Today, I would like to welcome author Charity Santiago to the blog, and to thank her for taking some time to let us get to know her a little bit better.
Q: What was the inspiration behind 'Return'?
A:
I first got the idea for 'Return' years ago, when I was caught outside
during a storm. It was the middle of summer in Arizona- also known as
monsoon season- and I was filling up my horse's water trough when it
began raining. I stood there, watching raindrops drip from the brim of
my baseball cap, and I was suddenly struck by how completely the storm
had isolated me from the rest of the world. The melancholy feeling that
came with being alone in the rain inspired the first chapter of
'Return,' and I tried to maintain that sense of loneliness and
independence in the main character, Ashlyn, throughout the entire
trilogy. Once I had the first draft of the opening chapter written, I
started fleshing out an actual plot. Originally I was writing the story
solely for my own entertainment, with no intention of publication, and
as a result nothing was off-limits in my world. My husband likes to joke
that I took everything I liked in fiction and threw it in one big pot
to create the plot for 'Return.' He may be right. Where else are you
going to find vampires, assassins, magic, shape-shifters, Angels and
ninjas, all in one story?
Q: A ninja isn't the kind of character we have been seeing lately in books. Why a ninja?
A:
I wanted to write a heroine who was strong and capable without any kind
of supernatural advantage. Ashlyn uses magic, but she can still deliver
a beat-down with her bare hands. She has also managed to stay off the
grid for the past three years, despite being a famous member of FLD, the
rebel group who saved the sun. I knew she'd have to be pretty sneaky to
pull that off! Once I knew she was a martial artist and had stealthy
qualities, making her a ninja was pretty much a given.
Q: If you could have any kind of superpower or paranormal power, what would you choose?
A: In all honesty, if I could get my hands on the reveal stane
from 'Return,' that would be superpower enough for me. I am constantly
losing my keys, my phone and my wallet. I would love to have a special
magic that could lead me straight to what I'm looking for.
Q: If you could be a character in any book, who would you be?
A:
I would be Anne Elliott from Jane Austen's 'Persuasion.' There are so
many things I love about that story, and that character in particular.
There are actually a few similarities between Anne Elliott and Ashlyn,
the heroine in 'Return.' They both walked away from their destiny, and
they both regret it now, but neither of them are sure if they deserve a
second chance. I love that Anne Elliott has such a quiet, self-contained
strength about her. She's human and she has made mistakes, but she
bears the burden of her past with grace and dignity.
Q: Your son had severe respiratory issues, which
put him in the hospital, and led to you discovering the KDP program. How
is he doing now?
A: He is doing
fabulously- thanks so much for asking! About six months after his very
frightening stay in the hospital, I resigned from my full-time job in
the insurance/financial services industry and became a stay-at-home mom.
His health has improved tremendously since then. He is now an active,
adventurous two-year-old, and he warms my heart every day with his grit,
courage and determination. He does face many struggles on a daily basis
as a result of his biological mother's drug use during her pregnancy.
Asthma is just one of those struggles. We are hoping and praying that as
he grows older, his asthma will become easier to manage.
Q: You are pursuing a degree in education. What age and in what area are you interested in teaching?
A:
Initially I wanted to teach high school English, but living in a small
town, my options for certification programs are somewhat limited! I'm
hoping to teach older elementary students- fourth, fifth, or sixth
grade, preferably. When I finish my degree and become certified, I'll be
able to teach all elementary school subjects, but in a perfect world,
I'd love to find a position teaching sixth grade English or Language
Arts. Because this is such a small community, though, I have to be
open-minded about my prospects. I'd be just as happy to teach first or
second grade.
Q: Why do you want to be a teacher?
There
are so many reasons! I had a wake-up call when my son was in the
hospital in 2011. I took a week off from work to stay with him- he was
in the hospital for four days, and even after he was released, he was
too ill to return to daycare, and required breathing treatments with a
nebulizer every two hours. I couldn't believe it when my boss called me
into her office and told me that for future incidents, I would need to
find someone else to take care of my son, because she didn't want me
taking leave from work when he was sick. At that point I realized that
I'd spent years toiling in an industry I didn't believe in- an industry
that didn't believe in me and didn't care about my personal life, even
when my son was gravely ill. All they cared about was whether or not I
was making money.
Several months later, I resigned my job to stay home
with my son and began soul-searching, trying to figure out what I
wanted to do with my life. My first passion is writing, and obviously
I'd love nothing more than to write books for a living. But if that
doesn't pan out, then I definitely want a career that makes a positive
difference in people's lives. Being a teacher would offer so many
opportunities to change students' lives. I want a student to come into
my classroom unsure of their abilities, and walk out with new
confidence. Regardless of what grade I end up teaching, I'm most looking
forward to sharing my love of writing with my students and getting them
involved in the National Novel Writing Month Young Writers Program.
Q: What other kind of writing projects do you currently have in the works?
Now
that the Lady of Toryn trilogy- of which 'Return' is the first
installment- is complete, I'm working on a new paranormal romance series
revolving around vampires and werewolves in modern-day North Dakota.
The first book is called 'Blood Lust,' and it's about Eve, a 17-year-old
girl who makes an unexpected romantic connection with a sexy,
mysterious vampire named Jericho shortly before she is bitten by a
werewolf. Eve's initiation into the werewolf pack obviously has an
impact on her relationship with Jericho, and struggling to fit in to
this new supernatural world isn't easy for her, either. 'Blood Lust' is
coming out on April 12, 2013.
My other project right now is a new young adult
fantasy trilogy set in Kresmir, the same world from 'Return.' Ashlyn and
the rest of FLD will return to battle a new mystical foe. The new
trilogy is called 'Battle for Cosmea,' and its first book, 'Stane of
Nine Thousand,' has a projected release date of July 30, 2013.
Q: What is something readers may be surprised to learn about you?
A:
I'm a total geek, and my husband is, too! We attend Phoenix Comicon
every year, and last year I attended Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA. I was
able to attend a panel hosted by Laurell K. Hamilton and Sherrilyn
Kenyon, among other prominent female fantasy authors. My dream someday
is to have a booth at Phoenix Comicon where I can offer my books for
sale, and maybe host a panel or two of my own.
Q: Anything else you would like to share?
A: Thanks so much for being such a gracious tour host. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my rambling!
Author Bio
In February 2011,
Charity Santiago's 7-month old son was admitted to the hospital with
severe respiratory issues. While Charity stayed at his bedside, she
kept them both entertained by downloading several books on her new
Kindle and reading them out loud. It was during this time that
Charity learned about Kindle's self-publishing program, and realized
that she had an opportunity to share her writings with the world.
Charity is a native of southeastern Arizona, and a writer since
childhood. She wrote her first manuscript, Guinea Pig Code!, at
age nine. When she’s not writing books, Charity spends her time
wrangling children, watching Sylvester Stallone movies and pursuing a
degree in Education.
Title: Return
Author: Charity Santiago
Genre: YA Fantasy
For the last three
years, eighteen-year-old Ashlyn Li has been running from her destiny.
A free-spirited ninja, Ashlyn would rather loot an abandoned city or
challenge a fiend to battle than assume leadership of Toryn, her
father's kingdom. However, when a series of attacks reunites Ashlyn
with the friends who helped her save the sun three years ago, she
discovers that her kingdom is at war and her father has presumed her
dead.
Suddenly Ashlyn is faced with not only fulfilling her
birthright, but also making sense of her feelings towards two very
different men- Drake Lockhart, the enigmatic vampire who captured her
heart three years ago, and Vargo, the charismatic assassin who was
once Ashlyn's sworn enemy.
Will Ashlyn ascend the pagoda and
become Lady of Toryn?
Read an excerpt:
“You must be frustrated out of your
mind."
"No," he said immediately. "I
was there too. It hasn't been that long."
"I feel so heavy all the time,"
Ashlyn said. "It's like I can't breathe sometimes. Like I can't
even move."
"Weight of the world," Skye
replied. "It's a burden all leaders have to deal with."
"I'm not a natural-born leader."
"Leaders aren't born, Ash. They're
made." He shook his head when she spoke again, stopping her
mid-sentence with the gesture. "I wasn't a leader. I was just
following Jax around, trying to help out where I could. And after he
was…gone…I knew I had to step up because there was no one else.”
He stopped halfway across the bridge to
the lab, and leaned against the railing, his expression grave. Ashlyn
turned to face him and mimicked his relaxed pose, trying to look
nonchalant.
Skye turned his face towards the rising
sun, the first rays lighting his handsome features with a strange,
tormented beauty. The illumination lasted for only a moment before
clouds obscured the sunrise, and they were plunged into grayness
again.
"The burden of saving the sun was
bad enough," Skye said slowly, "but then to be pretending
to be something I wasn't, constantly worried that people would find
out I had no idea what I was doing…I almost snapped a couple of
times. Stuck inside my mind and trapped by my own lies and
insecurities. Tortured by my own failure."
Ashlyn stayed silent as it began to
rain. Skye pushed away from the railing and started walking, and she
followed quietly. In the back of her mind a little voice was asking
why, what with Drake's speech and Restlyn's epiphany and Skye's
current revelation, she wasn't having any clarifying moments of her
own. Life just wasn't fair sometimes.
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Becky Pourchot is the author of two books: I Look Better in Binary and Food for a Hungry Ghost and had published over one hundred articles ranging in topic from haunted museums to burlesque dancers. Ms. Pourchot grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, but has spent her last year and a half enjoying the sand and surf in Flagler Beach, Florida, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, and a grouchy parrot named Zoey.
