For all you fantasy fanatics September's Giveaway is here!
The Canticles of Andurun: Drangonsong by Ian Thomas Curtis. Entering the giveaway is simple. Post a comment on the interview below with your email address. The winner will be drawn on Friday September 30th.
(Emails are not distributed or used for any other purpose than for the September Giveaway.)
Dragonsong
Synopsis:
Kallendaros is a land conquered by the Dragons. In a treaty agreed upon between the races, it was decreed that every youth between the ages of fifteen and seventeen would receive the branding as a mark of loyalty to their conquerors. Justias, a brash seventeen-year-old, encounters Marek, a former Dragon Cleric fleeing from his own army. Justias hides Marek to save him, setting in motion a chain of events that leaves his village destroyed, and both of them running for their lives. The two become embroiled in a rebellion instigated by the Noble Houses of the southlands, who wish to overthrow the Dragon Clerics. Traveling to Southdeep, the last bastion of Human freedom, Justias embarks on a seemingly hopeless quest against their true enemy: the Dragons.
Product Details
- Paperback: 586 pages
- Publisher: Eloquent Books (December 15, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1609762711
- ISBN-13: 978-1609762711
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
Interview
DLC: Let me introduce everyone to Ian Thomas Curtis author of The Canticles of Andurun: Dragonsong. Welcome Ian and thank you for wanting to do the giveaway. I have many readers who love fantasy books but first let's get to know you. Tell us about yourself.
IAN:My name is Ian Curtis, and I live in Duluth, Minnesota. I’ve been in this area all of my life, having gone to school at a little place called Albrook, and moving into the city when I was 19. I met the love of my life at work, though we were only friends for a number of years. We began dating six years ago and married four years ago. We have wonderful twin girls: Mabel Rose and Lorna Elaine, as well as a very punctual young man named Gabriel Benjamin who arrived July 6th (his due date).
IAN:My name is Ian Curtis, and I live in Duluth, Minnesota. I’ve been in this area all of my life, having gone to school at a little place called Albrook, and moving into the city when I was 19. I met the love of my life at work, though we were only friends for a number of years. We began dating six years ago and married four years ago. We have wonderful twin girls: Mabel Rose and Lorna Elaine, as well as a very punctual young man named Gabriel Benjamin who arrived July 6th (his due date).
I work, write (fiction fantasy and Biblical matters), spend time with my family and am endeavoring to get more deeply involved with a budding church we happen to be on the ground floor of, called New Hope Bible Church. I am also in the midst of collaborating with a fellow Christian named David Beaulieu getting an evangelical website off the ground. I am a simple man with simple tastes and have been blessed with an amazing wife and children and a slowly growing desire or calling to serve my Lord more fervently.
DLC: A man after my own heart! Sounds like you are a very busy man it's a wonder you can get to writing. LOL Tell us more about your series.
IAN: The Canticles of Andurun is a seven book series that will take the reader through seven centuries of my fictional realm: Andurun. It is a realm both realistic and fantastic. It is a world that has seen its glory shattered by the incursion of the Dragons who have dominated humanity and enslaved them. their former kingdom is a shamble and their glory long since faded; save for a remnant that hold out against the Dragons and their armies in a desperate war to win back the ancestral lands of their people. In the midst of this comes a common young man given an extraordinary mission to accomplish: the destruction of the creatures who have subjugated his people for hundreds of years. Ancient prophecy reveals that a warrior of mundane lineage and common blood would arise to liberate his people and tread the Dragons beneath his heel. Suddenly caught up in the intrigues and dangers of the war engulfing his land, this simple youth must struggle with the reality that he may indeed be the warrior of prophecy: the Dragon Slayer King.
DLC: Dragons, prophesy, warriors... what more does a fantasy lover need. =) Sounds very epic and you must have put a lot of thought into creating this world. What was the major driving factor that led you to write this series?
IAN: For one, I simply love good fantasy. I like defined stories where good is good and evil is evil. I like impossible plots and detailed characters that possess humanity with all of its foibles and flaws.
More so, I wanted to write a story that glorified God and demonstrated God’s faithfulness and majesty against a backdrop where the characters (and the reader) may not always see Him. The story is a little David and Goliath; a little Moses leading his people out of Egypt; but I wanted it to be a story where it becomes clear that your life can only take the direction it was meant to when you allow God to have His way in you.
DLC: What do you hope readers will gain from reading The Canticles of Andurun?
IAN: There are a number of things, I suppose. I want to entertain the reader, for a start. I strive for a good story that will simply appeal to fantasy fans. I want the reader to like Andurun and enjoy exploring its depths, even when awful things may be happening around them. Part of what I hope readers will gain from Andurun is a personal lesson I learned very early in its writing: a believer ought to live in such a way that their very life is a demonstration of the grace that God has extended toward us. Justias (my main character) professes a faith he doesn’t necessarily live. He has a dead faith; one may almost say he is an agnostic to begin with. Issues with God were peripheral matters when compared to what Justias wanted. This was me for many years. I want to encourage believers to be willing and daring to simply allow their lives to be vehicles through which God may work.
DLC: What do you hope readers will gain from reading The Canticles of Andurun?
IAN: There are a number of things, I suppose. I want to entertain the reader, for a start. I strive for a good story that will simply appeal to fantasy fans. I want the reader to like Andurun and enjoy exploring its depths, even when awful things may be happening around them. Part of what I hope readers will gain from Andurun is a personal lesson I learned very early in its writing: a believer ought to live in such a way that their very life is a demonstration of the grace that God has extended toward us. Justias (my main character) professes a faith he doesn’t necessarily live. He has a dead faith; one may almost say he is an agnostic to begin with. Issues with God were peripheral matters when compared to what Justias wanted. This was me for many years. I want to encourage believers to be willing and daring to simply allow their lives to be vehicles through which God may work.
I hope the reader will also be refreshed about the concepts of good and evil which tend to become very abstract in our present cultural climate. Good and evil are very clearly defined by our God; and it is His word, not man’s opinions, that we are to be ruled by. Sometimes doing what is right seems wrong because everyone else is against the idea. Sometimes it seems simpler to bow down to modern convention, but God still calls evil for what it is, and so too should His children. I tried to express this dichotomy throughout the story.
DLC: That's inspiring. I am 100% in agreement with you. What character would you most identify with?
IAN: In a word: Justias Eventine. I shared many of the flaws of my main character, and when I read about him I sometimes laugh, sometimes shudder when I see the man I was shine through in things he says and does. I didn’t deliberately model Justias after myself; it was apparently a base of reference that simply happened organically.
DLC: That's inspiring. I am 100% in agreement with you. What character would you most identify with?
IAN: In a word: Justias Eventine. I shared many of the flaws of my main character, and when I read about him I sometimes laugh, sometimes shudder when I see the man I was shine through in things he says and does. I didn’t deliberately model Justias after myself; it was apparently a base of reference that simply happened organically.
DLC: I believe that was two words but who's counting. hehehe A good author always relates to their characters and often is a part of what they become. What sage advice have you received that's had the biggest impact on your writing and who gave that advice?
IAN: I think it was the tidbit of “Write a story that you would want to read.” I set out in Dragonsong to do just that. I’m afraid I can’t recall who first told me this because it was years ago, but it has remained in my head since. I set out not to find commercial appeal or to lace my writing with the carnage, mysticism and sex that seems to sell so well today. I think the other bit of advice given me that inspired me regarding Dragonsong was : whatever we do, do to the glory of God. And that, of course, was the apostle Paul. It seemed like words to write by.
DLC: Sweet! Other than finding time, what was your greatest challenge while writing your book?
IAN: Attempting not to allow my old writing habits to encroach. I used to write violent horror stories and stories heavily perfumed with occult phenomena. When you train yourself as a writer to use certain devices for so many years it is difficult to break the mold all at once and walk away. I learned this when I re-read my novels for the first time and found that some ideas had still crept in and had to be edited out of the first three books. Mind you, there is occult material within the story, but it is clearly defined what it is, and where such power originates. I’m not so interested in writing a good story that I am willing to deceive readers by “bending” the truth anymore. It was a hard mold to break.
DLC: That is so true. Many times people mistake the power of God with magic or mysticism. There is a very clear difference and that is the source from which the power comes and who is in control of that power. Sorry, got sidetracked. =) Are you working on a book now and if so tell us a little bit about it?
IAN: I am working on book 5 of The Canticles of Andurun, which is entitled The Aria of Kings (for now). It takes place five hundred years after the first story arc which concludes in book 3. There is a great supernatural being, one of the Children of Winter, awakening in the southern mountains. He has subdued the mountain dwelling races and is bringing them into Kallendaros in a war of annihilation. Mutually fractured and xenophobic races are forced to band together to resist him, all the while He whose Right It Is appears, the rightful King of Kallendaros. I could tell you more, but it would spoil a good deal of books 1-3, so you will have to forgive me. Nevertheless, there are some major over arching plots from books 1-3 that will finally see consummation in this last series (books 5-7). The story of Andurun concludes with book 7.
DLC: I understand all too well. Now for a fun question. If you could meet any author, past or present, who would it be and why?
IAN: Excluding biblical authors I would have to say Edgar Allen Poe. Why? I would like to sit at length and talk with him to see if he was nearly as bizarre as we’ve been led to believe. His stories are awfully odd, but very well written. The man himself seems no less so.
DLC: I think I hear a beating coming from my floorboards...no wait that's my cat. hehehe More fun. If I were visiting from out of town and you took me to dinner, where would we go and what would you recommend I order?
IAN: We would visit the Duluth Grill, which is a local restaurant that has had national acclaim. They have a wonderful ham and cheese omelet with French toast that ought to be illegal. It’s too good for words.
DLC: OK I'm hungry now. I'm booking my flight. =) Try this question on for size. If your book/books could be a gum flavor what would it/they be?
IAN: This question gave me serious thought, which makes me realize I put far too much effort in finding an answer for you. At the end of the day I have to say cinnamon. It seems to be a flavor that people love or hate, and that has tended to be the reaction so far for my story.
DLC: LOL Cinnamon is good on toast with butter. mmmmm Sorry, I'm back. Where can people go to get more information about you and your book?
IAN: You can find me talking about matters relevant to the Bible and the Christian faith at What’s in a Name?
If you want quick updates as to what I am doing in either field please feel free to follow along on my facebook page. The Canticles of Andurun
DLC: Ian I want to thank you again for sharing about you and your books. They sound truly epic and I now there will be some fantasy lovers chomping at the bit to enter the giveaway.I pray a blessing on your writing and look forward to seeing what God has in store for you.
If you'd like to enter the September Giveaway please comment on this post along with your email address. Again we only use email addresses for the sole purpose of the drawing.
Blessings,
Daniel L Carter
Author of The G-6 Chronicles