About the Book

Book: Ragabones

Author: Daniel Tweddell

Genre: Fantasy YA

Release Date: June 27, 2023

As if Josh having his memory stolen by an over-protective mother wasn’t enough, his older brother, Pete, wins every trophy and never lets him forget it. And oh yeah, Mom’s an ex-god of the underworld, so it’s no surprise their family has enemies.

Maybe that’s why Dad’s missing. Maybe that’s why ragged scars crisscross Josh’s throat. It’s definitely why Josh accidentally sprung the trap – the one that opened a portal and released the demon who now hunts them.

Turns out there’s another world; one with castles and dragons, and prisons that dangle into hell. That’s the world where Josh and Pete find Dad turned to stone, the world with entire cities enslaved by the demon. As the brothers race to undo Josh’s colossal mistake, Josh’s mysterious past comes to light, and Josh must choose between the fate of the world and the lives of his family.

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About the Author

Hi, I’m Daniel Tweddell. I grew up in the Bornean and Philippine jungle as a missionary’s kid. My neighbors had monkeys for pets. Just behind the tree line, “ex”-headhunters slipped through the shadows with spears and six-foot blow guns. It was the perfect incubator for a kid’s imagination. As an adult, I did a lot of things from writing high-octane video games with my friends to having my own companies. But I always loved castles, wizards, and monsters the best. So now I write white-knuckle stories about magic woven with truths from my life’s journey. I live in San Diego with my wife and 3 kids.

More from Daniel

I had a visual of a soapbox derby with the cars lined up from worst to best. The worst was made of cardboard with garbage can lids for wheels. The best was polished mahogany, with chrome wheels and velvet seat covers. Can you see the kids’ faces? One brushes old coffee grounds off his hood. He can’t face the crowd. Another polishes a gleaming fender and waves to his fans. I realized the difference between these cars isn’t the kids … it’s the time they spent with Dad.

I’m fraught with blind spots, bad habits, and shortcomings. I also barely have enough time, energy, or insight to manage my own life. How do I have enough for the lives around me who are so hungry for something more? I realized I live in a 5-loaf/5000-mouth world. I’ll never be enough, but I don’t need to be. Instead, I asked God to make this life and this book a father/son project.

Although I’ve dreamt of writing this story for decades, I had to be destroyed before I could honestly portray this hero’s journey. The truths about facing fear, about God making everything OK even when there is no way it can ever be, as well as courage, hope, and finding your destiny, they’re all written from my journey through the depths of an utterly shattered heart to a life so good it feels like a fantasy novel. Whatever you might be going through, I hope the story encourages as well as entertains you. If you haven’t already, you might even meet Magic for yourself.

Author Interview

Can you share 5 random facts about you that we will not find in your bio?

As a kid I spoke fluent Chinese (Mandarin).
I love food so hot it makes me hiccup and sweat.
I write music – including symphonies.
I used to sing in a heavy metal band.

I used to have hair.

When did you first discover you had a passion for writing?

I didn’t always know I wanted to be a writer, but I’ve always seen the world as a story – “look at that boulder, what if it grew beetle legs and scuttled away? What if we could ride them and attack those … bush-creatures…”

What drew you to your chosen genre? 

Like most of my fantasy loving friends, I have a thing for swords, castles, and fire breathing dragons. I guess it’s why I write fantasy. My imagination is too wild for anything else. Even when I try to write something else, the fantastical sneaks into the story.

What does your writing routine look like? 

Get up, pay bills, work, fix stuff, be Dad to my kids, go to bed, all the while wishing I had time to write.

Seriously, on my writing days, it’s Coffee, God time, write for 5 hours, and then take care of life stuff. I’ve found that my best creative energy lasts about 5 hours and anything after that gets edited out the next day.

Are you a planner or a pantser?

A little of both. I spend less time rewriting when I plan. However, I consider my outlines as suggestions, and if an idea or headstrong character leads me a different direction, I go with it.

If you had to describe your main character(s) in just three words, what would they be?

Terrified, courageous, faithful

What was the most challenging part of bringing this story to life? 

Hemmingway said, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” Writing truth is terrifying because it’s raw and my deepest pain is exposed for everyone to see. But I love it for the same reason; it’s cathartic and exposing my secrets frees me from being a slave to them. It’s strange how many people write to tell me how my stumbling helped them with their walk. Stories are the most fascinating paradox, exciting, teaching, healing, truth all within something completely made-up.

What was the most rewarding?

Not giving up when I got stuck. Being stuck feels like it will infect every piece of writing from here forward and I’ll be stuck forever. I had a chapter that just would not write. I labored on it for weeks and when it was done, I hated it. So I scrapped it and wrote it again. And hated it again. I began to wonder if I could write it. Could I even write a book at all? Year’s earlier I’d promised myself if I had to edit 1000 times, I would. So I tackled it for a third time, struggling with every word. The whole time, I knew I’d hate it. And when it was done, I loved it. Several of my readers said it made them cry. They posted quotes from it on their cubicle walls at work. I learned that remarkable writing doesn’t need inspiration, only tenacity … and a lot of prayer.

What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

I had a reader tell me they “totally felt the hand of God [and heard his] whispers in the writing.” I had others say how much the book encouraged them. Although I've dreamt of writing this story for decades, I had to be destroyed before I could honestly portray Josh's (the protagonist’s) journey. The truths about facing fear, about God making everything OK even when there is no way it can ever be, about suicide, and depression, as well as hope, and finding your destiny, they're all written from my journey through the depths of an utterly shattered heart to a life so good it feels like a fantasy novel. Whatever my readers might be going through, I hope the story encourages as well as entertains them. Maybe they’ll even meet Magic for themselves.

Where can readers follow along to see what’s coming next? 