Tuesday, March 8, 2016
GUEST BLOG: Why I Finally Wrote a Sequel to The Hyrthrun Chronicles by Jennifer Fallon
Fantasy Book Critic welcomes Jennifer Fallon to our blog
today to celebrate the release of her new book The Lyre Thief. Jennifer Fallon
is the author of many beloved fantasy series, including the Hyrthrun
Chronicles. The Lyre Thief is the much anticipated sequel series to The Demon
Child Trilogy.
Jennifer Fallon has stopped by to share with us why she
decided to write a sequel to The Hyrthrun Chronicles.
The Lyre Thief is schedule for release March 8, 2016 from
Tor Books.
Synopsis of The Lyre Thief:
Her Serene Highness, Rakaia, Princess of
Fardohnya, is off to Hythria, where her eldest sister is now the High Princess,
to find herself a husband, and escape the inevitable bloodbath in the harem
when her brother takes the throne.
Rakaia is not interested in marrying anyone, least of all some brute of a Hythrun Warlord she's never met, but she has a plan to save herself from that, too. If she can just convince her baseborn sister, Charisee, to play along, she might actually get away with it.
But there is trouble brewing across the continent. High Prince of Hythria, Damin Wolfblade, must head north to save the peace negotiated a decade ago between the Harshini, Hythria, Fardohnya, Medalon and Karien. He must leave behind an even more dangerous conflict brewing between his wife and his powerful mother, Princess Marla.
...And in far off Medalon, someone has stolen the music.
Their quest for the tiny stolen lyre containing the essence of the God of Music will eventually touch all their lives, threaten everything they hold dear and prove to be far more personal than any of them can imagine.
Rakaia is not interested in marrying anyone, least of all some brute of a Hythrun Warlord she's never met, but she has a plan to save herself from that, too. If she can just convince her baseborn sister, Charisee, to play along, she might actually get away with it.
But there is trouble brewing across the continent. High Prince of Hythria, Damin Wolfblade, must head north to save the peace negotiated a decade ago between the Harshini, Hythria, Fardohnya, Medalon and Karien. He must leave behind an even more dangerous conflict brewing between his wife and his powerful mother, Princess Marla.
...And in far off Medalon, someone has stolen the music.
Their quest for the tiny stolen lyre containing the essence of the God of Music will eventually touch all their lives, threaten everything they hold dear and prove to be far more personal than any of them can imagine.
A huge thank you to Jennifer Fallon for taking the time to
stop by today.
*************************************************************************
Why I Finally Wrote a Sequel to The Hyrthrun Chronicles by Jennifer Fallon
Since the year 2000, about 3 times a week I got an email asking me if I was planning to write a sequel
to the Demon Child Trilogy. (On the off days the emails ask about Second Sons, Tide Lords or the Rift Runners).
I was first asked to do this in 2001 by Tor. In fact, the prequel trilogy, the Hythrun Chronicles came about because when the Tor offer came in for the Demon Child Trilogy, they wanted to know if there was anything else on offer, so my agent suggested I “bash up a synopsis” for a sequel.
As I only had an afternoon in which to do this, and couldn’t think of anything remotely resembling a plot – although, I’ll admit the goat-herder/lost prince scenario was tempting, as was the raw-talent misfit kid going off to magician school – I shamelessly raided the back story of the Wolfblade family and offered it up as prequel, thinking I would never have to write it. My agent assured me nothing more would come of it and I went back to planning Tide Lords, which was the project I really wanted to work on at the time.
When the offer came in from Tor, it was for the full six book series. Tide Lords was shoved aside (OK... you have to understand it was a very nice offer) and I set to work creating the Hythrun Chronicles (Wolfblade, Warrior and Warlord).
It made my head hurt, writing a prequel I never intended to write to make it fit the other series. For almost a year on my whiteboard there was a list entitled These People Must Die which was the names of all the characters I had to get rid of by the end of Warlord (Book 3) to explain why they never turned up in the Demon Child Trilogy.
The upshot of this was that by the time I was finished the Hythrun Chronicles I was convinced I had a brain tumor and was ready to nuke Medalon, Hythria, Fardohnya and Karien and turn the entire world into a molten lump of rock.
The problem was… everyone wanted Brak back. And then there’s that whole “what happened to R’shiel” thing, and what about Damin and Adrina…
What stopped me from pursuing it until now is that I feared the series was suffering from Buffyitis – that’s a condition you get when you are faced, over and over, with the apocalypse to end all apocalypses, and you have to find a way to make it interesting, not to mention plausible.
I mean, R’shiel (SPOILER ALERT!) killed a god, for pity’s sake! That’s a Die Now moment, don’t you think? It’s kinda downhill from there, and how many rogue gods can one world spew out in a reasonable amount of time, anyway…
Then then, a couple of years ago, as I was lying underneath a radiation machine being zapped for breast cancer, I finally had idea for a plot. And it didn’t feel forced and it didn't feel like I was rehashing the apocalypse. I was a little disappointed, however. I was hoping for a thunderstorm, a power surge and a superpower out of it, but the technicians told me that doesn't happen very often… who knew?
Of course, one the idea bit it’s been gnawing at me ever since so here it is. The new series is set ten years after the events of Harshini. It’s actually been about the same in real time. I needed the new characters to grow up, I think…
And I adore them. I hope you will too.
JENNIFER FALLON is the author of The Hythrun Chronicles, and one of Australia's bestselling fantasy authors. She lives in New Zealand. You can find her online at JenniferFallon.com, facebook.com/Jennifer.Fallon.writer and @JenniferFallon.
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1 comments:
Oh thank heavens! I'm in love with you all over again. Almost everything new I've read over the last year has bored me to tears. You have given me hope for the genre again. And just in time for my birthday!
Thanks soooooo much :>)