country and, pretty much the entire world, would move into what some considered to be a new digital era that would, for better or for worse, affect nearly every aspect of our everyday lives, including how we would communicate (with the explosion that was social media), the way we would bank, shop, travel, with everything now being easily accessible with just the touch of a finger.
And, just as it would spill over into the entertainment and music industries, this new digital era would eventually find its way into the
publishing industry as well.
With services through Amazon and Barnes and Noble becoming more common place as we moved along into the mid 2010's, one could easily publish their book at little or no cost and, quite honestly, little to no effort. Even from the beginning, Alexander was aware of the stigma and
lack of respect that came with self-publishing as it had always been
considered inferior in quality when compared to works published in the more traditional press.
It was because of this that self-publishing would initially be the furthest thing from his mind and
even something he, himself, would turn his nose up at. However, with him approaching his 7th year of querying agents with no success, his
options were becoming more and more limited.
In the process of figuring what he would do next,
Alexander considered giving up altogether and
simply moving on with his life, leaving all his hard
work and dreams in the rear-view mirror. In a moment of uncertainty, his answer came in the form of a particular magazine article he just so happen to stumble upon. The article featured an up and coming science fiction writer named Hugh Howey, who'd just found enormous success by independently publishing his book series Wool, which led him to be discovered by an agent who then scored a book deal with a major publishing house and even a major motion picture that was said to be in the works.
Though he knew it would be a long shot, Alexander knew this would be his only remaining option if he had any intention of finishing what he started almost ten years ago by this point and, with much reluctance, would begin an entirely new journey . . .
. . . one that would take several more years before his book would be officially released in the winter of 2018. Upon the release of his follow up horror book, Till Dawn, a few years later in 2022, Alexander would also launch a brand new edition of the Lord of Salamander the following year in 2023 that would garner critical acclaim with Jo Niederhoff of the Manhattan Book Review giving the Epic Fantasy a five-stars and calling it “the best YA novel I've read all year!"
