Interview with Ashlyn Macnamara, Author of Destined for a King

Tell us a little bit about your new release, Destined for a King.

It’s the first book of a new fantasy romance series involving a group of apparent brigands that refer to themselves as the Bastard Brotherhood. However, appearances are often deceiving, and the members of the Brotherhood might not be bastards—or even all brothers. While each book will feature a new romantic pairing, there is an over-arcing story to the four books, so not everything will be tied up in a bow at the end of book one.

Who is your favorite couple from literature?

I can’t pick just one. I have a soft spot for Lizzie and Darcy. I’m also quite partial to Eowyn and Faramir—even though they didn’t get much screen time in the books (and even less in the movies), they get the only on-screen romantic kiss in The Lord of the Rings.

What fictional literary world would you most like to visit?

Middle-earth, hands down. I used to read The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion every year. I may have pretended, while doing so, that I was an elf in Rivendell studying actual history. Although if I really lived in Middle-earth, I’d probably like to be a Rider of Rohan.

If you could invent anything, what would it be?

Something that could translate my direct thoughts into my word processor so I could skip the whole typing thing. And failing that, a Roomba that cooks as well as cleans—and does laundry.

What’s on your top 5 list for the best books you’ve ever read?

The Lord of the Rings—there’s a shocker, right? I only read it every year.

Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austen is such a master of subtle snark.

There’s a pair of—I suppose they’re YA fantasy—books by Jane Yolen called Sister Light, Sister Dark, and White Jenna that I just ripped through. I stayed up all night reading them, which is something I don’t often do. I think the fact of staying up all night reading qualifies these for my list.

The Chronicles of Prydain—this is a series of five middle-grade books that I first read in elementary school. And then I read them and re-read them and I bought them to read again as an adult. I consider this series to be my gateway drug into fantasy.

And I’m going to have to put the Harry Potter series on this list, as well. Those books are directly responsible for me taking up my virtual pen and writing my own stories in the form of fanfiction.

What scene in Destined for a King was your favorite to write?

Goodness, it’s hard to pick one. I drafted half the book in three weeks, it was all so there for me. Writing the opening sequence was a great deal of fun, though. Having my heroine shoot the hero, for starters, the moment where he realizes the “boy” who shot him is actually the woman he’s been having visions of, the verbal barbs they shoot at each other just before he succumbs to his wound and passes out in the middle of negotiating his take-over. That was all fun to write.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

I went to high school with a girl who was fond of saying, “The world is a figment of your imagination and you are a figment of its.” I’m still trying to figure out what that means, but it sounds good.

But I’m also partial to: “What do we live for but to make sport of our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?”

Ashlyn Macnamara is the author of the new book Destined for A King.