SEASON 2! (Ep.63) KENDARE BLAKE on pets, pop culture, and strong female characters | Warrior of Legend

You are in for a treat! Kendare Blake is back and funnier than ever. Since some footage vanished, you get a real look at our friendship and conversation as we talk about her new dog, annotating books, and your soon-to-be new favorite trope: only one body! Join us as we discuss her latest book, Warrior of Legend, which is the sequel to Champion of Fate and ties into her Three Dark Crowns world.

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BUY THE BOOKS
Bookshop:
Warrior of Legend
Champion of Fate
Anna Dressed in Blood
Three Dark Crowns
One Girl in All the World
Against the Darkness

Amazon:
Warrior of Legend
Champion of Fate
Anna Dressed in Blood
Three Dark Crowns
One Girl in All the World
Against the Darkness


LibroFM:
Warrior of Legend
Champion of Fate
Anna Dressed in Blood
Three Dark Crowns

Transcript

00;00;03;07 - 00;00;21;06
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman. And I'm really excited to bring this author back to the show to talk to you about her latest book. The problem with making jokes about book titles is that sometimes the a joke title is what sticks in your head. And so I just want to keep saying two bits to various that's not that's not correct.

00;00;21;09 - 00;00;41;17
Speaker 1
The actual title of this book is Warrior of Legend, and the author is kind of like Gandara is absolutely one of my favorites. Just her personality is so much fun. She is so funny. She is so kind. She is so smart. I just love talking to her so much. And to get another chance to do so just made my whole day.

00;00;41;23 - 00;00;57;00
Speaker 1
We took a little time out of our schedules from y'all first 20, 24 to make a little trip down to the water and sit a little part and talk about Warrior of Legend and Puffy, of course, and many other things. So without any further ado, here's my conversation with Kendra Blake.

00;01;02;06 - 00;01;03;18
Speaker 2
Welcome back to Literary Hype.

00;01;03;18 - 00;01;09;08
Speaker 1
It's so excited to have you on. And we're in a whole different state this time. Instead of Saint Louis which is always more fun.

00;01;09;16 - 00;01;14;07
Speaker 3
Yeah. And we're not in a hotel. We're like in a beautiful park. It's with the ocean.

00;01;14;12 - 00;01;21;22
Speaker 1
It's very dramatically different from our last time sitting down and it's been almost exactly a year. So what you been up to?

00;01;22;10 - 00;01;29;02
Speaker 3
Oh, man, time. Time is strange. I've actually been slacking off pretty hard this year.

00;01;29;24 - 00;01;47;26
Speaker 1
It's been a rough year for a lot of people. Didn't do it well. I mean, you did put out a book, so we will we will talk about the book. But there's one thing I want to talk about first, because we talked about this off camera, and now I want to put it out into the world to maybe make it happen.

00;01;49;00 - 00;01;53;28
Speaker 1
Convince the people that ran BookCon in Book Expo to bring it back. Why should they bring it back?

00;01;55;05 - 00;02;20;04
Speaker 3
Oh, because we miss it. No, it was it was it was singular. In like the book community for the people that it brought together. Like, that was the big show. That was where the industry met the reading public, where librarians came in at the same time. I mean, it was nothing's come up. There are great festivals, don't get me wrong.

00;02;20;04 - 00;02;43;21
Speaker 3
And and SEAL, they still have fantastic conventions and things but nothing's really come up to to take the place of Book Expo slash BookCon. So there's a whole I mean, I understand. I remember how big it was and what a pain it was. For, for publishers to put it on. And I totally get that. Maybe it's just become an unexpected thing and a completely expensive thing that doesn't have the return on investment.

00;02;43;21 - 00;02;47;01
Speaker 3
But man, just from a book lovers perspective, I do miss it.

00;02;47;20 - 00;03;06;14
Speaker 1
I feel like the book world has changed so much since that last one. Like, the last one was in 2019 and reading has really taken off in a dramatic way since then. Thanks to Tick Tock, like, who knew that an app would revolutionize reading in a way, then bring so many people back together. So I feel like it should come back.

00;03;06;24 - 00;03;07;22
Speaker 1
There's more readers now.

00;03;08;04 - 00;03;35;00
Speaker 3
There's a lot of readers during the pandemic. I mean, people just grab books and then they sat in their beds and wept while they read them. So yeah, like there there are these like watershed things that that kind of turn a generation towards reading a twilight Harry Potter, you know, like those are big book moments, but sometimes there are things that happen just to us as a society that just make us want books more and nothing good came out of the pandemic.

00;03;35;12 - 00;03;40;04
Speaker 3
But maybe the amount of books that I hoarded was something good that came out of it.

00;03;40;04 - 00;03;42;18
Speaker 1
What's the favorite book you've hoarded since the pandemic?

00;03;43;03 - 00;04;03;20
Speaker 3
Oh, oh, I have my treasured hoarding pile. Like I'm a mood reader, so I'll find a book that I want and I'll just buy it but if I'm not in the mood to read it, I'll it'll just like stay and stare at me for years. Actually, I bought a House of Leaves, which is a horror book that has been recommended to me for a decade.

00;04;03;25 - 00;04;04;17
Speaker 1
Very popular.

00;04;04;17 - 00;04;18;25
Speaker 3
Yes. It's like a it's it's a new horror classic. And I finally bought it during the pandemic, and it looked at me for I just started it in October oops. Yeah, it's very good. But, I mean, it has to wait for it's time.

00;04;19;04 - 00;04;27;11
Speaker 1
Buying books, reading books and talking about books, all different hobbies. There's three different hobbies. And sometimes you just don't have the time to do all three of them at once.

00;04;27;11 - 00;04;35;20
Speaker 3
Yeah. Or at least they're the same hobby. But it's in phases, you know, I'm in my buying book phase. Later I'll be in my talking about books phase. Yeah.

00;04;35;21 - 00;04;44;25
Speaker 1
Who needs a book, man? Not I. But also, since we talked last on camera, you got a puppy I did.

00;04;44;25 - 00;04;54;15
Speaker 3
I got a new puppy. He was born last January, so he's ten months old now. So still a puppy. Going to be a puppy for a couple more years, trying to appreciate that.

00;04;55;21 - 00;05;00;03
Speaker 1
And you kept him in the phantom name. Talk a little bit about his name.

00;05;00;06 - 00;05;19;22
Speaker 3
He was born on Buffy Summers birthday, and at the time you know, I was still writing in the Buffy verse with Buffy the Next Generation series. So I took it as a sign. I didn't actually want a male puppy. We were holding out for a female but when she said he was born on Buffy's birthday, so we had to take him.

00;05;19;22 - 00;05;22;07
Speaker 3
And his name is Wesley Windham. Paws.

00;05;22;10 - 00;05;44;00
Speaker 1
I love it so much. So cute. Yeah. I'm glad you kept with the fandom. And Buffy is so special to you. As we talked about last time and now the third Buffy book that you wrote is out in the world as well. And you just did a, like, doodled and annotated version of it and gave it away. I looked at some of these pictures of your doodles, like your real good.

00;05;44;02 - 00;05;47;16
Speaker 3
No, no, no, no. My stick figures. Yes, they are legendary.

00;05;47;25 - 00;05;59;29
Speaker 1
They're amazing. So how long did it take you to do all of the doodling and annotating and like, what was so special about each of those moments that made you want to doodle or underline them?

00;06;00;11 - 00;06;19;16
Speaker 3
So I have one more to do. I have not annotated and doodled a copy of Against the Darkness Yet, and I will, and then I'll give it away. The giving it away is actually pretty hard because they do take me about six months to do because I'll just sit down when I have an hour to, you know, have a glass of wine and, and doodle some Buffy.

00;06;21;07 - 00;06;40;18
Speaker 3
And my goal with each of these because I put so many Easter eggs and callbacks to the, to the TV show in these books that I want to highlight and point out every single one with, you know, and then I reference like this is a reference to season four episode 22, you know, and then explain a little bit like why.

00;06;40;18 - 00;06;46;12
Speaker 3
And so there's quite a bit that goes into it. And then sometimes I just like to illustrate my Buffy jokes.

00;06;47;04 - 00;06;52;09
Speaker 1
So your Scooby was really great though the retro I love that doodle.

00;06;52;21 - 00;07;12;00
Speaker 3
That was surprising because I only have I don't want to destroy a book. And once I'm pretty deep into doodling it, it's a one chance so I could totally, totally have annihilated that Scooby and it would have had to stay in looking terrible. But he actually looks pretty decent I think.

00;07;12;00 - 00;07;15;16
Speaker 1
So how has doodling helped you in your creativity?

00;07;16;04 - 00;07;36;27
Speaker 3
Oh, it hasn't. That's just something I really like. I like to do it makes it a little bit more reader interactive. There's a independent bookshop that will people can contact them and they'll call me, and then I'll come in and personalize any of my books. And also if they want a personalized doodle, they can ask for that as well.

00;07;37;04 - 00;07;54;26
Speaker 3
So it's just fun to see what Doodles readers ask me to do. Like some of them apparently really think I have talent because they will ask me for some ridiculous things and I'm like, you know, I do stick figures. Yes. And they're like, Draw me a red panda eating an ice cream sundae, like, OK.

00;07;56;27 - 00;08;01;11
Speaker 1
What bookshop is that for? Anyone who's listening and wants to get one of your doodle books?

00;08;01;13 - 00;08;04;15
Speaker 3
Oh, it's Invitation Bookshop in Gig Harbor, Washington.

00;08;05;05 - 00;08;06;25
Speaker 1
Shout out to the independent booksellers yeah.

00;08;06;25 - 00;08;08;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, they're great. They opened up during the pandemic.

00;08;09;12 - 00;08;10;27
Speaker 1
Oof! Rough time to open.

00;08;10;27 - 00;08;16;29
Speaker 3
It was. But they're doing so well. Like, they've really, really dialed in with the community. It's. I love it. I'm so happy they're there.

00;08;18;06 - 00;08;31;29
Speaker 1
Before we get too much into the next book, I've been dying to ask this question for so long. Last time we talked, you mentioned that there was a fandom that you wanted to write in but you couldn't talk about. Is anything happened with that yet?

00;08;32;00 - 00;08;34;29
Speaker 3
No. And, you know, unfortunately, I think it might have fallen through.

00;08;35;22 - 00;08;39;20
Speaker 1
Which is why we don't talk about it until it's signed, sealed and delivered.

00;08;39;21 - 00;09;02;14
Speaker 3
We were talking about it, my editor at Disney and I, and we had gotten a cancer update and people seemed excited about it. And then I hadn't I haven't heard. So either the entire project got put on hold which means maybe it's not dead. Maybe someday, you know, I'll get to come back to it. But for now, I'm still saying mum's the word just in case.

00;09;02;20 - 00;09;13;02
Speaker 3
When it's like, dead, dead and like when I'm 85, you know, and I'm not writing any more, then I'll, I'll just be like, it was this. But for now, I'm just going to keep it to myself.

00;09;13;10 - 00;09;20;03
Speaker 1
So the Buffy trilogy that you were writing in The Way Space Is Over, is there any hope of more Buffy books?

00;09;20;18 - 00;09;42;29
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. There's always hope of more Buffy books. Maybe not for me, but I'm a huge I'm a I'm a Buffy fan, so I'm always up for more Buffy content. And it seems like the Buffy fans who gave these books a shot, they they kind of really liked them. And it's been so fantastic just geeking out with Buffy fans.

00;09;44;10 - 00;10;14;16
Speaker 3
Over the series because my biggest fear was like disappointing other fans. So to hear that, no, they they they enjoyed the direction and they thought it was really fun and they loved all the callbacks so that really makes my day just this this weekend at this book event that we're at, I've had some really great conversations with with Buffy readers so yeah, I hope that more Buffy fans catch on to the book and it would be great to see Francie, the Vampire Slayer, continue her adventures in some form.

00;10;14;18 - 00;10;22;23
Speaker 3
Not necessarily with me, but, you know, I mean, that would be really cool or just any more Buffy stuff. I'm always just more Buffy stuff forever.

00;10;23;01 - 00;10;48;12
Speaker 1
More Buffy forever. It's fine. So that book came out right around the time we did a Battle of the Trumps panel, and oh, I'm tying this to your comeback. This is, this is my brain at work right now. We did battle the tropes when you're promoting Buffy Book three and now you've got your new book out, which has my favorite written horse of all time.

00;10;48;12 - 00;10;57;17
Speaker 1
I love Silko. And you argued only one horse and now I feel like I understand how you argued only one horse so well because you have Silko.

00;10;58;19 - 00;11;17;29
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, my argument against only one horse was that think of the horse, you know, like you're having shenanigans up there and he knows it and he'd prefer you didn't. So I was really thinking about Silko and how if you try to have shenanigans on his back, you will find yourself very quickly on your butt.

00;11;19;12 - 00;11;34;24
Speaker 1
Silko is so much fun. So talk a little bit about before we get into the actual plot of the book, crafting a horse who can't talk but can communicate in other ways and how you put that on the page for the reader to understand how the horse is communicating.

00;11;35;12 - 00;12;03;05
Speaker 3
Yeah, so the the rumor about the arresting horses is that they're immortal horses and they're really fast and they're really strong and they're smart enough to understand you. And if you're worthy, they will speak to you. But none of them ever have. So what does that say? But they definitely communicate in other ways. And anybody who's actually owned a horse or spent any time around horses knows that they do communicate.

00;12;03;14 - 00;12;24;06
Speaker 3
They definitely make their feelings known. So writing Silko, he just he has to use his body a lot. He has to use his teeth. And that that is how they get their points across. A lot of what he does is actually based off of my mean horse Lassie who who frequently use her teeth to let me know how she how she was feeling.

00;12;24;18 - 00;12;26;11
Speaker 3
Just what she would like to happen.

00;12;27;12 - 00;12;31;27
Speaker 1
I love wouldn't talk. Laughs. I felt like she would grab you and pull you off when she was done writing.

00;12;31;27 - 00;12;33;15
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah. Time to go back.

00;12;33;27 - 00;12;34;11
Speaker 1
We're done.

00;12;34;11 - 00;12;37;29
Speaker 3
Got it. I understood that. That was loud and clear.

00;12;38;20 - 00;12;52;26
Speaker 1
OK, so for anyone who has not seen this do ology that you've got, tell us what's going on, what we need to know about book one as we go into book to Champion. No, that's not the warrior of legend. I just tried to mix up both of the titles.

00;12;53;08 - 00;12;55;15
Speaker 3
Champion of Warrior, Legends of Fate.

00;12;55;17 - 00;12;58;12
Speaker 1
What books? That's not even the title. It's two face to face.

00;12;58;12 - 00;13;26;05
Speaker 3
To oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Champion of Fate, Two Champions Reloaded So Champion of Fate is a story of a young girl who was orphaned when her entire village is slaughtered by raiders. She is discovered by two immortal warrior women members of an immortal order. They raise her and she would like to become a true member of her new family.

00;13;26;12 - 00;13;54;01
Speaker 3
So Book One Champion of Fate follows her journey to become a full member of the Immortal Warrior Order and take her place and book two Warrior of Legend is about the fallout of of those actions because she made kind of a mess in the first book, and now she has to go on another adventure, which I think Warrior of legend is a little zany than Champion.

00;13;54;01 - 00;14;26;11
Speaker 3
If a champion of eight had some really serious themes and warrior of legend, well, yes, the themes are also serious. It gave me an opportunity to have a little bit of fun because her the the quests that she goes on a main character is kind of like Xena Warrior Princess. She's like a big she's a big girl and she's very violent and no nonsense and the mission they send her on, she has to become like a matchmaker in this ridiculous gown with like a terrible matchmakers hat that makes her look like the top of a cake.

00;14;28;05 - 00;14;37;03
Speaker 3
So it was so much fun just to wedge her in that knowing how much she hated it and then just force her to pretend she knew anything about the ways of love.

00;14;38;17 - 00;14;48;00
Speaker 1
Especially when you bring in her love interest from book one and she has to be around him and match make involving him it's so entertaining.

00;14;48;03 - 00;14;55;04
Speaker 3
It's even worse. It's even worse. She didn't want to do it in the first place. And then she's like, Oh, my ex-boyfriend's here. And Oh, I'm supposed to hook him up with this girl. And I don't like that.

00;14;55;17 - 00;14;56;10
Speaker 1
I don't like any.

00;14;56;11 - 00;14;59;20
Speaker 3
Of like any of this. And also, he's seeing me in this hat.

00;15;01;03 - 00;15;17;19
Speaker 1
Which is it's so fun. I love the setup for this. So much. It's just like that's but I don't even know the word for it. But just like that, I had to be my ex and I have to be he knows my secret to take over.

00;15;18;02 - 00;15;35;18
Speaker 3
All I know, and he's all pissy, which he has a reason to be, but deservedly so. Very relatable to me because I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but every time I run into like an ex or something in town, I'm usually like, looking my wife.

00;15;35;27 - 00;15;36;17
Speaker 1
Absolutely.

00;15;36;17 - 00;15;44;00
Speaker 3
Like, I've just trundle to town for like cold medicine in a bathrobe, you know, something like that. I was like, Oh, great, great.

00;15;44;07 - 00;15;58;27
Speaker 1
Hey, she's in a cat cake hat that has to deal with her ex. But we also get more perspective from another character, one of Reed's little buddies from the Christine. So what was it like exploring this world through the eyes of another character?

00;15;59;15 - 00;16;28;21
Speaker 3
That was that was good. You get a lot more POVs in the second book because you know, the world expands, so the more complications come in, we had to go to different places and we got to follow her best friend leaning for a while because the ending is also going to get up to some messes. And that was really interesting because sometimes when you're writing and a perspective feels like it's it's kind of fighting to be included.

00;16;29;04 - 00;16;39;27
Speaker 3
It gives you a clue to where the story's going that they're going to play an outsized role in whatever happens at the end and that's exactly what occurred.

00;16;40;06 - 00;17;00;06
Speaker 1
Don't, don't we're not going spoil anything. We're just going to say that Lillian's spun Reed also gets a new name, as now that she's an official part of the Christine. So talk about creating the names for the characters in this book and how the meaning is so impactful to them.

00;17;00;25 - 00;17;28;11
Speaker 3
Sure. So Reed gets a new name because everybody always teased her that her name wasn't grand enough to be. There can't be no Christine Reed. That sounds ridiculous. You're like a stick, a bendy stick. So her name now is Mackie Anti, which means like war flower or blossom of war. You know, it's much better, but it won't stick.

00;17;28;11 - 00;17;54;07
Speaker 3
Like nobody will call her that. They just keep calling her Reed. And she's like, What was the point of this? But it was very important. I like to tie names to people. She's a wallflower. And that's that's very much integral to her character. Listening is very lion. Like, she's got the main. She's got the the swagger yeah. Yeah.

00;17;55;05 - 00;18;12;10
Speaker 1
One thing I love about these characters is the sisterhood between Reed and listening and how they kind of have each other's backs. Even when they probably shouldn't, and try to help each other in ways that they shouldn't. So talk a little bit about crafting women, supporting women in a warrior world.

00;18;12;23 - 00;18;46;00
Speaker 3
That was really important to me, actually. I was just talking to my writer friends about this yesterday, how I'm like, you know what? I love a good bromance. I love a bromance. Halcyon Wilson, you know, Anakin and Obi-Wan I love that bromance energy. And I'm like, I don't have any bromance energy with my female friends. I want to start pushing you guys around and calling you Bra and, like, telling you what bad life choices you're making and then, like, talking you out of those bad life choices without giving you a noogie.

00;18;46;07 - 00;19;10;22
Speaker 3
That's and one of my writer friends is like, I can do that for you, bro. I'm going to go make a bad choice right now, you know? And it was just like, yes, I want this, like, semi antagonistic but loving energy that, you know, guys get to have. But but with my girlfriends, that sounds fun. And that's the kind of thing that I wanted to bring to read and Leoneans friendship because they are very physical.

00;19;10;22 - 00;19;33;15
Speaker 3
I mean, these are tough warriors like they can kill like so easily and they're oftentimes kind of pitted against each other. But I never wanted that to come between them. Even when they're frustrated with each other, even when they see each other making a huge mistakes, they're always going to support like they're always going to be there to catch the fall, or it's never actually going to drive a wedge between them.

00;19;33;15 - 00;19;34;10
Speaker 3
That was really important.

00;19;34;28 - 00;19;40;10
Speaker 1
Silko gets a little representation in the art of this book. On the chapter pages.

00;19;40;15 - 00;20;00;17
Speaker 3
I did ask for like little horses and people to be like threaded into the cover and the artist is amazing. Thomas Mizuki. I didn't specify the appearances of any of the Warriors or any of the horses, but I feel like I can look at the cover and pick out exactly which one he was going for. So just did an amazing job.

00;20;01;07 - 00;20;06;17
Speaker 3
I think they did a beautiful job with the interior book design, but they just show me and I go, Oh, pretty nice.

00;20;07;04 - 00;20;09;06
Speaker 1
Which yeah, yeah. It's pretty, pretty.

00;20;09;06 - 00;20;17;17
Speaker 3
It's yeah, it's perfect. They these books are fantasies and they look exactly like that. Like, you know what you're getting when you pull it off the shelf.

00;20;17;21 - 00;20;22;06
Speaker 1
It's a great cover too on both of them have spectacular covers so much.

00;20;22;08 - 00;20;32;12
Speaker 3
For some reason, the Warrior of Legend cover was like the spear and the red and the yellow. It reminds me of like a like a kung fu poster, like from an old kung fu movie. Like if you told me Bruce Lee was in it, I believe you.

00;20;32;24 - 00;20;48;03
Speaker 1
So in this book, we're seeing read as an aronstein doing well and kind of experiencing the glory that she's creating for this goddess. So talk a little bit about building this world and what the glory would look like for these characters to experience.

00;20;49;00 - 00;21;18;12
Speaker 3
That was a little more difficult because, I mean, glory is an intangible thing, you know? But the interesting experience that physically, like, they can feel it when glory is achieved and they can feel it when it flows through them to their God. It's kind of like a rush. So the way I depicted that in the book was just like when there's the potential for glory around, like people start like glittering a little bit, the kind of get a glow and if they're your hero, you can kind of see their path, too.

00;21;18;12 - 00;21;44;26
Speaker 3
It kind of laid out in like a little strand of gold. So you can, you can do your best to guide them in that direction. But I don't know when I decided on that. I'm just like, what would, what would be nice gold golds, nice goldfields, warm and cool. Warm and cool. Yes. I'm a writer but so yeah, that's just what I, what I fell on.

00;21;46;12 - 00;21;57;11
Speaker 1
There's a line that says Immortal lives were so long, there was nothing but time to develop talents. If you had nothing but time to develop talents, what would be like your top ones that you'd want to work on?

00;21;57;12 - 00;22;20;28
Speaker 3
The top ones? Yeah, the top ones I don't know. I think about this a lot when I'm watching Groundhog's Day because, you know, like he learns to play jazz piano and like I would learn to play jazz piano like I would totally, you know, kick that poor kid out of his piano lesson and steal it every day. So I would learn to play jazz piano or classical piano, any kind of instrument because I'm terrible at that.

00;22;21;06 - 00;22;26;10
Speaker 3
I would learn to speak a language, a foreign language, and they would not my own because I'm terrible at that.

00;22;27;27 - 00;22;28;10
Speaker 1
Ditto.

00;22;29;07 - 00;22;33;26
Speaker 3
So I think most of my time would just be spent learning cool things.

00;22;35;05 - 00;22;39;11
Speaker 1
You just you just want to be smart and know all the things you understand this is this a mood.

00;22;39;17 - 00;22;44;03
Speaker 3
There's just not enough life to learn all the stuff that I would like to learn.

00;22;44;06 - 00;22;53;22
Speaker 1
It's like the older you get, the more you realize that you know nothing. And it's just kind of disappointing yeah. It's like when you're young, you think you know everything and this guy knows so much nothing.

00;22;54;04 - 00;23;05;22
Speaker 3
Well, when you're young, it feels like you're discovering things at such a rate that maybe by the time you're finished, you will know everything and then know there's too much. No, it really slows down later, kids.

00;23;06;12 - 00;23;07;18
Speaker 1
It's so unfortunate.

00;23;10;03 - 00;23;18;08
Speaker 1
If you could go back to your younger self, what would you want your younger self to know about the whole world stock market?

00;23;18;08 - 00;23;18;20
Speaker 3
Tips.

00;23;20;03 - 00;23;22;08
Speaker 1
It's a really smart no no.

00;23;22;08 - 00;23;24;00
Speaker 3
She should be able to do anything with that.

00;23;24;09 - 00;23;24;18
Speaker 1
Like.

00;23;25;00 - 00;23;43;20
Speaker 3
Let me invest my $5 into Google now. No gosh, I don't know. I mean, I think sometimes the world's better when you have to just discover it. So maybe I wouldn't give her anything. Maybe I just dance around and go like, you'll find out. And then she'd hit me.

00;23;44;18 - 00;23;53;06
Speaker 1
That would be really entertaining. Is there anything that you have learned about writing over the course of your career that you wish you would have known when you wrote your first book?

00;23;56;03 - 00;24;19;10
Speaker 3
Nope, nope, nope. No, I think and Address In Blood, which was my first published book, is just about exactly what it was meant to be. Each book is different, and if I'm being honest, the book's writing now feels harder than it did then. Maybe it's because back then I was in a bubble and I was just writing with so much passion, and I was writing just for myself.

00;24;19;25 - 00;24;42;13
Speaker 3
But I wrote and a much faster and smoother than I write books now because I, you know, it's a job now. Now I've got deadlines the stories that I'm writing now are more complex. So I know I wouldn't change anything for that first book. I've learned a lot since then, so I don't want to make it say like, no, I knew it all from the beginning.

00;24;43;09 - 00;24;54;04
Speaker 3
I have learned a ton, and each book is a new stretch. I'm always trying to do something different with each new project. I want to push something. I want to try something that I haven't done before.

00;24;56;23 - 00;25;00;08
Speaker 3
But yeah, I wouldn't go back and change anything.

00;25;00;16 - 00;25;03;26
Speaker 1
Well, speaking of new projects, what you got cooking now?

00;25;04;13 - 00;25;26;03
Speaker 3
Yeah, things are about to get real quiet around me land because my next book doesn't come out until winter. 20, 27 so after releasing two books a year for the last three years, I am cooling it until winter. 20, 27 I'm working on the book now.

00;25;28;13 - 00;25;54;07
Speaker 3
It is called The Stolen Queen, and it is about a girl who accidentally gets a God stuck in her body and has to figure out how to get him out because she was supposed to have a different goddess in her bottle like she was raised to be a vessel. But something goes awry and she ends up with the wrong God in there, and he's a real piece of work.

00;25;54;22 - 00;26;14;05
Speaker 3
So yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. It's going to challenge me in the way that I write humor because a lot of the humor is visual, and that's hard when you're using words instead of images I'm going to depend a lot on the imaginations of my readers to fill in those gaps. But I have I have faith in my readers.

00;26;14;11 - 00;26;25;21
Speaker 3
I have faith in all readers. They're good folk but as far as tropes go, it's like you've heard of just one bit, but are you ready for just one body.

00;26;27;11 - 00;26;29;23
Speaker 1
This is going to be the new one and battle the true.

00;26;30;01 - 00;26;31;05
Speaker 3
Invalid jokes about the.

00;26;31;05 - 00;26;35;22
Speaker 1
Body. Three way battle. I've only one bed, only one horse, only one body.

00;26;35;22 - 00;26;38;09
Speaker 3
Only one body. It's going to be weird.

00;26;39;05 - 00;26;45;17
Speaker 1
I'm so here for it. What are you going to be doing with all this extra time that you're not writing two books a year?

00;26;45;25 - 00;27;06;20
Speaker 3
Oh, well, I'm going to be writing two books a year. I'm only under contract for one, but that means that I should, like, write some of the stuff that I've been meaning to write that I haven't had a had time to do. So I would actually really like to write 38 crowns five. And I will I don't know if it'll ever get published.

00;27;06;20 - 00;27;23;25
Speaker 3
It might just be that I'm writing it for me, but the story's there now. At the end of Warrior of Legend, it kind of leads us right back to Fen Island and Three Dark Crowns. So now I know like where that's going. And one more book would just tie up both series. So I'm going to try to find a time to write it.

00;27;24;02 - 00;27;39;27
Speaker 1
That would be perfect because there's so much offense burn in book two. There's a little bit in book one, but there's a lot more book to to bring it back to the island and would you bring some of the characters from Warrior of Legend into Sunburn at that point?

00;27;39;28 - 00;28;03;24
Speaker 3
Yes, Three To Our Crowns, five would be a fun burn book but we would also venture outside of the island. So the surviving characters from Sweetheart Crowns would, would be the focus, but we would also see the surviving characters from Warrior of Legend playing a role. I don't want to say their names because then, you know, they'll know they live and anybody is up for grabs.

00;28;03;24 - 00;28;11;07
Speaker 1
So no spoiling allowed as much as possible. I have to cut a whole chunk out of the issue of interview because she spoiled her book for me.

00;28;11;10 - 00;28;18;19
Speaker 3
Oh, no. Oh, you have the issue of spoilers. I like advance spoilers.

00;28;19;18 - 00;28;33;14
Speaker 1
I've read about 80 pages or so of Bones, and then I talked to her about that and she said something about that happens on page 100. I'm like, she's like, Oh, you're so close. She's like, it's you rephrase the question. She's like, Oh yeah, let's talk about this, but let me rephrase it like this. And I was like, What?

00;28;33;15 - 00;28;39;24
Speaker 1
And she's like, Oh, it was so funny. She's like, Let's just cut all that out and we'll go back to the way you said it first.

00;28;40;05 - 00;28;48;26
Speaker 3
Well, at least, you know, we don't have to wait too much longer for that book. So just seven months, it's not going to, like, kill me knowing that, you know, things. I'll be all right.

00;28;49;23 - 00;28;50;24
Speaker 1
I'm sure you.

00;28;50;24 - 00;28;52;13
Speaker 3
See the footage. No, I'm just, you know, just kidding.

00;28;52;17 - 00;28;57;07
Speaker 1
I'm sure you could, you know, asks, asks some people and probably I.

00;28;58;05 - 00;29;01;09
Speaker 3
You know, no, I will wait. Oh, I will not spoil myself.

00;29;02;05 - 00;29;08;08
Speaker 1
I mean, you could ask for a book, you know, like your Kendra Blake. You could probably have a little pull.

00;29;08;08 - 00;29;13;10
Speaker 3
We have the same publishers you do. I could ask I never think.

00;29;13;10 - 00;29;17;14
Speaker 1
Of these things. I know who her publicist is. Oh. Oh.

00;29;18;01 - 00;29;28;24
Speaker 3
I just, you know, I'm just like, oh, no. I'll just preorder it and wait. That's fine. That's fine, too. I mean, it's I actually do. I enjoy getting it on release day.

00;29;29;17 - 00;29;41;01
Speaker 1
That is fun to go in and get a book on. Really? Say, especially, like the way Barnes Noble does ordering. Now they'll get one copy, and once that sells, then they'll order more. And so it's like so like you just.

00;29;41;01 - 00;29;45;02
Speaker 3
Told me this, and I had no idea that that was a thing that was happening.

00;29;45;21 - 00;29;58;14
Speaker 1
So I bought the first copy unreleased of this one. And then we a couple of days later get three. So then we have more to sell. And if we sell the three, then we get five this is how Barnes Noble works. Oh.

00;29;59;03 - 00;30;00;24
Speaker 3
Oh, interesting.

00;30;00;24 - 00;30;02;01
Speaker 1
With the hardcovers right now.

00;30;02;13 - 00;30;05;27
Speaker 3
Well, let's see. I'll, I'll be interested to know how that goes.

00;30;06;22 - 00;30;12;28
Speaker 1
We all are. It's relatively new is there anything else we'll talk about?

00;30;12;28 - 00;30;14;16
Speaker 3
I love this insider information.

00;30;14;16 - 00;30;15;04
Speaker 1
Like bringing.

00;30;15;07 - 00;30;17;28
Speaker 3
The bookseller information, you know, we're usually not privy to.

00;30;17;29 - 00;30;19;27
Speaker 1
So it's.

00;30;20;03 - 00;30;21;13
Speaker 3
Cool. That's cool.

00;30;21;21 - 00;30;22;21
Speaker 1
Is there anything else we'll talk about?

00;30;23;02 - 00;30;31;24
Speaker 3
I'm you know, I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but that is not weird and random.

00;30;31;24 - 00;30;38;26
Speaker 1
So I mean, weird and random is what we do now. I want to know what weird and random thing pops into your head first. Oh.

00;30;39;13 - 00;30;40;15
Speaker 3
Like vegan cheese.

00;30;41;20 - 00;30;43;04
Speaker 1
That's such a disappointment.

00;30;43;05 - 00;30;57;02
Speaker 3
No. Yeah, I'm really. I'm looking forward to try and some vegan cheese. I saw, you know, you get the Instagram ads and sometimes they really get you. And then, like, that vegan cheese looks good. In my mind. I know it can't possibly be as good as I'm hoping it is.

00;30;57;09 - 00;30;58;24
Speaker 1
Some of the vegans, it's awful.

00;30;58;24 - 00;31;00;12
Speaker 3
I'm going to order some of that vegan cheese.

00;31;01;05 - 00;31;02;06
Speaker 1
Vegan cheese. And you.

00;31;02;06 - 00;31;02;20
Speaker 3
Put it on.

00;31;02;20 - 00;31;03;15
Speaker 1
My boxing.

00;31;03;26 - 00;31;09;25
Speaker 3
Holiday charcuterie platter and just surprise myself and everyone that I have to my home.

00;31;11;19 - 00;31;19;14
Speaker 1
That would be so wild to show to a party. And it's just like all vegan cheese and you don't know it. You're respecting real cheese. And then you're like.

00;31;19;29 - 00;31;29;14
Speaker 3
I'm going to go side by side with actual cheese, too. So then there's a fair comparison, you know? And also if it's really, really bad, then we'll just eat the regular cheese. But I want to give it a shot.

00;31;29;28 - 00;31;32;00
Speaker 1
It would be kind of a fun April Fool's joke to.

00;31;32;11 - 00;31;32;27
Speaker 3
Know, like.

00;31;33;18 - 00;31;36;24
Speaker 1
Here's it's only vegan cheese. And it's like, Oh, no, this tastes totally normal.

00;31;36;25 - 00;31;40;27
Speaker 3
What if all your friends were really polite, though, and they didn't say anything and then they just hated you.

00;31;42;11 - 00;31;54;22
Speaker 1
Love disaster. Work on me. I made a bad bargain, you know, like, did I made a bad Last question we always ask because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about right now?

00;31;55;09 - 00;32;27;04
Speaker 3
Oh, OK. Let's see uh, Aaron Craig's got a new one coming out next year. It's called A Landslide. I think it's an adult debut. And since I love everything that Aaron Craig writes, I'm very excited for that. Um, I'm excited for a horror book that's coming out from my friend McBride. I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything about it because I don't think it's been announced, but dying it's going to be good.

00;32;27;27 - 00;32;50;05
Speaker 3
I'm excited for this is really frustrating because there's so many things that I feel like I might just know about as an industry insider that I actually can't say because it hasn't been officially announced yet. So I'm just going to talk about something that, like, recently came out. Yeah, the 13th child by Aaron Craig just came out. Ava Reed had a great Lady Macbeth.

00;32;50;22 - 00;32;51;08
Speaker 1
Which is hard.

00;32;51;08 - 00;32;51;25
Speaker 3
Because that's.

00;32;51;25 - 00;32;54;02
Speaker 1
What you mentioned last year that you're looking forward to that.

00;32;54;02 - 00;33;18;27
Speaker 3
Yes. And I read it and it's great and it's so awesome. So I've had like those have been some favorite reads recently read in Tucson Club Listen, McBride was excellent. If you're into like horrifying weird restaurant Western Frontier Stories, which we don't have enough of. Yeah, yeah. And so many secret things that I can't say. It's so frustrating.

00;33;19;12 - 00;33;24;11
Speaker 1
I'm just going to have to be like, tell me secrets off camera.

00;33;24;21 - 00;33;28;04
Speaker 3
As soon as they get announced. I like for them to be like, This is the one I was talking about.

00;33;28;04 - 00;33;28;26
Speaker 1
OK, OK, this is.

00;33;28;26 - 00;33;29;09
Speaker 3
What I was.

00;33;29;09 - 00;33;37;02
Speaker 1
Meaning. That's a an acceptable way to tell me the things when it's official and not ruin other people's secrets, right?

00;33;37;05 - 00;33;38;03
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah.

00;33;38;09 - 00;33;40;08
Speaker 1
Because you don't want to turn the writing community against you.

00;33;40;08 - 00;33;49;26
Speaker 3
I don't feel like things within the writing community pre pre-announcement really have to stay within the writing community. Pre-announcements.

00;33;51;09 - 00;33;56;26
Speaker 1
Oh, well, thank you so much for taking time to talk about your brand new book, Warrior of Legends and Literary Hype.

00;33;57;05 - 00;34;01;00
Speaker 3
It was so good to see you. I'm so happy we got to do this again another year.

00;34;01;22 - 00;34;05;10
Speaker 1
And I guess now we just won't see each other on camera until 820, 27.

00;34;05;29 - 00;34;06;09
Speaker 3
Yup.

00;34;06;27 - 00;34;07;20
Speaker 1
But it'll happen.

00;34;07;22 - 00;34;09;20
Speaker 3
But we'll see each other probably at a college somewhere.

00;34;09;23 - 00;34;32;26
Speaker 1
Probably doing badly for jokes probably if they let us. I doubt this is going to go on the list. It's going to go on the list. I'm going to get myself fired at this thanks so much to Kendra for taking time out of her office schedule to hang out with me by the water and just have a real good time talking about all things books and pop culture.

00;34;33;00 - 00;34;51;01
Speaker 1
If you'd like to get your hands on Warrior of Legend, which you should probably read Champions of Faith first. I'm just saying it's kind of important to read the first book sometimes, and this is one where you want to read the first book, so you should order both books using the links in the show notes. If you enjoy this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the literary podcast.

00;34;51;03 - 00;34;55;26
Speaker 1
Give us some stars and share it with a friend. Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.