I remember first picking up The Iron Druid Chronicles and reading book 1 back in 2012, after its initial release. Eric, a good friend of mine from one of my first jobs outside of college, recommended it as something I’d really enjoy. He also mentioned this other series about a wizard living in the middle of modern day Chicago.
Both of these sounded amazing to me, and so I bought them both. I think every writer remembers the book that blew open doors of inspiration for them. I’d call these two books absolutely foundational to a passion for a genre that has stayed with me ever since. I adore Urban Fantasy. Over time, I devoured the Iron Druid series, the Dresden Files (and am still reading that, obviously!). Then I discovered October Daye, and Seanan McGuire’s near infinite worlds of amazing.
I’ve reached out to Kevin Hearne and Jim Butcher on the socials a couple times just thanking them for writing those damn books. I knew this was the genre I wanted to lose myself in. To write books about and make my own modern day mythos. Sitting in “the drawer” is a 3/4 finished novel that stars a certain wizard from Arthurian Legend who survived to the modern day after his fateful encounter with Morgane LeFay. He currently runs a tabletop gaming shop in a fictionalized version of Bethlehem PA. It’s a series I plan on getting back to someday.
But all this to say, the real explosion, the real lightning strike? That occurred early in 2025 when I turned the final page on Travis Baldree’s Legend’s and Lattes. To quote Tolkien (or maybe it was C.S. Lewis) – suddenly a story came to me like lightning in a clear blue sky. What about COZY URBAN FANTASY?!?!?!!?
I remember setting the book down, scrambling to my computer in a moment of manic adhd brain overload, and scribbling down notes in a word doc with ferocity. I didn’t go to bed until about 4:30 that morning. Scribbling down my notes with back to back episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations playing on my “other laptop” that serves as a movie player or music player when I’m writing, I suddenly found myself with the bones of a story that had me feverishly excited. Although, I think I was coming down with the flu that weekend, so it may have just been actual fever. Anyway.
Before I went to bed, I was determined to write the opening line of my new book before going to sleep. Before dreams and a night of unconsciousness gave my brain enough time to convince my heart “ehh it wasn’t a great line, really.”
So, I took two seconds, and wrote the opening line for A Cook’s Guide to Supernatural Philadelphia.
“A wise man once said: Barbeque may not be the road to world peace…but it’s a start.”
And thus, Mac Sullivan came to life. Little did I know just how impactful this story was going to be. More on that soon 🙂 when I can share.
Also, thank you Kevin, and thank you Jim, for inspiring a writer with some of the most fun versions of our own world that I’ve ever gotten lost in. Oh, and a HUGE thank you to Seanan McGuire and the October Daye series, especially. The complicated nature of the Fae in her world. and the characters she wrote in those books have stuck with me ever since I read it.
The three of you played a part in setting me on this path. If you ever read this some day, some how? Thanks. I really appreciate the stories you shared with readers like me 🙂
Wordwrought - One Writer's Journey 
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