MILOA: G'day friends, Maloah here. Today I am here with Dexter. I am super excited.
He is the author of The Fallen King. Welcome, Dexter. Hello, welcome.
DEXTER: Thank you for having me.
MILOA: Tell us a little bit about yourself. DEXTER: So I'm 27 years old. I graduated from Texas Tech in 2021 with a BS in mathematics. Shortly after that I started working at a fabrication company and basically have been there ever since. And in my meantime, in my personal time, I like to stay active.
And that's partly why I'm here today. What inspired you to create The Fallen King? And how did you develop this rich world filled with magic history and danger? So The Fallen King is sort of one part of what plans to be a series, not series, but a collection of stories, not necessarily all books or written format. I plan on developing sort of a medieval magical fantasy universe told through either books, movies, TV shows, whatever, maybe not movies and TV shows right now because that's a, that's, that would be far down the road, but at the core, it's going to be things that people can interact with.
So I started with designing board games and tabletop games, and I'm going to branch out into video games. And really the point of the book was to sort of concoct all of these sort of ideas in my head and sort of get them down into a chronological sort of, I guess, paced out story and sort of get people into that world. So the book is actually split up into two parts.
The first part is sort of like a, it's called like the history of the world. And that's sort of like a preface to the main story where it's just giving the reader some explanation behind what the world is going through and like what has happened to the world. And it's sort of just a, I think it's just a good jumping end point for me to have started with this story.
MILOA: So is it like lore, like the Silmarillion kind of lore kind of set up the first part? DEXTER: I'm not familiar with that specifically, but yeah, it's pretty much lore. A lot of the writing is done through, I like the method of show, don't tell, where a lot of stuff you're going to have to infer as to like what the reality of the world is.
I really am, like physics is a very interesting topic to me because it's just how the universe works and the same with math. It's sort of like some people have described it as like the code of the universe. So I really like exploring like discovery of the fictional world through reading it.
MILOA: Sounds fascinating. So one of your characters, Janice is described as navigating a world where power brings miracles and mayhem. What aspects of this personality were the most challenging to write? And can you tell me a little bit more about him? So Janice is the protagonist.
DEXTER: He is the, he's sort of the son to a kingdom. Let's put it that way. I don't want to be too explicit on the information.
This world that they live in is in a very tumultuous situation. There's a lot of conflict, danger, and this sort of story goes through and explains like the founding of one of the first cities where people actually have like a stable life for once and like people can start recording history and discovering the world basically as it is. Aspects of his personality, I would say one of the most important things in this book is his relationship with another character, Alice.
It's pretty much, she's pretty much his girlfriend that he meets along the way, his journeys. And I guess that would be probably the most difficult part because it's a very, it's a very, very close relationship and it's not a modern perspective. So I'm trying to write it from a sort of medieval perspective or whatever.
Like not everything would be perfectly planned out and things are go awry. And I guess that's just a part of his personality that I found pretty challenging to write. So the story seems to explore themes of power, heartache, and purpose.
MILOA: So how do you balance those heavier themes with the adventurous side of the hero's journey?
DEXTER: Well, I mean, I think that those are sort of the key elements of an adventure, at least heartache and purpose. Power is more of the fuel for it, let's say. So there's those seeking power, there's those seeking to use power to control other things, and some people just, it's just like a tool, basically.
You put it in good people's hands, they do good. You put it in bad people's hands, they do bad. Purpose, I think is, it's one of the more important aspects of a journey or a hero's journey, as it were.
That's pretty much the point of it. Like why go on the journey or the adventure if you're not going to find your purpose in the world? The way I wrote it, each chapter has its own little story contained in the meta story, basically. So along the entire book or the entire story, you have the journey for purpose, basically, and then each little chapter sort of flows under that, kind of like a sine wave, I guess, where you have a little climax at every chapter, and then they get some sort of progression towards the meta narrative.
MILOA: That's an interesting idea. So does each chapter follow the three-act structure, beginning, middle, and end, or do you kind of end it on an open-ended hook to go to the next chapter?
DEXTER: They sort of loosely follow that. They do flow into one another because they do have to maintain the sort of meta narrative, but each chapter is basically presented as a job for the character.
So the character and Alice, they operate a company within the city where they basically get contracted out to go discover species or go get some gems or something like that. Basically travel the world, explore, and bring something back of value. So I use that plot point to focus on the specific theme of that chapter.
So Janice forms bonds with allies and confronts enemies. So are there particular relationships in the story that you feel would resonate strongly with readers? You mentioned Alice and Janice's relationship. How deep is that, and what do you hope readers would take away from it? So Alice is a very important part of the story.
So important that I really can't go, like I've already said enough about Alice. His father and his mother are very important characters as well. And then he has a few friends that are reoccurring characters throughout the story.
And they, his friends that I'm referring here, they are introduced when he's a young man and the city's basically just been founded. And they basically go on an adventure together. And it's sort of like the starting of the idea of his company.
So it's a very foundational aspect to his life. Yeah.
MILOA: So can you share a little bit more about the history and the lore of the world?
DEXTER: So a lot of the world, it's a lot of it is sort of, I took this sort of approach of like, what if physics was actually magic? Like what if the physics of this universe was actually different? Like they don't have atoms or photons or electrons or whatever.
I mean, they might. Let's leave that up for the future. But let's say that the way these people interpret physics is basically magic.
And they go through a different route of discovering how the world works and how they can manipulate the world. And in their world, magic is basically physics. So that has influenced a lot of the world.
So for example, like when they're, but what this kind of does is it makes them perpetually stuck in a medieval sort of world because technology can only improve so much when you're relying on that sort of, well, at least in my perspective in this universe, it can only advance so far when that's your perspective on like the world. So for example, if you like wanted to make like metal structures, you would use fire magic to like melt down metal and like bend it and manipulate it. But there's also some cool things that can happen with that, like conceptually, like, oh, I don't have to build this giant machine to do this.
A person can just do it. So I'm sort of taking the engineering approach of like the simplest solution is going to be the correct solution. The cheapest way to do something is the best way to do something.
And that's going to affect the world that they live in because of that. Like people aren't going to invest in all this technology and like research and experimenting and doing science and stuff when they can, you know, have some guy that can melt metal with his hands or whatever.
MILOA: Who do you think is going to enjoy your book the most?
DEXTER: I would say probably young adults, primarily men probably or boys, males, I guess.
And that's just because the book really focuses on a sense of purpose and the hero's journey. And I feel like today's culture really doesn't try to explore those themes very frequently with finding someone's purpose and like serving other people rather than yourself and sort of having honor and dignity and you know, doing the right thing, even though it may give you may suffer consequences because of it. So that sounds like a very deep theme of your book.
MILOA: Is that what you're hoping readers will take away from it?
DEXTER: Uh, yes, partly. And I think it's sort of, it's a tricky part. It has to do with Janice and Alice's relationship.
I think that's a very important part of people's purposes. And I think that a fiction story compared to a nonfiction story can tell a lot more about the world than real true facts. Because a fiction story, you're basically abstracting out an idea rather than stating facts of things that happened.
So I think it's a very good medium to have readers sort of decipher their own purpose and see what is important to them.
MILOA: So what was the most challenging part for you in putting this story together?
DEXTER: The actual mechanical of writing it, like sitting down every day, finding time and clearing out my headspace, uh, getting past like writer's block and like feeling motivated to do it. Um, I took a pretty like exploratory approach to writing the book.
So I would basically give myself like very brief outlines. I would sort of have another document and write down like, okay, this is kind of how the world is going, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna, as I write the story, I'm going to state things that are true. Like I'm basically reinventing, I'm inventing the physics for this world as I write it.
Once I write something down and it, and after I edit it and I assume it's good, that's how the physics of the universe is going to work. That's a very interesting and unique approach. Um, I tend to be more of a, you know, um, I, I kind of do a blend as well.
MILOA: I like having my outlines, but it's more like, okay, this is where I'm going, right? This is just the roadmap. This is what I'm going, but it doesn't have any detail. And then I start coloring in is how I, you know, how I think about it of like, okay, well now I'm going to take another pass at it and I'm just going to bullet point things and then another pass and another pass.
And I just start, you know, coloring in all the different areas of it. And then by the end, I have the whole thing as a whole, but yeah, I'm in the editing phase right now. And I don't know, editing is much harder for me to do than writing.
Like I can just, you know, pour out words nonstop, you know, cause I have a very wild imagination, but for me, the most challenging part is editing. It's actually going back, sitting through it and then having to, you know, put on my editor's cap where I'm like, okay, I was supposed to use the word, um, help or helping or, you know, where's the comma supposed to go? Uh, you know, the, doing all of those activities, um, is where I'm stuck at, at the moment. Hopefully I'll finish it up this weekend.
DEXTER: While I was writing this, I, uh, or when I was editing, I guess I started realizing how much I used like suppose and, um, moment moment was a really big one because a big part of this book is I'm trying to, I try to the language in it, the actual words in it.
I'm trying to, I have fake words in it. Let's, let's put it that way. So like fictional words, I guess.
Um, and I'm doing that for a particular reason. I'm trying to sort of take this outside of our universe. So like, have you ever like watched a movie, like a sci-fi movie that is like set in a distant universe? And then they point up to the star to the planet and they call it the sun.
It's like, no, that's not the sun. That's some other star. I think that's really sort of like lackluster.
Like they could come up with some fake word and like call it that. Yeah. So I'm trying to sort of take the reader outside of the real world and like, they have to discover what these words actually mean as the reading through context.
MILOA: You mentioned that you've created a game around this, correct? I have a lot of gamers on my channel as well. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that?
DEXTER: So basically the whole spin at games thing is, um, it's a little, little company I created. Um, it started out in college.
I was pretty bored and I was just keeping myself active pretty much like just thinking and like creating something. And it was a, it was a board game. I haven't made that yet for ourselves yet because, well, mostly because of financial like investment and stuff like that.
And like, it just wasn't feasible at the time. So that's actually kind of why I wrote the book. I was like, you know, I need to stay busy and need to stay active.
Let me do something that will contribute to this project. And it's not going to cost me monetary, like a huge sum of money that poses a big risk financially. So, uh, the second game I made is called zombie shoes, spells and swords.
I know it's a word, it's a mouthful, but it's a pretty, it's a fast paced, uh, trading card game kind of where you and three other people sit down and you like, you dole out cards and it's just a pretty quick, like very simple, basic, um, game. But the story of this book actually ties into the game and sort of like, you could treat the book as like lore for the game. And that's sort of an aspect of, uh, what I'm trying to do with spin at games is I'm trying to, for every game, there's going to be something that some sort of story narrative that interweaves everything together.
MILOA: Now is the gaming cards one for purchase or no?
DEXTER: It is available for purchase. It's, uh, I can put a, I can give you a link. Yeah.
We'll put a link in the description below if my gamer friends are interested in that. Um, okay. Last question, but it's very important.
MILOA: If you could have lunch with any author, who would it be? And what would you ask?
DEXTER: It would be probably Jordan Peterson. And I would probably ask him like how he got started in, uh, psychology and like what, what drove him to, uh, become a psychologist. And why would I ask them that? Um, he's, he was a big inspiration to me, uh, in college, um, being, uh, pretty, uh, like isolated in college, it was not a very healthy thing to do.
And like, I started watching some of his videos and they were pretty inspiring. And, uh, I took a lot from what he was talking about.
MILOA: For details on Dexter's book, the fallen King, check the link below, or you can go to And if you're interested in my books, you can head on over to miloascape.com and sign up for my newsletter and get the first, first three chapters free for my upcoming book, the wings of steel as always folks. Thanks for watching and happy hunting.
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