Goodreads asked R.J. Gilbert:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

R.J. Gilbert The idea for my most recent book, the Lucky and the Strong, came from personal experiences with self-destructive people. I’ve always been the “Renaud” type character who charges into a fight and tries to protect people. Sadly, I’ve had several experiences where I could not protect people from themselves. About ten years ago, an employee in my company, whom the management described as “extra grace required”, got herself killed in a tragic accident that could have been prevented had only a little less grace been applied to her alcoholism. That, and other tragedies like it, got me thinking.

At the same time, I had these two un-developed characters, O’Mary and Renaud, that I had invented only as a side-story during my youth. As a kid, I was focused on the adventures of their child, born with the strength and toughness of his father and the uncanny luck of his mother. As an adult, as a frustrated paladin myself, I began to wonder just how well the parents’ relationship could have gone. I pondered the idea for a few years before putting the basic story-line together. I did not get started with writing it, however, until after I was inspired to write the Sarian’s Sword as book one of the series.

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