Goodreads asked Nicholas McIntire:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Nicholas McIntire I'm going to do my best to answer this one, because it's been a while since I got "the idea" to write this series. I grew up reading a lot of pretty diverse fantasy, playing a lot of JRPGs on SNES and Playstation (yes, I know that dates me, and I'm comfortable with that). There are character names that were originally inspired by things like an episode of the revamped Johnny Quest series in the late 90s, an Indigo Girls song I loved in the early 2000s, a Russian Olympic gymnast, and the incredible education I received getting my first Bachelor's degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies at UT Austin. It's less one idea and more an amalgamation of bits and pieces that all came together in my head and took on a life of their own. I've had entire scenes show up in dreams, or in that moment right before I fall asleep. Music inspires me a lot, and I've always written to music. The title and core concept for the second book in the series, A Wicked Wind, came from a Decemberists song. I was listening to it while walking along a beach, at night, by myself. And then that entire plot point just showed up in my head. The idea that flowed from those words couldn't be more different from what the song was actually about, but I can honestly find inspiration just about anywhere, and usually when I'm least expecting it. The harder I try to force creativity, the more it slips away, so I've learned to just relax and let it show up when it feels like it. And in the 28 years I've been writing, that has worked out pretty well. Hopefully, this answered the question.

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