Meet Robert Lewis | Author, Publisher, & Eclectic Polymath

We had the good fortune of connecting with Robert Lewis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Robert, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I suppose in many ways, I stumbled backwards into it just like I have with many things in my life. But the more serious answer is that. also like many of my other ventures, it was just the right time and place. With regard to starting a publishing house, it had long been a goal of mine. I’m an author myself and a lover of books, so it just makes sense, and I had ideas about publishing the kinds of things maybe some of the larger publishing houses wouldn’t. But it was always sort of a more distant “some day” kind of a goal, until a few years ago when circumstances seemed to align in just the right way and I realized if I didn’t do it now I never would. Thus Polymath Press was born.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Well, the fun thing about my work is also what makes it sometimes challenging to answer questions like this because in many ways, I’m all over the map. My primary business venture is a publishing house called Polymath Press, but as you might guess by the name I chose for my business, I have varied interests and eclectic ventures which all feed into one another. In addition to my publishing work, I also sometimes perform as a magician, host the Phobophile YouTube channel, co-host (with Bryan Bonner) the Do You Like Scary Movies podcast, investigate paranormal claims with the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society, and dabble in as many other fields, interests, and hobbies as I can get my hands on.

The same was true in college, when I surprised everyone by deciding that instead of choosing a single major I should concurrently complete four majors (Biology, English, Mathematics, and Psychology, along with a minor in Astrophysics and then a completely different field entirely for graduate school). The world is a fascinating place and I like to find those unusual connections between seemingly disparate fields.

So if there’s anything that sets me apart, it’s that I seem to fit in everywhere and nowhere. I’ve made it my life’s work to learn about everything and try as many things as I can, so I’m able to float from one group of people to a completely different group without missing a bit. One day you might see me getting my hands dirty tinkering in my workshop, another you might find me with my nose buried in a history book or horror novel, and another still you might find me beating my head against some equation on my blackboard.

I’ve brought that same kind of interdisciplinary approach to all of my ventures as well. For example, in the paranormal investigation work I often have to draw on expertise ranging from electronics to psychology to plumbing and every conceivable thing between. Likewise in my publishing work, I’m often looking to publish manuscripts that defy easy labeling as belonging to this genre or that. I take pride in trying to publish those odd works that cross genre or subject boundaries and which might be overlooked by other publishers.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
How much time do they have? I could treat a visitor to a tour of one of the weirdest collections of oddities, curiosities, specimens, and artifacts I’ve ever seen without even having to leave my house!

But one assumes we want to actually see some sights around town. Fortunately, I’ve been writing the history of Colorado in a round-about sort of way by describing the histories of all the allegedly haunted places Rocky Mountain Paranormal has investigated in our books of case files (which I’m publishing under my Polymath Press label and have been co-writing with Bryan Bonner). One of the first stops will have to be Denver’s Cheesman park because it used to be one of Denver’s earliest cemeteries before it was a park, and the wild history of how some but not all of the graves were relocated has been one of my favorite of those stories. After more than 25 years of case files, though (and with a third book of those histories and ghost stories coming out this fall), we’re still going to run out of time before we run out of locations to tour.

And then of course we’d have to tour the local museums, the Denver Zoo, and some of the other cultural locations. A variety of bookstores are a must. I’m sure most locals know Denver and Colorado more broadly have a thriving literary community with plenty of bookshops and local authors. What even locals might not know about, though, is the area’s community of magicians and other performing artists. On any given evening, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see a great show if only you find the right little theatre putting it on.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are a lot of people I could mention, though many of my colleagues have already been featured in your publication, so to avoid reinventing the proverbial wheel, I’ll mention a couple who haven’t been featured yet: Henry & Hollie Snider. They’ve been supporting authors and organizing communities for writers for many years, and founded Fiction Foundry (which they built into the well-functioning machine it is before recently handing the reins over to yours truly). They’re also both excellent authors in their own right and have been nothing but supportive of my own ventures in the publishing world.

Website: https://www.polymathpress.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polymathpress1/

Twitter: https://x.com/PolymathPress1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PolymathPress1

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/phobophile

Other: Most of the links I provided go to my business pages, but I also keep a list of both personal and professional links at https://linktr.ee/robertlewisauthor