Today’s interview is with Chris Hussey, author of “Unknowing Agents” and one of the hosts of the Fear the Boot podcast.
1. Where did you get the idea for your story?
The idea actually came from an idea I had for a role-playing game a long time ago. I liked the idea of creating characters who would infiltrate different genres, acting as agents in this grand scale fight against evil. I never really got around to developing the game, but I realized it made for a great fiction idea.
2. Do you plan to write more stories in that setting or with those characters?
Probably not. I certainly could. The storyline and the universe lend itself to the idea easily, but I viewed this really as more of a one-shot piece. Of course, I’m kind of a “never say never” person.
3. What was the appeal of Sojourn for you?
For me, it was all about seeing Fear the Boot move on to that next level. Dan’s built something very impressive and has really wanted to move it forward. I love the podcast and community for many of the same reasons the rest of the community does, so doing my part to help out was a no-brainer.
4. What was your favorite part about writing for the Sojourn anthology?
Working with the editors. Laura and Ryan are very good at what they do, and it was a breeze to work with them. They made it easy, yet still challenged me as a writer.
5. Did you learn anything while writing your story, if so, what?
Tough to say. I think the biggest thing I learned is that I now need to learn more about the publishing process. I’ll be doing that soon enough myself, and I can tell I have a way to go.
6. Is there any trivia or behind-the-scenes information about your story you would like to share?
The character of ‘Ben in the story is based very loosely on one of the members of my current game group, who has since departed. He is directly named after him, however. Also, Deckard is the name of one of the PCs from my old group. My friend Shayne played a character named Deckard. The character himself is not based on anything Shayne ever did with his Deckard.
7. What was the biggest influence on your story?
I have an unhealthy desire, for some reason, to do all manner of stories and such about tabletop games and the people who play them. I’m not really sure why that is.
8. Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
To key off the previous question, I’m currently working on a couple of projects in that vein under the broad title of Table Tales, which is sort of an umbrella channel name for that gamer media. The first is ‘Gamers Behaving Badly’ which is an audio show about a group of tabletop gamers who play RPGs the way they weren’t meant to be. The second…, well you know what? Rather than bore you with my laundry list, I’ll just push you over to the site. It’s www.tabletalesseries.com