Jaurice Smiley- Author (Tourian / The Royal Gray Box)

Fascination Street

Jaurice Smiley
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Jaurice Smiley. Jaurice had a pretty decent career as a professional gamer in the Smash Bros competitive gaming community. Afterwards, while in college, Jaurice decided to start writing young adult - science fiction novels. In this episode, we discuss his competitive gaming career, and what made him decide to become an author. We talk about his trips to several states; and how those trips inspired some of the locations for his writing. We also chat about his love of hip hop, specifically the unique sound of 'The Dirty South', and how this style of music helped inspire some of his writing. We do wander a bit while talking about his time in Texas, and his thoughts on some Texas delights like: Whataburger, Buc-ee's, and Trill Burger. Finally, we dive into Jaurice's writing. His first novel is called Tourian, and finds it's roots in an older video game called Metroid. He tells me what the book is about (NO SPOILERS), and some of the real life events that helped bring these characters to life. We then talk a little bit about his book of short stories called The Royal Gray Box. We touch on how he found his publisher, and what their relationship is, before discussing the artist who drew the covers of his books. Tourian, and The Royal Gray Box are both available on Amazon; as well as BlackGoldPublishing.com. Enjoy!