The origin of The Guardians of Vesturon
By A.M. Hargrove
I
love vampires, witches, werewolves and anything supernatural. You name it, I’m one hundred percent in. I can’t seem to get enough of any of them, so
you can only imagine my excitement when all things paranormal began to surge
and gain in popularity. Somehow, I
managed to have a daughter that *sigh* hates all things supernatural. I still shake my head over that one (and
oftentimes vigorously scratch it). When
I decided to try my hand at writing my first book, I plundered my brain for
ideas that would appeal to both of us and hence, the Guardians of Vesturon were
created.
I
also love sci-fi. She *sigh again* does
not. You may now be asking yourself,
“What does she like?” I’m still trying to figure that one out. When I began writing Survival, Book 1 of The Guardians of Vesturon, I really wanted a
blend of everything, minus vampires and werewolves. I didn’t want strict paranormal or sci-fi
either. So the series tends to straddle
the line. There is a tendency for sci-fi,
obviously, with the Guardians since they are otherworldly. But it’s light sci-fi. They are gifted with serious paranormal
powers, such as telepathy and mind reading, for example. There is a group of people on Earth they are
connected with that have mystical/paranormal powers as well. Though the books enter the sci-fi realm a
bit, they are not high tech sci-fi to the point of turning a non-sci-fi lover
off. In other words, I don’t leap into
the world of quantum physics and take you on a fifty page dissertation of
trying to explain how that could possibly fit into my story. The most intense form of tech you’ll ever see
is my usage of the string theory in explaining the ability to travel faster
than the speed of light. Every now and
then I might throw in an awful looking creature, but for the most part, my
aliens are swoon-worthy, and easy on the eyes *wink*.
I
was the youngest of four children (one brother and two sisters) and my dad had
an identical twin brother. My aunt and
uncle had six children (four boys and two girls) and they lived two blocks away
from us so we all grew up together. If I
wasn’t sleeping in my bed at night, I was spending the night at their house. I was mercilessly teased growing up (as was
everyone else in both families), and learned at an early age to laugh easily,
poke fun at myself and not take things too seriously. There was never a dull or quiet moment in
either house and that was my basis for the six Yarrister siblings.
I
wanted each of the Guardians to be different enough that while every book could
have some commonalities, they could be diverse enough that the reader wouldn’t
quickly tire of the series. In the first
two books I wrote about Maddie and Rayn.
Their story was so complex that I couldn’t possibly put it all in one
book. Determinant surprised a lot of people because, for some strange
reason, they thought it would be more Maddie and Rayn. With each book, my epilogue will be a teaser
of what’s coming next, so I can only surmise some readers didn’t grasp that
Rykerian was going to be the main male MC.
I also wanted to write Determinant
in such a way as to make it a stand-alone.
The reason for that is some people love the idea of a series while
others don’t. With Determinant, you don’t have to read Survival and Resurrection
if you choose not to, but you can still follow along and understand the story
line.
For
anyone that’s read any of the Guardian books, they know that there are five
boys and one girl. The boys are Rayn,
Rykerian, Therron, Tesslar and Xarrid and Sharra is their only sister. If you’ve read Determinant, you’re already aware that the next book in the series
is reEmergent, and it’s characters
are Xarrid and Saylan. Enough said about
that *big wink*
If
any of you have been to my Fan Club on Goodreads, (you should come and hang out
sometime, by the way) you may already be aware that my next project will be the
first book in the Praestani series.
You’ll have to read Determinant
to find out more about who the Praestani are, but I will give you this much--it
will be an adult trilogy based on the
character Jurek, that I introduced in Determinant. Jurek could not be written in the young adult
genre because, well, he’s too old for one thing, but he’s completely irreverent,
will not conform to anyone’s rules, has his own agenda, loves foul language and
can be rather crude at times. If you
like a bad boy with some redeeming qualities at times, Jurek may be your new
book boyfriend.
Well, it’s time for me to head out for now as
there’s a superb cocktail creation beckoning to me (that would be an extra
dirty martini with extra olives please)!
Alexia: Oh yes please... I'll be joining you on that martini :)
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About author A.M. HargroveOne day, on her way home from work as a sales manager, A. M. Hargrove, realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn't do something soon, it would quickly be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life.
So, she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase. Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodgeball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head. Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what lap top out the window.
She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone and hit #4 on her speed dial.A.M.’s Boss: Hello.A.M.: Hey Boss, I’m calling to let you know you can pick up my luxury Ford Focus at Starbucks near the interstate.A.M.’s Boss: Why ever would I want to do that?A.M.: Because I quit!A.M. hit the end button and speed dialed her husband.A.M.: Hey hubs, can you pick me up at Starbucks?A.M.’s Hubs: Sure… having some car trouble?A.M.: Not at all. I don’t have a car to have trouble with because I just quit my job.A.M.’s Hubs: WHAT?!A.M.: It’s time for a new career and I am going to be a very famous novelist.So began A.M. Hargrove’s career as a young adult paranormal romance author of self-published ebooks. Her series, The Guardians of Vesturon, centers around a family of six siblings and is a mix of humor, mystery, suspense and of course, love. Survival and Resurrection are her first and second full length novels, and Beginnings is her prequel novella to the series. Determinant, her third in the series was released 30 June 2012.(It didn’t really happen like that, but you get the idea!)
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The Guardians of Vesturon Series
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I totally understand! I'm not very into paranormal as a genre. It's not because I don't like the worlds or the creatures. It's just that I feel like it's been done a gazillion times and many of these stories are same-old, same-old. I generally only pick them up if I've been given a glowing review by someone I trust (one of my book bloggers) or if I read that there's some new, interesting angle. Your take sounds fresh because it's so very cross-over. Kudos to you for that! I'll check it out! :D
ReplyDeleteI am one of the few who regrets that Bram Stoker's "Dracula" got turned into Bram Stroker's "Dorcula" by the Anne-Rice-inspired rise in Kindred fiction, but I recognize that it's a matter of taste. You're certainly entitled to yours, and I enjoyed reading about how you come up with your stories. It's a totally different process from mine and highly educational.
ReplyDeleteI like your process. It's neat. Mine though - ideas. Elliot, my main character came and bugged me when I was in the bath. Merridian told me a story. Gilly talked to me when I was outside a nightclub in London called Gilgamesh. In short, they talk to me. And if I can't shut them up easily, they're going to be a story I finally write ;)
ReplyDeleteI am a reader, not a writer so I'll just say I enjoyed your process. I love reading about writing and I also loved your first two books. I look forward to reading more!! Can't wait to review this one:)
ReplyDeleteYour books sound amazing! Thanks so much for sharing and having a giveaway! <3
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