, the first in the Sylvan Cycle series by Alycia Christine. This is a high fantasy novel and the tour runs September 28 - October 9 with reviews, author interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the
Skinshifters are a curse. The Asheken deadwalkers proved that fact when they used skinshifters to spy against the Sylvan races during the Second War of Ages. Now, after three centuries of peace, the deadwalkers have found a secret way back onto the Sylvan Continent and this time they seek not just to conquer their enemies, but to enslave them body and soul.
When the Feliconas Clan suffers the deadwalkers’ first raid, one werecat—a skinshifter who has concealed her abilities—survives the massacre. Even as Katja struggles with her grief and guilt over her murdered kin, she must unite with other Sylvan refugees to defeat the deadwalkers before they can butcher and defile the other races. But can this skinshifter trust her newfound allies or will their secrets prove even more treacherous than her own?
Alycia Christine grew up near the dusty cotton fields of Lubbock, Texas. She fell in love with fantasy and science fiction stories when her father first read Gordon R. Dickson’s THE DRAGON AND THE GEORGE and Robert A. Heinlein’s HAVE SPACESUIT—WILL TRAVEL to her at age ten. Her love-affair with fiction deepened when Alycia took a creative writing course while attending Texas A&M University. After that class, she was hooked as a writer for life. Her subsequent B.S. degree in agricultural journalism not only helped to hone Alycia’s skills with a pen, but also with a camera. Today she uses her skills as a photographer to capture the beauty of the world around her and add additional perspective to her fiction and nonfiction writing. Find her at
***********Author Interview***********
Thank you so much, Erika, for letting me talk with you and
your readers about my new book Skinshifter
today. It’s an honor.
How did you come up
with the title?
I knew from the time that I wrote the first chapter that I
wanted this book to be called Skinshifter.
I chose the title because I wanted a name that sounded like “shape shifter”,
but felt more evocative and mysterious. Depending on context and perception,
the word “skin” can imply so many things. Being skinny can mean a person is
either physically fit or starving. Showing skin implies a sensual or even
shameful way of dressing. To skin something can mean to injure something or it
can be a practical step in the leather-making process. My main character Katja
deals with so many different perceptions of things during the course of the
book, so the word skinshifter seemed the perfect label to describe not only
what she could do in terms of magic, but who she was as an individual. Katja is
a character with no practical stability in her life. She is constantly shifted
from new situation to new situation. She is taught to feel shame because of her
skinshifting abilities and yet proves herself to be quite beautiful and valuable
to others. She is in constant danger and yet she still finds the courage to
persevere through the most difficult challenges and even be vulnerable with
others. These shifting situations and perceptions are what make the book so
powerful to me.
How much of the book
is realistic?
As it is a fantasy novel, Skinshifter can’t be called realistic in any true sense. Even so, I
tried to make all aspects of the book—from the characters it portrays to the
world it explores—feel authentic. I’m a great lover of different cultures and
their mythologies and I believe that my affection for that diversity has seeped
into every word of the book. I also drew from my own relationships so that I
could portray the relationships described within Skinshifter in a very tangible way. Katja’s friendship with
Lauraisha is reminiscent of my relationship with one of my closest friends.
I’ve been blessed to have a few friends who I actually think of as siblings and
I wanted to pass that depth of love on to Katja and Lauraisha. The two
characters really need each other and their deep friendship grows out of that
desperation. In some ways, Katja’s grief over her family and clan has also been
mine. I’ve lost friends and family members to death and disease. I’ve had to
work through my grief just as she does. I’ve also had to push through hardships
and find my strength in the middle of discouragement just as she does. In both
cases, my relationships with my loved ones and with my creator have helped me
overcome adversity. All of these things helped inspired the story that is Skinshifter.
Is there a message in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I wrote Skinshifter as
a story of hope. Katja’s story is a tale about losing love and finding hope in
the midst of grief and despair. I want people to understand through this story
that there is always hope no matter what you are going through. If a scorned,
orphaned youth can find love and hope again, then so can each of us.
What book are you
reading now?
I’m on a huge naval binge right now. I’m in the middle of
Michael Crichton’s Pirate Latitudes
and just began Master and Commander
by Patrick O’Brian. I had heard about O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novel series
years ago from my dad, but hadn’t started any of them until now. So far, I find
the characters in both books quite fascinating.
What are your current
projects?
I just finished writing The
Dryad’s Sacrifice which is a companion novella to Skinshifter that is set 300 years before the events of the main
novel. Now that it is finished, I’m knee-deep in swashbuckling antics with the
Tempest Maiden novella series. Thorn and
Thistle was just released and I’m penning its sequel Sloop and Sword as we speak.
Do you recall how
your interest in writing originated?
I was a terrible reader as a child, so my parents enrolled
me in special education classes to boost my reading skills and my confidence.
During my homework hours, Dad would read my textbooks aloud as I followed along
while Mom corrected my English papers side by side with me. The combination of
those three things vastly improved my reading and writing abilities. By the
time I was eleven, I could read and understand college level material, but my
speed was still three times slower than most of my peers. I hated reading
because it was so difficult until my father stepped in once again.
During my summer vacations, Dad would read novels aloud to
Mom and me as a fun way to pass the time. Every vacation or family holiday
became a doubly-special event because each holiday meant a road trip during
which Dad would crack open a new adventure.
Dad read books to me well into my college years and it was
those stories that helped me realize a joy for reading that stretched beyond
the tedious necessity of the classroom. My fondness for reading shifted into a
passion for writing during my college career when I took my first creative
writing and journalism courses as a sophomore at Texas A&M University.
Suddenly I had the ability to actively participate in my own written
adventures, not just read along while someone else’s characters trekked around
in their own world. Writing, like reading, is always an uphill struggle for me,
but the reward of the adventure is always worth the effort of the journey.
Do you have any
advice for other writers?
If writers want
to be truly great at their craft, they have to work at it—hard. Talent alone is
not enough to succeed in this business. Successful authors need passion, purpose,
persistence, patience, and perseverance. Great authors are forged out of
writers who are stubborn enough to work through every challenge. Through every
grief and sorrow, they write. Through every joy and dream, they write. Once
they’ve finished writing a piece, they rewrite it, send it through rounds of
beta reading and editing, and rewrite it again until the writing becomes
something more than mere words on a page to its readers. To be great, a story
must become a world alive and breathing with a scope even larger than the
imagination of each reader it enthralls. It needs to have a heartbeat of its
very own.
As a side note,
I offer this encouragement: every great writer begins as illiterate. No one is
born with the ability to read or write. We all have to learn the skills, so
don’t give up. Just keep writing.
Do you have anything
specific that you want to say to your readers?
Yes, my readers are amazing! Each and every one of you
deserves a standing ovation for finding my work and sharing it with others.
Writing is a lonely journey when the fruits of an author’s labor go unnoticed,
so thank you all so much for joining in my adventures. They are not nearly as
much fun without you. May we have many more together!
--
Alycia Christine grew up near the dusty cotton fields of
Lubbock, Texas. She fell in love with fantasy and science fiction stories when
her father first read Gordon R. Dickson’s The
Dragon and The George and Robert A. Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit—Will Travel to her at age ten. Her love-affair with
fiction deepened when Alycia took a creative writing course while attending
Texas A&M University. After that class, she was hooked as a writer for
life. Her subsequent B.S. degree in agricultural journalism not only helped to
hone Alycia’s skills with a pen, but also with a camera. Today she uses her
skills as a photographer to capture the beauty of the world around her and add
additional perspective to her fiction and nonfiction writing. Don’t miss her
upcoming books Skinshifter, The Dryad’s Sacrifice, and Thorn and Thistle due out on September
25, 2015 and December 24, 2015. Please visit her at AlyciaChristine.com.
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