Please welcome Aidan Russell author of The Shattered Blades
Aidan Russell will be awarding a Kindle Paperwhite (INTERNATIONAL) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
The Shattered Blades
The Land of Nod: Book Three of the Judges Cycle
by Aidan Russell
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GENRE: Fantasy (epic)
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
Like most fantasy authors, I was inspired to create my own epic fantasy adventure after I finished Lord of the Ringsfor the first time. I drew up my own map on a beat-up sketch pad and story about knights, elves, and a princess took hold. Some friends and I had gotten into the early days of online role-playing in AOL chatrooms, and I knew I wanted to write down our adventures. Those adventures have since been lost, but I still have that old map and a new story to tell.
2. What elements are necessary components for this genre.
Epic fantasy requires fantastical elements on an epic scale. That didn’t answer the question did it? With fantasy, there needs to be some supernatural or metaphysical element to the story that is beyond the ghosts and goblins of a horror story. With epic fantasy, the story almost always takes place in a world of the author’s making and involves magical and made-up races to inhabit that world. Once the fantasy setting is established, the biggest component for an epic fantasy is the scale of the conflict. If what’s at stake is anything less than the entire world, careful consideration needs to be put into whether or not it is truly epic fantasy.
3. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
The previous two novels involved some pretty standard, roaming fantasy adventure. They traveled about the haunted forest, did a dungeon crawl, and armies clashing. For this one, I slowed the action down a bit (there’s still some big fight scenes), and limited to amount of traveling to focus on the characters and what was going on within them. I also drew some inspiration from the Harry Potter series. There’s plenty of mystery and adventure hidden within the walls of Hogwarts. What if, instead of questing about for adventure, all the adventure was contained within a small, quiet town, far away from the war’s front?
4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I try to use my experiences from numerous deployments with the Marine Corps to bring a sense of realism to the military aspects of the book. Even though two of the main characters are off on their own, away from their kingdom and their knightly orders, they are still knights and still belong to a structured military. Reslo, the elven warrior, isn’t formally a part of his people’s military, but he is still a cog in the big machine of their government and his purpose is to swing a sword. In addition, I try to add some flavor to all the battle scene. Just because the heroes and villains have magic to aid them doesn’t mean combat will be easy. Even the quickest firefight in Iraq or Afghanistan was an exhilarating and exhausting affair. Now imagine how much more so a sword fight would be!
6. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I’m currently writing a short story about Dwarves, beer, and a heist to give away to my newsletter subscribers. After I finish that up, I have book four of the series all outlined and will be getting to work on that.
7. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?
Probably one of the Four Antiquities. There’s something appealing about being an ancient, immortal, and extremely powerful warrior.
11. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
There is no substitute for forcing yourself into your desk chair or wherever and putting down words. You can’t wait for the muse to strike. There’s no perfect desk or writing setup that will make the words flow. You just have to sit your butt down and get to work.
12. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
Outline, outline, outline. With epic fantasy, there’s way too much going on to fly by the seat of your pants. I leave plenty of wiggle room so that if an idea pops into my head as I’m writing, I can squeeze it in, but I need to have clear way points along the way to get a clean story written, despite all the POV characters and plot lines.
13. How do you maintain your creativity?
Beer. And playing lots of tabletop games, reading books, and video games. I seem to find ideas in the most random of things. I came up with some new ideas while reading the rules to the new edition of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar as well as some military history books.
14. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?
It’s a toss-up between the Duchess Cenesuara and Everalda. Both have limited time on the pages so far, with Everalda only popping up in two scenes. I wrote them both in to fill a quick role, but they developed some interesting storylines in my head as the series progresses. I can’t wait to see where they end up.
BLURB:
Reslo returns to his family in the forest of Miradep, but his quest is not finished, and he will not fail in his duty.
Gratas and Jerah return to the idyllic town of Dunkhau, their bodies wounded and spirits scarred by battle. But if they thought war was tiring, they must now face the unknown horrors of peace.
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EXCERPT:
The captain turned in his desk chair toward the door. The Rovichian swordsman thrust the gladius into the Esivion captain’s throat and held it there. Red, arterial blood squirted across the blade and splattered the swordsman’s black tabard. The captain tried to curse, but no air could pass his lips. He made one jerk, trying to pull the blade from his throat, and died.
The swordsman behind the Rovichian descended on the woman stretched out on the captain’s bed. She had only begun to stir before the gladius split her skull. The others swept into the room. No words were exchanged. The others rushed the captain’s desk and grabbed handfuls of papers and ledgers. They stuffed them into the backpack that one of the Nolterite knights wore. Anfor gave them one minute to grab up what documents they could and ordered them out of the quarters with a slap to Thrain’s shoulder.
Sir Fashtin awaited them at the bottom of the quarter’s steps. The team fell into line behind Sir Fashtin and quickly made their way through the darkness. Fashtin’s sword came out and took a guard’s head off. He caught the body and lowered it to the ground. Then he continued to lead the column of soldiers down a ladderwell below deck.
The ship’s creaking seemed amplified in the enclosed space of the crew quarters. Other than that, the only sounds were of snores and a group of sailors in one room doing what sailors do best: gambling and swilling the liquor. They were the first to die. Fashtin and one of the Nolterites rushed the room and cut the four men apart before they could raise an alarm. They checked the room quickly for any records or information Gwynnud or Maras could exploit, but found none.
Two by two, the men moved quickly and silently into each room and slit the throats of each sleeping crewman, wizened petty officers, and slave-boys pressed into service aboard the ship.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Aidan Russell is a Marine Corps veteran living in Las Vegas. He spent his youth following the adventures of wizards and space demons and decided one day to write his own tales. His short fiction is available in the Never Fear and Uncharted Worlds anthologies. When not writing, he enjoys skiing and heavy metal.
Website: https://readaidanrussell.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AidanInNod/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AidanInNod
Amazon Author: amazon.com/author/aidanrussell
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/aidan-russell
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Aidan Russell will be awarding a Kindle Paperwhite (INTERNATIONAL) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2769
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Angel's blog. I hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
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