August 24, 2026

Space Wizards Anthology Interviews: Tim Maloney

Meet Space Wizards author, Tim Maloney

Today, we meet Tim Maloney, author of A Griffin’s Gift in the Space Wizards short story anthology.

Author interview

1. If you had the opportunity to live on a colony on Mars, would you go? Why/why not?

There is very little chance I would choose to go live on Mars. I am a man who has become comfortable with many of the creature comforts that exist, not the least of which is air conditioning. It seems to me that living on Mars would deprive me of too many things I take for granted. Not only that, but it seems like there would be a terribly large amount of work to do. When would I get to write?

2. If you aren’t writing, what are you probably doing instead?

I would be doing one of two things: playing video games or doing voiceover work. I have been an avid gamer for most my life, starting on the Apple IIc and continuing through today. It is one of my favorite pastimes and a great stress reliever. In addition to being an author, I have (currently) three published audiobook narrations and livestream readings of independent author books twice a week.

3. What is your full-time job? How does that colour your writing?

I have my Master’s Degree in Adult Education and Training and work in the corporate world as an Instructional Designer. One of the best things about the job is that I constantly get to learn new things and have a chance to be creative at work.

4. Do you plan everything in advance, or discover the story as you go?

I discover the story as I go. It always begins with a very general concept of how the story might go, but I allow the characters to guide the writing as I discover more about them. I have had big characters end up as major part of a story with no idea how they got there and others who I thought were going to be big turn out to be a flash in the pan. It has been as much fun to discover the story as I write it as it is for others to read the discovery.

5. What’s one misconception people often have about being an author?

That we do it for the money. You hear stories of prolific authors like James Patterson, Steven King or Brandon Sanderson and assume that good authors are living the high life. The truth is, most authors do it for love of the craft and because they couldn’t imagine not being an author. They do it between being full-time parents, working a day job and struggling to make ends meet. And most of them wouldn’t stop now even if they could.

6. How do you know when a story is finished?

A story is never finished; it is just being told. I continue to think about things that are going on with my characters, how they might handle a certain situation, reconsider how they acted to a set of circumstances and wonder what would have happened differently if I had tweaked one little thing. With writing, you have to get to a place where you feel good about where the story currently is and recognize that the story may not be done, but you have told it the best you can.

7. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever ignored?

Write the first draft and ignore the edits. The prevailing advice is to get all your thoughts down on paper and then go back to edits, finesse and fine tune. My brain does not work that way. If I see something, I have to fix it. If I have an idea, I need to chase it down. It worked for me. But I am under no illusions that my method is the best way. The advice is given because it is tried and true. However, every writer must discover their own path to tell their story.

8. Past or present, who would be your dream audiobook narrator?

Michael Kramer or Tim Maloney. Luckily, I am one of those two people and hope to be lucky enough to narrate my own novel one day. Michael Kramer, though, is a big part of what inspired me to become an audiobook narrator in the first place. The work he did on the Wheel of Time series was masterful and I hope to be half the narrator he is one day.

9. What first drew you to contribute to Space Wizards?

I worked with Vanessa Finaughty on another project of hers and, even though she is one heck of an author herself, she was so down to earth about it and incredibly thankful for the efforts I put in on her behalf. When this opportunity came along, I thought I would see what I was capable of and, to my surprise, enjoyed every moment of the writing process.

10. What mood were you aiming for: wonder, humour, dread, or a mix?

100% humor. I love to tell a good dad joke and think that life is way too serious most the time. Humor is what makes the thing much more palatable. It can come with some other elements as well, but a good laugh can brighten up an otherwise dreary day.

11. Which author (living or dead) would you most like to have dinner with?

Robert Jordan. The man was an absolute master of his craft and excelled at keeping many balls in the air and tying them together. I would just love to pick his brain about how he did what he did and made it all seem so effortless to the readers.

12. What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most?

I never believed it would be the case before I started doing it, but editing the story. I’m talking about how an author edits their own work, not how a serious professional editor does it. Reading my story over and over, tweaking little things here and there, adding a touch that seems inspired or removing something that doesn’t seem to fit any longer. It has all been such an amazing part of the process that I never imagined I would enjoy.

13. Which everyday object would become dangerous if enchanted?

Adhesive rubber ducks for the tub. No wait, hear me out. You turn on the water and prepare to step into the tub. The malicious ducks, having lulled you into a deep sense of security by their appearing to protect the floor of the tub… the moment you take your eyes away, they scurry from their places, sliding to perch above you. You step in, expecting a stable footing, but no, the tub floor is duck free. Your feet slide out from beneath you and your head slams into the faucet. The ducks have their laugh and scurry back to the floor, leaving everyone none the wiser to their treachery. They wait, calmly, to repeat the process again with another unsuspecting victim.

Buy Space Wizards from Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Google Play Books and PubShare.

Prepare to be spellbound by this (mostly) light-hearted short story anthology offering a blend of science fiction and fantasy with one common theme: wizards and outer space. Imagine a galaxy in which magic is fused with machine, luxury space cruises run by cyborgs are the norm and familiars are a little… different.

Join the adventures of a powerful space wizard during wartime, a young wizard-in-training with her griffon familiar, and a time-travelling biker wizard who accidentally ends up in the future – well, sort of. Let’s not forget the caustic robot familiar cat, a faulty 3D printer causing magical havoc, spells gone wrong, space pirates, and a junior contract analyst who experiences a series of inexplicable, extremely inconvenient events as a result of a strange cube his team recovered as space debris.

That’s not all! A quantum conjuring that violates the laws of thermodynamics – check. A wizard in a Wild West-type setting – check. An ancient maths book that might hold the key to immortality – check. An adrenaline junkie smuggler and a daring rescue – check. Add an intergalactic circus with a shifty shifter, a bioship giving birth under dire circumstances and a moulting wyrmling with the potential to explode planets, and you have an anthology that is sure to enchant you until the last word and beyond.

Tim Maloney lives in Central Massachusetts with his wife, three teen kids, two rowdy dogs, and three cats who are positive they run the place. A Washington State native and Army veteran, he spends his days as an instructional designer and his evenings doing voice-over work—trying to voice audiobooks while a cat sits on his keyboard.

Having devoured fantasy and science fiction for decades, Tim finally decided to add his own weird ideas to the pile. Currently splitting his writing time between short stories and a psychological thriller novel, he’s thrilled (and slightly shocked) that this marks his publishing debut.

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