Curious about the story behind the story? In these excerpts from the IndieReader Open Book interview, Laura Lee Dooley discusses the inspiration for Chronicles of the Threlphax, her research into Asian history, and why memory, identity, and compassion lie at the heart of the series.
What inspired you to write this book?
I’ve always loved asking “What if?” questions. What if one immortal man quietly witnessed the transformation of modern Thailand? What if first contact with an alien intelligence happened in a nineteenth-century sugarcane field instead of aboard a spaceship? I’m also fascinated by how memory shapes identity, whether those memories belong to an individual, a family, or an entire nation.
History isn’t just something we study; it’s something we experience through the lives of ordinary people.
The more I learned about the histories, cultures, and stories of Asia that I hadn’t encountered in school, the more I realized how many remarkable stories deserve a wider audience.
Once those ideas came together, the story wouldn’t leave me alone. By weaving speculative science fiction into real historical in Chronicles of the Threlphax, I found a way to explore memory, identity, and belonging through stories that are emotionally resonant and deeply rooted in the history, resilience, and humanity of the people who lived them.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I wrote my first novel-length manuscript in college. The feedback was encouraging, but I felt I needed more life experience before I could write the kinds of stories I truly wanted to tell. So I set it aside, not because I’d given up, but because I believed the story would be stronger after I’d lived a little more. Even then, the characters never really left me.
In the early 2000s, I attended a book signing with Orson Scott Card. After hearing about my unfinished writing journey, he offered four simple words that stayed with me: “Get back to work.” Nearly twenty years later, I finally followed his advice. In December 2019, I finally sat down and began writing Chronicles of the Threlphax. It turned out those decades weren’t lost — they were preparing me to tell this story.
What else have you written?
I’ve published two novels in the Chronicles of the Threlphax series. Before writing novels, I spent five years creating Falling in Love with Bollywood, a website introducing Indian cinema to Western audiences. (www.fallinginlovewithbollywood.com closed in 2025, but is available via the Wayback Machine at web.archive.org). Looking back, I realize I was already doing what I love most: building bridges between cultures and people through storytelling.
What’s a great piece of advice you can share with fellow indie authors?
Write the book only you can write. Trends come and go, but authenticity lasts. Invest in professional editing, keep learning, and don’t measure success against someone else’s timeline. Focus on finding your readers rather than trying to appeal to everyone. Publication marketing takes just as much investment, creativity, persistence, and patience. Building a readership is a marathon, not a sprint.