Justin Anderson on the Fantasy World Where Mental Health Is the Magic, Not the Villain

About this episode

Justin Anderson knows that trade or setting aside a part yourself, especially the creative side. He spent years as a network engineer, keeping systems running to precision, while the writer in him sat in a drawer next to grief he had been taught to keep silent. When he finally started writing again, something he expected to be a little side income, it cracked that drawer open. Sixteen years of suppressed grief came up through his characters. And instead of choosing between the engineer and the writer, the logic and the imagination, he built a world big enough to hold both. That world is the VaelorinVerse: a dark fantasy universe where mental health is the magic system, not the villain.…