Posted by Athena Scalzi
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/28/the-big-idea-salinee-goldenberg/
https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59252
When you have two great ideas, why not have them work together to get the best of both worlds in one story? Author Salinee Goldenberg decided to do just that for her new novel, Way of the Walker. Enjoy hearing about her process of combining these ideas in her Big Idea.
SALINEE GOLDENBERG:
‘In its bare reality, decolonization reeks of red-hot cannonballs and bloody knives. For the last can be the first only after a murderous and decisive confrontation between the two protagonists. This determination to have the last move up to the front, to have them clamber up (too quickly, say some) the famous echelons of an organized society, can only succeed by resorting to every means, including, of course, violence.’
-Franz Fanon, The Wretched of The Earth 1961
There were two ravenous wolves of ideas within me when I sat down to write Way of the Walker. In one corner, we have an anti-colonialist war epic inspired by the late Rattanakosin era of Siam and the surrounding conquest of Southeast Asia by western powers. In the other, a character study, an anti-hero saga starring our headstrong protagonist Isaree, an estranged phi hunter on a journey of self discovery, defined by her uncompromising morals and a mission to administer the justice she sees absent in the world.
These two Big Ideas circled the story, which at times, frantically evaded capture, a juicy, nimble deer that refused to be devoured completely by one or the other. I needed to force my two hungry wolves to politely share this meal — to collaborate on its consumption in a viably publishable amount of words. Even though Way of the Walker is a stand alone, the real life inspiration behind the world of Suyoram began with my first novel, The Last Phi Hunter, a dark fantasy adventure inspired by Thai culture, folklore, Buddhism, and mythology. I didn’t want just a snapshot into a fantastical world, I wanted it to feel alive. A living world breathes, grows, dies, evolves… so I explored the effects of modernization in rural lands, the nostalgia of fading traditions, the death of mysticism, the yearning for a life that never was. I dipped my toe into the historical inspirations behind the world of Suyoram, but for the heavy themes in Way of the Walker, there was no shallow end to wade into. I had to dive in headfirst.
Something that deeply interested me has always been how Thailand avoided colonization throughout the centuries as competing European powers descended upon the resource rich region and violently established control. Fortuitously, Siam’s geographical location served as a buffer between the British Empire and French Indochina, but Monkut and his heir Chulalongkorn (King Rama IV and V, respectively) realized that subjugation would be inevitable without drastic action.
They educated their nobility overseas, adapted western fashions and architecture, and passed democratic legal and social practices, to the extent that some historians contend that Siam “colonized itself” in order to be perceived as culturally equal by the encroaching imperialists. Through territorial concessions, policy reforms, and diplomatic ingenuity, Siam remained independent, and the name of the country was eventually changed to Thailand in 1939 — “Thai” literally translating to “free.”
However inspiring this was, I wasn’t interested in writing a court intrigue dense with complicated political discussions. I wanted action, magic, murder, romance, mayhem! So the historical set up was only a jumping off point for the second wolf to come in. The “Grisland” antagonists in Way of the Walker are a conglomeration of western-coded oppressors, and I pulled more inspiration from struggles for sovereignty not only from other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, but from all around the world — Algeria, Cuba, Bolivia, Kenya, Palestine, and more — no colonized peoples are ever alone.
Revolutions arise from the oppressed, the working class, the people, which the protagonists from both books are — but Ex from The Last Phi Hunter wasn’t the right lead for this story. His daughter Isaree, however, has grown up in the shadow of atmospheric violence, and was the natural evolution for this point of history. The injustices she witnesses and a crisis of faith drive her to seek answers, to seek power, and ultimately, to strike back at the oppressors, despite the personal cost. She’s heroic, but flawed, and not without limitations.
The worst of these limitations was a narratively practical one. Isaree is a viciously fun character to write, but she’s all predator, instinct and raw power, with one foot into the world of devas and spirits, but can’t tell a treaty from a roll of toilet paper. How do I dig into the meat of a decolonialist narrative if the protagonist has no framework for geopolitics, or international trade wars, or, well… that’s where the Big Idea splits into a secondary POV — the renegade prince sent to kill her, as a favor to appease the king’s allies. With this insider view, we see what Frantz Fanon calls the “colonist bourgeoisie” perspective, which was the mediator bridge I needed, and made for great drama.
I had big ideas for this novel, but it’s something I’ve wanted to explore for years, and I was hungry for it. When I made the last edits, and the pass pages went to print, I can honestly say my appetite was satiated, and I settled in for a two-day victory nap. So if you’re itching for an action-packed fantasy war epic with an angry yet hopeful bichaotic protagonist, and big contemplations of what it means to punch up with a fist full of magic and a heart full of rage, go check it out.
Way of the Walker: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Books-A-Million|Bookshop|Powell’s
Author socials: Website|Instagram
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/28/the-big-idea-salinee-goldenberg/
https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59252
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Though I am a bougie bitch, there’s nothing quite like a mug full of Swiss Miss hot chocolate. I am an especially big fan of their Marshmallow flavor, so you can imagine my shock when I learned about their Marshmallow Lovers flavor that comes with even more dehydrated white chalk block marshmallows.
is far less fancy (or big, or trademarked) than it sounds, but like the Self-Imposed Sock Club (SISC) and The Long Range Planning Box for completed items, it’s one of my better ideas. You know how you’ll be minding your own business and you’ll see a project or have an idea or remember there’s an occasion coming up and you think “oh, I’ve got to get on that this year”. When that happens to me, I open my phone or computer and go to a note called “The Big Plan” and jot down whatever it happens to be. On there right now is a sewing project I don’t want to forget to get ahead on for next Christmas, and a note that a friend who makes soap could use some hand knit facecloths for her birthday, some ornaments I want to give as a Hallowe’en gift that it would be smart to make in the summer, that I need to gather pinecones for something else -whenever I see them through the year, and that (and this is that part that is relevant to this post) this is a year I have to knit and make another Advent Calendar, and that it would be super smart to knit a few of the ornaments each month so that it can’t get on top of me. (There’s also a note to buy the felt to make it when I see it on sale but that’s not as important to you.) 
