The Pen vs. the Sword

You’ve been described as an elevated Dan Brown because your novels blend historical fiction, adventure, and art history. How did you get your start as a writer?

I’ve always had a passion for writing, ever since I was a kid, but I didn’t study creative writing in school; I actually majored in Japanese and International Relations. Shortly after college, I moved from New York to Los Angeles, where I studied and pursued screenwriting at the professional level. I’ve written ten scripts, five of which were optioned for films.

One of the scripts I wrote was optioned by a production company founded by DreamWorks execs. Unfortunately, the movie was never made, but when the rights reverted back to me, I decided to seize the opportunity and adapt my script into novel form. When I queried my first manuscript, I got an agent, we submitted the book to publishers, and I ended up getting a three-book deal. My fourth book, which was published in July, is a stand-alone, but it’s in the same spirit as that initial trilogy.

Your books take place during the Renaissance. Why are you drawn to that period of history?

The Renaissance is a fascinating historical era. Humanity took a quantum leap during that time, which I find remarkable, but I often ask myself what could have happened to our world if we hadn’t regressed a little bit after the Renaissance.

The original trilogy isn’t entirely historical and, in fact, is set about 70% in the present day. It’s a dual-timeline thriller series about an American couple who travel to Venice, Italy on vacation. The husband comes to believe that his true soulmate is not his wife, but a woman whose soul has been imprisoned in the world’s largest oil painting for almost 500 years. His wife assumes he’s delusional, as one would; however, he’s completely adamant that this is all real.

Through a series of past life regressions, he discovers a secret society that, over hundreds of years, has developed a method of extracting people’s souls from their bodies and then trapping them in a painting as a sort of purgatory. The painting is titled "Paradise" ("Il Paradiso"); it’s a real painting by Renaissance master Jacopo Tintoretto, created between 1588 and 1592. I’m very interested in how or why people are immortalized in a painting, and I’m also fascinated with the concept of soulmates. What is that intangible connection that people can have with other people? And it could be a platonic relationship, of course, or even with an animal. The original trilogy marries those two themes wrapped in a continent- and centuries-spanning thriller.

My latest book, “The Swordsman of Venice,” is entirely historical fiction set between 1589 and 1614, and it’s an adventure story with a healthy dose of action. The main character is instructed under the cloak of night to leave Venice for the New World, so it follows his journey as he traverses the Italian Peninsula and then goes across the ocean to what is now present-day Colombia, and then back to Italy. It’s a standalone novel but is also connected to the trilogy. So, it’s great for both new and long-time readers.

What are your thoughts on the writing community in Denver?

Denver has a strong writing scene. A remarkable number of writers are based here, and we also have a great community of renowned bookstores, such as The Tattered Cover and Printed Page. I’m the ambassador for Denver’s Chapter of the Authors Guild, which is the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for published writers. The Guild hosts monthly events in Denver. There are also numerous writing groups, workshops, and courses, such as Mile High Writers Workshop, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and many more, plus all the book clubs in Denver.

Many authors lament how the publishing world has changed in recent years, which begs the question: In the age of AI, why is creative writing still important?

AI might have some uses for productivity, but it’s an existential disaster for creativity. AI doesn’t actually create anything new; it just rehashes things originally created by human beings. We need human-created stories, not computer-generated slop. The same goes for visual art and music. No matter how advanced or trained the LLM is, it can never truly understand the human experience of loss. It can’t smell a flower or feel emotions. It doesn’t know how anything feels, whether tangible or intangible. I strongly believe that storytelling is what separates humans from every other species on the planet. Storytelling is a human need—we have an innate necessity to both tell and consume stories—it’s woven into the very fabric of the human condition.

Samborn’s latest book, “The Swordsman of Venice,” is available to purchase in print and e-book everywhere (if your local bookstore or library doesn’t currently have it, just ask). His next author event will take place on Oct. 29 at the Tattered Cover on Colfax, where he’ll be interviewed by Denver author Caleb Stephens and do a book signing. For more information about Rob, his books, and upcoming events, visit robsamborn.com.