Author QnA: Jonathan Fesmire

Where the Wild West Meets Steampunk: The Creedverse

Imagine a world where steampunk gadgets meet Wild West showdowns, zombies shuffle through dusty frontier towns, and justice rides in with an undead lawman. That’s the kind of storyscape Jonathan Fesmire creates.

Living in Anaheim but inspired by his Santa Cruz roots, Jonathan Fesmire is the mind behind the Creedverse, a genre-blending universe that mixes the grit of Westerns, the flair of steampunk, and a healthy dose of the undead. It’s a wild ride, and fans can’t get enough.

With a BA in Language Studies (he speaks fluent French!) and an MFA in Animation and Visual Effects, Jonathan brings a vivid, cinematic touch to everything he writes. When he’s not diving into the next James “Bodacious” Creed adventure, he’s busy with creative projects like 3D resin printing, playing guitar, or spending quality time at Disneyland with his son, Clark.

Visit Jonathan Fesmire’s website here.

The Bodacious Creed Trilogy by Jonathan Fesmire

Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western

U.S. Marshal James Creed thought death would bring peace after losing his wife and daughter to a sudden fire. Instead, when gunned down by notorious outlaw Corwin Blake in 1876, Creed finds himself resurrected in a laboratory beneath a Santa Cruz brothel. Now half-alive with enhanced abilities, Creed must navigate his new existence while hunting down Blake and uncovering a criminal organization experimenting with resurrection technology, all while protecting the city and people he’s sworn to defend.

Bodacious Creed and the Jade Lake

Now working as a private investigator, the undead lawman James “Bodacious” Creed stumbles upon a dying woman with mysterious mechanical modifications. Her final words lead him to San Francisco’s Chinatown, where he discovers someone is using illegal machinery to control and alter women. Creed’s investigation plunges him into danger as he navigates a secret society and works to protect both old and new friends from those who would use technology for nefarious purposes.

Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate

Having settled into life in San Francisco with his found family, the Brotherhood of the Golden Cog, Creed continues his pursuit of the notorious outlaw Maxwell Gregg. When mechanically enhanced women begin appearing in the Barbary Coast’s red-light district and a mass grave is discovered, Creed gains an unexpected ally in the mysterious Dockside Poltergeist. With dark forces hunting him and time running out, can Creed stop his nemesis before the outlaw puts him back in his grave for good?

---

Jonathan Fesmire Author Questions & Answers

I approached Jonathan Fesmire to ask him about his work:

IMG: What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of The Adventures of Bodacious Creed, and how did that evolve into a full trilogy?

JF: Bodacious Creed had an unusual beginning. I had taken a few years off writing fiction when I was frustrated with publishing, and I went to grad school where I studied Animation & Visual Effects. Honestly, I should have just stuck with my writing, but we all make wrong turns. Still, it led to the beginning of the Creedverse. I crafted a demo reel for my thesis, and to start, I had to come up with a theme and characters to model, and I created James “Bodacious” Creed, Anna Lynn Boyd, and a coyote with steam-cybernetic parts, Coconino. As I worked on it, I knew it would make for a fantastic novel. A few years after I graduated, I wrote the first book.

Of course, as I worked on the first novel, Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western, I wanted to keep the story going. I didn’t know if it would be a trilogy or a series. Then, as I plotted the sequel, and did a lot of research into San Francisco in the 1870s, I realized i had enough material for two novels and that this would make a killer trilogy. That led to Bodacious Creed and the Jade Lake and Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate.

IMG: The Creedverse uniquely blends steampunk, western, and zombie elements. What inspired you to merge these genres, and what challenges have you faced in maintaining a cohesive narrative?

JF: When I started the thesis project, I first just had the steampunk and western pieces. Those already fit together naturally. Yes, most people think of Victorian England when they think of steampunk, but the Wild West was the same era, and wild west steampunk was already a thing. In fact, that goes way back to the original Wild Wild West television series. My thesis advisor suggested I push the idea further. That’s when I decided the young brothel madam, Anna, whom I’d already decided was secretly an inventor, was James Creed’s daughter. And, what if he died and she resurrected him with her technology? That brought in the zombie aspect organically.

Since these elements do fit together so well, I feel like they just make sense together. People hear “steampunk zombie western” and think, “How’s that going to work?” Then, they read the books and have to admit, yeah, those fit together just right. It all makes sense.

IMG: The steampunk elements in the Creedverse are intricately woven into the plot. How did you develop the steampunk technology featured in the series, such as the reanimation process?

JF: I wanted the steampunk elements to feel as close to hard science fiction as I could make them. While steampunk cosplayers like to have gears on their hats and vests, and stylistically that’s a lot of fun, it’s whimsical, and my steampunk fiction is gritty. The new technologies in the Creedverse are based on steam and ether (as in the luminiferous (a)ether), and that’s allowed for a lot of creativity while maintaining the gravitas of the Wild West.

To resurrect Creed, Anna uses a healing technology she invented that re-enlivens dead tissue. She’s able to refresh Creed’s body, then use small medical attachments that awaken his brain and body, and these miracles are thanks to her ability to draw on, and tap into various aspects of, the luminiferous ether. How did I come up with this? I don’t remember exactly… just thinking about it and asking a lot of what if questions.

IMG: Your protagonist in “Bodacious Creed,” U.S. Marshal James Creed, becomes a technologically reanimated zombie. What challenges did you face in creating a sympathetic undead character while maintaining the tension needed for a compelling narrative?

JF: The first six chapters cover Anna’s admiration for Creed, and Creed’s own dedication to justice as he pursues a serial killer whom he’s tracked down to Santa Cruz. We see Creed as a good person dedicated to justice before he’s killed, then resurrected. So, it’s not hard for readers to see him as good after he’s brought back to life. When he gets out one night, he’s lost many of his memories (though most come back over the course of the narrative). What’s the first thing he does? Goes to a closed general store and knocks until the owner lets him in, grabs supplies, and leaves enough money on the counter to pay for them twice over. Then, he goes around the small city saving people.

Since Anna brought him back to life, he has a sense that he should still be dead, and he struggles with this throughout Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western. However, he knows he has to stop the killer he’s been after, first.

IMG: The villains in the Creedverse are complex and morally ambiguous. What’s your approach to writing antagonists, and how do they reflect the world you’ve built?

JF: Well… these novels have a huge cast. And, I’ll admit, the worst villains aren’t morally ambiguous at all, though I think they’re believable. They’re a bunch of psychopaths and sociopaths. Of course, we’re living in an era in the United States when we have people in positions of power with few to no redeeming qualities, so perhaps me writing similar villains is a sign of the times.

There are characters who fall somewhere in the middle. You’ll see this clearly in my upcoming novel, Anna: Daughter of Creed. It’s the first in a spin-off trilogy titled The Anna Lynn Chronicles. Back to Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western, though, one supporting character is an antihero, and that’s Rob Cantrell, the bounty hunter. A few people have said they think he has the best arc in the novel. I’ll let readers decide for themselves.

My approach to writing antagonists, though, is to understand them, even when they’re vile. That way, I can portray them believably.

IMG: Santa Cruz in your series becomes an alternate-history steampunk city. What inspired your choice of setting, and how much real-world research went into reimagining it?

JF: I’m from Santa Cruz! It’s such a wonderful city. While my son and I now live in Southern California, we visit Santa Cruz once a year to see our best friends and enjoy all the fun things to do there.

The 1870s Santa Cruz of the Creedverse is based on a blend of history and a fun experiment. I thought about the city as it is now, and projected that into the past. I also changed some things fit my narrative. For example, in the Creedverse, the Southern Pacific Railroad goes right onto the wharf. Though shorter than the one that exists now, there’s a boardwalk with several shops. The area called Beach Flats is, in the Creedverse, called Railroad Flats. The Cooper brothers, John L. and William F. Cooper, are real Santa Cruz historical figures who appear in the series.

IMG: Guts and Gears expands the world with short stories from different perspectives. How did you select which characters or events to highlight in this collection?

JF: It really was about the ideas that came to me. The final story in the collection, Seige! came to me when I learned about the Hoodlum Uprising of 1877 in San Francisco. Lucy Morgan Loves Anna Boyd and Deadwood Protector expand on things mentioned in Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western. Lucy: Morgan ties in with my upcoming Anna: Daughter of Creed. And Shock of the Poltergeist features two important characters from Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate. For many, there were these side stories that tie into the novels that I wanted to tell. For others, I’d think about the technology in the Creedverse and find I had ideas to share about it.

IMG: Did any of the stories in Guts and Gears surprise you during the writing process or evolve in unexpected ways from your original plans?

JF: That describes Lucy: Morgan perfectly! Originally, it had a brighter ending. My editor pointed out that the story I’d originally written would be highly unlikely at that time in history. So, I thought about it, and what I came up with is, I think, so much more impactful. It also gives me more to work with in the future with The Anna Lynn Chronicles.

Confections and Confusion and The Undertaker’s Vigil needed the tension ramped up in revisions, but otherwise remain mostly as conceived.

IMG: Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for the Creedverse, and are there other genres or stories you’re eager to explore in the future?

JF: For now, I have so much Creedverse stuff in my head that I don’t have plans for books in other genres. Now, I may write some short stories in other genres, sticking with speculative fiction, but I have to many plans for novels to consider jumping genres yet! I plan to finish The Anna Lynn Chronicles. When they’re done, I’ll have seven Creedverse books, the two trilogies and the short story collection. I plan to write a second Bodacious Creed trilogy, though I might just make those 4, 5, and 6 in The Adventures of Bodacious Creed. And, there’s a friend of James “Bodacious” Creed who may get his own book or trilogy down the line.

---

---

Heads up! Some links on this page are affiliate links from Amazon, meaning I may get a small kickback if you buy something. Thanks for your support!

---

Are you a fiction author? Do you want to be featured on my bog with an Author QNA? Contact me and tell me about yourself.