Hi again, you may remember when I hosted a cover reveal for an amazing book called Spice Bringer.

From the Back cover:

A deadly disease. A vanishing remedy. A breathless journey.

 All her life, Niya’s known she will die young from the fatal rasp. She survives only with the aid of vitrisar spice and a magical, curmudgeonly fire salamander named Alk. Then an ambitious princess burns down the vitrisar grove in an effort to steal Alk so she can claim her rightful throne. Joined by Jayesh, a disgraced monk, Niya and Alk must flee to the faraway Hidden Temple with the last vitrisar plant, or all who suffer from the rasp will perish.

 But even as Niya’s frustration and banter with Jayesh deepen to affection, the rasp is stealing away her breath and life.

 For a girl with limited time and a crippling quest, love may be more painful than death.

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Author Bio:

 Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.

An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.

Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.

 Social Media Links:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/hlburkewriter/

Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hlburkereaders/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hlburkewriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/burkesdragons/

Website: http://www.hlburkeauthor.com/

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While Spice Bringer is back today for the official blog tour. I snagged author H. L. Burke for a Fantastic interview.

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FANtastic Interview with H. L. Burke:

 C.O: Your publisher sells the movie rights to Spice Bringer. The casting director asks you, who you see in the lead roles. What do you tell her? Most importantly who would you cast to voice Alk?

H.L: Unknown teens of the proper ethnicity to pull it off. The problem with being a YA writer is I very rarely know of any actors currently young enough to fulfill the roles (I don’t watch a lot of teen TV or teen focused movies), and with the setting of Spice Bringer, I’d need characters who look like they could have come from south east Asia. Off the top of my head, I cannot name any 16-year-old Indian actresses. There just aren’t any on any of the shows I watch, but I think this would be an awesome opportunity for a casting call to find new talent. As for Alk …he actually has kind of a harsh, high voice in my head, not typical voice actor stuff, but also not comical Gilbert Godfrey level. I’ll say Alan Tudyk because that man can do anything with his voice. 

 C.O: Good point about the actors. Spice Bringer would be a good story for an unknown Actor/Actress to really show what they can do. And yes to Alan Tudyk he is awesome.

Anyone who follows you on Social media knows that you have many obsessions: Foxes, cats, dragons, pineapples/psych, and sneks/snakes. Now Imagine that you have to give all of them up but one. Which one do you keep? Or conversely, Which could you give up? 

 H.L: I have to keep my cat. Bruce is family. I don’t actually have a Fox or a Snek as much as I want to. Dragons are in my books, so they’d be hard to ignore …I’d find a way to cheat with Psych, probably. 

 C.O: Spice Bringer has an Indian feel to it’s fantasy setting. What if any research did you do while writing?

 H.L: Less than you might think. I very intentionally wanted to separate my world from the actual India because a lot of factors would have to be different for story purposes. There are some major differences between The Empire of the Golden Bird and ancient India in terms of culture, history, government, religion, and geography. That said, I looked into things like architecture and how spices grow. 

 C.O: What would you do if you were diagnosed with the Rasp? And would your insurance cover it?

 H.L: Military Tricare (My husband is a US Marine) covers most medical conditions I’m aware of, but it’s mostly with military doctors and … some of them are great, but a lot of them are kind of in a hurry. Very eager to give you some motrin and get you moved on. They would have absolutely no idea what to do if faced with a fantasy-world-based-made-up-illness. Heck, they failed to diagnose that I had a cat allergy through multiple visits. Hopefully I could find a salamander and some vitrisar plants. Then I’d be all right. 

 C.O: Would you really want a Salamander though?

Alk can be snarky and irritating, if he were suddenly real and he had to live with your family, because you created him, would you wish you had written him to be more of a “help out around the house” salamander?

H.L: He wouldn’t fit in very well around here if I edited him. My husband is a constant tease who does things to be contrary all the time. My daughters learned sarcasm early. The cat is judging everyone. Dog roll his eyes when I tell him to do things. Alk would be right at home here. 

 C.O: What is the meaning of life the universe and Everything?

 H.L: 42 

  C.O: Hmm I suspect as much.

 For those who don’t know already Heidi does a random interview every week on her own blog, where she asks authors random questions. I am going to steal one of her own random question and ask it to her.

 If this question was any question in the world, what would it be and how would you answer?

 H.L: What super power do I want … NO! Tell me about your cat? … nah, too obvious … Favorite Psych episode? … no, worked that into another interview… ugh, choices!
How about, “Do you need coffee?”

The answer is yes. Yes, I very much need coffee right now. 

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Thank you H. L. Burke for taking the time to answer my FANtastic questions. I love that last one.

Spice Bringer releases in just six days. That’s less than a week! So don’t delay, there’s still time to take advantage of the UUP preorder special.

Regularly 17.99, autographed paperback preorders are 14.99 with free shipping discount (free shipping to US locations only). What a deal! 

 https://uncommonuniverses.com/product/spicebringer-autographed-paperback-preorder/

Or if you wish, find it at the other fine retailers below:

Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Spicebringer-H-L-Burke-ebook/dp/B07FBRF6HD

Barnes & Noble Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spicebringer-h-l-burke/1129054660?ean=2940155709763

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/spicebringer

Apple iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1409446712