{Interview/Giveaway} CINDERELLA, NECROMANCER by F.M. Boughan

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 An Interview With

F.M BOUGHAN

AUTHOR BIO: 

F.M. Boughan is a bibliophile, a writer, and an unabashed parrot enthusiast. She can often be found writing in local coffee shops, namely because it’s hard to concentrate with a cat lying on the keyboard and a small, colorful parrot screaming into her ear. Her work is somewhat dark, somewhat violent, somewhat hopeful, and always contains a hint of magic. Her debut YA fantasy, CINDERELLA NECROMANCER, publishes Sept. 5th, 2017 from Month9Books. Feel free to yell at her to get back to work on Twitter (@faithboughan), check out her bookstagram (@boughanfire), and sign up for her newsletter for updates, giveaways, and total randomness.

What kind of research went into writing about something as mystical as necromancy?

There were two books that directly inspired the necromancy in CINDERELLA, NECROMANCER and which provided the bulk of my research: MAGIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES and FORBIDDEN RITES by Richard Kieckhefer, a professor at Northwestern University. Because FORBIDDEN RITES contains the text of an actual 15th-century grimoire, I didn’t extend that particular aspect of my research much further as I wanted it to be as true to this particular historical document as possible. I did read some other historical texts on ancient magic and necromancy, but they definitely took a backseat to the Kieckhefer texts once the actual drafting got underway!

Did you always know that you wanted to blend in elements of Cinderella into the story? Did you at any time consider utilizing any other fairy tales?

Would it be weird to say no to both? Hah! This story was one of those “inspiration strikes” ideas. I actually read the texts on medieval magic first, and then later on was thinking about fairy tales and the heroines of those stories and how they never really have a chance to fight back with their own strength. Not always, but a great deal of the time in the versions I grew up reading, the girls were rescued by princes or fairy godmothers. I wondered what might have happened if there was no fairy godmother -- if the heroines only had themselves, their own abilities and wits to rely on. 

Cinderella seemed the most natural way to explore this, since that story probably has the most “popular” fairy godmother in the collective cultural consciousness.

Do you have a have a favorite adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale you would recommend?

You know what? I love them all. Really! I adore fairy tale adaptations, and I think that everyone should read all of them. Which is totally unhelpful, I’m sure. I love the Disney animated classic and the live-action version of Cinderella, but books like ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine, CINDER by Marissa Meyer, GEEKERELLA by Ashley Poston, and ASH by Malinda Lo are high on the list too. 

Do you write in chronological order, or as the scenes comes to you?

I am intensely chronological! If I don’t know what comes next, I have to stop writing until I figure it out, even if I know what happens later in the story. I need to experience the character arc with the character, to let them change in ways I don’t anticipate within the framework of my outline, and work in those threads as they happen. 

What aspects of the Cinderella fairy tale were you most interested in translating into this story?

I was excited to explore the reason why Cinderella’s father never intervened in his daughter’s misery, actually! In the original versions, he pretty much just lets his new wife do whatever she wants without interfering, and I wanted to give a reason for why that might have happened. 

And that said, I really did want to make sure that the stepmother and stepsisters were as evil as possible. In the originals, they’re incredibly cruel… but I wanted a stronger reason as to why, instead of just making my version another story where women are mean to each other because of jealousy or pettiness or whatever else men imagined the reason might be back when they were writing these stories down. Women-against-women for no reason other than jealousy is a trope I intensely despise, so I wanted to fix that in this particular version of the story.

Piggy-backing off  of that, what aspects of the fairy tale were you excited to switch up or re-imagine?

Oops, I guess I kind of answered that already? It’s okay, there’s more! One thing I really wanted to reimagine was the magic -- the way that Cinderella gets out of her awful situation. I didn’t want a fairy godmother, or anyone coming to save her at all. I wanted to explore how she might have changed physically and mentally over the course of performing the menial household work she was forced into, and how that could have contributed to her finding the strength to change her fate. Er, combined with a little dark magic, of course. 

Did you have any musical playlists to help inspire the dark sorcery atmosphere of this book? If so could you share a couple of songs?

Umm… is it terrible that I’m going to say no? Haha. I actually don’t make playlists for my work, because I do 95% of my writing in a coffee shop where I use the white noise to keep me focused. Otherwise I’ll end up either dancing or singing along! That said, if I’m going to have any music on while I’m writing (that isn’t K-Pop, heh… like I said, I just end up singing and dancing…) it needs to be instrumental. Lord of the Rings soundtracks or random YouTube dubstep instrumental mixes, for example. My musical tastes are a little eclectic, what can I say.

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O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  CINDERELLA NECROMANCER
Author: F.M. Boughan

Release Date: Sept. 5, 2017

Publisher: Month9Books

PURCHASE:

Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | IndieBound | Indigo

SUMMARY:

Cinderella, Necromancer is Chime meets Anna Dressed in Blood and was inspired by a real medieval grimoire of necromancy from 15th-century Germany. 

Ellison lost her mother at an early age. But since then, her father has found love again. He's happy and doesn't quite notice that Ellison does not get along with his new wife or her mean daughters. When Ellison discovers a necromantic tome while traveling the secret passages of her father's mansion, she wonders if it could be the key to her freedom. Until then, she must master her dark new power, even as her stepmother makes her a servant in her own home. And when her younger brother falls incurably ill, Ellison will do anything to ease his pain, including falling prey to her stepmother and stepsisters' every whim and fancy. 

Stumbling into a chance meeting of Prince William during a secret visit to her mother's grave feels like a trick of fate when her stepmother refuses to allow Ellison to attend a palace festival. But what if Ellison could see the kind and handsome prince once more? What if she could attend the festival? What if she could have everything she ever wanted and deserved by conjuring spirits to take revenge on her cruel stepmother? As Ellison's power grows, she loses control over the evil spirits meant to do her bidding. And as they begin to exert their own power over Ellison, she will have to decide whether it is she or her stepmother who is the true monster.

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