Author Spotlight - Ricky Fleet

***Author Spotlight aka Ask them Anything***

Tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, I’m Ricky Fleet, author of all manner of crazy tales. Part-time writer. Part-time reader. Part-time gamer. Part-time gym freak. Full-time husband, dad (plus doggy dad to two Labradors), and grandad. Also, full-time manager (boo!) for a great company (yay!).

I’ve been an avid gamer ever since the Atari 2600 days (ageing myself there a bit) and have been addicted ever since. After playing everything available, including WoW for many years, I stick to mostly RPGs, Total War, and Souls-like games now. I cut my writing teeth on my favourite genre of gaming/movies/books, which is apocalyptic.

Zombies, demons, mutants, aliens, infections. I love everything about the end of the world stories. After writing multiple books across multiple series, I chanced upon an advert that comprised a guy in heart-covered boxer shorts, wielding a cat, being chased by a goblin doom-dozer. Dungeon Explorer Earl or something like that. Written by a little-known guy called Matthew Dinnerman or something. It was great and I hope the series takes off one day. I don’t hear it mentioned much in the various groups I’m in, which is a real shame.

From this insanely good yarn came the idea for my own LitRPG series – Mark of the Fated (Not to be mistaken for Mark of the Fool, Mark of the Crijik etc which are frickin’ awesome series. I really wish I’d checked my title more thoroughly before release. D’oh!) MotF combines 2 of my greatest passions - gaming and apocalyptic scenarios. The characters in my story travel to different worlds in dire peril, gathering loot, levels, stats and powerful abilities. Orc invasions. Undead uprisings. Dinosaurs brought back from the tar pits to wreak havoc. They will eventually do battle with killer robots, gigantic kaiju, demons, and other hellish challenges. I pride myself on trying to build complex characters in complex worlds.

What’s your newest release?

Due to starting my new role a while ago, I’ve had to take a break from writing consistently. My last release was MotF 3 – Realm of the Lich King, which continued the craziness from books 1 and 2.

I’m currently working on Mark of the Fated – Volume 4, and wrapping up the first in a new series (provisionally titled Soul of the Bloodbound). It’s an Isekai tale set in a sprawling fantasy world of magic and monsters. The MC becomes OP, but the overarching threats are such that it doesn’t derail the danger that he and his friends have to overcome. I hope to get back into a proper rhythm with my output and have it on Kindle Unlimited by the end of the year.

Where did your inspiration come from?

Other than Dungeon Crawler Carl, which was the sole reason I gave LitRPG a try, most of my ideas come to me in vivid dreams and nightmares, or while out walking my dogs. I know it sounds bizarre, but I often have movie-like scenes play out that make up core arcs within the various stories. Sometimes, a plot point that’s really testing my patience resolves itself in the same way.

All Social Media Links.

Due to my advanced age of 46 and related mistrust of technological advances, I’m only on Facebook (I should remedy this, but there are only so many hours in the day). Feel free to ping me a friend request under my name.

Amazon Link

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