PHOTO: Eric Hood, fantasy author and craftsman, at home among his woodworking tools and the quiet inspiration of remembrance.
Stories Of Loss Magic And Moral Clarity
Eric Hood transforms personal grief into compelling fantasy, honouring his late brother’s dream through powerful narratives that blend dark themes, moral dilemmas, and a uniquely heartfelt storytelling voice.
Eric Hood’s stories rise from a place of deep memory, familial love, and enduring grief. His life—punctuated by great loss and great resilience—feeds a body of work that is rich with moral tension and aching humanity. The Melabeth series and The World of Empty Glasses are not simply fantasy epics; they are tributes to those he has loved and lost, echoes of conversations never finished, and dreams carried forward on behalf of others.
Trained in precision as a tool and die maker, Hood has transferred that same exacting care into his writing. His prose builds worlds where monsters walk, yet his true interest lies in the monsters within: vengeance, guilt, fear—and the redemptive forces that might tame them. With a moral compass shaped by a strong Christian upbringing, he does not preach but probes, letting his characters wrestle with forgiveness, truth, and justice in all their ambiguity.
There is something quietly radical in Hood’s choice to honour grief not by burying it, but by making it speak. These stories, especially Dr. Weaver and its long-awaited sequel The Dragon of Nemos, are shaped not only by fantasy’s dark allure but by a tender need to bear witness—to the suffering of a brother, the passing of a parent, the ache of unfinished stories.
At the heart of Hood’s work lies a promise: that even in a world broken by death and sorrow, creation is still possible. A book can be a monument, a message, or simply a place where a lost voice finds breath again.
What inspired you to finally put pen to paper and tell the story originally meant for your brother, Nick?
My brother had been an inspiring writer, unfortunately due to his brain tumor he was never able to get any of his stories finished, except one, The Dwarf and the Basilisk. I have always been a storyteller, but his death left me with a hole to fill. It takes a certain person to listen to someone rattle off tales of fantasy and help mold the world within someone else’s mind. Left with no one to talk to, I wanted to write an idea that Nick had helped me flush out. It was really meant for just family and memories, but I found I had a love of writing that I had never fostered before.
How did your experiences as a father and a stay-at-home dad influence the emotional depth of your characters?
The very idea of Melabeth was an explanation of the difference between justice and revenge. So many movies show the hero’s family killed; hero gets machine gun and reacts with revenge, but at the end when it cuts away to the credits… is the hero happy? I originally came up with the idea to explore these concepts with my two boys. The characters represent these life lessons.
The Melabeth series delves into dark and complex themes—how did you balance these with the elements of love and forgiveness?
I had some dark things happen in my past; witnessed even worse happen to others. Some horrors there is no one to act your pain against, like, cancer and natural disasters. Maybe except God himself. I truly believe if you have a heart full of hate and anger there is not much room for love and the only way forward is through forgiveness. Justice still must be served when applicable, but I believe that justice is for the safety of innocent people and seldom if ever brings peace to the victims. Still regardless of the cause of wrongdoing, sometimes the hatred is too great, and the victim becomes the monster.
Did your strong Christian upbringing influence how you approached moral dilemmas in your stories?
Indeed, it did. I like monsters and fantasy and that doesn’t always play well with traditional Christianity, or any religion for that matter. I still believe morals are a good compass for anyone. The biggest problem with religion is trying to push the morals of God onto others, but I find with the biggest moral dilemmas, like, murder, stealing, etc. most find common ground. I explore forgiveness in my first series and in my second I explore lying. I find these are subjects we all understood, and it makes for good story telling.
What was it like transitioning from tool and die maker and CNC programmer to novelist?
I believe this was a forced transition. The factories closed and I found myself raising my two-year-old daughter and teenage boys, while helping with my dying brother. I found time to write after my brother passed and found writing to be therapeutic. I found this a good outlet for creativity that had been taken away from me in many areas of my life.
In Dr. Weaver: The World of Empty Glasses, the mix of magic and steampunk feels very different from Melabeth—what drew you to that genre shift?
Well, this book really doesn’t stray as far as it might sound. It’s set in the same world, just in the future after the world fell to zombies. There are still vampires and monsters a plenty, but the world rebuilds itself, it mixes with technology from different parts of our history. Along with a rebirth of magic.
How did your late brother’s dream continue to guide or shape your writing process through the second book of the World of Empty Glasses series?
After I finished my series with Melabeth, my older brother’s wife was sick with cancer. I was about done writing the first book when my older brother fell dead on the porch at the age of forty-four. His wife followed him just two years later leaving four boys orphaned. I am simplifying this story as you can guess, but I believe the challenges I was facing gave the book its feel. I didn’t know it at the time, but when covid came my first book had already been written. I had no idea how prophetic my series would end up being with its themes of mass sickness and death. It reminded me of my little brother’s belief in the power of storytelling and the lessons within them.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors who don’t consider themselves writers, but feel compelled to share a story?
Covid caused such disruption that I stopped writing every night. Those nights turned into years. It took me forever to finish my last book. So, in short, write every night. I am excited to be releasing my final book this summer; The World of Empty Glasses, Dragon of Nemos. It bothers me that it took so long between books. Also, the most important piece of advice; find someone who can be honest with you. You will always have haters and fans, but sometimes you just need to have someone say, “I know what you are trying to do, but it just doesn’t work.”
