Get a glimpse into the world of author Jamie Marchant's Kronicles of Korthlundia today and don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC fromt he author. The tour is sponsosered by Goddess Fish Promotions and click HERE to find all the tour stops.
A Q&A with the Jamie Marchant
Thanks
for stopping by to talk a little about your writing! Let's jump right in. When
did you begin writing and why?
I began writing basically as young as I could
write. I wrote stories about the man from Mars for my older sister when I was
as young as six. I wrote because the stories within me had to come out. Writing
has always seemed the most nature thing to do. To ask I feel about writing is
like asking how I feel about breathing. I need to write to live, at least to
live a happy life.
Do you have a favorite genre? Is it the same genre you prefer to write?
Yes, my favorite genre is fantasy, and so far
all of my writing falls within this genre. My reading is more diverse than my
writing, but fantasy is still my favorite. To me, fantasy gives the best mix of
magical escape and deep contemplation of what it means to be human.
Do certain themes and ideas tend to capture your writer’s imagination and fascinate you?
One of the most important ideas that I often
include in my writing is the concept of forgiveness, both of ourselves and of
others. Everyone makes mistakes. When we do, yes, it’s important to do what we
can to make things right, but to move on and become a better person, we need to
forgive ourselves for our weaknesses. Equally important is to forgive others,
even if they don’t deserve it. Holding on to anger and resentment damages our
own soul and casts a shadow of darkness over our happiness. This idea comes up
repeatedly in my work. Getting it there without becoming didactic is sometimes
a difficult task.
How do you balance long-term thinking vs. being nimble in today's market?
Personally, I don’t worry about today’s market.
I write the stories that are inside my soul and trust that they will find
readers. If I tried to write to sell, what I write would be artificial. It
doesn’t come from within me, so it is far from my best work. Readers can tell
when a writer’s soul is in their work and when it isn’t. I also write first for
myself, because writing fills me and makes me happy. It wouldn’t if I were
forcing myself to write for the market. Don’t get me wrong. I want my novels to
sell. I want people to read them, but I believe the best way to achieve that is
to be true to myself.
How
do you find readers in today's market?
This is the eternal question. Promoting my work
is certainly not my favorite part of being an author. The most effective tool
I’ve found is twitter. Political twitter can be a toxic place, but if you stay
away from politics and immerse yourself with the writers and readers on
twitter, you find a supportive, friendly environment, and at least some of the
people I interact with become readers. But I’m always searching for better ways
to promote.
Do you come up with the hook first, or do you create characters first and then dig through until you find a hook?
All my work starts first with the characters.
For me to enjoy a book, I have to care about the characters in the story. If I
don’t care about them, I don’t care what happens to them. You people your world
with interesting people, and they will reveal your hook.
How do you create your characters?
In a way this is like asking how did I raise my
son to be the kind of man he is. Yes, I had a role in teaching and guiding him
into adulthood, but he came to me with a lot of his essential qualities already
in place, and there was little I could do to change them. My characters are
often like that. I don’t know if this is a result of having observed people for
fifty years or from having read thousands of books, but I don’t really create
my characters. They come to me.
What's on the top of your TBR pile right now?
Right now I’m reading The Strange Case of
the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss. The novel includes the
monstrously created women from 19th century fiction, such as
Rappicinni’s daughter and the female monster created by Dr. Frankenstein, and
unites them with Sherlock Holmes. It is a delightful tale that I highly
recommend.
Where’s the story set? How much influence did the setting have on the atmosphere/characters/development of the story?
The novels are set in my imaginary world of
Korthlundia. It’s more accurate to state that the atmosphere/characters
influenced the development of the world than the other way around. In the first
book in the series, The Goddess’s Choice, I retell my favorite fairytale
from childhood, “The Princess and the Glass Hill.” The tale involves strange
occurrences such as magical horses riding up the side of a sheer glass hill, so
I needed to create a world where such things could make logical sense. My world
grew out of the needs of the story, and then the world influenced the future
books in the series.
Tell
me a little about the characters in The Kronicles of Korthlundia.
The fairytale the series is based on focuses on
a Cinderella-like peasant boy who wins the right to marry the princess of the
land through the aid of magical horses. In creating Robrek, I need a character
who would have reason to be hated by the community but would draw magical
beings to him. Because of his mixed blood (a necessary condition for magical
ability in my world), he is a powerful sorcerer, but his magic combined with
his mixed heritage makes him an outcast. The local priest believes him to be
demon cursed and wants to burn him at the stake.
In the original tale, the princess has no
personality and isn’t even named. She is nothing more than a prize to be handed
off to the victorious male. In rewriting the tale, one of the most important
things to me was to change this. Samantha, the crown princess of Korthlundia,
is an intelligent, strong, and powerful woman. She is as frequently the rescuer
as the rescued. She is Robrek’s equal, and at times, his superior.
If you had to write your memoir in five words, what would you write?
I don’t think anyone would want to read a memoir
of my life, but try these:
Writer, Lover, Teacher, and Mother.
How often does your muse distract you from day to day minutiae?
All the time, I’m afraid. The stories live in
my head until I can get them out on the page.
What do readers have to look forward to in the future from you?
The Kronicles of Korthlundia
by Jamie Marchant
GENRE: Epic Fantasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
“Magic,
love, hate, torture, heroes, and a story that will never stop blowing your
mind!” Cheree~For Love of Books
The three volumes of
The Kronicles of Korthlundia plus The Ghost in Exile: A Korthlundian Kronicle
brought together for one low price. In addition to the novels, the collection
features several bonus short stories, previously available only to members of
my readers’ club.
The Goddess’s
Choice--In a world where the corrupt church hides the truth about magic, the
fate of the joined kingdom falls on the shoulders of two young people from
opposite ends of the social hierarchy.
Crown Princess
Samantha’s life begins to fall apart when she starts seeing strange colors
around her potential suitors. She fears that she’s going insane--or worse that
she’s defying the Goddess’s will. Robrek is a lowly farm boy with incredible
magical powers. He has been biding his time waiting to get revenge on those who
call him a demon.
Thrown together by
chance, they must overcome their differences to fight their common enemy Duke
Argblutal, who, with dark magic, is slowly poisoning the king’s mind and
turning him against his own daughter. Time is running out for those chosen by
the Goddess to prevent the power mad duke from usurping the throne and plunging
the joined kingdoms into civil war.
The Soul Stone-- A
match made by the goddess is threatened by an Ancient Evil.
As Samantha and Robrek
prepare for their marriage and coronation, they are met with opposition on all
sides. Not all believe that the peasant sorcerer is worthy to be king, and the
young couple must perform delicate political maneuvers to prevent the joined
kingdoms from breaking apart.
As the church splits
over opposition to their union, an unseen force is poised to release an ancient
evil that was last defeated a thousand years ago. When the Soul Stone is broken
free of its bonds, all life in its path succumbs to its power. How much will the
new royal couple have to sacrifice to free the joined kingdoms of its evil?
The Ghost in Exile—A
special Kronicle outside of the series that tells the story of Darhour. The
novel takes place at the same time as The Soul Stone. The Ghost is going to
hell. Not even the goddess can forgive his sins: assassin, oath-breaker,
traitor (an affair with the queen earned him that title). No one can ever learn
the princess is his daughter. To keep this secret, he flees to the land that
turned him from a simple stable groom into an infamous killer.
His mission now? To
find evildoers and take them to hell with him. But when an impulsive act of
heroism saddles him with a damsel who refuses to be distressed, her resilience
forces him to question why he really ran from his daughter.
The Shattered Throne--
Queen Samantha’s spirit brightens as the festival of renewal approaches. The
Ancient Evil that drained life from the land has been destroyed, and life is
returning to the joined kingdoms. The birth of her heir gives her even more
reason to celebrate. But a coup orchestrated by the unlikely alliance between a
freedom-loving count and a fanatical church shatters both her plans and the
ancient throne itself.
With her infant
daughter missing and death and destruction spreading, Samantha finds herself
faced with an impossible choice: save her daughter or her people. Already torn
between a mother’s love and her duties as a queen, Samantha learns that an even
greater danger threatens: the goddess herself is fading. What sacrifices will
Samantha have to make to stop an evil god from taking Sulis’s place?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
Two:
At bedtime, Alvabane sat at her dressing table brushing her
long hair. It had once been a bright, rich red, but it had dulled with age and
was now mostly grey with only a few strands of color to remind her of what once
had been. It seemed a metaphor for her life—small flashes of color to remind
her of her once bright purpose.
One of those flashes, Erick, set her nightly goblet of
fortified wine next to her hand. She needed the strong alcohol to dull the pain
of her joints so she could sleep. She turned to thank him, but the words died
on her lips as she saw the reproach in his eyes. Alvabane turned back to her
mirror. Tonight was the night of the new moon. She should have been preparing
to perform the rites of the dark gods, not preparing for bed. “They have
forgotten us,” Alvabane said. “The Soul Stone does not live.”
Erick made a mewing sound, reminding her what he’d
sacrificed to serve her and the dark gods. She herself had cut his tongue from
his mouth when he came to her as a ten-year-old child. He had surrendered it
stoically.
“Do you think you have sacrificed more than I?” She turned
to face him. “I performed the rites faithfully every new moon for decades. And
for what, I ask you? The power of the Stone remains trapped behind the shield
the demon Armunn created from his own soul. That shield can’t be destroyed. The
Soul Stone won’t live again!
Buy Link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082S5J8RR
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Jamie
Marchant will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via
rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jamie began
writing stories about the man from Mars when she was six, and she never
remembers wanting to be anything other than a writer. Everyone told her she
needed a back up plan, so she pursued a Ph.D. in American literature, which she
received in 1998. She started teaching writing and literature at Auburn
University. One day in the midst of writing a piece of literary criticism, she
realized she’d put her true passion on the backburner and neglected her muse.
The literary article went into the trash, and she began the book that was to
become The Goddess’s Choice, which was published in April 2012. Her other
novels include The Soul Stone, The Ghost in Exile, The Shattered Throne, and
The Bull Riding Witch. In addition, she has published a novella, Demons in the
Big Easy, and a collection of short stories, Blood Cursed and Other Tales of
the Fantastic. Her short fiction has also appeared in the anthologies Urban
Fantasy, Of Dragons & Magic: Tales of the Lost Worlds, and Waiting for a
Kiss. She claims she writes about the fantastic . . . and the tortured soul.
Her poor characters have hard lives. She lives in Auburn, Alabama, with her
husband and five cats, which (or so she’s been told) officially makes her a cat
lady. She still teaches writing and
literature at Auburn University. She is the mother of a grown son.
Email:
jamie-marchant@jamie-marchant.com
Website/Blog:
http://jamie-marchant.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Marchant-Author/164706710298768
Twitter:
@JamieMarchantSF
8 comments:
My family loves reading so hearing about another great book I appreciate. Thanks for sharing and also for the giveaway.
Thanks for hosting!
How long did it take to write your book?
Thanks for hosting me. I love interacting with readers and will be checking back throughout the day if anyone has any questions.
I can't figure out how to reply on this comment form, but Bernie asked how long it took me to write the series? The series is now four books long, but I'm not a fast writer. Those books took about 15 years total.
The book sounds great.
Can't wait to check this one out!
Sounds like a good read
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