Author Daniel Pandiyan speaks with PaperCryptid about his debut novel, Sanctuary, his writing process, and his upcoming work. Thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed, Daniel!
Tell us a little about your experience of writing Sanctuary, and the publication process.
Sanctuary is my debut, but it is not the first book I wrote. I finished the draft of a science fiction novel, The Aurelian Protocol, the year before, and it is slated for 2027. When the idea for Sanctuary came to me, I decided to make it my debut instead, because it was the more compelling and pressing story to tell.
Writing it was beautiful and painful at the same time. The painful part was learning what people are fleeing from and learning the conditions many migrant workers endure once they reach rural American farmlands. The satisfying part was learning about myself as a writer. It showed me my own fault lines, triggers, and perspectives on the world more than I ever expected.
The publication process is the part that interests me least, but I came to recognize how important it is. As a debut author working with limited resources, I learned a great deal about how publishing actually works, and I learned to do much of it myself. It was a steep learning curve.
What inspired you to start writing Sanctuary?
In the brutal winters of 2024, thousands of immigrants were bused into Chicago from Texas for petty political posturing. Chicago winters are brutal, sub-zero for months at a stretch, and people were dropped off with almost nothing. No winter coats, no winter shoes. No food, no place to take a shower. They were sent to stay inside local police stations and churches. Hundreds of people were forced to sleep in conditions worse than anything we can imagine.
Our church, alongside many charity organizations, did what it could. We bought shoes and winter clothes. We bought transit passes and school supplies for the children. We turned the church bathrooms into community showers. A lot of small things.
While this was happening, I also saw the indifference of many decent people, some of them my own friends. Their questions were “why here?” and “what does this have to do with me?” and “why don’t these people just do XYZ?” I know them as good people, only thinking about their own comfort, their own status, their own wellbeing. Can you fault them for that? Probably not. But can we have a society where everyone is only for themselves?
I had the privilege of meeting and talking with many of these immigrants on multiple occasions, and what I found were ordinary people fleeing violence and looking for a foothold. The foothold is often small things – an old bicycle you give them or a monthly transit pass for reaching some work. Their stories made me ask myself a simple question. What would I do if I were dropped in the middle of Central America and had to find my way back by foot? Sanctuary is my answer to that question, told through the eyes of a kid.
Did you draw from personal experience when writing this book?
In ways I did not expect. If the question is whether I ever walked the migrant road or faced that violence myself, the answer is no. The life of the book came from the people I met while researching it. But many of the characters naturally resemble people I know: the sisters in the orphanage, the Maya grandmother, the little boys Santiago and Heriberto, and many others.
The world building of the novel came from my own life. From my travels through the southern United States and Mexico, and from growing up as a kid in a small rural village in the southern part of India, surrounded by nature. So while the story is not mine, a great deal of its ground was familiar under my feet.
Your book is extensively researched. Can you tell us about your research process?
I spent months with documentaries and articles about the places and the route. I researched the birds, the trees, the geography, the slang, the customs, the history, and the clothing. All of it helped with the world building. But the research I valued most came from people, from the immigrants I talked with in every encounter I could find.
What I learned is simple. If you show genuine interest in someone and keep an open mind, they will share with you, and they give you insights you could never find anywhere else. The opposite is also true. If you come to someone with your mind already made up, you only look for the evidence that confirms what you already believed. The open mind is the whole method.
What is the main message you want readers to take away from Sanctuary?
I am not sure a novel needs a message, and to be honest, I do not have one I am trying to hand the reader. I believe readers are far more intelligent than I am. They will take from the book whatever resonates with them, and I would not want to narrow that down for anyone. My job was to tell the story as truly as I could. What it means is theirs to decide. The funny thing is, I have seen this already. One of my early readers called it a gripping thriller. Another said it sat with him for days and would not leave him alone. I have no way to predict how any reader will take it, and I have made my peace with that.
We hear your second novel arrives in 2027. Anything you can share with readers about The Aurelian Protocol?
It follows five young women from diverse backgrounds navigating the world after an alien invasion. At its heart it is a story about resilience, resistance, and sacrifice when the odds are slim. It is action-packed upmarket fiction with hard science fiction elements, and a very different book from Sanctuary, though I think readers will find the same thread running underneath both: ordinary people holding on to each other when everything else gives way.
Author bio:
Daniel Pandiyan works as a technologist, paints as an amateur, and reads widely in world cultures, religions, and philosophy. He lives with his family in Chicago. His website can be found here.
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