The Shadow of Theron Tour

Author Interview with Kathryn Troy 

• At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication?

My husband and I have great conversations about the media that we consume together- books, films, TV shows, video games, and just like every story after the first one, my first book idea was one that grew out of one of those conversations, in this case about a film, and how it opened up the possibility of different outcomes and a different premise even. It started from there.

• What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first?

I always write down things about different stories. My notepad app is my lifeline for being able to remember all the things that come to my head, to be filed away for later use.

• Who is your favorite character to write, and why is that person your favorite? If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be the most demanding or your attention and detail as a writer?

It’s Alaric from my Frostbite series. It didn’t even have to think about it. I can’t put my finger on why he’s my favorite, but I enjoy spending time with the rogue. He’s a badass, he’s funny, he’s sexy as hell, and he has plenty of demons. I feel terrible when I don’t give him what he wants. Which is quite often.

• Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot and plan, or is your writing more organic?

Always a plotter/planner. But my outlines are weird. Sometimes they are nonlinear, as different parts of the book become clearer to me before others, sometimes I write a line about what I want to happen, and other times I’m writing out whole descriptive scenes and dialogue (a whole chapter, basically), and when I go back to fill in the gaps I kick myself for making it easy sometimes and not others.

• What have you found to be most challenging about writing in romantic fantasy?

Finding out where my voice fits, and how to toe the line. This is especially true for the fantasy elements. It’s hard to be taken seriously when you’re writing fantasy, because a)there’s a glut of fantasy writers b) a tiny minority of them ever become household names, c)those handful of writers are some combination of white, male, bearded, taking time to make up whole languages, taking a decade to write the next piece in their series. The high/low fantasy gap is really just the handful of people at the top, and those who put them there, being really snooty about what constitutes things that, in reality, are all make-believe. Be that as it may, I take my own fantasy concepts very seriously. Worldbuilding is probably the thing I enjoy most about writing, it is by no means just window dressing for a love story. I don’t write languages, but I rarely if ever “hand-wave.” I’m always thinking through how things world in my worlds. The way I see it, I write fantasy fiction, and they happen to have love stories in them. And I love making that on-page chemistry and those relationships emotionally satisfying, both for the story and my readers.

• Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in education in your writing?

Yes, absolutely. I’m a historian and a researcher by trade. It helps all the time when I’m world-building, because knowing about different aspects of different civilizations throughout time helps me imagine the possibilities and realities of a secondary world, which is where most of my books take place. In Curse of the Amber, the female lead Asenath Hayes is an archaeologist. I know about this adjacent discipline to make her life real, and I conducted real research about the historical connections between Egypt and Rome, as well as Celtic Druids. All of the lore that appears in the book is genuine. It’s only the resurrection of one of those Celtic sacrifices that is fictional.

In my vampire fiction (fantasy series and a standalone horror), all of the ways that vampirism is framed are derived from legitimate folkloric sources, and I’m always looking for ways to utilize some under-recognized elements in popular culture, like the longing for home soil.

• Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it.

Wheel of Time meets Zorro meets Legend of Zelda.

• Do you have any odd writing habits?

Handwritten, all the way. Caliber three-subject notebooks, Pilot inky pens. Then I print the whole thing out, mark it up by hand in script that can put a doctor’s prescription pad to shame, and retype it.

• What is your take on book boyfriends? Do they actually exist? Or do they set the bar for “real life men” impossibly high?

That’s a good question. I guess it depends on the male character in question. More specifically, their characterization, and how true to life the author is able to capture the essence of male behaviors, emotions, experiences. I would direct people pondering this question to Plato’s theory of forms. That’s a liberal arts grad for you.

• What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I have an enormous collection of horror films. Gothic and weird fiction (like…I need a seventh floor-to-ceiling bookshelf enormous), console games, tabletop games, and escape rooms on my to-do list. But most of those don’t get played with when there are ratties in the house. My pet rats are my new favorite love, and I can’t get enough of them.

 

Title:  The Shadow of Theron (Age of Shadows Book 1) (Age of Shadows Book One)
Author:  Kathryn Troy
Genre: Romantic Fantasy/Epic Fantasy/Fantasy Adventure
Date of publication: Feb 28 2023

Blurb: The powers of old are fading. A new Age is dawning.

Holy relics are all that remain of Theron’s sacred legend.

Now those relics, the enchanted weapons forged by the Three-Faced Goddess to help Theron defeat the wicked Sorcerer Argoss, are disappearing.

Lysandro knows the village magistrate Marek is responsible, and he searches for proof disguised as the masked protector the Shadow of Theron.
But when Marek wounds him with an accursed sword that shouldn’t exist, Lysandro must find a way to stop Marek from gaining any more artifacts created by the Goddess or her nemesis. The arrival of the beautiful newcomer Seraphine, with secrets of her own, only escalates their rivalry.

As the feud between Lysandro and Marek throws Lighura into chaos, a pair of priestesses seeks to recover the relics and return them to safekeeping. But the stones warn that Argoss is returning, and they must race to retrieve Theron’s most powerful weapon. But as they risk their lives for a legend, only one thing is certain. The three temples to the Goddess have been keeping secrets: not just from the faithful, but from each other.

Wheel of Time readers and fans of Sarah Maas, Saladin Ahmed, and Trudy Canavan will delight in this fantasy adventure duology infused with romance.

Teaser:

Lysandro moved along the edges of the room, circumnavigating the central space occupied by countless dancing couples. Then he saw her. At the far end of the hall, the normal view out over the coast had been replaced by a painted backdrop of the Maghreve Desert, at the very farthest border of Mirêne. With her arms wrapped around herself, she looked out over the artificial horizon. She wore a sleek ivory dress covered gold and copper crystals that left her shoulders daringly bare. That now familiar ache that hadn’t left him since this morning grew more pronounced.

As he observed the faraway, wistful look in her eyes, he realized he recognized it—homesickness. He took a deep breath and called on well-used skills to smooth his nerves and keep them tightly tucked away under a charming façade.

            He inhaled the hypnotic scent of her hair again as he stood close to her, and almost lost his nerve. He agonized over what to say, knowing he might have only one shot to get her attention.

            “Is the city of stars as beautiful as they say?”

She turned to face him, and he saw the truth in her eyes.

 

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