Recommended reads – Cinders Magazine

Enter the Dragon – Interview with Samantha Shannon

Priory of the Orange Tree might just be the most magically anticipated fantasy novel of this year. And we can say with absolute certainty that it is worth the hype. Magical women, brave warriors, powerful queens and, of course, dragons – what more could you want. We were lucky enough to chat to author, Samantha Shannon about the experience of writing Priory and her favourite fictional dragons!

1. Priory of the Orange Tree is home to epic queens, dragons and magic – there is so much to unpack with all of the glorious detail that flows through it – can you tell us where you got your first inspiration for the novel?

There was never a single eureka moment for this book, as there was with The Bone Season – it was a few different ideas coming together over twenty years. I can trace the thread of inspiration right the way back to my fifth birthday, when I first saw Dragonheart. That film sparked a lifelong love of all things fire-breathing and scaly, and once I knew I wanted to be an author, I also knew I wanted to write my own dragon book one day. In 2014, I decided to do that by contesting and re-imagining the legends surrounding Saint George and the Dragon from a modern feminist perspective. I also wanted to write a novel that explored the different ways in which dragons are imagined across the world, had religious (mis)interpretation as a prominent theme, and intertwined mythology with some fascinating periods of history.Priory hatched out of all of this and more.

2. How did you feel about writing Priory while also writing the Bone Season series – was it refreshing to work in a different genre of fantasy?

It was, yes. I thought it was going to be impossible to divide my time between the two, as they’re so different – one set in Paris in the year 2060, the other a standalone in a fictional world inspired by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – but both projects ended up benefiting so much from my multi-tasking. Moving between them kept my inspiration for both alive. If I started to lose steam in one manuscript, I could switch to the other and recharge my creative batteries. I plan to always have at least two projects on the go from now on, as I find it so helpful to have that breathing space.

3. Ead and Sabran and Tané are wonderful characters, made more wonderful by their differences, can you say which character’s story you felt you knew first?

I’m so glad you like them! Tané was the first Priory character to walk into my head, and she’s also the character who’s most like me – an anxious workaholic – so she has a special place in my heart. Ead was probably my favourite to write out of the four narrators, though. Most of her story takes place in an Elizabethan-style court, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed writing about the intrigue, opulence and pressure of life in the entourage of a queen.

4. Was it exciting to be able to tell a story using dragons – one of the most loved fantasy tropes?

It really was! I loved being able to write my own take on the most beloved of mythical beasts and create a taxonomy of creatures related to them, from cockatrices to wyverns to dragons born of fire and starlight. I sense that dragons are about to make a huge resurgence in fiction, and I can’t wait to see new takes on them.

5. What was it like to take the story of the dragon rider who revered dragons and contrast it with the characters who fear dragons more than anything?

I knew from the beginning that I wanted dragons to form the basis of the main religions of the book, with some people viewing them as gods and others as purely evil. There are benevolent and unpleasant dragons in Priory– the former connected to one branch of magic, the latter to another – and that divergence is the source of an age-old misunderstanding between the two sides of the world. Writing creation myths for my dragons and turning them into opposing faith systems was such an enjoyable challenge.

6. One of the most satisfying aspects of Priory of the Orange Tree is the wideness of the world and the richness of the detail of the court and its magic. How long did you spend building the world before you began writing?

I don’t clearly remember this, as I started the book more than four years ago, but I think I spent a few weeks sketching the basics before I jumped in. I believe in worldbuilding on the go, allowing your character to guide you as they go about their life. You never know if a paracosm is going to hang together, what details you need to add, or what gaps there are to caulk, until you throw a character in there and let them start telling you. I essentially built a skeletal world and added flesh as I went along.

7. Was it important to you to tell the stories of these diverse women?

Epic fantasy has historically been a male domain. Fortunately, many authors have been working hard for many years to change that, and I hope Priory does its small part in pushing that change forward. There are two male narrators, and I loved writing their stories – but the women are the ones whose actions have the greatest impact on the narrative. I wanted to write a feminist tale that allowed women from many backgrounds to control the fate of nations, eviscerated the damsel in distress trope, and wasn’t set in a violently misogynistic world.

8. Priory reads like an homage to the wonderful epic fantasy of the 70s and 80s but with a thoroughly contemporary head on its shoulders – was it fun bringing this type of fantasy right up to date?

It was great fun, and very liberating. I always meant for it to be a story that utilised many of the tropes of classic epic fantasy – an enemy returning from the dead, a hero with a magic sword, a hidden society of magic users – but left some of its more negative features behind.

9. Would you say there were particular stories or myths that lent inspiration to Priory?

Yes. The main one was the legend of Saint George and the Dragon – which isn’t a single legend, but a mythos. The one I most wanted to retell was a 1596 version of the story by Richard Johnson, a contemporary of Shakespeare, who turned Saint George into an Englishman from Coventry. I took several elements from that story and re-imagined them in a way that I hope challenges Johnson and his frankly disturbing ideas about what makes a hero. The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser and the Japanese tale of Hohodemi, which involves a magical fishhook and two jewels that control the tides, also had a significant impact on the story and worldbuilding.

10. Can you name your favourite fictional dragons?

Draco from Dragonheart was the first dragon I ever loved. I also love Rollo from Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, Saphira from Eragon by Christopher Paolini, and Firedrake from Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, which was my favourite childhood book.

11. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

Neil Gaiman once told me to enjoy myself. Not exactly writing advice, but excellent life advice. Sometimes I can get so anxious about my work as I strive to make it perfect, so this was a reminder to sometimes sit back and enjoy the ride.

Priory of the Orange Tree will be released on February 26 and you won’t be able to put it down!

Our favourite magical books! Laini Taylor’s Lips Touch

We love a good magical haunting story to give us goosebumps here in Cinders! Here are a few of our favourite mystical, dreamlike reads to curl up with for November!

Lips Touch by Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor writes magical stories so well she may actually be magic herself. Lips Touch Three times is one of her earlier works but it is just as beautiful. With a collection of three stories all of which revolve around a fateful kiss you will not be disappointed. A woman who travels down into hell to rescue the man she loves, a demonic curse following a young woman and a wonderful modern adaptation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Fruit. Goblin Fruit is a particular stand out, where we meet Kizzy, a girl who wants. Every day of Kizzy’s life she is filled with wanting and desire, so much so, that it brings a goblin to her door. A goblin who is desperate to take her heart. There is power in Laini Taylor’s magical stories. These are stories filled with power and dark desire. With nightmare and with illusion. With everything that we love about the autumn season. You will not be disappointed.

Autumn Books Preview: Outrun the Wind by Elizabeth Tammi

Do you like myths? Fantasy? Ancient Greeks? Love stories? Then Outrun the Wind is the book for you. Taking us on a breakneck tour of some of the most famous Greek gods and their domain Outrun the Wind tells the story of two girls who find themselves in debt to two of the most ruthless of the Greek gods – Artemis and Apollo. Kahina is expected to do nothing but serve the goddess Artemis – and never fall in love. However the minute she uses her power to help save legendary warrior Atalanta, she knows she is well on her way to breaking both of those rules.

When Atalanta is threatened with a marriage she doesn’t want she and Kahina come up with a plan that will allow her to fight for her own hand. If you’ve read the myth of Atalanta, then you will know she races her suitors and announces that only the man who beats her will win. Outrun the Wind takes a different direction from the myth – where Hippomenes is a much more dangerous figure than he is portrayed in the original story. The girls are given the love story instead and Outrun the Wind is much more compelling for it.

Sailing through the centre point of most Greek myths, author Elizabeth Tammi makes the story feel right at home. She captures the pettiness and power of the gods and the helplessness of the mortals in their service to them.

This is true of both Atalanta and Kahina, whom the narrative alternates between. Atalanta is a fearsome fighter whose speed makes her a valuable warrior. Kahina is a priestess of the goddess Artemis, who rescued her from service as an oracle in Apollo’s city of Delphi. If Greek literature is your thing, then you’ll enjoy the cameos that areas and people of significance in Greek mythology show up throughout the story.

The romance between Kahina and Atalanta is swoon-worthy, its need for secrecy placing extra tension and pressure on the girls. There is a chemistry between them that makes you wish as a reader, that the pair were brought together sooner, rather than drawing out their time apart.
That being said, Outrun the Wind is a swift and excitingly paced retelling, just like its main characters, Atalanta and Kahina, I can see many readers shipping them and their passion filled love story.

Outrun the Wind will be available on November 27

Three fantasy novels you don’t want to miss: Albert, Cogman, and Mostyn

The Hazel Wood By Melissa Albert

Was the original Alice in Wonderland a little too tame for your taste? Are the Grimm Brothers not dark enough for you? Are you hungering for something a little creepier in your childhood fantasy heroines? Then by all means pick up a copy of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. Ever since she can remember, 17 year old Alice has been on the move, living a nomadic lifestyle with her mother. All that time she has longed for a true connection with her grandmother, the mysterious author of fairytale stories, Tales of the Hinterland. Alice’s life is confined to glimpses of this world until she comes home one day to find her mother gone and all hints point to characters from the Hinterland come to life. The story is dark, complex and will draw you in and set your imagination on fire.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Libraries, spies, Victorians – what more could you ask for? Genevieve Cogman’s The Invisible Library has all of that and more. Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. Along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission is to retrieve a dangerous book. And any more information will spoil your experience! There are few things that attract avid book lovers more than libraries – but book thieves and spies are among those topics. The characters blaze through the novel and the joy of The Invisible Library is that it’s just the first in a series of four. So you can indulge in your book thief librarian spies for three more volumes!

The Gods of Love by Nicola Mostyn

Are you a fan of the Greek gods? Well, even if you aren’t, we think you’ll be a fan of Frida, divorce lawyer and all around expert on love. Mostly because she’s a secret descendant of Eros, the greek god of love. So when a handsome but clearly delusional man named Dan bursts into Frida’s office and insists that she is fated to save the world, she has him ejected. But a creepy meeting, a demon or three and one attempted kidnapping later, Frida is beginning to face the inconvenient truth: Dan is actuallyThe Oracle, the gods of Greek mythology are real and Frida herself appears to be everyone’s only hope.The world is doomed. A little. This novel is so, so much fun! It is non-stop enjoyment from start to finish and we guarantee you won’t be able to put it down!

Coping with the future – an interview with Stefanie Preissner

Stefanie Preissner is not a new name to the Irish writing scene, but is one that’s getting called all the more frequently. Through her work in theatre, her critcally acclaimed series, Can’t Cope Won’t Cope and her new book, Stefanie Preissner has gone from ‘one to watch’ to someone we’re all watching closely. We sat down with Stefanie to discuss writing, advice and the new season of Can’t Cope Won’t Cope.

1. Can you remember the first time you thought ‘I want to be a writer’?

No. I don’t think I have, even to this day, thought that sentence. I still feel like ‘writers’ are very serious, intellectual people and I’m just here in a café on my laptop. I wanted to be the first female Garda Commissioner, then I wanted to act, and now… while I still see myself as a performer I feel like I have too much to say to speak someone else’s words. The world is chaotic and the only way I can process it is to write. I’m just fortunate that I get the luxury of being able to combine what feels like a contribution to society and my passion.

2. Did you feel more pressure approaching season two of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, given it’s success in Season One? If so, how did you combat this?

Of course. I think that Season One hit a nerve and while it was good, I think it was received as ‘great’ because people hadn’t seen young Irish women represented on screen in that way. In season one, I was free to sort of write whatever I wanted but in Season Two I had to respond to the reaction to Season One. I think it’s inelegant and a sign of hubris to rebut every single criticism of your work, so I take criticism seriously. I don’t always react but I always consider it. And I had issues with Season One too. So I looked at what worked, and looked at how Ireland of 2018 is markedly different to that of 2015 and I went into the scripts with the intention of writing a show that was relevant and provocative.

3. Who do you identify with more, Aisling or Danielle?

I identify strongly with different parts of each of them. I identify with Aisling’s impulsiveness and her impatience. I identify with Danielle’s wishes to be a good friend, to be a good student, to put other people’s plans and needs ahead of her own.

4. What advice would you give them if you could speak to them?

I wouldn’t bother trying to give advice to Aisling, I’d be wasting my breath. I’d probably encourage Danielle to be a bit gentler on herself which would inevitably make her see the world and other people with more sympathetic eyes.

The world is chaotic and the only way I can process it is to write. I’m just fortunate that I get the luxury of being able to combine what feels like a contribution to society and my passion.

5. What was it like unveiling your innermost thoughts in ‘Why Can’t everything just Stay the Same?’

It was a beautiful luxury. Writing for TV, the scripts have to be so lean and the writing so sparse. It was a luxury, and – let’s be clear – an exercise in indulgence. I have always been paralytically indecisive. I ask my friends to confirm my opinions and to guide my tastes so it felt strange to commit opinions, feelings and thoughts to print but that’s why I have the caveat in there that I reserve the right to change my mind. And in one of the chapters “GENDERALISATIONS” I actually change my opinion half way through the chapter but I didn’t delete the first half because I think it’s crucial, if society is to progress in a meaningful, functional and empathetic way, that people are not held to things they have said in the past and they are allowed to change their views and grow if they choose.

6. Do you find you have to get into a different mindset when writing fictional series like Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope versus writing about your own experiences, like you did for your book?

Not really. They both come out of my head, my experiences and my imagination. Its more fun being able to construct a false narrative but it’s important in this day and age that we have books and art and theatre that use extreme truth. There’s too much fake news and lies out there. You don’t have to look further than Instagram filters to see it.

Its more fun being able to construct a false narrative but it’s important in this day and age that we have books and art and theatre that use extreme truth. There’s too much fake news and lies out there. You don’t have to look further than Instagram filters to see it.

7.You’ve spoken frequently about mental health and bullying, do you think creative outlets like writing have helped you deal with these experiences?

I mean, they help as much as a nice hot bath helps. But I think it undermines the experience of being bullied or depressed to think that creative outlets can solve the problem. It helps of course, to talk and process but the psychological weight of those things shouldn’t be undermined or underestimated.

8. What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?

What other people think of you is none of your business.

9. What would you like to be working on next?

I have loads lined up for 2018 so I’m going to be working hard on taking breaks. I love my work. But I love not working too.

What other people think of you is none of your business.

Why Can’t Everything just Stay the Same is available in a bookshop near you now.

Re-reading Ursula Le Guin

Cinders Editor Méabh McDonnell can list five books that changed her life, Ursula Le Guin’s Very Far Away from Anywhere Else is one of them. To mark Ursula K. Le Guin’s death earlier this year, she talks about how her books affected her.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

Those are the words of the late, great, Ursula K. Le Guin, a writer of fantasy, science fiction, brilliant short stories, and one of my favourite books of all time. She wrote more than 20 novels, over 100 short stories, collections of poetry and was an all-round literary master. She was a wife, a mother, a feminist and a very wise person. She died in January at the age of 88 and is someone who will be remembered for a long time. I’m not going to eulogise Le Guin here because there are many people who have done the job better and more articulately than I can. Since I never knew her, I can’t say that I will miss her, but what I will miss is knowing that she’s somewhere out there in the world.

And I’ll miss knowing that there are new places for the worlds she has written to go.

I first discovered Ursula Le Guin’s writing when I was about 14 and read The Wizard of Earthsea, the first in her novels about fictional land of Earthsea, where wizards wield incredible power both for good and ill. I was fresh from Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and going through what I now refer to as my ‘High Fantasy phase’. If it had a poorly painted figure glowing on the cover, and was over 300 pages long, then I was all over it. Le Guin’s wizard Sparrowhawk – whose true name is Ged – was one of the first of those I encountered. Reading her books – although aimed at teenagers – felt like reading something ‘for adults’.

Le Guin doesn’t talk down to her readers or treat them like they aren’t smart enough to understand her writing. She trusts, and delves into the depths of story with us. Just like Ged has to delve deep to discover his talent as a wizard, so have we. I continued them with the Tombs of Atuan and Tehanu (which are both excellent).

Reading this tiny book – just barely longer than a short story – changed me. It changed my outlook on life and my perspective on where I wanted to be in the world, and how my own feelings might be too much for me to understand right now.

Earthsea gave me a fantasy that was rich but was also filled with flawed people. Ged and Tenar are by no means perfect, they struggle with doing the right thing and they both commit atrocities because of the power that is given over to them. But Le Guin shows us that this is how we learn. Earthsea places great power on education and learning from mistakes.

Earthsea was a story that woke me up to what great fantasy could be, and gave me an interest in fantasy that is clever and complex has stayed with me ever since. I returned to Le Guin with her fantasy series The Annals of the Western Shore, Gifts, and in it found a wonderful story about power, restricting oneself from power, and the tragedy of not living up to our parents expectations. The series continues with Voices and Powers, two stories which examine religion, power and it’s place in society and is one I’ve found wandering back into my reading list over the years.

But, despite thinking that and finding other people difficult, Owen and Natalie somehow manage to figure each other out. They become friends, and then Owen wants to be more and Natalie doesn’t – or rather she doesn’t want to rush into the intensity of a relationship. Owen then goes off the rails – because he’s a teenager and that’s what they’re want to do when they don’t understand how they feel. Owen’s reaction is by no means a good one – but it feels like a realistic one.

Owen and Natalie find themselves going back and forth between each other because even though they don’t know how to deal with anything else in their lives – they know how to deal with each other. And it gives us one of my very favourite lines in all of literature to prove this:

“See, I don’t understand how you play the piano. But when you play it, I hear the music.”

I was on the high mountain with a friend. There is nothing, there is nothing that beats that. If it never happens again in my life, still I can say I was there once.”

Le Guin doesn’t talk down to Owen and Natalie, she treats what they are going through as something legitimate and real. I have never identified with characters so much. As a teenager I felt like I didn’t know anyone like me – but thanks to books like Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, I knew those people were out there. I just hadn’t met them yet. It’s 88 pages of hope and it is still one of my very favourite novels. I’ll always be grateful for that.

Thanks to Ursula Le Guin I felt a little less lonely on bad days. And that means so much more now that I’m not lonely anymore.

“I was on the high mountain with a friend. There is nothing, there is nothing that beats that. If it never happens again in my life, still I can say I was there once.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

Book Review- Not if I save you First by Ally Carter

How many times have you thought – life as a secret service agent must be fun? Many? Me too. Well, Maddie Manchester knows exactly what it’s like. Because her father was one. He isn’t anymore, because, well, that’s what happens when your father takes a bullet for the president. He tends to re-think his priorities and move himself and his teenage daughter to Alaska. Far away from the president and far away from the president’s son Logan, Maddie’s best friend.

Six years go by and Maddie is left in the depths of nowhere – acquiring all of the skills a typical teenager possesses, chopping wood, skiing, hiding out. Life is quiet and peaceful. That is, until Logan shows up on her doorstep, bringing his own brand of trouble right along with him. There’s nothing like the president’s son to arrive and throw your life into complete disarray.

Ally Carter’s newest adventure is fun from top to bottom. The sheer enjoyment that comes with following Maddie’s adventures is infectious. Ally Carter takes the typical teen romance and injects it with a fun dose of adventure and mayhem.

Not if I Save You First is not a book to be taken seriously, however it is very enjoyable and will give every reader a fun weekend of imagining running for your life and falling in love.

Category: Recommended reads