Scott Palmer was born in London, Ontario, Canada, where he lives with his wife, daughter. His whole life has been a journey of collecting stories and stowing them like a library of experiences. Scott started writing seriously in 2020 and now he cannot stop.
- To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
My name is Scott Palmer, I’m thirty four years old, and I’m the author of the epic fantasy series, the Last Ballad. It currently consists of two main books entitled A Memory of Song, and A Chorus of War, and a prelude novella entitled The Sound of Starfall. I was born, raised, and schooled in London, Ontario, Canada. It’s a small city about two hours west of Toronto. I live here with my wife, three-year-old daughter, and two cats.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
Oh this is great. At twelve I wanted to be in the NBA. I happened to be pretty good at basketball in my local school zone and, being from a predominant hockey community that didn’t necessarily have the most skilled basketball players living in it, I had a false idea of how good I actually was. I was slightly (a lot) delusional in that belief, but it just goes to show that I’m a dreamer haha. When I got to high school and started to play in the provincial tournaments where kids were quite literally dunking on my head, I realized this wasn’t going to happen for me.
At eighteen my delusions had changed to “pro skateboarder.” Why? Because it was the thing I was into and the thing I was best at at that moment. A common trend started to occur with me. I go all in on the things I love lol. I never became a pro skateboarder.
At thirty I had already made up my mind that I wanted to be a writer, more specifically an author. By thirty I was well under way on creating the Remembered Lands. After spending my twenties playing in a band I was completely immersed in the creative process. When the band stopped I took it as an opportunity to try my hand at that fantasy novel I had in my mind. Then I couldn’t stop. Like really couldn’t stop and I still can’t.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?
At eighteen I didn’t think I could achieve my dreams. I’d love to go back and show that boy what he was able to do and tell him it’s going to be okay. But I also wouldn’t want to trade away those years of growth, either.
4. What were three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – you can now say had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?
- The Legend of Zelda: The dark, woodsy magic in this completely drew me in. Giant trees, ghosts, graveyards, and fire arrows. Zelda was the first fantasy to grab ahold of my heart, and it still hasn’t let go.
2. The Braveheart Soundtrack: This wordless music transported me away. While writing AMoS I listened to this multiple times a day, visualizing my characters going through the world and letting tears fall down my face with no shame. This music strikes an emotional heart string with me, and it is so tightly wound with my own world now that it’s hard not to feel that emotion each and every time I hear the soundtrack.
3. A Song of Ice and Fire books: My biggest inspiration. Before this, Ardura was stagnant. Diving into the world of Ice and Fire and studying George’s work completely changed my life. It was the first time in my life I had experienced fantasy written in the style of classic literature. Fantasy very much had a kind of child-like, whimsical feeling to it, and though those stories still hold a big place in my heart and I’m not at all criticising those stories, it was George’s approach to fantasy that sucked me in and made me a super fan. History, myth, and lore were at the heart of the world, and the characters were the heart of the plot. Written in elevated prose that rivals Steinbeck, Faulkner, or McCarthy, and laced with real human themes that are at the heart of absolutely everything. This series is everything to me. Even if another word is never published there is more there for my fantasy loving heart than I’ve been able to find anywhere else. Maybe the story isn’t meant to be finished. Maybe we get to have whatever ending we dream of.
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?
The novel was the only way I could conceivably capture the world of the Remembered Lands. It’s an idea far too grand to really suit any other medium. And not only that but the novel is an incredible way to bring other people into your world. But to fully flesh out a fantasy world, I think there is no better tool than words. I get to have multiple files of pure history and worldbuilding stuff written matter-of-factly or in point form. I look at that as kind of a birds-eye-view. It gives me an overview of the whole world from afar. Then I get to have the books, written in prose, which get right down to ground level. In prose I get to walk around in the world I created inside the head of someone who isn’t me. It’s an absolutely thrilling experience to see your own creation staring back at you in that way.
6. Please tell us about your novel, A Memory of Song.
A Memory of Song is the story I wrote to bring my map to life. It all started with the map. I became obsessed with building a fantasy world that I could hold up against Planetos or Middle Earth. A world steeped in forgotten history, lore, and myth. I spent more than a year detailing the world, making everything as realistic as I possibly could. I came up with all the names of places and the names of the ruling families who lived in those places. And as the world got bigger and bigger I started to realize that the world needed people—real people, living and working and moving around this world. I needed stories.
The Last Ballad series is simply my love letter to the genre, as cliche as that sounds. I just love this stuff, and to be creating a world like this is a dream come true.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
I hope people feel something. Whatever it is. I put a piece of my soul into this and I only hope it touches other peoples and they feel something.
8. Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
My hero in the realm of writing is George R.R. Martin. Reading A Game of Thrones completely changed my life. Growing up, I was a huge fan of fantasy—Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, Sword of Shannara, etc.. As I got a bit older I started to get more into the classic novels and authors like Virginia Woolf, Emily Bronte, Hemingway, Faulkner, and especially Cormac McCarthy. Reading these power houses of literature made me a little bit sick of the writing style of the classic epic fantasies. They felt very much alike and very much unbelievable. I was craving that raw and real human connection I was finding in these other books. When I read Steinbeck I was blown away in a way that I had never been by an epic fantasy book. Spoiler alert, but when Lennie died in Of Mice and Men, a small part of me died too.
Fast Forward to 2016, watching the Game of Thrones series on TV. It had been many years since I had really read anything at all, I was playing in a band and writing and listening to a lot of music. As Bran gets pushed out the window, I think: “I’d like to give these books a go.” I bought the whole set of five, and dove in, and my life changed forever.
George R.R. Martin wrote epic fantasy through the same lens as my favourite all time writers. With prose that rivals Faulkner, and characters that rival, and succeed in my opinion, McCarthy, these stories gave me a whole new love for fantasy books. I went down the rabbit hole of more modern writers and found Abercrombie, and Lynch, Bakker, and Hobb. All of whom had taken fantasy to that next level. Serious writers writing serious fantasy. This wasn’t commercial, “write to the genre” type stuff, this was real deal writing and I was there for it.
I admire George for using his serious chops to write what he truly loves. With writing skills like his, he could have gone the James Patterson, or Stephen King route and made his money long before he did. But he wrote what he wanted to write, and he did it as well as he possibly could.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I want the London Symphony Orchestra to produce a soundtrack for my series.
10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?
Never ever stop. Write. Write some more. Fail. Fail better.
A Memory of Song
In a dying land, the armies of the dead hold sway. And those who rule them are more god than human.
James Culdaine, the last heir of the Northern Throne, was just a young man when the armies of the South murdered his parents and subjugated his lands. He has never forgotten those responsible, nor has he forgiven. He has spent the last ten years living in isolation with The Feldarra; a sacred Northern clan of fierce warriors, led by the fearless Wulfee who, still reeling from the loss of her own children, finds new meaning in protecting what only family she has left.
Now, an ancient order of warlocks has returned to the North, singing dark songs composed of blood magic that null the elements and threaten all that is living.
With nature depleted and the Southern armies returning to the North, James struggles to embrace the unique power he has long tried to repress; the ability to commune with the spirits of the dead. In the bitter heart of a growing war, with the world dying around them, James and Wulfee desperately seek answers, vengeance, and a way to save the ones they love... No matter the cost.
Fires refuse to burn. The skies are thirsty and breathless. The earth won't eat its rot...
Welcome to Ardura.
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