– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –
Today I’m on the ‘Warbringer’ blogtour, organised by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I have a Q&As post, but b
About the Author :
Aaron Hodges was born in 1989 in the small town of Whakatane, New Zealand. He studied for five years at the University of Auckland, completing a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and Geography, and a Masters of Environmental Engineering. After working as an environmental consultant for two years, he grew tired of office work and decided to quit his job and explore the world. During his travels he picked up an old draft of a novel he once wrote in High School (titled The Sword of Light) and began to rewrite the story. Six months later he published his first novel, Stormwielder, and hasn’t looked back since.
Synopsis :
Centuries ago, the world fell.
From the ashes rose a terrible new species—the Tangata.
Now they wage war against the kingdoms of man.
And humanity is losing.
Recruited straight from his academy, twenty-year-old Lukys hopes the frontier will make a soldier out of him. But Tangata are massing in the south, and the allied armies are desperate. They will do anything to halt the enemy advance—including sending untrained men and women into battle. Determined to survive, Lukys seeks aid from the only man who seems to care: Romaine, the last warrior of an extinct kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Queen’s Archivist leads an expedition deep beneath the earth. She seeks to uncover the secrets of the Gods. Their magic has been lost to the ages, yet artifacts remain, objects of power that could turn the tide of the war. But salvation is not all that waits beneath the surface. Something else slumbers in the darkness. Something old. Something evil.
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Q&A :
Hi
First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. Here we go! 🙂
Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
Well my name is Aaron Hodges and I’m an author from New Zealand. Ever since I was a kid I always loved writing stories—and generally long ones. But it was only when I finished school that I finally got around to writing a complete novel—titled The Sword of Light. Unfortunately I was young and inexperienced and it kinda sucked. Fortunately, I kept at it, rewriting it completely during my university years, and then finally rewriting it a final time while I was taking a gap year in Canada and travelling through the USA and Mexico back in 2015. When I finally published it as Stormwielder, it actually took off, and I realised I could make a living from my writing.
Which books did/do you love to read as a child/now as a grown-up?
Two of my favourite authors as a child were Tamora Pierce and David Eddings. I loved Pierce for the interesting characters she created. They each had certain problems and struggles in their lives that I really connected with as a kid. Then there was David Eddings and his epic adventures, which took me away from the problems of the world, if only for a little while.
Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
I would love to meet Ian Irvine, an author from Australia. As a Marine scientist he has a similar background to myself (environmental science) and he creates such vivid worlds with detailed history and politics. I would to learn more about his process.
If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or someone else’s) would you like to invite for tea and why?
I would probably invite Druss the Legend from the novels of David Gemmell—although it’d probably be for a glass of ventrian red if I remember correctly. Maybe I could tempt him with some Argentine Malbec. While lives by a simple warrior’s code, Druss is such a fascinating hero with a deeper understanding of philosophy than his companions give him credit for.
Do you have some rituals or habits whilst writing?
I always have to go to a café to write, where I need a hot drink and my headphones to actually be able to work. And yeah that’s been a bit of a struggle during Covid19, but I’ve managed to keep a reasonable level of productivity up. I’m lucky that I have still been able to work at least.
Where do you come up with your idea(s)? Do people in your life need to be worried? 😉
Ahhhh can I plead the fifth haha? Nah I think I take inspiration from my environment rather than the people around me. While relationships can sometimes bleed into the pages of my books, I think the characters themselves tend to take on lives of their own.
Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
I’m a pantser that constrains my story lines within plotting haha. I write a detailed structure but then often veer off course midway as I write my way into my characters heads and realise they’d never go in certain direction.
Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?
Keep writing, but give yourself a deadline on which you’re actually going to publish. You can rewrite a book a million times and never be satisfied with it, but your reader might be. I’ve actually remastered my first book, Stormwielder, since its initial release, but readers were still happy with the first version they got.
What are your futureplans as an author?
Keep writing, keep expanding my universes, and most of all keep enjoying what I’m doing!
Last, but not least : Can you give my readers one teaser from your book, which is featured here on my blog, please?
The Descendants of the Gods series is an idea that’s been brewing in my head for a while. And let’s just say its plot isn’t entirely disconnected from all my other works 😉.
Isn’t that a great reason to pick up this book and to find out more?!
Thanks once again for this lovely interview, Aaron Hodges.
The Magic of Wor(l)ds
P.S. Are you an author (or publisher) who also wants a FREE interview like this? You can always contact me via e-mail!
Shari Nichols grew up in a small town in Connecticut where haunted houses, ghosts and Ouija boards were common place, spurring her fascination with all things paranormal. Ever since she read her first Barbara Cartland novel, her life-long dream has been to write sexy, romantic stories. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, going to the gym, or hanging out with family and friends.
When Virginia Heath was a little girl it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older, the stories became more complicated, sometimes taking weeks to get to the happy ending. Then one day, she decided to embrace the insomnia and start writing them down. Despite that, it still takes her forever to fall asleep.
Marriage … To the highest bidder
Recently retired from a job as a university professor, and looking for a diversion in sunny Southern California, Loran Holt did what any Southern California does – took up writing, of course. Feeling that sword and sorcery fitted her personality admirably, she set her sights on that genre. Nightmasters is the result, and her first work of published fiction, but she is already the published author of two books on the Silent Film era, with a third on the way.
Kelgan Defthand is used to being top dog at the Academy of Magic where he is Senior Apprentice Mage. Compared to his peers, he’s faster, more skillful, and well aware of it, but when he finds himself beset by fearful voices that come in the night, his confidence is shaken.
I read avidly as a child, but only discovered the joys of writing some years ago when reading to my own kids reminded me how much I missed getting lost in other worlds. It’s never too late to find and follow your passion! I now have two books published and am about to start writing the third and final story in the Esme series. My home base is Sydney, where I can often be found running (just kidding – walking) by the water, or scribbling in cafés.
Terror was within. Terror was without.
Daniel Gibson has written numerous short stories, but this is his initial offering in novel form. He was born near Pittsburgh, PA, but is living in rural upstate South Carolina with his wife Donna.
Fallerman’s Grove Road was the idyllic escape Lewis Fogarty envisioned when he moved here with his wife, Donna. It was his opportunity to leave behind a somewhat troubled past. Everything he wanted was here, including a lot of privacy from distant yet friendly neighbors.
Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer. When not up a ladder or at the computer, she can usually be found rummaging through flea markets or haggling in the Marrakech souk. Her second novel, The English Wife — a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland — is published in June 2020. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter from Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. She is currently writing her third novel, The Photographer’s Daughters, the first of a 3-book series, to be published in 2021.
The English Wife
Ruth J. Hartman spends her days herding cats and her nights spinning mysterious tales that make you smile. She, her husband, and their cats love to spend time curled up in their recliners watching old Cary Grant movies. Well, the cats sit in the people’s recliners. Not that the cats couldn’t get their own furniture. They just choose to shed on someone else’s.
When Ellie Warren opens the Kitty Beret Café, her life revolves around finding forever homes for rescued cats and serving lattes. That is, until a woman’s body is discovered behind her shop—the same woman who’d thrown a hissy fit with Ellie in front of lots of witnesses. With Ellie’s cat, Templeton, supplying clues and the help of handsome Detective Simon Dare, she’s on the prowl for the murderer. Will Ellie discover the identity of the culprit before the murderer sinks their claws into her?
Demons and serial killers are Iona “Sully” Sullivan’s bread and butter, but nothing could have prepared her to face off against the full weight of the British Empire at the height of its power. With the War for American Independence in full swing, she finds even her prodigious talents pushed beyond their limits when citizens of the American Colonies begin vanishing amidst rumors of crop circles, hydra sightings and worse. Through a wild and lethal adventure that will see her clashing with the Empire around the world and beyond, the only constants in Sully’s life are an undead girlfriend, a giant demon crow that has taken a shine to her, regular assassination attempts by enemies on all sides, and the cold certainty that nothing and nobody is going to make it out of the war in one piece.
Glasgow-born, 31 years a Greenock GP, graduate of University of Glasgow (Medicine 1974) and Oxford (MSc Medical Anthropology 2004). Worked also in psychiatry, women’s health, and journalism (Herald, Pulse, Doctor, Channel 4). In retirement took Creative Writing tuition at Glasgow University aiming to pen novels about women doctors (rare in literature except as pathologists or in Mills & Boon). Runner-up in SAW Constable Award 2018, chosen as a 2019 Bloody Scotland Crime Spotlight Author – ‘one to watch.’ Member of several writers’ groups and a short story competition winner, she lives in Ayrshire and enjoys good books, good wine, and good company.
