In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun this year as well! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2020 debuts and chat with them. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats and more!
At the end of 2019, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. We ended up finding Celeste Harte and her novel CONQUEST, and we have been interested in it ever since. We are so excited to have Mason on the blog today to answer some of our questions!
Celeste Harte is an African-American writer living in Spain. She loves reading and writing sci-fi and fantasy, and is obsessed with all things mermaids and dragons. When she’s not building worlds and getting lost in her own fantasies, she’s probably dancing to random music or watching (yet another) Korean drama. In addition to her native language, she speaks Spanish and Catalan almost fluently, some French, and would love to learn Korean.
Celeste: It's a little nerve-wracking, to be honest! A lot of things to arrange within a certain time frame before release and then I still have another book to write so there can be a sequel in the series!The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?
Celeste: The best part of the writing process is getting to the point where you've written something you would have liked to read. It's the moment in which you've satisfied the part of you that decided to take reading into your own hands and write something of your own. You are your first and most important audience! And the hardest part is not being at the point yet, haha. When you still have to critique and change things to fit your vision, because there will be points when you'll fear you'll never get there, but you have to keep persevering.
The Book Bratz: Where did you get the inspiration for CONQUEST?
Celeste: My inspiration can come from the oddest of places. I was watching Jurassic Park, and decided to do random research on dinosaurs. I found out that when the Chinese discovered dinosaurs, they at first thought that the dinosaurs bones they found were dragon bones. And that got me thinking down a whole line of thought of, what if the world existed with dragons instead of dinosaurs? And what if, before they were driven to extinction, they were saved by people that were able to befriend them? And that's kind of what got the main plot of the DRAGON BONES series started, and also, its name.The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?
Celeste: My favorite character to write is Jashi, just because she comes so easily to me, and she's so hilarious. Kahmel is a bit harder, especially in the beginning, because his character is just so closed off and comes off very brusque to those that don't know him well. But the hardest was the villains! They do a good job of having a lot of ulterior motives in the background and it can be hard to keep up!
The Book Bratz: How do you keep track of the details when writing such an intricate story?
Celeste: I keep notes in a notebook or digitally, depends on what I have available when the mood hits. But a lot of times, even when I plan ahead of times, things change when I actually put words on the page! It can feel like the story tells itself sometimes, and I just try to keep up with its swings.
The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from CONQUEST?
Celeste:I hope each person can find a story they identify with, because CONQUEST kind of has several perspectives to see from. There's the main character, obviously, but there are also experiences from several characters in the story that don't get a point of view to see from in the story, but honestly, could have stories of their own. I hope someone looks closely enough to find them!
The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of CONQUEST in the future, or do you have other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?
Celeste: Yes! I'm working on the sequel for the DRAGON BONES series now, and I think readers of the first book will be shocked at how far Jashi will come as a character, as she has certainly shocked me. I won't say much else, but this entire series is meant to take readers for a loop, and I can't wait for the story to unravel for them.
Title: Conquest (Dragon Bones, #1)
Author: Celeste Harte
Publisher: Immortal Works
Publication Date: February 4th, 2020 (Out now!)
Summary: Jashi Anyua has been arranged to be married to the leader of her nation, the Great Faresh. To help her escape her engagement, her future husband's enemies offer her an out; become their spy and they'll give her a new name and identity somewhere the Faresh will never find her. But Jashi gets to know the Faresh, she starts to wonder if she put her loyalties in the right place. Even moreso when she realizes that the Faresh shares the abilities she's had to keep secret her whole life, and he might be the only one that can train her to use them.
Thank you so much to Celeste for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about CONQUEST and it's out NOW, so you can enjoy!
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