Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I have a special treat for those who have been visiting with me as I entered into the hyperspace realms leading me through #SciFiMonth this year – as most of us who read a hearty amount of Science Fiction also read a wicked good amount of Fantasy (per how a lot of us cross-participate in @WyrdAndWonder!) – I think you’ll find an interesting premise in this lovely new novel The Amulet of Elements by a debut Indie Fantasy novelist I had the joy of interviewing for the blog tour celebrating her release! This is the beginning of a series – unsure if the six books she is now under contract to publish involves this series directly or is spilt into two separate trilogies – but one thing is for certain, Seventh Star Press has given her a wonderful start to her publishing career!

As you might realise by now, I have a propensity for High Fantasy and Quest type stories of the fantastical – I prefer light over darker stories in Fantasy but there are a few exceptions to that rule where I can handle a few Dark Fantasy novels but it depends on teh author’s handling of their vision if it goes too dark for me or not. The concept behind The Amulet of Elements intrigued me until I realised in this conversation that part of the amulet itself is the use of unicorn blood which is the one sticking point which bothered me about Lord Voldermort in the Harry Potter series. Somehow I seem to overlook a few details which involve the use of this element as I grew up fascinated by unicorns and even have a wonderful photographic book about them. In essence, for me, I wish that one element was non-exclusive to Fantasy but apparently its a ‘thing’ nonetheless.

When it comes to princess and prince stories – I have been reading a bit more on the Contemporary side of the ledger recently than the fantastical but I do like a good story about royalty and the courts either in Fantasy and/or in Historical Fiction. There is a changing of focus to where the princesses are rescuing themselves nowadays vs needing to be rescued by others – I still enjoy the old versions as well as sometimes they are not entirely without the means to be independent but still need a bit of assistance to get through the obstacles they face on their path.

In this particular story, we start to enter into the series through the birthday of a princess whose come to her own era of reckoning – she knows what she wants and she knows that by turning sixteen she has a certain level of self-assurance to declare her own intentional path in life. It will be interesting to see in the series the kinds of dragons which the author brings into play as although I attempted to get a sneak peak about them, I noticed it was left to be read instead. Dragons have a soft spot in my heart ever since I read a fellow Seventh Star Press author Jackie Gamber’s Leland Dragons series – which for me, sets the bar rather high when it comes to finding other dragons and other series built round them.

You’ll get a good overview of how Ms Machario approached writing her debut Fantasy series whilst also a few talking points about her writing style and how we both share an affinity for being vegetarian cooks! I have openly blogged about wanting to live a more vegetarian and vegan lifestyle inasmuch as the fact I love vegan baking! It was nice to find an author who shares this mutual interest and the fact we both cook up a sweet amount of Italian foods! Laughs.

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy the conversation!

The Amulet of Elements
by Rose Marie Machario

Princess Ellyria Rose found her special places in the books she read. Imagining herself in far off lands, she would dream of the knight who might rescue her one day from her dull, everyday life of needlepoint and lessons on becoming a lady.

Princess Ellyria Rose yearned for adventure and on her sixteenth birthday she got her wish, being rescued by the man of her dreams. Little did she know that would prove to be an adventure she did not expect to have.

Betrayed by the very man whom Princess Ellyria trusted, and left at the mercy of her father’s enemy, she had to use her wits to escape; along with the help of the very man who led her astray in the beginning. Danger unfolds time and again, revealing an ancient story about a princess and a prophecy.

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1948042796

Genres: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, High Fantasy

Published by Seventh Star Press

on 20th August, 2019

Published by: Seventh Star Press (@7thStarPress)

Formats Available: Ebook and Trade Paperback

Converse via: #7thStar, #Fantasy or #IndieFantasy + #MajickOfTheChosenOnes

What first inspired you to create the Majick of the Chosen Ones series?

Machario responds: I had a dream about The Amulet of Elements, although originally it was not called that, but once I had written out the dream I had, I could not stop with just the first story. I had to allow my characters to finish what they started. Read More