It is tough to put Escala’s Wish into a box. The book is a romantasy novel without the smut, written by a career lawyer with a passion for D&D. It adds a dash of humor, epic stakes, and a structure inspired by The Princess Bride. The book is a love-letter to David James’ ongoing Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and, ahead of his upcoming presence at PAX East 2026, we talked to the lawyer-turned-author about why Escala’s Wish will feel so familiar to tabletop fans at the convention.

Perhaps that isn’t a fair turn of phrase, however, as David James is adamant that his career in law didn’t just enable his longtime D&D habit, but it wormed its way into his debut novel. 

“I didn’t leave law to become an author,” he tells Popverse. “I brought the law with me. Fantasy worlds need internal logic just like corporations do. Systems matter. Consequences matter. Governance matters. The difference is, in my books, dragons are usually more honest than executives. When you read Escala’s Wish, you’ll hear about the laws of the Court of Dreams. Those laws are brutal. Unforgiving. Binding. They aren’t suggestions – they’re absolute. That’s my lawyer-side showing up on the page.”

Those laws are the origin story of the titular Escala, who herself was originally David James’ D&D character beginning in an online D&D campaign in 2020. James, who began playing D&D back in 1980, wanted to play something unusual for the campaign. After some bartering with their DM, Escala Winter was born as an elf paladin who told everyone she was a pixie princess from the Court of Dreams who had been banished for breaking fey law.

Like many players, James wrote up a backstory for Escala to flesh out her reasons for adventuring. That backstory eventually became Chapters 3 and 17 of Escala’s Wish. The novel focuses on Escala and her band of fellow adventurers as they attempt to stop an evil that could undo both the fey realm and the entire material plane. One of those companions is Wigfrith Foreverbloom, who doubles as both the party’s bard and as narrator for the story, giving the book a story-within-a-story feel.

“One of my favorite films is The Princess Bride,” James tells us. “And I loved the idea of telling Escala’s story through a similar storytelling lens.” 

He explains that using Wigfrith as a narrator allows Escala to be deeply flawed and lacking in self-awareness, while the author can embrace tropes, make not-so-subtle comments to foreshadow what is to come, and even make small cracks in the fourth wall. “Just a small wink to the audience, almost Deadpool-style.”

Of course, Escala’s Wish isn’t just a fantasy novel about saving the world; it is a romantasy novel that carries certain expectations. David James explained to us that his book, while undeniably a fantasy with a romance plot, doesn’t have the explicit content that fans of the genre might expect. 

“Love is the most universal language there is,” he says. “Everyone longs for it, but love is not the same thing as sex, and love is not the same thing as lust. A lot of what’s being marketed as ‘romantasy’ right now leans heavily into explicit content wrapped in a fantasy setting. That’s fine – clearly there’s a huge audience for it. But that’s not what I’m writing. I’m not writing smut.”

So, if it doesn’t have the steamy scenes fans might expect from the romantasy genre, what sort of romance does Escala’s Wish promise? “I’ve written Friends-style romance,” James contends. He compares the romance between Escala and Roedyn, one of her travelling companions, to the dynamic between Ross and Rachel in the sitcom. “Everyone around them could see what was happening before they could. It took seasons for them to figure it out, and we couldn’t stop watching. That’s romance. It’s tension. It’s longing. It’s an emotional risk. It’s two people arriving at love at different speeds and not knowing how to handle it.”

The romance in Escala’s Wish, according to the author, is “slow-burning and clean – but it’s also awkward and frustrating and painfully real. It’s based on how I remember teenage dating: not fully understanding what you’re feeling, not knowing how to express it, and two people arriving at emotional clarity at different speeds.”

David James will be at PAX East this year as part of his Trash Panda Publishing brand to promote Escala’s Wish, and he is not taking any chances of people walking by without seeing him. 

“We’ve got a massive 10-foot-by-8-foot castle backdrop featuring a fey crossing, a full life-size cutout of Escala, and a six-foot replica of the book cover. You won’t miss me.”

At his booth, there will be both hardback and paperback copies of the book, copies of Escala’s character sheet in both Pathfinder 2E and D&D 5E, and a very fancy-sounding collector’s edition. Plus pins, mugs, and clothing to buy, along with free bookmarks, pens, and stickers – because no booth is complete without some free swag.

“We’re also right near the gaming tables – which feels fitting, since that’s where Escala was born.”

Escala’s Wish is Book One of a planned trilogy of books in the Tales of Valla series. Book Two, Mad as a Hornet, is already in the works and features a new love triangle along with the return of Escala and her adventuring party in a supporting role. It is due out later in 2026.

Thank you to Trash Panda Publishing for sponsoring this article. Popverse was paid for our time in creating this article.