For a first-time author, Damon Glatz is the living embodiment of the adage “go big or go home.”
The lifelong Cherry Hill resident, who attended Knight Elementary and Rosa International Middle School before graduating from Cherry Hill High School East in 2012, is currently two books deep into a self-penned, fantasy-themed trilogy called “End of Legends: Clash of Men and Battle of Mythics.” The books have been released through Burning Willow publishers.
“Well I’ve been writing for most of my life. At Rosa I was always writing stories, and once I got to East, I was in the creative writing class there, so it’s always been a part of what I’ve done,” Glatz explained.
Glatz acknowledged he was a huge fan of the fantasy genre growing up, tucking into the classics penned by Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. He was also profoundly influenced by action cartoons like “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” whose fight sequences and battle elements were a big influence on his current saga.
“After East I went to Coastal Carolina University. My family had a vacation home down there and I visited a lot throughout my childhood, and so I toured it a few times and I liked it, so that’s where I wanted to go,” Glatz revealed during a July 2 interview with The Sun.
Coastal Carolina, located a short distance from family-themed resort Myrtle Beach, is known for its men’s basketball and golf programs. For Glatz, the locale provided a different kind of inspiration to turn his imagination into reality.
“I spent a lot of time in my dorm doing homework, then I’d take a break and write a few chapters so the book slowly developed between classes and by the time I graduated I had it done and submitted to the publishers. I started writing it in maybe 2012 or 2013, and finally got it published right after I graduated,” he said.
“End of Legends” began its life as a single storyline meant for one book, but rapidly expanded beyond its initial parameters.
“As I developed, created and added to it, it just grew more and more. Then, it turned out it would look better as a three-book series rather than a one-book standalone. It was a lot of fun drawing maps, coming up with characters and their roles and the lore and the backstory. The longer I did it, the longer the whole thing became. I have two currently out for sale, the third one is still in progress. (The third one) should be out around this time next summer,” Glatz continued.
Glatz works as a publication specialist at BookBaby in nearby Pennsauken, dishing out similar advice and assistance to others, as he once needed to get his project off the ground. He found Burning Willow strictly through geographic proximity.
“They’re based in South Carolina, and I ended up meeting with them down there. They do a lot of their work in-house. I actually did self-publish the first book as a project when I was in college, just to get the book out so (the public) could learn more about it. After I graduated, I took the momentum from self-publishing and sent that to Burning Willow. They took it, redid it, and so technically, the first book they published is version two (of the first book),” he said.
Glatz directs those interested in his work to a YouTube channel, called “Pen & Sword,” where he discusses various aspects of writing and publishing. For more information on Burning Willow and an author page for Glatz, visit https://www.burningwillowpressllc.com/.
“I’m certainly done with fantasy. I think from here, I’d like to go with science fiction, I even have a comic-book series I’m working on that’s a superhero satire of the genre, a bunch of stuff,” he added, when asked about the possibility of future publication once the trilogy is complete.
