What's the story behind your latest book?
Many people who love fantasy enjoy the archetypes and creatures that dwell within so I wanted to create a story that could fit in as many of these things into a story without the story being ridiculous or just simple name dropping. Even though this particular story is spread across six parts I've managed it in a way that is both sensible and exciting for the reader to behold. Secondly some fantasy stories can become overcomplicated in their telling and history and even though I have created an extensive lore for my world it never interferes with the story, so characters and places are easily identifiable. Thirdly the dialogue in fantasy can be somewhat removed from modern dialogue so the challenge was to keep in the fantasy setting but bring about themes and dialogue in a more contemporary way that readers can relate to. Lastly, though I'm sure sex and gore exist in this world, a good enough story doesn't need to showcase these things for the sake of realism, so they are excluded. It was ambitious to bring all four together but not impossible, and the end result is quite satisfying.
What are you most proud of about your story?
To finish and sell it for one. To be honest I think the respect given towards women is paramount here. In almost every story or movie I've seen the woman always needs to be kissed or saved by the man at the end as if the writers deemed it 'rude' not to. In this story however there are several lead characters who are women and all carry a sense of identity and don't feel the need to be swooned or saved or sexualized in any way. Though a relationship does develop with one character the others I'm hoping can be seen as role models in their demeanor and beliefs. Many of my own personal friends are females and through my time with them their influence and intelligence is dominant within these characters. As much as I love my male characters the women I am most proud of.
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