Q & A with Ice Forged author Gail Z. Martin
Q: You write
epic fantasy. What got you interested in
sword-and-sorcery stuff?
A: As a kid,
I loved anything about King Arthur, and I read every book I could find about
Arthur, Merlin, Morgan LaFey, and the Round Table. I know all the words to every song from
Camelot! That got me interested in real history, and I read a lot about kings,
castles, wars and then of course, magic.
Then I got into reading mythology and folklore, and when you put it all
together, I started thinking up stories of my own!
Q: Please
tell us about your other books and where to find them.
A: The
Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven and Dark Lady’s Chosen make up my
Chronicles of the Necromancer series.
The Sworn and The Dread are books one and two of my Fallen Kings Cycle,
which continues the characters and setting from the first four books. Ice Forged, and in 2014, Reign of Ash, are
the first two books in my Ascendant Kingdoms Saga series, which is an entirely
different fantasy world from my first books.
All of these titles are available wherever books are sold as paperbacks,
ebook and audiobook.
Every month I bring out a new short story on Kindle,
Kobo and Nook for just .99. It’s a cheap
thrill, and a good way to get to know my writing if you haven’t read one of my
books. In the Jonmarc Vahanian
Adventures, so far we’ve got Raiders’ Curse, Caves of the Dead, Storm Surge,
and Bounty Hunter. In my Deadly
Curiosities Adventures, so far the titles include Vanities, Wild Hunt, Steer a
Pale Course. You can find these online
wherever ebooks for Kindle, Kobo and Nook are sold.
Q: Ice Forged
started a new series for you, with a different world and all-new characters
from what you’ve written before. What
made you decide to write a different series instead of continuing with your
other characters?
A: I still
have plans to write more stories in the Chronicles world, but I had reached a
good place to take a break and do something different for a while. There’s a natural break in the plot line
after The Dread that makes a logical resting point. So while my characters are taking a
much-deserved vacation, I had the opportunity to write some new stories that
had been banging around in my head.
Q: You’ve
also begun to bring out short stories on ebook.
How did that happen?
A: I started
doing short stories for anthologies, and discovered that it was fun. Since my Chronicles world is on hiatus for
now, I decided to bring out some of Jonmarc Vahanian’s back-story, since he’s a
character everyone wants to know more about.
I created my Deadly Curiosities world for my anthology stories, and
enjoyed writing about that world so much I decided to create more stories on my
own. I’ve found that switching up which
world I’m writing about keeps me sharp and it’s like a mini-vacation. I’m having a lot of fun!
Q: What’s the best part about being a writer?
A: For me,
there are two “best” parts—getting to tell the stories and getting to meet
readers. Writing is a lot of fun for me,
even though it is a lot of work. It
doesn’t feel like work! It’s so exciting
to share the stories that bounce around in my head and make them real to other
people. Then meeting other people who
love to read is also wonderful. Book
people have so much in common, even if we don’t always agree on our favorites,
we do agree that books are fantastic!
The Hawthorn Moon Sneak Peek Event includes book
giveaways, free excerpts and readings, all-new guest blog posts and author
Q&A on 21 awesome partner sites around the globe. For a full list of where to go to get the
goodies, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com.
@GailZMartin Book Giveaway on Twitter—Every day from
June 21 – June 28 I’ll be choosing someone at random from my Twitter followers
to win a free signed book. Invite your
friends to follow me—for every new 200 followers I gain between 6/21 – 6/28,
I’ll give away an additional book, up to 20 books!
Gail Z. Martin is the
author of Ice Forged in her new The
Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), plus The Chronicles of The Necromancer
series (The Summoner, The Blood King,
Dark Haven & Dark Lady’s Chosen ) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn and The
Dread). She is also the author of
two series on ebook short stories: The Jonmarc Vahanian Adventures and the
Deadly Curiosities Series. Find her online at www.AscendantKingdoms.com.
