The Key to All Things by Cindy Lynn Speer

Please welcome Cindy Lynn Speer author of The Key to All Things

Cindy Lynn Speer will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The Key to All Things

by Cindy Lynn Speer

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GENRE: Fantasy/Adventure/Romance

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

I started writing because I was reading a book and thought, “I could do this.”  It was not really a very good book, but somehow it made me realize that I could write, that writing was in my reach.  (So, yes, there was probably a touch of “I could do better than this” arrogance, which is sort of out of character for me, but it gave me the courage to try.)

2. How did you come up with ideas for your books?

It is a very organic process.  I think the back of my head is always noodling around with everything I input in, every experience, every story, every conversation.  I think there are little golems that live in the back of my head, breaking everything all down, reassembling the bits into something new. I’ll hear a name, think of a scene, a concept, and actively start playing with it, typing in scenes, seeing where it takes me.

3. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

For The Key to All Things, I brought sword-fighting. I’ve been practicing historical combat for 12 years, so it was fun to finally try and put fighting onto the page.

4. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I have a bunch of ideas I am working on.  I’ve been asked twice already if there will be a sequel to The Key to All Things, and I have ideas for it.  I am also working on another series, a bit more modern, set outside a fake national park.

5. If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

Right now, Avriel.  She can make anything grow, she’s determined, and she is a fierce sword fighter.  My Victory Garden would be amazing.

6. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

I started submitting my work when I was at University. I have a lot of short stories, and it was – to be honest – one of the things I had to do for class.  But I’ve always wanted to be a professional author, and to do that, you have to put yourself out there, have to get rejected, because if you don’t get rejected you never get accepted.

7. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I just start writing.  I have Scrivener, and you can have a folder with all sorts of documents in it?  Usually I use that so I can separate out my chapters, but I have a specific folder called “Until the thread picks up” and it has a document for each of the stories ideas I am developing.  When I am stuck or between projects I look through it and just pick one that feels ready to me, and open the file and see if I can add to it.  Sometimes I’ll think of things while I am away from my desk and I’ll go in and add to it, play with it, until the switch comes on and that becomes my main project.

8. Do you have an all time favorite book?

This is a hard question to answer because it changes a lot. I add new books to the pile all the time, new authors.  I think the book I feel I owe the most to is Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane. It’s the first fantasy book I truly loved (I think it might be the first one I really tried) and after that I was hooked.  She’s an amazing writer.

9. Who is your favorite actor and actress?

I am always bad at this sort of questions because it’s always hard to pick one.  I think right now Katee Sackhoff.  Is my favorite actress, because she has this magnificent mobile face and is so versatile. Sometimes she is this tough, kick ass woman, sometimes she just breaks.  And when she breaks it just shatters your heart.  I also really admire Tom Burke…he’s also super versatile, his current project is as Cormoran Strike in the BBC detective series, and he’s one of those people who has super expressive eyes.

10. Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?The black moment in my book. Oh, my. This question is hard because in some ways, all of our characters have hit bottom before the book begins.  Avriel and Edward both start from a certain point, and both are working their way back out, to a better life.  Avriel, for three hours every night, knows that Edward is her husband, but that he does not know this, he thinks his former wife is the Queen of the Fae. Edward thinks that he is discarded, dishonored, and that he brought his friends down with him, and is trying, very hard, to become a better man, to redeem himself.

BLURB:

Every day, Lady Avriel hears the bards sing about the greatest love story of all times, a heartbreaking romance between a human nobleman, Captain Edward de Vere, and the beautiful Queen of the Fae, who shattered his heart when she abandoned him to accept her throne. Avriel secretly longs for the sad and romantic captain as she works as a double agent, serving at both human and fae courts to keep the peace between the two kingdoms.

But for three hours every night she remembers a completely different world, where the greatest love story is a lie, and Edward belongs to her. She believes this reality to be the true one, even if no one else does. The world has fallen under a spell, and it is up to Avriel to find its source and undo it.

To set things right, Avriel must face the all-powerful Elder Fae and confront the darkest powers that rule her destiny – only to learn that if she proceeds, her actions will bring chaos and open her kingdom to destruction. Is this a choice she is willing to make to bring her love back?

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EXCERPT:

I am the queen of sometimes. Sometimes I am a wife. Sometimes I am a spy. It just depends on what time of day you catch me.

There is a story that sits in the back of my head, and I remind myself of it every time I lie down to sleep. It is the story that recounts everything I had, and everything I lost. It is not the story you know, about war and love. You believe in the tale of Catherine of the Willows, a part fae who fell in love with Edward de Vere, Captain of the King’s Guards. You al-ready are nodding, you know the story like you know your own face in the mirror. It’s been told to you thousands of times. Catherine and Edward fell in love. They married despite their love being forbidden. And then, when the story should have ended with everyone having their happily ever after, the unthinkable happened. Catherine was chosen to take the fae throne. And with that, came a terrible decision. She could keep her mundane life, her marriage, or she could sacrifice her identity and become the Sapphire Queen of the Fae.

She sacrificed. And as she rose, Edward fell. Tossed aside, he became

the tragic hero.

Here is the truth, if you would have it. There were three men who were like brothers: an inventor, a pirate, a romantic; warriors all. And there was a woman, Avriel, neither all fae nor all human, and she lived between the worlds of the human and fae courts. Avriel was the one who enchanted Edward, Avriel was the one he wed, and everything should have been the happily ever after of the stories: flowers and sunshine and perfection.

So why don’t you remember it this way? I don’t know. No one remembers. They know of these three men – Edward de Vere, and Merrick d’Marison, and Stephan d’Valerian, and all the things they did. They sometimes remember the woman – me, Avriel, now a background character in a much grander story. But no one remembers the truth. In one brief moment everything’s changed, and I do not know how, or why.

All I know is that Edward, my husband and the love of my life, does not remember who I am. But that is not as bad as it would seem. For, you see, except for three blessed hours each day, from nine until midnight, I don’t remember him, either. Or, to be more precise, I don’t remember that he was once mine. He’s just an attractive soldier who once was the Captain of the King’s Guard but now fell from grace, and all I can do is hide in the shadows and long for him.

Each time the clock chimes nine, I remember what it was like to taste his kisses, to have him lean close and whisper in my ear, to fight by his side. I remember what it was like to be powerful and in control of my destiny, to have friends who respected me.

It used to hurt, the remembering. At first it would paralyze me. I used to think I was mad. I would sit in my room and stare at the wall, wondering what to do. There was no one to talk to, to turn to. Everyone had been taken from me.

Oh, I cannot lie. It still does hurt. But I force it away, and instead I consider the day behind me, and the day ahead of me, and I take out some paper and write down some notes. They are different, depending on what needs to be accomplished. I place each note where I will see it in the morning, out of sight of the mirror, because there is a fae courtier who controls me, who can see through mirrors, and who would not allow me to proceed.

One step at a time. We will solve this. I will have my life back.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Cindy is the author of the Amazon bestselling The Chocolatier’s Wife, and it’s sequel, The Chocolatier’s Ghost, among others, including the brand new Key to All Things.   She loves reading, taking road trips, hiking, pretending to garden (really, I need to feed my poor tomatoes) and sword fighting.  You can find out more about her at http://www.cindylynnspeer.com or her facebook, https://www.facebook.com/cindylynnspeer/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/cindylynnspeer

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Cindy Lynn Speer will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

RAFFLECOPTER:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3442