Norrik Softstep

September Character Interview

Patricia Parrington ~ September 22, 2025

Hello my lovely readers and fellow book-lovers! For those of you who are new here, I, your animal-loving host Patricia Parrington, have the pleasure of interviewing characters from books all over the world.

Today we have here with us Norrik Softstep from the fantasy book (all ages) Quaint Creatures by Andrew D Meredith. Andrew was raised in a geeky Christian family of boardgamers, fantasy readers, and Trekkies, and he knew as a teen he wanted to be a fantasy writer. Andrew is now a full-time author and audiobook narrator living in the Rockies. He’s married to his best friend (Patricia Meredith, mystery author) and they have two incredible kids.

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Meet Norrik

[Patricia walks in and sits on an orange suede couch. A small blue pseudodragon immediately jumps onto the couch and curls up on her lap.]

[Norrik Softstep straightens himself in the rather large high-backed chair provided for his nine-foot-tall frame. His brown workman’s apron over his white shirt has been washed, but it still bears long-term stains from his trade and a few holes from slimeoid burns. He strokes the brown chin-strap beard over his sand-yellow skin one more time to make himself presentable.]

Welcome to Fable Features! I hope you won’t be too bothered by Scribblemore. He’s been very clingy today.

[Patricia smiles at her guest.]

It’s a pleasure to be here, Patricia. I was able to find a hansom runecab to make the trip from the Sideways into your realm. It’s quite the library you’ve got here.

[He shakes the distraction of the many books surrounding them and back to the present.]

You’ve quite the knack with pseudodragons, it looks like, and you’re feeding him well. How did you manage him during his teething stage?

Oh, it was a nightmare to be frank. Had to get all new furniture once he stopped chewing everything. But it was all worth it.

[Patricia smiles and strokes Scribblemore’s back. He hums happily and snuggles in closer.]

So Norrik, tell me a little bit about where you’re from. Do you have many good memories from there?

My wife, Eavalyn Bannogburn, and I currently live in the city of Brightfall. It’s a very stable city in the Sideways (the realm jammed between the Hereways and Thereways.) We love Brightfall since there are so many denizens and travelers from all over. Most are either seeking adventure in the many dungeons in the surrounding countryside or are retired (from either adventuring or being part of the dungeon attractions.) Oh, and there is SO much good food there . . .

That sounds like a wonderful place to live!

What do you do when you’re bored?

Oh, it’s not often I’m not neck deep in helping clients and their monsters or helping the odd house-beast with digestive issues . . . but now that you mention it, our house and veterinary practice is built in the upper “halls” of a craftsgnome house. That means that every time you take a right turn you find another hall. They all bend in on themselves without ever actually going physically deeper (helps with getting past footprint codes with the city.) All that to say, my wife, an elven warlock of justice, has been mapping the halls for months now. I think she might be at hall forty-six and counting. I’m not a ranked delver, but I have enough druid tricks up my sleeve to help if we’re in a pinch. We once found a stable biome of kobolds and their kin. I don’t have to tell you, once you open a door like that, you can’t close it. No one wants to wake up to kobolds in the middle of the night. We rehomed them into a garden maze dungeon nearby.

That’s certainly one way to handle boredom! It sounds like you’re both very capable, but I’m curious—have you ever had a close call or found yourself in over your head?

Oh yes! Definitely! My friend Sennacheron, lich and dungeon lord extraordinaire, recently purchased a local dungeon. He asked me to come inspect and catalog Ironspire Tower (off the books) to provide a professional opinion before the Brightfall City Council (so they’d install more infrastructure for heroes to find his new tower. Bus stops, roadsides, etc.) It was an overwhelming amount of work to get done and sent me “branching” as my wife calls it. Basically, it's when you have so many things going on, you get locked in overwhelming anxiety and the only way to fix it is to have someone help you identify and “prune” some of those branches to reduce the stress and make it easier to deal with the rest. But I should probably not say too much more . . . I’ve written it down in my book. You can find out how I dealt with the problem there.

[Rik winks knowingly]

[Patricia laughs and nods.]

I will have to pick up a copy of your book, then!

What’s a sound you’ll never forget?

Oooh. Good question!

[Rik strokes his chin and gazes at the ceiling.]

I’d have to say the sound of stinky cheese!

I know that doesn’t make sense, but one of the signs of magic in the Sideways (and Hereways and Thereways) is what we magic users call Sensational Disorganization. Like, the smell of the color purple, or the taste of a grey block of marble with lots of marbling. If you really know your way around SD, you can identify the magic type, who cast it, and whether you should be fleeing when it occurs . . .

[Patricia’s brows raise.]

Whoa, that’s cool. I want to learn how to identify magic types like that. So what sets apart the sound of stinky cheese for you?

Well, from an academic point of view, it tends to be magic done by the raccotaur vorpals. (When the Sideways formed, several creatures of the old worlds went through what we call the vorpaling, and gave them sentience: raccotaurs, pandataurs, minotaurs, etc.) But personally? The sound of stinky cheese brings back a wash of memories. My uncle Vilmon Curdmaker was, as you can surmise, a cheesemonger. One time, when I got in trouble for busting the side of my aunt’s fish pond, I was forced to spend a summer making blue cheese.

[Rik shudders.]

I can still smell, taste, and hear that summer . . .

No wonder that smell resonates so strongly for you.

[Patricia wrinkles her nose as if also smelling a summer full of blue cheese.]

Do you have any hobbies? Or a hobby you wish you had time for?

I wish I had the time . . . my shop takes up so much of my time. My wife is always chiding me for only reading manuals and creature biology books. (She reads a LOT of fiction.)

[Rik thinks for a bit. The stress of the question clear on his face.]

No. Its fine. I’m trying to pick one. I’ve always wanted to pick up bookbinding. But I suppose if I had to pick, it would be learning slight-of-hand. We giants aren’t very dexterous. So that would be an impossible and fun hobby to master.

[Patricia nods with a look at his giant fingers.]

That would be a fun party trick to pull out, though, if you did learn it. Imagine your friends’ surprise!

[Rik grins broadly]

What is something you thought would be a great idea but was terrible when you actually did it?

Breeding slimeoids. I thought I could try and combine some different demi-ooze and slimeoids to better effect, but all you end up getting is a brown sludge that melts everything it touches. I’ll stick to Ewbert, the slimeoid I keep on my shop counter as a fascination (and very efficient disposal unit).

[Patricia makes a face and Scribblemore glances up at her questioningly.]

Yeah, a melty brown sludge doesn’t sound too great.

[Patricia pats the blue pseudodragon on the head and he settles back down.]

So you’ve mentioned breeding and veterinary practice. I’d love to hear more about that! How’d you get into working with monsters?

When I left home, I’d had dreams of studying at the BASIC Academy (Brightfall’s Alchemy, Strategy, Intrigue, and Conjury Academy), but only made it as far as Longpier City and its lesser known School for Beasts and Burdens. It wasn’t a bad set of years there, and I was out of coin, anyway. It’s where I met Sennacheron actually! He begrudgingly taught Undead Health, and the two of us hit it off well. He got me an appointment at the DOA (Dungeon Observation Association) where I then apprenticed under several of the best veterinarians in the Hereways, Thereways, and Sideways! I think my favorite person I studied under was a fairy, if you’d believe it, name Patterwynd. He taught me most of what I know of druidic magic, and together, we ended up rescuing a colony of bat-fiends and a tribe of gobblelurks from an abandoned dungeon. The old master had passed away, and those denizens not intelligent enough to move on were living in squalor. We got them moved to a really nice Dungeon for the Elderly Heroes and Dentured Beasts.

That’s so cool! I love that you were able to rescue those poor creatures.

[Scribblemore chirrs in agreement.]

Our next question is a bit more of a heavier one: What is your greatest regret?

I can’t say I have many. But, I do wish I had the finances when I was younger to be a dungeon delver. (You can’t choose to be born rich though, can you?) And I live vicariously through all of my friends and their adventures. That’s been enough for me.

I’m sorry you had to miss out on that just because of your financial situation. That’s great that you get to live vicariously through your friends, though!

[Patricia taps her chin.]

If you could make one big animal tiny or one tiny animal big, what animal would that be?

Well, I’m sure Scribblemore might choose himself.

[Patricia laughs with a nod.]

But if I had to choose, it would be Winged Elephants. I don’t have to tell you what a nuisance they can be when they come to town and decide to roost on fences. And frankly, it would be a lot easier to manage a checkup with a smaller one. But then again, I’ve seen flocks of hundreds of migratory Ales Loxidonta out over the Hereways Dead Wastes. It’s a sight to behold . . . so I suppose I wouldn’t choose those either . . .

Every creature has its pros and cons, huh?

[Scribblemore paws at Patricia’s arm and she gives him a little nod.]

Scribblemore is trying to let me know we are almost out of time—and that it’s his lunchtime. So we’ll wrap up with one last question! What advice would you give your younger self?

Don’t underestimate Madam Folidota’s Classifications Science 301. That pangotaur is smarter than she lets on, and if I’d studied more (and eaten less Minotaur-style curry that semester,) I might have graduated with honors . . .

[Patricia grins.]

Good advice! Well, it was very nice getting to meet you, Norrik. I hope the very best for your veterinary practice and future endeavors!

It has been an absolute pleasure, Patricia! If you’re ever in the Sideways, come by my shop, Quaint Creatures, and I’ll show you around the house and the town. And my wife and I will serve you curry and pie!

That sounds amazing! I’ll plan to visit soon.

End of interview.

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Want to Read More?

Norrik’s author, Andrew D Meredith, can be found on Instagram, Threads, X/Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Quaint Creatures can be purchased here and you can check out Andrew’s website, AndrewDMeredith.com, for more on Andrew’s other books!

Cover and art created by the author

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See Ya Next Time

Aaand that's all the time we have today. Thank you, readers, for coming. And thank you, Norrik, for letting us get to know you! See y'all next time.

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If you would like to submit a character to be interviewed for a future issue of Fable Features, please send an email to linnae.writer@gmail.com with the subject line: Fable Features.

Please note that erotica and content with excessive vulgar language will not be accepted.

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