Thank you for inviting me back to guest on your blog, Sarah. It was a pleasure the first time around, introducing my fantasy series, Blood Gift Chronicles, which begins with Return of the Mantra, followed by The Warder. Since then it has been an exciting time, including both books winning Firebird Book Awards in 2021, in the LGBTQ+ fiction category and the YA fiction category. The books were many years in the making, and so it was wonderful to receive award status

Thinking about this blog got me thinking back to where it all began. I first started working on Return of the Mantra back in 2006, after returning to the UK from four years working in Africa: the Sudan, followed by South Africa. Those experiences affected me greatly, and inspired me to rekindle a love of writing, which resulted in a novel planned on post-it notes stuck to my door.

The world in Return of the Mantra is entirely fictional, a land of contrasts loosely inspired by African deserts, sweeping grasslands and lush bushland. Touching on themes of climate change, the consequences of man’s interference with nature is felt, leaving a society torn: common beliefs of a once nomadic people are reduced to a dying mythology, while exploitation flourishes. The main character, a young woman, Suni, is faced with the big question: can her world be restored? It’s a fight for justice, and her own identity, a reminder that to change the world, we must first know ourselves. There are so many aspects of Suni’s character that I enjoy, including a romantic relationship she develops with another woman as part of her backstory. And I love that this relationship thrives and grows throughout the series.

The Warder picks the story up ten years on from the first book, and introduces a new land. I had a lot of fun with the archipelago of islands in the far western reaches, incorporating art into the fabric of the world. (I’m also an artist.) We are taken deeper into this unfolding world by a magic system inextricably linked to the mystery of dragons. I didn’t start out with the intention of writing dragons, and yet I was drawn to them, perhaps for their awe-inspiring other-worldly magic, their ultimate strength and lesson in humility, the fact that there are things bigger than us, outside of our control. Although rather than the idea of going up against a dragon, trying to beat a dragon, the story develops into becoming a dragon, what that reflects in us, storylines analogous to loss, love, loyalty, grief and empowerment. The idea of dragons coincides with a kind of melancholy and themes around extinction – extinction of magic, the fantastical, and creature extinction, which fits with themes in the books.

All of this and more is why I love reading and writing in the fantasy genre, for the colour and the ultimate licence of creativity.

My current work in progress is Book 3, an origin story giving closure to the big mysteries, while introducing two new characters, a new landscape, and a timeslip plot. We are interconnected, the past informs the present, the future is ours for the taking. I think fondly of my characters that I have lived with for so long, as I think of them tackling these life lessons.

If there’s time, I’ll leave you with an extract from The Warder, when we first meet Suni again, ten years after where we left her in the first book. A woman with a gift…

The Warder

“MY MOTHER HAD BEEN A dreamwalker, a gift passed from mother to daughter. We were separated for years before she died, but she had always been able to reach me in my dreams. It was only after she died, ten years ago, that I realised the gift had found its way to me.

I see the mists of Serafay at the edge of my dreams, mists only the dead or a dreamwalker can know. How to navigate the mists is still a mystery even to me; it just is. Sometimes I think the destination lies rooted in desire. My mother had missed me, worried for me, a longing that had led her to me. My own nightly ventures took me to the dreams of my young friend, Wanda; a gifted boy I had known since he was an infant. Ours was a bond formed during an extraordinary journey we had once shared.

Much had changed since then, and the distance between us meant I couldn’t visit often. A boy gifted to speak the tongues of animals, he lived among wildlife in the valley beyond the mountains, while I had returned to my coastal hometown. I thought of him often, worried about him. I was aware that his relationship with Ntombi, my old friend, was not as it should be. I was thankful for my gift, reassured by my visits into his dreams.

ONE NIGHT I CLOSED MY eyes and drifted from the waking world, descending into sleep. Random colours and images of everyday life came and went, but I drifted on through until the colours drained to grey, and I was standing before the wall of mist. I stepped in, abandoning caution, and surrendered to my gift.

In the thick grey haze, the air was still and cool. I walked blind, deeper into the mist where ghosts crossed my path. They appeared oblivious to me, sometimes walking straight through me, leaving the cold of their presence lingering on my skin. Whilst my mother was at peace, ghosts aimlessly wandering Serafay had mournful, despairing eyes.

I felt a change in the air; a slight breeze brushed against my hand. I held out my hands, finding the direction, and turned to walk into the breeze. It was always the same, the mist showing me the way. The breeze grew stronger the further I went into the tunnel of moving air that was hidden from the dead. Among the swirling tones of grey, a window of colour appeared up ahead. I walked towards it, unsure of where it would lead. The only certainty was the dreamer; it was always Wanda I came to when I walked out of Serafay.

I stepped out of Serafay to find myself in Juna’s cave. Wanda was there, his back to me, sitting with legs dangling over the overhanging shelf, head cocked as he looked out over the grasslands. I stepped around the burnt-out fire and went to him. The sun was shining down as I stood next to him on the ledge, but the cold of Serafay lingered.

I crouched down and looked at his face. He never saw or heard me in the dream world. Sometimes I’d see him appear unresponsive to anything as he gazed intensely into space. This time was different; only the whites of his eyes were showing. I put a hand on his arm, reassured by the warmth of his body that felt like a shock against the cold of mine, and looked out across the landscape. Where are you? Startled by a shrill call overhead, I glimpsed a circling hawk, before Serafay came to claim me.”

Author Bio:

Originally from Yorkshire, Susie started out as a science teacher. She went on to spend four years living and working out in Africa when she was in her twenties, before returning to the UK. She is the author of the award-winning fantasy series, Blood Gift Chronicles, published by Stairwell Books, and is currently working on Book 3 of the series. Susie is also an artist, a published poet, and a regular spoken word performer in her hometown of Exeter.

Links:

Website: http://susiewilliamson.blog

Published by Stairwell Books: http://www.stairwellbooks.co.uk/product/the-warder/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusieWilliamsonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SJW_writer

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

Firebird book Awards: https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/author-susie-williamson/