RoguesAngels: Rogue's Angels Present: Keeper of the Stone Andrew Anzur Clement

Please welcome Andrew Anzur Clement author of Keeper of the Stone.

Andrew Anzur Clement will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Keepers of the Stone

by Andrew Anzur Clement

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GENRE: Historical Young Adult Fantasy

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

My flash of inspiration for these books came as I was standing in front of the Lady Godiva statue in Coventry, England. I remember staring at the image of a girl on a horse with a piece of fabric. It was as if, in that moment, I experienced a moment of total clarity. I saw the entire story. The journeys my characters would go on. And, with a manner of burning urgency, it was a tale I knew I had to tell. I started writing that evening.

2. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

Beyond my instant of epiphany mentioned above, the idea for the trilogy had a longer subconscious germination. It started almost ten years before I found myself standing in front of a statue in Coventry's main square. About ten years ago, I was a 17 year-old going through a difficult time. My first Polish teacher shoved a copy of canonical Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz's 'In Desert and Wilderness' into my hands. Set in Africa, it chronicles the adventures of the son of a Polish refugee and his younger British friend. Both of whom have grown up there. This work, as well as a sequel to it, serve as the partial backlog to Keepers of the Stone; I open its story in the middle of the action with the' back-story' filled in as you go along. So, no problem if you've never read the earlier books. You're not meant to have done so.

As the story opens, Malka, a mixed race Indian, has already sacrificed the only life she's grown up knowing to protect a powerful stone from the designs of the Order of the Urumi. Stas gets caught up in this as well. I got the final idea for the story during the refugee crisis; my characters are sent on physical as well as soul-searching internal journeys. It's a quest that takes them around the world. On which they confront their own identities as young refugees trapped between identities. Searching for any place that will accept them.

3. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

I'm a political scientist researching the inter-linkages between migration, identity formation and nationalism. This allows me to bring insights from my own research -- done both with regard to Europe and South Asia -- to bear on the internal journeys my characters take over the course of Keepers of the Stone. Further, I've extensively studied Polish history and Slavic myths. All of which come to play a role in the fantasy universe I create amid the 1880's historical setting of my novels.

4. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

While I was still in high school, I spent a summer in the Maldives. Working as a news reporter for that country's national broadcaster. It was one of the best experiences I had in my life. As a sort of homage, most of the names of the people in the camp where Malka grew up -- including that of her main nemesis -- are actually taken from people I knew while living there.

5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I'm currently working on a trilogy that's a partial sequel to Keepers of the Stone. One of the plot lines picks up with its main protagonists about two years after the end of Keepers' main action. But, Keepers of the Stone is set almost exclusively in the late 19th century. My current project -- Voyages of Fortune -- is a tale that spans over 120 years, from the 1880's to the early 2000's. Its plot is woven into real Central European medieval history. Actual historical figures are characters in the story that spans locations from fin du siècle Moldavia, to a sailing ship of mercenaries based near 21st century Karachi. Just go with it.

6. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?

Henry. None of the characters in Keepers of the Stone is exactly going through easy times. But, Henry seems the most well adjusted to his circumstances. Despite being initially kidnapped into Malka's quest to protect the stone. I guess this is none too surprising. I initially conceived of him as a way of inserting myself into my own universe. He isn't the best fighter. But, his wide reading and knowledge allow him to become the group's chief-tactician. At one point it's even his idea to rob a bank using nothing but pure guile -- and a wagonload full of rabbits!

7. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

I'll be honest. I wrote these books for me; I never expected them to see the light of day. This was great for the creative process. It gives one the most pure form of constructive freedom.

It wasn't until a family retreat in Piran, Slovenia that anyone even found out that I was writing them. The author picture for Keepers Book One was actually taken through the kitchen window when I wasn't even looking. And, if memory serves, I was writing a scene in Book Three that takes place in a ruined Polish castle called Krzyżtopór, at the time. It was family and firends who -- after some editing, both within and beyond our circle -- encouraged me to put them out there.

8. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The best: It was Christmas day, 2015. I was back in LA visiting family and my close friends from high school. (We formed a group called the Whine and Cheese Club back in the day and its still going strong a decade later.) I'd just begun writing and was about halfway through the first book of Keepers. It was the first time I'd seen my friend -- who'd been my travel buddy when she'd lived concurrently with me in Europe -- for months. She asked what was new with me lately. I confessed that I'd begun writing these books. And told her that I wondered if I was certifiable for doing so.

She responded, "I don't think it makes you crazy at all. You're just one of the many people who write fiction."

The next day I kept writing. My friend was right. If you're thinking about writing a book? Really. Just do it.

The Worst? I've mentioned that my books take their background from two other tomes that were originally penned in Polish. I'd like to think that I did a rather painstaking job of filling in the back story from them in my own works. Still, it was suggested to me by exactly one person that I needed an outright summary of the plot that preceded Keepers' main action. I got to thinking and realized that I could make this into a rather poignant plot device. One which comes full circle in the epilogue of Book Three. Still, a segment of the feedback I've gotten since has suggested that some find the prologue intimidating. Maybe it wasn't necessary. Maybe it enhanced the story overall, in the end. So, I guess I'm daring you: Judge it as you will.

9. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

With Keepers of the Stone, I had a general idea of where I wanted to go with the story when I started writing. Most of the character, plot and universe details came as I started putting fingers to keyboard. As I kept writing, I found that my characters began speaking to me. Because of this, there were a few scenes that I was planning to go one way. But, instead, went in a whole new direction. In the end, this increased the poignancy of the desperate hope that permeates the plot.

With Voyages of Fortune I've found that the process is a bit different. It's a complex time travel plot; on top of this, most of the characters are working for their own ends, while hiding most of their actual motives from everyone else; these intentions remain mysterious for most of the plot. I've found it necessary to outline certain story lines just to keep my characters' internal monologues -- and what timeline we're in -- straight in my own head.

10. How do you maintain your creativity?

Two ways. I travel and I head to the opera house. I love heading to a new destination -- which my current day job fortunately funds me to do in spades. While on trains, buses and planes is when I'm most productive at producing manuscript. When not traveling for academic reasons, I like to engage in something I call 'operatic tourism,' too. I often get ideas for new plots or character details at the opera. Most recently, I'm particularly indebted to the Royal Opera of Wallonia's stagings of Turandot (my favorite) and Nabucco for an entire plot arc of the trilogy I'm currently writing. The main fight scene in Keepers of the Stone: Book Two takes place in an opera house. Bonus points for anyone who can catch the other three opera references in the Keepers trilogy.

Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

Bozhena. I remember first sitting down to write the chapter that created her. I knew I needed to create some villains. Decided to just put my butt in the chair and start punching computer keys. See where the process led me. Bozhena Alexevna Lubomirskaya -- the daughter of Russified Polish nobility -- was one result. She starts out as one of the most threatening characters in the books. Yet, over the course of the writing, she evolved into my favorite persona. The one I found most fatalistically sympathetic. One that despises her situation in the world. And yet is such a prisoner of it, that she ultimately must find a means of escape. In a way that's completely different from your typical protagonist-antagonist character.

11. Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?

Let me just start by saying I'm not sure what was meant by this question. So, I'm going to respond with what it means to me:

Bunnies: Yes, literally. See above.

Angels or Demons? That is the question. This phrase speaks to me in a very particular way. When I set out to write these books, one of the main themes was to spotlight the characters' moral ambiguity. Malka, the main protagonist, is a trained thief who has no trouble with lying through teeth when it suits her. Stas, on the other hand, is forced to confront the religiously moral and nationalist way in which he's defined his own personhood. What he once counted as his greatest strength now becomes the biggest impediment to saving the friend he holds most dear. They're joined by a cast of characters that don't fit cleanly into the traditional dimension of the protagonist-antagonist divide. The band is aided by a duo of mystical beings that are literally fallen angels, who find themselves alone in an eternal battle between good and evil. After having betrayed both God and the Devil himself.

BLURB:

Keepers of the Stone. Book One: The Outcasts  

In a far corner of the British Empire, a mysterious girl gallops away on a horse, fleeing for her life. Malka has sacrificed everything to protect an all-powerful stone from falling into the hands of the malevolent Urumi. The last in a Sect of thieves, the girl is a trained killer. But will her lethal skills be enough to defeat the Shadow Warriors and their superhuman abilities?  

The fate of the stone may depend on Stas, a courageous youth born into exile from a country that is not on any map. Nell, his friend since childhood, has been caught up in the Dark Order's evil designs. The young outcasts must confront demons, real and imagined, with the help of mystical new allies. Their journey will take them to distant lands and change their lives forever.  

Keepers of the Stone. Book Two: Exile  

Stranded on the American frontier, Malka must stop at nothing to safeguard the all-powerful stone. She has come under the protection of a snarky felinoid – a shape-shifting girl who traces her lineage back to the court of Vlad Dracula. They must rescue with Henry, the American orphan whose thirst for knowledge could help decipher the clues to the next leg of their journey – if the Urumi don’t kill them first. 

Alone in yet another strange land, Stas mourns the unthinkable loss of his friend, Nell. Cryptic messages offer new hope. But the Dark Order has devised another strategy to outwit the band of misfits. Plans are betrayed and alliances are formed as history points to the final objective of their quest.

Keepers of the Stone Book Three: Homecoming

  Stas and his companions have made their way to the partitioned homeland he has never visited. He dares to hope that Nell may be alive. The doomed princess Bozhena vows revenge on the Shadow Warriors, who have enlisted Malka’s most bitter enemy in their latest plot to control the powerful stone. 

With the help of a streetwise gypsy girl, the unlikely travelers must outwit the Urumi and deliver the stone to its final destination. All they have to do is put aside the differences that threaten to tear them apart. The secrets of the past hold the key to the history of the future.

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EXCERPT:

"The firearms,” Malka whispered. “We still have them from the bank.”

“Do you even know how to fire a gun?”

The Thag shook her head.

The felinoid harrumphed. “Figures.” Then she began thinking out loud.

“So, we’re low on ammunition. Only six shots per gun, assuming they’re completely loaded. Okay. They’re in the open. We can use the wagon as cover. Target what shots we have. I’m not very good at aiming, but maybe if Mister Bunny Burglar over there takes….”

She stopped. Looking behind her, to the empty space off to the right side of the wagon’s seating area.

“Where is Henry?”

Malka and Liza looked around. Both of them spotted their erstwhile captive at the same moment.

“Ugh! He’s in front of the wagon running away with one of the cages,” Liza said, as if the situation needed any clarification. “I told you we should have killed that little….”

The gunfire ceased abruptly, replaced in short order with the quick screams of men and horses. Then silence. The escaping youth was forgotten for the moment. Liza quickly poked her head just over the stack of cages.

“Oh, no! Oh, please, no!” For the first time since Malka had known the felinoid, she seemed more genuinely worried than annoyed at their situation; she knew what Liza had seen.

“The Urumi,” she confirmed in a quiet voice.

“All three of them. And they’re moving towards us.”

Malka untied the sash from around her waist and inserted the brass knob into one of its ends. She listened for one of the dark forms, as it approached her side of the wagon.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Andrew Anzur Clement departed his native Los Angeles at the age of nineteen, with a curiosity for far-off lands. He quickly discovered an insatiable wonderlust that has led him to live, work and study in many fascinating places around the globe. Now in his late-twenties the unabashed opera fan is based in Europe. He continues to travel and read widely, finding new inspiration in the places he discovers. In his ‘other’ life Andrew is an academic researcher, focusing on nationalism and identity formation. He enjoys including insights from his research in his books and the characters he inhabits.

On social media:

Andrew's Amazon Author Page

Purchase Links to book one (Books two and three already out):

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