In the Earthsinger Chronicles, two countries have been at war for five hundred years. One country’s people have magic, the others don’t, and the two sides struggle to end the long war and overcome centuries of hatred. Whispers of Shadow & Flame is a parallel story to the first book in the series, Song of Blood & Stone. They take place at the same time in different countries, and in Whispers, we follow an assassin who’s been sent to capture a notorious rebel. 

Kyara wields a very rare type of magic called Nethersong, which allows her to control the energy of death. As a child, she was forced to become an assassin and use her dangerous power for the benefit of the tyrant king called the True Father. Now, Kyara is known as the Poison Flame, famous and feared for her deadliness. 

She’s sent to capture the Shadowfox, a powerful Earthsinger whose power threatens the True Father. But both hunter and prey hold secrets, and when Kyara discovers the Shadowfox’s true identity, she realizes she can’t harm him. 

It’s a magic filled, adventurous, love story with consequences that will ripple through this world, leaving no one untouched. 

While I’m not sure I have a favorite character, Kyara, the Poison Flame, is very near to my heart. She struggles with the things she is forced to do; she never wanted to become an assassin and the guilt eats away at her. She’s afraid of herself and her power and is searching for an out. Writing her experiences and backstory were really emotional for me. To a certain extent, all of my main characters are struggling with their identities and places in the world, and none more than Kyara who’s been forced to kill and doesn’t believe she’s good for much else. Her entire story arc in this book and the books to come probably hits me the hardest and touches me the most.

This story was inspired by a character who is only talked about, but not seen until the epilogue of the first book in the series. Though he’s barely on the page in Song of Blood & Stone, Darvyn—the Shadowfox—has a large impact on the story and on the future of the series. After I finished Song, I began loosely plotting the rest of the series and knew that Darvyn needed to have his story told. 

Another big inspiration came from an unusual place. I’m a fan of the Writing Excuses podcast, which is a fantasy and science fiction focused show on writing. On one episode about worldbuilding, they talked about how if you wrote about a city in the desert, you’d better have a good reason for it being there. I think it may even have been a “homework” assignment of the episode. The reason being that all too often writers include wild fantastical settings that make no sense. How does a city in the desert support itself? Where does the water come from? The food? 

I took that challenge to heart. I already knew that the land of Lagrimar is a desert wasteland, but it does have at least one large city. I wanted to explore different parts of the world in this book than were shown in the previous one, and so I created a couple of impossible places created and sustained with magic and made sure my characters went to visit them.

I discovered the song “Bad Dreams” by Faouzia a few months ago and the whole vibe and sound immediately made me think of Kyara. Her voice is amazing and there’s so much emotion in that song that just puts me back into the desert with my characters battling their demons. 

If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?

Although Kyara doesn’t need a samurai sword to kick ass, I think that Shaina West, a.k.a. The Samurider would be perfect for her. Check out her sword wielding badassery on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1oR5n4FQ9H

As for Darvyn, this may be a little bit of nepotism, but I think my brother, Paul James would be perfect. He’s a professional actor who’s starred on TV shows such as Greek, The Last Ship, and The Path among others and he was actually on the cover of Whispers when it was originally self-published (you can see this version of the cover on Goodreads). 

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish WHISPERS OF SHADOW AND FLAME?

If you’re looking for more of my writing, I have a contemporary paranormal series that starts with Angelborn about a half-angel searching for his soulmate on earth.

If you’re in the mood for more female assassins, Robin LaFevers’ His Fair Assassin series is wonderful. And The Wolf Queen by Cerece Rennie Murphy is a terrific epic fantasy set in a unique and multicultural world.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently hard at work on the fourth full-length book in the Earthsinger Chronicles, and the third novella in the series. There are novellas between each full-length release and they’ve been a ton of fun to write. After that’s all done, I’ll be looking forward to my next fantasy series which features dragons!