Our author interview series continues with Karen Tomlinson, creator of A Bond of Venom and Magic. Karen jumped on a live interview with me, but she also swung by to answer a few totally different questions here on the blog! Before we jump in, I asked Karen to tell us a little bit about her book!
“I always find it so hard to sell a book in a few sentences! Okay, A Bond of Venom and Magic is book one in a five book series. Think A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Eragon in this stunning fantasy tale of a young, half-blood fae woman who has grown up in a bigoted and isolated society. After escaping an attack on her home and her life, seventeen year old Diamond Gillon is thrown into a world of armoured winged warriors, court intrigue and war, where trying to hide her burgeoning magic becomes only one of her worries as she finds herself falling for the fae queen’s most coveted warrior.
Hugo Casimir is an elite guard, sworn to serve the fae queen. But Hugo is different to her other warriors. His sapphire blue wings mark him as a magic wielder, and in a society which has outlawed magic it has always made him stand out. To survive, he has frozen his heart and hidden the extent of his own power. When he meets Diamond his whole world is thrown into confusion and now he has to decide where his loyalty truly belongs, with his queen or with the girl who has melted his heart.”
Sounds kind of awesome right? Let’s take a look at her interview and learn a bit more!
1. In a Bond of Venom and Magic, Diamond is thrown into world where legendary beasts exist. What legendary beast represents your writing style?
Ooh, err, (laughs at self) is it weird that both a dragon and a phoenix sprang to mind? A phoenix because when I wrote this book it was originally 250000 words! I obviously had to delete much of it. That said what arose from the ashes so to speak is the book we have now plus the majority of book two. I’ve found my first draft is kind of my fire and then I burn much of it to rewrite and hash things around to form a story I’m happy with. The dragon bit? Well, they have fire so I can burn and reform my manuscript but also they are scary beasts which can have a good heart.(lol, this was my friend who said this!! Apparently I can be a scary beast who has a good heart! Could be worse I suppose!) They can be loyal and in the case of my books, they are guardians of the people they love. No surprise, I’m very protective of my characters!!
2. In your story, armored winged warriors are kind of a big deal…would you want wings in real life? What would be one positive and one negative to having wings in our modern day world?
Ha Ha! I probably wouldn’t want wings myself, no. I hate heights! I wouldn’t say no to a hot and muscly armoured winged warrior carrying me about though! I’d have something else than the height to think about then;) I guess a negative point of having wings in our world would be all those drones there are in the sky! They’d cause havoc each time they got caught in your feathers! Positive would be the ease of missing the traffic jams! You could just glide right over everyone! Would be cheaper than an airfare too…
3. If you were thrown into the story, would you be able to help Diamond escape the queen or would you die in the first scenes you walked into?
Of course I’d help her. First thing I’d do is give Hugo a good slap and tell him to get his act together! Then I’d contact all the spies I’d have in the palace(Because of course I’d have loads) and then get them out of the city. I suppose I would have to die a horrible death when the queen found out I’d helped them escape though… Oh, well, they’d be worth it.
4. If the fae queen was hunting you down like she is trying to get control of Diamond, why would she be after you?
Me? Hmmm, well considering my answer above I would be a master of spies for the rebels. She would be after me so I could show her where they hide and how they recruit people. I love the character who is lord of the rebels so I guess I would be close to him. His right hand man, err, woman;) Mainly so I can swoon but of course I would be an awesome spy master….!
5. Who was more cooperative when writing them—Diamond or Hugo?
I have to say Diamond was way more cooperative. I always knew where she was going and how she was going to get there. I wanted her to grow from a sheltered innocent girl to a kick ass queen, but Hugo? Well, what can I say he is my baby . He was so confused in the first book and he wanted to go all over the place with his journey all the way through the series. We had stern words and he decided to settle down a bit and find his strength, which he does by the way. He’s behaving himself mostly in this last book.
6. Would you rather face the legendary beasts or escaping from the queen while working on your writing?
Oh, the legendary beasts definitely. I’m always up for a bit of physical activity to relieve the stress on my back and neck caused by writing. A sword fight with a Battle Imp or an enemy fae warrior would be fabulous! I would win obviously because I would already have written that scene and made sure that I do!
7. Do the elite guards find their armor comfortable or will they have something to say to you the next time they run into you as their writer?
Ooh, their armour! I think the Elite Guards would probably want to end me for giving them a life serving the Queen, their armour is the least of their problems! The other fae warriors would thank me for making them look so hot and sexy in their figure hugging armour. Of course, we could discuss a lighter version for when I send them into the blue desert, or perhaps we could discuss no shirts at all…? Hmm, I guess its up for debate;) As for their armoured wings, that’s definitely not up for discussion. But they are a very protective race of those they love and only the warriors are taught how to armour. Besides they can pull their wings into their body if they want to, so you know, they are versatile and nice colours, the material is changeable, I guess they would want to keep those.
8. If you had given Diamond any other name, do you think it would have affected her personality and subsequently changed part of the story?
Yes, it would have changed her personality and her journey. There is a reason she is called Diamond. Its alluded to throughout the series but it is revealed in the last book. The other reason I would not change her name is this series was originally a story me and my girls made up. It was a progressive story we added to every night for months. One of my daughters called the princess Diamond and although I changed many elements of the story the main three characters have kept their names.
9. What’s one secret no one knows about Hugo?
**smiles** if I told you, he’d hunt you down. It’s best you don’t know. (K.M. side note…I mean, would it be the worst thing in the world if he hunted us down *grins*)
10. Diamond has to decide who to trust. Can we trust anyone?
Erm, well, of course you can! But I’m not going to tell you who, that would spoil the surprise. You’ll just have to read the books!
A Bond of Venom and Magic can be found here! Want to learn more about Karen Tomlinson?
And be sure to catch her live interview on our replay Facebook Live or above!
Have an author you want to see put through their paces with one of my quirky interviews? Let me know in the comments below AND be sure to tell me which of these answers from Karen was your favorite!
Stay inspired,
-K.M. Robinson