Interview+Giveaway: Silver to the Heart by Brien Feathers

An interview with Brien Feathers, author of dark urban fantasy Silver to the Heart

— So begins the apocalypse, with death and a story of love —

An old soul (several centuries old), the lover, fighter, and telekinetic Drake receives an order to safeguard Ana, a mortal with Elder Talent.

Ana, an artist beset by haunting visions, falls for the perfect stranger while venturing home to mediate emergent family chaos.

Past-warlord and present commander Sasuke wields his telepathic might to outwit Council traitors in an effort to save the human realm and its Guardian from a new Dark War.

Criminal and light bender Lou, now sought by the Council to answer for his sins, seeks shelter with the Reverend—an Elder fit to bypass rules of magic meant to be unbreakable.

As time’s last grains of sand deplete, an ancient battle may renew, with pieces of the fractured realm imperiling man’s modern world. Though few on Earth are cognizant, dark days now lie ahead. . .

———-

One fate, two paths, six singular perspectives, and plethoric danger. 

Contemporary fantasy at its polychromic finest—pure delight.

Excerpt from Silver to the Heart

Enilsa waited at the crosswalk even though there was hardly any traffic. A couple of cars passed by—maybe. The light turned green, and she crossed. A block away, she could already hear her building— the rent controlled block of flats was a massive jukebox that played cheesy music at all hours. She could always hear it before she could see it.

A stray lab mix sat by the curb and flapped his dirty tail on the ground when she walked by. “Sorry, buddy. Got nothing on me,” Enilsa apologized.

As she walked by, the dog suddenly snapped at something behind her. Contorting its face into that of a monster, it growled— aggressive and eyes glaring. Then it yelped and ran off, limping with its tail tucked between its hind legs.

“Jesus, girl, you scared me!” she yelled after the dog.

Startled still, Enilsa took three more steps—maybe—before her legs quit suddenly. Face first, she went down stiff as falling timber. Her jaw crunched when she hit the pavement, and something tugged at her tailbone. A white converse with a red star kicked, and Enilsa rolled over.

Two teenagers, a boy and a girl not much older than thirteen were looking down at her. The boy was wiping blood off a knife, and the girl tilted her head like a broken doll.

“Why wipe it if you’re going to use it again?” said the girl, and she sounded normal like a kid.

The boy, who appeared to be cleaning his knife mindlessly, looked down at his hands, then sighed. “Right. Forgot. But seeing as how it’s already clean, why don’t you finish her?”

An Interview with Brien Feathers

-What inspired you to become a writer?

I believe I was always a story-imaginer. When I was little, I would daydream for hours and not do homework or chorus, the only difference now is that I write down my daydreams and call it a book… I’m joking! I edit, and edit, and edit, then pay an editor to edit. Writing is a craft and although we never fully master it, we’re always working to hone it.

For me, writing is compulsive. I have characters that speak, and it loops in my mind like an earworm, playing over and over till I write down their story.     

-If you could visit your book’s world for a day, what one thing would you do?

The honest answer to this question would be inappropriate for the general audience. ‘Silver to the Heart’, Book 1, and the Light of Adua series in general have a mature content warning for readers. However, for here, I’ll just say I would have tea with one of my characters.

Book 1 is set in modern-day New Orleans for the most part, but I have a diverse cast of characters, one of whom is a five-hundred-year-old vampire,a Japanese warlord. I’ll have tea or whiskey with him. In the Adua world, vampires, called Elders, wield magic and on top of the usual human blood, they drink various liquids including bourbon, whiskey, tea, and some even smoke pot. But they can’t eat food, it makes them ill.

-It’s two in the morning. What does your protagonist reveal in confidence? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell.)

Although my vampires don’t burn in the sun and do sleep at night, two in the morning is still a lively hour for them. So, I’m going to pick my only human main character, Ana Deacon, a twenty-seven-year-old from Courtesy, Maine, and assuming she’s had a bit to drink, here is the scene.

“I have these crazy dreams. I’ve had them ever since I can remember. Since before daddy died… darkness is not a simple lack of light, it’s alive. I think the woman with many faces lives there.” Ana sets her empty glass down on the bar, casually throwing a look over the shoulder while fixing her thick brunette hair, then blushes. She leans into me to whisper, “Hey, six o’clock, there’s a redhead out on the terrace do you see him?”

I do see him. It’s Drake, one of the main characters, he’s a 318-year-old telekinetic vampire. Currently, he’s hitting on a blonde with an off-the-shoulder dress, but tomorrow morning when the Council convenes, he’s going to be tasked with protecting Ana because those dreams aren’t dreams.  

-Which of your characters would you go out for drinks with?

It’s still Sasuke, the character I had tea with. Unbeknownst to my human husband, I have a tiny crush on my samurai vampire. And by a tiny crush, I mean I’m ridiculously, obsessively in love with him— to the point I’m stalking my own character.  

-You’re in a tavern, and a dwarf challenges you to a duel. What do you do?

I use my higher vantage point, and longer reach to strike him down with an axe one of the shield maidens lent me— before the duel begins. There is no fair in love or war; you challenge me to a duel, you should expect me to cheat.

-Is there a genre you could never write? Which and why?
I wouldn’t say never, but I believe to write in a genre you genuinely have to love it, not simply chase the trend, so in that regard, I can’t write YA. Of all the books I read, including non-fiction, I can’t read YA and it’s not due to a lack of trying. So, it would be disrespectful of me to try to write in that genre. Kudos to all the YA authors because young adult voice is incredibly hard, at least for me.

And this is also my content warning. Although most of my characters are humorous (hopefully) and their voices modern, the subject matter is not suitable for young audiences. Centuries-old characters, who are for all intended purposes immortal, some of whom are actual warlords, are at war with each other over the fate of the realm— it would be disingenuous if things didn’t get a bit violent.

Thank you for having me here, and if the series sounds like it might be for you, please give it a try. ‘Silver to the Heart’, Book 1 is perma-free across all retailers.  

About Brien Feathers

Brien Feathers is a fantasy author living in the land of permanent frost, horses, and Mongols. She likes reading, writing (of course), riding (horses and husbands), drinking dark beer, and checking things off a to-do list.

Although she claims to love everyone equally, she really loves her youngest son the most. He has autism superpowers that allow him to speak all types of rare languages including drumbeats, elevator dings, and police sirens.

Miss Feathers loves grey days, orange cats, and all creatures human or otherwise. And she hopes you will love her world (fantasy) and people (characters) as well. 

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Giveaway

Brien Feathers will be awarding $30 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway