Please welcome Dhesan Neil Pillay, author of the Anmorian Legends, to Kit ‘N Kabookle!
My name is Dhesan Neil Pillay. I grew up in Durban, as the elder son of two former teachers who introduced me to the magic of reading very early in my childhood.
My love for writing began at a young age as a series of stories about insects, our pets or the exploits of my favorite toys. However, when tasked with writing for a competition in the seventh grade, I was hooked by the idea of crafting a story of my own.
I began working on what would become The Anmorian Legends: Wrath of the Exiled in the ninth grade. Initially, the writing started after my homework and slotted into any free time I had. Although the story was forming there was an element missing to it. There were times when I contemplated giving up the venture but I was motivated by the kind words of several English teachers throughout my high school years and the unwavering support of my family.
When I left home to study medicine at the University of Cape Town the ideas to expand my imagined universe exploded and the soul of the story came into being. I continued adding to the Anmorian universe during breaks and early morning writing sessions before campus. And in my final year, I completed the novel I had dreamed of writing for over a decade.
I released The Anmorian Legends: Wrath of the Exiled the following year, my first year of internship. Although elated that I had achieved my dream of writing my first novel, I knew that I would not be able to leave Anmor just yet. And this led me to expand the universe I had created with The Anmorian Legends: Legacy of the Sentinels which is now available on Amazon.
Now I look forward with my pen at the ready, deciding where the journey shall take me next as I continue crafting the third installment The Anmorian Legends: Lords of Torementhias.
~Buy The ANMORIAN LEGENDS on Amazon:
–Wrath of the Exiled
–Legacy of the Sentinels
~Keep an eye out here in March for reviews of the first two books in the Anmorian Legends.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DHESAN
-What inspired you to become a writer?
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis was a class set text in my fifth grade. The world that he created was utterly immersive and spectacular but perhaps the most intriguing aspect was that this world existed differently in each of my class mates’ imaginations. Later in my seventh grade I wrote my first short story and was hooked on the wonder of world building. Each fictional world that I entered thereafter further stoked the fire of my desire to write leading me to writing my first book.
-If you could visit your book’s world for a day, what one thing would you do?
I would love to fly on the back of Simarata along the coastline of Kel-Ardimus, catching the sea spray through my hair before heading to the verdant forests of Sylvoria for a feast with the Sentinels.
-It’s two in the morning. What does your protagonist reveal in confidence? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell.)
It’s two in the morning, the night is still save for the rustling wind parting the leaves. A lucent moon beam lands in my room offering the way point for Rezaaran Valhara to appear before me. Despite the sparkle and splendor of his Guardian armor he has a heaviness to his soul that permeates his essence. He takes a chair and admits that tonight is the night that he performs an act of sacrifice for the greatest love of his life. To keep her safe amidst the coming storm, he has to purge every memory of her existence and shield her from his omniscient gaze. He knows that he will never see her first words, her first steps nor the woman she will grow to become. He knows that he is sentencing her to a life without a father but he must do so willingly for this is what his sacred duty dictates. He carefully extracts the wispy golden memory of unbridled joy upon his finger tip and sorrowfully watches it one last time before he clicks his finger and it is lost to oblivion.
-Which of your characters would you go out for drinks with?
Definitely Jet! Although he may very well be two bottles down before I get through half.
-You’re in a tavern, and a dwarf challenges you to a duel. What do you do?
Counter offer him a drink, if this fails then a brawl and the winner gets the loser’s weight in beer!
-Is there a genre you could never write? Which and why?
Horror stories are something that I could never write mainly because I have never read a horror story, nor have I found an appeal to this genre.
FIND DHESAN ONLINE: