(Brilliant
Darkness #3)
Publication
date: September 25th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Young
Adult
Synopsis
Fennel
and Peree are finally where they’ve worked ceaselessly to be: together and safe
from the Scourge in the protected village of Koolkuna. But on the day of their
partnering ceremony the children of the village are stolen away—Fenn’s loyal
companion, Kora, among them.
Fenn
wants to bring the children home, especially as the villagers seem to blame
Peree and her for the tragedy. Only since the death of her own family, she’s
terrified that a wrong move on her part will lead to the loss of others she
loves.
Despite
her apprehension, Fenn and Peree join a small search party led by rival Kaiya,
the one person who stands a chance of finding the children thanks to her
mysterious past. As they travel away from the safe waters of Koolkuna and into
the Scourge-infested wilds, Fenn endures Kai’s scorn, her subtle designs on
Peree, and the squabbling of the group. But nothing in her life so far has
prepared her for the fierce warrior women who will steal others’ children to
preserve their own existence—the Fire Sisters.
If
Fenn is to survive the threat of the Scourge, rescue the children from the
Sisters, and have a hope of making a life with Peree in Koolkuna, she must face
her fear of failure and loss and become the leader she’s destined to be.
Read
THE FIRE SISTERS, the thrilling conclusion to the bestselling young adult
fantasy Brilliant Darkness series! There are three novels and two short stories
in the series. The first novel, The Scourge, was a finalist for the 2013 Next
Generation Indie Book Award.
RECOMMENDED
SERIES READING ORDER:
The
Scourge
The
Keeper (novella)
The
Defiance
The
Gatherer (novella)
The
Fire Sisters
Purchase
AUTHOR BIO
A.G.
Henley is the author of the BRILLIANT DARKNESS series. The first novel in
the series, THE SCOURGE, was a finalist for the 2013 Next
Generation Indie Book Award.
A.G. is
also a clinical psychologist, which means people either tell her their
life stories on airplanes, or avoid her at parties when they've had too
much to drink. Neither of which she minds. When she's not writing
fiction or shrinking heads, she can be found herding her children and
their scruffy dog, Guapo, to various activities while trying to
remember whatever she's inevitably forgotten to tell her husband. She lives
in Denver, Colorado.
Why don’t we start off with you telling us
a little about yourself.
Thanks
for having me! I SO appreciate bloggers for the good work you do to help
authors get the word out about their books, and you’ve been especially kind to me.
Thank you!
So,
I’m a YA author with a now complete (hooray!) series of
dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. The Brilliant Darkness series begins with The
Scourge, a 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist, and includes
The
Defiance and the just-released The Fire Sisters. There are also two
novellas in the series. The series features a blind girl who believes she’s
mysteriously protected from flesh-eating creatures called the Scourge, but she
hasn’t been tested—until now.
I’m
also a psychologist, which makes my workweek an interesting mix of fantasy and
heart-wrenching reality.
I know it is good to hear an encouraging
word now and then to know how much the readers love your books and to keep you
going. So what is your favorite comment from a fan that really lifted your
spirits?
I
LOVE my readers, and I have such nice ones. They are incredibly supportive. One
comment that has always stuck in my brain came very early after I first
published The Scourge in January 2012. I was not planning to self-publish, but
at the time I couldn’t interest an agent in my writing. I thought no one would
buy or read my book.
A
woman, an early reader, said she was so engrossed in The Scourge that she read
while trying to do her housework, and while changing her baby’s diaper. I was
thrilled that the initial response was that the book was hard to put down. I
see that as a primary goal for an author: to make you lose sleep, because you
can’t stop reading : ) Consider that fair warning! You can see her actual
comment here, third one down on the left: http://www.amazon.com/The-Scourge-ebook/dp/B0073O59OI
I don’t want to give away any details in
Fire Sisters to spoil the series for everyone else, so I will just focus on the
series as a whole. I just love your Brilliant Darkness series! How did you come
up with such a great idea for a story?
Thank
you so much! I initially came up with the idea of people trying to survive in a
post-apocalyptic world full of swamps. I figured they’d move up into the trees.
But, what if half the people moved up and wouldn’t share with the other half?
That’s how the two main groups in The Scourge, the Lofties and Groundlings,
were born. (The swamp idea kind of fell away, although water is very important
to the story.)
Then,
I thought, what if the main character, a Groundling, was blind? And THEN, I
thought, and what if there were zombie-like creatures that only she was
protected from, due to her blindness??? And that was it. Fennel and the Scourge
were born.
I find the concept of the Lofties (tree
dwellers) and Groudlings (Ground dwellers) so fascinating. Then there is the
dreaded Scourge. Can you tell us a little about each of them?
Lofties
are all fair-haired and fair-skinned. Groundlings are dark. Once a year, the
two groups meet for the Exchange, when they trade their infants based on their
coloring. It’s a terrible time for both groups, but they’ve been locked in this
tradition for generations. The Lofties hold the safety and security of the
trees and treetops, while the Groundlings control the community’s only water
supply. So they have a tense, mistrustful relationship, as you might imagine.
The Groundlings are particularly bitter, because they have to hide in cold,
dark caves for days when the Scourge come, because the Lofties won’t share
their trees.
The
Scourge are vicious flesh-eating creatures that chase down and devour, or turn,
any humans they come across—except the Sightless, like Fennel. I should say
here that if you don’t like blood and gore, don’t be afraid of The Scourge.
Most people who say they aren’t zombie fans, and are easily grossed out or
afraid, don’t find my series to be objectionable at all. It’s really fantasy romance
: )
Your characters have a ways of getting
themselves into so many bad situations and some causes problems for those
around them. Which character(s) gave you the most problems when trying to write
their story?
Hmm,
I’m not sure any of them gave me problems. I LOVE creating characters. They
usually just jump into my head fully formed!
I love so many of the characters in The
Brilliant Darkness series so I can’t pick just one. Who was your favorite
character to write?
I’m
attached to my two mains, Fennel and Peree. It was so fun to build their
relationship from scratch. But the most fun to write was Moray. He’s a bad guy,
really, but he has heroic, good guy moments. I really tried hard to write him
so that you couldn’t classify him, so he wouldn’t be black and white. I hope I
succeeded right through The Fire Sisters.
I know right now the series consist of 3
full length novels and 2 novellas. So is this it or do you feel there will be a
spin-off or prequel in the future?
Hmm,
this is it for NOW. Funny you should mention a spin-off, though. I did try to
leave the ending somewhat open for a few characters, and there are many more
questions about the world of the Scourge…
What are you working on now? Has a new
story started to bring itself to life?
Thanks
for asking! I’m writing a YA time travel short story right now for an indie
anthology that will release in March. I met a group of women writers here in
Denver who all write YA and are mostly indies. We have done a few writing
retreats together, and at the last one someone said, “Why don’t we publish a
short story anthology?” So, Tick Tock: Seven Tales of Time came to be! It’s so
much fun to write a new character in a new world. I could totally see this
leading to its own series down the road…
I’m
also revising a novel I wrote last year that is YA speculative fiction. It will
be a duology, if all goes as planned.
There is one question we like to ask all
of our authors. Is there any advice you would like to give to the aspiring
authors out there?
Read
a lot. Write a lot. Honestly, that’s what being an author boils down to. I
read, write, and create all day, and it’s a privilege to get paid to do it!
We would like to thank you for joining us
today A.G. Henley you are amazing! Now I would like to give you the last word.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your books or yourself
that I did not ask about? Or is there something you would like to say to all
the readers out there?
Thank
you so much for reading and supporting the work of authors and bloggers! I can
create books and worlds, but that’s only half the equation of reading. Readers
provide their own lens and interpretation to what I write, and they bring
richness to the experience of writing that would otherwise be very solitary.
We’re a team – and I appreciate my other half!
Thank
you again for having me on the blog! It was a lot of fun.
Interview
questions created by Candy Cassin with Otherworldy Book Adventure. Used with
permission. http://otherworldlybookadventure.blogspot.com/
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