Fantasy Author: A. D. Trosper

Hi Audra, I’m happy to have you stop by and chat with us. So, I hear you recently published your first book, Embers at Galdrilene (Dragon’s Call), a fantasy book about what else? Dragons!

Thank you for having me. Yes, Embers at Galdrilene is my first book and yes, there are dragons in it.

Tell me, have you always been fascinated by mythical creatures?

[Yes. From a very young age I was enthralled with unicorns, dragons, elves, etc. It started with the movie Legend and went from there.]

When did you decide to write a book?

[Several years ago. It actually took me quite a while to write Embers, mostly because I was still learning the craft, but also because I had a baby in the middle of it. Nothing like two years of baby induced insomnia to interrupt writing. J ]

Maybe baby induced hallucinations helped you think of plot and character. How did you come up with your characters?

[They found me. They started showing up and telling me about themselves. A lot of people have to develop characters. Mine showed up fully fleshed, with their own backgrounds and with their names already known to them.]

Pretty incredible, I'd say. So no cardboard skeletons for you. How about world building your fantasy realm? How did you weave world-building into your narrative?

[That took a lot of work and rewrites. Learning to work the world in and not just info dump it took time. I found that it works better to allow some of the world to show itself through character interactions and keep any exposition about it brief and sprinkled in here and there.]

If there is one character in your story you could be, who would it be and why?

[Kirynn. I would love to be that fearless. Having the ability to control fire would be pretty cool too.]

Embers is the first book of a series. Do you have the general sequence of the series planned out?

[Yes, I already know what will happen in each of the next two books and how the series as a whole will end. I have several scenes already for both books for the major things that will happen. Now I have to write all of the in-between.]

Any secret tips for other writers starting out?

[Write. Keep at it. It is a long and often hard road, but very rewarding.]

Okay, how about a secret about you that no one, not even your husband knows?

[There isn’t anything about me that my husband doesn’t know. He is truly my very best friend. A secret no one else knows though. Hmmm. I always wished when I was a teenager that I would’ve done the Goth thing for a while. I always secretly wanted to the black hair, black lipstick, black nails, that kind of thing.]

Ha, ha, and I wondered what it would be like to be blonde. Your Facebook name is Oat Bucket and you have a picture of a goat as your avatar. Care to elaborate?

[Well, it did have a goat on it, although I did recently change it to a pic of me. I’m listed as Oat Bucket because that is the farm name for my registered goats and how a lot of people on the internet know me. It’s taken a bit for some of FB friends to get used to me instead of seeing the pic of the goat.J I raise LaMancha dairy goats. They are my non-writing love outside of my family. You will even find LaMancha dairy goats within the pages of Embers at Galdrilene. J]

  

Wonderful. Had to get your goats in there somewhere. Thanks for being so much fun. I’m glad we had this chance to get to know you.

[It was great getting to do this with you.]

Bio: Born in Kansas, I spent a lot of my childhood moving around. I've lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Washington State (around Seattle), and southern California. I had many great adventures growing up. Though settled down in Kansas with my wonderful husband, three children, and small dairy goat herd, here lately have begun to get restless again. There must be some gypsy/nomad gene somewhere in my ancestry. 

Blurb: “A ray of light, a stain of shadow, shall endure to breathe life and death into the future” 

As a Border Guard, it is Vaddoc’s duty to turn himself in and accept the death sentence with honor when he discovers he can use magic. But the ancient song of the dragons calls to him. Although pulled by duty and the honor of his family, the song proves irresistible. When he is offered sanctuary in Galdrilene, the old home of the dragons, he leaves duty and family behind to answer the call of the Song.

He is not alone in hearing the Dragon Song and he is joined on his journey by five others as the elements of magic are drawn together. It’s a journey that reveals everything they’ve been taught to believe about magic and dragons is wrong. With the last of the dragons and the world at stake, Vaddoc and his companions will do anything, even cross through the realm of the dead, to reach a future they never thought possible.

A more in depth look: Embers at Galdrilene is a classic struggle between good and evil. The dragon-bond blends two hearts, souls, and minds into one. The depth of loved shared in the bond is enormous, and the strengths given to the riders are many. But even in the strength of love, evil can exploit weaknesses. You will not find Evil Sealed in a Can within the pages of Embers. Rather you will find evil that was created by the very opposite of what the dragon-bond represents. Envy, hate, greed, and in one character, a touch of dark insanity.

Embers at Galdrilene brings together characters from several different walks of life, in a world where a lake of the dead can lead to safety, where dragons can be the salvation or damnation of the world, and evil lies not in the gods, but within people willing to give up half their soul for the chance at power.