FAIRMONT — Former Fairmont resident Andrew Slinde loved writing since he was a kid. Slinde’s first novel “Six-Gun Sorcery” debuts later this month, but the idea is 25 years in the making and he is excited, but also nervous for the novel to debut.

“I’m absolutely thrilled and it’s a dream come true,” Slinde said. “At the same time it’s nothing I’ve ever done before with this level of attention, and drawing this level of attention to myself makes me extremely nervous so it’s about 50/50.”

Slinde has worked at call centers for the last 12 years, but he has been writing since he was 8 years old. The very first thing Slinde wrote was “self-insert Super Mario fan fiction.” Slinde’s career path of writing has stuck with him since he was a kid and at the age of 39 received his first contract for writing.

Ever since Slinde read “The Dark Tower” series by Stephen King, he had ideas of a world that is like ours, but a little bit broken and a place that is more dismal and desperate than our own world. The idea came to Slinde at the age of 14 and the writing process took three months for Slinde to put the idea on paper, two years to get into the proper shape to look for publishers and then five months after Slinde signed with Shadow Spark Publishing.

“Six-Gun Sorcery” introduced audiences to a character named Morgarai, a broken reflection of our world. The idea then revolves around a newly-minted Peacekeeper Esther Triade giving Morgarai her first assignment, which she finds herself in the crosshairs of a shadowy cabal bent on saving the world, even if it means destroying it.

“Six-Gun Sorcery” brought comparisons to Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. Slinde described the comparison as humbling and flattering,

“King’s a legend and hearing that comparison time and again I’m just like ‘Is it really that good?'” Slinde said.

When asked about Fairmont and the shaping of his writing career, Slinde gave respect and thanks to all of his teachers throughout his school. All of his English teachers were really fantastic and showed a lot of support and encouragement as far as his writing.

“I think they saw a lot in me that I didn’t see at the time,” Slinde said. “I do really have them to thank.”

Slinde previously published two short stories with literary sites and co-wrote the short film “iRL,” which won Best New Media at the Los Angeles Film Festival in July of 2020. In six months, Slinde will have the first three books of the series coming out. In a year he wants to get to book five of the nine- to 10-book series. Slinde is ambitious and will not rest until he hits the New York Times bestsellers list.

Slinde’s advice to young writers in his hometown area of Fairmont is to not stop. Slinde faced discouragement in the forms of people telling him to get a day job, get something to pay the bills and establish himself and that he could do writing as a hobby.

“I’m going to tell you right now, don’t settle for that,” Slinde said. “If you want to write, go all the way.”

Slinde wanted to thank the readers of the Sentinel and the community of Fairmont for showing their support. He said it was a good place to grow up and thanks for the continued support.

“Six-Gun Sorcery” will be released on Wednesday, Feb. 17. Pre-orders for the Kindle edition of “Six-Gun Sorcery” are live now, print copies will be available on the release date, including an option to order a signed copy from Shadow Spark Publishing. Orders can be placed through the publisher’s website.

“It’s been just an excellent experience going through an independent publisher,” Slinde said. “They’ve been involved every step of the way and it’s been a great experience. If anybody is actually considering going through the publishing routes, look into independent publishing first, it’s a great introduction to the industry.”

The debut also will include a social media event on Feb. 17. The event will be held live on Slinde’s Twitter at 9 p.m. CST and will include a reading from the novel as well as a Q&A session and giveaways for merchandise and exclusive, in-universe short fiction. Slinde’s twitter account information is @AndrewSlinde.