Voyager Books

A brand new acquisition for the Voyager list (and one we’re all very excited about) Karen Azinger, publishes her first novel The Steel Queen this July. The Steel Queen is the first in Karen’s epic fantasy series featuring the kingdoms of Erdhe. She very kindly answered a couple of questions for us recently which should hopefully give you a taste to expect in this new world of forgotten magic…

Voyager: What can the reader expect from The Steel Queen?

Karen Azinger: The Steel Queen is a fast-paced action-packed fantasy with a stunning female lead. Kingdoms and characters come alive as they are woven together in complex plot twists with surprises that draw the reader through each chapter. You empathize with the good and pray they prevail but you truly feast on the bad who are utterly compelling.

V: What gave you the idea to write the sequence of novels?

KA: I’ve always loved fantasy and science fiction, especially Jules Verne, JRR Tolkien, Frank Herbert, George Martin, and JK Rowling, and I always hoped that someday I could give back to fantasy a little bit of the joy that reading has always given me. The ideas for my saga coalesced about seven years ago. I had just finished re-reading George Martin’s “A Storm of Swords” and I was hungry for more. I wanted more fantasy that I could really sink my teeth into, books with the complexity of George Martin’s characters and the rich themes of Frank Herbert’s Dune. I went on a hike to a waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge and realized that I had enough original ideas to write my own saga. I came back from the hike and started writing and never stopped. My goal was to write a big sweeping epic fantasy with complex characters and complex plots and more emphasis on women. I wanted to write a saga that would surprise readers, and make them think, while taking them on an irresistible adventure.

V: How much research went into creating your world?

KA: I do a fair amount of research on medieval weapons, armour, castles, and poisons. Fantasy readers are sophisticated and they expect authors to get the details right. I am also an avid student of history, always looking for characters or events from the past that can enrich my stories. History is a treasure trove of amazing events and insights, and so much of it is either not taught or forgotten. I love to reach into history for inspiration, for character traits, and for amazing plot twists. But the most important thing I do as an author is strategic thinking. I am an organic writer but I am a very strategic thinker. So I put a lot of thought into my characters, my world-building, my plot twists and my underlying themes. I’m always looking for ways to increase the tension, to surprise the reader, and to reinforce the underlying themes.

V: The setting of THE STEEL QUEEN feels very vivid – did you base any of it on real places?

KA: I get a lot of my inspirations from my travels. Hammer Glacier in Book 1 was inspired by the glaciers of Lake Louise Canada. The gorge in Book 1 was inspired by hikes to Oneonta Falls in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon. Castle Tandroth in Book 1 was inspired by Neuschwanstein castle in Fussen Germany (delete the surrounding forest and add a medieval city). The Deep Green in Book 2 was inspired by Sequoia National Park in California. The Steppes in Book 3 was inspired by the tundra of the Canadian arctic. The battle for the Dark Citadel in Book 3 was inspired by my travels in Turkey. The Ghost Hills in Book 3 was inspired by the Bungle Bungles of Western Australia.

V: Do you have a favourite character to write?

KA: I actually have four characters that I love to write, Kath, Liandra, Steffan, and the Priestess. Kath reflects my love of adventure and my love of the sword. When I write Liandra I get to indulge the strategic and business side of my own nature. Liandra is also inspired by Queen Elizabeth I, one of my heroes from history. Steffan is another very strategic character but he’s very male and a walk on the Dark side. And the Priestess is just plain wicked fun.

Have your characters behaved as you expected them to, or have you ever been surprised by the twists and turns your plot takes? I set my characters on a path but they definitely have a will of their own. It is one of the things that makes writing so much fun. When I write a character I really put myself in that character’s boots and try to push the plot envelope. Writing is kind of a collaborate effort between myself and the characters to see where the plot will go. I believe my books are much stronger and much more interesting because I allow my characters to live and breathe and exert a will of their own. But as the author, I’ve got an agreement with my characters. The one thing they cannot do is violate the underlying themes of the saga, so all my characters, the good, the bad, and the ugly, play within the themes. As an author, I believe it is the underlying themes that gives this saga a sense of depth, complexity, and realism. The themes make the characters real and the plot twists believable.

V: Is there an aspect of The Steel Queen that you are particularly proud of?

KA: I am most proud of the complexity of the story, from the depths of the characters, to the convoluted plot twists, to the interwoven themes.

V: Which other writers have inspired you?

KA: I always wanted to give back to fantasy some of the joy that reading has always given me. In writing this saga, I was most inspired by JRR Tolkien’s world building and story telling, by the complex characters and multiple POV’s of George Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, and by the underlying themes of Frank Herbert’s Dune. JRR Tolkien achieved unparalleled world building with settings like the Mines of Moria, Rivendell and the Argonath. George Martin has taken fantasy characters to a new level of complexity, making an art form out of shades of grey. And Frank Herbert was a master at incorporating complex themes like environmental science, religion and politics into the weave of his story, turning Dune into a classic. In writing my saga, I tried to learn from all three of these masters. I know that this is reaching for the stars, but I never understood why anyone would reach for anything less. If you aim for the stars you are likely to at least land among the mountain tops.

Tags: George R.R. Martin, Karen Azinger, Kingdoms of Erdhe, The Steel Queen

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