Travis is a full-time audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to hundreds of stories. Before that, he spent decades designing and building video games like Torchlight, Rebel Galaxy, and Fate. Apparently, he now also writes books. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his very patient family and their small, nervous dog. LEGENDS & LATTES is his debut novel.

Welcome to the Hive, Travis. Firstly congratulations on the huge success of Legends and Lattes! How does it feel to have your debut so well received?

It still feels unreal. There must be some mistake, clearly! But more than that the response has been so warm that I can’t help but feel humbled and appreciative. I owe most of this to BookTok/Bookstagram and Seanan McGuire, and it’s clear how much good fortune and timing figure in to these things. I’m grateful every day.

Can you tell our readers a bit about it? 

Legends & Lattes is the story of an orc barbarian with chronic back pain who retires from a life of adventuring to open up a coffee shop in a city that has never heard of such a thing, and what she discovers about herself, and what she actually needs, in the process.

What inspired you to write a cosy, heart-warming tale about an orc setting up a coffee shop?

It was a combination of things. As a narrator, I read a lot of high-octane action-adventure fantasy stories (which I love) – but I also love romantic fantasy and cozy mysteries, which don’t tend to require male narrators. Also, it was the height of the pandemic, so the idea of going to a coffee shop was the height of escapist fantasy.

This is very true!

I wanted to write something that lived in the worlds that I love, but that was more of a chicken-soup book. A Hallmark Movie in the Forgotten Realms.

Just for fun, could you describe your book using five different types of coffee and/or sweet bakes?

Cinnamon Rolls –  clearly, since several of the characters are one.
Black Coffee – because in a lot of ways it is very straightforward and unpretentious.

Mocha – sweet mixed in with the bitter
Cappuchino – for the romantic foam
Espresso Shot – packs a lot into a little room

That’s perfect Travis!!

Let’s discuss your characters! Was it a conscious decision to create a cast of mostly non-human characters or was this something which emerged when you began writing? 

It was a conscious decision to have all the characters be something other than what they first appeared as – and making them non-human let me accomplish that much more sharply.

Orcs are often portrayed as savage foul creatures, so how important was it to you to break away from stereotypes and portray Viv as a wholesome character who just wishes to spread the joy of coffee to the people of Thune?

This goes along a bit with the previous answer – everything in the book breaks from stereotype – even the livery becomes a coffee shop. It’s a pervading theme that things don’t have to be what they started out as.

Cafes are often known to be good places for authors to write, was this something that you have also found? 

I was hopeful? But for me, it isn’t. I had nice fantasies of writing with a laptop in cozy locations, but sadly, I get my best writing done in my sound treated booth.

Were any of Viv’s customers based on real people you have seen in coffee shops or were they inspired by something else? 

They weren’t based on real people specifically, but definitely on archetypes of people – down to the college student who doesn’t order anything and just wants to use the wi-fi.

The theme of reinventing yourself and learning to love yourself is strong throughout. Was this one of your main aims when writing Legends and Lattes or did this just naturally develop? 

It wasn’t initially my aim – I thought the book would be a little more of a nod and a wink when I started – but it rapidly became that. I personally relate to it a lot, as someone who switched careers very late in life and discovered that I could be a different kind of person, with a different kind of community.

How did you find the process of going from a self-published author to having your novel traditionally published? Was there much editing to your novel involved? 

I went through a very thorough edit of the original novel before self-publishing – I believe in doing things professionally even if you’re not planning to do them professionally. As a result, the edits for the traditionally published version are very minor – some house style punctuation changes, and a few word tweaks (several of which I wanted to make too). It would be very hard to pick them out though. As a result, apart from the breakneck pace (which was mostly borne by Tor), it was very smooth! Both experiences were really pleasant.

So, Travis. As an award-winning narrator, I have to ask, how different was it narrating your own book compared to other authors’? Did you already have in mind how you wanted each of your character’s voices to sound?

It was the easiest narration I’d ever done. I knew how everyone sounded, I knew how everything was pronounced, and I knew exactly how every line was read. It was like dancing.

That sounds like a breeze then!

Right, here’s another one just for fun and it’s one of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why? (You’re going to say Amity the dire-cat aren’t you? 😂)

 Well, now that you’ve said it, I can’t, can I?

I couldn’t let it be easy for you, Travis!

Honestly, a gryphon. Great on the ground. Great in the air. 

What’s next for you, Travis? I know you’re returning to the world of Legends and Lattes, but can you tell us more about this? Will we be seeing any familiar characters? (Please let it be Thimble, please let it be Thimble..)

Book 2 is already written! It’s actually a prequel set 20 years prior, and follows a much younger Viv in her adventuring days. She gets injured and sidelined in a beach town, befriends a foul-mouthed bookshop owner, and it has significantly more skeletons in it. Alas, no Thimble – but ideally you’ll forgive me when you meet Fern & Potroast.

I can definitely forgive you! I’m intrigued…

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

I hope they feel better after reading it. That’s enough.

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Thank you!