About the Book
When a human huntress stumbles upon him in her search for a legendary predator, their fates are intertwined. But she hides deadly secrets, and if he dares to trust her, he may risk the doom of both courts to an ancient evil...
A novella retelling of Snow White.
Find it on: Amazon || eBook || Goodreads
About the Author
Find her on: Facebook || Author site
About the Artist
Irina Plachkova is an acclaimed artist, freelance illustrator, and fashion designer, better known as PhantomRin. You can find more of her work at phantomrin.tumblr.com.Interview with the Author
1. Hello, Hannah! To start out, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Who you are, your favorite books (besides your own), hobbies, anything else you want to share?
Hello, Sarah! Thank you for having me! My author name is H. S. J. Williams; I am an artist and a dreamer; I love chatting about stories with my writing pal, Bryn Riplinger Shutt; I love cos-play; I love The Tales of Goldstone Wood, The Queen's Thief, and The Wingfeather Saga. I cherish my characters as a mother hen and may talk to them more than to real people. (Wait, what, I mean, they ARE real people.)
2. Fairest Son is your debut into the writing world. Can you share a little about your journey up to this moment and how you decided that this was the time and the story with which to introduce yourself to readers?
Yes, and I am QUITE excited! Originally, I had planned for Fairest Son to be used as an entry to a contest, but as the word-count quickly grew, I realized it wanted to be a larger story. At first, I considered pursuing it with traditional publishing since I plan for it to remain a standalone, but since I plan to independently publish a much larger series later, I decided to use Fairest Son as my training pilot. And let me tell you, what a RELIEF it has been to learn the self-publishing basics on a small project. I chose the story for my debut because of how confidently the tale stood on its own.
3. Besides the obvious (since Fairest Son is a Snow White retelling), what are some books, movies, or other elements that influenced your novel?
I adore heroes and I adore the thrill of them in terrible peril, and I believe this may have been started back when I was a small child watching Disney's Robin Hood........but more specifically to this story, I've been inspired from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (I mean, talk about setting atmosphere and studying environment...), and during a particular writing slump I was reinvigorated by An Enchantment of Ravens, which-- despite including some elements I usually avoid in books--brought me a huge breath of fresh air in style and creativity and reminded me what a great heroine looks like.
4. On a related note, Fairest Son is heavily centered around the Fae (something I’m super excited about, for the record). Are you a fan of fae-related books, then? And if so, what are some of your favorites?
Ah yes, I LOVE the Fae, the Fey Folk, the Faerie. I notice a tendency towards modernizing the Fae in certain popular books, and I'm not a fan of that presentation. I prefer classic environments, characters, and lore. As such, I adore Wildwood Dancing, Tales of Goldstone Wood, and An Enchantment of Ravens.
5. What was the hardest part of writing Fairest Son? The best part?
Oh, the terrible middle. The part where I needed to develop the relationship between my main characters and make sure their chemistry clicked. Happily, they had a life of their own and suited each other without my help, but discovering the scenes for development still proved challenging. I'd known the climax for some time, so finally reaching it was such a thrill....
6. If you could spend a day with your characters, either in your world or theirs, what would you do together?
Hmm, in their world I would like to be up in the snowy mountains, bundle up in furs, and drink hot cider while playing with all of Idris's animals. Here....well, I'm trying to think of something we could do that wouldn't make them incredibly jumpy. It would probably involve animals again, because Idris is a total softie for them, and Keeva thinks that's sweet.
7. Finally, what are your plans from here? I know you have another manuscript that you’ve been working on for quite some time; can we expect that anytime soon?
Yes! It has been quite some time since I started work on that particular manuscript, Moonscript, but part of the delay is due to the fact that it is the beginning of a much larger series which I have spent much time planning and developing. New ideas and plans rise up every day, and each step gets me closer to release. Publishing Fairest Son is a HUGE step, and I shall work harder than ever to finish the latest draft of Moonscript and the future books ahead.
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And that's that! Thanks for letting me be a part of the tour, H.S.J., and for your awesome answers! And thanks to all my readers for stopping by! Don't forget to check out the rest of the blog tour, and make sure you pick up this delightful novella! For the duration of the tour, it's $1.99, so don't hesitate!
Have a wonderful day!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)
Tour Schedule
August 4th:
Book spotlight with Jemma at The Sherwood Storyteller
Author interview with Sarah at Dreams and Dragons — you are here.
August 7th:
Author interview with Sarah at Dreams and Dragons — you are here.
August 7th:
Author Interview with Olivia at The Book Sprite
August 8th:
August 9th:
Book Spotlight with Shantelle at Between the Pages of this Bookish Life
Book Spotlight with Laura at Unicorn Quester
Book Spotlight with Emmarayn at Writing in Rivendell
August 10th:
Book Spotlight with Laura at Unicorn Quester
Book Spotlight with Emmarayn at Writing in Rivendell
August 10th:
Book Spotlight with Betsy at Stretching the Metaphorical Cello
Thank you for the delightful interview, Sarah!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Thank you for answering my questions!
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