Hello everyone, today I have another FANtastic Interview. This time it’s with author Sarah Delena White. She’s here to talk about her new book Rothana. You may remember it from Cover reveal I helped with.
About the Book
A new queen falls. A death lord rises. An ancient foe looms in the shadows.
Sylvie Imanthiya is desperate to lead Faerie well and deepen the bond with her husband, former king Taylan Ashkalabek. But all hope of that vanishes when the winter solstice ceremony ends in disaster, stranding her and Taylan in the Deathrealm, and stripping the kingdom from her.
With Faerie in chaos, Zad and Diza are separated once again: Zad to reconcile with an old mentor to stabilize the kingdom, and Diza to confront the nefarious Casimir in the mortal realm. But Casimir claims that a greater evil seeks to destroy both realms, an evil that Diza’s unique death magic can hold at bay—if she could only remember how.
In the Deathrealm, Taylan is succumbing to the lure of specters from his past, and pushing away Sylvie’s love. Overwhelmed by decay and darkness, Sylvie must summon unexpected magic from the soul of Kyure to fight for her convictions and her husband’s heart.
Shadows divide them. Their friends are in peril. If Sylvie fails, her marriage and her world will fall.
About the Author
Sarah Delena White was raised by wolves in an alternate dimension. She writes eclectic speculative fiction that reworks mythology with a fine balance of poetry and snark. She’s an experienced world traveler who loves to weave world folklore and ancient concepts into vibrant, original story worlds. She is the administrative manager for Uncommon Universes Press. When she’s not writing, she can be found making elegant designer bead jewelry, traveling to festivals as a professional ballad singer, drinking tea, and seeking to create the perfect latte. She can be bribed with dark chocolate.
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FANtastic Interview with Sarah Delena White
Halayda had some awesome steampunk elements, the best of which was Sylvie’s alchemy potions. Will we see more of her alchemy, or will Sylvie discard it in favor of her fairy magic?
Sylvie’s alchemy will continue to play a role throughout the rest of the Star-Fae Trilogy! It’s a key part of her abilities. While magic is still new and difficult for her, alchemy is second nature. It’s also part of how she expresses her creativity. It’s her favorite art form.
There is a miniseries in the works and it’s up to you to choose who play, Sylvie, Taylan, Zad and Diza. Which actors get the part?
I’ve always pictured Neha Sharma as Sylvie. Sophie Turner would play Diza, and Takeshi Kaneshiro would play Zad. The only one I’m not sure about is Taylan. So far I haven’t found an actor with the right combination of fae good looks and curmudgeonly personality, haha!
Halayda introduced us to the mortal realm and the fae realm. Rothana teases a visit to the underworld. If you could visit one for real, would you choose the mortal, fae, or death realm?
Definitely the fae realm! Faerie is a place of wild beauty and magic, and I’d love to explore it for real… with the right companions, of course! It’s not wise for a hapless mortal to venture into Faerie alone. Anything could happen!
Everyone is inspired by something. What was your inspiration for the Star-Fae Trilogy, and more specifically the dragonfly element?
The inspiration for Halayda, and the Star-Fae Trilogy as a whole, came from a dream (this is weird for me. I haven’t been inspired by a dream before or since!). I dreamed about someone who got dragonfly wings as the result of a mad science experiment gone wrong. By the time I woke up, I had a basic sense of the concept and the two main characters. I first intended to write it as a superhero story, but when I rolled out of bed and scribbled down a summary, I realized it sounded like every superhero story ever, haha! But once I fused the superhero-esque concept with Celtic-inspired fae mythology, everything clicked into place. For Rothana, I also drew a bit from the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone (albeit very loosely!).
The title of the first book, Halayda, was revealed in the story to be the fae word for eternity. What does Rothana mean? And do these words have a basis in real language?
Rothana means “deathmarked.” It’s a term that is used for the shadow-fae (Taylan’s people), often in a derogatory way. A major theme in Rothana is facing and overcoming one’s past. Taylan and several others in the book believe they are marked for death (or other sorts of doom) because of their past deeds or experiences, and they must work through this in order to defeat their foes. The word rothana doesn’t have a basis in any real language, but halayda was loosely based on the Arabic word habibi, a term of endearment (I lived in the Middle East for a while and speak some Arabic, hence the inspiration).
The Star-Fae Trilogy is obviously going to be three books, but will there be any standalone, short stories, or spin-offs from the series?
I’m currently working a prequel novella featuring a younger Sylvie when she first meets Taylan and gets involved in the affairs of Faerie and the intrigues of the College of Alchemy. I chose to have Sylvie and Taylan already know each other well at the start of Halayda so the romance could progress at a fast pace and still be believable. I was a bit sad about skipping over the start of their relationship, though, so I’m excited to write a novella that explores that. I also have ideas for a few spin-off novels featuring some of the secondary characters from the Star-Fae Trilogy, but those projects are still a few years away.
Thank you, Sarah Delena White, for answering my questions and for sharing about your inspiration.
Party Time!
Join Uncommon Universes Press and Laura A. Grace of Unicorn Quester to celebrate the launch of Rothana by Sarah Delena White! Includes games, giveaways, exclusive behind-the-scenes, and more. Also features guest authors Bethany A. Jennings and Morgan L. Busse. Save the date to hang out with these fabulous authors!
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, November 26th- Author Interview – New Authors Fellowship
- Realm Explorers Author Interview – Letters from Annie (Douglass) Lima
- Guest Post on Mythology – Fairies, Fantasy, Faith
- Book Review – Becky Gaines
- Book Excerpt – Reading on the Edge
- Character Interview with Sidikas – Becky Gaines
- Character Interview with Casimir – LivForHim
- Behind-the-Scenes Feature – M. Hackman
- Author Interview – Dreams and Dragons
- Book Review – Pages to Explore
- Author Interview – C. O. Bonham
- Book Review & Excerpt – Coming Up Roses
- Behind-the-Scenes Feature – Lands Uncharted
- Guest Post on Zad and Pookas – L. Burke
- Book Excerpt – Becky Gaines
- Author Interview & Review – com
- Character Interview with Taylan – Unicorn Quester
- Book Review – Jessica Rachow
- Guest Post on Faerie vs. Sabeylln – Katherine Massengill
- Book Review – Writing with Wolves
A new queen falls. A death lord rises. An ancient foe looms in the shadows.
Sarah Delena White was raised by wolves in an alternate dimension. She writes eclectic speculative fiction that reworks mythology with a fine balance of poetry and snark. She’s an experienced world traveler who loves to weave world folklore and ancient concepts into vibrant, original story worlds. She is the administrative manager for Uncommon Universes Press. When she’s not writing, she can be found making elegant designer bead jewelry, traveling to festivals as a professional ballad singer, drinking tea, and seeking to create the perfect latte. She can be bribed with dark chocolate.
C. O. Bonham 