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Lost In His Own World
Dawnette Brenner Author Interview
The Ancient Sacred Tree: Birth of a Hero follows a 12-year-old boy who finds himself thrust into a magical land full of danger. What was your inspiration for this thrilling novel?
My inspiration for my story hit me after several episodes of depressive and manic scenarios with my son Joshua back in 2006. I felt helpless, as I watched my youngest child suffering from the throngs of what I learned to be bipolar disorder. He often would daydream and seem lost in his own world and although I researched to find answers, support and help, I couldn’t imagine this world he lived in, full of darkness. It was dreadful. Anyone with this disorder knows that it can cripple a family. I couldn’t fathom this life and so I created a world in which I wanted him to be the hero, one where he could over come any obstacle, to tell his story.
Joshua struggles with being bipolar and his parents divorce. I felt that you handled both with care and realism. Why did you want to cover such sensitive topics in your novel?
As a mother it was heart-wrenching and I learned so much, but still the world seemed to stigmatize the mental disorder my son suffered with and I wanted to change that for my son and others like him. As a teacher, I felt this story, in the hands of kids, could help them relate to a character like Joshua and they could empathize. Kids like Joshua would also enjoy reading that a character like them could overcome obstacles and become a hero, faltering along the way, but always striving to overcome. These are both important in our world with kids in schools, to help end the stigma and normalize these kids in not only their eyes, but others in school as well.
The world Joshua entered is full of magic and wonder that is described superbly. What were some themes you wanted to capture when creating your world?
I actually wanted to describe a fantastic world, full of intrigue and one in which I felt my son would enjoy, he seemed to love imaginary play outside with his action figures. So in the beginning that’s what I wrote, but as I progressed and the characters formed in my mind, and real life also took us on a journey through darkness, it was dreadful. Secondary to the imaginary world, it was essential Joshua Creed faces grave darkness, soul crippling darkness, although not as prevalent in this book, the series will encompass thematic elements of the darkness in anger and the peace at the end of the tunnel.
Will this book be part of a series? Where will book two pick up and when will it be available?
Yes! The book will be a series of three, possibly more books. I’m currently in the editing stage with book 2 and will come out this year, with book three later this year or early 2019.
The book will pick up two years later, where Joshua continues struggling in school and learns a great deal more about the prophecy of his destiny. If you pick up a copy of the first book, there’s a preview of the first chapter at the end. Enjoy!
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![The Ancient Sacred Tree: Birthing a Hero by [Brenner, Dawnette N.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KdyB3pOdL.jpg)
Joshua Creed receives disturbing news about his parents, but before he is able to process it, he is flung into a world of intrigue and danger where he must fight for his life and the lives of the inhabitants. He discovers he has secret powers, and the mystery of his eye is revealed, but it isn’t easy being bipolar and only nine years of age. His newly found friends and family help him through his adventure but not before he’s forced to change schools.
The action-packed, fun, and exciting adventures of Joshua begin in this first adventure of his destiny.
The Classic Dragon-Slayer
Kristopher Jerome Author Interview
The Nightbreaker follows a paladin named Daniel as we’re introduced to the conflict between the gods of darkness and light and their conflict on the Mortal Plane. What made you want to write this prequel novella to your Broken Pact Trilogy?
Daniel has a major impact on the history of the Mortal Plane. His secret affair with Lio is the catalyst that directly leads to Lio’s fall and the creation of the Grey God’s Pact. Without Daniel, the world as we see it in the Broken Pact trilogy wouldn’t exist. Without spoiling too much of the next book in that trilogy, Daniel and what happened to him plays a larger role in the story, and how Trent and Ren deal with their own parallels to the Paladin hero.
Daniel is on a mission to defeat Rexin before he plunges the Mortal Plane into darkness. Do you feel that Rexin is Daniel’s antithesis, or did you want them to compliment one another?
I first came up with the story as my spin on the classic dragon-slayer tale where a hero must travel away from the kingdom to kill the beast that threatens to destroy it. Daniel is a conflicted character though, as he struggles with the nature of his birth and the way that he is viewed by society. It made sense for Rexin to be a physical manifestation of the darkness that Daniel sees in himself. In order to overcome this external force he doesn’t just have to banish his own darkness, but accept it and use it.
The battle of good vs evil is a theme we see often in fantasy. Do you think the Gods of Darkness and Gods of Light represent this contrast or is there a grey area?
I’ve tried to take the classic good vs. evil tale and add grey areas within each of the factions. Lio, the villain of the Broken Pact trilogy, is a fallen God of Light, who only fell because of his love for a mortal and his natural desire to avenge him. Daniel commits an objectively evil deed at the end of The Nightbreaker to defeat Rexin the Blasted. Although the Gods of Light and the Gods of Darkness represent that classic dichotomy, the individuals who makeup and serve those groups fall into somewhere between good and evil in their personal morality, which makes their interactions all the more interesting.
What is one thing that people point out after reading your book that surprises you?
I’m usually surprised at many of the little world-building details that people pick up on. I try to seed references to other stories and events in the world that I have planned so that sometime in the future when those stories are written the whole series will feel like a more cohesive whole. It’s a really cool feeling though when people catch some of those now, and ask me, “What’s up with that? When do I get to find out what that meant, or who they were talking about?” My answer: keep reading.
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![The Nightbreaker (Gods and Men Cycle) by [Jerome, Kristopher]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41mWd-uP7gL.jpg)
Be sure to read this exciting prequel to the Broken Pact Trilogy before reading the second book in the series, Cries of the Forsaken.
In the years before the Grey God’s Pact, the Gods of Light and the Gods of Darkness waged war upon the Mortal Plane. Fighting alongside them were armies of men and monsters. The Champion Daniel, a Paladin of the Light, leads a band of warriors into the wilderness to defeat one such being, Rexin the Blasted, before the creature engulfs the entire Mortal Plane in an endless darkness.
Daniel, scorned for his heritage as the child of a rapist, must first come to terms with his own identity and what he is willing to do in the name of the greater good. Sometimes wicked deeds can destroy wicked things.
I Wanted to Study Obsession
Jesse Teller Author Interview
Mestlven follows Meredith as she returns to her home at Sorrow Watch to destroy her enemies. What themes did you use as you built this new story in the Perilisc series?
As a man without a father attempting to raise two sons, in a lot of my work, I study fatherhood. In this book, I studied motherhood, and the effects of a mother’s estrangement from her children. I wanted to study obsession and how it can dominate the mind and creep into the soul. So far in the work I’ve published, I’ve played very little with love, and the love that I did show in Chaste was an old and familiar love. In this book I wanted something new and fresh. Of course, I wanted to spend some time on revenge. It is an idea that’s gone through my mind often in my life because of my childhood, and I wanted to develop that theme and play with it in my work. In most or all of these topics, I found a certain amount of cathartic release. Mestlven really did help heal me in a lot of ways, and I’m very thankful for it.
The town of Mestlven is a haven for the depraved, dirty, greedy and perverted. How did you set about creating this vivid world?
In my past, I learned that when you live with darkness, you live in darkness. If you’re violent and ugly, the world you live in can’t help but be the same. Evil breeds more evil. The tragedy of Sob’s situation is that she is so enthralled by the idea of her own revenge that she attracts darkness to her. In many places, she had the opportunity to walk away from this darkness and find some other kind of peace. She had the friendship of Sai Sibbius Summerstone, and the love held out to her by Jeffery. But in both these situations, she turned away from that, seeking darkness. Usually, we find what we go looking for. There were many places in the city of Mestlven where you can find goodness and light. But Sob goes out of her way to avoid those places, to look for deadly pets and vile foes, and so the book is wrought with them.
The Pale is very morbid in this story. What was your inspiration for The Pale? Did anything develop organically?
For the most part, all of my work develops organically. My writing style is very much like I go around setting ideas into motion and watching them spin out of control. Very rarely do I plot an idea’s course. I started out with the idea of a festival of death, and tried to picture the city that would willingly hold such a festival. I realized that none would. None would truly welcome in the goddess of death to take over their city. So she would force her will upon them. I started looking at the sort of things that would be held sacred by the goddess of death, thinking of what would be The Pale’s virtues, what would she love? That’s when I realized she would see killers and murderers as her most beloved. She would hold sacred certain diseases, and when she sees someone like Sob, preparing to paint a masterpiece of death, she would send aid. I pictured the face of death, and what that face would look like, and for some reason, the image was of a beautiful woman with pale skin. So I named her The Pale. My gods I cast as people. They’ve all got their own likes and dislikes, loves and desires. They have their own flaws and their own sins. The only trick to creating my religion is understanding the quirks and foibles of the deity.
This being the fourth book in the Perilisc series, are you developing a fifth book or a different story?
We’re going to set this story line here for awhile. In 2019, we’ll pick up where we left off and head into a 5-book epic series I have already written that will take us through The Escape. But for now, we’re going to head southwest and find Rayph Ivoryfist for a trilogy called The Manhunters. When we left Rayph Ivoryfist in Liefdom, he had had a falling out with his king, Phomax. In my next book, Song, Rayph has been wandering the countryside of Lorinth, helping out where he can, and waiting for the king to die. Soon, a new evil organization rises, and he must gather what allies he can and rush off to face it. That’s where we go next. It introduces a set of new characters, characters that will show up again everywhere. With the first seven books I release, my goal is to build a character list. I’m introducing as many different people as I can organically in order to have them in place for later novels. What’s exciting about Song, and really the entire Manhunters series, is that we get to meet a new cast of characters, all unique and varied, all of which are leading somewhere. And we get to make cheese.
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Revenge, Insanity, and the Bloody Diamonds
Meredith Mestlven was abused and betrayed by her nobleman husband. After a desperate fit of retaliation, she fled for her life and lost her sanity. Now nearly 20 years later, she returns to her home at Sorrow Watch to destroy her enemies and reclaim her jewels. How far will she go to satisfy her revenge? Dark, cunning and beautiful, Mestlven will win your heart or devour your mind.
The Darkness in the Light
D. Hart St. Martin Author Interview
Fractured is a captivating story of heroism, greed, and fulfilling one’s destiny. What was the initial idea behind this story and how did that transform as you were writing the novel?
Dune is perhaps my favorite book ever. I read it back in the day. After reading Dune Messiah, I was sure I knew what would happen next. When Children of Dune was published, I read it and threw it across the room, saying, “If Frank Herbert won’t write the book I want to read, I’ll write it.” I had no idea what I was doing, and I certainly had no concept whatsoever of where this first step of the journey would take me. But I knew I needed a “gimmick.” That’s when the idea of a world where sexism had never existed entered the story, but what began as a gimmick became an opportunity to define character with the facets of light and dark that exist in all of us rather than by the character’s genitalia and served as a significant guide to my world-building. Who are these beings that in their society there is no division of labor by gender? What differences between earth humans and the people of Garla (physical and mental) would bring such a thing about?
Lisen is a complex teenage girl that is brought to life by your writing style. What were the morals you were trying to caputre while creating your characters?
None of my characters is either all good or all bad. I revel in the gift of digging down deep and finding the darkness in the light and vice versa. For me, each character deserves the opportunity to show the reader all they’ve got and allow the reader to judge for herself. As for morals, I believe that one must know how to think before one can make any moral decision. Even then, the moral decision may not be the best decision at the moment. Sometimes, we have to sacrifice the “good” thing for the “right” thing (a major decision in book 2 illustrates that). Luckily, Lisen comes into the story with some pretty strong ethics that have been taught to her by the Holts, her guardians on earth. This allows me as the writer to challenge those ethics and see how she does.
What I loved most about the novel is that it plays with the idea of who is truly in charge of shaping our path in life. Did you put any of yourself or your experiences into this book?
I have always had a strong connection to the dead, but certainly not to the extent that Lisen does with her gift as a necropath. I think one of the most interesting aspects of the story is the character of Flandari, a woman too tightly wound to give her son any love at all and who is ultimately stolen away from Lisen before Lisen gets a chance to know her. My mother was a distant woman, and I realized after creating the character of Flandari that she was very like my own mother. Unlike me, however, Lisen finds a way to love. She makes a friend in Jozan, and there is clearly something going on with her Captain Cutie. She’s open to the possibilities, and this is thanks to her time with the Holts.
Fractured is book 1 in the Lisen of Solsta series. Where does book to take the characters and what do you invision for the series in the future?
There are 3 more books already available: Tainted, book 2, in which Lisen must come to terms with what to do about her brother (and which contains the true beginning of the match between her and Korin); Blooded, book 3, which finds Lisen struggling with this new mantle on her shoulders of Empir; and Protector of Thristas, book 4, which begins fifteen years after the end of Blooded because I wanted to know who these people became when they grew up. I am currently working on what was originally book 5 and the final book. However, it’s turning into a longer project than originally planned, and although it will still put an end to the story, it’s likely to be two books rather than one.
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![Fractured (Lisen of Solsta Book 1) by [St. Martin, D. Hart]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51u9AmW4xML.jpg)
“Seventeen-year-old Lisen Holt only begins to realize that her life is fractured after a sorcerer abducts her from a California beach and brings her home to Garla. She awakens at Solsta Haven, a refuge for the spiritual members of Garlan society known as hermits. The sorcerer, Hermit Eloise, has returned Lisen?s body to its true form?a human-like marsupial with no visible breasts and a fuzzy pouch just above where her bellybutton once was. She then restores Lisen?s memory of her first ten years in Garla, leaving her earthly existence behind but not forgotten. Although she is Lisen of Solsta now, questions haunt her, questions Eloise refuses to answer. Who are the parents who left her at Solsta? Why did Eloise send her to Earth? And what is so important about her that Eloise has manipulated so much of her life? The answers will propel Lisen into a quest for a throne, and all that will stand between her and her birthright is her matricidal twin of a brother.”
LITERARY TITAN 