Erlendr Press - Interview with Levente Gyula (Author of Emerald Soul Catcher)
Riverton Hotel, Göteborg May 2026
(Transcribed from Recording)
General Questions
Could you tell us about your journey into writing fiction?
I always wrote fiction, for as long as I can remember, I just never published anything, until recently. I used to love writing assignments in school from an early age, it gave space to let my mind wander in an environment where wandering minds was usually riding in the backseat. Very few people have read my earlier unreleased work [work prior to ESC] I had three friends and acquaintances that shared my interest in reading and the escape that fictional worlds could provide. I sent some raw drafts to these three individuals throughout the years. André from Erlendr was one of them, and also the person that made me take the actual step to finalizing and print the book.
What first drew you to storytelling, and when did you realize you wanted to become an author?
The stories themselves got me into storytelling, I never realized that I wanted to be an author, I just wanted to write. It was all for myself. I had other things going on most of my life, I was living day by day, present in the moment. It crossed my mind many times, I mean to release my books, but it never got there. Without any pressure I didn’t have the incentive to truly finish anything. I didn’t know anything about getting books into print and all the work that needs to be done. I had thoughts about posting my stories online, but I grew up before digital books was a thing and to me I wanted them in physical print.
Why did you choose to write Emerald Soul Catcher as your debut novel?
It was a story that had been with me for a long time, it felt appropriate that this would be the debut. I will just be unapologetic: I love the world of Emerald Soul Catcher. And I knew the story already, I could start making it into a reality with the comfort of knowing that I will finish it. I still don’t know everything that will happen, but I know that anything can happen in this universe [ESC] so every time I work on it I truly enjoy it.
Would you ever write a book that you don’t enjoy writing?
Sometimes it has to be done, you might like the story but not the process of telling it. If that makes any sense. Some books are complicated to write, or heavy emotionally. ESC is like riding a roller-coaster, I feel free in the process.
What themes or ideas in ESC felt important enough to be your first published work, your “first mark”?
I didn’t think about this as my first published work, it was just the story that made me take the step and say: “I will commit to this, I will finalize this” There are many themes and topics that are important in the series. The biggest theme on the surface though would be the railway, its an obvious homage to the trans-siberian railway, that railway was a big inspiration in itself. There are philosophical questions and there is real history and geography but it is all mixed up into the fictional world of the series.
Before publishing your first book, what kind of writer were you, had you been working toward this for years or did it come together more recently?
I have been writing for many years, but I never did it in this way before. I have been working towards this for all my life, I just didn’t know it then.
What “way” do you mean when you say “I never did it in this way before”?
I mean that I have written for many years, different works. But I never did it in this way before: as in formatting, proofing, setting up mind-maps of the story. Basically I started doing it in a way that becomes more friendly for actual publishing. It is a lot of work behind the scenes even as the story is being written, when taking into account that the book needs to be printed and come out correctly. Erlendr helped me but I still had to do my part already during writing. All my years of writing, all previous books leading up to this, was never ment to be published, at least it was never written with that in mind. It was a personal leisure.
We have talked about this prior to the interview, but would you explain or expand on the choice of using illustrations in the novel?
It’s a long topic, part of me is against it and part of me love it. There was a lot of work in the illustrations and the characters, as well as the stylistic choice of the artwork.
At first ESC was ment to be a full on ‘light novel’, in the sense of how dialogues and formatting of the text is done, as well as the images themselves. And ESC is partly a light novel, depending on how you understand the term. But as the story grew it turned more into a normal novel in terms of the formatting and way the text is flowing. The images are still there but the dialogue gets more condensed.
Before publishing there was a lot of back and forth on the “light novel style” of ESC. In the end I set aside my ego and decided that if I am going to do this, I want to do it how I actually want it and ignore what box ESC gets put in. Of course this decision made the book harder to market, for many reasons. Most people reading light novels will rightfully not recognize ESC as a typical light novel, and potential readers may look away because they don’t like light novels.
ESC is its own thing, I have yet to found a box that truly fits. ESC is set in our own future, a realistic but fantasized future. The art style of the illustrations is realistic but seen through the lens of early 2000’s pre-rendered cutscenes. And it was a conscious choice, there is something about that style that invites vivid imagination. And from a commercial perspective that stylistic choice hurts the sales too, but sales was never the reason that made me write. If I may joke on my own behalf I could sat that the ESC Trilogy is a marketing nightmare, it is many of the things you should not do if your primary goal is sales.
I hope to release a full-color version of the printed book, but with sales as low as they are right now it does not make sense from the publishing side, and I realize that. It would also raise the price for printing and that sadly raise the price for the reader too.
How did you end up publishing with Erlendr Press?
It was just to make the process easier for myself. And I knew André before Erlendr Press existed, he was the one telling me to make something out of my many stories, he had read one of my early novels (not released) and initially wanted me to finalize that one and publish it through Erlendr, but I’m not ready to let that one go yet, maybe never.
What else do you have planned for the future? In regards to your writing and your place as a now, published author.
I have recently released “Antarctica Time Slip”, it is a short story that actually was inspired from a nightmare I had in real life. It was just a bit of leisure writing when I had taken a short break from writing Emerald Soul Catcher Book Three, the final book in the series. Antarctica Time Slip is very different from ESC. I would call the Antarctica novel “A short dream”. Part of me didn’t want to publish such a short novel, but I’m on my journey and short novels will be part of it. That is also why it is only available as digital book.
In the future I would want more of an online presence as an author, but to be honest I’m not really interested in it. I just don’t know what I would post on social media in between book releases. But I would want a way to get feedback from readers, see who’s reading ESC and how it’s received. It will not change the outcome or direction of the story, but it would be nice to connect with the readers. I have spent a lot of sleepless nights alone in the world of ESC by now.
What books are you currently reading yourself?
I have actually been reading a lot of old magazines recently, and hunting down physical copies of old gaming magazines, science, and history magazines, it has been somewhat of a hobby lately. But as for actual books, the last one I read was “The Hour Between Dog And Wolf”.
Questions About Emerald Soul Catcher
What originally sparked the idea for Emerald Soul Catcher, and how did the concept of a “man without a soul” evolve into a full trilogy?
Simply put, I have many stories in the vault, already written. This was one that wasn’t. It did not go from “Man without a soul” into trilogy in that sense. It was more of “Man without a soul, in THIS world”. How it ended up as a trilogy was because I knew that it would not all fit in one volume.
When you began writing Book One, did you already have the entire journey, from the railways to the covenants, planned out, or did the story grow organically?
Yes and no, the story itself grew out of me organically. I knew the outline, the world, the characters, but I never knew what was going to happen along the journey, I get excited myself when writing because one thought leads to another.
How did releasing the first book shape your approach to writing Book Two?
I had already started working on Book two already when I released book one. But the release of book one was a milestone and sort of a crossroad. I now knew that I had to keep working, stay focused. While still juggling my private life and other commitments. Releasing book one shaped my writing as a whole into a more tangible commitment.
What were the biggest challenges you faced while expanding the world and stakes in the second installment?
I cant say, there was a lot of challenges in general. A lot of brainstorming and changing stuff. Maybe, actually, the biggest challenge with time and a story this long is to keep track of what has been written and what has not. Since this story exists in my head too it can get confusing, I still remember all the things that has been removed or re-worked in the printed book, so when going forward with the writing I sometimes have to double check with existing volumes “Did I ever explain that?” “Did I introduce this yet?” “Have I already written this many times already?” etc, it gets confusing sometimes.
The series blends horror, adventure, romance, and alternate history, how do you balance these elements while keeping a consistent tone?
I just let the story ride, I don’t know if it actually is consistent in tone, I try but it’s hard for me to tell. Personally I think ESC gets better and better. As we were talking about before, the story was originally meant to be a light novel, specifically in the layout. Maybe it is not noticeable for others, but I can tell how its getting more into heavy novel territory than ‘light novel’.
Avrom changes significantly between the first and second book. How would you describe his evolution so far?
I don’t want to spoil anything and I don’t know how to answer that right now.
Were there any moments in the story, characters, twists, or lore, that developed in unexpected ways as you were writing?
Yes there were, a early example is when Linda and Avrom arrives in Ulaanbatar, the violent scene in the hotel room, that was really not the plan at first, Ulaanbatar was ment to be a much longer story before it ever got to that point.
The world of Emerald Soul Catcher feels vast but controlled. How do you approach world-building across multiple books without overwhelming the reader?
I don’t know if the reader is overwhelmed or not. The book is still new and response has been low. Until recently this book had zero promotion. The only feedback so far I have seen on GoodReads. Anyone listening to this that has read it, let me know.
The series explores themes like power, identity, and hidden systems controlling the world. Were these themes planned from the beginning, or did they emerge over time?
Planned from the beginning, the details and outcomes were not planned though.
With so many moving parts, railways, covenants, magic systems, how do you maintain continuity and internal consistency?
I maintain it with a lot of backtracking and double checking. By no means a small task after a while, and there might be stuff that I have missed anyway.
What kind of reader feedback has impacted you the most after the release of the first two books?
Like I just said, the feedback has been low as for now, because I don’t really have a social media presence it is hard for me to get any feedback other than reviews.
Without giving spoilers, what can readers expect from Book Three in terms of tone, revelations, or emotional payoff?
Expect anything and everything, but most of all expect it to take some time before book three is released. Book three will be the longest volume in the series, it will also come with the end to this journey. I wish I could say more.
Did writing a trilogy change your writing process compared to how you might approach a standalone story?
Yes it did, I can expand more on everything, it also became more challenging to know where to put what, as in story progression etc.
How do you maintain tension when the biggest answers are reserved for the final book?
Nothing was ever promised in the ESC universe, I think the tension just lies in the world itself. It is a tense world that Avrom and Linda lives in. Just as our real world is tense too.
Looking back now, is there anything in Book One you would approach differently after having written Book Two?
No, but I would rephrase some parts of it, I could have polished Book one forever, without ever getting to releasing it. I am happy that I released it at all, so that I now can be working on book three, the most important book in the series. But book three could not exist if it weren’t for book one. I am very satisfied with how book two turned out. Book One is what builds the world, I love all of them equally.