Welcome back to Authors & Allies, the interview series where we unpack the secret mechanics of storytelling and the business of independent publishing. Today, we’re stepping inside the bleak, satirical, and dangerously funny world of Sanctuary with author A. N. Mercer.
Mercer is the brilliant mind behind Die Twice, File Once, a “collection novel” featuring six connected, action-packed stories that follow the bureaucratic nightmares of protagonist Dirk Strangelove. Blending classic techno-science fiction, noir, industrial Gothic imagery, and institutional satire, Mercer’s work explores the absurdity of living in a world where database entries hold more authority than real human lives.
Grab a cup of light-roast coffee (mine with a little coconut milk), settle in, and let’s dive into the world of Sanctuary!
Interview with A. N. Mercer
The Non-Player Character Who Became a Hero
Willy: Let’s start at the very beginning. Your protagonist, Dirk Strangelove, has such a memorable vibe. What was the initial “eureka” moment that inspired this story, and how did Dirk first come to life?
A. N.: There actually was not one single eureka moment. I began building the world of Sanctuary in my early twenties as a tabletop roleplaying game. I wanted to blend my love of techno-science fiction, satire, and the completely ridiculous into a setting where the world plays everything completely straight.
The original roleplaying game was considerably more absurd than the novels. Anyone who has run a tabletop game knows that a table full of friends will always find wild possibilities that you never could have imagined on your own. Dirk was actually an NPC (Non-Player Character) in one of those early games. He was never designed to be the hero of a novel! But the chaotic situations my players created around him, and the bizarre consequences that followed, loosely generated the core ideas that eventually became the books.
Willy: That is a fantastic origin story! How did you make the jump from a collaborative tabletop game to a structured novel?
A. N.: When I began turning Sanctuary into fiction, I realized I needed to move away from the unpredictable, massive ensemble of a tabletop campaign. I needed to choose a single, solid character through whom readers could experience the world, and Dirk became that anchor.
That is why Die Twice, File Once is structured as a “collection novel” containing six connected shorter stories. It allowed me to retain some of that fast-paced, episodic energy of a gaming campaign while still building a cohesive, satisfying overarching narrative arc around Dirk.
The Golden Rule of Satire: Never Laugh at Yourself
Willy: Your books do a brilliant job of balancing high-stakes danger with sharp, comedic satire. How do you keep the laughs coming without turning your sci-fi world into a cartoon? What were your biggest influences?
A. N.: Sanctuary’s central comic rule is that the world never laughs at itself. However ridiculous a ministry, machine, or regulation becomes, the people living inside it treat the situation as entirely normal. The characters never wink at the reader, which allows the danger to remain incredibly real.
While the tabletop game could be openly absurd because of player chemistry, the novels required a much tighter emotional line. Because of that, the humor in the books comes from pure contrast: watching a life-or-death crisis get categorized, invoiced, or delayed simply because someone didn’t file the correct form.
The main ingredients I mix together are techno-science fiction, noir, industrial Gothic imagery, institutional satire, and the real-world absurdity of watching a database entry become more authoritative than the actual person it describes.
Breaking the Scene to Beat Writer’s Block
Willy: Every writer hits a wall where the words just won’t flow. What is your secret weapon when you hit a creative slump?
A. N.: I often return to the project’s roleplaying roots. I sit back and ask myself: What would a player do to completely break this scene? What has the character in charge failed to anticipate, and how would the system respond? That usually gets things moving again.
I also find it helps to reduce the size of the problem. Instead of stressing over how to finish an entire chapter, I focus on one simple question: “What is the next irreversible thing Dirk chooses?”
If I am still stuck, I switch from writing prose to answering three basic questions:
- Who wants what?
- What are they hiding?
- What gets worse if nobody acts?
From there, I write the ugliest functional version of the next scene and worry about polishing the prose later. Reading my dialogue aloud is great for catching false notes, and simply walking away from the computer screen often solves more problems than staring blankly at a page. Momentum matters infinitely more than elegance on your first pass.
Finding the “Clean Doorway” to Market Your Book
Willy: Our series is all about where stories meet strategy. Marketing an indie sci-fi novel can feel like shouting into a void. What has marketing Die Twice, File Once taught you, and what is your top advice for other indie authors?
A. N.: Marketing has taught me the vital difference between activity and attention. It is incredibly easy to be everywhere online while giving readers absolutely no reason to actually care about your book.
Nearly twenty years of private worldbuilding is incredibly valuable to me, but a new reader should not need to do homework before my book becomes interesting. The real marketing challenge is finding a “clean doorway” into that much larger world.
To do this, I focused on:
- Building a dedicated Dirk Strangelove Series Page.
- Creating professional press materials and keeping my book data and links completely consistent.
- Focusing on free discovery channels and genuine, organic outreach instead of trying to manufacture empty noise.
My strongest advice to other authors is to build one clear home for your work and give every piece of outreach a specific, truthful reason for someone to click. Don’t just announce that your book exists. Instead, lead with the central question, tension, or world the readerwilltake away from it. A small, dedicated group of the right readers is worth vastly more than thousands of empty impressions.
The Next Files: Peace, Faith, and Bureaucracy
Willy: Our readers always want to know what is next on the horizon. Will we be seeing more files from Dirk Strangelove?
A. N.: The answer has actually changed in the best possible way: yes, the second Dirk Strangelove novel, Dirk Strangelove: The War Is Already Over, is officially completed and published!
The new book reaches back to Dirk’s first arrival in Sanctuary. It explores “Faith“—which in this world is a power that can persuade people, machines, and even reality itself to accept a useful lie. Its central question is whether ending a war can truly be called “peace” if nobody is allowed to disagree about it.
There is still so much territory left to explore in Sanctuary because the world existed around my gaming table for decades before it ever hit the page. Even though my name and the book titles carry a joke, the files underneath are deliberately serious. The first book asks who gets to count as a person; the second asks who gets to define peace.
Bureaucracy is funny right up until it becomes reality.
Willy: A. N., thank you so much for stepping out of the ministry archives and sharing your brilliant world with us today! Readers, make sure to head over to the official Dirk Strangelove Series Page to show Mercer some love and subscribe.
The Kindle and paperback editions are both live now.
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3Ud2DTK
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4xkElFQ
Thank you for visiting with us. For more Bookish adventures or Literature related content, visit our blog at The Ritual. Copyright Mind on Fire Books.
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