BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood author Tobby Hagler has released his debut novel, The Grove of Tau Ceti, a fast-paced sci-fi story with fantasy elements, gripping cosmic suspense and cinematic scope. Independently published in October, it has received numerous 5-star reviews on Amazon.com.
“I started out writing short stories here and there,” Hagler said in an interview with The Voice. “I’ve always had the notion of wanting to write a novel, and I had this particular story in my head for a long time. The characters just kind of lived there, bickering back and forth, and I always joked that I need to get them out on paper so they’d stop. When I finally sat down to start writing, it took about six months to get it finished.”
Hagler, 49, is a software developer and works remotely as the director of engineering at Phase 2 in Arlington, VA. He and his wife, Laura, moved to Blythewood from Augusta, GA in 2023.
“My wife found this house we live in now,” he said. “It’s quiet and peaceful, on two acres of woodlands and a pond. We call the place ‘Solace’, a reference to a fantasy book I read as a kid. It’s a place where I could see myself being a writer, looking out over the pond. We just fell in love with it, and then fell in love with the town.
“We have what we jokingly call ‘nerd date night’: we’ll go for an early dinner at Doko Station or San Jose, and then go to the Blythewood library. She reads and I write. She’s a voracious reader; I like to write stuff that I know she’s going to enjoy reading.”
Hagler said there were many times during the writing when the characters would take over the story.
“I’d heard authors describe that and never really understood it,” he said. “But yeah – you’ll set up a scene and plan what’s going to happen, and then they have other ideas. There was a character who was only supposed to be in one part of the book, but then found a way to come back, which I did not intend at all! I had to figure out, ‘how do I get the story back on track?’ Well – now the story’s just different.
“I had close friends read it and give honest feedback, fixed things along the way, and next thing you know, I’ve got a book in my hand,” Hagler said.
“Publication itself wasn’t hard – there are lots of YouTube videos – but it’s confusing. There was a bit of a learning curve. I accidently published it a few times by mistake,” he said with a laugh. “You write a book and suddenly there are things like ISBN numbers, copyrights, Library of Congress numbers – stuff you don’t think about.
“It was exciting when we got to the library one night and my book was on the shelf. The librarians came over and said, ‘it’s finally here!’ They had gotten to know us because we were there so often.”
Hagler hasn’t wasted any time getting back to the writing desk – he’s working on a sequel to the novel as well as several short stories. An earlier story, “Sin-Eater Claws”, was published in September in the Kozy Krampus anthology, and several more are out for submission.
“I’m kind of scattered, but if I have a deadline, I hit it,” he said. “That’s part of how this book came into existence – because I had a deadline and a plan.”
The Grove of Tau Ceti is available at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.