Robin Glassey comes for a visit with the last novel in her Azethra Series for YA

I welcome Robin Glassey to my humble abode and am excited to learn about her latest novel, Azetha Rising, the last novel in the Azetha Series. Before digging into her recent release, I wanted to know more about her and her writing process.

• As children we tend to have an idea of what we want to be by the time we’re ten.  Before you decided to pursue the artistic dream of being a writer, what did you want to be and why?

What did I want to be before I was ten? Wow! That was a long time ago. I know my mom tried to convince me to be a nurse, but I couldn’t stand the sight of blood, I freaked out with minor toe bleeds. I’m pretty sure when I was a child I was dreaming of being a princess, but thinking if that didn’t pan out, I would become a teacher. I played school often with my friends (and, of course, Barbies). In high school, I had this crazy idea I was going to be an accountant. It was crazy because I was terrible in my regular math classes and fabulous in my accounting class.

• We all have favorite characters, either main or secondary, and there are always bits and pieces of them we don’t share with our readers, but keep close to our hearts.  Choose your favorite from your cast of characters and tell us a couple of things that you haven’t shared in your books/writing.

This is so hard for me because I have so many favorites. I love so many characters and hold them close to my heart. But if we’re going for revelations that haven’t been shared, I choose Death, otherwise known as Tynan. Tynan pops in an out of my stories and has a unique sense of humor. Readers know that items have been stolen from Tynan such as the Cup of Death and the Veil of Death because of his weakness for drinking. What they don’t know is that Tynan fell in love with the sorceress, Shareena, and she tricked him into revealing to her all of his secrets. She then passed those secrets along to Mortan, who used the information to steal the Cup and the Veil from Death.

• Growing up, what was your favorite book, comic, game or movie and did you create a character/player that might resemble you?

I had a couple of favorite movies when I was growing up that I saw at the local drive-in theater. The first was the original Star Wars and the second was Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century. I fell in love with life on other planets, space travel, talking robots, Wookies, and I had a crush on Luke, Han Solo, and Buck. In one of my current works in progress I have created a character with some of my characteristics. The story takes place in 7^th grade and so I looked back at my 7^th grade self and inserted some of those characteristics into Alexa, as well as a brother that drives her crazy, and some unusual clothing gifted to her by her grandmother.

• Whether we’re plotters or pantsers (outlines not needed), creating our stories takes us on very memorable journeys.  Sometimes we may be part way through before we realize some major aspect of our story is just not working (plot, character, setting).  Have you ever hit this sharp, pointy snag and if so, how did you escape? We’re you battered and bruised or a bloody mess?

I was at the end of book three in my series, Journey to the Mercy Mines, and I was really struggling with Rhallina, a minor character in the story, who plays an important role as a traitor. I had battled earlier in the story with a possible plot line that I’d thrown away and now I was at the end of the story, trying to kill her off. And I just couldn’t do it. I even had the scene written in my head with grass and flowers growing up through the snow over her grave, but I couldn’t go through with it. Because I was having such a hard time with the ending of the book, I set it aside and wrote the rough draft of another book called Snotty’s Revenge for a middle grade audience. Then I returned to the story with a fresh perspective and let Rhallina live. In the end, I loved how her fate worked out in the final book, Azetha Rising.

• What is the best advice you can share with others? 

I have two pieces of advice: One—Never give up. There are going to be times when you want to give up whatever dream or goal you have set for yourself. We all experience years, months, days, even moments, when we think we don’t have it in us, when we are done, or when we are afraid that we just aren’t cut out for this. And I say . . . you can do this.

Two—Support your fellow authors. Share posts, tweet each other’s work, review books that you have read. Uplift each other and do what you can to cross-promote. As you support others you may be surprised to find your own sales and influence rising.

Rapid Fire Questions:

• Blades, guns, fists or feet?       I would definitely pick feet. One of my older sisters and my younger brother would try to hold me down and tickle me when we were kids and I always fought them off with my feet. Although, come to think of it, the one time I went shooting I was really, really, good. So maybe guns wouldn’t be a bad choice.

• Favorite Fairy Tale of all time?     I always loved the traditional fairytales so The Little Mermaid was one of my favorites, but even more fascinating and less well-known is a fairytale called The White Cat. It’s about a jealous king who fears his sons will ascend to the throne so he keeps them busy with difficult tasks, such as finding the smallest dog and linen so fine it can pass through the eye of a needle. One son comes upon an enchanted castle with a talking white cat who helps him to fulfill each of the tasks the king gives him.

• Three titles and their authors sitting on your nightstand/bookcase/table/floor waiting to be read?       1. A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic Dungeons & Dragons 2.Utopia Thomas More 3.New Sight Jo Schnieder

• Greatest one liner of all time?      “It is not a tumor,” from Kindergarten Cop. I don’t know why my husband and I quote this all the time when someone gets sick, or has a headache in our house, but we do, accent and all.

• Sarcastic witticism, Southern sweetness or Geeky disdain?     How about Northern sweet and occasional Sarcastic Geek. That about sums me up.

• Strangest item currently taking up space in your writing cave?      The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells. I bought this giant book a long time ago as research for my series, along with an encyclopedia of monsters. I had it sitting on my stairs this one day when the piano tuner came over to work on the piano. He looked at the book and then looked at me, giving me a funny sideways look. But he didn’t say a word, and I almost burst out laughing.

• Favorite supernatural creature?     Dragons are beautiful, fierce creatures that also come in a variety of colors, types, sizes and temperaments. I love to read dragon stories, watch dragon movies, and I just recently bought a gorgeous dragon pen on Kauai. I’m currently working on a dragon story, hence the Practical Guide to Dragon Magic on my nightstand as part of my research.

 

Azetha Rising

THINGS HAVEN’T GONE THE WAY TIKA HOPED OR PLANNED.

Yes, she has passed the Prime Council’s test and has been accepted into the il Alluminon House, but Death has been breathing down her neck. She’s been betrayed by her fellow countrymen, captured and collared, and forced to fight her best friend in Sicor’s Arena.

Then there is the matter of Mortan. While other 16 year olds are busy courting and attending festivals, Tika is trying to evade the Elven sorcerer’s deadly plans for her demise. Maybe Tika is the promised Azetha, and maybe she isn’t. But even if she is and manages to learn to control her powers in time, will she be strong enough to defeat Mortan, or will he become ruler of Fathara forever?

Azetha Rising is the last book in The Azetha Series—a cross between Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time for a YA audience.

Purchase Robin’s books on AMAZON   or enter the Goodreads Giveaway HERE

ALL ABOUT ROBIN GLASSEY

Robin grew up in Canada across the bay from a leaky nuclear power plant, giving her the not so secret power of deactivating electronic devices.  She moved to Utah in 1994 to attend BYU and fell hopelessly in love with Brett Glassey (although he has not fallen in love with BYU).

Robin admits to having several imaginary friends as a child, including a giant who protected her from the Sleestaks that lived in their basement. The Sleestaks have all moved out and now Robin writes clean YA fantasy novels, including the now completed Azetha Series.

WANT MORE ROBIN? 

Find her at her author page: robinglassey.squarespace.com  ,  or on Twitter @RobinGlassey