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Murphy's Lore is a popular underground Fantasy work that has been reviewed in these pages. The tales of the patrons that reside in Bulfinche's Pub, a mystical place where magical larger-than-life characters hang out, 
has action, adventure, wit and excellent storytelling. Padwolf Publishing is the publishing company that has put out two books in the series and plans a third book in the next few months. Padwolf is a relative newcomer in the publishing field, giving new aspiring authors a chance in a very competitive field. Patrick Thomas, the man behind the Murphy's Lore series and a founding member of Padwolf Publishing is enjoying success derived from both his ventures and at the recent ICON 2002 convention, Thomas was on hand to promote his books and the company that is changing the way we look at Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Taking time from a busy schedule, Thomas chatted with YBFREE.com about the popularity of his characters, the future of Padwolf, his struggles to make it as a successful writer, his hopes, his inspirations and his advice to the future writers in the world. What follows is an informative Q&A with an up-and-coming writer:
YBFREE: You have been writing for some time and have had a number of stories and novels published. Were you always into writing? What got you into the field? What are some of your accomplishments?
THOMAS: I have always enjoyed storytelling, even as a kid. I worked in the school paper in college and stuff of that nature. I started writing short stories, building up my share of rejection letters. In 1993, I wrote my first novel, Exile and Entrance. The books for the Murphy's Lore series came out afterwards, but were based on some short stories I had written back in 1989. The first full collection came out in 1994. The Murphy's Lore series have been some of my more successful books, obtaining a wide cult following. I will be releasing a third book in the series, soon.
YBFREE: Writing is not something that comes easy. You don't just come up with a book idea and get published the next day. Can you describe your experience in trying to get yourself published in such a competitive world?
THOMAS: It's a very long process to get noticed. I was trying very hard...very hard to get a foot in the door. I would send stories to magazines and books to publishing companies and I would often hear that companies were not interested in the stories I was trying to get published. I kept trying until I was able to get my first story published. When you make that first sale, it is truly a wonderful thing.
YBFREE: Where have you been published?
THOMAS: I have been published in various publications. Some of my work has appeared in Dreams of Decadence, a Vampire Magazine, Pirate Writings, Fantastic Stories, The DNA Helix edited by Warren Lapine, The Second Coming, edited by Ed McFadden and of course, Padwolf Publishing.
YBFREE: Since getting into the writing field, you have gone from a guy who struggled to get your stories published to someone who helps others get published. You went from a guy who faced editors to someone who edits. What exactly do you do, besides writing?
THOMAS: Well, I am one of the founders of Padwolf Publishing and I am one of the people that looks over the submissions that come to us and vote on whether it should get published or not. I am also an Associate Editor with Fantastic Stories Magazine. I still submit stories to publishers and hope to get stories published. I still have to face the editing process.
YBFREE: You mentioned Padwolf. Tell us about it.
THOMAS: Basically, it was a group of people who felt that they would like to put out good quality sci-fi/fantasy novels and give new aspiring novelists a shot. Padwolf Publishing would allow relative newcomers a chance to publish books and be noticed. We have also been lucky enough to do some anthology series with some bigger name authors in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. We published our first book in 1997 and since that time, we have grown. I think we put out some very good quality books and now, we have branched out into role-playing games like World Tree, a young adult series called The Wildsidhe Chronicles and we have also started Padwolf Presents Magazine. We were just discussing with someone about the possibility that the Wildsidhe Chronicles could be made into a series of some kind. A producer is looking into it and we have our fingers crossed, praying that she likes it. Also, the Murphy's Lore series is being considered by a gaming company who are leaning toward saying yes. So, we are very happy with the way things are going and we look forward to what's to come in the future.