Blurb:
The people of the Seven Demesnes live in unease. Every generation, seven sons are born to rule their seven walled cities. Without them, mankind is fated to fall.
Meanwhile, in the south, a young sorceress falls prey to an ancient enemy, one weaving his own plans for bringing mankind to its knees.
Interview
Where are you from? Tell us a little about yourself!
Originally Texas, though my dad would argue that I’m Czech because I’ve lived in Prague for about fourteen years now. And, yes, I’ve attempted to explain to him that the logistics of an American man who’s never set foot in Prague siring a Czech daughter don’t quite work, but he’s an ornery guy and obviously he lays down his own laws of physics – like every man, I dare say. And so long as no one’s harmed in the process, we just let them, right?
In Prague I keep myself and three cats alive and mostly eating well with my day job testing software. Then the testing guru by day becomes author of stealth by night, slinking her writerly way either through fantasy worlds populated with face-stealers and fire-sellers, or dystopian futures where a smart-alecky heroine takes on creepers with bladed wings.
Tell us about your book? How did it get started?
As things usually do. You know, with a genius, his friend (me), a chemistry class, and an unwinding thread of imagination. We spun into existence a world where humans have walled themselves up in seven cities with shapechangers left to roam outside the walls and an enemy rising in the shadowlands. Add to that the daughter of a demon-like creature, a sword-wielding princess, and a healer pursued by a laughing, devil-may-care mage, and you have the backbone of the series.
A whole load of years later I stole the idea – it’s all mine, mine, mine! – and ran with it…
And then the characters ran with it, dragging me along in their wake screaming, “But I don’t want to go there!”
And yet I did, and the story hasn’t quite been the same since.
(It was the assassin with a face not her own and her soul hidden in a pendant that did it. I blame her for everything.)
How do you create your characters?
I put pen to paper or finger to keyboard and pray I emerge with the story and my mind intact. Honestly, I just write what I see the characters doing. When they do funky things, I cry, “Why you do this funky thing?” And they blithely disregard the insignificant irritant calling itself the Author and go happily on doing their funky thing…
Yeah. That’s about how it is.
What inspires you and what got you started in writing?
Inspiration? Ooh…
Smart men, cynical men, wicked senses of humor. Mysterious pasts, looming castles, flickering shadows, rain pelting casement windows. Laughter. Swordfights, magic fights, plucky heroines, witty dialogue. Sunshine and chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. Did I mention chocolate? And a good book or a catchy turn of phrase – those fire up my imagination like nothing else.
And how I got started? I’ve been writing stories ever since I can remember, so it probably started with the first letters I put upon the page, or the first time I could string words together in a coherent sentence. Or maybe it simply started the first time I drew breath.
Where do you write? Is there something you need in order to write (music, drinks?)
I write at a tiny desk crammed in the corner of my bedroom, hunched over like a mad creator, weaving tales that I hope will make people cheer rather than shrink away in horror. I like it to be quiet when I write, but once the words stop, the music goes on, and then it’s dancing-round-the-apartment time so I can fulfill my duty as the resident human and freak out the cats.
How do you get your ideas for writing?
I watch, I read, every now and then I even crawl out of my cat-infested apartment, and ideas come from everywhere. Books, dreams, video games, things people say, things people do, things people don’t do. One idea whose origin I can recall with perfect clarity is when I woke up one morning several months ago with the words ‘fire-seller and fermenter’ in my head, and I was like, ‘Yeah, Sonya, that makes tons of sense.’ And yet I wrote it down, and now he’s spinning fire and getting people drunk on fire-wine in the current book I’m working on.
What do you like to read?
Anything with a love story, action, mystery and a happy end. Historical, fantasy, dystopian, steampunk, suspense, chic lit, Jane Austen vampire lit, you name it, I’d read it, just so long as it has an actual plot and real love, not the brawn-and-curves duo that mark the ‘steamier’ romances. I can’t take hairy pelts, either. Furry men just make me want to say, ‘Wax the chest, Tarzan, then we’ll talk.’
What would your advice to be for authors or aspiring in regards to writing?
Write. Just write. Don’t fool around. Don’t be a dork. Don’t give up. Get your stuff edited. Accept criticism; take what’s valid, change your story, and make it better. Not everyone will like your book; just suck it up and find those who will like it.
And, ladies, don’t be woman-hating. Don’t bash or slut-shame your fellow women. Leggy blondes, big-busted brunettes, popular girls, pretty girls, rich girls, and any others portrayed as shallow and needing to be taken down like an enemy to be shot on sight – they’re all people like everyone else, with their own hurts and pains and reasons for why they’re behaving as they are. Be kind to them, and your heroine will truly shine as a heroine in my opinion. There’s just too much hate going around nowadays.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Thanks for having me! Though I hardly ever keep up with them, I do have Twitter and Facebook and Wordpress and all that jazz, and anyone can find me pretty much anywhere under Sonya Lano, as I seem to be the only Sonya Lano in the world at the moment; although now that I’ve written that, watch a bunch of heretofore unknown Sonya Lanos pop up.
And last but not least, I wish everyone a taste of wonderful every day.