Interview with D.B. Rook ~ Author of Red Reckonin'

D.B. Rook is the first invited writer of Unearthed Stories for 2025, and the author of our latest acquisition—Red Reckonin', a weird blend of western, dark fantasy, and not-so-common vampires set in his series The Wayward World Chronicles.

In this post, our lead writer (and editor of invited stories) Livia J. Elliot interviews Daryl about his writing, his novels (for the series The Wayward World Chronicles), and his experience writing an interactive story for the first time.

Livia: Thank you for working with us in bringing Callus’ story into Unearthed Stories. Before we dive into writing related questions, would you introduce yourself?

Daryl: Hello! I’m D.B. Rook, SFF author and reviewer for Fanfiaddict. I also make up one quarter of The Four Beardsmen of the Bookpocalypse over on Youtube. I am so happy to be here, taking part in this awesome project has been an absolute blast.

Your series, The Wayward World Chronicles, is quite the genre blender. Western feelings, post-apocalyptic, low-magic (or not), vampires (or so), and a few other things to discover as we read. What inspired you to create this world?

First and foremost, I wanted to create a world, not ride on the coattails of someone else. Having said that, I also love so much of what fantasy and sci-fi genres have to offer. To meet somewhere in the middle, I devised a world that allows for a multitude of possibilities—this means I can go to varied places and experiment with themes that wouldn’t ordinarily fit together. The freedom is very liberating as a writer and hopefully enjoyable and fresh as a reader.

Callus is one of the protagonists of the first book, Callus & Crow, and also of your interactive short story, Red Reckonin’. What inspired you to write Callus? He is, by all accounts, a departure from the traditional vampire trope.

He’s not a vampire, so to speak—he just happens to be cursed with several vampiric traits. Callus & Crow is a fairly quick start up into a story that literally spans continents. I wanted to take a minute to lay down Callus' tracks, give some emotional context for those that may frown on his actions in Callus & Crow. Callus is no boy scout, but I think everyone on the planet can relate to being lost and not knowing which direction to trust in.

How does Red Reckonin’ fit within The Wayward World Chronicles, and your book Callus & Crow?

Red Reckonin’ is as direct a prequel as you can imagine. It’s not necessary to read it before Callus & Crow, but I very much wanted to make it an enhanced experience if you do. Callus is a beloved character, this is your chance to get to know him before the curtains come up on the big show.

Writing for Unearthed Stories was your first dive into interactive fiction, right? What did you find challenging and what did you enjoy the most?

Oh man, what a challenge! It was such an enriching experience; I loved every minute despite the headaches! Keeping track of the diverse story branches was extremely intense, but it meant that I could look at the story in a whole new way. We have to give our characters agency in any story, but with this interactive I was able to share that agency with the reader themselves. The fact that they get to shape not only the story but the prose for delivering that story was very special to me—and I hope I get to write in this way again (once I’ve had a lay down.)

Thank you! Can you share your socials, and any news on upcoming releases?

The pleasure was all mine! Yes, you can still find me on Twitter as @DB_rook and Bluesky and pretty much all social media platforms, or you can come and say hello on my website dbrookbooks.com or, if you want to see some insane hilarity take place, you can search “fourbeardsmen” on YouTube.

In terms of release, I’m hoping the next book of The Wayward World Chronicles will land this year, the sequel to Callus & Crow. It’ll be another step towards a completed series. Also keep an eye out for a secret collaboration that has begun, that is going to be absolutely epic!

Thank you so much for this opportunity, everybody… Go download Unearthed, it is awesome!

Stay wayward,

D.B.

If you want to read/play Red Reckonin' (and you should definitely be keen on doing so), you can install Unearthed Stories for free on any Android or iPhone/iPad devices, and read!