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Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?
In the banner of my website and my twitter bio, I claim I am a “writer of fantasy . . . and the tortured soul.” I like magical worlds, strange places, and fascinating beasts. But more than that I like characters who have been tempered by hardship and heartache. My characters live rough lives, but because of that they become stronger and deeper. I believe fantasy is the ideal genre for the creation of such characters.
What research (or world-building – for fantasy/paranormal/Sci-fi) is required?
What I find interesting about the way this question is phrased is that it seems to suggest that research isn’t necessary for writing fantasy. I can understand the logic behind that assumption. Since dragons don’t exist in reality, creating them (world building) rather than research (finding out what they’re really like) is necessary. However, I think the assumption is faulty at its core. With fantasy, authors and readers enter an unspoken pact that certainly deviations from reality are acceptable, even welcome. An author is asking that the reader suspend her/his disbelief and enter into a world of the author’s creation. Fantasy readers approach a novel with the willingness to do so. But it is a delicate pact that the author has a responsibility to maintain. Because a writer is asking for the suspicion of disbelief on so many things, it is all the more the important to get basic facts of a medieval world right. If I want my readers to believe magic is possible, I better not have common people wearing plate armor or using swords. Such things were simply too expensive for a commoner to afford. My readers will not trust my explanation of how wizards and sorcerers differ in my world, if I demonstrate I don’t know the difference in rank and prestige between a duke and a count. Fantasy writers, even less than their more realistic based sisters, can’t afford to get basic herb knowledge wrong.
Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.
The importance of forgiveness. A scene that remains my favorite to today is the forgiveness scenes from The Goddess’s Choice, what Robrek manages to do in this scene has taught me a vital lesson on human happiness. Robrek is badly abused by his father as a child and treated as an outcast by his community. He has been greatly wronged and has every reason to be angry and harbor hatred for others. But in order to grow and move on with his life, he needs to forgive those who had harmed him. He learns that by hating others he harms himself far more than them. It doesn’t matter if they deserve our forgiveness, we deserve to be happy. Robrek learns this in his life, and it is a lesson I very much try to incorporate in my own life.
Are you a plotter or pantser?
Pantser, definitely a pantser here. I avoid outlining and write by the seat of my pants. I allow the story to grow in my mind and on the page as it wants to. I know outlining works well for some, but for me outlining my novels is about as useful as trying to control my son’s life. My son is every bit as stubborn as I am (and my mother claimed I was the most stubborn of her eight children), and no matter what plans I had for him, he ended up choosing his own path. I taught him and guided him the best I could, but the decisions were ultimately his own. My books are nearly as much living creatures (and as stubborn) as my son is. I guide them, but in the end, they make the decisions about the direction they take. Fortunately, I’m very happy both with how my son and my novels turned out, so the process works for me.
Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
A coffee mug. The first cup of coffee in the morning is one of life’s finest pleasures.
Anything new coming up from you? What?
I’m presently working on the fourth novel in The Kronicles of Korthlundia, which I believe will complete the series. It doesn’t have a title yet, but I call it the dragon book. I wonder what kind of creature it may introduce into my world. I also have ideas for at least two other side novels involving characters from the series. Eventually, I also want to get back to the other series I started with The Bull Riding Witch and finish that story.
Do you have a question for our readers?
Other than recommendations from others, what makes you decide to read a particular book? Where do you most commonly learn of such book’s existence?
“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?
Read an Excerpt
As The Ghost entered Ares’s temple, an oppressive presence settled over him. He seemed to be alone in the huge sanctuary, but he knew the acolytes of Ares watched through hidden panels. Rumors claimed they waited for someone with signs of weakness to enter. Then they would pour forth, seize the unfortunate, and sacrifice him to their god. The Ghost had found no evidence to support such rumors, but he knew that animals and criminals were regularly sacrificed on Ares’s altar, bleeding out their lives into the bowl at the foot of his statue. It was a hard death, both the blood and the pain feeding the magic of Ares’s priests.
The Ghost knelt at Ares’s feet, where the stench of blood was nearly overpowering. The altar was stained with it, and the bowl at the god’s feet was full from a fresh sacrifice. The power present in this place was undeniable—dark and forbidding, far from the peace and serenity in Sulis’s temples. But he was no longer worthy of Sulis’s blessing. The Ghost drew his dagger, held his left forearm over the sacrificial bowl, and sliced a new cut alongside his numerous scars. As he bled into the bowl, he felt the magic of the place coalesce around him. His blood sizzled as it hit the bowl, and the wound on his arm healed instantly, signaling that The Ghost truly belonged to the Saloynan god.
About the Author: 
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.
Buy Link:
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Email: jamie-marchant@jamie-marchant.com
Website/Blog:
http://jamie-marchant.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Marchant-Author/164706710298768
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Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5258855.Jamie_Marchant
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