Goodreads asked Jeffrey L. Kohanek:

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

Jeffrey L. Kohanek Words and symbols have great meaning in our world, directing our actions every day. My idea was to create a world where symbols have inherent meaning not just to people, but to how the world itself functions. Combine that with a controlling theocratic government that brands newborns with runes at birth, designating their path in life, and you have the basis for my story.

Being one of the rare individuals who has no rune, my main character is doomed to a meaningless existence. He is the consummate underdog (I love underdogs), and opts to commit the capital offense obtaining a fake ruin in hopes for a better future for himself. When he finds a symbol that has been erased from everyone's knowledge, it exposes a powerful magic that will surely change the world.

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