The 28th episode of Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory features speculative fiction author Patrick LeClerc, a writer who Mookie discovers made a deliberate choice early on: skip the gatekeepers, go indie, and answer to no one but the story.
Faced with the grind of chasing agents and waiting for permission, Patrick flipped the equation. Instead of pitching to publishers, he put that same energy into reaching readers directly—building his own ecosystem, collaborating with fellow writers, and taking full ownership of everything from storytelling to production .
The result? Total creative freedom.
Patrick’s catalog reflects that freedom. His debut novel Out of Nowhere introduces an immortal paramedic hiding in plain sight: healing others while unraveling the mystery of his own origins, blending history, action, and existential intrigue. From there, he pivots hard into military sci-fi, imagining near-future space marines policing the asteroid belt like a cosmic frontier: equal parts Expanse grit and old-school war story energy. Then he swerves again into pulpy fantasy with Broken Crossroads, a fast, episodic romp through a decaying city of rogues, traps, monsters, and sharp-tongued thieves: pure throwback fun with modern bite.
And just when you think you’ve got him pinned down, he goes full gaslamp steampunk with The Beckoning Void—a Victorian-era, Lovecraftian mashup of airships, social upheaval, colonial tension, and cosmic horror. Different worlds, different tones, but always the same throughline: outsiders refusing to conform, choosing self-determination over safety.
This conversation digs into what that independence really looks like, and how writing novels between ambulance shifts, building stories out of lived experience, and treating the act of writing as both craft and therapy is how Patrick rolls. Their chat also tackles the modern pressure points of AI, audience expectations, and the illusion of traditional publishing as a guaranteed path.
At its core, this episode is about these two iconoclastic writers choosing autonomy over approval and embracing the long game. They write because they have to, and not because anyone told them how or why. Join them!
The Guest
Patrick LeClerc makes good use of his history degree by working as a paramedic for an ever- changing parade of ambulance companies in the Northern suburbs of Boston. When not writing he enjoys cooking, fencing and making witty, insightful remarks with career-limiting candor. In the lulls between runs on the ambulance --and sometimes the lulls between employment at various ambulance companies-- he writes fiction.
Main Author Website
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4738921.Patrick_LeClerc
Books
The Beckoning Void
https://www.amazon.com/Beckoning-Void-Patrick-LeClerc-ebook/dp/B09GCLXTB8/
Out of Nowhere
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JBNRK9A
Broken Crossroads
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019PA29C2
