Hi Science Fiction with Heart readers! As you know, I’ve added a new monthly author interview feature, and I’m so excited for you all to get to know Abby Goldsmith, author of the Torth series including Megacosmic Rift, releasing September 3rd!
Amy: Abby, it’s such a treat to get to know the author behind the Torth series. Tell us a little about yourself!
Abby: Thanks! I’ve lived on all three coasts of the US. Grew up in New Hampshire, spent my twenties in Los Angeles, and now I live in Austin, TX. I went to CalArts for character animation and worked in games as an artist and animator. I’m married to a game developer who is also my favorite reader.
I originally released my Torth series on Wattpad and Royal Road, with 750,000+ reads. Now, books one through three are available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. The fourth book, Megacosmic Rift releases on September 3rd!
Amy: I’m sure many readers find it inspiring that you started out on Wattpad. Can you tell us more about your journey from Wattpad to publishing?
Abby: Wattpad was not my first choice. I’m an overachiever, and it was very hard for me to cope with “failure,” specifically a failure to achieve a Big Five contract before I turned 35. In some ways, gaining those coveted contracts is like winning a medal in the Olympics. But there is another facet to the competition that I needed years to fully understand: the mainstream Big Five machine is no longer publishing the multinovel heroic epics that made them big in the 1990s. They tend to pursue bespoke, stand-alone fantasies. The rare exception tends to be something they acquired after it was an indie underground sensation. Well, I don’t enjoy or write quiet, bespoke fantasy. I write massive high stakes epics with larger than life heroic characters.
Once I felt like I had clarity on that point, I switched my focus from querying literary agents to building my own audience in the web novel arena. Wattpad was my first foray into that world, and it was probably at its peak popularity when I began to serialize there in 2017. I did gain a wonderful audience, became a Wattpad Star, and launched a Patreon. I relaunched the whole series on Royal Road in December 2022. There are a few indie publishers that watch the Rising Stars list on Royal Road, and I accepted a nice offer from Podium for publication in 2023. That was for all six books in the Torth series.
Amy: And Megacosmic Rift is the fourth book in the Torth series. Can you give readers who may be new to Torth an overview of what the series is about?
Abby: Torth is a sci-fi superhero dystopia with a hive mind and galactic stakes. The story centers around Thomas, a telepathic supergenius trapped in the Megacosm, which is like social media on steroids. Thomas socially engineers trillions of orbiters and outwits other supergeniuses so he can rescue his loved ones. And then the stakes go epic as the heroes build a new empire.
Megacosmic Rift is actually my favorite, as the linchpin of this 6 book magnum opus series!
Amy: And speaking of continuing the series, I’m sure readers who enjoy Megacosmic Rift are going to be excited to read the rest of the series. What are your plans for releasing the next book?
Abby: Greater Than All (Torth Book 5) will be released in January 2025, and Empire Ender (Torth Book 6) ends the series in May 2025. These are all being handled by Podium, an excellent indie publisher.
Amy: The series has been called “A Dark Sci-Fi Epic Fantasy.” A lot of readers seem to be in search of sci-fi with a fantasy element these days. Without giving too much of the story away, what can you tell readers about the fantasy element of this world?
Abby: Superpowers. There is a magic system that gets discovered/uncovered along the way.
While telepathy is a major thread throughout the series, other powers come into play in the later books: mind control, teleportation, prophecy, healing, and storm powers. One of the characters has a Superman level of power… and he’s a sidekick to the telepathic supergenius, if that tells you anything about how crazy things get.
Amy: Abby, this sounds like so much epic fun! For readers intrigued to take a closer look at your books, where can they get their hands on a copy?
Abby: Readers new to the series can purchase Torth book one on Amazon or Audible here:
Readers ready to jump into book four can purchase Megacosmic Rift here:
Amy: Thanks so much for the interview, Abby, and thank you all for reading. Get to know Abby better by following her on social media using the links below:
You can also join her on discord: https://discord.gg/gDYVXdS2qz
*Perspectives expressed in Author’s Take infographics are the perspective of the author only. I cannot guarantee that I have read the books in Author’s Take graphics, nor that I agree with the perspectives shared.
**Author Interviews have been edited for clarity and flow. Author Interviews do not constitute book recommendations. I cannot guarantee that I have read the books written by the authors who I interview, nor that I agree with the opinions expressed by these authors, however, all authors I interview have confirmed to me that their books do not encourage rape, murder, suicide or discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, or any other reason.
