Q&A with W. Tod Newman, Author of The Halls of the Shadow King
Being a full-time author means dealing with a strange paradox.
No one outside your immediate circle will ever read your book without marketing. For introverted authors who loathe self-promotion, this stinks. But I’ve accepted it as necessary. Most of us write because we believe we’re offering something valuable—entertainment, wisdom gleaned from experience, or both. That value disappears if we never reach the right readers.
I’ve also learned that there are sadistic people out there who find great satisfaction in tearing down authors through anonymous one-star reviews. Often these come from individuals who never bought or read the book. I’ve heard stories of authors receiving one-star reviews describing entirely different books from the one they wrote. Amazon rarely removes these unless they’re extreme violations. They’ll tell you it averages out eventually.
Getting actual readers to leave reviews? Nearly impossible. Whole industries exist around “review farming” to manufacture early buzz for new releases. I find this distasteful.
So here’s my attempt at a different approach—a Q&A based on questions people have actually asked me. Maybe some stray Google search will bring an interested reader this way. Stranger things have happened.
Question: How did you come up with the idea for The Halls of the Shadow King series?
Most authors writing Young Adult series don’t start with AD 280 in the Roman Empire. This choice reflects my love of research—after writing two novels set during the Old Testament prophets, diving into this era was easy and enjoyable.
But the idea came as a question: “What would have happened if the powerful gifts seen in the early church had manifested during Roman persecution?” The timing seemed obvious. Emperor Valerian launched unusually harsh persecutions that began suddenly and ended just as suddenly under his son. My research never turned up a compelling reason why.
Amal emerged as the answer to that question—a gifted young man drawn from street crime in Damascus into a secretive organization dedicated to furthering The Way. His gift combines elements I’ve seen scattered through legends worldwide. Why not place a character who can reshape reality at the center of world-changing events?
Question: Is Amal a perfectly powerful character like Superman?
I struggled to keep Amal human. I don’t enjoy all-powerful, all-good characters in literature. Besides his extraordinary gift, I gave Amal something perhaps more valuable: humility.
Where did this come from? Partly from the kindness of his Creator, but also from making mistakes and learning his capacity for error. He never feels fully confident to me, which makes him real.
If anyone actually reads this and engages, I’ll keep writing these Q&A pieces until people get sick of it!
Want to Check out the SERIES? Head over to my store (product is fulfilled from Lulu.com, which makes a nicer paperback product than Amazon).
Question: Why do you love writing so much?
I’ve asked myself this since high school. Writing was something I kept pushing forward on despite never being satisfied with the output. Eventually I started appreciating my own style and discovered that I could finally complete works I’d started and abandoned. The Halls of the Shadow King is an example—I wrote about half of it between 2016 and 2018, then let it rest. After publishing my two Old Testament prophet novels in the 2020s, I returned to “Halls” and found I could finally tell Amal’s story the way it needed to be told.
But why do I love it?
I write because I like to share. What I’ve learned and gradually understood about life might be transferable to others. My reading taste has always leaned toward the classics, where authors were less distracted by material things (and iPhones!) and more focused on sharing their wisdom, their hearts, and their imaginations.
I think readers may detect this influence in my writing. I hope it has a good effect.
OTHER LINKS about this Series
Reviews from Readers’ Favorite
UP NEXT in the Series
COVER ART process. Yes, I do my own covers (not AI).
BEHIND THE SCENES of the making of the series