{Author Interview/Excerpt/Giveaway} RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE by Jennifer Ellision

Follow the Tour!

August 17 - Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours - Kick Off

August 17 - YA Book Madness 

August 18 - The Travelogue of a Book Addict

August 19 - Wishful Endings with Interview

August 20 - Coffee Book Mom

August 21 - A Backwards Story with Interview

August 22 - J.R.'s Book Reviews

August 23 - Kelly Smith Reviews with Guest Post

August 24 - Mama Reads, Hazel Reads 

August 25 - Book Reviews and Authors

August 26 - The Book Dragon with Interview

August 27 - Bibliobibuli Book Blog 

August 28 - The Fake Steph with Interview

August 28 - RABT Reviews - Wrap Up

Check out today's review of THREATS OF SKY AND SEA
(and stop back next week for my review of RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE!)

Be sure to also visit Jen's guest post
on the Top Ten Things to Know About Elementals and the Elements from last year's tour stop!

An Interview With
Jennifer Ellision

Jennifer Ellision spent a great deal of her childhood staying up past her bedtime with a book and a flashlight. When she couldn’t find the stories she wanted to read, she started writing them. She loves words, has a soft spot for fanfiction, and is a master of the fangirl flail. She lives in South Florida with her family, where she lives in fear of temperatures below 60 Fahrenheit. 

THREATS OF SKY AND SEA, a young adult fantasy, is her first novel.

Can you talk a little bit about your series for all the first-time readers out there?

Of course! For a very broad view of the series: Threats of Sky and Sea is Young Adult epic fantasy series involving elemental magic.

For a slightly more specific view: THREATS OF SKY AND SEA tells the story of Bree, who believes she and her father are simpler innkeepers. But when some of the King’s Elemental Adepts recognize her father, she learns that nothing is what it seems.

For fans who have already read THREATS OF SKY AND SEA, what secrets can you whisper about RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE?

Ooo, ~secrets~! Always fun. Well, as readers of THREATS OF SKY AND SEA know, we bid adieu to a couple of characters at the end of the first book… or have we? We haven’t seen the last of certain characters and we’ll see them again in RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE.

And I’m particularly excited about the introduction of a second point-of-view in RIOT. THREATS is told entirely from the point-of-view of my main character, Bree, but RIOT has both her POV and Prince Caden’s, which I think (I hope!) will give readers a better picture of the world and the larger story.

What made you want to write a series that incorporated elemental magic?

Sailor Moon was my lifeblood growing up…/still is now. Many of the characters have a connection to elements that’s touched upon in the show and I read plenty of fanfiction where that connection was explored more deeply.

I also love the Avatar: The Last Airbender world, where elemental magic is such an integral part of the entire world and story. While I love books about witches and the like, I thought it would be interesting to explore a form of magic that is tied to something specifically.

Can you talk a little bit about the types of Adepts present in your world? I like that we have Throwers and Torchers and Shakers and Riders, and not just "fire magic" or "water witches.”

Yes! So, my Elemental Adepts have powers over either Earth (Shakers), Air (Riders), Fire (Torchers), or Water (Throwers). I wanted words to tie to each Elemental specifically (rather than just “Elemental” or “Adept,” which are broad terms), as I imagined it becoming a part of their identity.

It was also important to me that the identifiers be active words, since so much of the world I’ve built around them involves the Elementals being anything but passive.

In some cases, like the Air Riders, the name evolved from old myths of the first Elementals, who were rumored to fly. Not true, but Riders can pull the wind to make them run so quickly that it may have seemed that way

.Fire Torchers are a similar case (though this hasn’t yet been mentioned in the series!)— the term “Torcher” developed over time from early Elementals whose job it was to draw state secrets from their enemies… by using their element to torture them. Fire Torture evolved into the name Fire Torcher.

You're like me and you refuse to read books about the subject you're writing about until you're done (Though it means we miss out on some great stuff!). What else goes into your writing process, especially when creating a fantasy world? (And what titles are you looking forward to catching up on? ^.~)

Ah, yes! I think I’m most looking forward to being able to read Sherry Thomas’s Elemental Trilogy. I’m also dying for Susan Dennard’s TRUTHWITCH… though I may actually read that one before my Book 3, FALL OF THRONES AND THORNS, is done. I have it on good authority from a few friends who have read it that though elemental magic is somewhat involved, the magic operates very differently from mine and the world is extremely different.

As far as my writing process goes, in creating a fantasy world, I try very hard to think about why things are the way they are. It helps me figure out how the world works.

For instance, when Bree was approaching the capital of Egria, I knew the forest gave way to a desert outside the city’s borders. But when I thought about it more, wondering how a desert could be there, I realized that it had to do with Earth Shakers and how the Egrian King used them. It gave me insight into both world, Elementals, and my villain.

Not all such details make it into the books, but it’s definitely helpful for them to be things that I know when I’m writing.

If you were an Adept and had elemental magic, what would it be?

I’d be a Water Thrower, 100%! I love to be in the water, whether it’s the pool, the ocean, or a bath. …Though if it’s a bath, I also like to have a good book with me. ^_~

Me too, Jen! I'd be a Water Thrower as well! There's a reason I love mermaids and dolphins and the very smell of the ocean...!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! ❤❤❤ 

~*~

And now...
 Here's an excerpt from 
RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE!

We leave the body in the tunnel, and I try not to imagine my father lying there, alone and rotting away.

My hands skim the rough stone walls of the tunnel, and I dodge worried glances from Aleta and Tregle, flinching away from the flickering flames in their hands. Both of them Fire Torchers, they light our way through dust and dirt. I don't go too near them. I can't—not right now. The memory of fire consuming the room around me while trapped inside with a madwoman who wanted me dead is too fresh.

The air is thick as we descend beneath the castle. We're quiet, partly to avoid detection by the guards, who are surely still tearing the halls apart in their quest to find us. Our footsteps echo softly in the dark, scritch-scratching along the smooth stone ground. I'm silent for a different reason: I don't trust that when my mouth opens, a sob won't escape. Dragging myself away from Da—leaving him behind like yesterday's trash, the knife wound in his chest caked with dried blood—it's the most difficult thing I've ever done. My eyes sting with the salt left behind by tears, but I force my mouth to settle into an emotionless line.

Da's not all I left behind. Two sets of gray eyes haunt my thoughts.

Prince Caden came back for us after the initial search died down, arms laden with clothes, sacks of food, a bit of coin, and jewels for trade. My eyes met his for the scantest of seconds before I had to look away.

Come with us, a distant part of me implored. My hand was still warm from the knife he'd pressed into it when we took shelter in the hidden tunnel.

Stay away from me, the other part of me—the louder part—snarled. My first instinct about Caden when I'd met him in a jail cell had been right. His sort courts trouble, whether or not they mean to.

Maybe Caden saw some of that tumult in me because his voice was soft when he spoke. "Look for The Soused Turkey pub," he instructed. I kept my eyes locked on a shadow that Aleta's flames sent dancing against the wall. "It's a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, but the barkeep there's a good man. Clift. Tell him…" He hesitated. "Tell him Rick sent you."

Rick? He wants us to use his alias? My eyes snapped to his. I'd thought it was a joke, told to me in those first moments in the cell with Da to pretend away his problems as the crown prince. With my eyes on his, it was like he couldn't help himself. He reached toward me until I shrank away.

The small movement was enough. His hand fell back to his side, and he left with the facsimile of a smile, wishing us well.

"Be safe, Bree."

I trudge on, the echo of his voice melding with the cacophony of flames in my memory.

The other set of gray eyes that press into me belongs to Caden's father, King Langdon of Egria. My fist clenches, nails digging into my palm. The king waits in his comfortable throne room as he sets to conquer any nations he can get his greedy hands on.

My vengeance waits with him.

 ~*~

Title:  RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE
Author: Jennifer Ellision

Release Date: August 18, 2015

Publisher: Jennifer Ellision

SUMMARY:

War draws closer, like a tide to the shore.

Bree and her friends have escaped the clutches of the Egrian King, but their troubles are far from over. Still reeling from the secrets that drew new breath when her father took his last, Bree sets off for the safety of Nereidium-- the kingdom she's just learned is hers.

But with the King's ire at its peak and war a certainty, Nereidium is no longer safe. As Prince Caden rallies the Egrian people against his tyrant father, Bree, Princess Aleta, and Tregle race to the Nereid shore to warn them of the incoming danger—and to put the Nereid Princess on the throne.

The only trouble there: Bree can’t bring herself to reveal that the Princess is her.

It’s not a dilemma she can waste time pondering. With a new weapon in his arsenal, the King's strikes are sure to be bolder than ever before. And Bree may not be ready to wear a crown… but she won't let her kingdom down without a fight.

 

You could win...

A copy of THREATS OF SKY AND SEA, 
a copy of RIOT OF STORM AND SMOKE, 

and your choice of pre-order for: 

QUEEN OF SHADOWS by Sarah J. Maas, SIX OF CROWS by Leigh Bardugo, or TRUTHWITCH by Susan Dennard!

a Rafflecopter giveaway