Today's section of the Novel Publicity Book Blog Tour is an interview by the author herself, Melissa McPhail. Enjoy!
Please enjoy this interview with Melissa McPhail, author of the spellbinding epic fantasy, Cephrael's Hand. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $450 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.
1. Your debut novel, Cephrael’s Hand was the winner of The Written Arts Award for both the best fiction and the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy categories--congratulations! So tell us, what was the inspiration behind this story, and can you tell us a little bit about it?
I started the first version of Cephrael’s Hand when I was going through a difficult time in my life. I needed the cathartic joy that I’d always found in writing. I didn’t set out to write a novel—just to write. That first draft had no planning, no world-building, no design. It was pure creative inspiration. And it was awful!
But the characters… I had brought them into being, and they insisted that they had a story to tell. It took my growing as a writer—and over a million words tossed into the trash—to finally tell their story properly.
Cephrael’s Hand is the result of a philosopher’s approach to fantasy. It’s the story of one man’s steadfast determination to save the realm he swore to protect, and his willingness to do anything it takes to accomplish that end—even to betray those he loves. It’s the story of the unlikely pieces (men and women) who unknowingly fall beneath his shadow, and of the players who follow him. Ultimately, it’s a story of salvation.
I see fantasy as a metaphor for life in this world. We all face tests of our honor. We’re all working to accomplish our goals and flourish and prosper. Few of us set out to do evil. Yet evil is done. Goals are abandoned. Integrity is compromised. We totter precariously on thin wires as we move through the labyrinth of life. I strive with my series to illuminate those wire-thin paths, that we might find solid ground beneath them.
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I'm taking part in Novel Publicity's book blog tour in which we are promoting an awesome author, Melissa McPhail's novel; Cephrael's Hand. Here is a tasty teaser to wet your appetites for this amazing book!
Haaaappy New Year my lovely fellow bloggers :). I hope you all had a lovely evening and are feeling positive towards the new year. I've promised myself many things, to get myself through this postgrad year, to complete whatever reading challenges I set myself, the usual every female in the world promise of lose a little weight and to keep thinking positive. Anyway! This is just a little post to wish you all best wishes and to share my two reading challenges (so far) for 2013. They are:
