Author Interview and Giveaway: S.A. Archer (Cursed Blog Tour)

I would like to introduce S.A. Archer, the author of the Touched series, one of three interlacing stories of The Sidhe super series. Archer recently sent me the first ebook of the Touched series, Cursed (click for my review). Suffice it to say, I fell in love. I was blown away with Archer's eloquent writing and amazing ability to weave a story that both awed and surprised me. Archer was gracious enough to answer a few of my questions about his writing and his life. And...wait for it...he is actually letting me giveaway the whole, five book Touched series in the giveaway at the end of this interview. Don't miss out, make sure to enter for a chance to win.

Jennifer: I have to say, I was blown away with how much story, action, and drama you could pack into one novelette. No one can deny that you have spun an intriguing and unique world of Sidhe, vampires, werewolves, and wizards. How in the world did you come up with the concept for Cursed, as well as the Touched series?

Archer: Actually, the world building for the stories developed out of an intensive year-long role playing game between S. Ravynheart and myself. At the time it was just for fun. Between the two of us, we drafted a history and a system to govern the rules of magic. We each created and played several different characters. The innate conflict between the Seelie and Unseelie Sidhe spawned a massive adventure. It was an amazingly intense and in depth experience for both of us that became something of an obsession for a while.

As amazing as it was for us to be immersed in this world, it seemed a shame that we couldn’t share our excitement with anyone else. Outside of role playing, I was already a fiction author. Ravynheart was already a graphic designer. We had the skills to morph the intense role play into a high-impact adventure with deeply developed character that (we hoped) would thrill readers.

Because each character believes in the rightness of their cause, we didn't want to say 'these are the good guys and these are the bad guys.' We wanted readers to be able to see the Seelie Sidhe, the Unseelie Sidhe, and the 'outsiders' like London and the vampires and wizards, and choose for themselves who they wanted to cheer for. The most natural solution was serial fiction. We developed three mini-series, which includes the Touched mini-series as well as The Champion of the Sidhe and the Rise of the Unseelie mini-series. By using the smaller story arcs of novelettes and hopscotching them along as the characters grow and their stories develop, we are able to interlace the series. Because this is all part of one massive world, the things that happen in one series will have repercussions in the others.

Jennifer: That's pretty much the most fascinating reason I have ever heard to write a series. But for those out there who have yet to sample your genius, can you tell us a little more about Cursed and the Touched series?

Archer: Thank you! You flatter me!

Well, as you mentioned, Cursed is the first of five books in the Touched mini-series. London Eyer is a private investigator, and a human, used to working with parahumans. Parahumans are the supernatural individuals who were once human, such as vampires and werewolves. As you can imagine, these cases require both skill and discretion. While London is accustomed to the ways of the parahumans, she is not at all prepared for the fey. Recently, she had an assignment for a couple of wizards to locate a Changeling named Deacon and bring him to them. Sounded simple enough. And once the job was over, she thought she could move on with her life. Only, she didn’t realize there was a centuries-old feud between the fey, who are innately magical, and the wizards, who view the fey as livestock.

That’s where the story in Cursed begins. Rico, a Sidhe who is devoted to keeping the wizards out of Ireland, discovers what London has done. Because she is obviously not to be trusted, working for wizards and all, he ‘hires’ her in a way that will ensure her loyalty and devotion to him. He Touches her. While the Touch of Sidhe magic is a natural and enjoyable thing for the fey, it is a curse to humans. Once the magic saturates a human they will forever crave it. After the magic wears off, if they do not receive the Touch again, it will become a desire so desperate that it will drive them to any length to get it again. Throughout the Touched series, London will be struggling with the consequences of her addiction to the Touch. More than anything, she wants to regain control of her life.

Jennifer: Just reading the synopsis again gets me super excited. I think I'll go read Cursed at least one more time. But before I do that, I have to know, what kind of books do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors and which novels are your favorite? Have any inspired you and your writing style?

Archer: I am definitely an urban fantasy fanatic. I'll at least give a book a shot if there are psychics or fey characters. I'm a little more picky about the vampire and werewolf books, just because there are so many out there now, and a lot of them revisiting well-worn themes. i.e. the regretful vampire in search of redemption or the werewolf who despises his inner beast. Anytime I find a story about someone who has something about themselves that is uniquely special and they waste time bemoaning the fact that they are not boring and normal it loses my interest. If I want boring and normal, I can find it on my own. I don't need an author to transport me into a world aspiring to achieve it.

My favorite authors are the ones who write characters that burst into life, who can weave an intense plot, and who masterfully incorporate supernatural or magical elements. I have read Firestarter by Stephen King probably a hundred times. I really liked Watchers and Lightning by Dean Koontz. For me, reading anything by Christine Feehan is like looking at an oil painting, her descriptions are so beautiful and rich. More recently I was blown away by Nightlife by Rob Thurman. All of these books have the elements that grab me by the collar and drag me into a story world and won't let me go until I reach the end. That is exactly what I am striving to create with the Touched series.

Jennifer: Great choices. I love King, Koontz, and Feehan. I agree, Feehan has a way with words that depicts such a beautiful picture you can't help but keep devouring every word she writes. So we have some insight about you as a reader but how about you as a writer. Do you have a specific writing technique or process you follow? Any tips you have to share with fellow writers just starting out?

Archer: I am a discovery writer. I have to let the characters live and breathe and tell their own stories. This can be the most amazing thing when it is flowing and the most annoying when it is not. When you are a discovery writer, you absolutely cannot shoehorn the characters into doing something out of their nature or they rebel and cut you off. And on the flip side, when they are in the mood to reveal story, if you can at all, drop everything and write it down; you are better off writing at that moment than trying to remember the details and voice until a more convenient time. I have been awakened at three in the morning and had to get up and write for an hour or two until the scene played itself out. For me the scenes almost never come out in order either. For example, the first book I wrote for London was Enchanted. I just saw the opening scene and followed London, who was entirely new to me at the time. After it was done, I knew I needed to present the reader with how she became cursed in the first place, So I asked her to show me that, and the story Cursed was the result. Eventually her full story has been revealed, and now Enchanted is going to be her third book.

Jennifer: I am right there with you. I can't count the times my characters and I have fought over how the story should proceed. The characters always win. So now we know more about you as a writer, but what do you like to do when you’re not writing amazing books? Have you always wanted to be a writer? What do your friends and family think of your writing?

Archer: Not writing? *Blinks. Blank look. Mouth open as I search for an answer for something I can’t conceive.* Pretty much if I am not physically writing at any particular moment, I am thinking about the stories and the characters. I have been informed that I am (slightly) odd because I live in the world of the fey as much as I do in reality, but I am ok with that. I have always wanted to be a writer. It was not until the bold, new world of indie publishing did the possibility of actually making a living as a writer seem possible. That is my dream and my goal, to be able to work as a writer full time and submerge myself even more in the stories. *Thinking about that and laughing to myself* Although, that doesn't necessarily sound particularly healthy, psychologically speaking, I think I can manage it. I’ll just be like J. R. R. Tolkien and create a wondrous and massive world that exists beyond the story. A place where the readers will find the same enjoyment and escape that I do. My family is supportive and they are cheering me on, even the ones that don’t ‘get’ urban fantasy.

Jennifer: I laughed when you said "even the ones that don’t ‘get’ urban fantasy." I have a couple of those in my family. They are my favorite to turn. Okay, now it's time for an odd question, just a bit of fun to gain a deeper understanding of the way you think. Out of all the characters you have created, who would you most like to sit down and have dinner with? Why? What would the two of you talk about and what would both of you eat?

Archer: I had to chuckle at this question. Ravynheart and I have been out to restaurants laughing and going back and forth about our characters. I’ll be expounding the great and poetic wisdom of the noble and honorable Seelie, like my character Lugh. All the while, Ravynheart will be countering me at every turn with the inborn BS-detector of his Unseelie character, Donovan.

To answer your question, though… I think I would really enjoy hanging out with Kieran, one of the earthborn Unseeile Sidhe. We’d have dinner at the Glamour Club, a fey-only night club Donovan set up in downtown Kilkenny, Ireland. Over hot wings and nachos I’m sure Kieran would regale me with tales of his conquests. He’s nineteen, too good looking for his own good, and even among the casually sexual fey he’s got a reputation as a playboy. I imagine he would also share humorous accounts about the progress in magic training for the other young earthborn Sidhe. The fey are as graceful as cats. When it works it is amazing to behold, a lithe body moving with agility and beauty. When it doesn’t work it is an epic fail, and funny as heck. After laughing and sharing stories over bar food with no nutritional value what-so-ever, we’d probably hook-up with some of the other fey in the Glamour Club and dance the night away.

Jennifer: I think it's great how you and Ravynheart have immersed yourselves into these books and characters. It really shines through in your novels. Which leads me to my next question. Can you tell us a little more about your other series because I know that the Touched series is not your only realized form of genius. What are you currently working on?

Archer: I am glad you are enjoying them, Jennifer! You are right, the Touched series is one of three series that are taking place simultaneously. We begin the other two series with opposite viewpoints on the same event. After centuries of conflict, the Seelie Court is about to unite with the Unseelie Court, much to the resistance of the Unseelie. Many of the fey have always believed that if the light and dark courts ever united it would destroy their world. And sure enough, at the very hour the unification is to occur, the Mounds, the home of the fey, begins to crumble. While many Sidhe die in the Collapse, at least two survive, Lugh and Donovan.

The Champion of the Sidhe series follows Lugh. As a proud and noble Seelie, he is positive that the Collapse was caused by the treacherous slaying of the Sidhe All-Mother. Without his home realm to recharge his magic, Lugh, and all the fey who were connected to the magic of the Mounds, are beginning to Fade. As Lugh is coping with the loss of his people, he learns of a way that the magic might be restored for those that have survived, but he is Fading faster each time he used his magic and there are predators hunting the blood and magic of the Sidhe.

The Rise of the Unseelie series follows Donovan. As former head of the Unseelie Elite, Donovan traveled often to the earth realm where many Unseelie exiles have fled over the decades as the Seelie gained more and more power in the Mounds. He discovers that the Unseelie of the earth realm are not subject to the Fade. More than just that, it has caused a baby boom of sorts. The Sidhe live for thousands of years and in their lifetimes usually only produce two or three offspring. The Unseelie exiles have been reproducing as swiftly as humans. Most of these earthborn Sidhe are in their early twenties or younger, and most of them have little or no magic training. Unfortunately, the predators can spot a Sidhe, and these earthborn are easy prey. Determined to save his race from extinction, Donovan begins to gather together and train the earthborn Sidhe before the vampires, wizards and less scrupulous fey of the earth realm slaughters them all.

The Touched series follows London. She’s used to dealing with parahumans, like vampires and werewolves. She’s even taken on a few assignments for wizards. London is not only an outsider to the politics of the fey, she is barely even aware of it. Until she meets the Sidhe that curses her, that is. Now she has no choice but to learn everything she can about the Sidhe, most especially how to get another hit of the magic she craves before the agony of her addiction becomes unbearable.

Each of these three mini-series will be 5 books long. At the moment I am working on the third books in the Seelie and Unseelie lines, and the fourth book in the Touched line. The series really starts to have a lot of crossovers by this point and I’m working on weaving things together for the big events in the fifth books. I can’t wait to share with you what is going to happen, but I am sworn to secrecy or Ravynheart will thump me. I am so bad about keeping secrets. But think of the fifth books like the big season finale. With the overall storyline we have, there are at least few years worth of books to come. That is one of the really cool things about the way we are serializing the stories. More than anything I hope everyone comes along for the ride, because it will be intense and extremely awesome. I promise.

I want to thank S.A. Archer for supplying us with such a wonderful interview and for putting up with my persistent and sometimes odd questions. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. And don't forget to enter the giveaway below for a chance to win all five ebooks of the Touched series.

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