Agawam author publishes first in nine-book fantasy series

AGAWAM — One choice can change the fate of the world, and in “Unleashed,” the first book in local author Travis Kuffel’s “Tales of Ganden” series, a young warrior must heal the damage he has done amid long-buried secrets, a war-torn land, ancient magic and vengeful giants.

“Unleashed,” the debut novel by the Agawam resident, is the first in what he expects to be a nine-book series. Kuffel’s experience writing the series, however, has been anything but what he expected.

Kuffel began creating the fantasy world of Ganden in 2014. “The story was there just waiting to come out,” he said. In 2022, he said decided to put his ideas down on paper and wrote three books over six months, only to realize, “I was in the middle of the story.” At that point, he began writing “Unleashed.”

Kuffel independently published “Unleashed” in 2024, but he acknowledged that there was much about the publishing industry he did not know. The following year he met a publisher from Jumpmaster Press while at Springfield ComicCon. After discussions about the book and Kuffel’s vision of the series, he said, “They signed it. They signed the whole thing.”

The “Tales of Ganden” books are Kuffel’s first foray into writing. When he began penning the first book, he said, “I thought I was writing one book. I was writing by the seat of my pants.” At some point, he realized that the story he wanted to tell could not possibly fit in a single book. Even with a series planned, he said, there are characters with backstories that he expects to flesh out in short stories separate from “Tales of Ganden.”

Rather than begin by building out the world or the characters, Kuffel started with the in-universe magic system, called “hadrek.” He explained that he has synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sense triggers involuntary experiences of another sense. People with synesthesia may see colors while listening to music or associate words with assorted flavors. “I wanted people to be able to see what I see,” Kuffel said of how he designed the magic within the book.

“The story created itself, and I needed characters to fit it, and they developed personalities along the way,” Kuffel said. One of the characters is based on his daughter, said the father of five. He said that after he bought her a sword and a bow, she began “fighting dragons” in the backyard.

While the series is “very violent,” Kuffel said it was important to write books without graphic sex or gore, topics that are common in fantasy genre. Instead, he said much of that content is simply alluded to in the text. He said, “You have to trust that the readers are intelligent enough to know what happens off screen.”

Kuffel said part of the fun of writing a series has been hinting at future storylines. “I leave a lot of breadcrumbs along the way. I like to add many layers of nuance.” It gives readers Easter eggs to find when thinking back on the books and makes them book re-readable. He said, “I want it to be fun every read.”

Asked if it was easy to drop hints since he wrote the books out of chronological order, Kuffel said it has actually made writing the first few books more difficult. Rather than letting his character arcs take various turns, he must ensure they eventually align with the storylines that he already laid out for them.

Kuffel counted J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Brandon Sanderson as some of his influences, but said much of his writing is influenced by the Bible’s Old Testament. “It’s rough, it’s harsh, but there’s always hope,” he said of those bible stories. He said he wants readers to feel like “no matter what’s around them, there’s hope. It’s a grim world, but the humans rise up.” Kuffel said that resonates with the current landscape. “The world today is dark, but people bring hope. You can’t let the darkness overwhelm you.”

“Unleashed” is available at JumpmasterPress.com, TalesOfGanden.com, Amazon.com and at local bookstores and libraries. A public book signing will take place on Friday, April 11, from 8 a.m. to noon, at Circuit Coffee in Westfield.